List of All Articles with Tag 'person'

Whistleblowers claiming the Justice Department improperly interfered with a yearslong investigation into Hunter Biden will testify before Congress as House Republicans accelerate their probes into the president and his family

New evacuations have been ordered as wildfires raged near the Greek Capital after a second heat wave hit the Mediterranean country from the west following days of record-high temperatures baked southern Europe

The head of MI6 has urged Russians appalled by the war in Ukraine to “join hands” with his spy service and bring the bloodshed to an end. In his second speech since becoming chief of the Secret Intelligence Service in 2020, Richard Moore said there appeared little prospect of Vladimir Putin’s forces regaining momentum in Ukraine – and expressed optimism about Kyiv’s long-awaited counteroffensive. Delivering his speech at the British embassy in Prague, the MI6 chief likened the current situation in Ukraine to the Prague Spring in 1968, when the Soviet Union quashed liberalising reforms. “As they witness the venality, infighting and callous incompetence of their leaders – the human factor as its worst – many Russians are wrestling with the same dilemmas as their predecessors did in 1968,” Moore said. “I invite them to do what others have done this past 18 months and join hands with us. Our door is always open ... Their secrets will be safe with us and together we will work to bring the bloodshed to an end.” While Mr Putin has sought to maintain an iron grip on the war narrative since Russia’s full-scale invasion last February, with the aid of state TV, public opinion of the conflict is likely to have been knocked by Moscow’s apparent military setbacks and his mobilisation of reservists last Septmeber. Many fighting age men have fled abroad to escape the draft, while thousands of protesters have been arrested at infrequent demonstrations launched across scores of Russian cities since the war began even despite the prospect of swift state repression. “There are many Russians today who are silently appalled by the sight of their armed forces pulverising Ukrainian cities, expelling innocent families from their homes and kidnapping thousands of children,” said Mr Moore. “They are watching in horror as their soldiers ravage a kindred country. They know in their hearts that Putin’s case for attacking a fellow Slavic nation is fraudulent, a miasma of lies and fantasy.” Appealing for such individuals to work alongside the MI6, he added: “We will handle their offers of help with the discretion and professionalism for which my service is famed.” Despite the best efforts of the Russian state to shield citizens from Moscow’s military failures, an awareness of several attacks on Russian soil – including two on Mr Putin’s prized Kerch bridge in Crimea, and the Wagner mercenary group’s armed mutiny last month – have filtered through. The shortlived rebellion by Yevgeny Prigozhin and his mercenaries – whose relative military successes in Ukraine have boosted their popularity within Russia – showed Mr Putin was “clearly under pressure”, Mr Moore said. Criticising the wave of “Russian imperialism” in Africa fuelled in recent years by the Wagner group, Mr Moore also claimed Iran’s “unconscionable” decision to supply Moscow with suicide drones for the Ukraine war had provoked internal quarrels at the highest level of the regime in Tehran. Also denouncing the Russian president’s nuclear sabre-rattling as “irresponsible and reckless”, the spy chief also warned that Moscow and China were racing to master technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and quantum computing. Some of Britain’s adversaries will try to develop AI in a way which is reckless and dangerous, he told Politico, adding: “It will be a significant part of our role going forward into the future, to try and ... detect, uncover, and then disrupt people who would like to develop AI in directions which are dangerous.” But while government and intelligence agencies globally are seeking to harness the power of AI, Mr Moore told those present in Prague that the technology would complement rather replace human agents –who can uncover secrets beyond technology’s reach. “The unique characteristics of human agents in the right places will become still more significant,” he said. “They are never just passive collectors of informatio n: our agents can be tasked and directed; they can identify new questions we didn’t know to ask; and sometimes they can influence decisions inside a government or terrorist group. “Human intelligence in the age of artificial intelligence will increasingly be defined as those things that machines cannot do, albeit we should expect the frontier of machine capability to advance with startling speed.” Additional reporting by agencies Read More On the ground in Ukraine, there’s one weapon troops want from the UK more than any other Britain’s MI6 intelligence chief says AI won’t replace the need for human spies Revealed: Ukraine’s chilling warning to Tony Blair about Putin two decades before invasion South African leader says that arresting Putin if he comes to Johannesburg next month would be 'war'

Ukrainian officials say Russia has launched an intense series of nighttime air attacks using drones and missiles against targets across Ukraine

For the first time in decades a US soldier is believed to be in North Korean custody. That is a scenario that could cause a diplomatic headache for the United States while it, alongside ally South Korea, tries to keep pressure on Pyongyang as the isolated nation ramps up its ballistic missile tests and bellicose rhetoric.

MANILA The Philippines has said its investigation into killings during former President Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs will

(Reuters) -A fire that broke out at the military training grounds in the Kirovske district on the Crimean Peninsula has

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A U.S. soldier facing disciplinary action crossed into North Korea on Tuesday and was believed to be in

The House Oversight Committee is expected to publicly hear Wednesday from two IRS whistleblowers whose closed-door testimony alleging that the Hunter Biden criminal probe was mishandled has ignited a firestorm among House Republicans and led to calls to impeach Attorney General Merrick Garland.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog is set to deliver an address to a joint meeting of Congress on Wednesday, in what is expected to mark a bipartisan show of support for a top strategic ally in the Middle East.

Donald Trump has claimed he is “not frightened” about his third potential indictment on criminal charges – after he revealed that he had been sent a letter by special prosecutor Jack Smith informing him he is the “target” of a grand jury investigation into his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. The former president took to Truth Social on Tuesday morning to say that he had been told to report to a grand jury over the January 6 Capitol riot, which he pointed out “almost always means an Arrest and Indictment”. The Independent has learned that the indictment could be handed down as soon as this week. Mr Trump spoke out about the potential looming indictment to Fox News’ Sean Hannity, admitting that “it bothers me”. “They want to try to demean and diminish and frighten people. But they don’t frighten us because we’re going to make America great again. That’s all there is,” he said. Meanwhile, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced criminal charges against 16 people who signed certificates falsely declaring Mr Trump won the 2020 election, part of a nationwide scheme to upend the results in states that the former president lost to Joe Biden. Read More Donald Trump brands US a ‘third-world hellhole’ run by ‘perverts’ and ‘thugs’ Ron DeSantis campaign fires staff as Florida governor trails Trump in the polls Fundraising takeaways: Trump and DeSantis in their own tier as Pence and other Republicans struggle RFK Jr revives antisemitic conspiracy theory that Covid-19 was ‘ethnically targeted’ to spare Jewish people

The leader of the progressive Move Forward party has seen his already slim hopes of becoming PM dashed.