The Reference | Reports

Reports

Wagner v Mozart: US group strikes wrong note in Ukraine

Saturday 14-01-2023 05:58 PM

The Mozart Group, an independent American ex-military organisation founded to help Ukraine fight the Russians, is suffering from a distinct lack of harmony. A spat of angry tweets from the ...

Kyiv tries to rally West before ‘500,000 Russians’ go to front

Saturday 14-01-2023 05:49 PM

President Putin could mobilise up to half a million extra troops for his war against Ukraine as he seeks to wrestle back the initiative with a multipronged spring offensive. Western allies ...

Afghan rulers urged to reverse ban on women aid workers

Saturday 14-01-2023 03:46 PM

A strong majority of the U.N. Security Council urged Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers Friday to immediately reverse all “oppressive” restrictions on girls and women including the latest ban on women ...

Moscow Says It Has Seized Ukrainian Town of Soledar

Saturday 14-01-2023 02:40 PM

Russia’s Defense Ministry said Moscow’s forces had completed the capture of Soledar overnight, as Ukrainian officials said battles were continuing for control of the eastern town. In its ...

U.N. to Post Inspectors to All of Ukraine’s Nuclear Plants

Friday 13-01-2023 03:52 PM

The head of the United Nations atomic agency plans to visit Ukraine next week to deploy international inspectors at all of the war-torn country’s nuclear plants, significantly expanding the ...

Russia claims its forces control Soledar town

Friday 13-01-2023 03:36 PM

Russia has declared that its forces now control the salt-mining town of Soledar in eastern Ukraine, after a long and intense battle. Announcing its first significant victory after six ...

Cash-strapped Taliban cannot afford to turn their back on opium trade

Friday 13-01-2023 02:54 PM

In Afghanistan’s southern Uruzgan province, Habibullah sat and listened to a recording of drug dealers rattling off opium prices, one after another, reminiscent of traders on the stock market. ...

British-Iranian man appears in heavily edited confession aired on Iranian TV

Friday 13-01-2023 12:48 PM

Alireza Akbari, the British-Iranian dual national sentenced to death for allegedly spying for MI6, gave his British handlers reports on Iran’s nuclear programme and efforts to evade western ...

Taliban hails Afghanistan's first ‘supercar’

Wednesday 11-01-2023 09:01 PM

Afghanistans Taliban rulers have hailed the unveiling of the countrys first ‘supercar’. A sleek, black sports car took to the snowy streets of the capital after a five-year building ...

Russia Claims Success in Ukraine’s Soledar, Its First Advance in Months

Wednesday 11-01-2023 05:18 PM

Russia claimed Wednesday its first significant success in Ukraine since July, seizing most of the eastern town of Soledar after weeks of heavy fighting led by the Wagner private military company. ...

Daughter of former Iranian president Rafsanjani is jailed for joining protests

Wednesday 11-01-2023 04:41 PM

The daughter of a former Iranian president has been sentenced to five years in prison for “propaganda acts” after being arrested in September for taking part in the mass protests that have swept ...

Nato to send Kyiv modern tanks as new attack looms

Wednesday 11-01-2023 04:29 PM

Europe is closer to sending Ukraine modern battle tanks as Nato prepares to redouble military support in anticipation of a Russian spring offensive. Among the heavy weapons under ...

Wagner Group claims to have captured Soledar for Russia

Wednesday 11-01-2023 03:46 PM

Russia’s Wagner mercenaries claim to have seized full control over the eastern Ukrainian town of Soledar, where Russian and Ukrainian forces have been locked in intense urban fighting for days. ...

Iran sentences Belgian aid worker to prison, lashes

Wednesday 11-01-2023 03:02 PM

Iran has sentenced a Belgian aid worker to a lengthy prison term and 74 lashes after convicting him of espionage in a closed-door trial, state media reported Tuesday. The website of Iran’s ...

Pakistan receives over $9bn in aid after devastating floods

Tuesday 10-01-2023 06:28 PM

Flood-hit Pakistan has received more than $9bn (£7.39bn) in aid from international donors, including the US and France, after pleas from the country’s prime minister and the United Nations chief ...