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Russia Insists it is Observing Ukraine Ceasefire Despite Kyiv Attacks

Putin had unilaterally ordered his forces to pause attacks for 36 hours for the Orthodox Christmas. Reuters
Putin had unilaterally ordered his forces to pause attacks for 36 hours for the Orthodox Christmas. Reuters
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Russia Insists it is Observing Ukraine Ceasefire Despite Kyiv Attacks

Putin had unilaterally ordered his forces to pause attacks for 36 hours for the Orthodox Christmas. Reuters
Putin had unilaterally ordered his forces to pause attacks for 36 hours for the Orthodox Christmas. Reuters

Moscow insisted Saturday its army was observing a ceasefire it unilaterally declared in Ukraine to mark Orthodox Christmas despite artillery attacks by Kyiv troops.

"Despite the shelling of the armed forces of Ukraine of settlements and Russian positions, the implementation of the declared ceasefire will continue," the Russian defense ministry said in a statement.

The statement however added that over the past 24 hours Russian forces repelled a number of attacks by the Ukrainian army in eastern Ukraine and killed dozens of its troops.

AFP journalists in the town of Chasiv Yar south of the frontline city of Bakhmut on Saturday heard heavy artillery fire for much of Saturday morning.

On Saturday, the general staff of Ukraine's armed forces said that Russia launched one missile strike and fired 20 rounds from multiple rocket launchers over the past 24 hours.

Russian President Vladimir Putin had unilaterally ordered his forces to pause attacks for 36 hours for the Orthodox Christmas.

Ukraine has dismissed the halt -- due to last until the end of Saturday (2100 GMT) -- as a tactic by Russia to gain time to regroup its forces and bolster its defenses following a series of battlefield setbacks.

Orthodox Christians observe Christmas on January 7.

Also Saturday, Putin praised the Russian Orthodox Church for supporting Moscow's forces fighting in Ukraine in an Orthodox Christmas message designed to rally people behind his vision of modern Russia.

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World

Blast at Historic Police HQ in Pakistan Kills 8

File photo: Firefighters work to extinguish the burning cars at the site of bomb explosion, in Quetta, Pakistan, Sunday, May 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Arshad Butt)
File photo: Firefighters work to extinguish the burning cars at the site of bomb explosion, in Quetta, Pakistan, Sunday, May 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Arshad Butt)
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Blast at Historic Police HQ in Pakistan Kills 8

File photo: Firefighters work to extinguish the burning cars at the site of bomb explosion, in Quetta, Pakistan, Sunday, May 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Arshad Butt)
File photo: Firefighters work to extinguish the burning cars at the site of bomb explosion, in Quetta, Pakistan, Sunday, May 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Arshad Butt)

An explosion at a historic police headquarters in northern Pakistan on Friday killed at least eight people and wounded 35 more, officials said, with the country's president swiftly blaming a militant group.

A search-and-rescue operation was underway following the blast in Kohat in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, according to Bilal Ahmed Faizi from the 1122 rescue services.

Provincial police chief Zulfiqar Hameed told AFP that eight people were killed and 35 wounded, without giving more details about police and civilian casualties.

"The investigation into the nature of the blast is underway," Hameed said.

Faizi said more than 45 rescue personnel had been deployed to the site at the Old Police Lines in Kohat, a town of around 220,000 people.

"Rescue 1122 teams are actively engaged in the search-and-rescue operation at the site, and relief activities will continue until the operation concludes," he said.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack but the area has been gripped by a violent campaign by the militant Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) group.

Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari expressed "regret" over the casualties, sending his "best wishes for the speedy recovery of those injured in the blast".

"The complete elimination of Fitna-al-Khawarij and terrorists operating with foreign backing is essential for national security," he said, using another term for the TTP group.

Pakistan has blamed the increase in attacks in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the southern border province of Balochistan on militancy emanating from Afghanistan, where the Taliban government denies Afghan involvement.

The accusations have sparked a bitter rift and armed conflict between the neighboring countries, and Pakistan has carried out deadly airstrikes it says target militants on Afghan soil.

The Taliban government in Kabul and the United Nations said dozens of civilians were killed in the latest Pakistani strikes on eastern Afghanistan in June.

World

Police Move Ceuta Migrants Off Beaches in Spanish Enclave

The Spanish National Police transfer hundreds of migrants who had been sleeping on the street to a new location consisting of several tents, aiming to prevent them from continuing to sleep outdoors, in Ceuta, Spain, 13 September 2026. EPA/Reduan
The Spanish National Police transfer hundreds of migrants who had been sleeping on the street to a new location consisting of several tents, aiming to prevent them from continuing to sleep outdoors, in Ceuta, Spain, 13 September 2026. EPA/Reduan
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Police Move Ceuta Migrants Off Beaches in Spanish Enclave

The Spanish National Police transfer hundreds of migrants who had been sleeping on the street to a new location consisting of several tents, aiming to prevent them from continuing to sleep outdoors, in Ceuta, Spain, 13 September 2026. EPA/Reduan
The Spanish National Police transfer hundreds of migrants who had been sleeping on the street to a new location consisting of several tents, aiming to prevent them from continuing to sleep outdoors, in Ceuta, Spain, 13 September 2026. EPA/Reduan

Police on Friday began moving hundreds of migrants from the beaches of Ceuta to the Spanish enclave's port area.

During the transfer, the police struggled to contain crowds of people jostling to secure a spot at the new tented site after weeks of living on the beaches, AFP said.

Tens of thousands of migrants flooded across the border from Morocco in July and though most returned, several thousand remained.

World

Iran Says Struck Oil Tanker in Strait of Hormuz

Vessels transit the Hormuz Strait off the coast of Iran's southern port city of Bandar Abbas on September 7, 2026. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)
Vessels transit the Hormuz Strait off the coast of Iran's southern port city of Bandar Abbas on September 7, 2026. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)
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Iran Says Struck Oil Tanker in Strait of Hormuz

Vessels transit the Hormuz Strait off the coast of Iran's southern port city of Bandar Abbas on September 7, 2026. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)
Vessels transit the Hormuz Strait off the coast of Iran's southern port city of Bandar Abbas on September 7, 2026. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said Friday they struck an oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz, according to state news agency IRNA, as a British maritime agency also reported an attack.

Iran has maintained its stranglehold on the strategic strait as Washington continues pressing its counterblockade of Iranian ports during the Middle East war, said AFP.

The Iranian republic wants to charge ships for passage, attacking vessels it accuses of attempting to circumvent its preferred route.

"The Togo-flagged oil tanker 'Trend' had been targeted and detained after a fire broke out on board" late on Thursday, the statement said, calling it an attempted "illegal passage".

Early on Friday, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said a ship was hit by an "unknown projectile", causing a fire that was extinguished.

The monitoring agency had also reported a "security incident" in Hormuz late on Thursday, without giving details.

It was unclear if the IRGC and UKMTO reports referred to the same incident.