Not Purdy: 49ers hit Green Bay with backup QB, no BosaKyiv: Russia fired a hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missile at the city of Dnipro on Thursday in response to the US and UK allowing Kyiv to strike Russian territory with advanced Western weapons , in a further escalation of the 33-month-old war. The weapon contained multiple independent warheads, a key design feature of many nuclear weapons. In this screen grab from a video provided by the Come Back Alive Foundation, lights are seen in the sky during a Russian attack on Dnipro, Ukraine. Credit: AP Russian President Vladimir Putin, in a televised address, said Moscow struck a Ukrainian military facility with a new ballistic missile known as Oreshnik (“the hazel”) and warned that more could follow. “A regional conflict in Ukraine previously provoked by the West has acquired elements of a global character,” Putin said in an address to the nation carried by state television after 8pm Moscow time (0400 Friday AEDT). A US official said Washington was pre-notified by Russia shortly before its strike, while another said they had briefed Kyiv and other close allies in recent days to prepare for the possible use of such a weapon. Earlier on Thursday, Kyiv said that Russia had fired an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM ), a weapon designed for long-distance nuclear strikes and never before used in war, though US officials said it was an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) that has a smaller range. Putin addresses the nation from the Kremlin in Moscow. Credit: AP Regardless of its classification, the latest strike highlighted rapidly rising tensions in the past several days. Ukraine fired US and British missiles at targets inside Russia this week despite warnings by Moscow that it would see such action as a major escalation. “Today, there was a new Russian missile. All the characteristics – speed, altitude – are (of an) intercontinental ballistic (missile). An expert investigation is currently under way,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video statement. Rescue workers put out a fire of a burning house damaged by a Russian strike on Dnipro, Ukraine. Credit: AP Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry urged the international community to react swiftly to the use of what it said was “the use by Russia of a new type of weaponry”. A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Russia likely possesses a handful of the “experimental” IRBMs used in Thursday’s strike. Ukraine’s air force said the missile targeted Dnipro in central-eastern Ukraine and was fired from the Russian region of Astrakhan, more than 700 kilometres away. It did not specify what kind of warhead the missile was carrying, and there was no suggestion it was nuclear-armed. Intermediate-range ballistic missiles have a range of 3000 – 5500 kilometres. “Whether it was an ICBM or an IRBM, the range isn’t the important factor,” said Fabian Hoffmann, a doctoral research fellow at Oslo University specialising in missile technology and nuclear strategy. “The fact that it carried a MIRV-ed (Multiple Independently targetable Re-entry Vehicle) payload is much more significant for signalling purposes and is the reason Russia opted for it. This payload is exclusively associated with nuclear-capable missiles.” Russia also fired a Kinzhal hypersonic missile and seven Kh-101 cruise missiles at Dnipro, targeting enterprises and critical infrastructure, six of which were shot down, the Ukrainian Air Force said. Dnipro was a missile-making centre in the Soviet era. Ukraine has expanded its military industry during the war but has kept its whereabouts secret. The air force did not say what the missile targeted or whether it had caused any damage, but regional Governor Serhiy Lysak said the attack damaged an industrial enterprise and set off fires the city. Two people were hurt. Ukrainska Pravda , a Kyiv-based media outlet, had cited anonymous sources saying the missile was an RS-26 Rubezh, a solid-fuelled ICBM with a range of 5,800 kilometres, according to the Arms Control Association. A group of glowing projectiles could be seen plummeting to the ground from the night sky in a video published by Come Back Alive, a Ukrainian military charity. It said the video was of Dnipro overnight. The NATO military alliance did not respond to a request for comment. The US European Command said it had nothing on the reported use of an ICBM and referred questions to the US Department of Defence. Act of deterrence Some military experts said the missile launch if confirmed, could be seen as an act of deterrence by Moscow following Kyiv’s strikes into Russia with Western weapons this week. Russian war correspondents on Telegram and an official speaking on condition of anonymity said Kyiv fired British Storm Shadow cruise missiles into Russia’s Kursk region bordering Ukraine on Wednesday. Russia’s Defence Ministry, in its daily report of events over the previous 24 hours on Thursday, said air defences had shot down two British Storm Shadow cruise missiles but did not say where. Britain had previously let Ukraine use Storm Shadows only within Ukrainian territory. Ukraine also fired American ATACMS missiles into Russia on Tuesday after US President Joe Biden gave the all-clear to use such missiles in this way, two months before he leaves office and Donald Trump returns to the White House. Putin on Tuesday lowered Russia’s threshold for a nuclear strike in response to a broader range of conventional attacks. Trump has said he will end the war, without saying how, and has criticised billions of dollars in aid for Ukraine under Biden. The warring sides believe Trump is likely to push for peace talks – not known to have been held since the war’s earliest months – and are trying to attain strong positions before negotiations. Moscow has said the use of Western weapons to strike Russian territory far from the border would be a major escalation. Kyiv says it needs the capability to defend itself by hitting Russian bases used to support its forces in Ukraine. Reuters Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on what’s making headlines around the world. Sign up for the weekly What in the World newsletter here .
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Meta has donated $1 million to president-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration fund, . Zuckerberg’s team reportedly told Trump’s inaugural committee about Meta’s planned donation before Zuckerberg and Trump . Before the dinner, Zuckerberg showed off Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses and gifted a pair to Trump, according to the Journal. Zuckerberg’s advisers also met with incoming White House officials, including incoming White House chief of staff Susie Wiles. The donation marks a significant shift for Zuckerberg, who has until recently shied away from politics. Zuckerberg on his election victory. But he didn’t publicly endorse a candidate in 2020 — and as Meta spokespeople have repeatedly emphasized, he also didn’t endorse anyone in 2024, despite Trump’s claims that Zuckerberg called him to say there’s “no way” he could vote for a Democrat after the attempt on Trump’s life at a Pennsylvania rally. (Zuckerberg also ) Still, Zuckerberg has made increasingly unsubtle overtures to Trump, who has threatened the Facebook founder over the years. The dinner — and the donation — are signs that the notoriously rocky relationship between Zuckerberg and Trump is starting to soften. Trump has had it out for Zuckerberg since Facebook banned his account in the wake of the January 6th riots, and at one point due to Facebook’s alleged interference in the 2020 election. /In a letter to the Prime Minister, shadow foreign secretary Dame Priti Patel and shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick claimed the decision by the International Criminal Court (ICC) had “no proper basis in international law”. They said the UK’s refusal to explicitly say whether or not the Israeli premier would be detained if he arrived in the country “opens the farcical spectre of your Government trying to sanction the arrest” of an ally to Britain. Criticising the ICC warrant, the shadow ministers said: “It is hard to escape the conclusion this is an activist decision, motivated by politics and not the law.” They argued the court was established to pursue cases in instances where countries do not have robust and independent judiciaries, which could not be said of Israel. “The UK Government’s response to the decision has been nonsensical,” they said. “On Friday, the Home Secretary refused to say whether Mr Netanyahu would be detained if he travelled to the UK. “This opens the farcical spectre of your Government trying to sanction the arrest on UK soil of the leader of an ally of the UK, while you continue a diplomatic charm offensive with the Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping. “It falls to you to clarify the Government’s position – now. The Government must make clear that it does not support an arrest warrant being issued which has no proper basis in international law.” Downing Street on Friday indicated that Mr Netanyahu could face arrest if he entered the UK, refusing to comment on “hypotheticals” but saying Britain would always follow its “legal obligations”. The International Criminal Court Act 2001 states that a Secretary of State must, on receipt of a request for arrest from the ICC, “transmit the request and the documents accompanying it to an appropriate judicial officer”. Asked whether the UK would comply with requirements under the Act, Sir Keir’s spokesman said: “Yes, the Government would fulfil its obligations under the Act and indeed its legal obligations.” The ICC has issued a warrant for Mr Netanyahu and his former defence minister Yoav Gallant over alleged war crimes in Gaza. Number 10 previously said the domestic process linked to ICC arrest warrants has never been used to date by the UK because no-one wanted by the international court had visited the country. It added that Israel remained a “key partner across a range of areas”. The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “It is important that we have a dialogue with Israel at all levels to reach the ceasefire that we all want to see, to bring an end to the violence, to protect civilians and ensure the release of hostages.” The ICC also issued a warrant for Mohammed Deif, head of Hamas’s armed wing, over the October 7 2023 attacks that triggered Israel’s offensive in Gaza. A domestic court process would be required before Mr Netanyahu faced arrest if he set foot in the UK. The ICC said there are “reasonable grounds to believe” Mr Netanyahu and Mr Gallant were responsible for “the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare, and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution and other inhumane acts”. The court’s pre-trial chamber also found “reasonable grounds to believe that Mr Netanyahu and Mr Gallant each bear criminal responsibility as civilian superiors for the war crime of intentionally directing an attack against the civilian population”. The impact of the warrants is likely to be limited since Israel and its major ally, the US, are not members of the ICC.
As New York City prosecutors worked Thursday to bring murder charges against Luigi Mangione in the brazen killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson , supporters of the suspect are donating tens of thousands of dollars for a defense fund established for him, leaving law enforcement officials worried Mangione is being turned into a martyr. Several online defense funds have been created for Mangione by anonymous people, including one on the crowdfunding website GiveSendGo that as of Thursday afternoon had raised over $50,000. The GiveSendGo defense fund for the 26-year-old Mangione was established by an anonymous group calling itself "The December 4th Legal Committee," apparently in reference to the day Mangione allegedly ambushed and gunned down Thompson in Midtown Manhattan as the executive walked to his company's shareholders conference at the New York Hilton hotel. "We are not here to celebrate violence, but we do believe in the constitutional right to fair legal representation," the anonymous group said in a statement. The crowdfunding campaign prompted donations from more than 1,500 anonymous donors across the country, many of them leaving messages of support for Mangione, including one person who called themselves "A frustrated citizen" and thanked Mangione for "sparking the awareness and thought across this sleeping nation." The GiveSendGo fund for Mangione appeared to be briefly taken down before it was restored on Thursday. GiveSendGo did not immediately respond to ABC News' requests for comment. Other crowdfunding sites such as GoFundMe have also taken down campaigns soliciting donations for Mangione's defense. "GoFundMe's Terms of Service prohibit fundraisers for the legal defense of violent crimes," the crowdfunding website said in a statement. "The fundraisers have been removed from our platform and all donors have been refunded." Amazon and Etsy have removed from their websites merchandise featuring Mangione, including T-shirts and tote bags reading "Free Luigi" and the phrase "Deny, Defend, Depose," words police said were etched in the shell casings discovered at the scene of Thompson's homicide. "Celebrating this conduct is abhorrent to me. It's deeply disturbing," Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg told ABC News senior investigative reporter Aaron Katersky in an interview Wednesday night. "And what I would say to members of the public, people who as you described are celebrating this and maybe contemplating other action, that we will be vigilant and we will hold people accountable. We are at the ready." Prosecutors at the Manhattan district attorney's office have begun presenting evidence to a grand jury as they work to try to secure an indictment against Mangione, sources told ABC News on Thursday. Mangione's attorney, Thomas Dickey of Altoona, Pennsylvania, where Mangione was arrested Monday following a five-day manhunt, said his client is presumed innocent and will plead not guilty to any charges filed against him. Mangione is contesting extradition to New York. Asked about people contributing to Mangione defense funds that have popped up, Dickey said, "People are entitled to their opinion and, like I said, if you're an American and you believe in the American criminal justice system, you have to presume him to be innocent and none of us would want anything other than that if that were us in their shoes. So, I'm glad he had some support." But law enforcement officials have expressed concern that Mangione is being turned into a martyr. Someone this week pasted "wanted posters" outside the New York Stock Exchange naming other executives. A bulletin released Wednesday by the Delaware Valley Intelligence Center, a multi-agency law enforcement intelligence-sharing network based in Philadelphia, included a photo of a banner hanging from an overpass reading, "Deny, Defend, Depose." "Many social media users have outright advocated for the continued killings of CEOs with some aiming to spread fear by posting 'hit lists,'" the bulletin, obtained by ABC News, reads. Meanwhile, New York Police Department investigators continue to build a murder case against Mangione, who is being held in Pennsylvania on charges stemming from his arrest there, including illegal possession of ghost gun and fraudulent identification. Mangione has pleaded not guilty to the charges in Pennsylvania. On Wednesday, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said that the three shell casings recovered at the scene of Thompson's shooting matched the gun found in Mangione possession when he was arrested. She also confirmed that Mangione's fingerprints were recovered from a water bottle and the wrapper of a granola bar found near the crime scene.
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