An ex-Russian officer has said Vladimir Putin’s forces are ‘deteriorating’ in Ukraine as the Crimea was hit by up to 17 drones. Igor Girkin, an imprisoned Russian nationalist, said Putin’s forces would be “even less capable of offensive operations than they are now” by spring 2024, according to the Institute for the Study of War. In a letter published by his wife, Girkin claimed that the situation for Russian forces was “gradually deteriorating” and that Russian forces were showcasing “growing weakness compared to Ukraine’s capabilities.” He added that the Avdiivka offensive, where thousands of troops are said to have died, demonstrated the Russian Army’s inability “to achieve superiority on a very narrow sector of the front”, the ISW said. It comes as Ukraine launched up to 17 drone attacks on Crimea and the Black Sea, which Russia destroyed and intercepeted, according to the Russian defence ministry. Nine drones were destroyed by air defence systems and eight were intercepted by electronic warfare, it added. Explosions were heard near the towns of Novofedorivka and Saky, a Russian air base on the peninsula, just after 4am, according to local reports. Read More Activist hands ICC evidence he says implicates Belarus president in transfer of Ukrainian children Mapped: Has Ukraine made advances against Russia? Ukraine fires drones over Black Sea and Crimea as Putin’s attacks fail in Bakhmut

The lack of Whoopi Goldberg in promo video for 'The View' season 27 sparks concern

Italy's fire service says 19 people are rescued as a search continues for those reported missing.

After more than three years, the Covid-19 public health emergency in the US is finally ending on Thursday, which means Americans could have to start paying for testing and treatment. Here's how things will change.

A 48-year-old man is detained after the three men were wounded in an attack in Vermont on Saturday.

In many ways, Jim Brown used his platform as one of the greatest football players of all time to fight for people very much like him

Amber Lynn Costello's remains were discovered on the north side of Ocean Parkway near Gilgo Beach in 2010

Millions of people across parts of southern Britain will be banned from using garden hoses as a hot spell sparks record demand for drinking...

Defenders of former President Donald Trump have responded to news of his indictment by the US Department of Justice with deflection: Why is Trump being charged but not President Joe Biden's son Hunter?

CNN’s move to give Donald Trump a platform to repeat debunked lies about elections and air his problematic views is being widely criticised by political commentators. The network’s own anchors were among those responding to Wednesday’s town hall event, as Jake Tapper lashed out at the former president for calling a “Black law enforcement officer a thug” and making fun of E Jean Carroll’s sexual assault. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Michael Fanone criticised the decision to host the event – the former tweeting on the night that CNN should be “ashamed”. The town hall in New Hampshire came just one day after Mr Trump was found liable of sexually abusing and defaming writer E Jean Carroll by a jury. The former president used the platform afforded to him by the news network to mock the woman he has been ordered to pay $5m. In a blizzard of falsehoods, Mr Trump barrelled through the hour-long broadcast at times talking over moderator Kaitlan Collins’s fact-checks and orders to answer the question asked. Read More Trump rants about E Jean Carroll’s cat after he is found liable of sexual abuse A sexual abuse ruling. 26 accusations. Yet Trump is still frontrunner to be the next President Trump news – live: E Jean Carroll praises sexual abuse trial verdict as CNN pressured to axe town hall

Archeologists in Pompeii have discovered two skeletons that they believe were men who died when a wall collapsed on them during the powerful earthquakes that accompanied the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79

Rex Heuermann was arrested last month for the murders of three women between 2009 and 2010