President Slava Kir appeals for calm while analysts say escalating tensions could lead to full-blown conflict

A South Sudanese general and dozens of soldiers have been killed after a United Nations helicopter trying to evacuate them from the northern town of Nasir came under attack, the government has said.

The UN said Friday’s incident, which could deal a blow to an already fragile peace process, was “utterly abhorrent” and a possible war crime.

PM Donald Tusk says country needs army of 500,000 and backs withdrawal from treaty banning landmines

• Ukraine war live: latest updates as Russia steps up attacks

Poland’s prime minister, Donald Tusk, has said his government is working on a plan to prepare large-scale military training for every adult male in response to the changing security situation in Europe.

He said there was a need for an army of 500,000 soldiers, which would include reservists.

Chiefs from Coinbase, Ripple and Robinhood to strategize with president on how to make US ‘crypto capital of world’

Cryptocurrency industry elite met with Donald Trump at the White House on Friday to discuss how the government will enact Trump’s vision of making the country the “crypto capital of the world”. During the round-table summit, which had more than a dozen attendees, the president thanked each of his guests.

“High-IQ individuals around this table, high-IQ,” Trump said. “We feel like pioneers.”

Unexploded device found near Gare du Nord, France’s busiest train terminal, halting Eurostar and other services

A second world war bomb found on rail tracks north of Paris was successfully defused on Friday after a day of transport chaos in which the Gare du Nord, used by Eurostar trains from London as well as other high-speed and local services, was shut, roads were closed and dozens of residents were evacuated in the suburb of St-Denis.

The unexploded bomb weighing 500kg was found in the middle of a set of tracks during maintenance work in the early hours of Friday morning in the Parisian suburb, about 1.5 miles (2.5km) from the major station.

US country singer says If You Hadn’t Been There is tribute to her husband of nearly 60 years, who died this week

Dolly Parton has dedicated her new song If You Hadn’t Been There to her husband, Carl Dean, who died this week aged 82.

The songwriter shared the tribute on Instagram earlier today, posting a picture of the couple in their youth, Parton with her arms wrapped around Dean.

Trump and Musk appear to make parallel efforts to distance tech billionaire from radical job slashing in government

Elon Musk is telling Republican lawmakers in private meetings that he is not to blame for the mass firings of federal workers that are causing uproar across the country, while Donald Trump reportedly told his cabinet secretaries on Thursday that they are ultimately in charge of hiring and firings at their agencies – not billionaire aide Musk.

The two powerful figures appeared to be making parallel efforts to distance Musk from radical job slashing made over the last two months. This is despite the tech entrepreneur boasting about cuts, recommending the US “delete entire agencies” and taking questions on the issue alongside the US president, then wielding a chainsaw at an event to symbolize his efforts – all amid legal challenges and skepticism from experts.

Back-to-back mishaps indicate big setbacks for program to launch satellites and send humans to the moon and Mars

SpaceX’s Starship spacecraft exploded on Thursday minutes after lifting off from Texas, dooming an attempt to deploy mock satellites in the second consecutive failure this year for Elon Musk’s Mars rocket program.

Several videos on social media showed fiery debris streaking through the dusk skies near south Florida and the Bahamas after Starship’s breakup in space, which occurred shortly after it began to spin uncontrollably with its engines cut off, a SpaceX livestream of the mission showed.

Person from Lea county had been unvaccinated and did not seek care but virus not yet confirmed as cause of death

An adult who was infected with measles has died in New Mexico, state health officials announced Thursday, though the virus has not been confirmed as the cause of death.

The person who died had been unvaccinated and did not seek medical care, a state health department spokesperson said in a statement. The person’s exact age and other details were not immediately released.

Extremists linked to Reichsbürger movement also planned to kidnap health minister and create conditions for civil war

A German court has jailed five members of an extremist group linked to the Reichsbürger (Reich Citizens) movement for plotting a coup and to kidnap the health minister.

The defendants, four men, aged 46 to 58, and a 77-year-old woman, who belonged to the self-styled “United Patriots” group, were sentenced to between five years and nine months and eight years’ jail by the Koblenz higher regional court on Thursday.

PostNord says it will stop service at end of year and cut a third of staff to focus on parcels business

The Danish postal service has said it will deliver its last letter at the end of this year, instead focusing on packages to respond to changing forms of communication.

PostNord said on Thursday it would cut 1,500 jobs in Denmark and remove 1,500 red postboxes, citing the “increasing digitalisation” of society.

Air force apologises and wishes a swift recovery to the civilians injured after eight bombs ‘abnormally released’

South Korea’s air force has apologised after one of its fighter jets accidentally dropped eight bombs in the wrong place during a training exercise on Thursday, injuring 15 civilians and damaging several buildings.

“Eight MK-82 general purpose bombs were abnormally released from an air force KF-16 aircraft, landing outside the designated firing range,” the air force said, adding that the bombs weighed about 225kg each.

Two killed and 28 injured in Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s home city; Ukrainian president to join EU leaders in Brussels, with shared nuclear deterrence on the agenda

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State senate passes bill as its sponsor suggests shooting someone is more effective and humane than other methods

Firing squads could become Idaho’s primary execution method under a bill headed to the governor’s desk this week.

The Idaho senate passed the bill on Wednesday, and if signed by governor Brad Little, it will take effect next year.

Pontiff, 88, remains stable and received communion in hospital as Catholics marked beginning of Lent

Pope Francis remained in a stable condition on his 20th day in hospital with pneumonia, sitting in an armchair to do some work and receiving communion and an Ash Wednesday cross on his forehead as Catholics around the world marked the beginning of Lent.

In its latest update, the Vatican said the 88-year-old pontiff had not suffered any new respiratory crises and had been given oxygen through a nasal tube. It said that after the Ash Wednesday rites, Francis had set to work and made his usual call to the parish priest of Gaza.