Ukraine said it arrested two Ukrainian officials who worked with the Russian security services
The Ukrainian security service (SBU) says it has foiled a Russian plot to assassinate President Volodymyr Zelensky and other high-ranking Ukrainian officials.
Two Ukrainian government protection unit colonels have been arrested.
The SBU said they were part of a network of agents belonging to the Russian state security service (FSB).
They had reportedly been searching for willing “executors” among Mr Zelensky’s bodyguards to kidnap and kill him.
Ever since Russian paratroopers attempted to land in Kyiv and assassinate President Zelensky in the early hours and days of the full-scale invasion, plots to assassinate him have been commonplace.
The Ukrainian leader said at the start of the invasion he was Russia’s “number one target”.
But this alleged plot stands out from the rest. It involves serving colonels, whose job it was to keep officials and institutions safe, allegedly hired as moles.
Other targets included military intelligence head Kyrylo Budanov and SBU chief Vasyl Malyuk, the agency added.
The group had reportedly planned to kill Mr Budanov before Orthodox Easter, which this year fell on 5 May.
According to the SBU, the plotters had aimed to use a mole to get information about his location, which they would then have attacked with rockets, drones and anti-tank grenades.
One of the officers who was later arrested had already bought drones and anti-personnel mines, the SBU said.
The SBU said it found various ordnance, including an anti-tank grenade, on the plotters
SBU head Vasyl Malyuk said the attack was supposed to be “a gift to Putin before the inauguration” – referring to Russia’s Vladimir Putin who was sworn in for a fifth term as president at the Kremlin on Tuesday.
The operation turned into a failure of the Russian special services, Mr Malyuk said.
“But we must not forget – the enemy is strong and experienced, he cannot be underestimated,” he added.
The two Ukrainian officials are being held on suspicion of treason and of preparing a terrorist act.
The SBU said three FSB employees oversaw the organisation and the attack.
One of them, named as Dmytro Perlin, had been recruiting “moles” since before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Another FSB employee, Oleksiy Kornev, reportedly held “conspiratorial” meetings “in neighbouring European states” before the invasion with one of the Ukrainian colonels arrested.
In a released interrogation with one of the suspects, they can be heard describing how they were paid thousands of dollars directly by parcels or indirectly through their relatives. It is not clear whether he was speaking under duress or not.
Investigators insist they monitored the men throughout. We are unlikely to know how close they came to carrying out their alleged plan.
The plot may read like a thriller but it is also a reminder of the risks Ukraine’s wartime leader faces.
Last month, a Polish man was arrested and charged with planning to co-operate with Russian intelligence services to aid a possible assassination of Mr Zelensky.
At the weekend Ukraine’s president appeared on the Russian interior ministry’s wanted list on unspecified charges.
The foreign ministry in Kyiv condemned the move as showing “the desperation of the Russian state machine and propaganda”, and pointed out that the International Criminal Court had issued a warrant for Vladimir Putin’s arrest.
Shares in Chinese bubble tea chain Sichuan Baicha Baidao, which is also known as Chabaidao, have fallen by more than 26% in their first day of trading on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
Chabaidao’s market debut was the Asian financial hub’s largest initial public offering (IPO) so far this year.
The poor performance underscores the difficulties the city is facing in attracting investment.
Chabaidao, which means 100 varieties of tea, is China’s third-biggest fresh tea drinks chain by retail sales.
The Chengdu-based company raised about $330m (£267m) in the IPO even as the offering was met with tepid interest from investors.
The firm said it plans to use about half the money to upgrade its operations and strengthen its supply chain.
Rival bubble tea firms Mixue, Guming and Auntea Jenny have also said they are planning to sell shares in Hong Kong.
However, Chabaidao’s weak debut highlights the challenges faced by authorities as they attempt to revive confidence in the city’s stock market.
Investors are concerned about Hong Kong’s recovery from the pandemic and its national security legislation as well as slowing economic growth in China.
Last year, the amount of money raised by IPOs in Hong Kong slumped to the lowest level in two decades.
The city’s benchmark Hang Seng share index has lost over 16% of its value in the last year.
Last week, China’s securities regulator said it will support share offerings in Hong Kong.
The watchdog also plans to relax regulations rules on stock trading links between the city and the mainland as it tries to boost Hong Kong’s position as an international financial hub.
Adelaide United’s Josh Cavallo looks on during the Australian A-League match between Western United and Adelaide United at AAMI Park, on December 17, 2021, in Melbourne, Australia. Jonathan DiMaggio/Getty ImagesCNN —
Josh Cavallo, the first top-flight male professional soccer star to come out as gay, has blazed a new trail by proposing to his partner on the pitch of his club.
The Australian player made history in 2021 when he posted an emotional online video of him coming out and vowing to change the sport’s culture “to show that everyone is welcome in the game of football.”
His announcement was hailed as a watershed moment in a sport with a long and troubled history of entrenched homophobia, particularly in the men’s game.
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Since then, Cavallo, 24, has become one of the most recognizable faces in the sport and an outspoken advocate for greater equality for the LGBTQ community.
On Thursday, he announced that he had proposed to his fiancée at Coopers Stadium, home pitch of his Australian A-League team Adelaide United.
Alongside a picture of him down on one knee, holding out a ring, Cavallo declared in a post on X: “Starting this year with my fiancée.”
Other photos showed the player beaming while his partner covered his eyes and a close-up of the two holding hands.
Cavallo thanked his team “for helping set up this surprise.”
“You have provided a safe space in football, one that I never in my dreams thought could ever be possible,” he wrote on X, adding that he wanted to “share this special moment on the pitch, where it all started.”
Since coming out, Cavallo has played in A-League Pride matches with the name and number on his jersey printed in rainbow colors to raise awareness, and has constantly posted encouraging messages on social media.
He was named “Man of the Year” in 2022 at an awards ceremony hosted by Attitude Magazine, Europe’s largest LGBTQ magazine publication.
Cavallo spoke out against FIFA’s decision two years ago to ban players from wearing “OneLove” armbands at the World Cup held in Qatar during an interview with CNN, saying that move made him feel “excluded.”
He didn’t make the Socceroo’s final squad, but at the time said he wished to see the Australian captain wear the armband in solidarity with the LGBTQ community.
“If I had been there and I had been the captain, yes, I would have worn the armband. I’m not ashamed to be who I am,” Cavallo told CNN in 2022.
“And it’s exactly the reason why I’ve come out and to be the person I am today,” he added.
Professional soccer has made strong gains in tackling homophobia and racism in recent years and launched multiple campaigns but prejudice remains entrenched among some fans, clubs and players.
According to a report of the 2022-23 season released by Kick It Out, the English football anti-discrimination group said it received 1,007 reports of discriminatory behaviour, a 65.1% rise on the previous season.
While racism was the most prevalent form of discrimination, Kick It Out said research undertaken by Signify, which investigates online threat and disinformation, had identified “peaks of homophobic and misogynistic abuse targeting several high-profile WSL [Women’s Super League] players,” even as the game’s authorities continue to promote a number of campaigns tackling homophobia and promoting LGBTQ+ inclusion.
To this day there are still very few professional male footballers who have come out as gay.
Earlier this week Austria’s national squad announced it had not selected three Rapid Vienna soccer players for duty after video emerged of the players taking part in post-match celebrations shouting homophobic chants with a selection of the crowd.
However there have been high profile comments and interventions by prominent footballers calling for more tolerance and diversity.
Last year Arsenal goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale https://menjangkau.com/ said that he could no longer remain silent over homophobic abuse in football out of love and respect for his brother, who is gay. “I want my brother… – or anyone of any sexuality, race or religion – to come to games without having to fear abuse.”
There is still much researchers don’t know about popular weight loss medications — and those lack of studies could have consequences for eating disorders, according to experts.
The medication semaglutide, sold under brand names such as Ozempic and Wegovy, is a kind ofglucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist or GLP-1 agonist. While originally prescribed for diabetes, semaglutide is becoming more and more popular for weight loss.
As the medication become more available, experts said they worry about the impact of these weight loss products on eating disorders.
“We noticed clinically that we were getting more and more people into our clinical services that had been started on GLP-1 agonists and had experienced new onset or worsening eating disorder symptoms,” said Dr. Aaron Keshen, codirector of the Nova Scotia Provincial Eating Disorder Service and assistant professor in the Dalhousie University’s department of psychiatry in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Eating disorders affect nearly 1 in 10 people in the United States, according to the nonprofit National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders, which provides support services for people with these conditions. Next to opioid addiction, it has the second-highest crude mortality rate of any mental illness, the association said.
The possibility that GLP-1 agonists could make eating disorders worse or more prevalent “makes us have to go really slowly and be very thoughtful about when we might prescribe them,” said Dr. Jennifer Gaudiani, an eating disorder physician and founder and medical director of the Gaudiani Clinic in Denver.
The scope of research on the connection between eating disorders and weight loss medications is quite slim, leaving experts with many unanswered questions, said Dr. Susan McElroy, chief research officer at the Lindner Center of HOPE and the Linda and Harry Fath endowed professor in the department of psychiatry and behavioral neuroscience at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine.
“I view eating disorders as the last frontier in psychiatry,” she added. “The eating disorder field is hard because we’re just ignored.”
Can these drugs treat binge eating disorder?
Are there cases in which these medications actually help eating disorder patients? Perhaps, experts said.
Generally, if a medication causes weight loss, there is a good chance it will alsoreduce binge eating, McElroy said.
Binge eating disorder is the most common eating disorder. But as with anorexia and bulimia nervosa, there isn’t enough research into how to treat it with medication, she added.
“We desperately need more compounds to treat people with eating disorders,” McElroy said.
These medications could help in theory, but they have not been approved for treating binge eating disorder, she added.
“There is a little bit of preliminary evidence that maybe GLP-1 agonists could reduce binge symptoms in some individuals,” Keshen said, “but the evidence is fairly weak at this point, and it’s certainly not enough to recommend that people take GLP-1 agonists for binge eating.”
Keshen and McElroy worked on a 2023 paper published in the International Journal of Eating disorders that reviewed the existing literature on GLP-1 agonists and eating disorders. The studies they found on binge eating disorder were small, and many didn’t test against a placebo,Keshen said.
“More research needs to be done,” he added. “And that may happen in the future.”
Can they bring an eating disorder back?
Eating disorders happen in people of all shapes, sizes and health conditions — so doctors may prescribe these medications unknowingly to those with a history of or even an active eating disorder, Gaudiani said.
“Their ability to perhaps pay for a medication that causes weight loss, while potentially causing medical complications, is concerning,” she said.
Gaudiani said she has heard anecdotal evidence of people in remission for an eating disorder have it reignited after taking a GLP-1 agonist.
Eating disorders are complicated biopsychosocial illnesses, Gaudiani said, and the process of losing weight might trigger increased restrictive dieting, which can bring up “old gremlins.”
Additionally, these medications suppress appetite. Feeling full too quickly or feeling sick after only eating a little can disconnect a person from their innate hunger and fullness cues, she added.
“If somebody has had a history of an eating disorder, or indeed just has temperamental traits, and is surrounded by a society that is extremely focused on weight loss and fatphobia, and they begin to lose weight,” Gaudiani said, “it’s not unimaginable but that could devolve into something that becomes quite obsessive and quite mentally and physically unhealthy for them.”
Can they unleash a new monster?
With little research on the topic, experts can’t say if GLP-1 agonists would make it more likely for someone to develop an eating disorder, but there are reasons to be concerned, Gaudiani said.
“A lot of eating disorders do begin with restricted food intake and weight loss,” she said. “The act of reducing caloric intake and the act of losing weight physiologically have been proven to trigger eating disorder behaviors, even in those who wouldn’t otherwise be considered temperamentally or socially prone to them.”
Gaudiani pointed to the Minnesota Starvation Experiment of 1944 in which individuals volunteered to undergo starvation so researchers could experiment with the best refeeding methods.
There was an effect that researchers didn’t expect when the volunteers were starved, she said. They became obsessed with food, reading cookbooks, chewing gum constantly, cutting the food they ate into little pieces to spend longer eating, and judging people in restaurants they deemed gluttonous.
“In short, (they were) acting like someone with anorexia,” Gaudiani said. “There’s something about our brains that fundamentally change when we get inadequate calories and lose weight.”
There is also a risk for behaviors such as bulimia, Keshen added. If people have a suppressed appetite, they may not eat at all during the day and then binge at night — which could then resultin purging behaviors, he said.
“Perhaps a degree of moderate weight loss is a healthy outcome for some individuals,” Keshen said, “but it’s never going to be a healthy outcome to achieve rapid weight loss due to excessive pathological dietary restriction.”
How to protect those vulnerable to eating disorders
First, health care providers prescribing these medications need to screen for a history of eating disorders, active eating disorders and even vulnerability for an eating disorder, Keshen said.
“It may be worth trying to treat the eating disorder first, or perhaps not using a GLP-1 agonist at all in that patient,” he said.
If a doctor and patient choose to move forward with medication, it is important they also go over information about eating disorders and the importance of eating structured meals, Keshen said.
Nourishment is something people on appetite-suppressing medication should reviewregularly with themselves, Gaudiani said.
“Humans, like all mammals, need to nourish throughout the day to have the energy to do with our body and minds what we want to do, and so we have to check, ‘Am I eating enough?’” she said. “‘How often am I thinking about food and body?’”
If those with histories of eating disorders find themselves reverting to old behaviors while taking GLP-1 agonists, they should contact their doctors and therapists, Gaudiani said.
And for those who haven’t been diagnosed https://menjangkau.com/ with an eating disorder, or who might not even reach the threshold of one, if thoughts of weight and food are distracting from goals and priorities, it may be time to seek an eating disorder expert if resources are available, she said.
“If not, going on eating disorder treatment websites or listening to podcasts can just help bring some support and clarity to what’s going on,” Gaudiani said.
Tension has been rising in Senegal following the parliament’s controversial vote to postpone elections to December 15. John Wessels/AFP via Getty ImagesCNN —
Senegal’s outgoing president Macky Sall Friday said he would hold presidential elections “as soon as possible” one day after the West African country’s constitutional council ruled against his decision to postpone elections.
“The President of the Republic has taken note of this decision which lies within the framework of the normal jurisdiction mechanism of a democracy and the rule of law sanctioned by the Senegalese constitution,” Sall’s office said in a statement.
“The head of state will conduct necessary consultations to hold the presidential election as soon as possible,” the statement added.
Sall was under pressure to react once the top court Thursday rejected his bid to delay elections until the end of the year. Civil society groups were also planning fresh demonstrations this weekend to double down on their demand for immediate elections. Senegalese citizens have taken to the streets in anger since Sall postponed the polls leading to clashes between police and protesters in which at least 3 people have died, according to local media reports.
In its ruling, the constitutional court said “neither the president nor the parliament can postpone a presidential election; only the Constitutional Council, acting as judge of the legality of all national elections, has the power to do so.”
The decision was widely welcomed amid fears Sall was trying to illegally extend his hold on power.
“I am not at all surprised [by the decision] and for me it’s a satisfaction,” scholar and leader of the coalition “Protect our election” Babacar Gueye told French radio station RFI Friday.
Rising tensions
Tensions have been rising in Senegal following the parliament’s controversial vote at the beginning of February to postpone the election to December 15. Several opposition lawmakers were unable to take part in the vote after being forcibly removed from the legislative chamber during the debate.
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) urged all parties in Senegal to comply with the constitutional council’s decision.
“The Commission calls on the political class and all stakeholders to show restraint and give priority to inclusive dialogue to preserve the democratic gains of this model ECOWAS Member state,” the regional bloc said in a statement Friday.
Thursday’s ruling coincided with the release of several political detainees.
A government mediator, Pierre Goudiaby Atépa, told RFI that Sall was considering releasing “nearly a thousand” political detainees, including prominent opposition leader Ousmane Sonko, who enjoys widespread support among Senegalese youth, “in the coming days.”
Sonko was barred from the polls after the Senegalese Supreme Court upheld his conviction over a defamation case. Protests flared after his sentencing on a separate charge last year, leaving at least 16 people dead.
One of the freed detainees, Cheikh Oumar Diagne of the opposition Rally for Truth party kicked against the proposed dialogue while demanding that elections be held instead.
“We have a country to https://menjangkau.com build and criminals to neutralize. Tell Macky that the last thing he needs to do in this ending term is an election not a dialogue!”, Diagne said in a Facebook post after his release.
“No to presidential election postponement”, said another released opposition leader Aboubacar Djamil Sané of the PASTEF Party, who had been imprisoned for seven months.
A woman inspects damage to a school in Lviv following Russian attacks on Thursday. Roman Baluk/ReutersCNN —
Russia and Ukraine exchanged air attacks on Thursday, with Moscow targeting cities across Ukraine and Kyiv striking the Russian border city of Belgorod, one day after Kyiv said it sank another Russian warship off the coast of Crimea.
At least seven people were reported injured after attacks on Kyiv, Lviv and the eastern city of Zaporizhzhia, and infastructure facilities were damaged, in a string of attacks launched by Russia early on Thursday.
Hours later, Russian authorities said five people were killed and 18 injured, in a missile strike on the Russian city of Belgorod. The regional governor Vyacheselv Gladkov also said that seven homes were damaged.
The city, which sits near the border with northeast Ukraine, has been a hotspot of Russia’s war, as Kyiv looks to bring the conflict home to the Russian people in an effort to dent domestic support for their country’s invasion.
The latest series of strikes follows the damage to Russia’s landing ship Caesar Kunikov, which was attacked with “MAGURA” V5 drones that punctured “critical holes” on its left side before sinking, the Ukrainian military intelligence agency said on Telegram. Russia has not disclosed if there were casualties in that attack.
Russian authorities in Belgorod following Ukraine’s attack on the border city. Governor of Belgorod Region Vyacheslav Gladkov/Telegram/Reuters
In Zaporizhzhia, the secretary of the city council, Anatolii Kurtiev, said at least four people had been injured and an infrastructure facility damaged. “It is also currently known that apartment buildings, an educational institution, and the premises of a trade facility were damaged,” he said.
The head of the Lviv regional military administration, Maksym Kozytskyi, said strikes had landed in the city injuring at least three people and causing damage to buildings.
“A hit to an infrastructure facility in Lviv was documented. The fire continues,” he said, adding, “in 16 residential buildings on Naukova Street, part of the windows were blown out by the blast wave, cars parked nearby were damaged.”
In Kyiv, the city military administration said missiles had approached the city from multiple directions but that no significant damage or deaths had been reported.
“The air raid alert in the capital lasted for more than 2 hours. All enemy missiles flying at Kyiv were destroyed by the forces and means of air defense,” the administration said.
Ukraine’s attack on the warship Wednesday was the latest in a series of Ukrainian strikes on Russia’s navy, as it tries to land both strategic and symbolic blows against Russian forces that annexed Crimea in 2014.
Ukraine claimed last week that they had disabled about a third of Russia’s warships in the Black Sea, amounting to 24 disabled ships and one submarine. The landing ship Caesar Kunikov would be the 25th disabled ship, according to Ukraine’s count.
Ukraine’s strikes on Belgorod on Thursday are the latest in a series of attacks on the city, which has been dragged into Moscow’s conflict.
Ukrainian attacks on Russian regions near the border have continued almost daily for over a year, sometimes resulting in civilian casualties. At the end of last year Russia claimed Ukraine killed 24 people in shelling on Belgorod.
Kyiv is increasingly using drones to level the playing field with Russia. Ukraine’s former top general, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, stressed the importance of drones in a CNN op-ed written earlier this month before he was removed from his post last week by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
“It is these unmanned systems – such as drones – along with other types of https://menjangkau.com advanced weapons, that provide the best way for Ukraine to avoid being drawn into a positional war, where we do not possess the advantage,” Zaluzhnyi wrote.
Prabowo Subianto attends a campaign event in Jakarta, Indonesia on January 27, 2024. Dimas Ardian/Bloomberg/Getty ImagesCNN —
A former army general with a controversial past has claimed victory in Indonesia’s presidential election.
Unofficial results show Prabowo Subianto, 72, winning nearly 60% of the vote – enough to avoid a presidential runoff – with around 85% of votes counted, according to state-owned news organization Antara, CNN affiliate CNN Indonesia and Reuters, which are reporting early counts done by a series of non-government think tanks. Ballot stations closed across the country early on Wednesday afternoon.
Prabowo, billed as the frontrunner ahead of Wednesday’s contest, told supporters in Jakarta, he and running mate Gibran Rakabuming Raka, who is the eldest son of President Joko Widodo, would govern “for all the people of Indonesia.”
“Although we are grateful, we must not be arrogant, we must not be euphoric, we must remain humble. This victory must be a victory for all Indonesian people,” Prabowo declared. “I will lead together with Gibran to nurture, protect and defend all the people of Indonesia, regardless of tribe, ethnic group, race and religion and social background, the people of Indonesia are our responsibility to protect.”
Popular former governor Anies Beswadan was running second with fewer than 22% of the votes, with rival Ganjar Pranowo in third, according to the unofficial early count.
Both their teams have disputed the early results and said it is too early to call the election, according to party spokespeople quoted by Reuters.
CNN cannot independently verify the early polls, though counts by reputable thinktanks have proved accurate during previous Indonesianelections.
During his speech Wednesday, Prabowo called for supporters to “calmly wait” for the official vote to be declared by the country’s election commission, which will publish its official results in March.
Deadly riots broke out after the last election in 2019 when Prabowo, who lost, contested the results.
Indonesia is the world’s fourth most populous country and home tothe world’s largest Muslim population. More than 200 million people across 38 provinces were eligible to cast their votes on Wednesday, in what was billed as the world’s biggest single-day election.
However, runninga vote in the world’s largest archipelagic nation is a huge effort. The country is wider than the United States and straddles three time zones. It is made up of over 18,000 islands and islets, of which 6,000 are inhabited, and over 150 languages spoken across its breadth.
Young voters have been key to this year’s vote, experts note, with around half of registered voters being under the age of 40, according to the General Election Commission.
Gibran, who took the stage after Prabowo, acknowledged the impact of youth voters in during the election, telling supporters that in “the future we will involve young people.”
What will a Prabowo presidency mean?
Prabowo hails from an elite political family and his past is controversial, especially his time during years of the late dictator Suharto, who was also his former father-in-law. Accusations of human rights violations in his military past have dogged him throughout his political career.
His father Sumitro Djojohadikusumo, was a former Finance and Trade minister and his grandfather Margono founded the state Bank Negara Indonesia and led a presidential advisory council.
He enrolled in Indonesia’s Military Academy in 1970 and went on to become a special forces commander where he led missions against pro-independence groups during Indonesia’s ruthless 24-year military occupation of East Timor.
He is also alleged to have ordered the kidnapping of pro-democracy activists in the final months of Suharto’s authoritarian regime.
He has since transformed himself into a supporter of Indonesia’s vibrant democracy, building an image more recently as a friendly but dependable grandfather figure, and has been a major player within politics over the last decade.
He ran for president in 2014 and 2019 but lost both times to outgoing president Joko Widodo, popularly known as Jokowi.
The two former rivals then shelved their differences when Jokowi brought Prabowo into his cabinet as defense minister.
This year, he teamed up with Jokowi’s eldest son Gibran Rakabuming Raka as his vice presidential pick – a controversial decision that also sparked heated criticism of Jokowi over alleged interference as he prepares to leave the presidency.
“It is widely expected for the president to remain neutral in elections,” said Leena Rikkilä Tamang, Asia Pacific Director at International IDEA. “A Prabowo win will also be seen as “a continuation of Jokowi’s policies.”
Prabowo supporters at a campaign rally in Jakarta on February 10. Dimas Ardian/Bloomberg/Getty Images
Prabowo’s popularity has risen since the 2019 election, experts note, owing largely to Jokowi’s tacit support.
Jokowi, who came from humble origins and campaigned as a break from Indonesia’s traditional wealthy elites, oversaw impressive economic growth and will leave office popular. But Indonesia also backslid on human rights and on corruption indexes during his time in office. Prabowo very much positioned himself as a successor to Jokowi’s legacy.
“Concerns (about a Prabowo presidency) will focus on the potential for an increase in illiberal actions as he has previously advocated for removing presidential term limits, ending direct presidential elections and curtailing human rights protections,” said Laura Schwartz, Senior South East Asia Analyst at risk intelligence company Verisk Maplecroft. “Such developments would dent Indonesia’s reputation and its ability to attract foreign investment.”
Zachary Abuza, a professor in Southeast Asian politics and security issues at the National War College in Washington, DC, told CNN Prabowo “has worked really hard to reinvent himself and to whitewash his past.”
Having a former military man at the helm could signal a return to the dark days of authoritarian rule, he added. “Jokowi surrounded himself with many army generals and had a tendency to ‘securitize’ many problems such as the (coronavirus) pandemic but things could get worse with Prabowo,“ Abuza said.
“I think he would go into the ranks of retired military men for his advisors and cabinet officials. But the bigger concern is that he would accelerate the return of the military.”
Voters in Jakarta told CNN that this year’s result could also signal the https://menjangkau.com return of “dynasty politics.” Yohanes Gregorius Tukan, 41, said Prabowo and Gibran’s campaign showed “nuanced nepotism and corruption.” Another voter, Kuncoro Rikoni, feared “a return to authoritarian rule.”
“We do not want to lose the democracy that we have fought for with blood and tears in 1998.”
Alexander Stubb of the center-right National Coalition Party narrowly won Finland’s presidential election on Sunday, defeating liberal Green Party member Pekka Haavisto, who conceded defeat.
Stubb is pro-European and a strong supporter of Ukraine who has taken a tough stance towards Russia.
He declared himself winner in the run-off vote after securing 51.6% of the votes as 99.7% of ballots had been counted, against Haavisto’s 48.4%, justice ministry data showed.
Finland’s new head of state will be responsible for its security and foreign policy, including the recently approved NATO member’s stance towards Russia, with which it shares a long border.
In televised remarks Stubb called his victory “the greatest honor” of his life.
“The feeling is calm, humble but of course at the same time I am extremely happy and grateful that the Finns in such large numbers have voted and that I get to serve as president of the Republic of Finland,” he said.
Stubb, a former prime minister, had won the first round on January 28 with 27.2% of the vote ahead of Haavisto on 25.8%. He has also led Haavisto in opinion surveys, most recently by 6-8 percentage points.
Haavisto congratulated Stubb as “the 13th president of Finland.”
“I believe Finland now gets a good president for the republic. Alexander Stubb is an experienced, competent person for the job. No more babble,” he said.
National Coalition Party (NCP) Presidential candidate Alexander Stubb, center, reacts to the results of the advance votes at his election reception in Helsinki, Finland, February 11, 2024. Emmi Korhonen/Lehtikuva/Reuters
The vote marks a new era in Finland, which for decades has elected presidents to foster diplomacy, in particular with neighboring Russia, and opted not to join military alliances so it could soothe tensions between Moscow and NATO.
But Finns changed their minds after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, in a rapid U-turn that led to the country joining NATO in April last year.
Now under the Western alliance’s security umbrella, Stubb will replace Sauli Niinisto, who is retiring after two six-year terms in which he earned the nickname “the Putin Whisperer” for his previous close ties with the Russian leader.
Stubb will have a central role in defining Finland’s NATO policies, while taking the lead on overall foreign and security policy in close cooperation with the government and acting as commander-in-chief of the armed forces.
“Warm congratulations to Alexander Stubb. Finland is our close friend and partner,” Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said in a post on X.
Lauri, a 36-year-old IT worker who voted in Helsinki, named Russia as the main task the new president will face.
“Obviously we all know that we are in a difficult position nowadays looking at Russia, the entire turbulence in the world today. So I think that’s the biggest threat and biggest issue that we have,” he told Reuters on Saturday.
In an interview with Reuters last month, https://menjangkau.com Stubb said there would be no Russian pillar in Finland’s foreign policy for now.
“Politically, there will be no relations with the president of Russia or with the Russian political leadership until they stop the war in Ukraine.”
Stubb is in favor of deep NATO cooperation, such as allowing the transport of nuclear weapons across Finnish soil and placing some NATO troops permanently in Finland. He does not support storing nuclear weapons in Finland, however.
“At times, a nuclear weapon is a guarantee of peace,” Stubb said in a debate on Tuesday.
Russia has threatened Finland with retaliation in response to its NATO membership and a defense cooperation agreement signed with the US in December.
Jesse Lingard in Premier League action for Nottingham Forest against Manchester United on April 16, 2023. Visionhaus/Getty Images/FileSeoul, South KoreaCNN —
Former Manchester United midfielder Jesse Lingard has signed for South Korea’s FC Seoul in a surprise move that ends the England international’s months-long search for a new club.
FC Seoul announced the transfer on Thursday, calling Lingard, 31, “the biggest name in K League history.”
Lingard, who had been training without a team since he was released by English Premier League side Nottingham Forest in the summer, expressed his delight on social media.
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“New beginnings,” he wrote on Instagram Thursday. “So excited to finally get back on the pitch and do what I love the most. (I’m) so grateful for the love and support in Korea.”
Lingard rose through the ranks at his boyhood club Manchester United, where he lifted trophies including the EFL Cup, UEFA Europa League and scored the winning goal in the 2016 FA Cup final.
He also impressed for England at the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, where the team reached the semi-finals. He won his most recent of 32 international caps in 2021.
But Lingard fell out of favor at Old Trafford, failing to find consistency in a team struggling to live up to to the glory days of yesteryear.
Following a successful loan spell with Premier League side West Ham in 2021, Lingard made a permanent transfer to newly promoted Forest, becoming the team’s highest-paid player.
FC Seoul, South Korea’s oldest professional club, https://menjangkau.com finished seventh in the top division last year. The new K League season begins next month, when Lingard could make his debut in FC Seoul’s clash with Gwangju FC on March 2.
Astronomers have discovered a “super-Earth,” or a world larger than our planet, orbiting a star about 137 light-years away. A second planet, thought to be the size of Earth, may also be orbiting the same star.
The super-Earth exoplanet, known as TOI-715b, orbits a red dwarf star that is cooler and smaller than our sun. Astronomers spotted the planet using NASA’s TESS, or Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, mission. A study detailing the discovery was published in January in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
Researchers have determined that the planet, estimated to be one and a half times as wide as our planet, takes just over 19 Earth days to complete one orbit around its star. The planet is close enough to its star to exist within the habitable zone, or the distance from a star that provides a planet with the right temperature for liquid water to exist on its surface.
The habitable zone is usually calculated based on factors such as the size, temperature and mass of a star as well as the reflectivity of a planet’s surface. But there can be large margins of error associated with these factors, calling into question whether a planet really resides in the habitable zone, said lead study author Dr. Georgina Dransfield, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Birmingham’s School of Physics and Astronomy in the United Kingdom.
Astronomers believe that TOI-715b exists in a narrow and more optimal region around the star known as the conservative habitable zone, which is less likely to be affected by the margins of error.
“This discovery is exciting as it’s the first super-Earth from TESS to be found within the conservative habitable zone,” Dransfield said. “Additionally, as it’s relatively close by, the system is suitable for further atmospheric investigations.”
TESS, the planet hunter
Since it launched in 2018, TESS has helped astronomers spot planets around relatively nearby starssuitable for follow-up observations with ground- and space-based observatories.
“This is allowing us to get a much clearer picture of the diversity of exoplanetary systems orbiting a broad range of stellar types,” Dransfield said.
Telescopes can pick up on dips in starlight that indicate the planet is passing in front of its star, and those dips in starlight are called transits. TOI-715b is close to its star and has a quick orbit, meaning that the planet passes in front of its star, or transits, frequently. As a result, the exoplanet is an optimal candidate for future observations with the James Webb Space Telescope. The Webb telescope sees the universe in infrared light, which is invisible to the human eye, and can peer inside the atmospheres of planets.
As the planet transits the star, starlight filters through it, allowing Webb to look for evidence of an atmosphere and even determine the planet’s atmospheric composition. And understanding whether planets have atmospheres can reveal more about their ability to be potentially habitable for life.
“We really want to know the planet’s mass with high precision to understand if it’s a true super-Earth or a member of the novel category of ocean worlds,” Dransfield said, referring to moons with global oceans such as Jupiter’s Europa or Saturn’s Enceladus. “This will allow us to really shape our follow-up investigations and learn more about exoplanet demographics as a whole.”
To confirm the existence of the likely Earth-size second planet, researchers need more successful observations of the planet’s transits in different wavelengths of light, Dransfield said.
If the Earth-size planet is confirmed, it will become the smallest planet yet that TESS has found in a habitable zone.
The search for Earth-like planets
Red dwarf stars are the most common stars in our galaxy, and a number of them have been found to host small, rocky worlds, such as the recently discovered TRAPPIST system with its seven planets, located 40 light-years away. Planets that orbit more closely to these smaller, cooler stars could receive enough warmth to be potentially habitable.
But a key question is whether these planets are also close enough to be lashed by stellar flares and radiation, which could erode their atmospheres, evaporate water and limit their ability to be habitable for life.
TOI-715b’s star has only shown a couple of flares within the past two years and isn’t considered active, making it an old star, Dransfield said.
In the future, astronomers hope to have the ability to search for planets around stars more similar to our sun, which will require the ability to block intense starlight to find faint Earth-size planets.
Upcoming missions such as the European Space Agency’s PLATO, or PLAnetary Transits and Oscillations of stars, will carry 26 cameras to study Earth-like planets in habitable zone orbits around sun-like stars. The mission is expected to launch in 2026.
“So far, no telescope has been capable of this, but it should be possible within the next decade,” Dransfield said, referring to PLATO. “ https://menjangkau.com This will be one of the most anticipated discoveries, as it will begin to show us how common planets truly similar to Earth really are.”
Getty ImagesChabaidao means 100 varieties of tea
