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Russia: 11 Killed in 'Terrorist' Attack at Military Site

FILE - The emblem for the Russian Defense Ministry is displayed at the ministry building in Moscow, Russia on Monday, Sept. 26, 2016. (AP Photo/Ivan Sekretarev, File)
FILE - The emblem for the Russian Defense Ministry is displayed at the ministry building in Moscow, Russia on Monday, Sept. 26, 2016. (AP Photo/Ivan Sekretarev, File)
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Russia: 11 Killed in 'Terrorist' Attack at Military Site

FILE - The emblem for the Russian Defense Ministry is displayed at the ministry building in Moscow, Russia on Monday, Sept. 26, 2016. (AP Photo/Ivan Sekretarev, File)
FILE - The emblem for the Russian Defense Ministry is displayed at the ministry building in Moscow, Russia on Monday, Sept. 26, 2016. (AP Photo/Ivan Sekretarev, File)

Russia said two gunmen from an ex-Soviet state on Saturday attacked a military training ground killing 11 people who had volunteered to fight in Ukraine and wounding 15 others.

Russia's defense ministry said the attack in the Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine, happened during a firearms training session.

Russia launched what it calls a special military operation in Ukraine at the end of February. Last month Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a mobilization of 300,000 Russians who had previously done compulsory military service.

"On October 15, two citizens of a CIS country committed an act of terror at a training range of the Western military district in the Belgorod region," the state news agencies quoted the ministry as saying.

"As a result, 11 people were fatally wounded. Another 15 people suffered injuries of varying gravity and were taken to medical facilities."

The two attackers "were killed in retaliatory fire", the ministry added.

"A terrible event happened on our territory, on the territory of one of the military units," the governor of Belgorod region Vyacheslav Gladkov said early on Sunday.

"Many soldiers were killed and wounded ... There are no residents of the Belgorod region among the wounded and killed,' Gladkov said in a video post on the Telegram messaging app.

The CIS, or Commonwealth of Independent States, was formed between republics that were part of the Soviet Union.

More than 200,000 people have been conscripted into the Russian armed forces since the announcement of partial mobilization on September 21.

The draft announcement sparked protests and several attacks on recruitment offices.

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World

Iran Rejects Negotiations with US in ‘Atmosphere of Threats’, Says FM

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi attends a joint press conference with his Iraqi counterpart Fuad Hussein, in Tehran on January 18, 2026. (AFP)
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi attends a joint press conference with his Iraqi counterpart Fuad Hussein, in Tehran on January 18, 2026. (AFP)
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Iran Rejects Negotiations with US in ‘Atmosphere of Threats’, Says FM

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi attends a joint press conference with his Iraqi counterpart Fuad Hussein, in Tehran on January 18, 2026. (AFP)
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi attends a joint press conference with his Iraqi counterpart Fuad Hussein, in Tehran on January 18, 2026. (AFP)

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said he had not been ​in contact with US special envoy Steve Witkoff in recent days or requesting negotiations, state media reported on Wednesday.

US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday another "armada" is floating ‌toward Iran and ‌that he ‌hopes ⁠Tehran ​would ‌make a deal with Washington.

The US deployed additional military assets in the Gulf following nationwide protests in Iran which led to the country's bloodiest crackdown since the ⁠1979 revolution.

"There was no ‌contact between me and ‍Witkoff in ‍recent days and no request ‍for negotiations was made from us," Araqchi told state media, adding that various intermediaries were "holding consultations" and were ​in contact with Tehran.

"Our stance is clear, negotiations don't ⁠go along with threats and talks can only take place when there are no longer menaces and excessive demands."

World

Starmer Arrives in China to Defend ‘Pragmatic’ Partnership

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer receives a bouquet of flowers upon his arrival at an airport in Beijing on January 28, 2026. (AFP)
Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer receives a bouquet of flowers upon his arrival at an airport in Beijing on January 28, 2026. (AFP)
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Starmer Arrives in China to Defend ‘Pragmatic’ Partnership

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer receives a bouquet of flowers upon his arrival at an airport in Beijing on January 28, 2026. (AFP)
Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer receives a bouquet of flowers upon his arrival at an airport in Beijing on January 28, 2026. (AFP)

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer arrived in Beijing on Wednesday to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, hoping to restore long fraught relations.

It is the first visit to China by a UK prime minister since 2018 and follows a string of Western leaders courting Beijing in recent weeks, pivoting from a mercurial United States.

Starmer, who is also expected to visit Shanghai on Friday, will later make a brief stop in Japan to meet with Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi.

For Xi, the trip is an opportunity to show Beijing can be a reliable partner at a time when President Donald Trump's policies have rattled historic ties between Washington and its Western allies.

Starmer is battling record low popularity polls and hopes the visit can boost Britain's beleaguered economy.

The trip has been lauded by Downing Street as a chance to boost trade and investment ties while raising thorny issues such as national security.

Starmer will meet with Xi for lunch on Thursday, followed by a meeting with Premier Li Qiang.

The British leader said on Wednesday this visit to China was "going to be a really important trip for us", vowing to make "some real progress".

There are "opportunities" to deepen bilateral relations, Starmer told reporters travelling with him on the plane to China.

"It doesn't make sense to stick our head in the ground and bury in the sand when it comes to China, it's in our interests to engage and not compromise on national security," he added.

China, for its part, "is willing to take this visit as an opportunity to enhance political mutual trust", foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun reiterated Wednesday during a news briefing.

Starmer is the latest Western leader to be hosted by Beijing in recent months, following visits by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and French President Emmanuel Macron.

Faced with Trump's threats to impose tariffs on Canada for signing a trade agreement with China, and the US president's attempts to create a new international institution with his "Board of Peace", Beijing has been affirming its support for the United Nations to visiting leaders.

- Reset ties -

UK-China relations plummeted in 2020 after Beijing imposed a sweeping national security law on Hong Kong, which severely curtailed freedoms in the former British colony.

They soured further since with both powers exchanging accusations of spying.

Starmer, however, was quick to deny fresh claims of Chinese spying after the Telegraph newspaper reported Monday that China had hacked the mobile phones of senior officials in Downing Street for several years.

"There's no evidence of that. We've got robust schemes, security measures in place as you'd expect," he told reporters on Wednesday.

Since taking the helm in 2024, Starmer has been at pains to reset ties with the world's second-largest economy and Britain's third-biggest trade partner.

In China, he will be accompanied by around 60 business leaders from the finance, pharmaceutical, automobile and other sectors, and cultural representatives as he tries to balance attracting vital investment and appearing firm on national security concerns.

The Labour leader also spoke to Xi on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Brazil in November 2024.

World

EU Top Diplomat Urges ‘More European’ NATO as Trump Upends Ties

European High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs, Kaja Kallas arrives for an informal meeting of the members of the European Council in Brussels, Belgium, 22 January 2026. (EPA)
European High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs, Kaja Kallas arrives for an informal meeting of the members of the European Council in Brussels, Belgium, 22 January 2026. (EPA)
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EU Top Diplomat Urges ‘More European’ NATO as Trump Upends Ties

European High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs, Kaja Kallas arrives for an informal meeting of the members of the European Council in Brussels, Belgium, 22 January 2026. (EPA)
European High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs, Kaja Kallas arrives for an informal meeting of the members of the European Council in Brussels, Belgium, 22 January 2026. (EPA)

Europe must step up efforts on defense and play a bigger role in NATO as US President Donald Trump has "shaken the transatlantic relationship to its foundation", EU top diplomat Kaja Kallas said Wednesday.

"Let me be clear: we want strong transatlantic ties. The US will remain Europe's partner and ally. But Europe needs to adapt to the new realities. Europe is no longer Washington's primary center of gravity," Kallas told a defense conference in Brussels.

"This shift has been ongoing for a while. It is structural, not temporary. It means that Europe must step up -- no great power in history has outsourced its survival and survived."

Trump rocked European allies this month by threatening to seize Greenland from NATO and EU member Denmark -- before eventually backing off.

The crisis -- the latest to buffet ties since his return to power a year ago -- has reinforced calls for the continent to cut its decades-long reliance on NATO's dominant military superpower for protection.

Kallas remained clear-eyed that NATO remains the bedrock of European security.

She said EU efforts should "remain complementary" to those of the alliance, but insisted Europe needed to play a bigger role.

"Especially now, as the US is setting its sights beyond Europe, NATO needs to become more European to maintain its strength," she said.

"For this, Europe must act."

European countries have already ramped up defense budgets since Russia invaded Ukraine four years ago, and agreed last year to massively hike NATO's spending target under pressure from Trump.

The EU last year also launched a raft of initiatives that it says could see its members plough an additional 800 billion euros into defense.

Washington meanwhile has said it wants European allies to take over more responsibility for the conventional defense of the continent as US focus switches to other threats like China.

"The risk of a full-blown return to coercive power politics, spheres of influence and a world where might makes right, is very real," Kallas said.

She insisted Europe "must acknowledge that this tectonic shift is here to stay. And to act with urgency."

Kallas' comments come after NATO chief Mark Rutte told EU lawmakers to "keep on dreaming" if they thought Europe could defend itself without the United States.

In a Monday address to the bloc's parliament, Rutte insisted that Europe would have to double its spending targets to afford the "billions and billions of euros" it would cost to replace the US nuclear umbrella.

The head of the Western military alliance also warned that if Europe tried to build its own forces to replace the United States in NATO then it would play into Russian leader Vladimir Putin's hands.

"Putin will love it. So think again," Rutte said.

Instead he urged the EU to use its traditional strengths to generate funding and cut regulation to help the defense industry grow.