UKRAINE WAR: BLACKOUTS IN 1,162 TOWNS AND VILLAGES AFTER RUSSIA STRIKES

More than a thousand towns and villages across Ukraine remain without power after massive Russian attacks in recent days, Ukrainian officials have said.

Emergency services spokesman Oleksandr Khorunzhyi said more than 70 people had been killed in the rocket and drone strikes since 7 October.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said that 30% of Ukraine's power stations had been destroyed in the past eight days.

Parts of the capital Kyiv have no power and water after new strikes on Tuesday.

Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko said that all three victims of the latest Russian strikes were employees of "critical infrastructure", adding that two facilities in the capital had been hit.

Power and water were cut in Zhytomyr, west of the capital, and one energy facility was hit in the south-eastern city of Dnipro.

At Tuesday's briefing in Kyiv, Mr Khorunzhyi said: "In the period from October 7 to 18, as a result of shelling of energy facilities, about 4,000 settlements in 11 regions [of Ukraine] were cut off.

"Currently, according to the energy ministry, 1,162 settlements remain without power," the emergencies services spokesman said.

EX-UK PILOTS LURED TO HELP CHINESE MILITARY, MOD SAYS

Former British military pilots are being lured to China with large sums of money to pass on their expertise to the Chinese military, it is claimed.

Up to 30 former UK military pilots are thought to have gone to train members of China's People's Liberation Army.

The UK is issuing an intelligence alert to warn former military pilots against working for the Chinese military.

Attempts to headhunt pilots are ongoing and had been ramping up recently, Western officials say.

A spokesperson from the Ministry of Defence said the training ​and the recruiting of pilots does not breach any current UK law but officials in the UK and other countries are trying to deter the activity.

"It is a lucrative package that is being offered to people," said one Western official, adding that "money is a strong motivator". Some of the packages are thought to be as much as £237,911 ($270,000).

The retired British pilots are being used to help understand the way in which Western planes and pilots operate, information which could be vital in the event of any conflict, such as over Taiwan.

"They are a very attractive body of people to then pass on that knowledge," a Western official said. "It's taking Western pilots of great experience to help develop Chinese military air force tactics and capabilities."

A spokesman for Prime Minister Liz Truss said the government was taking "decisive steps" to stop the headhunting and "protect our national security".

IRAN: FEARS GROW FOR ATHLETE WHO COMPETED WITHOUT HIJAB

Concerns are mounting for Iranian climber Elnaz Rekabi, who took part in an international competition without a hijab.

Rekabi, 33, could have been forced to leave the Asian Championships in South Korea early and faces being arrested and immediately transferred to prison when she returns home, according to reports denied by Tehran.

Wearing a hijab is mandatory for women in Iran - a rule which has sparked growing demonstrations over the last month.

The Iranian Embassy in South Korea said Rekabi left Seoul on a flight on Tuesday morning.

However, her passport and mobile phone are believed to have been seized, an "informed source" is said to have told journalists.

Her flight is said to have been unexpectedly pushed forward from Wednesday, according to the BBC's Persian service.

According to the Associated Press, an Instagram story on Rekabi's account said: "I apologise about what I did to make you worry."

The post also described her as "unintentionally" not wearing her hijab and claimed she was "rushed" - although she appears relaxed in footage.

The Instagram story suggested she was returning to Iran on a prearranged schedule.

But another website, IranWire - founded by Iranian-Canadian journalist Maziar Bahari, who was once detained by the Iranian regime - alleged Rekabi would be immediately transferred to the notorious Evin Prison upon her arrival.

The Iranian embassy dismissed "fake news and disinformation" over Rekabi's departure in a tweet.

‘TOO FAR, TOO FAST’: TRUSS SORRY FOR UK ECONOMIC PLAN

London : PM Liz Truss apologised for threatening Britain’s economic stability after she was forced to scrap her vast taxcutting plans and embark on a programme of “eye-watering” public spendi ng cuts instead. After weeks of blaming the markets and “global headwinds” for investors dumping the pound and government bonds, Truss said she was sorry for going “too far and too fast” with her ra dical economic plan to snap Britain out of years of stagnant growth. “I do want to accept responsibility and say sorry for the mistakes that have been made,” Truss told BBC late on Monday. “I wanted to act to help people with their energy bills, to deal with the issue of high taxes, but we went too far and too fast. ”

‘CHINA LOOKING AT A ‘MUCH FASTER TIMELINE’ FOR TAKING TAIWAN’

Beijing wants to seize Taiwan “on a much faster timeline” than previously considered, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Monday, warning that President Xi Jinping was leading China in a more aggressive direction.

“We’ve seen a very different China emerge in recent years under Xi Jinping’s leadership,” Mr. Blinken told a forum at Stanford University with former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

“It is more repressive at home; it’s more aggressive abroad,” he added.

Mr. Blinken accused Mr. Xi of “creating tremendous tension” by changing the approach toward Taiwan.

He said China had made a “fundamental decision that the status quo was no longer acceptable, and that Beijing was determined to pursue reunification on a much faster timeline,” though he gave no hard estimate or date.

DENMARK: POWERFUL EXPLOSIONS BEHIND NORD STREAM LEAKS

Copenhagen: Danish officials on Tuesday confirmed that there has been “extensive damage” to the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea off Denmark and that the cause of the damage was “powerful explosions”. In a statement, Copenhagen police said it had carried out a number of preliminary investigations. “It is very serious, and this is by no means a coincidence. It doesn’t just seem planned, but very well planned,” Danish defence mi nister Morten Bodskov told broadcaster TV2.

The Kremlin, meanwhile, said the probe was being ‘tailored’ to blame Russia.

AFTER BIDEN ALERT, PAK ARMY SAYS NUKES SAFE

Islamabad : Pakistan army’s commanders reposed “full confidence” in the country’s “robust nuclear command and control structure” and the security of its strategic nuclear arms, the military’s media wing said on Tuesday.

The statem ent by the army brass comes days after the US President Joe Biden created an uproar by calling Pakistan as the most dangerous country in the world. In a statement issued after the corps comman ders conference presided by the army chief, General Qamar Javed Bajwa said the participants took a review of the prevailing internal and external security situation and operational preparedness of the army.

STUDY SHOWS COVID LOCKDOWNS HURT BIRTH RATES ACROSS EUROPE

Lockdowns and restrictions were enforced in much of Europe starting March 2020 after WHO designated Covid a pandemic. As people were confined indoors and all social activities ceased, there was widespread anticipation of a baby boom in 2021. However, 9 months later, in January 2021, the continent’s birth rate fell by 14% compared with January 2020, per a report published in the journal Human Reproduction. So, what happened?

Researchers say, while the media suggested couples working from home would have intercourse more often, “this period instead seems to be associated with a decrease in sexual desire, even more in unemployed women”. Lack of employment was not the only spoiler. Initially, there was no information on the maternal and foetal impact of Covid-19.

The report draws a direct correlation between the duration of lockdowns and the dip in pregnancies. “The longer the containment, the fewer pregnancies occurred during this period, even in countries not severely affected,” it says. “Conversely, Sweden, which had a high number of deaths but no lockdown, did not show a drop in live births,” suggesting that lockdowns, not hospitalisations, were responsible for the lower birth rates.

A Historical Truth The idea that couples have more sex in stressful situations, such as storms and floods, is called the ‘blackout hypothesis’ after a series of New York Times articles that attributed a spurt in births, in August 1966, to the New York City blackout of November 9, 1965. However, that notion stands debunked by later research.

Historically, periods of crisis have seen lower birth rates. For example, the Spanish Flu of 1918 caused a 15% decline in births, a Brookings article pointed out in 2020. Each time the death rate shot up, the birth rate fell sharply after a gap of exactly nine months. “Determining causation is always difficult, but the precision with which the spikes match strongly suggests this was a causal impact,” Brookings said.

IN GRETA THUNBERG LAND, A 26-YR-OLD IS CLIMATE MINISTER

Stockholm : Sweden’s new government named on Tuesday a 26-year-old as climate minister, the youngest person to lead a ministry in the home nation of teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg. The nomina tion was among the cabinet members presented by newly elected PM Ulf Kristersson, who leads a right-wing coalition that is shored up by the far-right Sweden Democrats.

Romina Pourmokhtari, 26, was until now head of the Liberal party’s youth wing, and has not been known to have climate as her political profile.

The young minister has inthe pastbeen an outspoken critic of Kristersson’s move to closer align his party with the Sweden Democrats (SD). “Ulf Kristersson without SD — Absolutely. Ulf Kristersson with SD — No thanks,” she wrote in ap ost on Twitter in 2020.

Born into a family of Iranian origin in the suburbs of Stockholm, the young woman inherits the climate and environment portfolio, and beat the previous record of 27 years old for youngest minister.

Sweden is also home to teen climate activist Thunberg, who launched a massive global movement that has sparked a torrent of debate on the dangers of climate change. Sweden’s coalition government was announced on Friday after Kristersson penned a deal with his partners and the nationalist and anti-immigration Sweden Democrats which pledged to support the government in exchange for policy commitments, especially on immigration and crime.

Kristersson also announced the creation of a new minister post for “civil defence ” as the country is facing tensions with Russia. Sweden Democrats were the big winners in the poll, and emerged as the second-largest party.