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Chechnya Kills Militant Tied to ISIS

Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) meets with Chechnya's leader Ramzan Kadyrov at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, in this December 10, 2015 file photo. REUTERS/Mikhail Klimentyev/Sputnik/Kremlin/Files
Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) meets with Chechnya's leader Ramzan Kadyrov at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, in this December 10, 2015 file photo. REUTERS/Mikhail Klimentyev/Sputnik/Kremlin/Files
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Chechnya Kills Militant Tied to ISIS

Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) meets with Chechnya's leader Ramzan Kadyrov at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, in this December 10, 2015 file photo. REUTERS/Mikhail Klimentyev/Sputnik/Kremlin/Files
Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) meets with Chechnya's leader Ramzan Kadyrov at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, in this December 10, 2015 file photo. REUTERS/Mikhail Klimentyev/Sputnik/Kremlin/Files

Chechnya's strongman leader Ramzan Kadyrov said Wednesday that police had killed Aslan Byutukayev, alleged leader of ISIS in the volatile republic and mastermind of deadly attacks in Moscow.

Byutukayev, also known as Amir Khamzat, was designated in 2016 as a "global terrorist" by the US State Department, which said he had become an ISIS leader in June 2015.

The department also said Byutukayev was responsible for suicide bombings in Russia including the January 2011 attack on Moscow's Domodedovo airport that killed 35.

Kadyrov said Chechen police officers had killed Byutukayev and five militants associated with him who were on Russia's wanted list "on the spot".

"The bandit underground in the Chechen Republic is completely eradicated!" the leader of the North Caucasus region wrote on his Telegram channel alongside graphic images of bloodied corpses.

The militants had evaded pursuit twice before they were killed and he had personally taken part in the planning of the operation "long ago", Kadyrov added.

Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated the Chechen leader on the operation in a phone call, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists Wednesday.

RIA Novosti news agency quoted Peskov as saying that all of the participants in the operation will receive state awards.

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World

First European Flight Lands in Venezuela Since Maduro’s Ouster 

A man holds up a Venezuelan flag while taking part in a march calling for amnesty for political prisoners and to mark Youth Day, in Caracas, Venezuela, February 12, 2026. (Reuters)
A man holds up a Venezuelan flag while taking part in a march calling for amnesty for political prisoners and to mark Youth Day, in Caracas, Venezuela, February 12, 2026. (Reuters)
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First European Flight Lands in Venezuela Since Maduro’s Ouster 

A man holds up a Venezuelan flag while taking part in a march calling for amnesty for political prisoners and to mark Youth Day, in Caracas, Venezuela, February 12, 2026. (Reuters)
A man holds up a Venezuelan flag while taking part in a march calling for amnesty for political prisoners and to mark Youth Day, in Caracas, Venezuela, February 12, 2026. (Reuters)

A plane from Spain's Air Europa landed in Venezuela Tuesday, according to a flight tracking monitor, the first European commercial flight to arrive in the country since the United States toppled president Nicolas Maduro.

A slew of international carriers stopped flying to Venezuela after the United States warned of possible military activity there in late November -- a prelude to its surprise attack on January 3.

The Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner landed at Simon Bolivar International Airport, which serves the Venezuelan capital Caracas, at 9:00 pm (0100 GMT).

Since US forces raided Venezuela and captured Maduro, US President Donald Trump has struck a cooperative relationship with interim president Delcy Rodriguez.

Late last month he called for flights to resume to the country.

Spanish airline Iberia is evaluating security guarantees before announcing a return, according to the Spanish press.

Portugal's TAP has said it will resume flights. Colombian airline Avianca and Panama's Copa have already restarted operations.

Hoping to prompt US flights, the Trump administration has lifted a 2019 ban on US airlines flying to the country.

World

Fireworks Shop Explosion Kills 12 in China

Fire performers carry a dragon during a molten iron fireworks performance known as "fire dragon steel flowers" ahead of Lunar New Year celebrations at an amusement park on the outskirts of Beijing, China, Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)
Fire performers carry a dragon during a molten iron fireworks performance known as "fire dragon steel flowers" ahead of Lunar New Year celebrations at an amusement park on the outskirts of Beijing, China, Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)
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Fireworks Shop Explosion Kills 12 in China

Fire performers carry a dragon during a molten iron fireworks performance known as "fire dragon steel flowers" ahead of Lunar New Year celebrations at an amusement park on the outskirts of Beijing, China, Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)
Fire performers carry a dragon during a molten iron fireworks performance known as "fire dragon steel flowers" ahead of Lunar New Year celebrations at an amusement park on the outskirts of Beijing, China, Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

An explosion at a fireworks shop in central China killed 12 people on Wednesday, the second day of the Lunar New Year holiday, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

Setting off fireworks and firecrackers is common during holiday celebrations in China, especially around Lunar New Year, which fell on Tuesday.

While many larger cities, including the capital Beijing, have banned the practice in recent years -- in part due to pollution -- towns and rural areas are often filled with the sounds of exploding firecrackers and "missile" fireworks for days on end during the holiday period.

"At approximately 2 pm on the 18th, there was a fire and explosion at a firework and firecracker shop in Zhengji town" in Hubei province, CCTV said, citing local authorities.

"The fire covered an area of around 50 square meters and has already resulted in 12 deaths."

The cause of the explosion is under investigation, CCTV added, according to AFP.

On Sunday, an explosion at a fireworks shop in eastern China's Jiangsu province killed eight and injured two.

In response to that incident, the Ministry of Emergency Management urged fireworks enterprises nationwide to strengthen supervision and undertake a "full inspection" of safety risks and hazards.

It also warned citizens against unsafe practices like test-firing or smoking outside of shops.

Industrial accidents are common in China due to lax safety standards.

An explosion at a biotech factory in northern China's Shanxi province killed eight people this month.

And in late January, an explosion at a steel factory in the neighboring province of Inner Mongolia left at least nine people dead.

World

Vatican Says It Will Not Participate in Trump’s ‘Board of Peace’ 

Pope Leo XIV speaks after leading a Mass during a visit to the parish of Santa Maria Regina Pacis in Ostia Lido, Rome, Italy, February 15, 2026. (Reuters)
Pope Leo XIV speaks after leading a Mass during a visit to the parish of Santa Maria Regina Pacis in Ostia Lido, Rome, Italy, February 15, 2026. (Reuters)
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Vatican Says It Will Not Participate in Trump’s ‘Board of Peace’ 

Pope Leo XIV speaks after leading a Mass during a visit to the parish of Santa Maria Regina Pacis in Ostia Lido, Rome, Italy, February 15, 2026. (Reuters)
Pope Leo XIV speaks after leading a Mass during a visit to the parish of Santa Maria Regina Pacis in Ostia Lido, Rome, Italy, February 15, 2026. (Reuters)

The Vatican ‌will not participate in US President Donald Trump's so-called "Board of Peace" initiative, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican's top diplomatic official, said on Tuesday while adding that efforts to handle crisis situations should be managed by the United Nations.

Pope Leo, the first US pope and a critic of some of Trump's policies, was invited to join the board in January.

Under Trump's Gaza plan that led to a fragile ceasefire in October, the board was meant to supervise Gaza's temporary governance. Trump thereafter said the board, with him as chair, would ‌be expanded to ‌tackle global conflicts.

The board will hold its ‌first ⁠meeting in Washington ⁠on Thursday to discuss Gaza's reconstruction.

Italy and the European Union have said their representatives plan to attend as observers as they have not joined the board.

The Holy See "will not participate in the Board of Peace because of its particular nature, which is evidently not that of other States," Parolin said.

"One concern," he said, "is that ⁠at the international level it should above all ‌be the UN that manages ‌these crisis situations. This is one of the points on which we have insisted."

The ⁠Gaza truce has been repeatedly violated with hundreds of Palestinians and four Israeli soldiers reported killed since it began in October.

Israel's assault on Gaza has killed over 72,000, caused a hunger crisis and internally displaced Gaza's entire population.

Multiple rights experts, scholars and a UN inquiry say it amounts to genocide. Israel calls its actions self-defense after Hamas-led fighters killed 1,200 people and took over 250 hostages in a late 2023 attack.

Leo has repeatedly decried conditions in Gaza. The pope, leader of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics, rarely joins international boards. The Vatican has an extensive diplomatic service and is a permanent observer at the United Nations.