Norway stops a ship suspected of involvement in damage to a Baltic Sea cable
OSLO, Norway (AP) — A Norwegian-owned and Russian-crewed ship that authorities suspect may have been involved in damage to an underwater fiber optic cable connecting Latvia and the Swedish island of Gotland has been stopped off Norway, police said Friday.
The Silver Dania was stopped on Thursday evening and brought into the port of Tromsø in northern Norway on Friday morning by a Norwegian coast guard vessel, Norwegian police said in a statement. They said that followed a request from Latvian authorities and a ruling by a Norwegian court.
Police said there's suspicion that the ship, which was sailing between the Russian ports of St. Petersburg and Murmansk, was involved in serious damage to the cable in the Baltic Sea. They didn't elaborate, but said they were searching the ship and conducting interviews.
Damage to the data transmission cable running from Ventspils, Latvia, to Gotland was detected on Sunday. Later that day, Swedish prosecutors announced that they had opened a preliminary investigation into suspected sabotage and ordered the detention of a vessel suspected of damaging the cable, the Malta-flagged Vezhen.
That ship's Bulgarian owner said that it was possible that the Vezhen had accidentally caused a cable to break, but dismissed any possibility of sabotage or any other action on the part of the crew.
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Boston Globe
an hour ago
- Boston Globe
Helping save Kyiv from drones: Volunteers, caffeine, and vintage guns
Advertisement The chase was on. Mykhailo and the other two members of his crew jumped into a gray pickup parked at the foot of the terrace and sped off, racing through narrow roads into the countryside. They pulled up beside an open field a few minutes later and jumped out. Moving quickly, they set up three tripods — two for machine guns, the third for night-vision binoculars and a laser. Then, Mykhailo — who, like other crew members in this article, asked to be identified by only his first name for security reasons, according to military protocol — glanced at a tablet set on the pickup's hood. Its screen lit up with a swarm of red triangles sweeping across a live map of Ukraine; they showed Russian attack drones, several dozen miles away. Advertisement 'Three heading our way,' said Mykhailo, who is a trade union representative by day. 'Let's wait.' While Russia intensifies its drone assaults on Ukraine, volunteer crews such as the one in Pereiaslav are spending sleepless nights trying to repel them. As the crew deployed last Saturday, Russia launched a record-breaking 472 drones and decoys at Ukraine. This Friday, Russia sent off another swarm of more than than 400 drones and decoys, in addition to nearly 40 cruise missiles and six ballistic missiles at towns and cities across the country, according to the Ukrainian air force, in one of the largest barrages of the war. Military analysts say Russia uses drone swarms to wear down Ukraine's air defenses before unleashing missiles that are far harder to intercept. Russia has also improved its tactics. Its drones now often fly high, out of reach of machine guns, before swooping on their targets at full speed. The drones constantly change route and include many decoys to confuse Ukrainian forces. To shoot down drones and missiles, Ukraine relies on a vast network of units armed with everything from antiquated machine guns to cutting-edge Western air-defense systems. It also uses electronic jamming to scramble navigation systems. Kyiv, a frequent target of Russian air attacks, has held strong thanks in part to crews manning powerful US-made Patriot air-defense systems that can intercept guided missiles. But the city's reliance on unpaid, lightly equipped volunteer crews to shoot down drones shows just how stretched its air defenses are. The unit in Pereiaslav, a quiet town of 20,000 on the Dnieper River, was formed in summer 2023. Sofia, a former journalist now working full time with the air-defense crew, said locals noticed Russian drones skimming low along the river to evade radar. Advertisement 'We saw them, heard them, and understood we needed to do something,' Sofia said. 'All we needed was guns and ammo.' They pulled together a team of civilian volunteers, including women, and contacted the Ukrainian army. The military sent them some old guns and provided basic training. Everything else — uniforms, bulletproof vests, first-aid kits, fuel, food — is at the volunteers' expense. For the past two years, they have juggled day jobs with grueling 12-hour night shifts chasing drones. Caffeine, they say, has become their most reliable ally. Oleh Voroshylovskyi, the commander of the unit, explained that Kyiv's air defense was structured in three concentric rings. His unit covers about 20 miles of the outermost layer, tasked with taking down incoming drones early and warning the rings closer to the capital what's heading their way. For nearly two years, the unit has relied on World War II-era Maxim machine guns and several Uk vz. 59 machine guns, developed by Czechoslovakia in the 1950s, to bring down drones. 'They may be old, but they're effective,' said Voroshylovskyi, showing off the weapons at their base, a large building where downed Russian drones were displayed only a few feet from a relic of Ukraine's Soviet past — a large white bust of Vladimir Lenin, now turned to face the corner. After mounting the guns on tripods during last week's attack, the team waited in the silence of a pitch-black night, lit only by a crescent moon and a scatter of stars. The stillness was occasionally broken by the croak of toads and the hoot of owls. Advertisement Then, suddenly, the tak-tak-tak of machine guns echoed from the north. 'Look! It's getting busy over there,' Mykhailo said, pointing to red tracers cutting through the night, accompanied by spotlights sweeping the sky. Later, the whir of rotor blades hummed overhead — Ukrainian helicopters were chasing the drones. 'They're not leaving us anything,' Mykhailo joked. After about an hour of waiting, a familiar sound from the north made the crew freeze. It was a grinding buzz like a lawn mower, signifying a Russian attack drone. Their radar did not show it, but the sound left no doubt. 'It's coming!' shouted Yaroslav, one of the crew members. They scrambled into position behind the mounted guns. Yaroslav rotated the night binoculars, which fed a grainy black-and-white image of the sky onto a small connected screen. The buzz grew louder, then curved west, circling around them. Unable to spot the drone, the crew held its fire, unwilling to waste precious rounds. By the time dawn broke shortly before 5 a.m., crew members had not fired a shot. But the damage from dozens of drones that had slipped through was already clear on the social media feeds they had been scanning — explosions in Kyiv, buildings ablaze across the country, wounded civilians rushed to hospitals. 'A classic night,' said Yaroslav, his eyes red with sleeplessness. This article originally appeared in
The Hill
2 hours ago
- The Hill
ICE moves to dismiss cases in bid to fast-track deportations after courthouse arrests
As Vadzim Baluty watched his son Aliaksandr Baluty get arrested by six plainclothes U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers directly after an immigration court hearing, he had the sinking feeling he'd made a costly mistake. Vadzim Baluty, accompanying his son for his first court appearance in his asylum bid, agreed last month when an ICE prosecutor offered to drop the case against the recent Belarusian migrant, not realizing his son would be swiftly detained as soon as the pair exited the courtroom. 'I felt like we had fallen into a judicial trap,' he said in Russian through an interpreter in an interview with The Hill. 'We left the courtroom and an ICE officer told us our son was going to be deported in three days. Nobody told us the decision that we made — what it was going to cause.' ICE prosecutors across the country are increasingly moving to dismiss cases against migrants in a bid to fast track their deportations. While a dismissal might seem like the end of a battle to remain in the county, some leaving courthouses have instead been met by ICE agents who are then free to arrest them and place them in expedited removal proceedings, speeding their deportation without a court hearing. Rekha Sharma-Crawford, an immigration lawyer and board member with the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) called it a 'bait and switch.' 'The troubling thing here is that people are doing the right thing and going to court. They hear what they think is great news, that their case is dismissed. But instead, they are subject to a bait and switch and a plainclothes ICE agent will then arrest them. They are detained and then they are pressured to sign documents that basically sign away all of their rights, and they are subject to expedited removal and don't have a chance for a full and fair hearing,' she said in a call with reporters. Vadzim Baluty, a 47-year-old Belarusian political activist who was granted asylum in 2022 after fleeing the Lukashenko dictatorship, thought ICE was aware of his petition to bring his children to the country. He also didn't think Aliaksandr Baluty, now 21, would be deported after entering the country legally. His son was permitted to enter the U.S. through Mexico after waiting in the country seven months for an appointment made through the Biden-era CBP One app. Such a dynamic has only become possible with the shift from the Trump administration, which has expanded the scope of expedited removals. While the process previously was used only for migrants within two weeks of their entering the country and within 100 miles of the border, the Trump administration now allows the tool to be used up to two years after a person enters the U.S. regardless of where they are in the country. Critics call the move an end run around due process and fault the administration for using ICE officers who are often not in uniform and may be wearing masks. Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) went to an immigration courthouse in his district last week, sitting in on court proceedings and witnessing ICE prosecutors dismiss cases followed by migrants being arrested by plainclothes agents as they exited — something he called 'Gestapo-like behavior.' 'The Department of Homeland Security has implemented, over the last week, a coordinated effort to do an end run around our legal system in order to remove nonviolent, noncriminal immigrants trying to come into this country through a lawful pathway of immigration proceedings, and in many cases, asylum proceedings,' he said at a press conference afterward. 'By recommending dismissal of their cases, the Department of Homeland Security is essentially taking jurisdiction away from the court, removing the asylum application from going forward, and then allowing the immigration agents to arrest these people and put them in a deportation proceeding under a different authority than the one that they just dismissed, which has fewer rights and applies in very few circumstances.' Sharma-Crawford said it's especially confusing for pro se litigants — those representing themselves in court. Not only are they being approached by plainclothes officers, but they may not know what to do next. Those placed in expedited removal are not entitled to a hearing, but they can request an interview with an asylum officer if they fear they will be persecuted if returned to their home country. If they pass that screening, their case could be returned to immigration court. Vadzim Baluty has since hired attorney Malinda Schmiechen to represent his son, who asked for the credible fear interview that would route his case back into the immigration court system. Aliaksandr Baluty told them how during a visit to register for the mandatory draft, military officials in the country made a veiled comment about his father and said they were going to teach him to 'love the motherland.' Another officer in the room said, 'You will be in the army for your father.' 'The draft officer said that I — in the army — I would be punished for my father,' Aliaksandr Baluty told an asylum officer, according to a transcript of the interview his attorney shared with The Hill. At his father's advice, Aliaksandr Baluty fled that night to nearby Georgia. Military officials later showed up at his mother's house with a forged conscription document, saying they would prosecute him as a draft dodger. Schmiechen was informed Thursday night, however, that an asylum officer rejected the claim, calling it 'a betrayal all around.' 'I feel like this is a betrayal against our law, against the America that is a sanctuary for so many, and against young Aliaksandr, who fled for his life and seeks to live peacefully with his family,' Schmiechen told The Hill. 'It's a betrayal because the government attorneys betrayed the law with their motion to dismiss, knowing that it would lead to Aliaksandr's detention. It's a betrayal because the American government is using taxpayer money unnecessarily to detain Aliaksandr, and it's a betrayal to Aliaksandr, whose detention is treating him like a criminal, though he's not one.' The arrests come as the GOP at large has vented frustration at the immigration court system, where cases can languish in a years-long backlog. The Department of Homeland Security defended the courthouse arrests as well as their use of expedited removal. 'Most aliens who illegally entered the United States within the past two years are subject to expedited removals. Biden ignored this legal fact and chose to release millions of illegal aliens, including violent criminals, into the country with a notice to appear before an immigration judge. ICE is now following the law and placing these illegal aliens in expedited removal, as they always should have been,' the department said in a statement. 'If they have a valid credible fear claim, they will continue in immigration proceedings, but if no valid claim is found, aliens will be subject to a swift deportation.' Goldman also criticized ICE for using plainclothes officers, saying that in his observations, agents had printed out photos of those they would be arresting and were often wearing masks. 'When I asked them, 'Why are you wearing a mask?' One person told me, 'Because it's cold.' I asked him if he would testify to that under oath, and he walked away and wouldn't respond to me,' he said. 'Another person admitted that they were wearing masks so that they are not caught on video. And my question to them is: 'If what you are doing is legitimate, is lawful, is totally aboveboard, why do you need to cover your face?'' Schmiechen said she's working quickly to explore other options for Aliaksandr Baluty, including requesting that his credible fear claims be reviewed by an immigration court judge. If that doesn't work, she's planning to make a filing in federal court. 'I just feel like we don't have much time at this point,' she said. To Vadzim Baluty, the whole episode has chilling parallels with what he experienced in Belarus. 'This is how it began,' he said. The arrest of his son, just feet from the courthouse doors, happened in less than 60 seconds and left him in shock. He said he never imagined the words 'stop prosecution' could have led to 'expulsion from the country and separation of father and son.' 'Everything is starting to remind us that we are not in a free country. What is happening today is vaguely reminiscent of the birth of a dictatorship, when they categorically begin to solve the political issue at the moment with immigration,' he said. 'I don't feel safe now. None of the immigrants feel safe in the U.S.'
3 hours ago
Colombian Sen. Miguel Uribe Turbay in serious condition after shooting at political rally
BOGOTA -- BOGOTA (AP) — Colombian Sen. Miguel Uribe Turbay, a conservative presidential hopeful, was in serious condition Sunday following surgery for a gunshot wound at a political rally a day earlier, Bogota's mayor said. Mayor Carlos Galán visited the Fundación Santa Fe clinic to express solidarity with the family of the 39-year-old senator. 'He survived the procedure; these are critical moments and hours for his survival,' said Galán early Sunday after receiving information from the medical staff at the clinic. The hospital said Sunday that Uribe Turbay was recovering in intensive care after undergoing neurosurgery and a procedure on his left thigh. His condition was described as 'extremely serious,' and his prognosis was reserved. 'Miguel continues to fight hard for his life, and I ask each of you to keep praying fervently,' Uribe Turbay's wife, María Claudia Tarazona, said in a statement. Former presidents Álvaro Uribe and César Gaviria visited the clinic, along with senators, city council members and other politicians, including former senator Ingrid Betancourt. The attack took place in a park in the Fontibon neighborhood in Bogota when armed assailants shot him from behind, said the right-wing Democratic Center, which was the party of former president Uribe. The men are not related. Images circulating on social media showed a person firing several shots at the senator from behind, apparently hitting his head before he collapsed. The Attorney General's Office, which is investigating the shooting, said the senator received two gunshot wounds in the attack, which also wounded two others. Their identities and conditions have not been disclosed. The office said a 15-year-old boy was arrested at the scene with a firearm. He was injured in the leg and was recovering at another clinic, authorities said. Defense Minister Pedro Sánchez added that over 100 officers are investigating who was behind the attack. Uribe Turbay is the political heir of his grandfather, former President Julio César Turbay who was in office from 1978-82. His mother, Diana Turbay, was a journalist who was kidnapped and killed in 1991 during a failed rescue attempt. Her death came during one of the most violent periods in the history of the South American country, then-plagued by drug cartel violence. The senator announced his presidential bid in early March. Colombia will hold a presidential election on May 31, 2026, marking the end of President Gustavo Petro's term. Petro, the country's first leftist leader, is not eligible for reelection. Outside the Fundación Santa Fe clinic, dozens of people gathered in prayer for Uribe Turbay's recovery. Late on Saturday, after leading an extraordinary Security Council session, Petro, Colombia's first leftist president, promised 'complete transparency' in the investigation and to find out who was behind the attack. He also promised an investigation into any failures by the senator's bodyguards. The president canceled a planned trip to France 'due to the seriousness of the events,' according to a presidential statement. 'I hope Uribe Turbay survives — that is what I wish more than anything,' Petro said, adding that no one should seek to politically exploit the attack. World leaders and senior officials, including from the United States, Chile, Ecuador, and the European Union, condemned the violence and expressed support for the Colombian people and Uribe Turbay's family. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on X that the 'United State condemns in the strongest possible terms the attempted assassination of Senator Miguel Uribe.' He urged Petro 'to dial back the inflammatory rhetoric and protect Colombian officials.' 'This is a direct threat to democracy and the result of the violent leftist rhetoric coming from the highest levels of the Colombian government,' Rubio said.
