South Korea has launched a commercial-grade satellite for the first time as part of its growing space development program, as rival North Korea is pushing to place its first military spy satellite into orbit

A former Austrian minister who announced recently that she was moving to Russia to lead a think tank, reportedly flew in her ponies to Moscow on a military plane. Karin Kneissl will move to St Petersburg to work at the Geopolitical Observatory for Russia’s Key Issues [GORKI], she told the Russian TASS news agency recently. Last week Ms Kneissl brought two of her ponies to St Petersburg on a military aircraft from the Russian air base at Hmeimim in Syria following a diversion from its intended mission of transporting troops. The Insider reported that Fighterbomber Z-channel confirmed that an Il-76 military transport aircraft was used to carry the animals. Ms Kneissl, 58, received a lot of notoriety for inviting Russian presidentVladimir Putin to her wedding in 2018. She co-founded the GORKI centre which she set up with St Petersburg University in June to “help define the policies for the Russian Federation” with a focus on the Near and Middle East. She said: “Since there is a lot of work and it requires a lot of attention, I can’t do it in passing, I decided to move to St Petersburg for this work.” It was reported that the Russian aircraft used to bring her two ponies belonged to the 224th flight detachment of the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation which in May came under US and Ukrainian sanctions for transporting equipment and mercenaries of the Wagner Group. Ms Kneissl – who is a former foreign minister – relocated to France in September 2020 and took on the role of a guest columnist for Russia Today, an outlet often perceived as a propagandistic mouthpiece of the Kremlin. Her invitation to Mr Putin drew widespread criticism. It occurred just months after several EU countries, excluding Austria, had expelled numerous Russian diplomats in response to the nerve agent attack on former Russian spy Sergei Skripal in Salisbury. On Wednesday, the former Austrian minister expressed shock over her move to Russia turning “political”. In a Telegram post, she said that she had moved her “books, clothes and ponies from Marseille to Beirut via DHL” in June 2022. Ms Kneissl had been living in Lebanon after leaving Austria in 2020 amidst a political scandal. However, Lebanon served as a temporary arrangement, she explained, and she would travel to Russia every six weeks for work. “Due to sanctions there are neither flights nor DHL [for her move to Russia],” she wrote. “I therefore had the option of accompanying a Russian transport flight from Syria to Russia, for which I am very grateful.” Ms Kneissl held the position of Austrian foreign affairs minister from 2017 to 2019. Meanwhile, the website of the Department of Veterinary Medicine of the Leningrad Region stated on 9 September that veterinarians carried out “all the necessary measures when importing animals into the territory of the Russian Federation”. “Specialists conducted a clinical examination of the ponies, took blood samples, and also quarantined them. Domestic horses are healthy”. Read More A flotilla of migrant boats from Tunisia overwhelms an Italian island and tests Meloni's policy Complex Napoleon: how Bonaparte’s unrivalled ambition built an empire and left a tangled legacy Weapons, spy satellites and nuclear ambitions: what we learned from Putin’s summit with Kim Jong-un in Russia The Body in the Woods | An Independent TV Original Documentary The harrowing discovery at centre of The Independent’s new documentary

A group of women tailed Ron DeSantis to several campaign events this past week, causing disruptions and distractions as the second-place Republican candidate seeks to pick up traction in the early caucus state. The group, B****es Get Stuff Done, showed up to at least two of the Florida governor’s events where they deployed various tactics aimed at preventing him from speaking to Republican primary voters. A website for the group states that its members are progressive Democratic women who, apparently in addition to trolling Republicans, provide resources to Democratic candidates. Among the activists from the group who participated in the demonstrations this week was the group’s founder and CEO, Heather Ryan. Chants of “pudding fingers” erupted at one DeSantis campaign event where Ms Ryan and another member of the group arrived with megaphones. At one point at the same event, a DeSantis supporter can be seen attempting to snatch a megaphone out of Heather’s hands. The governor addressed the women briefly as they carried on, but according to Politico the event (a discussion with military veterans) seemed hurried along as the protesters attempted to drown him out. “People like that are what’s holding this country back,” Mr DeSantis said at one point, according to Politico. At an event held at the week-long phenomenon that is the Iowa State Fair, the Florida governor found himself met by the women once more. There, he was joined by Iowa’s Governor Kim Reynolds onstage only to be drowned out by members of the group who blew whistles over the two Republicans as they spoke. Overhead, a chartered prop plane flew a banner urging the candidate to be “likable”. Mr DeSantis has put much of his campaign’s focus into the state of Iowa, where he hopes for an upset victory over Donald Trump. The former president’s campaign has been combatting that effort with mockery and derision, even though Mr Trump himself lost the Iowa caucuses in 2016 to Ted Cruz. The Florida governor has formed a close alliance with Ms Reynolds, Iowa’s popular GOP executive, but in polling has continued to trail Mr Trump by significant margins even as other Republicans close in on him from lower down in the standings. Read More Trump's Iowa state fair spectacle clouds DeSantis as former president is joined by Florida officials How Vivek Ramaswamy is pushing — delicately — to win over Trump supporters Pence signals debate plan to attack Trump and DeSantis for not pushing national abortion ban NOT REAL NEWS: A look at what didn't happen this week Trump and Biden tied in hypothetical 2024 rematch: poll DeSantis is resetting his campaign again. Some Republicans worry his message is getting in the way

Heavy rains are pounding an already saturated Northeast for the second time in a week, spurring another round of flash flooding, canceled airline flights and power outages

Russian drones rained down on Kyiv in an aerial attack that lasted two hours overnight, while two aid workers were killed in a missile attack in Ukraine, authorities have said. Blasts rang out across the capital early on Sunday, with witnesses hearing at least five. Ukrainian officials said debris fell on several of the city’s central districts, as media footage showed a number of cars damaged. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that one person was injured in the attacks and a fire broke out near one of the city’s parks. “Drones came onto the capital in groups and from different directions,” Serhiy Popko, head of Kyiv’s city military administration, said on the Telegram messaging app, adding that drone debris sparked a fire in an apartment. Ukraine’s Land Forces said air defence systems destroyed 25 out of 32 Russia-launched Iran-made Shahed drones on Sunday, as Moscow conducts near-nightly assaults on Ukraine’s territory. Meanwhile, a Spanish aid worker was killed in a missile attack in Ukraine, alongside her Canadian colleague. “Unfortunately, I can confirm a missile hit a vehicle in which this Spanish worker was travelling who was working for a humanitarian NGO in Ukraine. We have verbal confirmation of her death,” Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares told reporters in India, where he attended the G20 meeting, on Sunday. A Canadian aid worker also died in the attack on Saturday in Chasiv Yar, in the region of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, authorities said. Read More Russia is turning to old ally North Korea to resupply its arsenal for the war in Ukraine Families in Gaza have waited years to move into new homes. Political infighting is keeping them out India avoids condemnation of Russia to produce united G20 declaration

William Friedkin, the Oscar winning director of two gripping film classics, “The French Connection” and “The Exorcist,” has died

Martin Scorsese's star-studded 'Killers of the Flower Moon' is based on the Osage murders that took place between 1921 and 1926

Witnesses and officials say the fire was sparked by fireworks set off inside the hall in Qaraqosh.

“Ted Lasso” was criticized by some for losing its way in its third season

Charlotte Sena has not been seen since 6:15 pm on September 30 when she was riding a bike in Moreau Lake State Park in upstate New York

'With this new proposal and the way the new people are behaving, all of that is going to be lost,' Local rancher said

Japan’s retail sales rebounded more than expected in May from the previous month as the return of tourists