PUTIN GRANTS RUSSIAN CITIZENSHIP TO SNOWDEN

President Vladimir Putin on Monday granted Russian citizenship to U.S. whistleblower Edward Snowden, who exposed massive surveillance by the National Security Agency and was granted refuge by Moscow.

A presidential decree published on Monday included Mr. Snowden on a list of newly minted Russian citizens, at a time when relations between Washington and Moscow are at historic lows over the conflict in Ukraine.

Mr. Snowden said in November 2020 he had applied for Russian citizenship but that he would aim to keep his U.S. nationality.

The former intelligence contractor, who revealed in 2013 that the U.S. government was spying on its citizens, has been living in exile in Russia since the revelations.

Moscow several years ago relaxed its citizenship laws to allow individuals to hold Russian passports without rejecting their original nationalities.

ITALY'S EU PARTNERS VIGILANT AS FAR RIGHT SET TO TAKE POWER

Italy's European Union partners are signalling discomfort, even vigilance, after Italy, one of the bloc's founding members, swung far to the political right. The result of Italy's latest election raises troubling questions about whether Rome will maintain its commitments to EU principles, laws and ambitions.

The French PMon Monday said her government, along with EU officials, would be watching to ensure that basic human rights are guaranteed in Italy after Giorgia Meloni's neo-fascist far-right Brothers of Italy Party topped the vote count in Sunday's parliamentary election. “In Europe, we uphold some values and obviously we will ensure, and the president of the commission will ensure, that these values — on human rights, the respect of other people, especially the respect of the right to abortion — will be respected by all (member states),” PM Elisabeth Borne told French  BFM TV.

Such statements among the longtime EU partners are highly unusual and follow European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen's pre-election warning that Europe “has the tools” to deal with any country — and that means Italy too — if things go “in a difficult direction.”

2 MAJORS AMONG 6 PAK ARMY MEN KILLED IN COPTER CRASH

Islamabad : A Pakistani military helicopter crashed during a nightly mission in Harnai district of restive Balochistan province in the country’s southwest on Sunday, killing all six on board, including two majors flying the aircraft.

The military’s media wing confirmed the crash on Monday and identified the two pilots as Major Khurram Shahzad and Major Muhammad Muneeb Afzal, but didn’t say how the helicopter went down. The Inter-ServicesPublic Relations, the army’s media arm, was also silent on the purpose of the “flying mission” in the area.

This was the second crash of an army helicopter in as many months and it triggered a debate on their safety, with former information minister Fawad Chaudhry demanding an evaluation.

On August 1, six Pakistani army officers, including a lieutenant general and a major general, were killed when their helicopter crashed in Balochistan during a floodrelated mission. The military blamed bad weather, but therebel group Baloch Raaji Aajoi Sangar claimed its fighters had shot down the aircraft. The wreckage was found a day later. Pakistan’s military has been at war with insurgent forces of mostly ethnic Baloch tribes in the province since 2006.

IMRAN DEMANDS PM’S RESIGNATION OVER AUDIO LEAKS

Lahore : Pakistan’s ousted premier Imran Khan on Monday demanded the resignation of PM Shehbaz Sharif after a slew of audio clips related to informal conversations between the premier and Cabinet officials surfaced. Pakistan’s Intelligence Bureau has been ordered to investigate the security breach. “PM Shehbaz Sharif should resign after the audio leaks involving him, some Cabinet members and officials have surfaced,” Khan said. “In the leaks, Shehbaz is talking about bringing machinery from India for his niece Maryam Nawaz’s sonin-law. If Shehbaz has any shame left he should resign.

IRAN ARRESTS MORE THAN 1,200 AS PROTESTS RAGE

Iran has arrested more than 1,200 protesters, officials said on Monday, in its lethal crackdown on 10 nights of unrest driven by outrage over the death of Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini in morality police custody. At least 41 people have been killed as Iran has heavily deployed security forces against nationwide demonstrations.

Eighteen journalists have been imprisoned since the protests erupted earlier this month, according to the Washington-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). Numerous activists and lawyers have also been held.

CUBA GRANTS NOD TO SAME-SEX MARRIAGE IN UNUSUAL REFERENDUM

Cubans have approved a sweeping “family law” code that would allow same-sex couples to marry and adopt as well as redefining rights for children and grandparents, officials said on Monday, though opposition in the national referendum was unusually strong on the Communist Party-governed island.

The measure — which contains more than 400 articles — was approved by 66.9% to 33.1%, the president of the National Electoral Council, Alina Balseiro Gutiérrez, told official news media, though returns from a few places remained to be counted.

The reforms had met unusually strong open resistance from the growing evangelical movement in Cuba — and many other Cubans — despite an extensive government campaign in favour of the measure, including thousands of informative meetings across the country and extensive media coverage backing it.

Cuban elections — in which no party other than the Communist is allowed — routinely produce victory margins of more than 90% — as did a referendum on a major constitutional reform in 2019.

The code will allow surrogate pregnancies, broader rights for grandparents in regard to grandchildren, protection of the elderly and measures against gender violence.

President Miguel Díaz-Canel, who has promoted the law acknowledged que- stions about the measure as he voted on Sunday.

“Most of our people will vote in favour of the code, but it still has issues that our society as a whole does not understand,” he said.

RUSSIA: NO DECISION ON SEALING BORDERS TO STOP EXODUS OF MEN

Kyiv : The Kremlin said on Monday no decision had been taken on whether to seal Russia’s borders to stop an exodus of military-aged men fleeing the country, after days of chaotic scenes during its first military mobilisation since World War II. Asked about the prospect of the border being shut, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters: “I don’t know anything about this. At the moment, no decisions have been taken on this. ”

Reports that Russia might close the frontier have contributed to turmoil since President Putin gave the order last week to call up thousands of reservists in the biggest escalation yet of the Ukraine war.

Flights out of Russia have sold out and cars have piled up at border checkpoints, with reports of a 48-hour queue at the sole road border to Georgia, the rare pro-Western neighbour that allows Russian citizens to enter without a visa. A senior Russian lawmaker from the ruling party said men of fighting age should not be allowed to travel abroad. “Everyone who is of conscription age should be banned from travelling abroad,” Sergei Tsekov, who represents Russian-annexed Crimea in Russia’s upper house of parliament, told RIA news agency.

Two exiled news sites — Meduza and Novaya Gazeta Europe — both reported that the authorities were planningto ban men from leaving, citing unidentified officials.

RUSSIAN GUNMAN WAS WEARING T-SHIRT BEARING ‘NAZI SYMBOLS’

Moscow : At least 15 people have been killed and 24 injured in a school shooting on Monday in the Russian city of Izhevsk. Russia’s Investigative Committee identified the gunman as 34-year-old Artyom Kazantsev, a graduate of the same school, and said he was wearing a black t-shirt bearing “Nazi symbols. ” No details about his motives have been released. The governor of Udmurtia, Alexander Brechalov, said the gunman, who he said was registered as a patient at a psychiatric facility, killed himself after the attack. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov described the shooting as “a terrorist act”.

Russia’s National Guard said Kazantsev used two nonlethal handguns adapted to fire real bullets. A criminal probe into the incident has been launched. In the past three years, there have been 13 mass shootings in Russia, including a school shooting in Kazan in May 2021 that resulted in nine deaths.

B’DESH BOAT TRAGEDY TOLL 49, SEARCH ON FOR MORE SURVIVORS

Dhaka : Bangladeshi authorities were racing against time on Monday to find any survivors of the boat accident involving Hindu devotees, even as the death toll in the incident rose to 49, mostly children and women. The devotees were heading towards the Bodeshwari Temple on the occasion of Mahalaya, the auspicious start of the Durga Puja festival, when the overcrowded boat capsized in the Korotoa River in northwestern Panchagarh district.

Panchagarh additional deputy commissioner Dipankar Roy, who is also leading the investigation committee, said that 43 bodies were recovered by 5pm (local time) and 41 people are still missing, the Bdnews24. com reported. Dhaka Tribune newspaper reported that the total number of dead people now stands at 49. Among them, 13 are kids, 24 are women and 12 are men, it added.

Media reports quoting relatives said 58 passengers were missing while officials have said the boat was believed to be carrying as many as 80 people.

Eyewitnesses, however, claim that there were more than 150 passengers on the boat.

“The preliminary investigation shows that the boat was overcrowded,” Roy was quoted as saying by the newspaper.

DIMORPHOS: NASA FLIES SPACECRAFT INTO ASTEROID IN DIRECT HIT

The American space agency's Dart probe has smashed into an asteroid, destroying itself in the process.

The collision was intentional and designed to test whether space rocks that might threaten Earth could be nudged safely out of the way.

Dart's camera returned an image per second, right up to the moment of impact with the target - a 160m-wide object called Dimorphos.

What had been a steady image stream cut out as the probe was obliterated.

It will be some weeks before scientists on the Nasa-led mission know whether their experiment has worked.

They'll determine success, or otherwise, by studying the changes to the orbit of Dimorphos around another asteroid known as Didymos.

More than two dozen telescopes on Earth will make precise measurements of the two-rock, or binary, system.

Before the collision, Dimorphos took roughly 11 hours and 55 minutes to circle its 780m-wide partner.

This ought to reduce by a few minutes following the crash.