List of All Articles with Tag 'u'

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

Escaped prisoner Danelo Cavalcante has revealed that he managed to evade capture for two weeks on the run by burying his own faeces and surviving on watermelon. Cavalcante escaped Chester County Prison in Pennsylvania back on 31 August after he was handed a life sentence for murdering his former girlfriend. It was not until almost two weeks later – on the morning of 13 September – that the escaped prisoner was finally back in handcuffs, after he was captured by a tactical team and police K-9 in a wooded area. Since his capture, investigators have now revealed that Cavalcante complied with their questions and told them various details about his time on the run from the police. Supervisory Deputy US Marshall Robert Clark, who conducted the manhunt that eventually led to his capture, spoke to NewsNation’s Chris Cuomo about the aftermath of his arrest. Mr Clark said that the fugitive was “brutally honest” about his two weeks evading capture from law enforcement and the measures he went to to survive and stay hidden. Various investigators, from US Marshalls, PA State police to county police, all wanted to interview him, but were unsure what to expect, he said. “We took a Brazilian law enforcement interpreter, and we asked if he wanted to talk and he did,” Mr Clark told NewsNation, saying that by Cavalcante agreeing, they were able to fill in the gaps in their investigation. According to Mr Clark, the fugitive said that, within the first three days, he didn’t move far from Chester County Prison. After that, Cavalcante said that he ate watermelon he stole from a farm, drank water from a stream and hid within dense thickets where, unless someone stepped on him, he would be able to remain hidden from sight. To cover his tracks, he would hide his faeces under leaves. There were several close calls with search teams, the fugitive also allegedly admitted. “He did say on three occasions law enforcement officers did almost step on him. They were about seven to eight yards away from him,” Mr Clark said. “We believe he was brutally honest. He described things such as hiding his faecal matter under leaves so that we couldn’t detect them.” The officers even asked how Cavalcante managed to change his appearance by becoming clean-shaven while on the run, questioning whether someone had helped him. His answer was simple: the backpack he was pictured with, held a single razor. The investigators and Mr Clark found Cavalcante’s story “credible” and “candid,” as he went into detail about how he moved out of the first perimeter by scoping out an area he could escape across. Cavalcante told officials that he noticed more and more of a law enforcement presence and became aware of aerial assets and helicopters. He apparently also told investigators about the vehicle he stole on 10 September, that police found abandoned in a field behind a barn 15 miles outside of Phoenixville. He also spoke about the stolen firearm, which he obtained after breaking into a resident’s garage, Mr Clark said. Had he not been captured – with the help of a K-9 that bit him on the top of his head – Cavalcante planned to flee the country. “He intended to carjack somebody in the community and head north to Canada, or either or try to get back to Puerto Rico. He said he was going to do that in the next 24 hours. And that was the reason he kept that firearm. He knew he needed a weapon in order to get a vehicle,” Mr Clark said. Cavalcante also told law enforcement that Mexico was on the list of possible places he may have fled to, according to Steve Keeley from Fox 29. “Cavalcante said his endgame was to carjack someone in next day because he noticed increasing aerial search helicopters & airplanes… He only moved at night, no days,” Mr Keeley said on X. Mr Keeley’s source also matched what Mr Clark said about the fugitive conducting his own surveillance during his escape, both of the perimeter around Longwood Gardens and on the house where he stole the firearm from. Mr Clark said his US Marshall colleagues described Cavalcante during the interview as “calm, cool, [and] didn’t have any attitude to him”. Cavalcante was finally caught when Pennsylvania officials closed in on him on Wednesday morning. He was crawling through heavy underbush trying to get away, but was stopped by a four-year-old K-9 called Yoda, who was dispatched to grab hold of him by biting him on his head. After he was captured, a large group of officers took a group photo with the criminal now back in handcuffs, something they have since come under fire for. Cavalcante was serving a life sentence in prison for fatally stabbing his ex-girlfiend Deborah Brandao. He is also wanted for a murder he committed in 2017 in Brazil. Read More Captured killer Danelo Cavalcante reveals how he survived on run as police under fire for group photo: Live Hundreds of police officers hunted for Danelo Cavalcante for two weeks. A dog secured his capture Pennsylvania fugitive Danelo Cavalcante is captured hiding under logs in shed two weeks after prison escape

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China's Commerce Ministry has protested a decision by the European Union to investigate exports of Chinese electric vehicles, saying it is a protectionist action aimed at distorting the supply chain

Fulton County Judge Scott McAfee, who is presiding over the Georgia 2020 election subversion case, is set to hold a hearing on Thursday to address a series of legal requests submitted by two of former President Donald Trump's co-defendants ahead of their trial next month.

President Joe Biden's aides privately acknowledge a rematch with Donald Trump in 2024 could be his best path to reelection, but they are terrified by what would happen if he lost -- which operatives on his campaign and throughout the Democratic Party worry is a very real possibility.

Hundreds of communities around the country will share more than $1 billion in federal money to help them plant and maintain trees under a federal program that is intended to reduce extreme heat, benefit health and improve access to nature

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy unilaterally gave his conference the green light to launch an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden. Now the harder work begins.

A Seattle police officer is under investigation after his body-worn camera captured a phone conversation following the death of a woman who was fatally struck by a police car in which the officer is laughing and says the victim "had limited value," according to the footage and a statement from the Seattle Police Department.