Robyn Phelps/Insider

• Scientists found Southern Resident and Bigg’s orcas with 4-nonylphenol in their livers and skeletal muscles.
• 4NP is associated with the production of toilet paper.
• The scientists also discovered PFAS — known as forever chemicals — in the bodies of the killer whales.

Orca whales are some of the most contaminated marine mammals in the world. 

The species are full of chemicals — from “highly toxic and carcinogenic” PCBs to the infamous insecticide DDT.

Now, a group of scientists has discovered another chemical of concern — and it’s associated with toilet paper.

Scientists at the University of British Columbia, British Columbia Ministry of Agriculture and Food, and Fisheries and Oceans Canada, found a chemical known as 4-nonylphenol — along with dozens of other chemicals — in the liver and skeletal tissue of 12 dead Southern Resident and Bigg’s orcas.

The chemical 4NP belongs to a group of chemicals known as alkylphenols, which UBC researcher Juan José Alava described to Insider as “very toxic.”

Although Alava, and other researchers who spoke to Insider, noted it is too early to decisively conclude how orcas are affected by 4NP, their discovery raises some alarm.

The amount of 4NP found in the killer whales, which tended to be higher in the blood-rich liver tissues, reached exceptionally higher in one calf. 

“These contaminants basically can affect reproduction, development, and we know, based on the weight of evidence, affect cognitive function and also the nervous system,” Alava said. “So we are here talking about contamination that is harmful to the environment and harmful to this species of killer whales.” 

Alava said that the exact source of 4NP affecting whales is unknown, the chemical can be found primarily in sewage sludge and wastewater treatment plants. It is also used in detergents and cosmetic products.

In addition to 4NP, over half of the contaminants discovered in the orcas belonged to a category of chemicals known as PFAS — commonly referred to as forever chemicals because of their difficulty breaking down in the environment. PFAS can be found in drinking water, fish, and in trace amounts in human blood, and can heighten the risk for diseases like cancer and liver disease in humans.

The study authors noted that it was the first time 7:3-fluorotelomer carboxylic acid, a type of PFA, was found in an orca from the Pacific Northwest. Alava noted that 7:3 FTCA has not been found in British Columbia before, and could indicate that the pollutant is moving its way through the food systems.

‘They’re just being killed by 1,000 cuts’

Although Biggs and Southern Residents are both threatened by the possibility of extinction, Southern Residents, whose numbers are failing to grow, have scientists especially concerned. 

In addition to habitat loss, climate change, and entanglement in fishing gear, Southern Resident orcas struggle with their food supply. 

Overfishing means that there is not enough food. And contaminants in the environment mean that when there is food, it could very well be full of chemicals. Because orcas eat so much, they usually have a higher concentration of chemicals in comparison to their smaller marine counterparts.

Southern Residents rely on Chinook salmon to supplement their diet. The discovery of chemicals in their system means that Chinook salmon also have contaminants in their system — a warning for people who also consume the salmon. 

But more than that, a lack of a good food supply is affecting the reproduction of orcas, Deborah Giles, a scientist and research director at the nonprofit Wild Orca, told Insider.

Giles’ own research found that 69% of pregnancies held by Southern Resident Orcas were unsuccessful, with 33% failing late into the pregnancy or immediately after birth.

“And those females that are losing their calves are nutritionally deprived which of course works to increase the impacts of chemicals,” Giles said. 

Chemicals are also being transferred between mothers and fetuses. The UBC study, which looked at a Southern Resident known as J32, found that all the chemicals found in her were transferred to her fetus. J32 died in 2014 while trying to give birth to her fetus, Giles noted.

“They’re just being really truly killed by 1000 cuts,” Giles said.

‘This is just the tip of the iceberg’

“Too few” orcas had been screened to determine the scope of 4NP contamination in killer whales, study authors noted, but even getting this amount of data on orcas —  which are usually studied after they are dead — is an impressive task. 

Alava told Insider that because of limited access to orca whale organs, he doesn’t believe him or the team he worked with will be able to do a necropsy study like this again any time soon. 

The lack of data means there are still many unanswered questions: Why are some species less affected by certain chemicals than others? How much of a role do these chemicals play in the endangerment of this species? How many chemicals will researchers continue to find? And which of the dozens of detrimental chemicals found in the environment should scientists and regulators focus on when trying to save the species?

Irvin Schultz, a manager at NOAA’s Environmental Chemistry Program, who spoke with Insider about the research, also said that because these particular chemicals have not been screened before, more needs to be done to determine their true impact on the species.

“It’s definitely more than trace levels,” Schultz said. “So it is something that gets your attention, and maybe it’s definitely something to continue to measure and keep track of.”

Schultz, whose lab focuses on measuring other contaminants — like polyaromatic hydrocarbons that occur naturally after burning fossil fuels — says it’s also important to keep in mind that killer whales are being exposed to so many more contaminants.

“The real value for this study is providing some data for compounds that haven’t been monitored or measured as frequently,” Schultz said.

And scientists like Giles are continuing to pay attention to what other unknown chemicals killer whales may be holding in their bodies.

“My guess is that the more we look, the more we’re going to find with regard to chemicals, manmade chemicals that are finding their way through the food web and into our apex predators like whales,” Giles said. “And I think that’s the terrifying part for me is that I do believe that this is just the tip of the iceberg with regard to what we will find.” 

It appears there is trouble in paradise for two members of the Republican Party. The bond that held Kevin McCarthy and Marjorie Taylor Greene together was the lightest and most fragile elastic. It was going to snap at any moment. It appears that the moment has come.

It all began with Ashli Babbitt. Babbitt was shot on January 6 by a police officer, as you know. Greene, who always seems to be on the side of insurrectionists, has long maintained Babbitt was murdered. She was not. Had Babbitt listened to the officer’s directions, she’d be alive today.

But this information has not stopped Greene from loudly and ferociously insisting that it was a murder and there needs to be a trial. And the other day, her wind-up doll, Kevin McCarthy, broke with her on that subject.

During a news conference on Thursday, Kevin McCarthy was explicitly asked about Babbitt and if he thought it was a murder. One would have thought Kevin would have tried to wiggle out of answering the question, but surprisingly, he replied. And he said this: “I think the police officer did his job.”

That might be the only intelligent thing Kevin’s ever said. Reportedly Greene did not like what Kevin said. Neither did Trump, who lashed out at Kevin in Truth Social and called the office from January 6 a thug.

So it took only a short time for McCarthy to alternate the two people he strives to impress. Trump is mad at him. Greene is mad at him. None of this is surprising because the alliance between Greene and McCarthy could never have lasted all that long.

This is because Greene is insane. And McCarthy, coward that he is cannot defend the insurrectionists TOO much. That would be a bad look for ole Kevin, and as we know, Kevin is all about his appearance.

But right now, his appearance could be better. Kevin is chasing rainbows in his crazed attempts to please everyone. However, there is no gold pot at this rainbow’s end. There is only bitterness, backstabbing, and a whole lot of trouble.

The post The brief alliance between Kevin McCarthy and Marjorie Taylor Greene is falling apart already appeared first on Palmer Report.

Dozens of Russian and Ukrainian prisoners of war have returned home next a prisoner swap, officials on equally sides mentioned Saturday.

Prime Ukrainian presidential aide Andriy Yermak stated in a Telegram article that 116 Ukrainians were being freed.

He said the introduced POWs include troops who held out in Mariupol throughout Moscow’s monthslong siege that minimized the southern port town to ruins, as perfectly as guerrilla fighters from the Kherson region and snipers captured during the ongoing fierce battles for the japanese metropolis of Bakhmut.

Russian defense officers, meanwhile, announced that 63 Russian troops experienced returned from Ukraine adhering to the swap, together with some “unique group” prisoners whose launch was secured adhering to mediation by the United Arab Emirates.

UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT ZELENSKYY TELLS FOX Information RUSSIAN OFFENSIVE HAS By now Started out

Ukrainian soldiers can be seen in a trench finding out an RPG rocket on a frontline placement in the Donetsk area on Jan. 23, 2023.

(ANATOLII STEPANOV/AFP by way of Getty Illustrations or photos)

A assertion issued Saturday by the Russian Protection Ministry did not present details about these “distinctive group” captives.

At least a few civilians have been killed in Ukraine above the past 24 several hours as Russian forces struck 9 regions in the country’s south, north and east, according to reviews on Ukrainian Tv by regional governors on Saturday early morning.

Two persons were being killed and 14 other individuals wounded in Ukraine’s japanese Donetsk area by Russian shelling and missile strikes, area Gov. Pavlo Kyrylenko explained in a Telegram update on Saturday morning.

The casualty toll involved a male who was killed and seven other folks who were being wounded Friday soon after Russian missiles slammed into Toretsk, a town in the Donetsk area. Kyrylenko explained that 34 properties, two kindergartens, an outpatient clinic, a library, a cultural centre and other buildings have been weakened in the strike.

HUMANITARIAN VOLUNTEER, Maritime VET KILLED IN UKRAINE Even though Serving to CIVILIANS

Ukrainian flags are planted in the graves of soldiers at a Kharkiv cemetery on Jan. 24, 2023 in Kharkiv, Ukraine. 

(Spencer Platt/Getty Visuals)

7 adolescents acquired shrapnel wounds right after an anti-personnel mine exploded late on Friday in the northeastern metropolis of Izium, nearby Gov. Oleh Syniehubov reported on Telegram. He claimed they were being all hospitalized but their life have been not in danger.

Elsewhere, regional Ukrainian officers claimed right away shelling by Russia of border settlements in the northern Sumy region, as perfectly as the city of Marhanets, which neighbors the Zaporizhzhia nuclear electricity plant. Kyiv has extensive accused Moscow of applying the plant, which Russian forces seized early in the war, as a base for launching attacks on Ukrainian-held territory throughout the Dnieper river.

In other places, Ukraine’s Black Sea port of Odesa and bordering regions were being plunged into the darkish pursuing a substantial-scale community failure, the country’s grid operator reported.

Ukrenergo stated in a Telegram update that the failure concerned machines “consistently fixed” following Russia’s savage strikes on Ukraine’s strength grid, and that residents really should brace them selves for prolonged blackouts.

Simply click Listed here TO GET THE FOX Information App

People today stroll in the streets of Odesa, Ukraine on Feb. 1, 2023. 

(Jose Colon/Anadolu Agency through Getty Visuals)

“Regrettably, the scale of the incident is pretty considerable, and this time, the electrical power source limits will be for a longer period. It is not nevertheless probable to figure out a specific time when (electrical power) will be fully restored,” the company stated.

Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal claimed that the vitality ministry was sending “all the effective generators it has in inventory” to Odesa “in 24 hrs” and that both equally the Ukrainian power minister and the head of Ukrenergo were being on their way to Odesa to oversee fix works.

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The post Russian, Ukrainian officials say dozens of soldiers were freed in prisoner swap appeared first on Ukraine Intelligence.

AP / Reuters

• Former CIA Director John Brennan said it’d be “impulsive” to shoot down the suspected Chinese spy balloon. 
• Republicans, including Donald Trump, have called for Biden to take out the balloon. 
• Brennan told NBC News that China may have sent the balloon to test the US’ response.

Former CIA director John Brennan said it would be “impulsive” to shoot down China’s surveillance balloon that’s hovering over the US — despite demands from Republicans for Biden to take out the floating device.

While speaking to Chuck Todd on NBC News on Friday, Brennan — who served as spy chief under Presidents Obama and Trump — told the “Meet the Press Now” host that he thinks officials have been taking appropriate actions thus far. 

“I do think it’s been prudent so far for the administration to be closely monitoring this, to acknowledge it, to confront China directly, to cancel Secretary Blinken’s trip, but also not to take the rather impulsive action in terms of shooting it down,” Brennan said. “I think what they’re trying to do is make sure China understands this is unacceptable.”

A former Navy pilot previously told Insider’s Natalie Musumeci that shooting down such a balloon would be no easy task.

China admitted on Friday that it owns the balloon that was hovering over the country, but claimed it was a wayward “civilian airship” used for “mainly meteorological” purposes, Insider previously reported.

The US defense department said it was a spy balloon, possibly flying over sensitive US sites to collect information. 

“This balloon is now hovering 60,000 feet above US territory. I’m sure it has visual observation capability as well as technical collection capability,” Brennan said Friday. “Although the Chinese have pretty extensive satellite coverage of the United States, it’s not 24/7 on every inch of US territory. So I guess the question is whether or not there is going to be some type of additional intelligence that they can glean as a result of having this balloon.” 

The balloon could also have been sent as a way for China to test the American reaction, particularly from the Biden administration, Brennan said. 

“It also could be that there’s no intelligence value to this. That they’re trying to see what the US reaction is going to be and to see whether or not the way we respond to it provides them with some type of framework,” Brennan suggested. 

The former CIA director also questioned whether Chinese President Xi Jinping was “personally aware of this balloon flight.”

“I would think that the Chinese military would have raised this with him if it was an intentional flight pattern,” Brennan said. 

As of Saturday afternoon, the balloon had been spotted soaring over North Carolina as it drifted east on air currents.

Montana Department of Transportation

• Hundreds were stranded outside Big Timber, Montana, this week after I-90 shut down. 
• Local businesses lent a helping hand to feed and house motorists. 
• “It just speaks to what this small town has done for people,” one bakery owner told Insider. 

After hundreds of drivers were stranded in rural Montana this week due to inclement weather, business owners in the small town of Big Timber banded together to provide assistance. 

The marooned visitors — who found themselves stuck in the town after Interstate 90 was shut down due to high winds and dangerous driving conditions — were welcomed with special accommodations and warm hospitality. Several were even surprised with free pizzas from a local bakery, which stayed open late to help out in the cold. 

“That’s how this small town is — people do that for each other,” Teb Seifu, owner of Big Timber Bakery, told Insider. 

Seifu said the decision to keep his doors open to serve the stranded motorists — many of them commercial truck drivers — came quickly, and followed suit with other local business owners. He said his brother-in-law opened the doors at KOA Campground, normally closed this time of year, to provide accommodations. 

“These people were stranded, sleeping in their cars,” Seifu told Insider. “It just speaks to what this small town has done for people.”

He said he delivered a pizza to a local sheriff monitoring the highway whose eyes widened as soon as he saw the pie. 

“I don’t think that he made it into his car before he scarfed down the first piece,” Seifu said. 

Stranded travelers told local TV station KTVQ they were able to find hotel rooms for the night, and lauded the locals of Big Timber. 

“They turned their fireplace on and let people sleep out here in the dining room, and even the laundry room and hallways,” traveling nurse Jessica Lee told KTVQ from a local hotel. “They did what they could just to get them out of the cold.”

Anna Weatherspoon was on a road trip to Washington when they were rear-ended on the icy highway, KTVQ reported. They stayed in town for a couple nights while they set up a flight out of Billings, Montana, according to KTVQ. 

“Not ideal, but you know, we’re safe,” Weatherspoon said. “The people here are extraordinary. I guess it’s the little-town effect.”

The weather in Big Timber has subsided since earlier this week, and temperatures reached 40 degrees Saturday morning. But Seifu said the night lending a helping hand was a good reminder of what it means to live in a small town. 

“I think it just speaks volumes of what kind of people live here,” he said.

Robert Smith/MI News/Getty Images

• British airline Flybe collapsed for the second time in three years on January 28.
• There are still job postings for the airline on LinkedIn, some of which are only a week old.
• One pilot told the BBC he found out he’d lost his job at 4 a.m., after waking up for an early shift.

British airline Flybe was recruiting new workers just one day before it entered administration and shut down last Saturday — marking its second collapse in three years.

Pilot Keith Sivell told BBC Northern Ireland: “We went into administration early on the 28th of January and there was recruitment going on on the 27th — just the day before — for pilots.” Sivell was among the 277 employees that were made redundant, per the BCC. 

The airline also still has five open job listings on LinkedIn, which were posted shortly before its collapse. One ad, for maintenance control technicians, was published just last week.

In the early hours of January 28, Flybe released a notice on its website explaining that the airline was no longer trading and that all flights had been canceled. It reads: “If you are due to fly with Flybe today or in the future, please DO NOT TRAVEL TO THE AIRPORT unless you have arranged an alternative flight with another airline.”

According to the BBC report, 2,500 passengers were due to fly with Flybe last Saturday, and around 75,000 passengers had their flights canceled in total. 

Sivell woke up for an early shift at 4 a.m. on January 28 and saw an influx of messages about Flybe’s collapse. He had lost his job. The pilot told BBC Northern Ireland his initial reaction was mostly confusion: “Do I go to the airport? Are flights still going?”

Flybe operated regional flights within the UK, as well as flights to several European destinations. Its previous iteration — which operated under the same name — collapsed in March 2020 after COVID-19 closed international borders and dealt a tough blow to the travel industry.

Some 2,400 employees lost their jobs in the first shut-down, per Reuters.

Sivell told BBC Northern Ireland that staff knew company finances were tight prior to Flybe’s first collapse in 2020, but said this time feels “more like the rug has been pulled from underneath us.”

In October 2020, Flybe was purchased by Thyme Opco, a firm controlled by Cyrus Capital. The airline resumed flights in April 2022 and many of its former employees returned — only to lose their jobs for the second time in three years last weekend. 

Sivell, who had worked at Flybe for seven years before its first collapse, was one of the workers who came back. He told BBC Northern Ireland: “It was a really friendly, family environment, so that’s why I came back.”

Flybe didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider.

iStock; Sue Ogrocki/AP Images; Rebecca Zisser/Insider

• The Cherokee Nation was promised a seat in Congress in the 1835 Treaty of New Echota.
• A recent congressional hearing suggested the tribe could be close to seating a delegate.
• Kim Teehee, the proposed delegate, told Insider it would show the US can keep its promises to tribes.

In the state of Georgia in 1835, the US government and the Cherokee signed the Treaty of New Echota, which required the tribe give up millions of acres of its ancestral homeland in the Southeast and move to Indian territory west of the Mississippi.

In return, the tribe was also supposed to receive representation in Congress. But most of the Cherokee did not support the treaty, which was signed as other Native tribes were already being forcibly removed from their lands. Two years after the treaty was signed, only a small portion of Cherokee had actually moved voluntarily.

Federal officials sent thousands of soldiers to forcibly remove the tribe and send them on the 1,200-mile migration in which 4,000 people died, largely due to disease and starvation. Altogether, the forced removal of Native people during this time resulted in tens of thousands of deaths and came to be known as the Trail of Tears.

Despite the US government’s insistence on enforcing part of the Treaty of New Echota, nearly two centuries later a promise made to the Cherokee Nation remains unfulfilled — that it receive its own delegate in the US House of Representatives. 

“This delegate position would give some small measure of justice for those who lost their lives on that forced march during the Trail of Tears,” Kim Teehee, a Cherokee Nation citizen and longtime official who has been proposed to serve as the tribe’s delegate, told Insider. “I think it would also show that the United States is capable of keeping its word in the treaties between the United States and Indian tribes.”

Seating a Cherokee delegate would also give a voice to Native nations in the halls of Congress, where they could serve on committees as well as introduce and lobby for bills that would support tribes.

The Cherokee Nation appears closer than ever to finally seating a delegate. A hearing held by a congressional committee on the issue in November was “historic,” according to Teehee, and could lead to Congress’ first member representing a tribal nation.

Treaties are the ‘supreme Law of the Land’

The case for the Cherokee to seat a nonvoting member in Congress hinges upon the legitimacy of the treaty signed 188 years ago. Article 6 of the US Constitution plainly states that all laws and treaties of the US “shall be the supreme Law of the Land.”

“Just because the document is old, doesn’t mean that it’s less valid,” Teehee said. “Just look to the US Constitution and know that it’s still a living, breathing, valid document, just like treaties.”

US courts have also acknowledged the validity of Indian treaties, said James Meggesto, a member of the Onondaga Nation and an attorney who specializes in Native American law. In the 2020 McGirt v. Oklahoma decision, the Supreme Court ruled that the treaty establishing the Muscogee (Creek) Nation’s reservation land was never disbanded, and thus much of eastern Oklahoma was still Indian country. Even with a conservative majority, the court upheld a treaty right from 1832.

“A treaty is the supreme law of the land whether it was made five years ago or hundreds of years ago,” Meggesto previously told Insider.

Hoskin Jr., left, and Teehee in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, in August 2019.

Sue Ogrocki/Associated Press

A ‘historic’ hearing on a tribe’s treaty right

In 2019, the Cherokee Nation took a step toward seating a delegate in the House of Representatives when Chuck Hoskin Jr., the Cherokee’s principal chief, nominated Teehee in one of his first major actions after being elected.

Teehee, who currently serves as the Cherokee’s director of government relations, previously spent 12 years in Congress as a senior advisor to the House’s bipartisan Native American Caucus. She also served in the White House as a senior policy advisor for Native American affairs under former President Barack Obama.

In Congress, Teehee’s job was to educate lawmakers on Indian issues and the relationship between tribes and the US government. “While that was an effective position to have, nothing beats having member-level engagement, member to member,” she said.

The Cherokee delegate would be a nonvoting member, like those from Washington, DC, and Puerto Rico, meaning they would not be able to cast a final chamber-wide vote on whether or not to pass a bill. But Teehee said there’s a “very important deliberative process that takes place before a bill ever gets to that point.” As nonvoting members, delegates can still serve on committees, introduce and promote bills, and speak on legislation from the House floor.

In November, the US House Rules Committee held a hearing on the possibility of seating a Cherokee delegate. Then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the hearing was a “key first step toward identifying what actions must be taken to honor this long-standing promise.”

Teehee said she was “blown away” by the “historic” nature of the hearing, adding: “It’s the first time in my lifetime that I recall ever seeing a congressional committee hold a hearing on a particular tribe’s treaty right.” She said lawmakers asked tough questions, but she felt “very optimistic” the Cherokee delegate was something the committee ultimately supported.

A matter of ‘how the promise is kept’

There are some questions to work through, including whether or not other tribal nations would be granted similar rights. There are also other tribes with treaties that called for representation in Congress, as well as other bands of Cherokee that say they, too, are successors of the tribe that entered into the treaty in 1835.

Still, Rep. James McGovern, a Massachusetts Democrat, then the committee’s chairman, suggested at the hearing that the Cherokee Nation delegate “can and should” be seated “as quickly as possible.”

Rep. Tom Cole, an Oklahoma Republican who is a member of the Chickasaw Nation, also signaled openness to seating a Cherokee delegate and said he supported the US honoring its treaty obligations, though he acknowledged there were legal and procedural questions to address. With the new GOP majority, Cole was appointed chairman of the committee earlier this month.

Hoskin Jr., left, and Mainon Schwartz, an attorney at the Congressional Research Services, at a House Rules Committee hearing in Washington, DC, on November 16, 2022.

Mariam Zuhaib/Associated Press

Hoskin Jr. told Insider the tribe is closer than ever to seating a delegate, calling the hearing a “great success” and noting there was bipartisan support. “When the questions are more oriented to how the promise is kept, not whether the promise should be kept, that I think is great progress,” he said.

Hoskin wrote a letter this week to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, calling on them to work toward seating a delegate. He said the tribe believes there is a sound legal argument for the House to be able to seat the delegate on its own. However, if lawmakers determine it would be more appropriate to pass legislation in order to add the delegate, the Cherokee would work toward accomplishing it that way as well.

Support for tribes and representation for Native people

Having a delegate in Congress would give the Cherokee Nation a chance to formulate and support laws and policies that impact their tribe, but also other Native nations, according to Teehee.

“We know that we have issues that are similar to other tribes in the country, although there are differences,” she said. “I think that’s why we’ve been able to galvanize support from across the country from Indian tribes.”

If given the chance to serve in Congress, Teehee said she would advocate for tribes to receive the funding they need for public safety, education, infrastructure, internet connectivity, and cultural preservation of traditions and languages.

The Cherokee Nation is continuing to galvanize support and encourages US citizens to reach out to their representatives in Congress and tell them to fulfill the treaty promise.

Teehee said she also thinks an increase in Native representation in Congress would be inspiring to young people, who could “see themselves reflected in the people who are holding these positions,” adding “that didn’t exist in my day.”

“I think the stars are aligned for a Cherokee Nation delegate to be seated,” she said. “Let’s keep adding to the historic moments. Let’s keep breaking the ceiling and shattering it.”

Have a news tip? Contact this reporter at kvlamis@insider.com.

President Joe Biden said on Saturday that the United States is “going to take care of” a suspected Chinese spy balloon that has been tracked flying across the United States.

Biden made his remarks in response to a question about whether the United States would shoot down the balloon, which has been flying across the country in what Washington calls a “clear violation” of U.S. sovereignty.

Ukraine’s military said its forces repelled an attack in the area of Blahodatne in the eastern part of the Donetsk region, while Russia’s Wagner private military group said it took control of the village.

* Russia accused the Ukrainian military of deliberately striking a hospital in a Russian-held area of eastern Ukraine on Saturday in what it said was a war crime that killed 14 people and wounded 24 patients and medical staff. There was no immediate response to the allegations from Ukraine. Reuters was not able to independently verify the report.

* Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy described the situation at the front as “extremely acute“, especially in the eastern Donetsk region where Russia is stepping up an offensive.

* Tearful mourners in Kyiv commemorated a British volunteer aid worker, Andrew Bagshaw, killed while attempting a rescue mission from the eastern Ukrainian town of Soledar.

* Russian President Vladimir Putin is open to contacts with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz though has no phone call scheduled with him, a Kremlin spokesman said. Scholz, who last week approved providing Leopard 2 battle tanks to Ukrainian forces, was quoted in a published interview as saying he would speak to Putin again but the onus was on the Russian leader to withdraw troops from Ukraine “to end this horrendous, senseless war…”

* Russia’s deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov will hold a meeting with Lynne Tracy, the new U.S. ambassador, early next week, RIA news agency reported.

* Zelenskiy condemned the idea of neutrality in sports at a time when his country’s athletes fight and die in war, while their Russian counterparts might be allowed to compete.

* Russia said it will not hold annual talks with Japan on renewing a pact that allows Japanese fishermen to operate near disputed islands, saying Japan had taken anti-Russian measures.

* Expedited talks are under way among Ukraine and its allies about its requests for long-range missiles that it says are needed to prevent Russia from destroying its cities, a top aide to President Zelenskiy said.

* German arms-maker Rheinmetall is ready to greatly boost output of tank and artillery munitions to satisfy strong demand in Ukraine and the West, and may start producing HIMARS multiple rocket launchers in Germany, CEO Armin Papperger told Reuters.

* Ukraine has been promised 321 heavy tanks by several countries, its ambassador to France said.

* Poland will send an additional 60 tanks to Ukraine on top of 14 German-made Leopard 2 tanks it has pledged, the Polish prime minister said in an interview with Canadian television.

* Ukraine imposed sanctions on 182 Russian and Belarusian companies, and three individuals, in the latest of a series of steps by Zelenskiy to block their links to his country.

* On a trip to Turkey and the Middle East this week, the U.S. Treasury Department’s top sanctions official will warn countries and businesses that they could lose U.S. market access if they do business with entities subject to U.S. curbs as Washington cracks down on Russian attempts to evade sanctions.

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