World
Russian rebels vow to burn Putin in the ‘flames of revolution’ as panic grips Kremlin
The Legion is one of three armed militias made up of Russian volunteers fighting in Ukraine against Putin’s army.
Along with fellow rebels in the Russia Volunteer Corp (RVC) and Siberian Battalion, they have staged a number of daring raids in the Kursk and Belgorod border regions of Russia.
The most recent was carried out on March 12, and was timed to coincide with the Russian Presidential elections three days later.
Despite Putin having seemingly tightened his grip on power, the rebels insist that his regime is doomed and will be violently overthrown sooner rather than later.
The Legion sees itself as being the “spark” to ignite the revolution that will rid Russia of its murderous tyrant.
Alexey Baranovksy, a drone operator with the Legion, told the Express: “Putin left Russian citizens no choice but to carry him out of the Kremlin on the tip of a bayonet. Well, let’s move along this path.
“How to initiate a revolution? The main thing is to start. There are a lot of dissatisfied people in Russia – the regime is supported, for the most part, by the batons of the police and the repression of the special services.
“Only armed rebels – like us – can resist them. We are the spark from which the flame of rebellion will ignite.
“Consider that our regular visits to the border areas of Russia are attempts to fan the flames. And one day this fire will flare up at full power and turn into a forest fire in which Putin will burn.”
The 42-year-old volunteer said the rebel raids were sowing panic in the Kremlin, as evidenced by Putin’s unexpected public reaction to the March attacks.
The Kremlin boss commented on the raids twice, having previously ignored the rebels’ activities, while there was also a “big commotion” in the state media.
This demonstrated clearly that the rebels had struck a vulnerable spot of Putin’s regime, according to the Legion fighter. Alexey, whose call sign is “Lutik”, confirmed the March raids had inflicted heavy losses on Putin’s army.
“Dozens of armoured vehicles were destroyed or disabled, hundreds of Putin’s soldiers were killed or wounded,” he said. “Unfortunately, we also have losses, but this is war.”
He added: “This was the largest raid of the Russian liberation forces since the beginning of the great war in 2022, all three units of Russian volunteers took part in it.
“There will be more in the future and we will be able to solve even more complex military-political problems.”
Many Russian political analysts have questioned whether the anti-Putin opposition can really topple the blood thirsty tyrant given their own internal disagreements and lack of unity.
Given the fact that Putin seemingly has consolidated his political power and would appear to be edging towards a military victory in Ukraine, some experts have suggested that the Russian opposition is fast becoming irrelevant.
Alexey however, dismissed the scepticism of critics, pointing out that Legion numbers are experiencing “explosive” growth and that there was a growing synergy among the different factions of the anti-Putin movement.
“There are at least two clusters that make up the Russian opposition,” he explained. “There’s the classic old opposition, which sits in Europe and holds various conferences and forums of varying degrees of usefulness. This is, for the most part, not opposition, but emigration, although anti-Putin-minded. And there is a new opposition – us. This is the armed resistance.
“If the old opposition supports us more effectively than now (not only politically, but also infra-structurally and with resources), then the synergy of our cooperation will become a big problem for the Kremlin regime.
“And this process is already happening – for example volunteers are actively supported by Gary Kasparov’s Free Russia Forum and Ilya Ponomarev’s Congress of People’s Deputies.”
He added the armed rebels were actively trying to create closer ties with Alexey Navalny’s widow Yulia and the former Yukos oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
The New York judge presiding over President-elect Donald Trump’s hush money case, on Friday, set sentencing for 10 days before his January 20 inauguration and said he was not inclined to impose jail time.
Judge Juan Merchan said Trump, the first former president ever convicted of a crime, can appear either in person or virtually at his January 10 sentencing.
In an 18-page decision, Merchan upheld Trump’s conviction by a New York jury, rejecting various motions from Trump’s lawyers seeking to have it thrown out.
The judge said that instead of incarceration he was leaning towards an unconditional discharge –- meaning the real estate tycoon would not be subject to any conditions.
The sentence would nevertheless see Trump entering the White House as a convicted felon.
The 78-year-old Trump potentially faced up to four years in prison but legal experts — even before he won the November presidential election — did not expect Merchan to send the former president to jail.
“It seems proper at this juncture to make known the Court’s inclination to not impose any sentence of incarceration,” the judge said, noting that prosecutors also did not believe a jail term was a “practicable recommendation.”
Trump is expected to lodge an appeal that could potentially delay his sentencing.
Trump was convicted in New York in May of 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up a hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels on the eve of the 2016 election to stop her from revealing an alleged 2006 sexual encounter.
Trump’s attorneys had sought to have the case dismissed on multiple grounds, including the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling last year that former US presidents have sweeping immunity from prosecution for a range of official acts committed while in office.
Merchan rejected that argument but he noted that Trump will be immune from prosecution once he is sworn in as president.
“Finding no legal impediment to sentencing and recognizing that Presidential immunity will likely attach once Defendant takes his Oath of Office, it is incumbent upon this Court to set this matter down for imposition of sentence prior to January 20, 2025,” the judge said.
“This lawless case should have never been brought and the Constitution demands that it be immediately dismissed,” Cheung said in a statement.
“President Trump must be allowed to continue the Presidential Transition process and to execute the vital duties of the presidency, unobstructed by the remains of this or any remnants of the Witch Hunts,” he said.
“There should be no sentencing, and President Trump will continue fighting against these hoaxes until they are all dead,” Cheung added.
Trump also faced two federal cases brought by special counsel Jack Smith but both were dropped under a long-standing Justice Department policy of not prosecuting a sitting president.
In those cases, Trump was accused of conspiring to overturn the results of the 2020 election he lost to Joe Biden and removing large quantities of top secret documents after leaving the White House.
Trump also faces racketeering charges in Georgia over his alleged efforts to subvert the 2020 election results in the southern state, but that case will likely be frozen while he is in the White House.
China is facing a growing health crisis with a surge in respiratory illnesses, including human metapneumovirus (HMPV), five years after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Reports obtained by Core News indicate that hospitals are overwhelmed, particularly children’s facilities, as multiple viruses spread rapidly across the country.
A Surge in Viral Infections
Social media posts and videos show overcrowded hospitals, with one widely shared claim stating, “China is battling a surge in Influenza A, HMPV, Mycoplasma pneumoniae, and COVID-19. Hospitals and crematoriums are under strain, and cases of pneumonia and ‘white lung’ syndrome are on the rise.”
Speculation of a state of emergency has surfaced online, but Chinese authorities have not confirmed this.
New Monitoring System in Place
In response to the outbreak, China’s National Disease Control and Prevention Administration is testing a system to track pneumonia of unknown origin. The aim is to strengthen early detection and establish protocols for handling new pathogens—a gap identified during the early days of COVID-19.
State broadcaster CCTV reported that this system involves laboratories reporting cases, which disease control agencies then verify and manage. Officials say respiratory illnesses, particularly among children under 14, have been on the rise, with northern provinces seeing the highest numbers.
Winter Adds to the Pressure
As the country heads into winter, experts warn of an expected increase in respiratory infections. Alongside HMPV, other viruses like rhinovirus and Mycoplasma pneumoniae are contributing to the surge. However, authorities predict fewer total cases this year compared to 2024.
No Vaccine for HMPV
Medical experts are urging caution in the use of antiviral drugs, as there is currently no vaccine for HMPV. The virus causes symptoms similar to the common cold but can lead to severe illness in vulnerable populations, including children and the elderly.
A Critical Test for China’s Health System
This outbreak underscores the ongoing challenges of managing infectious diseases. While China’s new monitoring system aims to provide better preparedness, the country’s healthcare system faces a critical test in the months ahead as infections continue to rise.
Health officials and the global community are closely watching how China addresses this growing crisis.
A ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah has come into effect hours after United States President Joe Biden said a proposal to end the “devastating” conflict had been reached, promising to halt nearly 14 months of cross-border fighting that has killed thousands of people.
The ceasefire began at 4am local time (02:00 GMT) on Wednesday amid concerns as to whether the truce would hold and lead to the permanent end of fighting between Israel’s military and Hezbollah forces.
“The fighting across the Lebanese-Israeli border will end — will end. This is designed to be a permanent cessation of hostilities,” Biden said when announcing on Tuesday night that an agreement had been reached.
“Civilians on both sides will soon be able to safely return to their communities and begin to rebuild their homes, their schools, their farms, their businesses and their very lives,” Biden said.
Hezbollah, which did not participate in any direct talks on the ceasefire – with Lebanese parliamentary speaker Nabih Berri mediating on the group’s behalf – has yet to formally comment.
Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said he told Biden that he welcomed the deal to end hostilities between the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah and Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also told the US president that his government had approved the truce and that he appreciated his “understanding that Israel will maintain its freedom of action in enforcing it”, his office said.
As part of the ceasefire agreement, Israel will “gradually withdraw” its forces from southern Lebanon over the next 60 days, and the Lebanese Army and state security forces would deploy to the territory.
Biden released a joint statement with French President Emmanuel Macron that emphasised both countries “will work with Israel and Lebanon to ensure this arrangement is fully implemented and enforced”.
The US and France also committed “to lead and support international efforts for capacity-building of the Lebanese Armed Forces as well as economic development throughout Lebanon to advance stability and prosperity in the region”.
Lebanon began striking Israel on October 8, 2023, in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza. Cross-border attacks persisted for months. Then, at the start of last month, Israel invaded southern Lebanon.
At least 3,768 Lebanese have been killed and 15,699 wounded since the fighting began.
Ongoing fighting
Despite the anticipated ceasefire, Israel’s bombardment of Lebanon continued to rage on Tuesday, with Israeli warplanes pounding Beirut’s southern suburbs.
Reporting from the Lebanese capital, Al Jazeera’s Zein Basravi said Israeli strikes continued in the minutes immediately after Biden spoke.
“Right now, all of the politics we’ve heard in the last half hour to one hour, none of that matters,” Basravi said. “This evening, tonight in Beirut, in the capital of Lebanon, across multiple areas in this country, the war is still very much going.”
“Within five minutes or so of Biden completing his speech, we heard loud explosions in Beirut. Once again, sirens started sounding in northern Israel,” he said.
“In upper Galilee, Hezbollah fired a large amount of rockets across the border into Israeli territory, fulfilling a pledge that if the Israelis strike inside central Beirut, that Hezbollah will strike Israel,” he said.
Earlier in the day, the Israeli military said that one barrage of strikes had hit 20 targets in the city in just 120 seconds.
Seven people were killed and 37 others wounded in Israeli attacks on a Beirut building housing displaced people, the National News Agency reported, citing Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health.
“The Israeli strike on the Nweiri area in Beirut destroyed a four-storey building housing displaced people,” Lebanon’s official news agency said.
Lebanon’s Health Ministry said earlier that Israeli strikes had killed at least 31 people on Monday, mostly in the south of the country.
A new push for a Gaza ceasefire
Reporting from the White House, Al Jazeera’s Kimberly Halkett noted that the ceasefire announcement comes in the waning days of Biden’s term.
Republican President-elect Donald Trump is set to take office on January 20.
The Biden administration has repeatedly sought to broker a ceasefire agreement in Gaza but has come up short. It has repeatedly refused to leverage US military aid to Israel in its push for peace.
“The fact is [Tuesday’s ceasefire] falls short of the Biden administration’s goal, in that it does not in any way speak to the conflict in Gaza,” Halkett said.
Still, during the address, Biden pledged to “make another push with Turkey, Egypt, Qatar, Israel and others to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza” in his final days in office.
He also said he would work towards forging new normalisation agreements between Israel and several Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, a goal which had been set back amid the war in Gaza.
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