Ukraine Says Blood Transfusion Center Hit in Russian Attacks; Crimea Bridges Hit

 This photograph shows remains of raillway station in Sosnove village, Donetsk region on August 5, 2023, amid Russian invasion in Ukraine. (AFP)
This photograph shows remains of raillway station in Sosnove village, Donetsk region on August 5, 2023, amid Russian invasion in Ukraine. (AFP)
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Ukraine Says Blood Transfusion Center Hit in Russian Attacks; Crimea Bridges Hit

 This photograph shows remains of raillway station in Sosnove village, Donetsk region on August 5, 2023, amid Russian invasion in Ukraine. (AFP)
This photograph shows remains of raillway station in Sosnove village, Donetsk region on August 5, 2023, amid Russian invasion in Ukraine. (AFP)

Ukraine said Russia bombed a blood transfusion center near the front line in a wave of air strikes overnight while Moscow reported that it had shot down a drone heading to the capital on Sunday in the third such attack in a week.

Both countries have stepped up attacks on each other's troops, weaponry and infrastructure supporting the war as Ukraine seeks to dislodge Russian forces who have dug in across southern and eastern Ukraine since their invasion last year.

The Moscow-appointed head of Crimea said the Chonhar bridge to the peninsula, which was annexed from Ukraine by Moscow in 2014, had been damaged by a missile strike. Another of the three road links between Crimea and Russian-occupied parts of mainland Ukraine, near the town of Henichesk, was shelled and a civilian driver wounded, a Moscow-appointed official said.

Traffic was halted on a third bridge, linking Russia to Crimea, after both sides said a Ukrainian naval drone full of explosives struck a Russian fuel tanker vessel overnight from Friday to Saturday, the second such attack in 24 hours.

The attacks are making it increasingly hard to get on and off the Black Sea peninsula, which is of military importance to Moscow as well as a popular tourist destination for Russians.

Inside Russia, Moscow's Vnukovo airport suspended flights on Sunday, citing unspecified reasons outside its control. Vnukovo imposed similar suspensions when Moscow was attacked by drones last week. Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin said a drone had been shot down on Sunday south of the capital.

At least 10 Russian missiles appear to have got through Ukraine's air defenses in the overnight attack, which Ukraine's air force said involved 70 air assault weapons including cruise and hypersonic missiles as well as Iranian-made drones.

Local media said a worker at a grain silo had been wounded and a rescuer died during a rescue operation.

The attacks followed what President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said was a bomb attack on a blood transfusion center in the town of Kupiansk, a railway hub around 16 km (10 miles) from the front in the eastern Kharkiv region.

"There are dead and wounded," he said on his Telegram channel, adding that rescue workers were extinguishing a fire at the scene and describing the strike as a "war crime".

He did not say how many casualties there were or whether they were military or civilian. Reuters could not immediately verify the report.

Russia denies deliberately targeting civilians or military hospitals in its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which has killed thousands of people, uprooted millions and destroyed cities.

Russia's defense ministry said it had conducted successful strikes on Ukrainian air bases in the western Rivne and Khmelnytskyi regions and southern Zaporizhzhia region, without giving details.

Ukraine's air force said it destroyed 30 out of 40 cruise missiles and all 27 of the Shahed drones that Russia launched overnight. It also said Russia launched three Kinzhal hypersonic missiles, but did not disclose any further information on them.

It was not clear what happened to the 10 cruise missiles that were not shot down.

The deputy governor of the Khmelnytskyi region, Serhiy Tiurin, said a military airfield in Starokostiantyniv was among the targets. He said most of the missiles were shot down, but explosions had damaged several houses, a cultural institution and the bus station and a fire had broken out at a grain silo.

"Now, it is the Starokostiantyniv airfield that haunts the enemy," Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Yuriy Ihnat said.

Russia had targeted the airfield at the end of July.

Pipeline leak

Poland halted oil flows through one part of the Druzhba pipeline carrying oil from Russia to Europe after detecting a leak, the latest hitch to energy flows since Russia invaded Ukraine. There was no indication of the cause and Germany said oil supplies were secure. Poland said it expected oil to flow again on Tuesday.

Ukraine is two months into a grueling counteroffensive to try to push out Russian forces occupying almost a fifth of its territory in the south and east.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said late last month that while Ukraine had recaptured half the territory that Russia had initially seized, the Ukrainian counteroffensive was in its early days and would take shape over "several months".

Another sea drone attack on Russia's navy base at Novorossiysk damaged a warship on Friday, the first time the Ukrainian navy had projected its power so far from its shores.

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev suggested Moscow would launch more strikes against Ukrainian ports in response to Kyiv's attacks on Russian ships in the Black Sea, and threatened to hand Ukraine "an ecological catastrophe".

Zelenskiy's aide Mykhailo Podoliak characterized the overnight Russian missile attacks as a response to Ukraine's overtures to Global South countries that have been reluctant to take sides in a conflict that has hurt the global economy.



Trump Says His Deportation Policy 'Might Have Been too Tough' for Voters in the Election

US President Donald Trump speaks, after signing a proclamation on the 'Establishment of the Oval Office National Monument', at the White House in Washington, DC, US, November 5, 2026. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz
US President Donald Trump speaks, after signing a proclamation on the 'Establishment of the Oval Office National Monument', at the White House in Washington, DC, US, November 5, 2026. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz
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Trump Says His Deportation Policy 'Might Have Been too Tough' for Voters in the Election

US President Donald Trump speaks, after signing a proclamation on the 'Establishment of the Oval Office National Monument', at the White House in Washington, DC, US, November 5, 2026. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz
US President Donald Trump speaks, after signing a proclamation on the 'Establishment of the Oval Office National Monument', at the White House in Washington, DC, US, November 5, 2026. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz

President Donald Trump in his first major interview since his party lost control of the House and Senate in the midterm elections said he thinks his administration was too aggressive on deportations and that he thinks he can work with Democrats in the new Congress on some kind of immigration deal, The Associated Press said.

Trump said his deportation policy was part of the reason Republicans lost, telling CBS’s “60 Minutes” in an interview that aired on Sunday: “I think it might be too tough, yeah.”

He added that he thinks he could reach an agreement with the new Democratic majority. “The deal would be we would work something out. And I think it’s something -- I think that’s something that’s actually doable,” he said in the interview.

Trump did not give specifics about what that deal would look like — and shortly after taping the interview on Friday, Trump named the key architect of his hard-line immigration agenda, Stephen Miller, as his new chief of staff.

“Trump says his immigration crackdown went too far,” Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer scoffed on social media Sunday after the interview aired. “Apparently, his solution was to put the man responsible for it in charge of the White House. That’s not a course correction. That’s a promotion.”

The president's immigration crackdown was a prominent feature of his return to office with major operations in multiple cities sending arrests soaring. Two US citizens — Renee Good and Alex Pretti — were killed by federal officers during protests against the operations.

Democrats have said oversight of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security is a priority for the new Congress.

Trump said he believes that “killers” and “drug dealers” in the country illegally should be deported, but suggested he was open to the idea of a deal that would let others stay “if they’re good people working in a landscaping company, or working in a hotel, or doing something, right? And in some cases, paying taxes.”

Trump says he may stay on the sidelines for the 2028 race

On the race among Republicans to succeed him for the 2028 presidential election, Trump hinted at staying neutral.

Asked whether he’d endorse a potential successor, the president said “probably, not necessarily.”

“We have a tremendous bench. I have so many people that I have great relationships with,” Trump said in the interview.

Asked about possible candidates other than Vice President JD Vance, Trump only named Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is viewed as a possible 2028 contender.

“I think Marco’s great,” Trump said. “But there are many others and I’d rather not mention their names. There’s some senators that are excellent. I know ’em all, I like ’em a lot.

“So I may or may not get involved. I don’t know. Maybe I’m better off not getting involved,” Trump said.

Trump brushes aside questions about becoming wealthier while in office

During the midterms, Democrats sought to make the president’s personal wealth a campaign issue. About half of voters nationally said government corruption was “crucial” for their vote for Congress, according to the AP Voter Poll.

Asked how his net worth went up by $3 billion since returning to the White House, Trump said he doesn’t pay much attention to it and said his sons look after the family business.

“I devote almost no time to my net worth. I don’t care. I make — I have a lotta money, and far more than I ever thought I’d have. And I guess it’s gone up. I don’t even know,” he said.

Trump was asked whether he thinks people from foreign countries investing in the company he co-owns with his sons are trying to buy influence. “I don’t know. But that’s true — look, every president has a problem,” he said.

Trump, who survived an assassination attempt while campaigning for reelection in 2024 and has lashed out against his political foes, was asked whether he could forgive his enemies. He said it would be easy to say yes.

But he added: “I probably cannot do that, no, because I do hate some of my enemies, and I always will.”


Erdogan Says He Conveyed Türkiye's Concerns on Potential Attacks on Iran to Trump

Erdogan pledged to continue investigations into the investment funds scandal until its eradication and to prevent its recurrence (Turkish Presidency)
Erdogan pledged to continue investigations into the investment funds scandal until its eradication and to prevent its recurrence (Turkish Presidency)
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Erdogan Says He Conveyed Türkiye's Concerns on Potential Attacks on Iran to Trump

Erdogan pledged to continue investigations into the investment funds scandal until its eradication and to prevent its recurrence (Turkish Presidency)
Erdogan pledged to continue investigations into the investment funds scandal until its eradication and to prevent its recurrence (Turkish Presidency)

Türkiye does not want to see a new wave of attacks against Iran, President Tayyip Erdogan said, adding that ‌he conveyed ‌his concerns ‌to ⁠US President Donald Trump ⁠in a recent phone call.

"We emphasize at every opportunity that ⁠it is possible ‌to resolve ‌these issues ‌through dialogue and ‌diplomacy. Unfortunately, we see a negative shift once again. ‌We are doing our utmost to prevent ⁠this," ⁠Erdogan told reporters on a return flight from Azerbaijan, according to a transcript shared by his office on Monday.


World Entering ‘Age of Climate Extremes’, Warns UN Chief

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks at the UN headquarters, Friday, Oct. 30, 2026. (AP)
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks at the UN headquarters, Friday, Oct. 30, 2026. (AP)
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World Entering ‘Age of Climate Extremes’, Warns UN Chief

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks at the UN headquarters, Friday, Oct. 30, 2026. (AP)
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks at the UN headquarters, Friday, Oct. 30, 2026. (AP)

The world is entering a new reality where climate extremes are the norm, the United Nations chief Antonio Guterres warned Monday, urging leaders at the COP31 climate conference in Türkiye to "get serious".

"A supersized El Nino is colliding with a planet already superheated by manmade climate change," the UN secretary general said in a statement.

"We have entered a new age of climate extremes."

As leaders gathered in Antalya for the UN climate summit, Guterres called on them to "get serious by cutting emissions faster, accelerating a just transition from fossil fuels and delivering the finance and protection vulnerable countries need".

His statement came as the UN's World Meteorological Organization released a report indicating that 2026 has continued a streak of exceptional global temperatures, melting ice and rising sea levels.

Each of the past 12 years have been among the hottest 12 years on record, the agency said, with this year expected to be among the hottest ever.

- 'Off the charts' -

"What we are seeing gives new meaning to the phrase off the charts," WMO chief Celeste Saulo told reporters in Geneva, cautioning that the current exceptionally strong El Nino could unleash more heat and extreme weather well into next year.

"We should prepare for another record-breaking year in 2027."

The global average surface temperature between January and September this year was around 1.47 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial average, the WMO said.

And this year's El Nino -- expected to be the strongest since 1950 at least -- could push the figure higher by the end of the year.

Houses damaged by recent flash floods stand amid thick layers of sludge, mud and debris in Nepal's Nuwakot district, Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026. (AP)

Preliminary data shows 2026 figuring among the four hottest years on record, WMO climate information chief John Kenned told reporters, adding though that "with the El Nina developing, we might see when the final numbers come in that we're close to the top".

The naturally occurring weather phenomenon releases heat from the ocean, which this year has been the warmest ever measured, Saulo pointed out.

El Nino is declared when the sea surface temperature is half a degree above average in the tropical Pacific, but from now through January, WMO forecasts "it may be 3.8C above average", she said.

The WMO also reported that the global sea level was the highest on record, freshwater was dwindling and glaciers were continuing a long-term retreat.

In 2025, the annual mass loss of ice was enough to fill five Olympic pools every second that year, it said.

At the same time, "we are supercharging our weather and El Nino will be a risk multiplier", Saulo said, warning that "heatwaves, tropical cyclones, and rainstorms are intensifying faster than our historical baselines prepared us for".

On a positive note, the WMO hailed a significant increase of countries with essential multi-hazard early warning systems in place, from 55 in 2015 to 136 last year.

It urged the COP31 to ensure more investment in the sustained global observations, data-gathering and forecasting needed for such systems to work.

"We cannot afford to fly blind," Saulo said.