Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he intends to replace Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov, after allegations that the department

Thousands of protesters gathered outside a French army base in Niger’s capital Niamey over the weekend as a

A Ukrainian court has ordered the country’s richest tycoon Ihor Kolomoisk to be held in custody for two months on suspicion of fraud and money laundering. The detention of the one-time supporter of president Volodymyr Zelensky, whose election he backed in 2019, comes as Kyiv is trying to signal progress during a wartime crackdown on corruption. Following the arrest, Mr Zelensky made an oblique reference to the case and thanked law enforcement bodies for their work on long-running cases. “I thank Ukrainian law enforcement officials for their resolve in bringing to a just outcome each and every one of the cases that have been hindered for decades,” Mr Zelensky said in his nightly video address. Meanwhile, Ukraine has claimed to have broken through the first line of Russia’s defences in several locations in the south and made gains in the Zaporizhzhia region. “There is an offensive in several directions and in certain areas. And in some places, in certain areas, this first line was broken through,” Hanna Maliar, deputy defence minister, told local TV on Friday night. Read More Putin’s forces pushed back in southern Ukraine – as Zelensky claims new long-range weapon The ‘Vampire’ rocket system helping Ukraine shoot down Russia’s kamikaze drones Ukraine pilot films moment drone flies into Russian truck

As the U.S. government built its latest stretch of border wall, Mexico made a statement of its own by laying remains of the Berlin Wall a few steps away. The 3-ton pockmarked, gray concrete slab sits between a bullring, a lighthouse and the border wall, which extends into the Pacific Ocean. “May this be a lesson to build a society that knocks down walls and builds bridges,” reads the inscription below the towering Cold War relic, attributed to Tijuana Mayor Montserrat Caballero and titled, “A World Without Walls.” For Caballero, like many of Tijuana's 2 million residents, the U.S. wall is personal and political, a part of the city's fabric and a fact of life. She considers herself a migrant, having moved from the southern Mexico city of Oaxaca when she was 2 with her mother, who fled "the vicious cycle of poverty, physical abuse and illiteracy.” The installation opened Aug. 13 at a ceremony with Caballero and Marcelo Ebrard, Mexico’s former foreign secretary who is now a leading presidential candidate. Caballero, 41, is married to an Iranian man who became a U.S. citizen and lives in the United States. She and their 9-year-old son used to cross the border between Tijuana and San Diego. Since June, Caballero has lived in a military barracks in Tijuana, saying she acted on credible threats against her brought to her attention by U.S. intelligence officials and a recommendation by Mexico's federal government. Weeks earlier, her bodyguard survived an assassination attempt. Caballero said that she doesn't know who wants to kill her but suspects payback for having seized arms from violent criminals who plague her city. "Someone is probably upset with me,” she said in her spacious City Hall office. Shards of the Berlin Wall scattered worldwide after it crumbled in 1989, with collectors putting them in hotels, schools, transit stations and parks. Marcos Cline, who makes commercials and other digital productions in Los Angeles, needed a home for his artifact and found an ally in Tijuana's mayor. “Why in Tijuana?" Caballero said. “How many families have shed blood, labor and their lives to get past the wall? The social and political conflict is different than the Berlin Wall, but it's a wall at the end of the day. And a wall is always a sphinx that divides and bloodies nations.” President Joe Biden issued an executive order his first day in office to halt wall construction, ending a signature effort by his predecessor, Donald Trump. But his administration has moved ahead with small, already-contracted projects, including replacing a two-layered wall in San Diego standing 18 feet (5.5 meters) high with one rising 30 feet (9.1 meters) and stretching 0.6 mile (1 kilometer) to the ocean. The wall slices through Friendship Park, a cross-border site inaugurated by then-U.S. first lady Pat Nixon in 1971 to symbolize binational ties. For decades, families separated by immigration status met through barbed wire and, later, a chain-link fence. It is a cherished, festive destination for tourists and residents in Mexico. At an arts festival in 2005, David “The Human Cannonball” Smith Jr. flashed his passport in Tijuana as he lowered himself into a barrel and was shot over the wall, landing on a net on the beach with U.S. border agents nearby. In 2019, artist Lizbeth De La Cruz Santana covered the Tijuana side of the wall with paintings of adults who moved to the U.S. illegally as young children and were deported. Visitors who held up their phones to bar codes were taken to a website that voiced their first-person narratives. Cline said he was turned away at the White House when he tried delivering the Berlin Wall relic to Trump and then trucked it across the country to find a suitable home. He said the piece has found “its second life” at the Tijuana park alongside the colorful paintings on the border wall that express views on politics and immigration. The U.S. government has gradually restricted park access from San Diego over the last 15 years in a state park that once allowed cross-border yoga classes, religious services and music festivals. After lengthy consideration, the Biden administration agreed to keep the wall at 18 feet for a small section where some access will be allowed. Dan Watman of Friends of Friendship Park, which advocates for cross-border park access, said the 60-foot (18.3-meter) section that will remain at the lower height is only a token gesture. “The park on the Mexican side has become sort of a one-sided party,” he said. U.S. Customs and Border Protection said that it anticipates replacing the “deteriorated” two-layer barrier by November and that the higher one under construction ”will provide much needed improvements." The Berlin Wall installation has gotten rave reviews from visitors. Sandra Flores, 55, who vacationed from the Mexican port city of Mazatlan, drew parallels between the Berlin slab and the U.S.-built wall. “It's a little less severe here than it was in Germany but it's a wall that divides nations, lives, social and economic lives and everything related to the United States,” she said. Lydia Vanasse, who works in the financial sector in San Diego and lives in Tijuana, said the relic took her back to her 20s when the Soviet empire fell and Germans were suddenly allowed to move freely. “San Diego and Tijuana are sister cities," she said. “The wall separates us, but we are united in many ways. It would be better if there wasn't a wall.” Direct criticism of any U.S. president or policy has been rare. Tijuana's mayor said she understands the need for the U.S. to enforce borders and she has warm relations with U.S officials, including Ken Salazar, the ambassador to Mexico. She said Salazar asked her to evict migrants who camped with hopes of getting asylum in the U.S. and blocked access to a U.S. border crossing in 2022. She heeded his recommendation. Any failures at the border are a collective responsibility of governing nations, the mayor said. “We are against violence, we are against family separation, we are against division, and that's what the wall represents,” she said. ___ Associated Press video journalist Eugene Garcia in Los Angeles contributated to this report. Read More Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide AI project imagines adult faces of children who disappeared during Argentina's military dictatorship Tribe getting piece of Minnesota back more than a century after ancestors died there Students criticize the University of North Carolina's response to an active shooter emergency

President Joe Biden surveyed damage from Hurricane Idalia in Florida without meeting Governor Ron DeSantis, even after the

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz fell while jogging and sustained bruises to his face, prompting him to cancel some appointments this weekend, the government said Saturday. In an emailed response to a query about the incident, the government said that the 65-year-old German leader had “a small sports accident” and canceled appointments Sunday in the central Hesse region, where a state election is being held on Oct. 8. But it said his appointments next week won't be affected. The Hesse-based Frankfurter Rundschau newspaper first reported on Saturday's incident. It cited a prominent lawmaker with Scholz's center-left Social Democrats, Michael Roth, who had invited the chancellor to his home town of Heringen and planned a discussion event with him there on Sunday. Scholz has led Germany since December 2021. He previously served as the country's finance and labor minister, and as mayor of Hamburg.

Russia claims Ukraine has targeted a critical bridge that links the country to annexed Crimea, as Kyiv says its counteroffensive has broken through on the southern front. Russia’s defence ministry said its forces had destroyed three Ukrainian drones attempting to attack the Kerch bridge – forcing closure for the third time in a year – with one drone intercepted late on Friday and two others early on Saturday. Serving as a key supply route for Kremlin forces during its war in Ukraine, the bridge has been attacked repeatedly, Russian authorities claim. In October, an explosion involving a truck bomb purportedly killed three people, with a subsequent attack in July killing a couple and seriously injuring their daughter. A part of the road was further left hanging in a precarious position. Meanwhile, a civilian was killed and two were wounded during shelling in the Belgorod region in Russia, which borders Ukraine, Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said. Two Ukrainian drones attacked the region’s Valuysky district, damaging a home and a car as another was intercepted in the Grayvoronsky district. Another four people were wounded following attacks on the eastern city of Donetsk, Moscow-installed mayor Aleksei Kulemzin alleged. It comes as UK military officials now believe that Russia risks having to split its forces in an attempt to prevent a Ukrainian breakthrough in the south of the country. Ukraine’s deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar said Ukrainian troops were progressing in the Zaporizhzhia region, with forces taking offensive action on the Orikhiv axis in southern Ukraine. The White House confirmed Ms Maliar’s statements as it noted “notable success” in the Zaporizhzhia area, though she warned that Ukrainian troops had pushed through to heavily fortified lines of Russian defence following the breakthrough. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said the country’s troops were “moving forward” as part of their long-anticipated counteroffensive, appearing to rebuff Western officials who have suggested that Ukraine has been too slow to recapture ground from Moscow. Ukraine’s military forces further reported a total of 45 combat clashes on front lines in the 24 hours between Friday and Saturday evening. The counteroffensive has successfully reclaimed more than a dozen villages. However, Ukrainian soldiers have been impeded by extensive Russian minefields and defensive lines, the gains do not encompass any major settlement. Moscow has labelled the Ukrainian counteroffensive a failure, with Kyiv asserting that it has purposefully advanced slowly to minimise losses on the battlefield. "Ukrainian forces are moving forward. Despite everything, and no matter what anyone says, we are advancing, and that is the most important thing. We are on the move," Zelensky wrote on the Telegram messaging app. Ukrainian military confirmed further advances towards Melitopol, a major Russian-occupied urban centre inthe Zaporizhzhia region. Elsewhere, Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to President Zelensky, warned that drone strikes on Russian soil were only set to increase, adding that Ukraine has ramped up attacks on Russian-occupied areas. Mr Podolyak noted that Ukraine would also escalate attacks in Russia itself. However, Kyiv does not generally directly claim attacks outside of Ukraine, with Mr Podolyak saying such strikes would be carried out by “agents” or “partisans”. “As for Russia ... there is an increasing number of attacks by unidentified drones launched from the territory of the Russian Federation, and the number of these attacks will increase,” Mr Podolyak told Reuters news agency. “This is the stage of the war when hostilities are gradually being transferred to the territory of the Russian Federation.” Read More More cargo ships from Ukraine use a civilian corridor despite Russian threats Dodging a constant assault of Russian missiles – the war-weary keep fighting in Ukraine’s blood-soaked east Drone attacks inside Putin’s Russia will only increase, says senior Ukraine official Russia declares Nobel-winning editor Dmitry Muratov to be a foreign agent Ukraine-Russia war – live: Putin’s defences fail as Kyiv counteroffensive ‘breaks through on southern front’ The Body in the Woods | An Independent TV Original Documentary The harrowing discovery at centre of The Independent’s new documentary

A convicted murderer who escaped from a Pennsylvania prison was spotted by surveillance cameras in an area not far from the prison. Danelo Cavalcante, 34, was convicted on 16 August for stabbing his 33-year-old former girlfriend Deborah Brandao to death in front of her children back in April 2021. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole. Cavalcante, described as an “extremely dangerous man,” escaped from Chester County Prison in West Chester around 8.45am on Thursday, said the county’s district attorney Deb Ryan. The Chester County District Attorney’s Office said in a statement that Cavalcante was seen on cameras at around 12.30am on Friday in Pocopson Township, roughly one and a half miles from the prison. This is a developing story ... check again for updates.

“Dog the Bounty Hunter” Duane Chapman has joined the search for Rachel Morin’s killer in Maryland as detectives are tracking leads hundreds of miles away in Chicago. Mr Chapman appeared on NewsNation this week to offer his expertise on possible clues in the surveillance video footage previously released by the Harford County Sheriff’s Office showing the man they believe is responsible for the mother-of-five’s killing in Bel Air last month. The footage is from the scene of a home invasion and assault in Los Angeles, where DNA found matched DNA at the Morin crime scene. Harford County Sheriff Jeff Gahler has said the suspect might be a serial killer. He confirmed to Law&Crime this week that detectives are now in Chicago tracking leads. Several weeks have now passed since Morin was found dead on the Ma & Pa Trail in Bel Air in early August.She had set off on a walk along the trail on 5 August, with the alarm raised when she didn’t return home. Read More Rachel Morin was found dead on a popular Maryland hiking trail. Police finally have a break in the case Rachel Morin’s mother shares ‘unbearable’ pain as Bel Air killer still at large weeks after murder Rachel Morin killer ‘not going to stop’ unless arrested, police say as new clues dry up

Sajid, who worked for the UK armed forces, says he cannot be reunited with his three-year-old son.

Ukraine has claimed to have broken through the first line of Russia’s defences in several locations and made gains in the Zaporizhzhia region. “There is an offensive in several directions and in certain areas. And in some places, in certain areas, this first line was broken through,” Hanna Maliar, deputy defence minister, told local TV last night. Her comments were backed up the United States, which said on Friday that Kyiv had made notable progress on the southern front in the last 72 hours. Earlier the Russian defence ministry claimed that its forces have destroyed three unmanned boats “being used in an attempt to target the Crimea Bridge”. The ministry alleged Ukraine was behind the attack, the Kyiv Independent reported. Read More Putin’s forces pushed back in southern Ukraine – as Zelensky claims new long-range weapon The ‘Vampire’ rocket system helping Ukraine shoot down Russia’s kamikaze drones Ukraine pilot films moment drone flies into Russian truck

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis will likely not meet with President Joe Biden on Saturday when he tours parts