Monday Briefing

Drones hit buildings in Moscow

The Russian Defense Ministry stated that Ukrainian forces had fired at the very least three drones at Moscow, the newest in a wave of assaults in Russia; one in every of them was destroyed in Odintsovo, exterior Moscow. Two others struck business buildings within the capital after being intercepted by Russian air defenses, officers stated.

Ukraine doesn’t usually declare duty for assaults in Russia, however senior Ukrainian officers stated final week that latest drone assaults on Moscow have been orchestrated by Kyiv. Video from Russian state media confirmed blown-out home windows and twisted beams in one in every of Moscow’s premier skyscrapers. There have been no accidents.

In his night tackle, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, didn’t explicitly point out the strikes in Moscow however famous that “gradually, the war is returning to the territory of Russia,” together with army and “symbolic” facilities. He had beforehand promised “retaliation” after two weeks of nonstop Russian bombardment on Odesa, a metropolis on the Black Sea.

Ukrainian victories: The recapture of the strategically vital village of Staromaiorske has been among the many few breakthroughs in a halting counteroffensive, the place in two months Kyiv’s troops have superior lower than 10 miles at any level alongside a 100-mile entrance.

A deadly blast at a rally in Pakistan

An explosion at a rally organized by an Islamist occasion yesterday in northwestern Pakistan killed at the very least 43 folks and wounded 200 extra, officers stated, the newest signal of the deteriorating safety state of affairs within the nation. The blast occurred at about 4 p.m. in Bajaur, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province close to the border with Afghanistan, a neighborhood official stated.

A video from the rally reveals a whole lot of males sitting exterior beneath a fabric cover as occasion officers addressed the gang. As one district chief took to the stage, enthusiastic occasion employees stood up, chanting, “Allah is great,” one rally-goer stated. Then an explosion rocked the gang.

Details: Officials stated they suspected it may need been orchestrated by an Islamic State affiliate within the area that’s lively in northwestern Pakistan and that has beforehand attacked the Taliban administration for not instituting what it considers a strict sufficient interpretation of Islamic rules in Afghanistan.

West African nations demand democracy be restored

After a disaster summit in Nigeria, a bloc of West African leaders threatened army motion towards Niger, the place troopers seized energy in a coup on Wednesday, except the nation’s democratically elected president is restored to workplace inside every week. But the brand new junta insisted it was going nowhere, and it warned forcefully towards any international army intervention.

The demand, by the Economic Community of West African States, or ECOWAS, echoed earlier calls by the U.S. and France, main safety allies of Niger, who warned they’d lower help and army ties value a whole lot of tens of millions of {dollars} except the deposed chief, Mohamed Bazoum, was reinstated.

From Opinion

A Morning Read

Keita Takahashi, one of many online game trade’s most eccentric designers, has made video games about mustachioed inexperienced cubes and alien caterpillars that stretch throughout the galaxy.

But neither of these oddball experiments matched the supreme weirdness of his first sport, Katamari Damacy, wherein gamers roll on a regular basis litter into big balls till even entire cities adhere to their surfaces. (He receives no royalties from the sport.)

SPORTS NEWS FROM THE ATHLETIC

David Beckham: On signing Messi, plans for a “Yankees”-style model and his need to work with Manchester United at some point.

Player care in soccer: What’s concerned on this wide-ranging however integral position.

Women’s World Cup: Colombia beat Germany with beautiful objectives, The Times reviews, together with a header in stoppage time.

From The Times: The American celebrity Megan Rapinoe has been sitting on the bench whereas her workforce performs, and he or she’s not comfortable about it.