Thirteen people wounded, including eight-year-old girl, in Sumy apartment block attack. Sweden pledges $1.2bn in Ukraine military aid, its biggest pledge yet. What we know on day 1,073

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A Russian drone attack on a residential block killed nine people including three elderly couples in the eastern Ukrainian city of Sumy, officials said on Thursday. Images distributed by the emergency services showed a gaping hole in the facade of the long block of flats and rescue workers digging through debris for survivors. “This is a terrible tragedy, a terrible Russian crime. It is very important that the world does not pause in putting pressure on Russia for this terror,” President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on social media. National Police later said the search operation had been completed after 19 hours, with rescuers finding nine bodies in the ruins, while 13 people were wounded. Among the dead were three couples – men and women between the ages of 61 and 74 – Ukrainian prosecutors said. Those killed also included a 37-year-old woman, while her eight-year-old daughter was wounded, the Sumy prosecutor’s office said.

Tulsi Gabbard, Donald Trump’s nominee for national intelligence director, partially recanted her views that Russia was provoked into invading Ukraine, during a tense confirmation hearing before the Senate intelligence committee. Colorado senator Michael Bennet attacked Gabbard for a tweet sent out just hours after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in which she said: “This war and suffering could have easily been avoided if Biden Admin/Nato had simply acknowledged Russia’s legitimate security concerns.” While she did not explain those remarks, she did indicate that she had had a change of heart. Asked bluntly who she blamed for the war between Russia and Ukraine, she said: “Putin started the invasion of Ukraine.”

Sweden’s government on Thursday pledged an additional $1.2bn in military aid to Ukraine, saying Europe needed to prepare to shoulder a larger part in supporting Kyiv. Defence minister Pal Jonson said the package, the country’s 18th since Russia’s 2022 invasion, was the largest to date and was a sign that Sweden was ready to support Ukraine in the “long term”. “This is also a signal to our other allies that we need to prepare for Europe to take more responsibility for supporting Ukraine,” Jonson told a press conference.

Ukraine’s foreign ministry summoned Slovakia’s ambassador on Thursday to reject accusations that it is meddling in its neighbour’s internal affairs and to accuse Slovak prime minister Robert Fico of being a “mouthpiece” for Russia. Kyiv and Bratislava have been at odds for weeks over Ukraine’s decision not to extend a Russian gas transit deal that expired at the end of December. Kyiv’s move came a day after Slovakia’s foreign ministry said it had summoned the Ukrainian ambassador to protest against Ukrainian comments criticising Fico that it said amounted to interference in Slovak affairs.

A British man captured fighting on the Ukrainian side in Russia’s Kursk region will face terrorism and mercenary charges that could see him jailed for years, Russian state investigators said on Thursday. Moscow announced in November it had captured James Anderson, describing him as a former British soldier. Britain’s foreign minister, David Lammy, said at the time he was aware of the case and that London would do all it could to offer him assistance. Russia’s Investigative Committee released video on Thursday showing a handcuffed Anderson dressed in a prison uniform with a shaven head, being brought into a room for questioning and confirming his name. In a statement, it said he would face terrorism and mercenary charges on allegations he participated “in an armed conflict as a mercenary on the territory of the Russian Federation for financial remuneration”. It did not say how Anderson pleaded to the charges, some of which are punishable by up to 20 years in jail if he is found guilty.

The Guardian’s picture editors select photographs from around the world

The facility has in the past two decades been used to deal with prisoners accused of terrorism-related offences with few ever charged or convicted

As part of his administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration, US president Donald Trump has announced that the United States will hold migrants at the notorious Guantánamo military detention facility in Cuba.

Known primarily for holding suspects accused of terrorism-related offences, Trump ordered the preparation of a 30,000-person “migrant facility” that he said would be used to “detain the worst criminal illegal aliens threatening the American people.”

In 1983, Wim Wenders set out across the American west, capturing the sunsets and desolate landscapes that helped shape his iconic movie

Democrat from New Jersey was found guilty in July on 16 charges including bribery and fraud

The Democratic former US senator Bob Menendez was sentenced in federal court on Wednesday to 11 years in prison over his 2024 conviction for taking bribes, including receiving gold bars in exchange for doing favors for Egypt and for New Jersey businessmen.

Last year he also became the first former senator to be convicted of acting as a foreign agent.

Some people say popping in to the office to have a hot drink before leaving for the day is a convenient, legitimate way to fulfil their obligations. Bosses disagree

Name: Coffee badging.

Age: Very much a post-pandemic phenomenon.

Andrew, 33, cares full-time for his grandmother Elo, who has vascular dementia and Alzheimer’s. Isadora Kosofsky spent four years documenting their relationship

On a Sunday afternoon in October, Andrew Rahal locked his grandmother Elo’s wheelchair in place – “click it or ticket”, he told her – before heating up a bowl of borscht from the Armenian grocery store near their home in Granada Hills, California. He then sat in front of her, patiently feeding her spoon after spoon.

Yeghsabeth “Elo” Voskian, 83, has vascular dementia and advanced Alzheimer’s disease. For nearly a decade, Andrew, 33, has been her full-time caregiver, assisting her from bed to wheelchair, showering her daily, managing her medications and helping her at meals. He is one of approximately 12 million millennials caring for a family member, a diverse cohort that already constitutes 23% of the caregiving population in the US, according to a 2020 AARP report. The number of millennial caregivers will almost certainly increase exponentially in coming years.

Residents say patchwork network of public and private alert systems failed to warn them about extent of wildfires

Los Angeles county officials on Tuesday approved an outside review of how alerts functioned when fire ravaged the Pacific Palisades and Altadena neighborhoods earlier this month.

After the wind-driven wildfires broke out on 7 January, evacuation orders for some neighborhoods – including the part of Altadena where the majority of deaths occurred – came long after houses were reported to be on fire.

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As Rihanna sits out of view of court cameras, A$AP Relli speaks about moment Rocky allegedly fired gun at him

Rihanna has made her first appearance at the Los Angeles trial of her partner, the rapper A$AP Rocky.

The singer-superstar on Wednesday morning sat out of view of the courtroom’s cameras, next to Rocky’s mother and sister in the downtown Los Angeles criminal courthouse. Security brought her into the courtroom surreptitiously to avoid crowds.

Rocky has been standing trial on two felony charges that he fired a handgun at a former friend, known by the name A$AP Relli, who testified on Wednesday about the moment Rocky allegedly fired a gun at him on a Hollywood street in 2021.

“I was hit. I was hit. Or I was grazed. I didn’t have a hole or nothing,” Relli told jurors.

Relli, born Terell Ephron, said he grabbed one of their mutual friends who was with Rocky after the first shot was fired and stood behind him for protection. He said he did not see Rocky fire the second shot, and Rocky ran away moments later.

The internal conflict raging since 2023 has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives and forced more than 11 million people from their homes. The UN has described it as ‘one of the worst humanitarian nightmares in recent history’. Photographer Sergio Ramazzotti travelled to Khartoum state and witnessed the aftermath of the fighting between government troops and Rapid Support Forces (RSF)

The country is known for wooden and ceramic creations – yet many argue these concrete behemoths fit with Japan’s traditional aesthetics too