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By Phil Stewart, Jonathan Landay and Matt Spetalnick, Reuters Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and U.S. President Joe Biden in June. Photo: Mandel NGAN / AFP As the U.S. and Britain discuss allowing Ukraine to use Western weapons to strike deep within Russia, some U.S. officials are deeply sceptical that doing so would make a significant difference in Kyiv's battle against Russian invaders. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer arrived in Washington on Friday to discuss with U.S. President Joe Biden whether to give Ukraine approval to use NATO-supplied weapons to hit targets far beyond Ukraine's borders, something the U.S. administration has so far not been willing to allow in the two-and-a-half-year-old conflict. U.S. officials noted that Ukraine already has the capability to h...

Photo: Jianfeng Dai American photographer Ryan Imperio has been named overall winner in the Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition. Imperio's work, Distorted Shadows of the Moon's Surface Created by an Annular Eclipse, was shot in Texas during a solar eclipse last year. It is a composite of more than 30 separate images of the Sun and captures the optical illusion - known as Baily's beads - when sunlight shines through mountains and other topographical features of the Moon. Distorted Shadows of the Moon's Surface Created by an Annular Eclipse, by Ryan Imperio, has won the Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition. Photo: Ryan Imperio New Zealand teenager Tom Rae was one of the finalists with his image of the Milky Way over the Alps. Starlight Highway by New Zealand t...

US national Benjamin Reuben Zalman-Polun (accused of a failed coup attempt, attends a trial hearing at Ndolo prison in Kinshasa on 13 September 2024. Photo: HARDY BOPE / AFP Three US citizens are among 37 defendants sentenced to death by a military court for their role in a May failed coup in Democratic Republic of Congo. Armed men briefly occupied an office of the presidency in capital Kinshasa on 19 May before their leader, US-based Congolese politician Christian Malanga, was killed by security forces. His son, Marcel Malanga, was among the Americans on trial, along with Marcel's friend, Tyler Thompson, who played high school football with him in Utah. Both are in their 20s. The third American, Benjamin Zalman-Polun, was a business associate of Christian Malanga. All three were found ...

Chris White of Dire Straits Experience, left. Photo: Supplied When Chris White was part of Dire Straits in the mid-1980s they were the biggest band on the planet. Things took off during the Brothers in Arms tour in 1985, the Dire Straits' sax player and percussionist told RNZ's Music 101. "It started out like other tours, really. We were playing venues of a certain size they were good size. "And what happened was, as we as we got going, the album [Brothers in Arms] really took off. Suddenly we were playing much bigger venues. And instead of sitting in economy on the plane, we started sitting in business." This audio is not downloadable due to copyright restrictions. The tour was aptly named, White said. "It was a really happy band, which is not that usual. Often, there are some di...

Laura Loomer shows her support for former President Donald Trump outside a campaign event for Republican presidential candidate Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis at The Vault on 5 October 2023 in Tampa, Florida. Photo: JOE RAEDLE / AFP By Alexandra Ulmer for Reuters Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump today sought to distance himself from far-right conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer, whose presence on the campaign trail drew rebukes from both Trump's allies and the White House, but he did not disavow her. In a statement released on Friday, Trump said he did not agree with Loomer's past statements, but he still welcomed her support. Trump made clear that she does not work for his campaign, even though Loomer traveled on his plane for much of the week. Loomer, who commands a following on...