On the front lines in Ukraine, a soldier was having trouble firing his 155 mm howitzer gun. So, he turned to a team of Americans on the other end of his phone line for help.“What do I do?” he asked the U.S. military team member, miles away at a base in southeastern Poland. “What are my options?”Using phones and tablets to communicate in encrypted chatrooms, a rapidly growing group of U.S. and allied troops and contractors are providing real-time maintenance advice — usually speaking through interpreters — to Ukrainian troops on the battlefield.<h2>Quick response</h2>In a quick response, the U.S. team member told the Ukrainian to remove the gun’s breech at the rear of the howitzer, and manually prime the firing pin so the gun could fire. He did it and it worked.The exchange is part of an expanding U.S. military help line aimed at providing repair advice to Ukrainian forces in the heat of battle. As the U.S. and other allies send more and increasingly complex and high-tech weapons to Ukraine, demands are spiking. And since no U.S. or other NATO nations will send troops into the country to provide hands-on assistance — amid worries about being drawn into a direct conflict with Russia — they've turned to virtual chatrooms.The U.S. soldier and other team members and leaders stationed at a base in Poland spoke last week to two reporters who were traveling with Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff when he visited the facility. Because of the sensitivity of the operation, the troops there spoke on condition of anonymity under guidelines set by the U.S. military. Reporters also agreed not to reveal the name or location of the base or take photos.<h2>The team includes about 20 soldiers now</h2>Fixing a howitzer, the repair team said, has been a frequent request from Ukrainian troops on the front lines. The need for help with weapons as been growing. Just a few months ago, there were just a bit more than 50 members of what they call the remote maintenance team. That will surge to 150 in the coming weeks, and the number of encrypted chat lines has more than tripled — from about 11 last fall to 38 now.The team includes about 20 soldiers now, supplemented by civilians and contractors, but the military number may dip a bit, as more civilians come on board. And they expect it will continue to evolve as new sophisticated weapons are delivered to the Ukrainians, and new chatrooms set up to handle them.“A lot of the times we’ll get calls from right there on the firing line, so there’ll be outgoing or incoming fire at the same time you’re trying to help the forward maintainers troubleshoot the best they can,” said a U.S. soldier who is part of the maintenance team. Sometimes, he said, the chat has to wait a bit until troops can get to a safer location.A key problem, said one officer, is that Ukrainian troops are pushing the weapons to their limits — firing them at unprecedented rates and using them long after a U.S. service member would turn them in to be repaired or retired.Holding up his tablet, the U.S. soldier showed photos of the barrel of a howitzer, it's interior ridges nearly worn completely away.“They’re using these systems in ways that we didn’t necessarily anticipate,” said the officer, pointing to the tablet. “We’re actually learning from them by seeing how much abuse these weapon systems can take, and where's the breaking point.”But the Ukrainian troops are often reluctant to send the weapons back out of the country for repairs. They'd rather do it themselves and in nearly all cases — U.S. officials estimated 99% of the time — the Ukrainians do the repair and continue on.Many of the chats are regularly scheduled with depot workers in Ukraine — like the one they call “Coffee Cup Guy," because his chat has a coffee cup emoji. Other times they involve troops on the battlefield whose gun just blew apart, or whose vehicle stalled.Sometimes video chats aren't possible.“A lot of times if they’re on the front line, they won’t do a video because sometimes (cell service) is a little spotty,” said a U.S. maintainer. “They’ll take pictures and send it to us through the chats and we sit there and diagnose it.”There were times, he said, when they'll get a picture of a broken howitzer, and the Ukrainian will say, “This Triple 7 just blew up — what do we do?”And, in what he said was a remarkable new skill, the Ukrainians can now put the split weapon back together. “They couldn’t do titanium welding before, they can do it now,” said the U.S. soldier, adding that “something that was two days ago blown up is now back in play.”Doling advice over the chats means the U.S. experts have to diagnose the problem when something goes wrong, figure out how to fix it, then translate the steps into Ukrainian.<h2>Diagnostic capabilities</h2>As they look to the future, they are planning to get some commercial, off-the-shelf translation goggles. That way, when they talk to each other they can skip the interpreters and just see the translation as they speak, making conversations easier and faster.They also are hoping to build their diagnostic capabilities as the weapons systems get more complex, and expand the types and amount of spare parts they keep on hand. For example, they said the Patriot missile system the U.S. is sending to Ukraine will be a challenge requiring more expertise in diagnosing and repairing problems..The expanse of weapons and equipment they’re handling and questions they’re fielding was even too complicated for a digital spreadsheet — forcing the team to go low-tech. One wall in their maintenance office is lined with an array of old-fashioned, color-coded Post-it notes, to help them track the weapons and maintenance needs.The team in Poland is part of an ever expanding logistical network that stretches across Europe. As more nations send their own versions of weapon systems, they are setting up teams to provide repair support in a variety of locations.The nations and the manufacturing companies quickly put together manuals and technical data that can be translated and sent to the Ukrainians. They then set up stocks of spare parts and get them to locations near Ukraine's borders, where they can be sent to the battlefield.Just days before Milley visited the base, Ukrainians traveled to the Poland facility for parts. The visit gave U.S. soldiers a chance to meet someone from their chatrooms face-to-face and swap military patches.“In the next video chat we had he was wearing our patches in his video,” the U.S. soldier said.The hub for the growing logistical effort is at Lucius D. Clay Kaserne, the U.S. Army base in Wiesbaden, Germany.There, in cubicles filling an expansive room, the international coalition coordinates the campaign to locate and identify farflung equipment, weapons and spare parts in other countries that are needed in Ukraine. They then plan out deliveries — by sea, air and ground routes — to border locations where everything is loaded onto trucks or trains and moved to the warzone.At least 17 nations have representatives in what's called the International Donor Coordination Center. And as the amount and types of equipment grow, the center is working to better meld the donations from the U.S. and other nations.“As we send more additional advanced equipment, like Strykers, like Bradleys, like tanks, of course that sustainment activity will have to increase," said Douglas Bush, assistant Army secretary for acquisition. “I think the challenge is recognized. I think the Army knows how to do it."

Fixing a howitzer, the repair team said, has been a frequent request from Ukrainian troops on the front lines

Ukrainian soldiers prepare a U.S.-supplied M777 howitzer to fire at Russian positions in Kherson region

How to fix a howitzer: US offers help line to Ukraine troops

Israel’s defense minister signaled Friday that the military would stop its airstrikes if Palestinian militant groups halted rocket attacks, a day after the deadliest Israeli raid in decades raised the prospect of a major flare-up in fighting. The limited exchange of fire between Gaza militants and the Israeli armed forces has so far followed a familiar pattern that allows both sides to respond without leading to a major escalation. The defense minister's instruction to the military prepare for new strikes in the Gaza Strip “if necessary” also appeared to leave open the possibility that the violence would subside.Midday prayers at Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, often a catalyst for clashes between Palestinians and Israeli police, passed in relative calm, despite a heavy police presence. Still, residents of the holy city and the occupied West Bank remained on edge.<h2>Israeli-Palestinian conflict</h2>The bombardments followed an Israeli raid in the flashpoint Jenin refugee camp that turned into a gun battle, which killed at least nine people, including seven militants and a 61-year-old woman.The raid also sparked clashes elsewhere during which Israeli forces killed a 22-year-old in al-Ram, a Palestinian town north of Jerusalem. At the funeral in al-Ram, crowds of Palestinians carried the young man's body aloft and waved the flags of both Fatah, the party that controls the Palestinian Authority, and militant Hamas, which rules Gaza.The escalation in the decadeslong Israeli-Palestinian conflict created an early test for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s new far-right government, which came to office as tensions with the Palestinians soared and has vowed to take a hard line.The raid also prompted the Palestinian Authority to halt security coordination with Israel and drew “deep concern” from the State Department just days before U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was expected to visit the region.So far, both the Palestinian rockets and Israeli airstrikes seemed limited so as to prevent escalation into a full-blown war. Israel and Hamas have fought four wars and several smaller skirmishes since the militant group seized power in Gaza from rival Palestinian forces in 2007.Palestinian militants fired rockets from Gaza toward the south of Israel. Israel retaliated with nonlethal airstrikes on militant targets in Gaza, such as training camps and an underground rocket manufacturing site.Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant claimed the military dealt a “tough blow” to Palestinian militants in Gaza and said the army was preparing to strike “high-quality targets ... until peace is restored to the citizens of Israel.”An uneasy calm prevailed around Al-Aqsa, revered by Jews as the Temple Mount. Tensions at the volatile Jerusalem holy site has triggered violence in the past, including a bloody Gaza war in 2021. The site is considered both the third-most sacred site in Islam, as well as the site of an ancient Jewish temple that is the holiest place in Judaism.Israeli police were out in force at entrances to the limestone alleys that lead to the sacred compound. Scores of Muslim worshippers gathered in the mosque's stone courtyard before the iconic golden Dome of the Rock and chanted in solidarity with those killed in the Jenin raid.“In spirit and blood, we will sacrifice you,” they shouted. “Greetings Jenin, Greetings Gaza.”Eyad Shaher, a 45-year-old construction worker from Bethlehem who prays weekly at Al-Aqsa, said he was relieved to have a peaceful morning.“Thank God it was good and there were no problems after that cursed day,” he said, referring to Thursday’s events.Tensions have soared since Israel stepped up raids in the West Bank last spring, following a series of Palestinian attacks. Jenin, which was an important a militant stronghold during the 2000-2005 intifada and has again emerged as one, has been the focus of many of the Israeli operations.Nearly 150 Palestinians were killed in the West Bank and east Jerusalem last year, making 2022 the deadliest in those territories since 2004, according to leading Israeli rights group B’Tselem. Last year, 30 people were killed in Palestinian attacks against Israelis.So far this year, 30 Palestinians have been killed, according to a count by The Associated Press.Israel says most of the dead were militants. But youths protesting the incursions and others not involved in the confrontations also have been killed.Anwar Gargash, a senior diplomat in the United Arab Emirates, warned Friday that “the Israeli escalation in Jenin is dangerous and disturbing and undermines international efforts to advance the priority of the peace agenda.” The UAE recognized Israel in 2020 along with Bahrain, which has remained silent on the surge in violence.News of the nine killed in Jenin and the overnight rockets blared from phones and radios in Jerusalem's Old City on Friday as young Palestinians milled around and women hawked raisins.Ibrahim Salameh, a 21-year-old smoking on the steps of Damascus Gate, said he had never been so scared. On Wednesday, he said, his teenage neighbor was killed as police entered the Shuafat refugee camp to demolish an attacker's home.“Every day there's more and more fear, more tension,” he said. “Somehow I'm living with this idea that at any moment I could be shot dead.”<h2>Israel has established dozens of settlements</h2>In the West Bank, Fatah announced a general strike and most shops were closed in Palestinian cities. The PA declared Thursday that it would halt the ties that its security forces maintain with Israel in a shared effort to contain Islamic militants. Previous threats have been short-lived, in part because of the benefits the authority enjoys from the relationship, and also due to U.S. and Israeli pressure.The PA has limited control over scattered enclaves in the West Bank, and almost none over militant strongholds like the Jenin camp.Israel says its raids are meant to dismantle militant networks and thwart attacks. The Palestinians say they further entrench Israel’s 55-year, open-ended occupation of the West Bank, which Israel captured along with east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians want those territories to form any eventual state.Israel has established dozens of settlements in the West Bank that now house 500,000 people. The Palestinians and much of the international community view settlements as illegal and an obstacle to peace, even as talks to end the conflict have been moribund for over a decade.

Israeli police were out in force at entrances to the limestone alleys that lead to the sacred compound

Palestinians burn tires and wave the national flag during a protest against Israeli military raid in the West Bank city of Jenin, along the border fence with Israel, in east of Gaza City

Jerusalem, West Bank on edge after Israeli raid, fighting

Russia fired more missiles and self-exploding drones at nearly a dozen Ukrainian provinces early Thursday, causing the first war-related death in Kyiv this year and killing at least 11 people overall, according to Ukrainian authorities. The attacks adhered to Russia's recent pattern of striking power plants and other critical infrastructure about every two weeks. However, the latest onslaught came after Germany and the United States upped the ante in Russia's 11-month war by promising Wednesday to send high-tech battle tanks to Ukraine and green-lighting other allies to do the same.<h2>Self-exploding drones</h2>The spokesperson for Ukraine’s State Emergency Service, Oleksandr Khorunzhyi, said that in addition to the dead at least 11 people were wounded.Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said one person was killed during the attacks, the city’s first such death since New Year’s Eve. Two others were injured, he said. The head of the Kyiv city administration, Serhii Popko, said Ukrainian air defenses shot down 15 cruise missiles heading to the area.The regional prosecutor’s office in Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia province said three people were killed and seven injured in a strike on an energy facility. Valerii Zaluzhnyi, the commander of Ukraine's armed forces, said Thursday's volley involved a total of 55 missiles, of which 47 were intercepted.Self-exploding drones swept in overnight before the missile strikes. As air raid sirens echoed across the country, civilians, some tugging pet dogs on leashes, poured into subway stations, underground parking lots and basements to seek shelter.It was the first such barrage of Russian firepower across the country since Jan. 14.Russia has carried out massive strikes on Ukrainian energy facilities since early October, part of a strategy to try to hamper Ukrainian forces and to keep civilians in the cold and dark this winter before what many experts predict could be a springtime offensive as more conscripts reach the battlefields.Ukrainian Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko acknowledged that some sites were hit, resulting in emergency power outages.In Kyiv’s southern Holosiivsky district, Arkadii Kuritsyn, 53, said he heard a loud explosion that blew out windows of several trucks parked next to his scrap metal business and snapped several trees in a nearby wooded area in half.But the strikes did not reach what appeared to be the intended target: a nearby district power plant. The industrial area has witnessed several missile attacks already, due to its proximity to the power station, said Andrii Tarasenko, 36, who works in a factory nearby.“I am not surprised it was targeted again," he said. "We’ve gotten used to it.”In Hlevakha, an urban area about 35 kilometers (about 22 miles) southwest of the capital, a barrage of missiles followed a drone attack that damaged the two-story home of Halyna Panasian. The damage included a deep crater in the courtyard, a large hole in the roof and pieces of debris scattered about the house.“I was in my bedroom when the house was hit. I had to crawl out through the destroyed walls,” Panasian, 59, said of the blast at about 2 a.m. “Such grief: What can I say? How can I have a happy life now? I can’t. I’m so sad. My life is broken.”The attacks came a day after Germany said it would supply 14 high-tech Leopard 2 battle tanks to Ukraine and authorize other European countries to send up to 88 more. The U.S. said it planned to ship 31 Abrams M1 tanks to Ukrainian forces.Along with Germany and the U.S., Britain, Poland, the Netherlands and Sweden are among the nations that have sent or announced plans to supply hundreds of tanks and heavy armored vehicles to fortify Ukraine as it enters a new phase of the war and tries to break through entrenched Russian lines.Gian Gentile, a U.S. Army veteran and senior historian with the Rand think tank, said the M1 Abrams and the Leopards would give Ukraine a “mechanized armored punching force.”The British government said Thursday it would start training Ukrainian troops next week on how to use and fix Challenger 2 tanks. The U.K. is giving 14 of the tanks to Ukraine’s forces, and Defense Minister Alex Chalk said they should arrive in Ukraine by the end of March.German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said Ukrainian crews will start their training in Germany in coming days on German-made Marders, which are infantry fighting vehicles, while training on the heavier Leopard 2 tanks would start “a little later.”<h2>Allies are extremely focused on the importance of speed</h2>“In any case, the aim with the Leopards is to have the first company in Ukraine by the end of March, beginning of April,” he added. “I can’t say the precise day.”NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg declined to speculate on the timing of the tanks' arrival but told Britain's Sky News the “allies are extremely focused on the importance of speed.”Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the move to provide Ukraine with modern tanks reflected the West’s growing involvement in the conflict.“Both European capitals and Washington keep saying that the delivery of various kinds of weapons systems, including tanks, to Ukraine, absolutely does not mean the involvement of these countries or the alliance in the hostilities ongoing in Ukraine,” Peskov told reporters. “We categorically disagree with that."“Moscow views everything that has been done by the alliance and the capitals I have mentioned as direct involvement in the conflict,” he added. "We can see it growing.”French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna, who happened to be in Ukraine’s Black Sea port city of Odesa on Thursday, in part to meet with Ukraine's foreign minister. told France’s LCI television that Thursday's attacks went beyond retaliation.“What we saw this morning — that is, new strikes on civilian installations — that is not making war. It is making war crimes.”

The attacks adhered to Russia's recent pattern of striking power plants and other critical infrastructure about every two weeks

Halina Panasian, 69, reacts inside her destroyed house after a Russian rocket attack in Hlevakha, Kyiv region

New barrage of Russian strikes in Ukraine kills at least 11

Global shares advanced Friday, tracking a rally on Wall Street following reports suggesting the economy and corporate profits may be doing better than feared. France's CAC 40 gained 0.2% to 7,107.44. Germany's DAX was unchanged at 15,134.04, while Britain's FTSE 100 rose nearly 0.2% to 7,773.10. The future for the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.1% lower and that for the S&amp;P 500 futures fell 0.3%.On Thursday, Wall Street stocks climbed to their highest level in nearly eight weeks after the Commerce Department reported that the U.S. economy expanded at a 2.9% annual pace in the last quarter, ending 2022 with momentum despite higher interest rates and widespread fears of a looming recession.But more swings may still be ahead, as investors digest a torrent of earnings and economic reports. Markets have veered up and down recently as worries about a severe recession and drop-off in profits battle against hopes the economy can manage a soft landing and the Federal Reserve may ease up on interest rates.In Tokyo on Friday, data showed the core consumer price index, excluding volatile food and energy costs, was up 4.3%, slightly higher than expected and above the Bank of Japan’s target of 2%. Japan's central bank has refrained from raising interest rates to tamp down price increases, however, saying the risk of growth slowing too quickly outweighs the threat from inflation.Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 rose nearly 0.1% to finish at 27,382.56. Australia's S&amp;P/ASX 200 added 0.3% to 7,493.80. South Korea's Kospi gained 0.6% to 2,484.18. Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.5% to 22,688.90.Markets remained closed in Shanghai for the Lunar New Year holidays. Markets on the Chinese mainland will reopen on Monday.India's Sensex fell 1.5% as the Adani Group was hit by heavy selling for a second trading session. Shares in seven Adani companies have plunged this week, wiping out billions of dollars in market value, after short-selling firm Hindenburg Research said it was betting against the conglomerate, which has holdings in energy, data transmission, construction and other major industries.The Adani Group nonetheless went ahead with a share offering for retail investors Friday, as shares in its flagship Adani Enterprises sank nearly 16%. Shares in some other group companies fell as much as 20%, triggering some halts to trading.In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude rose 60 cents to $81.61 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It lost 14 cents to $81.01 on Thursday.Brent crude, the international pricing standard, gained 67 cents to $88.14 a barrel in London.In currency trading, the U.S. dollar edged down to 130.18 Japanese yen from 130.23 yen. The euro cost $1.0873, down from $1.0890.

Markets remained closed in Shanghai for the Lunar New Year holidays

A currency trader passes by the screens showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul

Global shares edge higher, tracking Wall Street rally

Disgruntled rebel police officers roared through the streets of Haiti's capital of Port-au-Prince on Thursday, blocking roads and shooting guns into the air to protest a slew of killings of police officers by Haitian gangs. Gangs have killed at least 10 officers in the past week; another is missing and one more has severe bullet wounds, according to the Haitian National Police.<h2>An armed group</h2>A video obtained by The Associated Press and acknowledged by police on Thursday –- likely recorded by gangs -– shows the naked and bloodied bodies of six officers stretched out on the dirt, their guns laying on their chests. The gang who killed them, known as Gan Grif, still has the bodies, police said.The killings are just the latest example of escalating violence in the Caribbean nation, which has been gripped by gang wars and political chaos following the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moise. His unelected successor has asked the United Nations to lead a military intervention, but no country has been willing to put boots on the ground.The deaths enraged members of Fantom 509, an armed group of current and former police officers that has violently demanded better conditions for officers.Dozens of these men wove through city on Thursday, many wearing hoods along with police uniforms, flak jackets and rifles and automatic weapons. They seized buses to blockade roads and torched tires across the city, leaving smoke plummeting through the streets.Many demanded tougher crackdowns on the gangs, and called for the end to the current government of Ariel Henry, which many Haitians view as illegitimate. At one point, demonstrators broke down one of the gates outside Henry’s home.“If they are killing police officers, me as a citizen, what should I do?” one protester in a mask screamed into an Associated Press camera. "The police are second only to God and we're going to stand behind them.”A video recorded by local Haitian media shows empty streets and closed businesses on a key road of Port-au-Prince where the rebel group passed through.In addition to the bodies displayed by the gang, a number of officers were killed last week in a firefight with gangs in a neighborhood that was once considered relatively safe.The Haitian National Police expressed condolences to the slain officers' families and colleagues, and said it's "calling for peace and invites police officers to come together to bring forward an institutional response to the different criminal organizations that terrorize the Haitian people.”<h2>American and Canadian governments</h2>The United Nations estimates that 60% of Port-au-Prince is controlled by the gangs. On the streets of the capital, Haitians say it's more like 100%.This week, the U.N. special envoy for Haiti urged the American and Canadian governments to lead an international armed force to help Haiti combat the gangs. Haitian police, meanwhile, are pleading for more resources.The demonstrators carried on to the city airport, where Henry was scheduled to hold a press conference before cancelling. Some on the streets said they will only continue to protest.“The movement will continue, we can’t let police get killed like this,” said one masked man in a police uniform carrying a pistol who did not want to be identified. “We can do the job if they give us ammunition."

Gangs have killed at least 10 officers in the past week; another is missing and one more has severe bullet wounds, according to the Police

A national policeman talks with his colleagues next to an armored police car in Port-au-Prince, Haiti

Haitian police rebels protest gang killings of officers

The FBI has at least temporarily dismantled the network of a prolific ransomware gang it infiltrated last year, saving victims including hospitals and school districts a potential $130 million in ransom payments, Attorney General Merrick Garland and other U.S. officials announced Thursday. “Simply put, using lawful means we hacked the hackers,” Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said at a news conference.Officials said the targeted syndicate, known as Hive, operates one of the world's top five ransomware networks. The FBI quietly gained access to its control panel in July and was able to obtain software keys to decrypt the network of some 1,300 victims globally, said FBI Director Christopher Wray. Officials credited German police and other international partners.It was not immediately clear how the takedown will affect Hive’s long-term operations, however. Officials did not announce any arrests but said they were building a map of Hive’s administrators, who manage the software, and affiliates, who infect targets and negotiate with victims, to pursue prosecutions.“I think anyone involved with Hive should be concerned because this investigation is ongoing,” Wray said.On Wednesday night, FBI agents seized computer infrastructure in Los Angeles that was used to support the network. Hive's dark web site was also seized.“Cybercrime is a constantly evolving threat, but as I have said before, the Justice Department will spare no resource to bring to justice anyone anywhere that targets the United States with a ransomware attack,” Wray said.Garland said that thanks to the infiltration, led by the FBI's Tampa office, agents were able in one instance to disrupt a Hive attack against a Texas school district, stopping it from making a $5 million payment.The operation is a big win for the Justice Department. The ransomware scourge is the world's biggest cybercrime headache with everything from Britain's postal service and Ireland's national health service to Costa Rica's government crippled by Russian-speaking syndicates that enjoy Kremlin protection. The criminals lock up, or encrypt, victims' computer networks, steal sensitive data and demand large sums.As an example of Hive's threat, Garland said it had prevented a hospital in the Midwest in 2021 from accepting new patients at the height of the COVID-19 epidemic.A U.S. government advisory last year said Hive ransomware actors victimized over 1,300 companies worldwide from June 2021 through November 2022, receiving approximately $100 million in ransom payments. It said criminals using Hive ransomware targeted a wide range of businesses and critical infrastructure, including government, manufacturing and especially health care and public health facilities.The threat captured the attention of the highest levels of the Biden administration two years ago after a series of high-profile attacks that threatened critical infrastructure and global industry. In May 2021, for instance, hackers targeted the nation's largest fuel pipeline, causing the operators to briefly shut it down and make a multimillion-dollar ransom payment that the U.S. government largely recovered.Federal officials have used a variety of tools to try to combat the problem, but conventional law enforcement measures such as arrests and prosecutions have done little to frustrate the criminals.The FBI has obtained access to decryption keys before. It did so in the case of a major 2021 ransomware attack on Kaseya, a company whose software runs hundreds of websites. It took some heat, however, for waiting several weeks to help victims unlock afflicted networks.

Simply put, using lawful means we hacked the hackers, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said

Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco flanked by Attorney General Merrick Garland, left, and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Christopher Wray speaks during a news conference to announce an international ransomware enforcement action, at the Department of Justice in Washington

US infiltrates big ransomware gang: 'We hacked the hackers'

The decision by Facebook's parent company to soon reinstate Donald Trump's account comes at a critical moment for the former president as he tries to build campaign momentum for a return to the White House. Reclaiming his social media megaphone could open an important new stream of revenue for the 2024 contest’s only declared candidate, whose campaign has faced criticism for its lackluster launch.<h2>He was banned from posting on both Facebook and Twitter</h2>Trump is considering a return to Twitter, as well, rejoining both of the social media giants that he used to great effect to widely and personally connect with his supporters in previous campaigning.He was banned from posting on both Facebook and Twitter, along with other social media sites, for his role in inciting violence in the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021,In considering a return to the platforms that shunned him, Trump is essentially recognizing that the social media company he launched last year, Truth Social, pales in comparison to the reach of the highest profile platforms. He currently has 4.84 million followers on Truth Social, dramatically fewer than the 87.7 million who follow his account on Twitter, the 34 million who follow him on Facebook and the 23.4 million who follow him on Meta's Instagram.Trump’s Twitter account was unlocked in November, shortly after Elon Musk purchased the company, but Trump has refrained from using it, insisting that he is happier on Truth.But while Twitter was long Trump's instrument for shouting his opinions — and received far more attention — for his new campaign, Facebook is ultimately about money.The 2016 campaign of the business executive and reality TV star was a trailblazer when it came to harnessing the power of Facebook’s digital advertising tools. And his 2016 and 2020 campaigns spent millions on ads that were key to his small-dollar fundraising efforts.The decision on Wednesday by Meta, Facebook’s parent company, to reinstate him, is likely to be a similar boon to his current campaign’s efforts to raise millions, as well as to collect emails and identify voters.“I think first and foremost this is about fundraising for Trump,” said Katie Harbath, a fellow at the Bipartisan Policy Center who served as Facebook’s former public policy director. “He wants to continue to have access to get emails and addresses for fundraising, which is something the platform was always really important to the campaign for.”During his suspension from Facebook, Trump’s political operation continued to fundraise on the site but couldn’t run ads directly from him or in his voice — appeals that Harbath said are much more powerful.“Personal appeals are always the best,” she said. “And folks haven’t seen that in their feeds in a long time.”The reinstatement comes at an opportune time for Trump, who has struggled in the opening months of his 2024 White House campaign to reclaim the energy of his previous two bids. He's planning his first official campaign event Saturday, with plans to visit two early-voting states, New Hampshire and South Carolina.But even as Trump and his team mull how best to harness the social media brands that helped power his initial rise, there could be significant hurdles.The former president created Truth Social, a Twitter lookalike, after he was suspended from Twitter and Facebook. He usually posts on his social media site multiple times a day, sharing thoughts, insults and campaign videos and reposting messages from his supporters, just as he had on Twitter.As part of his deal with Digital World Acquisition Corp. to take Truth Social public, Trump agreed — so he wouldn’t compete against his own company — that it would be the “first channel” for “any and all social media communications and posts coming from his personal profile,” according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission last May.That includes an exclusivity clause in which the former president was “generally obligated to make any social media post on TruthSocial and may not make the same post on another social media site for 6 hours” for a period of 18 months, beginning Dec. 22, 2021.It adds, however, that, Trump “may make a post from a personal account related to political messaging, political fundraising or get-out-the-vote efforts on any social media site at any time.”Some Trump allies believe that that line gives him license to post political messages anytime he’d like, though he continues to abstain.Former Republican Rep. Devin Nunes, CEO of the Trump Media &amp; Technology Group, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that the SEC filing makes Trump’s obligations clear, but he declined to elaborate. Neither Digital World nor its CEO Patrick Orlando responded to requests for comment.“I think this is less of a legal question than an ego question,” said Harbath, who expects Trump to begin advertising on Facebook before he resumes messaging. “The man likes to put on a show.”<h2>Trump’s social media plans including his plans</h2>Questions also remain about whether Digital World will get approval from federal stock market regulators to join with Truth Social and go public. Without the merger, Truth Social and its biggest owner, Trump, won’t get shares in the combined company potentially worth hundreds of millions of dollars.Since rumors began spreading of Trump possibly posting again on rival social media platforms, stock in Digital World has plunged. The potential Truth Social partner is down 30% since Twitter reinstated Trump’s personal account last year even as the broader comparative market has barely moved.Trump has so far insisted he is sticking with Truth, saying he prefers the engagement on the site, where fringe content dominates.But Trump in recent weeks has been talking about returning to Twitter, according to two people familiar with the discussions who spoke on condition of anonymity to disclose private conversations. That has included discussing possible first tweets that would generate maximum impact, NBC News first reported.A Trump campaign spokesperson declined to discuss Trump’s social media plans including his plans for a possible return.But as Meta mulled its decision, Trump's campaign lobbied for his reinstatement.In a letter this month, lawyer Scott Gast pressed the company to allow Trump's return, arguing that continuing the ban “would basically constitute, in the words of Mr. Clegg, a deliberate effort by a private company to silence Mr. Trump’s political voice."That's Nick Clegg, Meta's vice president of global affairs.“Moreover, every day that President Trump’s political voice remains silenced furthers an inappropriate interference in the American political and election process,” wrote lawyer Gast.<h2>"Further violating content”</h2>Trump also faces potential limitations on the content he can share on the platform.In a post announcing Meta's decision, Clegg wrote that the “public should be able to hear what their politicians are saying — the good, the bad and the ugly — so that they can make informed choices at the ballot box.”At the same time, however, he said the company would be putting new “guardrails” in place and that Trump would face additional suspensions should he post “further violating content.”And if Trump or anyone else posts material that doesn’t violate Facebook’s rules but is otherwise harmful — such as content that tries to delegitimizes an upcoming election or is related to the QAnon conspiracy theory — Clegg said Meta will act to limit that material’s reach.It could also temporarily restrict Trump's access to its advertising tools.

Trump’s Twitter account was unlocked in November

President Donald Trump gestures as he arrives to speak at a rally on Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington

Trump's return to Facebook could be major fundraising boost

A Ukrainian human rights lawyer who shared last year's Nobel Peace Prize called Thursday for more international investigative and legal help to deal with the staggering amount of war crimes cases since Russia invaded its neighbor almost a year ago. Oleksandra Matviichuk of Ukraine’s Center for Civil Liberties told a session of the 46-nation Council of Europe, the continent's foremost human rights organization, that Ukraine had documented some 31,000 cases of potential war crimes since the Feb. 24, 2022 invasion.<h2>The war has turned people into numbers</h2>But the glut of work the process entailed left the legal system unable to properly deal with most of them, Matviichuk said.“The war has turned people into numbers. The scale of war crimes grows so large that it’s become impossible to recognize all the stories,” she said, insisting it remained essential to give each individual a sense of justice done.The war crime allegations against Russians involve the rape, torture and murder of innocent civilians, forced deportations, child abductions and the destruction of churches, schools and hospitals, the human rights lawyer said.“I work with people who have survived hell,” Matviichuk continued, “and I’m certain that above and beyond their own lives, ruined families, ruined vision of the future, these people crave to restore their trust that justice exists, even though delayed in time.”The United Nations human rights office said that as of Jan. 23, 7,068 civilians had been killed in the war.While Ukrainian officials have called for modern tanks and advanced weapons to beef up the defense of their nation, Matviichuk wants a similar effort to reinforce its legal capabilities. “We must ingrain international elements into the level of national investigation and national justice,” she said.She called on the Council of Europe to help set up a system where more international investigators and judges could be brought in to reinforce Ukraine in prosecuting cases.<h2>"Provide Ukraine with modern weaponry"</h2>In October, Matviichuk's organization, the Center for Civil Liberties, was named a co-winner of the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize along with Russian human rights group Memorial and Ales Bialiatski, head of the Belarusian rights group Viasna.In her impassioned Thursday speech in the hall of Council of Europe, she also rued with a trembling voice that the International Criminal Court was centering on a select few cases and had no jurisdiction over the crime of aggression, for which many in the international community want Russian President Vladimir Putin and other top Kremlin officials prosecuted.The European Parliament and the European Union's executive commission have called for the establishment of a court to prosecute the crime of aggression, and Matviichuk urged the Council of Europe to also take a leading role in it.Something has to happen soon, she said, because, as a legal expert, she only has one answer for her nation's plight: “Provide Ukraine with modern weaponry because now the law doesn’t work.”

But the glut of work the process entailed left the legal system unable to properly deal with most of them, Matviichuk said

Oleksandra Matviichuk, an Ukrainian human rights lawyer, head of the Center for Civil Liberties and 2022 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, attends a session at the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) in Strasbourg

Nobel laureate wants more to help probe Russian war crimes

Ukrainian officials said Thursday that Russia launched a wave of missile and self-exploding drone attacks on the country. Air raid sirens wailed nationwide. There were no immediate reports of the targets, but Kyiv’s mayor said a Russian missile strike killed one person, the first death from an attack in the capital since New Year’s Eve. Mayor Vitali Klitschko said two other people were injured in the strike..The head of the Kyiv city administration said 15 cruise missiles were shot down. Serhii Popko said the missiles were fired “in the direction of Kyiv” but did not clarify if the capital itself was a target.Odesa regional governor Maksym Marchenko reported that several facilities of energy infrastructure were damaged not just in the Odesa region, but other regions of Ukraine. That caused “significant problems with electricity supply.”The attacks came after Germany and the United States announced Wednesday that they will send advanced battle tanks to Ukraine, offering what one expert called an “armored punching force” to help Kyiv break combat stalemates as the Russian invasion enters its 12th month.Germany said it would supply Ukraine with dozens of Leopard 2 tanks from European countries, while the U.S. said it share Abrams M1 tanks.Training for Ukrainian troops will begin in the coming days. Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said Ukrainian crews will start their training on German-made Marders, which are infantry fighting vehicles, and training on the heavier Leopard 2 tanks would start “a little later.”“In any case, the aim with the Leopards is to have the first company in Ukraine by the end of March, beginning of April,” Pistorius added. “I can’t say the precise day.”

The attacks came after Germany and the United States announced Wednesday that they will send advanced battle tanks to Ukraine

People gather in the subway station being used as a bomb shelter during a rocket attack in Kyiv

Russian attacks on Ukraine reported; tank training to start

Israeli forces killed at least nine Palestinians, including a 60-year-old woman, and wounded several others during a raid in a flashpoint area of the occupied West Bank on Thursday, Palestinian health officials said, in the deadliest day in years in the territory. The violence occurred during what Palestinian health officials described as a fierce, daytime operation in the Jenin refugee camp, a militant stronghold of the West Bank that has been a focus of nearly a year of Israeli arrest raids. The conflict spiked this month, with 29 Palestinians killed since the start of the year. It was not immediately clear how many of those killed Thursday were affiliated with armed groups.<h2>Jenin hospital identified the woman killed as Magda Obaid</h2>The fighting comes weeks into Israel's new government, its most right-wing ever, which has pledged to take a hard line against the Palestinians and ramp up settlement construction on lands the Palestinian seek for their hoped-for state. It also comes days before U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is set to arrive in the region and push for steps that might improve daily life for the Palestinians.The Israeli military said it was conducting the rare daytime operation because of intelligence it had received that a militant grouping linked to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which has a major foothold in the camp, was set to carry out imminent attacks against Israelis. A gun battle erupted, during which the military said it targeted the militants. At least one of the dead was identified by Palestinians as a militant.Images published by Palestinian media showed the charred exterior walls of a two-story building and cinderblocks and other debris scattered on a street. The military said it entered the building where the suspects were located to detonate explosives it said were being used by the suspects.Palestinian Health Minister May Al-Kaila said paramedics were struggling to reach the wounded amid the fighting. She also accused the military of firing tear gas at the pediatric ward of a hospital, causing children to choke. Video from the hospital showed women carrying children out of hospital rooms and into the corridor. The military said tear gas had likely wafted into the hospital from the clashes nearby.Jenin hospital identified the woman killed as Magda Obaid and the Israeli military said it was looking into reports of her death. The Palestinian Health Ministry earlier identified another one of the dead as Saeb Azriqi, 24, who was brought to a hospital in critical condition after being shot, and died from his wounds. And the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade — an armed militia affiliated with Fatah, the secular political party that controls the Palestinian Authority, claimed one of the dead, Izz al-Din Salahat, as a fighter. The ministry said at least 20 people were wounded.Internationally-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas declared three days of mourning and ordered flags at half-staff. Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesman for the Palestinian Authority, condemned the violence, calling on the international community to speak out against it.Akram Rajoub, the governor of Jenin, told The Associated Press the military prevented medical teams from evacuating the wounded and fired tear gas that seeped into the government hospital, affecting infants and interrupting surgeries. The military said forces closed roads to facilitate their operation, which may have complicated the efforts of rescue teams to reach the wounded.“We ask that the international community help the Palestinians against this extremist right-wing government and protect our citizens,” he said.The deaths drew condemnation from neighboring Jordan as well as from the militant Islamic Hamas group that rules the Gaza Strip.The Islamic Jihad branch in the coastal enclave has repeatedly fought against Israel, most recently in a fierce three-day clash last summer that killed dozens of Palestinians and disrupted the lives of hundreds of thousands of Israelis. Tensions surrounding violence in the West Bank have in the past spilled over to Gaza.“The response of the resistance to what happened today in Jenin camp will not be delayed,” warned top Hamas official Saleh Arouri.Tensions between Israelis and Palestinians have soared since Israel launched the raids last spring, following a spate of Palestinian attacks that killed 19 people, while another round of attacks later in the year brought the death toll to 30.<h2>Israel captured the West Bank</h2>Nearly 150 Palestinians were killed last year, making 2022 the deadliest since 2004, according to the Israeli rights group B'Tselem.Israel says most of the dead were militants. But youths protesting the incursions and others not involved in the confrontations have also been killed. So far this year, and not including Thursday, one-third of the Palestinians killed by Israeli troops or civilians had ties to armed groups.Israel says the raids are meant to dismantle militant networks and thwart future attacks. The Palestinians say they further entrench Israel's 55-year, open-ended occupation.Israel captured the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip in the 1967 Mideast war, territories the Palestinians claim for their hoped-for state.Israel's new far-right government, headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and propped up by ultranationalist and ultra-Orthodox parties, has pledged to put West Bank settlement expansion at the top of its priority list and has already announced a series of punitive steps against the Palestinians for pushing the U.N.’s highest judicial body to give its opinion on the Israeli occupation.

Internationally-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas declared three days of mourning and ordered flags at half-staff

Palestinians clash with Israeli forces following an army raid in the West Bank city of Jenin

Palestinians say Israeli troops kill 9 in West Bank raid

Japan successfully launched a rocket Thursday carrying a government intelligence-gathering satellite on a mission to watch movements at military sites in North Korea and improve natural disaster response. The H2A rocket, launched by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd., successfully lifted off from the Tanegashima Space Center in southwestern Japan, carrying the IGS-Radar 7 reconnaissance satellite as part of Tokyo’s effort to build up its military capability, citing growing threats in the East Asia.The satellite later successfully entered its planned orbit, Mitsubishi Heavy said.The Intelligence Gathering Satellite can capture images on the ground 24 hours a day and even in severe weather conditions. Japan launched the IGS program after a North Korean missile flyover of Japan in 1988 and aims to set up a network of 10 satellites to spot and provide early warning for possible missile launches. The satellites can be also used for disaster monitoring and response.“The government will maximize the use of IGS-Radar 7 and other reconnaissance satellites to do the utmost for Japan's national security and crisis management,” Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said in a statement Thursday as he praised the successful launch.Kishida’s government in December adopted a new national security strategy, including possessing long-range cruise missiles as a “counterstrike” capability that breaks from the country’s exclusively self-defense-only postwar principle, citing rapid weapons advancement in China and North Korea.Possible counterstrikes that aim to preempt enemy attacks would require significant advancement in intelligence gathering and cybersecurity capability, as well as significant assistance from Japan's ally, the United States, experts say.The Mitsubishi Heavy-operated, liquid-fuel H2A rocket has recorded 40 consecutive successes since a failure in 2003.Mitsubishi Heavy and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency are co-developing their new flagship H3 rocket as the successor to the H2A, which is set to retire in 2024. The first launch of H3 is set for February.

The satellite later successfully entered its planned orbit, Mitsubishi Heavy said

Japan successfully launched a rocket Thursday carrying a government intelligence-gathering satellite

Japan launches intel satellite to watch N. Korea, disasters

A knife-wielding man described as a stateless Palestinian has fatally stabbed two people and injured seven others on a train in northern Germany before being grabbed by passengers and arrested by police, officials said. The motive of Wednesday's attack was not immediately known. Germany's Federal Police force said the suspect used a knife to attack several passengers shortly before a regional train traveling from Kiel to Hamburg arrived at the Brokstedt station.<h2>Brutal attack</h2>Police spokesman Juergen Henningsen from the nearby city of Flensburg said two of the stabbed people died after the attack. Three were severely injured and four others suffered minor injuries. No details were given about the identity of the victims.The attacker was also injured and taken to the hospital, police said.German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser expressed shock about the brutal attack.“The knife attack in a regional train is shocking news. All our thoughts are with the victims of this terrible act and their families,” she said.“The background to the crime is now being investigated at full speed,” Faeser added. “I would like to sincerely thank the police and rescue workers who responded.”Authorities said they were first alerted to the incident shortly before 3 p.m. when several passengers on the train made emergency calls to police. Police said the train was stopped and the attacker was detained outside the train after several passengers held him until officers arrived to detain him.The interior minister of Schleswig-Holstein state, Sabine Suetterlin-Waack, condemned the attack.“It is terrible,” Suetterlin-Waack told German public broadcaster NDR. “We are shocked and horrified that something like this has happened.”She later told dpa that the attacker was a stateless 33-year-old Palestinian man.Regional police and the federal police were on the scene and the prosecutor’s office was investigating the attack, NDR reported.There were about 120 passengers on the train at the time of the attack, dpa reported. About 70 of them were questioned by police in a nearby restaurant after the incident. Several forensic teams were also on the scene, and investigators in white protective overalls worked near the tracks and the train station.<h2>The train station in Brokstedt was closed</h2>Others walked across the platform with cameras, next to which the regional train “RE70 Hamburg Hbf” in which the attack took place was stopped. A bakery located a few meters away from the station served hot drinks and baked goods to rescue workers and passengers, dpa reported.The train station in Brokstedt was closed for several hours and train traffic was delayed across northern Germany.Train operator Deutsche Bahn expressed its condolences on Wednesday evening saying that “our deepest sympathy goes to the relatives of the victims. We wish those injured a speedy and complete recovery.”

Germany's Federal Police force said the suspect used a knife to attack several passengers shortly before a regional train traveling

The attacker was also injured and taken to the hospital, police said

Man held for knife attack on German train; 2 dead, 7 injured

Wall Street is weakening Wednesday on worries about corporate profits following a mixed set of earnings reports and forecasts from Microsoft and others. The S&amp;P 500 was 0.3% lower in afternoon trading after falling as much as 1.7% in the morning. It's on pace for a second step down after reaching its highest level in seven weeks on Monday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 56 points, or 0.2%, at 33,677, as of 2:43 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.4% lower.<h2>Microsoft is one of Wall Street’s dominant stocks</h2>Microsoft fell 0.3% after giving a forecast for upcoming results that fell short of some analysts’ expectations. They pointed in particular to expectations for slowing growth in its Azure cloud business.Microsoft is one of Wall Street’s dominant stocks because it’s one of the largest, which gives its stock movements more sway over the S&amp;P 500 than others. Not only that, analysts say Microsoft offers one of the best windows into the strength of corporate spending because of how many businesses use its software and services.Other stocks in the cloud-computing industry also fell following Microsoft's forecast. Snowflake lost 1.4%.Worries are rising that corporate profits are set to shrink broadly because of an economy bending under the weight of hikes to interest rates and still-high inflation. Analysts are forecasting S&amp;P 500 companies over the next couple weeks will report their first drop in quarterly earnings per share since 2020, when the pandemic was crushing the economy.Intuitive Surgical fell 5.8%, and Nasdaq Inc., the company behind the Nasdaq Stock Market, fell 6.8% after both reported weaker results than analysts expected.Texas Instruments fell 1.5% despite reporting stronger profit and revenue than expected. Markets were more interested in the company's forecast for the first three months of 2023. Company officials said they're expecting continued weakening in demand across all its markets outside of automotive.On the winning side was AT&amp;T, which rose 5.6% after reporting stronger profit than forecast.Other big tech-oriented companies are scheduled to report their results after trading closes for the day, including Tesla and IBM.The level of cash and profit that companies produce is one of the main levers that set stock prices on Wall Street. The other big one depends largely on interest rates, and there’s still a wide disconnect between what investors and the Federal Reserve see as coming later this year.Nearly everyone is expecting the Fed to raise its key overnight interest rate by 0.25 percentage points on Feb. 1. That would be another downshift in the size of the Fed’s rate hikes, down from 0.50 points last month and four straight increases of 0.75 points earlier. A slowdown in inflation since a summertime peak is raising hopes for the Fed to apply less additional pressure on the economy.<h2>Higher rates hurt the economy</h2>Many investors expect inflation to keep cooling, and they’re betting on the Fed to actually begin cutting interest rates toward the end of this year. The Federal Reserve, meanwhile, says it wants to keep rates high at least through the end of the year to ensure high inflation is truly stamped out.Higher rates hurt the economy by making it more expensive for businesses and households to borrow. They also hurt prices for stocks and other investments.The yield on the 10-year Treasury, which helps set rates for mortgages and other economy-dictating loans, rose to 3.47% from 3.46% late Tuesday. The two-year yield, which moves more on expectations for the Fed, fell to 4.14% from 4.21%.European stocks closed modestly lower. Japanese and South Korean stocks rose, while Chinese markets remained closed in observance of holidays.

Microsoft fell 0.3% after giving a forecast for upcoming results that fell short of some analysts’ expectations

Microsoft fell 0.3% after giving a forecast for upcoming

Wall Street weakens on worries about corporate profits

Ukrainian forces have conducted an organized retreat from a town in the eastern region of the Donbas, an official said Wednesday, in what amounted to a rare but modest battlefield triumph for Russia after a series of setbacks in its invasion that began almost 11 months ago. The Ukrainian army retreated from the salt mining town of Soledar to “preserve the lives of personnel,” Serhii Cherevatyi, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s forces in the east, told The Associated Press.The soldiers pulled back to previously prepared defensive positions, he said. Russia claimed almost two weeks ago that its forces had taken Soledar, but Ukraine denied it.<h2>Province city of Bakhmut&nbsp;</h2>Moscow has portrayed the battle for the town not far from the Donetsk province city of Bakhmut, as key to capturing all of Ukraine's Donbas region, where Russia-backed separatists have fought Ukrainian troops for almost nine years and controlled some territory before Russia's full-scale invasion.Russian President Vladimir Putin cited the safety of ethnic Russians living in Donetsk and neighboring Luhansk province, which together make up the Donbas, as justification for the invasion. Putin illegally annexed the Ukrainian provinces and two others in late September.The withdrawal of Ukraine's troops from Soledar takes the Russian forces a step closer to Bakhmut, but military analysts say the town's capture is more symbolic than strategic. The fighting in eastern Ukraine has stood mostly at a stalemate for months.Ukraine’s military has said its fierce defense of Soledar and Bakhmut helped tie up Russian forces.Many of Russia's troops around Soledar belong to the Wagner Group, a private Russian military contractorand the fighting reportedly has been bloody.Since its invasion of Ukraine, Moscow has prioritized taking full control of the Donbas, where it has backed a separatist insurgency since 2014. Russia has seized most of Luhansk, but about half of Donetsk remains under Ukraine’s control.“Russia is not reducing combat activity in Donbas, leaving a scorched desert where the Russian military manages to advance,” Donetsk Gov. Pavlo Kyrylenko said on state television.Taking control of Soledar potentially allows Russian forces to cut supply lines to Ukrainian forces in Bakhmut, though the strength of Ukraine’s new defensive positions was not known.The Institute for the Study of War, a think tank in Washington, said earlier this month that the fall of Soledar wouldn’t mark “an operationally significant development and is unlikely to presage an imminent Russian encirclement of Bakhmut.”The institute said Russian information operations have “overexaggerated the importance of Soledar,” which is a small settlement. It also argued that the long and difficult battle has contributed to the exhaustion of Russian forces.Perhaps more worrying for Moscow, Western military help for Ukraine is now being stepped up with the delivery of tanks.Elsewhere, Russian forces have continued to pummel Ukrainian areas, especially in the south and east.Russian strikes wounded 10 civilians in the eastern Donetsk province on Tuesday, Pavlo Kyrylenko, the provincial governor, said.Five were wounded when Russian shells slammed into apartment blocks, he said.The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said Russian forces had launched four missile strikes, 26 airstrikes and more than 100 attacks from rocket salvo systems between Tuesday morning and Wednesday morning.In addition to Donetsk, the Russian attacks struck settlements in the country’s northeastern Kharkiv and Sumy, northern Chernihiv, easternmost Luhansk, southeastern Zaporizhzhia, and southern Kherson provinces.Two people were killed and three more wounded in Russian shelling of a grocery store in the Kherson province city of Beryslav on Wednesday, according to an online statement by the regional government.On Tuesday, the Russian shelling included 12 attacks on the regional capital, also called Kherson, damaging a maternity hospital, a school, a clinic, port buildings and residential buildings, the statement said.<h2>Olena Zelenska</h2>Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who was a professional comedian and actor before his 2019 election and has become an internationally recognized wartime leader, in the 11 months since Russia invaded his country, turned 45 on Wednesday.His wife, first lady Olena Zelenska, said that while he is the same person she met at age 17, “Something has changed: You smile much less now.”“I wish you to have more reasons for smiling. And you know what it takes. We all do,” she tweeted.

The Ukrainian army retreated from the salt mining town of Soledar to “preserve the lives of personnel

A man walks by a sign that reads "to Moscow" placed on an old tank displayed at a war museum in Kyiv

Ukraine forces pull back from Donbas town after onslaught

Just a handful of Chinese visitors were posing for photos and basking in the sun this week in the market and plazas near Chiang Mai’s ancient Tha Phae Gate, one of many tourist hotspots still waiting for millions of Chinese travelers to return. The beaches and temples of destinations like Bali and Chiang Mai are the busiest they have been since the pandemic struck three years ago, but they’re still relatively quiet.<h2>The expected resumption</h2>Still, Chanatip Pansomboon, a soft drinks seller in the Chinatown district of Chiang Mai, a scenic riverside city in northern Thailand, was upbeat. He trusts that with the number of flights from China steadily increasing, it's only a matter of time.“If a lot of them can return, it will be great as they have buying power,” Chanatip said.The expected resumption of group tours from China is likely to bring far more visitors. For now, it's only individual travelers who can afford to pay, with flights costing more than triple what they normally do, who are venturing abroad.This includes people like Chen Jiao Jiao, a doctor who was posing for pictures with her children in front of Tha Phae Gate's red brick wall, escaping the damp chill of Shanghai to enjoy Chiang Mai's warm sun and cool breezes on her first overseas vacation since the virus surfaced in China in early 2020.“After three years of pandemic and a severe winter, now it’s opening up," Chen said. “For we Chinese, the first choice is to visit Chiang Mai because the weather is warm and the people here are very warmhearted.”In 2019, 1.2 million Chinese tourists visited Chiang Mai, generating 15 billion baht ($450 million) of tourism-related income, money sorely missed across the region as countries shut their borders to most travel.Group tours are due to resume from Feb. 6, but the number of tourists who will come will depends on how many flights are operating, said Suladda Sarutilawan, director of the Tourism Authority of Thailand’s Chiang Mai office. She said the hope is for about 500,000-600,000 visitors from China this year.Of course more Chinese would like to visit, said Li Wei, a businessman from Shanghai, as he visited the ancient wall with his extended family of seven.“Since visas and flights are not back to normal yet, maybe tourists will come in the next three months,” Li said.Far to the south, on the tropical Indonesian resort island of Bali, the shops and restaurants — some decorated with festive red lanterns and red and gold envelopes used for Lunar New Year cash presents — were still relatively empty.Bali’s first post-pandemic direct flight from China arrived on Sunday, bringing 210 tourists from the southern city of Shenzhen who were greeted with garlands of marigolds and dance performances.“Before COVID, we worked with travel agents who handled Chinese tourists who brought us guests from China everyday, but since they closed down there are far fewer guests," said Made Sutarma, a seafood restaurant owner in Bali's Jimbaran area.After three long years of almost no customers, Nyoman Wisana, the general manager of a Chinese restaurant, said he was “very happy” to see Chinese tourists return.Fewer than 23,000 Chinese tourists visited Bali from January-November of last year and only a quarter of the island's 80 tour operators who mostly handle Chinese clients are operating, said Putu Winastra, chairman of the Bali Association of Indonesian Tours and Travel Agencies.“Actually, we're very concerned about this," he said.Indonesia is developing programs to attract more Chinese tourists, including exploring starting direct flights from major cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, he said.Those who did visit this week seemed elated after enduring many months of strict pandemic controls that put international travel beyond the reach of almost all Chinese.“I’m feeling fantastic since I haven’t gone abroad and haven’t come to Southeast Asia to spend my holidays for the last three years," said Li Zhaolong, a tourist enjoying a day at the beach. “Bali is a very beautiful place so I’m very happy coming here.”Closer to home, casinos in the gambling enclave of Macao and popular tourist spots in Hong Kong, a former British colony, drew bigger crowds than usual but were still empty compared to the days before COVID-19. Normally, places like Hong Kong's scenic Ocean Park and Wong Tai Sin temple, with its Nine-Dragon Wall, would be packed with visitors from the Chinese mainland.Leo Guo, who works in the travel industry, brought his wife, daughter, sister and parents for a week filled with visits to Hong Kong Disneyland, Victoria Peak and the skyline-studded harbor, and of course, shopping.“For mainland Chinese, Hong Kong is a special city different from other Chinese cities," said Lee. “It's a top destination for us."<h2>Chinese accounted for nearly a third of all tourism</h2>Further afield in Australia, Sydney-based travel agent Eric Wang said the high cost of travel still appears to be keeping Chinese away even as Chinese airlines increase flights.Chinese accounted for nearly a third of all tourism spending in Australia before the pandemic, with more than 1.4 million visiting in 2019. Australia, like Japan, the U.S. and some other countries, is requiring visitors coming from China to take COVID-19 tests before departure. But Wang, who works for CBT Holidays, a company specializing in travel to and from China, said he didn't view that as a serious obstacle.“It's more about the airlines, because flights are not back to normal frequency yet so air fares are like five times more expensive," he said.

If a lot of them can return, it will be great as they have buying power, Chanatip said

Chinese tourists play with pigeons at Tha Phae Gate in Chiang Mai province, northern Thailand

Asia travel hotspots quiet as Chinese tourists stay away

After months of searching, Mirnesa Bešlić was arrested at Stuttgart airport, German media reported.Half of Europe was looking for Mirnesa, who is originally from Busovača, after she stole a million euros from a transport company, after which all traces of her were lost.<h2>She spoke through a lawyer</h2>According to the German media, Mirnesa informed the German authorities through her lawyer that she wanted to surrender, after which she was arrested by investigators with the federal police.Yesterday at around 19:45, she said through her lawyer that she will turn herself in today at the airport in Stuttgart.

The most wanted person in Germany changed her appearance: Mirnesa gave up her escape, decided to surrender?

- She wanted to surrender, her lawyer called the police and said that she would land at the airport in Stuttgart - said police spokeswoman Ilona Bon for the German "RTL".<h2>Changed her appearance</h2>German authorities have arrested the most wanted woman in Germany who changed her appearance.As Bon stated, Mirnesa was calm during the arrest, and she arrived in Stuttgart from a Balkan country.- She came to Stuttgart from Montenegro - said the police spokeswoman.An investigation is ongoing regarding the money that Mirnesa stole.Let us remind you that the German police have been looking for Mirnes since October, who stole one million euros from a transport company.The police published the details of her robbery, and even offered a reward in the amount of 37,500 euros for information about her.

How to fix a howitzer: US offers help line to Ukraine troops

Jerusalem, West Bank on edge after Israeli raid, fighting

New barrage of Russian strikes in Ukraine kills at least 11

Global shares edge higher, tracking Wall Street rally

Haitian police rebels protest gang killings of officers

US infiltrates big ransomware gang: 'We hacked the hackers'

Trump's return to Facebook could be major fundraising boost

Nobel laureate wants more to help probe Russian war crimes

Russian attacks on Ukraine reported; tank training to start

Palestinians say Israeli troops kill 9 in West Bank raid

Japan launches intel satellite to watch N. Korea, disasters

Man held for knife attack on German train; 2 dead, 7 injured

Wall Street weakens on worries about corporate profits

Ukraine forces pull back from Donbas town after onslaught

Asia travel hotspots quiet as Chinese tourists stay away

Mirnesa surrendered after months of searching: She arrived in Stuttgart from a Balkan country

World

How to fix a howitzer: US offers help line to Ukraine troops

Jerusalem, West Bank on edge after Israeli raid, fighting

New barrage of Russian strikes in Ukraine kills at least 11

Global shares edge higher, tracking Wall Street rally

Haitian police rebels protest gang killings of officers

US infiltrates big ransomware gang: 'We hacked the hackers'

Trump's return to Facebook could be major fundraising boost

Nobel laureate wants more to help probe Russian war crimes

Russian attacks on Ukraine reported; tank training to start

Palestinians say Israeli troops kill 9 in West Bank raid

Japan launches intel satellite to watch N. Korea, disasters

Man held for knife attack on German train; 2 dead, 7 injured

Wall Street weakens on worries about corporate profits

Ukraine forces pull back from Donbas town after onslaught

Asia travel hotspots quiet as Chinese tourists stay away

Mirnesa surrendered after months of searching: She arrived in Stuttgart from a Balkan country