SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea has confirmed 15 more deaths and hundreds of thousands of additional patients with flu-like symptoms as it mobilizes more than a million health and other workers to try to suppress the country’s first COVID-19 outbreak, state media reported Sunday.
After maintaining a widely disputed claim to be coronavirus-free for more than two years, North Korea announced Thursday that it had found its first COVID-19 patients since the pandemic began.
It has since said a fever has spread across the country “explosively” since late April but hasn’t disclosed exactly how many COVID-19 cases it has found. Some experts say North Korea lacks the diagnostic kits needed to test a large number of suspected COVID-19 patients.
The additional deaths reported Sunday took the country’s reported fever-related fatalities to 42. The official Korean Central News Agency also reported that another 296,180 people with flu symptoms had been tallied, taking the reported total to 820,620.
The outbreak has triggered concern about a humanitarian crisis in North Korea because most of the country’s 26 million people are believed to be unvaccinated against the coronavirus and its public health care system has been in shambles for decades. Some experts say North Korea might suffer huge fatalities if it doesn’t immediately receive outside shipments of vaccines, medicines and other medical supplies.
Since Thursday, North Korea has imposed a nationwide lockdown to fight the virus. Observers say that could further strain the country’s fragile economy, which has suffered in recent years due to sharply reduced external trade caused by pandemic-related border shutdowns, punishing UN economic sanctions over its nuclear program and its own mismanagement.
During a meeting on the outbreak Saturday, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un described the outbreak as a historically “great upheaval” and called for unity between the government and people to stabilize the outbreak as quickly as possible.
KCNA said Sunday that more than 1.3 million people have been engaged in works to examine and treat sick people and raise public awareness of hygiene. It said everyone with fevers and others with abnormal symptoms was being put in quarantine and treated.
Among those with symptoms, 496,030 have recovered, while as of Saturday 324,4550 were still taking receiving treatment, KCNA reported, citing the country’s emergency epidemic prevention center as saying.
State media reports said Kim and other senior North Korean officials are donating their private reserve medicines to support the country’s anti-pandemic fight. During Saturday’s meeting, Kim expressed optimism that the country could bring the outbreak under control, saying most transmissions are occurring within communities that are isolated from one another and not spreading from region to region.
CARLISLE, Pa. (AP) — Republican Senate hopeful Mehmet Oz is stepping up his criticism of far-right candidates in Pennsylvania who are gaining traction ahead of Tuesday’s primary election.
After spending much of the campaign steering clear of fellow Republican Senate contender Kathy Barnette, Oz on Saturday said she was out of step with the GOP and would be unable to win the general election in November. In an interview, he took issue with a 2015 tweet from Barnette in which she wrote that “Pedophilia is a Cornerstone of Islam.”
Oz, who would be the nation’s first Muslim senator, described the comments as “disqualifying.”
“It’s reprehensible that she would tweet out something that is defamatory to an entire religion,” Oz told The Associated Press. “This state was based on religious freedom. I’m proud as a Pennsylvanian to uphold those founding beliefs that every faith has its merits.”
The Barnette campaign did not respond to a request for comment. Earlier in the week, Barnette told NBC News that she did not make the statement, which was still live on her Twitter feed on Saturday.
For months, the race for the Republican nomination for Pennsylvania’s open Senate seat has been an expensive fight between former hedge fund CEO David McCormick and Oz, who have spent millions of dollars attacking each other on television. Each has also faced questions about their ties to Pennsylvania. McCormick grew up in the state, while Oz went to medical school there and was married in Philadelphia.
But in the final days of the Republican primary, a third candidate — Barnette, a conservative commentator who has courted hard-line pro-Trump groups — has emerged. Trump himself has warned that Barnette’s background hasn’t been properly vetted.
With the election just days away, polls show a tight three-way race with a siz number of undecided voters who could sway the results next week.
Oz has won Trump’s endorsement in the Senate contest, although some Trump supporters continue to question his conservative credentials.
When asked to clarify his views on abortion in the Saturday interview, Oz distanced himself from Trump’s newly minted pick for Pennsylvania governor, Doug Mastriano, a far-right conservative who has called abortion “the No. 1 issue.” In a recent televised debate, Mastriano said he supports banning abortion from conception, with no exceptions for rape, incest or the life of the mother.
Oz described himself as “pro-life,” but said he would prefer an abortion ban in Pennsylvania that would include exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother.
“There are times when we disagree with other pro-life advocates,” Oz told the AP. “In my case, those disagreements often come about because, as a doctor, I’ve dealt with issues that threaten the life of the mother.”
Oz saved his most pointed criticism for Barnette, however, echoing Trump’s concerns that her background hasn’t been properly scrutinized. He lashed out at her previous comments on Islam, noting that she also has a history of anti-gay remarks.
“We know so little,” Oz said. “Every time she answers a question, she raises more questions. But I think it’s disqualifying to make Islamophobic and homophobic comments, not just for the general election, but the Republican primary as well.”
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Associated Press writer Marc Levy in Harrisburg, Pa., contributed to this report.
Buffalo police confirmed the shooter was in custody in a tweet, but they did not identify the suspect.
A gunman sporting a rifle and body armour opened fire in a supermarket in the US city of Buffalo, New York, killing at least 10 people before being taken into custody, law officials said.
Details on the number of additional people shot on Saturday at the Tops Friendly Market and their conditions were not immediately available.
“Ten people were killed by a gunman dressed in body armour and armed with a high-powered rifle, while three others were wounded – two of them critically,” The Buffalo News reported citing a police official at the scene and another source close to law enforce.
Investigators believe the man may have been live-streaming the shooting and were looking into whether he had posted a manifesto online, a police official told the Associated Press.
The official cautioned that the investigation was in its preliminary stages and that authorities had not yet discerned a clear motive, but were investigating whether the shooting was racially motivated.
The supermarket is in a predominately Black neighborhood, about 3 miles (5 kms) north of downtown Buffalo. The surrounding area is primarily residential.
Buffalo police confirmed the shooter was in custody in a tweet, but did not identify the suspect. Police officials and a spokesperson for the supermarket chain did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.
Braedyn Kephart and Shane Hill, both 20, pulled into the parking lot just as the shooter was exiting. They described him as a white male in his late teens or early twenties sporting full camouflage, a black helmet and what appeared to be a rifle.
“He was standing there with the gun to his chin. We were like what the heck is going on? Why does this kid have a gun to his face?” Kephart said. He dropped to his knees. “He ripped off his helmet, dropped his gun, and was tackled by the police.”
Mayor Byron Brown and Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz were at the scene late Saturday afternoon, gathered in a parking lot across the street from the Tops store and expected to address the media.
Governor Kathy Hochul tweeted that she was “closely monitoring the shooting at a grocery store in Buffalo,” her hometown.
The Erie County Sheriff’s Office said on social media that it ordered all available personnel to assist Buffalo police.
The shooting comes little more than a year after a March 2021 attack at a King Soopers grocery in Boulder, Colorado, that killed 10 people.
Ukraine’s general staff says Russian troops were pulling back from the northeastern city of Kharkiv.
Russian President Vladimir Putin tells Finland joining NATO would be ‘a mistake’.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says “very complex negotiations” with Russia are under way to get fighters out of the besieged Azovstal plant in Mariupol.
Ukrainian forces are on the counteroffensive near the Russian-held town of Izium, striking at a key axis of Russia’s assault in the east.
Russia will suspend electricity supplies to Finland as of Saturday, a supplier says, amid tensions over the European nation’s expected NATO bid.
Here are all the latest updates:
Ukraine wins Eurovision Song Contest with “Stefania” from Kalush Orchestra
Ukraine has won the Eurovision Song Contest, riding a wave of public support across Europe for the embattled nation and buoyed by an infectious folk hip hop melody.
Kalush Orchestra’s song “Stefania” beat out 24 competitors in the final of the world’s biggest live music event on Saturday. Sung in Ukrainian, the winning song fused rap with traditional folk music and was a tribute to band frontman Oleh Psiuk’s mother.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sent good luck wishes earlier in the night, saying that if Kalush Orchestra were to win it would have a huge symbolic meaning.
“For us today, any victory is very important,” he said in his nightly address.
Russia had been excluded from the competition in Turin because of its invasion of Ukraine.
Kalush Orchestra from Ukraine appear on stage after winning the 2022 Eurovision Song Contest in Turin, Italy on May 15, 2022 [Yara Nardi/Reuters]Ukrainian service members watch the performance of Kalush Orchestra during the final of the 2022 Eurovision Song Contest [Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters]
Large convoy from Mariupol reaches safety, refugees talk of ‘devastating’ escape
A large convoy of cars and vans carrying refugees from the ruins of Mariupol has arrived in the Ukrainian-controlled city of Zaporizhzhia after waiting days for Russian troops to allow them to leave.
The refugees that arrived on Saturday first had to get out of Mariupol and then somehow make their way to Berdyansk – some 80 km further west along the coast – and other settlements before the 200 km drive northwest to Zaporizhzhia.
Nikolai Pavlov, 74, said he had lived in a basement for a month after his apartment was destroyed. A relative using “secret detours” managed to get him out of Mariupol to Berdyansk.
“We barely made it, there were lots of elderly people among us… the trip was devastating. But it was worth it,” he said after the convoy arrived in the dark.
An aide to Mariupol’s mayor said earlier that the convoy numbered between 500 to 1,000 cars and was the largest single evacuation from the city since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Ambassador says Russian diplomats in US threatened, enticed by FBI, CIA: Tass news agency
Russian diplomats in Washington are being threatened with violence and US intelligence services are trying to make contact with them, Russia’s Tass news agency reported, citing Moscow’s ambassador to the US.
“It’s like a besieged fortress. Basically, our embassy is operating in a hostile environment … Embassy employees are receiving threats, including threats of physical violence,” Tass quoted Ambassador Anatoly Antonov saying on Saturday.
“Agents from US security services are hanging around outside the Russian embassy, handing out CIA and FBI phone numbers, which can be called to establish contact,” the ambassador told Tass.
Russia and the US have been locked in a dispute over the size and functioning of their respective diplomatic missions since before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The Russian Embassy in Washington DC in March 2022 [File photo: Susan Walsh/AP] (AP Photo)
Top US Senate Republican Mitch McConnell meets Zelenskyy
Mitch McConnell, the top Republican in the US Senate, paid an unannounced visit to Kyiv with other Republican senators and met the Ukrainian president for talks.
McConnell was accompanied by fellow Senators Susan Collins, John Barrasso and John Cornyn.
Zelenskyy hailed the visit as a powerful signal of US bipartisan support for Ukraine and the strength of relations between the two nations.
“We discussed many areas of support for our state, including in defense and finance, as well as strengthening sanctions against Russia,” Zelenskyy said in a video address, adding that he stressed to the senators the need for Russia to be designated a terrorist state. .
McConnell is pressing Republican Senator Rand Paul to end his opposition to a $40 billion aid package for Ukraine, which has overwhelming support from both major parties in the US.
In this handout photo provided by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, left, shakes hands with Senator Mitch McConnell in Kyiv, Ukraine on Saturday, May 14, 2022 [Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP]
Ukraine band makes plea for Mariupol at Eurovision
Ukraine’s Kalush Orchestra made a plea for the city of Mariupol and fighters holding out at the Azovstal steel plant at the end of their appearance in the Eurovision Song Contest.
“Please help Ukraine, Mariupol. Help Azovstal right now,” lead singer Oleh Psiuk shouted from the front of the stage in the Italian city of Turin after the band performed its song “Stefania”.
Russian forces have bombarding the steelworks in the southern port of Mariupol, the last bastion of hundreds of Ukrainian defenders in a city which is almost completely controlled by Russia after more than two months of a siege.
In a video address released before the performance, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he believed the Kalush Orchestra would win.
“Europe, vote for Kalush Orchestra, (song) No 12! Let’s support our fellow countrymen! Let’s support Ukraine!” he said, clenching his fist.
Kalush Orchestra from Ukraine performing during the final of the 2022 Eurovision Song Contest in Turin, Italy, May 14, 2022 [Yara Nardi/Reuters]
Putin tells Finnish president: Joining NATO would be ‘mistake’
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has told his Finnish counterpart that joining NATO would be “a mistake”, as Moscow cut off its electricity supply to the Nordic country earlier.
“Putin stressed that the end of the traditional policy of military neutrality would be a mistake since there is no threat to Finland’s security,” the Kremlin said in a statement on Saturday.
“Such a change in the country’s political orientation can have a negative impact on Russian-Finnish relations developed over years in a spirit of good neighbors and cooperation between partners,” it said.
Read more here.
Russia denies Ukraine forces damaged navy ship in Black Sea
Russia has dismissed Ukraine’s claim it had damaged a modern navy logistics ship in the Black Sea and showed photos of what it said was the vessel with no signs of damage.
In an online post, the Russian defense ministry published photos it said had been taken of the ship in the Crimean Black Sea port of Sevastopol.
“It is now clear from the photographs that the ship is not damaged at all,” it said.
Military authorities in the southern Odesa region said that Ukrainian naval forces had struck the Vsevolod Bobrov, setting it alight.
Medvedev dismisses G7 support of Ukraine territorial integrity
Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev has dismissed a declaration by the Group of Seven to “never” recognise border changes brought about by Moscow’s war on Ukraine.
“To put it mildly, our country doesn’t care about the G7’s non-recognition of the new borders,” he said on his Telegram channel.
Arguing that the will of the people living in a region was all that mattered, Medvedev called the G7’s promise to continue supplying Ukraine with weapons a continuation of its “covert war against Russia.”
The situation in Donbas region remains very difficult: Zelenskyy
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said the situation in the Donbas region remained very difficult, adding that Russian forces were still trying to demonstrate some kind of victory.
“On the 80th day of a full-scale invasion this seems especially crazy, but they are not stopping their efforts,” he said in a late night video address.
Hello and welcome to Al Jazeera’s continuing coverage of the war in Ukraine. Read all the updates from Saturday, May 14 here.
Somalia’s long delayed presidential vote set to take place on Sunday.
After more than a year of delays, violence and uncertainty – Somalia is ready to vote for its next president.
The original plan was to hold a one-person one-vote election for the first time in 50 years.
But security concerns, as well as legal and financial realities make that difficult.
Instead,’s Somalia will pick the president.
>What does this election mean for a nation facing several challenges?
Presenter: Hashem Ahelbarra
Guests:
Ali H Warsame – Lecturer at East Africa University and a former minister of education candidate in the Puntland state of Somalia, and former presidential presidential
Hodan Ali – Somalia analyst
Mohamed Mubarak – Executive director of the Somalia Peace Forum
Turkey’s foreign minister has described as “unacceptable and outrageous” the support that prospective new NATO members Sweden and Finland give to the PKK, a Kurdish rebel group designated a “terrorist” organization by Ankara and its Western allies.
The PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party) has waged a rebellion against the Turkish state since 1984 that has claimed the lives of tens of thousands of people, and Ankara’s criticism of Sweden and Finland has potentially complicated plans for NATO’s enlargement.
“The problem is that these two countries are openly supporting and engaging with PKK and YPG [People’s Protection Units],” Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Saturday as he arrived in Berlin for a meeting with his NATO counterparts.
“These are terrorist organizations that have been attacking our troops every day,” Cavusoglu said.
“Therefore, it is unacceptable and outrageous that our friends and allies are supporting this terrorist organisation,” he said.
“These are the issues that we need to talk about with our NATO allies, as well as these countries [Sweden and Finland].”
Latvian Foreign Minister Edgar Rinkevics said that NATO will find a “sensible” solution to Finland and Sweden’s acceptance as new members despite Turkish concerns.
“We have had those discussions in the alliance many times before. I think that we have always found sensible solutions, and that we will find one this time also,” he told reporters in Berlin.
“Swedish and Finnish membership is of paramount importance to the whole alliance, and ultimately also to Turkey,” he said.
Al Jazeera’s Step Vaessen, reporting from Berlin, said Sweden and Finland’s application to join NATO is expected in the coming days.
“It’s a big historical moment for both nations who have been neutral for such a long time,” Vaessen said, adding that Russia’s action in Ukraine had “pushed them towards NATO”.
All 30 NATO members must approve their application and the acceptance process is likely to take several months, Vaessen said, explaining that it is during the “so-called gray period”, between application and membership, that is most concerning for both countries. During this period, Sweden and Finland will not have the collective defense protection of NATO’s Article 5, which stipulates that “an attack on one, is an attack on all”, she said.
Negotiations
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s spokesman, Ibrahim Kalin, said earlier on Saturday that Turkey had not shut the door to Sweden and joining NATO, but Finland are needed with the Nordic countries and a clampdown on what Ankara views as terrorist activities.
Turkey considers YPG, the US-backed Kurdish fighters based in Syria, a “terrorist” organisation. Ankara views YPG as a PKK affiliate.
“We are not closing the door. But we are basically raising this issue as a matter of national security for Turkey,” Kalin, who is also the president’s top foreign policy adviser, told Reuters in an interview in Istanbul.
Kalin said the PKK was fundraising and recruiting in Europe and its presence was “strong and open and acknowledged” in Sweden, in particular.
“What needs to be done is clear: They have to stop allowing PKK outlets, activities, organisations, individuals and other types of presence to … exist in those countries,” he said.
“We will see how things go. But this is the first point that we want to bring to the attention of all the allies, as well as to Swedish authorities,” he added.
Erdogan surprised NATO members and the two Nordic countries by saying on Friday that it was not possible for Turkey to support enlarging the military alliance when Finland and Sweden are “home to many terrorist organisations”.
Any country seeking to join NATO requires the unanimous support of member states. The United States and other member states have been trying to clarify Ankara’s position on Finland and Sweden.
Sweden and its closest military partner, Finland, until now have remained outside NATO, which was founded in 1949 to counter the Soviet Union in the Cold War.
The two countries are wary of antagonising Moscow, but their security concerns have increased since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24.
‘Mutual point of view’
Turkey, the second-largest military in NATO, has officially supported enlargement since it joined the US-led alliance 70 years ago.
Turkey has criticized Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, helped arm Kyiv, and has tried to facilitate talks between the sides, but has opposed sanctions on Moscow.
Asked whether Turkey risked being too transactional at a time of war, and when Finnish and Swedish public opinion favors NATO membership, Kalin said, “If they [Finland and Sweden] have a public concerned about their own national security, we have a public that is equally concerned about our own security,” he said.
Kalin said Russia’s sharp criticism of Finland and Sweden for their plans to join NATO was not a factor in Turkey’s position.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin told his Finnish counterpart on Saturday that joining NATO would be “a mistake”.
“Putin stressed that the end of the traditional policy of military neutrality would be a mistake since there is no threat to Finland’s security,” the Kremlin said in a statement on Saturday.
The warning from Kremlin comes as Moscow cuts off its electricity supply to Finland following Helsinki’s plan to join NATO.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has told his Finnish counterpart that joining NATO would be “a mistake”, as Moscow cut off its electricity supply to the Nordic country earlier – in what is seen as retaliation for Helsinki’s moves.
“Putin stressed that the end of the traditional policy of military neutrality would be a mistake since there is no threat to Finland’s security,” the Kremlin said in a statement on Saturday.
“Such a change in the country’s political orientation can have a negative impact on Russian-Finnish relations developed over years in a spirit of good neighbors and cooperation between partners,” it said.
The phone call, which was “initiated by Finland … was direct and straightforward and it was conducted without aggravations. Avoiding tensions was considered important,” Finnish President Sauli Niinisto was quoted as saying in a statement by his office.
Moscow’s February 24 invasion of Ukraine has swung political and public opinion in Finland and neighbor Sweden in favor of NATO membership as a deterrent against Russian aggression.
Niinisto, who has communicated regularly with Putin in recent years, said the Nordic country and eurozone member “wants to take care of the practical questions arising from being a neighbor of Russia in a correct and professional manner”.
Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto underlined that it was “very important that we communicate with our neighbor”, even if “we don’t ask any permission for our political steps”.
On Saturday, the Finnish grid operator said that Russia has suspended electricity supplies to Finland overnight after its energy firm RAO Nordic threatened to cut off supplies over payment arrears [File: Martin Meissner/AP Photo]
Moscow has said that it would “definitely” see Finnish membership as a threat, warning that it would be “forced to take reciprocal steps, military-technical and other, to address the resulting threats”.
Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin said on Saturday that her country was “prepared for different types of action” from Moscow. “But there is no information indicating Russia will initiate military action against Finland,” she said.
Russia suspends electricity supply to Finland
On Saturday, the Finnish grid operator said that Russia has suspended electricity supplies to Finland overnight after its energy firm RAO Nordic threatened to cut off supplies over payment arrears.
“It is at zero at the moment, and that started from midnight as planned,” Timo Kaukonen, manager for operational planning at Fingrid, said on Saturday.
Inter, Finland – which only imports about 10 percent of its power from Russia – said the shortfall was being made up by imports from Sweden.
RAO Nordic said it has not been paid for electricity since May 6 but has not spelled out if this was linked to European sanctions against Russia.
After Finland’s NATO membership bid is officially announced on Sunday, it will be discussed by parliament on Monday.
Protesters gathered in New York, Washington, Los Angeles, Austin and Chicago, as well as at hundreds of smaller events.
Thousands have taken to the streets in the US in support of a national day of action for safe and legal access to abortion.
The nationwide demonstrations on Saturday are a response to a leaked draft legal opinion showing the US Supreme Court’s conservative majority is considering overturning Roe v Wade, a landmark 1973 ruling that guarantees abortion access nationwide.
“We’re done with attacks on abortion. We’re marching TODAY to make our voices loud and clear,” read a tweet from the Women’s March, one of the groups behind Saturday’s “Bans Off Our Bodies” protests.
Protesters gathered in New York, Washington-DC, Los Angeles, Austin and Chicago, as well as at hundreds of smaller events across the country. All in all, more than 380 events are scheduled from Maine to Hawaii, organisers said.
“This Saturday, our elected leaders hear us, Supreme Court justices hear us, companies who’ve funded anti-abortion interests hear us,” Sonja Spoo, director of reproductive rights campaigns at the advocacy organization UltraViolet, said in a statement.
“We will be prepared to meet the moment, whether that’s rallying in the streets, petitioning state officials – whatever it takes,” she said.
A march in New York began at noon local time in Brooklyn with plans to march across the bridge to Manhattan’s Foley Square, while thousands more people were scheduled to demonstrate in Washington, DC and descend on the Supreme Court building.
The leak of the draft opinion has ignited fury about the potential rollback of abortion rights in the US before November’s key midterm elections, when control of both congressional chambers are at stake.
Democrats have pushed to codify abortion rights into federal law in a bid to pin down Republicans on the deeply divided issue ahead of the crucial elections.
The House-passed Women’s Health Protection Act would assure healthcare professionals have the right to provide abortions and that patients have the right to receive them. But Republicans and one Democrat in the US Senate scuttled the effort to advance the measure earlier this week.
Teisha Kimmons, who traveled 80 miles (128km) to attend a rally in Chicago, said she feared for women in states that are ready to ban abortion. Kimmons said she might not be alive today if she had not had a legal abortion when she was 15.
“I was already starting to self-harm and I would have rather died than have a baby,” said Kimmons, a massage therapist from Rockford, Illinois.
‘We all lose’
The draft opinion does not square with American opinion at large: a new Politico/Morning Consult poll has 53 percent of voters saying Roe v Wade should not be overturned, up three percentage points since last week, while 58 percent said it was important to vote for a candidate who supports abortion access.
Republican-controlled states already have taken steps to restrict abortion rights in recent months, and overturning Roe v Wade would grant them far greater latitude to restrict or ban the procedure.
“We ALL lose if Roe is overturned,” tweeted Rachel O’Leary Carmona, director of the Women’s executive March.
“Even those in small conservative towns like mine in Texas who are grateful for the abortion their wife had during a pregnancy that put her health at risk, or afraid of the one their granddaughter may be unable to access if she were raped,” she wrote .
She had earlier tweeted, “If you’re angry like me, join us on the streets this Saturday.”
The right to access abortion has long triggered activism, but the Supreme Court leak has spurred an uptick in demonstrations, including outside the homes of justices.
The largely peaceful protests have drawn Republican criticism about violations of the privacy rights of court members, but have responded by pointing to years of often violent protests outside medical clinics and at the homes of doctors providing the procedure.
And many have cited the Supreme Court decision as a far greater pending invasion of privacy.
“You don’t get to take away my bodily autonomy and get to enjoy your Saturday at home. You can do one or the other,” one protester, Nikki Enfield, told a local CBS television affiliate.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Judy Woodruff says she’ll be stepping down as anchor of PBS’ nightly “NewsHour” program at the end of the year.
Woodruff, 75, said she will report longer pieces for “NewsHour” and do other projects and specials for public television, at least through the 2024 presidential election.
She was part of the “NewsHour” rotating anchor team from 2009 until 2013, when she and Gwen Ifill were named co-anchors of the program. Since Ifill’s death in 2016, Woodruff has been the show’s sole anchor.
“I love working at the PBS ‘NewsHour’ and can’t imagine it not being a part of my life,” Woodruff said in a memo to fellow staff members. She was chief Washington correspondent at “NewsHour” from 1983 to 1993, and has also worked at CNN and NBC News.
Plans for her replacement will be announced in the fall, a PBS spokesperson said Saturday.
LONDON — Ukraine’s head of military intelligence claimed he believes that a coup to remove Russian President Vladimir Putin was already underway in Russia — and said he thinks the war is likely to be over by the end of the year.
Speaking to Sky News in an article published Saturday, Maj. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov said he was “optimistic” about Russia’s defeat, suggesting that the loss would lead to Putin being removed from power.
“It will eventually lead to the change of leadership of the Russian Federation,” Budanov said. “This process has already been launched.”
When asked if a “coup” was underway, he told Sky News: “Yes. … They are moving in this way, and it is impossible to stop it.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin after Russia’s Victory Day parade on Monday. (Sputnik/Mikhail Metzel/Pool via Reuters)
According to Sky News, Budanov doubled down after it was suggested that he was spreading propaganda. “It’s my job, it’s my work — if not me, who will know this?” he said.
Meanwhile, Gordon B. Davis Jr., former deputy assistant secretary-general of NATO’s defense investment division, told Sky News in another interview that he doesn’t “think we’re likely to see a coup in the near future.”
“It’s tough to talk about the credibility of such a likelihood,” he said. “I don’t put a lot of credence right now into the rumors.”
Budanov added in his interview that since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, Russian forces’ military tactics have not changed, despite their shift in focus to eastern Ukraine.
“The breaking point will be in the second part of August,” he said. “Most of the active combat actions will have finished by the end of this year. As a result, we will renew Ukrainian power in all our territories that we have lost, including Donbas and the Crimea.”
Sky News noted that the major general’s prediction that Russia would invade this year — at a time when other officials were skeptical — had been correct.
During the interview, Budanov also claimed that is currently in “a very bad psychological and physical condition, and he is very sick.” In recent years, there has been speculation about Putin’s alleged ill-health.
On Saturday, New Lines Magazine reported that an oligarch close to Putin had claimed the Kremlin leader is “very ill with blood cancer.” In a recording obtained by the publication, an unidentified oligarch was heard allegedly discussing Putin’s health. He went on to complain that Putin had gone “crazy” and claimed that the Russian president had surgery on his back linked to his cancer, just before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February.
![Kalush Orchestra from Ukraine appear on stage after winning the 2022 Eurovision Song Contest in Turin, Italy on May 15, 2022 [Yara Nardi/Reuters]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/eurovision2.jpg?w=770&resize=770%2C513)
![Ukrainian service members watch the performance of Kalush Orchestra during the final of the 2022 Eurovision Song Contest on May 14, 2022 [Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/2022-05-14T213212Z_813283425_RC297U90C1PR_RTRMADP_3_UKRAINE-CRISIS-EUROVISION.jpg?w=770&resize=770%2C513)
![The Russian Embassy in Washington DC in March 2022 [File photo: Susan Walsh/AP]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/embassy.jpg?w=770&resize=770%2C513)
![In this handout photo provided by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, left, shakes hands with Senator Mitch McConnell in Kyiv, Ukraine on Saturday, May 14, 2022 [Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/mitch.jpg?w=770&resize=770%2C552)
![Kalush Orchestra from Ukraine performing during the final of the 2022 Eurovision Song Contest in Turin, Italy, May 14, 2022 [Yara Nardi/Reuters]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/eurovision.jpg?w=770&resize=770%2C513)
