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Russian President Vladimir Putin won a record post-Soviet landslide in a March election. (File photo) Photo: ALEXANDER KAZAKOV / AFP "God save the Tsar!" has been one of the first public birthday wishes for President Vladimir Putin. Putin, who turned 72 on Monday, has been Russia's paramount leader for nearly quarter of a century. The greeting came from ultra-nationalist Russian ideologue Alexander Dugin on his Telegram messaging channel minutes after midnight. Dugin, 62, has long advocated the unification of Russian-speaking and other territories in a vast new Russian empire, which he wants to include Ukraine, where Russia has been waging a war. Dugin's daughter was killed in a suspected car bomb in 2022. Putin, who ordered his troops to invade Ukraine in 2022, won a record post-Soviet...

By Nandita Bose Kamala Harris says the Arkansas governor's views on family are outdated. Photo: AFP / SAUL LOEB US Vice President Kamala Harris has rejected Republican Sarah Huckabee Sanders' suggestion that the Democratic presidential candidate is not humble because she does not have biological children. Harris said the Arkansas governor's views on family were outdated and discussed her own "modern family," which includes her husband, Doug Emhoff, and his two children from his first marriage, Cole and Ella. During a town hall meeting Sanders moderated for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in Michigan in September, she said her kids keep her "humble," while Harris "doesn't have anything keeping her humble." Harris responded to Sanders' comments on the popular Call Her D...

The HMNZS Manawanui, aground in Samoa. Photo: Profile Boats / supplied Residents on the south coast of Upolu in Samoa fear potential oil or chemical spillage from HMNZS Manawanui could be disastarous for the local environment and businesses. Local authorities are conducting environmental assessments after the $100 million specialist survey ship hit a reef on Saturday night and sank Sunday morning. Manager at Coconuts Beach Club at Maninoa, Brian Rose, says they are concerned about the potential impacts of the disaster on their lagoon, which has a sizeable turtle population - a major tourist attraction. "So far it looks like the impact directly on our shores has been minimal, but we know that with tides and currents things change and so we're going to keep an eye out to make sure if ther...

By Daniel Trotta and Bo Erickson, Reuters Pinellas County residents fill sandbags at John Chestnut Park in Palm Harbor, Florida. Photo: AFP / Bryan R. Smith Florida is preparing for the state's largest evacuation since 2017 as Tropical Storm Milton intensified in the Gulf of Mexico on its path toward Florida's western coast, coming on the heels of the devastating Hurricane Helene. Milton was expected to reach hurricane strength by the time of its projected landfall on Wednesday morning (local time), most likely hitting near the heavily populated Tampa Bay area, the US National Hurricane Center said. It had the potential to affect areas already wrecked by Helene, which made landfall further north on 26 September. Tropical storm-force winds could hit Florida's Gulf Coast by Tuesday nig...

A woman reacts while visiting a memorial for the victims killed at or kidnapped from the Supernova music festival during the October 7 attacks by Palestinian militants, at the festival site near Kibbutz Reim in southern Israel, on the eve of the attacks' first anniversary on 6 October, 2024. Photo: MENAHEM KAHANA / AFP By Rami Amichay and Ari Rabinovitch, Reuters One commemoration of the 7 October assault on southern Israel will be a live, public ceremony to be held at a large venue in Tel Aviv. The other will be a pre-recorded televised tribute that leaves little to chance. The first is organised by bereaved families who lost loved ones. It plans to dive deep into the failures as well as the heroism on display that day. The other is set up by the government, which says its recorded cer...