Zelensky denies Ukrainian troops encircled in Russia's Kursk region

In this photo taken from video distributed by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Saturday, March 15, 2025, a Russian "Grad" self-propelled multiple rocket launcher fires towards Ukrainian positions near Chasiv Yar, Donetsk region, Ukraine. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)
Short Url
Updated 15 March 2025
Follow

Zelensky denies Ukrainian troops encircled in Russia's Kursk region

  • Zelenskiy says Kursk operation ongoing, Ukrainian troops not encircled

KYIV: Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky denied Saturday any “encirclement” of his troops by Moscow’s forces in Russia’s Kursk region, a day after US President Donald Trump made the claim.
“There is no encirclement of our troops,” Zelensky said on social media, adding: “Our troops continue to hold back Russian and North Korean groupings in the Kursk region.”

Ukraine said Saturday it had downed 130 Russian-launched drones across the country at night, as international efforts to end the three-year war intensify.
Kyiv’s air force said the Iranian-made Shahed drones were downed over 14 regions and that Moscow had also attacked with two ballistic missiles.


‘They need to let food to starving kids!’: Ben & Jerry’s cofounder confronts RFK Jr in Gaza protest at Capitol

Updated 4 min 40 sec ago
Follow

‘They need to let food to starving kids!’: Ben & Jerry’s cofounder confronts RFK Jr in Gaza protest at Capitol

WASHINGTON: Ben Cohen, cofounder of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream and longtime progressive activist, was removed from a Senate hearing Wednesday after confronting Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and lawmakers over US support for Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.
Kennedy had been reading prepared remarks about his department’s 2026 budget when activists interrupted the session, chanting “RFK kills people with AIDS.”
Kennedy jumped from his seat in reaction to the outburst.
Cohen then shouted: “Congress pays for bombs to kill children in Gaza,” accusing lawmakers of funding arms by cutting Medicaid, the government health insurance program for low-income families that Republicans are seeking to slash.
Video posted by anti-war group Codepink showed the 74-year-old in handcuffs as Capitol Police escorted him from the chamber.
“They need to let food into Gaza, they need to let food to starving kids!” Cohen yelled as he was taken away.
A vocal critic of Israeli policy, Cohen last year co-signed an open letter titled A Statement From Jewish Americans Opposing AIPAC, denouncing the pro-Israel lobby’s influence in US politics.


Trump administration scraps Biden-era plan to limit sale of Americans’ personal data

Updated 9 min 25 sec ago
Follow

Trump administration scraps Biden-era plan to limit sale of Americans’ personal data

  • Consumer Reports said the withdrawal of the data broker proposal would leave consumers “vulnerable to scams and identity theft”

The US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is scrapping a proposal issued under former President Joe Biden that would have sharply limited the sale of Americans’ private information by “data brokers,” according to a Federal Register notice issued Wednesday.

The agency also yanked proposals that sought to extend consumer protections to the use of new digital payment technologies including cryptocurrency, and that would have prohibited certain terms in the fine print in consumer finance products.

In a statement, Consumer Reports said the withdrawal of the data broker proposal would leave consumers “vulnerable to scams and identity theft.”

President Donald Trump’s administration has moved this year to decimate the CFPB, initially seeking to shut it down entirely and subsequently saying it can meet its legal obligations with about 10 percent of its current staff. Efforts to fire large amounts of staff are currently on hold as federal courts consider the matter.

Senior officials in recent days have continued undoing much of the prior administration’s work in regulation and oversight. The agency last week withdrew scores of guidance documents issued across administrations since 2011.

In proposing the limits on data brokers in January, former CFPB Director Rohit Chopra said the sale of Americans’ private information to data brokers was a “staggering” problem that also jeopardized national security by putting government officials’ privacy at risk.

The CFPB did not immediately respond to a request for comment. However, in a Federal Register notice, Russell Vought, the current acting CFPB director, said the proposal no longer aligned with the bureau’s changed policy objectives and its interpretation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

“Further, commenters raised numerous concerns related to this proposed rule that the Bureau believes require careful consideration before proceeding with a final rule,” he said. These included whether the proposal was at odds with federal law.


The Menendez brothers case reflects a shifting culture across decades

Menendez brothers
Updated 15 min 26 sec ago
Follow

The Menendez brothers case reflects a shifting culture across decades

  • A judge made the Menendez brothers eligible for parole Tuesday

LOS ANGELES: The trials of Lyle and Erik Menendez came at a time of cultural obsession with courts, crime and murder, when live televised trials captivated a national audience.
Their resentencing — and the now very real possibility of their freedom — came at another, when true crime documentaries and docudramas have proliferated and brought renewed attention to the family.
A judge made the Menendez brothers eligible for parole Tuesday when he reduced their sentences from life without parole to 50 years to life for the 1989 murder of their father Jose Menendez and mother Kitty Menendez in their Beverly Hills home. The state parole board will now determine whether they can be released.
Their two trials bookended the O.J. Simpson trial, creating a mid-1990s phenomenon where courts subsumed soap operas as riveting daytime television.
“People were not used to having cameras in the courtroom. For the first time we were seeing the drama of justice in real time,” said Vinnie Politan, a Court TV anchor who hosts the nightly “Closing Arguments” on the network. “Everyone was watching cable and everyone had that common experience. Today there’s a true crime bonanza happening, but it’s splintered off into so many different places.”
The brothers became an immediate sensation with their 1990 arrest. They represented a pre-tech-boom image of young wealthy men as portrayed in many a 1980s movie: the tennis-playing, Princeton-bound prep.
For many viewers, this image was confirmed by the spending spree they went on after the killings. Their case continued a fascination with the dark, private lives of the young and wealthy that goes back at least to the Leopold and Loeb murder case of the 1930s, but had been in the air in cases like the Billionaire Boys Club, a 1980s Ponzi scheme that spurred a murder.
The first Menendez trial becomes compelling live TV
Their first trials in 1993 and 1994 became a landmark for then-new Court TV, which aired it nearly in its entirety. Defense lawyers conceded that they had shot their parents. The jury, and the public, then had to consider whether the brothers’ testimony about sexual and other abuse from their father was plausible, and should mean conviction on a lesser charge.
The lasting image from the trial was Lyle Menendez crying on the stand as he described the abuse.
At the time there had been some public reckoning with the effects of sex abuse, but not nearly to the extent of today.
The two juries — one for each brother — deadlocked, largely along gender lines. It reflected the broader cultural reaction — with women supporting a manslaughter conviction and men a guilty verdict for first-degree murder.
A tough-on-crime era, and a Menendez trial sequel
The trials came at a time when crime in the US was at an all-time high, a tough-on-crime stance was a prerequisite for holding major political office, and a wave of legislation mandating harsher sentences was passed.
That attitude appeared to prevail when, at their second trial, the brothers were both convicted of first-degree murder.
As Associated Press trial reporter Linda Deutsch, who covered both trials along with Simpson’s and countless others, wrote in 1996:
“This time, the jury rejected the defense claim that the brothers murdered their parents after years of sexual abuse. Instead, it embraced the prosecution theory that the killings were planned and that the brothers were greedy, spoiled brats who murdered to get their parents’ $14 million fortune.”
The second trial was not televised and got less attention.


“There were no cameras, it was in the shadow of O.J. so it didn’t have the same spark and pop as the first one,” Politan said.
The Menendez brothers become a distant memory
They had become too well-known to be forgotten, but for decades, the Menendez brothers faded into the background. Occasional stories emerged about the brothers losing their appeals, as did mugshots of them aging in prison.
“The public’s memory of them was, ‘Yeah, I remember that trial, the guys with the sweaters in court,’” Politan said.
That would change in the era of true-crime TV, podcasts and streamers.
True crime goes big
The 2017 NBC drama series “Law & Order True Crime: The Menendez Murders,” wasn’t widely watched, but still brought the case new attention. The next decade would prove more important.
The 2022 Max docuseries “Menudo: Forever Young” included a former member saying he was raped by Jose Menendez when he was 14. At about the same time, the brothers submitted a letter that Erik wrote to his cousin about his father’s abuse before the killings.
The new true-crime wave would continue to promote them, even if the portrayal wasn’t always flattering.
” Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story,” a drama created by Ryan Murphy on Netflix, made them beautiful and vain buffoons, and the actors were shown shirtless on provocative billboards. Javier Bardem as Jose Menendez brought Oscar-winning star power to the project that dropped in September of last year.
That was followed a month later by a documentary on Netflix, “The Menendez Brothers.”
Together, the shows had the public paying more attention to the case than it had since the trials. Almost simultaneously came a real-life turning point, when then- Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón said he was reviewing new evidence in the case.
The office of Gascón’s successor, Nathan Hochman, opposed the resentencing.
Deputy District Attorney Habib Balian constantly sought at hearings to make sure the “carnage” caused by the brothers wasn’t forgotten, and repeatedly emphasized that they “shotgunned, brutally, their parents to death.”
But the shifts in public perception and legal actions were already in motion. The judge’s decision to reduce their charges came not with the drama of the televised trial, but in a short hearing in a courtroom that wouldn’t allow cameras. The broader public never saw.
Despite his opposition, Hochman was reflective in a statement after the resentencing.
“The case of the Menendez brothers has long been a window for the public to better understand the judicial system,” Hochman said. “This case, like all cases — especially those that captivate the public — must be viewed with a critical eye. Our opposition and analysis ensured that the Court received a complete and accurate record of the facts. Justice should never be swayed by spectacle.”


Real Madrid rallies to beat Mallorca 2-1 and delay Barcelona’s title celebrations

Updated 22 min 32 sec ago
Follow

Real Madrid rallies to beat Mallorca 2-1 and delay Barcelona’s title celebrations

MADRID: It was a matter of pride for Real Madrid.
There is little hope of winning the Spanish league. But the last thing it wanted to do was hand Barcelona the title in advance.
And it needed a goal deep into stoppage time to achieve its objective Wednesday.
Jacobo Ramón scored five minutes into injury time and Madrid rallied to beat Mallorca 2-1 and delay Barcelona’s title celebrations.
Madrid needed the victory to keep Barcelona from clinching its 28th league title in advance. The Catalan club remains four points ahead and can still lift the trophy with a win at city rival Espanyol on Thursday.
Mallorca took the lead on Wednesday with a goal by Martin Valjent in the 11th minute and stayed ahead until Kylian Mbappé beat a couple of defenders to equalize in the 68th.
Ramón netted the go-ahead go from inside the area five minutes into injury time to keep Barcelona from winning the title.
Mbappé is still in the race to be the league’s leading scorer and reached 28 goals, three more than Barcelona’s Robert Lewandowski. Mbappé had a hat trick in Madrid’s loss to Barcelona on Sunday, when the Catalan club virtually secured the title by coming from behind to win 4-3 in the last “clasico” of the season.
Madrid has little chance of defending its league title. It must win its final two games and hope Barcelona fails to take two points from its three remaining matches.
“When we wear this shield we always must fight until the end,” Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois said. “Even though there is still a big gap, we will keep fighting until it’s mathematically impossible.”
Madrid lost all four matches against Barcelona this season, being outscored 16-7. It was the first time Barcelona won every “clasico” in a season that had at least three matches between the rivals.
Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti received a mostly indifferent reaction from the fans at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium on Wednesday after taking over the Brazil job.
Ancelotti was announced as Brazil’s new coach on Monday, and some Madrid fans criticized the coach for negotiating with the five-time champions with the La Liga season still underway.
There were no significant jeers or cheers when Ancelotti’s name was announced by the loudspeakers at the Bernabeu before the match, with most fans applauding and saying his name along with the announcer, following the tradition at the stadium.
Madrid had not released any reaction or statement about its coach since Brazil’s announcement, and there were no farewell or congratulatory messages for Ancelotti, either, ahead of Wednesday’s match.
“There was nothing different,” Ancelotti said. “Every time I sit on the bench at the Bernabeu, it’s something special.”
During the match, part of the crowd chanted Ancelotti’s name.
The 65-year-old Italian is leaving after four mostly successful years in his second stint with Madrid, which won both the Champions League and the Spanish league last season. The club only won the UEFA Super Cup this season.
Ancelotti also coached the club from 2013-2015. He helped Madrid win three Champions Leagues, three Club World Cups, two Spanish leagues, two Copa del Reys, three UEFA Super Cups and two Spanish Super Cups.
Madrid still has one last game at the Bernabeu, against Real Sociedad in the final round.
Ancelotti said he wasn’t giving up on the league title just yet.
“In soccer anything can happen,” he said
Former Madrid player Xabi Alonso is widely expected to take over the coaching job after confirming he is leaving Bayer Leverkusen, but the Spanish club was yet to make any announcements about Ancelotti’s successor.
Madrid, still without a few regular starters because of injuries, struggled early against Mallorca but created several scoring chances throughout the match. It finished with nearly 40 attempts on goal.
Relegation fight
In a tight fight against relegation, Leganes moved closer to demotion after a 3-0 loss at fifth-place Villarreal. The club owned by former Houston Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow stayed in 18th place, four points from Alaves, the first team currently safe.
Alaves opened the gap to Leganes — which was one of the teams promoted last season — by beating Valencia 1-0 at home. Valencia was in 11th place.


Two Israelis, one pregnant, wounded in occupied West Bank: authorities

Updated 52 min 17 sec ago
Follow

Two Israelis, one pregnant, wounded in occupied West Bank: authorities

  • Bruchin is an Israeli settlement built on West Bank land without the Israeli authorities’ approval which was retroactively legalized by the Israeli government

JERUSALEM: Two Israeli civilians including a pregnant woman were wounded on Wednesday when shots were fired at their vehicle in the occupied West Bank, according to Israeli authorities.

An Israeli army statement said “a terrorist opened fire on an Israeli vehicle” near Bruchin, an Israeli settlement in the center of the Palestinian territory considered illegal under international law.

“Two Israeli civilians were wounded” in the attack and are being treated, the statement added.

The Beilinson hospital said a woman taken there was pregnant.

“Medical teams are currently fighting in the traumatology ward to save the life of the woman and that of her fetus,” a hospital spokesperson said.

Emergency services had earlier said the woman driver, who was aged about 30, was “in a critical state with gunshot wounds.”

A male passenger around the age of 40 was “in a grave state,” emergency services added.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was “deeply shocked by the horrific terrorist attack against a woman in advanced pregnancy and her husband.”

“This abhorrent incident precisely reflects the difference between us, who desire and bring life, and the reprehensible terrorists, whose goal is to kill us and destroy life,” he said in the statement released by his office.

Since the beginning of the Gaza war, sparked by Palestinian militant group Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, the West Bank has seen an upsurge in violence.

Bruchin is an Israeli settlement built on West Bank land without the Israeli authorities’ approval which was retroactively legalized by the Israeli government.

Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967, and Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territory are considered illegal under international law.