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Russian Navy Starts Major Drills Involving Most of its Fleet

Russia's President Vladimir Putin attends the annual Navy Day parade in Saint Petersburg, Russia July 28, 2024. Sputnik/Sergei Guneev/Pool via REUTERS
Russia's President Vladimir Putin attends the annual Navy Day parade in Saint Petersburg, Russia July 28, 2024. Sputnik/Sergei Guneev/Pool via REUTERS
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Russian Navy Starts Major Drills Involving Most of its Fleet

Russia's President Vladimir Putin attends the annual Navy Day parade in Saint Petersburg, Russia July 28, 2024. Sputnik/Sergei Guneev/Pool via REUTERS
Russia's President Vladimir Putin attends the annual Navy Day parade in Saint Petersburg, Russia July 28, 2024. Sputnik/Sergei Guneev/Pool via REUTERS

The Russian navy started planned exercises involving most of its fleet as well as 20,000 personnel and 300 ships, Russian news agencies reported on Tuesday, citing the defense ministry.
The drills are to test the navy's military command bodies of three fleets as well as the Caspian Flotilla, TASS news agency reported. Russia's Navy comprises of four fleets, the Caspian flotilla and several task forces, Reuters said.
The Northern Fleet in Russia's Arctic, the Pacific Fleet in the Pacific Ocean, the Baltic Fleet in the Baltic Sea as well as the Caspian Flotilla in the Caspian Sea will participate in the drills, TASS reported.
About 300 surface ships and boats, submarines and support vessels, some 50 aircraft and more than 200 units of military and special equipment will be involved in the combat training, TASS reported.
Since launching an invasion on Ukraine in February 2022, Russia has conducted numerous military exercises on its own or with other countries, including China or South Africa.
In the past two months, Russia has also conducted a series of mobile nuclear missile launcher drills and tactical nuclear weapons deployment exercises. It has also increased military training with Belarus, which borders both Russia and Ukraine, conducting a series of comprehensive drills.

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World

Karachi Building Collapse after Blast Kills 16

Rescue workers and people gather at the site of a residential compound following a suspected gas leakage blast in Karachi, Pakistan, 19 February 2026. EPA/REHAN KHAN
Rescue workers and people gather at the site of a residential compound following a suspected gas leakage blast in Karachi, Pakistan, 19 February 2026. EPA/REHAN KHAN
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Karachi Building Collapse after Blast Kills 16

Rescue workers and people gather at the site of a residential compound following a suspected gas leakage blast in Karachi, Pakistan, 19 February 2026. EPA/REHAN KHAN
Rescue workers and people gather at the site of a residential compound following a suspected gas leakage blast in Karachi, Pakistan, 19 February 2026. EPA/REHAN KHAN

A building collapse caused by an explosion in Pakistan's southern megacity of Karachi killed at least 16 people on Thursday, including children, officials said.

More than a dozen people were injured in the incident in the Soldier Bazaar neighborhood of Karachi at around 4:00 am, when Muslim families start preparing Sehri, the pre-sunrise meal eaten during Ramadan.

World

Australian Police Investigate Threatening Letter to Country's Largest Mosque

FILE PHOTO: A security guard stands outside the Lakemba Imam Ali bin Abi Talib Mosque as people arrive for Friday prayers in Sydney, Australia, December 19, 2025. REUTERS/Hollie Adams/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A security guard stands outside the Lakemba Imam Ali bin Abi Talib Mosque as people arrive for Friday prayers in Sydney, Australia, December 19, 2025. REUTERS/Hollie Adams/File Photo
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Australian Police Investigate Threatening Letter to Country's Largest Mosque

FILE PHOTO: A security guard stands outside the Lakemba Imam Ali bin Abi Talib Mosque as people arrive for Friday prayers in Sydney, Australia, December 19, 2025. REUTERS/Hollie Adams/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A security guard stands outside the Lakemba Imam Ali bin Abi Talib Mosque as people arrive for Friday prayers in Sydney, Australia, December 19, 2025. REUTERS/Hollie Adams/File Photo

Australian police said on Thursday they had launched an investigation after a threatening letter was sent to the country’s largest mosque, the third such incident in the lead-up to the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

The letter sent to Lakemba Mosque in Sydney’s west on Wednesday contained a drawing of a pig and a threat to kill the "Muslim race", local media reported. Police said they had taken the letter for forensic testing, and would continue to patrol ‌religious sites including ‌the mosque, as well as community events.

The latest letter ‌comes ⁠weeks after a ⁠similar message was mailed to the mosque, depicting Muslim people inside a mosque on fire.

Police have also arrested and charged a 70-year-old man in connection with a third threatening letter sent to Lakemba Mosque's staff in January.

The Lebanese Muslim Association, which runs the mosque, told the Australian Broadcasting Corp (ABC) it had written to the government to request more funding for additional security guards and ⁠CCTV cameras.

Some 5,000 people are expected to attend ‌the mosque each night during Ramadan. More ‌than 60% of residents in the suburb of Lakemba identify as Muslim, according to ‌the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Bilal El-Hayek, mayor of Canterbury-Bankstown council, where Lakemba ‌is located, said the community was feeling "very anxious".

"I've heard first-hand from people saying that they won't be sending their kids to practice this Ramadan because they're very concerned about things that might happen in local mosques," AFP quoted him as saying.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese ‌condemned the recent string of threats.

"It is outrageous that people just going about commemorating their faith, particularly during the ⁠holy month ⁠for Muslims of Ramadan, are subject to this sort of intimidation," he told ABC radio.

"I have said repeatedly we need to turn down the temperature of political discourse in this country, and we certainly need to do that."

Anti-Muslim sentiment has been growing in Australia since the war in Gaza War in late 2023, according to a recent report commissioned by the government.

The Islamophobia Register Australia has also documented a 740% rise in reports following the Bondi mass shooting on December 14, where authorities allege two gunmen inspired by ISIS killed 15 people attending a Jewish holiday celebration.

"There's been a massive increase post-Bondi," Mayor El-Hayek said. "Without a doubt, this is the worst I have ever seen it. There's a lot of tension out there."

World

Russia's Lavrov Warns against Any New US Strike on Iran

FILE PHOTO: Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov speaks during an annual press conference in Moscow, Russia, January 14, 2025. REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov speaks during an annual press conference in Moscow, Russia, January 14, 2025. REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina/File Photo
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Russia's Lavrov Warns against Any New US Strike on Iran

FILE PHOTO: Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov speaks during an annual press conference in Moscow, Russia, January 14, 2025. REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov speaks during an annual press conference in Moscow, Russia, January 14, 2025. REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina/File Photo

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, in ‌an interview made public on Wednesday, said that any new US strike on Iran would have serious consequences and called for restraint to find a solution to enable Iran to pursue a peaceful nuclear program.

Lavrov's interview with Saudi Arabia's Al-Arabiya television was aired a day after US and Iranian negotiators held indirect talks in Geneva to head off a new mounting crisis between Washington and Tehran, Reuters said.

"The consequences are not good. There have already been strikes on Iran on ‌nuclear sites ‌under the control of the International Atomic ‌Energy ⁠Agency. From what ⁠we can judge there were real risks of a nuclear incident," Lavrov said in the interview, which was posted on his ministry's website.

"I am carefully watching reactions in the region from Arab countries, Gulf monarchies. No one wants an increase in tension. Everyone understands this is playing with fire."

Boosting ⁠tensions, he said, could undo the ‌positive steps of recent years, including ‌improved relations between Iran and nearby countries, notably Saudi Arabia.

A senior ‌US official told Reuters on Wednesday that Iran was ‌expected to submit a written proposal on how to resolve its standoff with the United States after the talks in Geneva.

US national security advisers met in the White House on Wednesday and ‌were told all US military forces deployed to the region should be in place ⁠by mid-March, ⁠the official said.

The United States wants Iran to give up its nuclear program, and Iran has adamantly refused and denied it is trying to develop an atomic weapon.

Lavrov said Arab countries were sending signals to Washington "clearly calling for restraint and a search for an agreement that will not infringe on Iran's lawful rights and ... guarantee that Iran has a purely peaceful nuclear enrichment program".

Russia, he said, remained in close, regular contact with Iran's leaders "and we have no reason to doubt that Iran sincerely wants to resolve this problem on the basis of observing the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty".