Col Susannah Meyers removed amid reports she distanced base from Vance’s criticism of Denmark’s oversight of territory

The head of the US military base in Greenland has been fired for criticising Washington’s agenda for the Arctic island after JD Vance visited two weeks ago.

Col Susannah Meyers, who had served as commander of the Pituffik space base since July, was removed amid reports she had distanced herself and the base from the US vice-president’s criticism of Denmark and its oversight of the territory.

Search resumes for six killed aboard plane: the pilot and a Spanish family with children age 10, eight and four

The pilot of a sightseeing helicopter that crashed into New York’s Hudson River on Thursday killing all six people onboard reportedly sent a radio message moments earlier saying he was low on fuel and was heading back to the helipad, its operators said on Friday.

Michael Roth, the chief executive of New York Helicopter Tours, described how the pilot never made it back to the downtown Manhattan heliport it took off from about 16 minutes previously on its sixth flight of the day, the Telegraph reported.

Chinese leader canvasses Spain and other trading partners on how to tackle economic fallout as market turmoil continues

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China has raised its tariffs on US products to 125% in the latest salvo of the trade dispute with Washington, just hours after Xi Jinping said there were “no winners in a tariff war”.

Xi made the comments during a meeting with the Spanish prime minister in which he invited the EU to work with China to resist “bullying”, part of an apparent campaign to shore up other trading partners.

The UK has pressed nearly 30 countries to forge ahead with plans to deploy peacekeeper troops to Ukraine. What we know on day 1,143

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Effort for new award category was lead by The Fall Guy director David Leitch, who was also a stuntman for Brad Pitt

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The Oscars are set to recognise stunts for the first time, announcing a new category for achievement in stunt design after many years of impassioned campaigning from within the industry.

Best stunt design will be a new category at the Academy Awards’ 100th ceremony in 2028, which will recognise films released in 2027, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said on Thursday.

Secretary of state Marco Rubio says Ksenia Karelina is returning to US after reports of prisoner swap

Moscow has released a US-Russian dual national, Ksenia Karelina, who had been detained in Russia, in a prisoner swap in Abu Dhabi.

The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, wrote on X: “American Ksenia Karelina is on a plane back home to the United States. She was wrongfully detained by Russia for over a year and President Trump secured her release.”

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• Dončić shed tears during lengthy pre-game tribute video

Luka Dončić always knew it was going to be an emotional return to Dallas when wearing his No 77 Los Angeles Lakers jersey in the place he called home the first five and a half seasons of his NBA career.

Then the Mavericks showed a more than two-minute video tribute before he had even been introduced before his first game back Wednesday night, two months after being traded.

Ukraine president says more than 150 Chinese involved in fighting for Russia; US lawmakers criticise reports of planned troop pullbacks in Europe. What we know on day 1,142

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Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Beijing of turning a blind eye to the recruitment of Chinese nationals to fight for Russia, adding he believed the US was “very surprised” by the revelation. The Ukrainian leader said Kyiv has obtained passport details of at least 155 fighters from China in the war. While Zelenskyy said Beijing knew its citizens were there, he didn’t believe the country had given “some kind of command” they join the fight.

Zelenskyy added he believes Russia is using social media, including TikTok, to recruit. He said he was prepared to exchange captured Chinese soldiers with Ukrainian servicemen in detention.

China called those claims “groundless”, saying they are contrary to an effort to find a political solution to the ongoing war. “The Chinese government always asks Chinese citizens to stay away from conflict zones,” a spokesperson for the country’s foreign ministry said. Russia has not commented on the existence of Chinese nationals joining its side.

Zelenskyy said Ukraine needs at least 10 Patriot missile systems to intercept Russian ballistic weapons, just days before a summit at the Ramstein airbase in Germany. “We have repeatedly raised this issue with the American side and with everyone in Europe who is in a position to help. We are counting on decisions,” he wrote on X.

Russian drones attacked Kyiv early Thursday. Local officials said one person was trapped in a destroyed house and a downed drone started a fire in a storage area of the city.

A bipartisan group of US lawmakers sharply criticised reports the Trump administration is looking to reduce the number of American troops in Europe. The US has maintained a force of about 100,000 in Europe in recent years, an increase of 20,000 since Russia invaded Ukraine.

A Russian family who fled to the US after protesting against the war are asking to leave on their own terms after working their way through the labyrinthine immigration process, only to get ensnared by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. “I left home so that I wouldn’t be afraid to be put into prison again,” a member of the family said. “When I came here, I thought, worst case they can refuse us asylum. But I didn’t expect that something like this could happen. Not again.”

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• Dončić returning to Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday

Luka Dončić didn’t wait for his much-anticipated return to Dallas to crank up the drama.

The night before he faces the franchise with which he spent his first six-and-a-half NBA seasons, he was ejected from the Los Angeles Lakers’ 136-120 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Search for survivors continues at residential building, amid reports Israeli military preparing to seize entire city in south

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At least 23 people have been killed in an Israeli airstrike that hit a residential building in northern Gaza, as reports emerged that the Israeli military is preparing to seize the entire city of Rafah as part of a newly announced security corridor.

Medics at al-Ahli hospital said that the bombing on Wednesday of a four-storey building in the Gaza City suburb of Shijaiyah had killed at least eight women and children, as rescue workers continued to search for survivors into the evening. The Israeli military said the strike targeted a senior Hamas militant.

More than 120 people died at Jet Set club in Santo Domingo, including singer Rubby Pérez and municipal governor

Search efforts are ongoing after more than 120 people died in a nightclub roof collapse in the Dominican Republic.

Relatives of clubgoers gathered around the site at the Jet Set club in the capital, Santo Domingo, as rescuers transported the injured to hospital and used a crane to remove debris.

The Ukrainian president says the Chinese nationals were just two of many fighting with Russian forces. What we know on day 1,141

Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his government is seeking clarification from Beijing after Ukrainian forces captured two Chinese nationals fighting with Russian forces in the eastern Donetsk region.

Zelenskyy said the captured fighters were two of many more Chinese members of the Russian armed forces, and he accused the Kremlin of trying to involve Beijing in the conflict “directly or indirectly”. A few hundred Chinese nationals are thought to have travelled to fight as mercenaries with the Russian army alongside others from Nepal and central Asian countries.

US state department spokesperson Tammy Bruce called the development “disturbing”, adding: “China is a major enabler of Russia in the war in Ukraine.”

Russian forces staged massive drone attacks on the Ukrainian cities of Dnipro and Kharkiv late on Tuesday, triggering fires and injuring at least 17 people, regional officials said. In eastern Donetsk, the focal point of the 1,000-km (600-mile) frontline in the more than three-year-old war, a residential area came under attack in the city of Kramatorsk and local officials said residents were injured. In Dnipro, the attack sparked a fire, damaged houses and cars and injured 14 people, Serhiy Lysak, governor of Dnipropetrovsk region, said on Telegram.

Russia says it is close to regaining full control of its western Kursk region after pushing Ukrainian forces from one of their last footholds there. Russia’s defence ministry released a video of what it said was the recapture of the settlement of Guyevo set to dramatic music, showing smoke rising into the air from various buildings, a soldier waving the Russian flag from the window of a heavily damaged Orthodox church, and Russian troops carrying out house-to-house checks in case any Ukrainian soldiers were hiding. Ukraine officials have not commented on Russia’s claims, but its general staff said in a statement its planes had struck a complex of hangars and military buildings in the region being used by Russian drone operators and maintenance workers.

The US senate has confirmed the appointment of Elbridge Colby as its top policy adviser at the Pentagon, despite concerns he had downplayed threats from Russia and Vladimir Putin. Colby previously questioned whether Russia actually invaded Ukraine, echoing a false Kremlin talking point. After side-stepping repeated questions on whether he believed Russia did invade the country, he was forced to agree it had.

US and Russian delegates will hold talks on Thursday in Istanbul on restoring some of their embassy operations that have been drastically scaled back following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, the US state department confirmed.