
Ukraine spy chief’s wife treated for metal poisoning as Putin rants at West for ‘plundering’ Russia
The wife of Ukraine’s intelligence chief has been diagnosed with heavy metals poisoning and is undergoing treatment in hospital, it emerged on Tuesday. Meanwhile, deadly winter weather has hit the front lines of the conflict with Russia. Marianna Budanova is the wife of Kyrylo Budanov, the head of Ukraine’s military intelligence agency known by its local acronym GUR. Her condition was confirmed to AP by Andriy Yusov, the agency’s spokesman. He did not provide more details about the alleged poisoning, nor did he say if it was believed to have been intended for Mr Budanov or whether Russia was thought to be behind it. Earlier this year, he told Ukrainian media that the military intelligence chief had survived 10 assassination attempts carried out by the Russian state or federal security services. There was no immediate comment from the Russian government, which has long been suspected of poisoning opponents. The exact nature of the heavy metals that caused the poisoning has not been made public. However, local media said the metals were not used domestically or in military equipment, so the GUR representatives presume the poisoning was carried out intentionally, possibly through food or drink. Several GUR personnel were also diagnosed with the same poisoning, according to the newspaper Ukrainska Pravda. More than 100,000 people were still without power on the Crimean peninsula and some still had no water supply, the Russia-installed governor said on Tuesday, after a winter storm that brought blizzards from Bulgaria, Romania and Moldova across Ukraine and into central Russia. President Volodymyr Zelensky said at least five people died in the Odesa region of southern Ukraine, and that engineers were working to restore electricity. Crimea, which was annexed from Ukraine by Russia in 2014, is a key military and logistics hub for Russia as it pursues its war in Ukraine. The damage caused by the storm affected “the tempo of military operations along the frontline in Ukraine” but has not stopped military activity entirely, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said. In the Vologda region, about 310 miles northeast of Moscow, more than 10 days worth of snow – about 25cm (10in) – fell in one day. The Moscow region was also blanketed with snow, piling drifts up to 25cm deep. Meanwhile, Vladimir Putin has cast Moscow’s military action in Ukraine as an existential battle against purported attempts by the West to destroy Russia in a ranting speech. Mr Putin, who has been in power for more than two decades, is expected to declare his intention to seek another six-year term in a presidential election next March. “We are defending the security and wellbeing of our people, the highest, historical right to be Russia - a strong, independent power, a country-civilisation,” Mr Putin said, accusing the US and its allies of trying to “dismember and plunder” Russia. “We are now fighting for the freedom of not only Russia, but the whole world,” Mr Putin said. Associated Press contributed to this report Read More Fake babies, real horror: Deepfakes from the Gaza war increase fears about AI's power to mislead Greece pushes back against claims its leader broke assurances over Elgin Marbles Ukraine spy chief's wife undergoes treatment for suspected poisoning with heavy metals Baltic nations' foreign ministers pull out of OSCE meeting over Russian foreign minister attendance Cameron to urge Nato allies not to waver in support for Ukraine Greek officials angry and puzzled after UK's Sunak scraps leaders' meeting over Parthenon Marbles
2023-11-29 03:12

Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs, Named in Abuse Suits, Leaves Revolt Media Role
Sean “Diddy” Combs, accused of rape and sexual harassment in multiple lawsuits, stepped down as chairman of Revolt
2023-11-29 03:12

Fortnite Ranks in Order: Ranked System Explained
The Fortnite Ranked system consists of eight ranks, from Bronze to Unreal, that players can progress through in both Battle Royale and Zero Build.
2023-11-29 03:10

Four things to expect from GTA 6's first trailer
The hotly anticipated new trailer for the next Grand Theft Auto game is nearly upon us, and gamers are on tenterhooks. It has been more than 10 years since the last instalment of the world’s most popular video game, and the makers, Rockstar Games have been dropping cryptic hints about the next one over the next few months. Some fans have even reportedly quit smoking so they definitely live until the eventual release date. Safe to say, some people are unhealthily obsessed. With the trailer set to drop in early December, here are six things to expect. The location Previous Rockstar Games trailers have featured a highlight reel revealing the location of the game, and giving fans an idea of the new world they’ll be tearing up. Liberty City, Vice City, and Los Santos, the previous game locations, are as iconic to GTA players as any of its playable characters, so this is likely to be an important one. Moreover, Rockstar spends a huge amount of time and effort on world design, it’s a key part of the franchise. Any trailer will surely feature this heavily. The big question is: where will it be? A data leak last September suggested that it will be in a revamped version of Vice City – but whether that's the only location is anyone's guess. Some cars Everyone loves cruising around GTA game worlds in classic cars blasting music and occasionally stopping to commit some virtual crimes, right? Social media users certainly hope that cars – and other vehicles – will play a part in the upcoming trailer. One person commented on Reddit: “I know the game will take place in the modern era, but I really hope we'll see classic/old-school cars as well, like in GTA 5. “Something like a Chevrolet Bel Air or a Ford F-100 or basically anything from the 50s to the 80s. If 90% of the cars are going to be modern and electric, I will be pretty disappointed, not gonna lie.” How it will deal with the popularity of GTA Online The massive success of GTA Online, where players play against one another in a virtual world, will cause some headaches for people designing the trailer – and the next game in general. Will it give people the chance to continue their online adventures in the last game into the new one? Some gamers have spent untold amounts of money – and days of their life – on their GTA multiplayer profiles, so this will be a big concern for them. Other bits from the recent leak While official information about the game has been sparse, a massive data leak last September gave fans a sneak peak. About 90 videos from an in-development version of the game appeared on a forum, showing that the game might feature the series’ first playable female protagonist. The character, called Lucia, was clad in a pink outfit, and appeared to be robbing someone at gunpoint. It wouldn’t be unreasonable to expect that she will feature somewhere in the upcoming trailer. Fans on social media also speculated that the makers of the trailer will include various other, more random, aspects – one person suggested rollerblades, for example. Another person said they wanted to see a “police shootout”, which sounds a little more in-keeping with the franchise. Whatever the trailer brings, it will have gamers across the land incredibly excited.Sign up to our free indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.
2023-11-29 03:10

Cyber Five Online Sales Shattered Expectations as Inflation-Weary Consumers Embraced Deep Discounts
SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov 28, 2023--
2023-11-29 03:07

Researchers: Maybe the Internet Isn't Making Us Miserable After All
The internet may be distracting but it’s not necessarily depressing, a new study suggests. Published
2023-11-29 03:05

Croptimistic Introduces the World’s First Map Using Fully Autonomous Plant Stand Counting
SASKATOON, Saskatchewan--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov 28, 2023--
2023-11-29 03:01

AP Player of the Week: Zach Edey averaged 25 points, 13 boards in leading No. 1 Purdue to Maui title
Zach Edey of No. 1 Purdue is The Associated Press national player of the week in men’s basketball for Week 3 of the season
2023-11-29 03:00

AP Player of the Week: Aneesah Morrow of LSU averaged 27.3 points and 10 rebounds
Aneesah Morrow is The Associated Press national player of the week in women's college basketball
2023-11-29 03:00

R&B singer Kiana Ledé is taking back control of her music and her life
R&B singer Kiana Ledé is launching the international leg of her “Grudges” tour Tuesday in Auckland, New Zealand, and will include stops in Paris, London and Berlin
2023-11-29 02:57

Yaretzi Noemi: California girl, 5, dies after being swept away due to 'sneaker waves' in Pacific Ocean
Yaretzi Noemi's grandmother, Pascal Soriano, was not located despite an extensive search by helicopters and boats that covered over 100 miles of ocean
2023-11-29 02:55

How to predict your 2023 Spotify Wrapped
It's almost that time of year again, when we see how many hours we've shamelessly spent listening to mortifying music and just playing Taylor Swift on loop. Yes, Spotify Wrapped is almost here again and soon you social media feeds will be full of people either showing you how cool by how much Senegalese lounge Jazz they listen to or embarrassed that they still haven't moved on from The Libertines or The Strokes. Each and every year, even for the most dedicated of music lovers, Spotify Wrapped throws up countless surprises in your top artists and songs leading many to question just how it tallies what you listen to. With the big day somewhere on the horizon (it arrived on November 30 in 2022 and December 1 in 2021) music nerds are curious to know what their Wrapped will look like for 2023. Spotify have never officially said how they compile their data for Wrapped but a Reddit user in 2021 revealed how they believed it works. In the post Hudsonlovestech pointed out six key takeaways that they discovered after downloading their data from the music platform. They were: This year the data was logged from January 1st 00:00 to November 15th 23:59. You have to listen to a song for more than 30 seconds for it to count in your song rankings. Your top songs are calculated by play count rather than total time listened. In your top 100 playlist only the first 10 songs are sorted by play count, the rest are close but sorted by artist. Your total time listening includes podcasts. Your top artists are calculated by total play counts rather than total time listening. If you apply this date to your own listening history then there is a chance you might discover what your Wrapped will look like this year although there is no guarantee. Meanwhile, many users on X/Twitter are posting memes, imagining what their Wrapped will look like this year. To be honest, we're just dreading seeing how much we listened to Ryan Gosling sing 'I'm Just Ken' from the Barbie soundtrack. Sign up to our free indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.
2023-11-29 02:55
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