#Russia convicts and hands life sentences to 8 people over attack on a key bridge to #Crimea.


A court in Russia on Thursday convicted eight people on terrorism charges over an attack on a bridge linking Russia to Moscow-annexed Crimea that is a key supply route for Kremlin forces in the war with Ukraine.

The court sentenced all of the defendants to life in prison.

The October 2022 attack on the bridge came when a truck bomb blew up two of its sections and required months of repairs. The blast killed the truck driver and four other people in a car nearby. Moscow decried the attack as an act of terrorism and retaliated by bombarding Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure, targeting the country’s power grid over the winter.

The Ukrainian Security Service, known as the SBU, claimed responsibility for the attack.

Eight people including Russian, Ukrainian and Armenian citizens were arrested. Five others, including three Ukrainian and two Georgian nationals, were charged in absentia.

Artyom and Georgy Azatyan, Oleg Antipov, Alexander Bylin, Vladimir Zloba, Dmitry Tyazhelykh, Roman Solomko and Artur Terchanyan were charged with carrying out a terrorist attack and illegal arms trafficking. Solomko and Terchanyan also were accused of smuggling explosives.

The Russian authorities accused them of aiding Ukraine in organizing the attack. All of those arrested have denied the charges and insisted they didn’t know the truck carried explosives, according to Russian media reports.

Lt. Gen. Vasyl Maliuk, head of the SBU, said in a 2023 interview that he and two other “trusted staff members” prepared the attack and used other people without their knowledge.

A military court in Russia’s southern city Rostov-on-Don about 100 kilometres (60 miles) east of the border with Ukraine began trying the accused in February 2025 behind closed doors. The Russian authorities have accused Maliuk of organizing the attack.

Antipov, an entrepreneur whose logistics company handled the shipment of the cargo in the truck that exploded, went to Russia’s Federal Security Service, the FSB, as soon as he heard about the blast and failed to reach the driver of the car.

He hoped to assist the investigation, he and his wife Irina told the Mediazona independent news site. Security officials initially let him go, but days later he was arrested.

A video published by Mediazona showed Antipov addressing the courtroom after the verdict and insisting, “We are innocent. We are innocent.”

“We all passed — eight of us — we all passed the polygraphs. We all proved our innocence. We cooperated fully. We went to law enforcement ourselves and gave our testimony. Not a single person has testified against us," Antipov said from a glass cage in the courtroom, where he stood alongside other defendants. “All the witnesses say we are innocent. All the evidence says we are innocent. All 116 volumes (of case files) say we are innocent. Show the people the truth.”

The bridge connecting Crimea and Russia carries heavy significance for Moscow, both logistically and psychologically, as a key artery for military and civilian supplies and as an assertion of Kremlin control of the peninsula it illegally annexed in 2014.

After Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Ukraine attacked the bridge twice — in October 2022 with a truck bomb and in July 2023 with sea drones. The second attack killed two people.

The 19-kilometre (12-mile) bridge over the Kerch Strait that links the Black and Azov seas carries road and rail traffic on separate sections and is vital to sustaining Russia’s military operations in southern Ukraine.

The bridge is the longest in Europe and a subject of considerable pride in Russia. Construction began in 2016, about two years after Russia’s annexation of Crimea, and was completed in little more than two years.

The bridge was built despite strong objections from Ukraine and is the most visible and constant reminder of Russia’s claim over Crimea.

The Associated Press

#Canad: Maya, 17, got mental health records by FOI, then killed herself. Her mom wants reform.


VANCOUVER — Maya Cassady was just two months away from graduating high school with honours when she obtained her mental health records through a freedom of information request.

Just hours after reading the contents, which included doctors’ ponderings about a diagnosis, the 17-year-old took her own life.

It was March 30, 2023. Since Maya’s death, her mother, Hilary Cassady, has become an advocate for youth mental health, raising flags about young people using FOIs to access their charts — and risking misinterpreting the contents.

Cassady said she believes Maya concluded her mental health condition was untreatable, after reading terminology about her case that was never discussed with either of them.

And while the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of B.C. said the head of a health authority could block the release of documents deemed potentially harmful to a recipient, it said it would “not be possible” to screen all requests.

Cassady said the emergency room psychiatrist who saw Maya on the visit that was the subject of her request did not even know she had sought the records.

“Bottom line: Maya may still be here today if she had not received that report,” Cassady said, adding that she believed “it was the ultimate trigger that led to her death.”

Maya’s case was raised in the B.C. Legislature last week by Green Party legislator Jeremy Valeriote, who echoed Cassady’s calls to ensure that teens who request their medical records are provided professional support to interpret the records.

In most of B.C.’s health authorities, including Vancouver Coastal Health where Maya was treated, people can request their medical records without the consent of a legal guardian starting at age 12.

Cassady said she first learned of Maya’s mental health struggles in September 2020 when she was 15 and called a suicide crisis line. She said her daughter was immediately given a bed at an impatient facility.

“I believe this is where she learned from her fellow patients how to make a request to FOI her records,” Cassady said.

Cassady said she was unsure when her daughter made the FOI request, but believes she collected it from the family mailbox the same day she died.

The request, Cassady said, focused on a four-day stay at Lions Gate Hospital in February 2023 after an acetaminophen overdose that a doctor believed was an “impulsive” suicide attempt by Maya.

Cassady said her daughter’s friends reported seeing her reading the FOI documents and Googling terms on her ferry commute to school from Bowen Island, off West Vancouver, and again during her spare period later that morning. She died later that day.

“She had given up hope when she felt that her diagnosis was untreatable — that was the response when she Google searched some of the terminology in the report,” Hilary said of her daughter.

She said she drew that conclusion after looking at her daughter’s phone in the days after her death, trying to piece together her state of mind. She said one of the last search results that showed up in the teen’s phone browser was that her symptoms were “untreatable.”

“That is etched in my brain,” she said of the word, sure of what she saw but noting that she has not been able to duplicate the search results since.

Cassady said her daughter searched, “Is persistent depressive disorder lifelong?” She also looked up terms, including “axis II traits” and “bd-ii,” which most commonly refers to bipolar II, her mother said.

The chart also classified the girl’s “admitting diagnoses” as “chronic dysthymia vs unspecified depressive disorder,” and said the teen was “not acutely suicidal.”

Cassady said Maya had been diagnosed with major depressive disorder but neither of them had been informed of most of the other terms included in her chart, including the working theory she may have undiagnosed borderline personality disorder.

“I went every time my daughter was hospitalized. I went and sat with the psychiatrist. I even took recordings so I wouldn’t miss anything, and I can tell you that terminology was never discussed with me either,” she said.
Not possible ‘to have them all screened’

Jonny Morris, CEO of the B.C. division of the Canadian Mental Health Association, said there may be valid questions about consent or maturity levels of minors accessing records.

But he said that access to one’s own health records is a right.

“The information in those records are ours. It’s our information, and that’s a really protected and important thing,” he said.

He said there could be a broader issue around how clinicians communicate ponderings or diagnoses to patients.

“There shouldn’t be anything in a medical record, particularly of a diagnostic element or a working diagnosis that would not have been shared with the patient,” Morris said, and hypotheses about potential diagnoses should also be clearly stated if written in a medical chart.

B.C.’s Health Ministry said in a statement that it had received 310 requests for personal records under provincial legislation in the last five years, covering health records, employment records, 8-1-1 health-advice calls and others.

But it said an age breakdown was not available, and health authorities in B.C. were responsible for their own FOI practices regarding health records.

Judy Illes, a professor of neurology and distinguished scholar in neuroethics at the University of British Columbia, said the central question is why someone would feel the need to make an FOI request instead of speaking to their care team directly.

“Everyone is doing their best in trying to keep up with the mental health crisis, keep up with the extent to which resources are limited, against an epidemic of mental health issues among our youth and the young adult population,” she said.

“But we have to learn from these lessons and the fact that people are becoming so desperate that they are actually FOIing their medical records.”

The B.C. College of Physicians and Surgeons said doctors must keep records to clearly explain why a patient came to see them and what they learned from both the patient’s medical history and physical examination. It said there must also be a clear record of what was ordered, a provisional or official diagnosis, and any specifics about treatment, recommendations, medication or follow up.

The college deferred questions about FOI practices to the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of B.C., which confirmed in a statement that there is “no set age in the law when a minor can request their medical records.”

The office noted the test is usually whether the individual is capable of making their own medical decisions, which is typically around age 12 “but public bodies must evaluate the capacity of the minor making the request.”

“Without commenting on the specifics of this particular case, (Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Regulation) allows the head of the public body to bring in health care providers to support decision-making about whether to disclose information in records of clinical decisions about the potential harms that could result should disclosure occur,” it said.

The regulation, it said, permits a public body to recommend an applicant not examine the record until a health professional or a family member is present. It also permits a public body to refuse to disclose information “if the disclosure could reasonably be expected to result in immediate and grave harm to the applicant’s safety or mental or physical health.”

In a followup statement, an OIPC spokeswoman said health authorities deal with thousands of requests for health information and the “vast majority” do not pose such harm.

“It would not be possible to have them all screened by health professionals,” the statement said. “But the presence of the safeguard in the act presumes that some degree of risk assessment must be conducted as part of the process.”

The statement said “how requests get flagged for consultation with health professionals in individual health authorities is a question for those public bodies.”

The Vancouver Health authority, where the teen requested her records, didn’t reply to a request for comment.
‘Teens want control over their treatment’

Cassady provided records showing that a psychiatrist who saw Maya said he was never told she had made the request for her records.

“FOI requests are made and processed through the hospital,” the emergency room psychiatrist said in his response to a complaint to the College of Physicians and Surgeons of B.C. by Cassady last year. “I am not advised when an FOI is made by one of my patients, nor am I involved in that process.”

The doctor said he was not made aware that Maya had requested her records or that they had been released to her. He noted he only encountered Maya once.

Cassady is urging the province to ensure any teenager requesting their medical records sit down with a professional to interpret it and explain their options or “action plan.”

She said she is aware of other teenagers, both friends of Maya’s and others, who had since requested their medical documents.

“Teens want control over their treatment and want to understand what is happening to them,” she said. “There is a feeling that the professional or psychiatrist treating them is passing judgment and not telling them everything that the professional thinks about their case.”

UBC Professor Illes called it a “great suggestion,” but noted that it may be challenging to implement, “given that one is a legal structure and one’s a health structure.”

“If someone is FOIing their medical record, they are operating outside the health care system, not within it,” she said.

Cassady said she has been working for more than two years to seek clarity and action to ensure no others meet the same fate as Maya, but without much luck. In January, she wrote to Valeriote, her member of the legislature.

“It needs to be recognized that any teen that is FOIing their records is because they didn’t understand, or want more clarity on their diagnosis and these teens are extremely vulnerable,” Cassady said.

“And then to send the report in the mail directly to the teen without any interpretation — that is just complete carelessness and negligence.”

B.C. Health Minister Josie Osborne responded to Valeriote in the legislature by saying the province is working to focus on supports for youth struggling with mental health, including creating a youth suicide prevention network.

That, Osborne said, is “a way of assisting clinicians in helping to identify issues, providing supports for youth.”

Cassady has set up a foundation called Maya Veronica Cassady Mental Health Wellness Fund to raise money for teens who can’t afford resources for their mental health challenges, and is now calling for more “touchpoints” with teens after hospitalization.

She said her daughter, who was a twin, had a “great circle of friends” and enjoyed rock climbing, skiing and writing. She had been accepted into her preferred university in the Netherlands and was planning to study European law when she died.

“She was so excited about getting into her university of choice, and had made all these plans. We really thought we were coming out of things,” her mother said.

Her death came as a shock and has had a profound impact on those closest to her, her mother said.

“For my husband, he feels guilty when he feels happy. For me — I can’t even put it into words. She was my ‘mini-me’ and I miss her so much,” Hilary Cassady said.

“For her twin sister — well, birthdays will never be the same.”

If you or someone you know is thinking about suicide, support is available 24/7 by calling or texting 988, Canada’s national suicide prevention helpline.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 26, 2025.

Brieanna Charlebois, The Canadian #Press

The search for the next Secretary-General of the United Nations launched Tuesday, as member states were invited to send nominations to replace Antonio Guterres for the term starting in 2027.

In a letter from #UN leaders to 193 member states, the 80-year-old global intergovernmental organization is seeking candidates with extensive experience in international relations, diplomacy and language skills.

“The position of Secretary-General is one of great importance and one that requires the highest standards of efficiency, competence and integrity and a firm commitment to the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations,” said the joint letter from Sierra Leone ambassador and current Security Council president Michael Imran Kanu and General Assembly President Annalena Baerbock.

Some member states are advocating for a woman to be selected, and in its letter UN leadership noted “with regret that no woman has ever held the position of Secretary-General” and called on members “to strongly consider nominating women.”

Some names that are already in the mix include former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, the Argentinian International Atomic Energy Agency head Rafael Grossi, and Costa Rica’s Rebeca Grynspan, who is currently leading the UN agency for trade and development (UNCTAD).

Candidates must be presented by a state or group of states, and submit a vision statement and list funding sources.

There is a tradition of geographical rotation, which would make it Latin America’s turn this time around, but it’s not always followed. The letter notes “the importance of regional diversity” without specifying a required area.

Candidates may undergo public interviews, a transparency procedure first used during the 2016 selection that let to Guterres’ first term.

Security council members will begin the formal selection process by the end of July, and the five permanent members with veto power -- United States, China, Russia, United Kingdom and France -- hold the candidate’s future in their hands.

Once the Security Council makes its recommendation, the Assembly can elect the Secretary-General to a five-year term that begins January 1, 2027, and is renewable once.

#Brazil’s former President Jair Bolsonaro begins 27-year prison sentence for coup attempt.

#BRASILIA, Brazil — Former #Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Tuesday started his 27-year prison sentence for leading a coup attempt, to the surprise of many in the South American nation who doubted he would ever end up behind bars.

Supreme Court #Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who has overseen the case, ruled Bolsonaro will remain in custody after being preemptively arrested on Saturday.

Supporters and detractors of the embattled leader gathered outside the federal police headquarters after the order was issued, some calling for Bolsonaro’s release and others toasting to his imprisonment.

The far-right leader had been under house arrest since August and was taken in on Saturday after trying to break his ankle monitor. Bolsonaro blamed “hallucinations”, a claim that de Moraes dismissed in his preemptive arrest order.

Bolsonaro will not have any contact with the few other inmates at the federal police headquarters. His 12-square-metre room has a bed, a private bathroom, air conditioning, a TV set and a desk, according to federal police. He will have free access to his doctors and lawyers, but others will have to get their access approved by the Supreme Court.
Exhausted appeals

De Moraes determined on Tuesday that Bolsonaro’s defence had exhausted all appeals of his conviction. His lawyers disagree and promise to keep filing requests for house arrest due to the former leader’s poor health. The Supreme Court justice has already ruled against it, but that decision could be revised if circumstances change.

“There is no legal possibility of any other appeal,” de Moraes said in his decision.

Brazil’s criminal law also could have allowed the 70-year-old to be transferred to a local penitentiary or to a prison room in a military facility in the capital Brasilia.

The former president and several of his allies were convicted by a panel of Supreme Court justices for attempting to overthrow Brazil’s democracy following his 2022 election defeat.

The plot included plans to kill President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Vice President Geraldo Alckmin and Justice de Moraes. The plan also involved encouraging an insurrection in early 2023.

The former president was also found guilty of charges including leading an armed criminal organization and attempting the violent abolition of the democratic rule of law.

Bolsonaro has always denied wrongdoing.
Champagne and tears

Outside the federal police building, about a dozen Bolsonaro supporters dressed in yellow and green of the Brazilian flag cried foul and asked Congress to pass a bill to give the former president and his allies some kind of amnesty. Some chose to insult de Moraes, the media and Lula supporters. A few still pleaded for help from U.S. President Donald Trump against Brazil’s left.

“I am outraged. This is the best president of my life, my friend. This is a great injustice,” said Elaine Leandro, 61, a hard core Bolsonaro supporter who says she will come to the federal police headquarters every day until he is released. “I hate you, Alexandre de Moraes. You deserve hell.”

Sao Paulo city councilor Keit Lima, 34, had very different feelings. She brought champagne and shared it with other Black women who had come from a march in Brasilia to celebrate Bolsonaro’s imprisonment.

“Today we can breath and continue fighting for our democracy,” Lima said. “Our democracy is young, but we want it to live long.”

In other Brazilian cities, supporters prayed for the former president while detractors celebrated.
Other convictions

Two others convicted, Augusto Heleno and Paulo Sergio Nogueira, both Army generals, were sent to a military facility in Brasilia to start serving their sentences. Former Justice Minister Anderson Torres is now imprisoned at the Papuda penitentiary, also in Brazil’s capital.

Adm. Almir Garnier will serve his term at Navy facilities in Brasilia.

Bolsonaro’s running mate and former Defense Minister Walter Braga Netto, another army general, will remain in prison at a military facility in Rio de Janeiro.

De Moraes also confirmed that lawmaker and former head of Brazil’s intelligence agency Alexandre Ramagem is on the loose in the United States.

The judge also ordered lower house Speaker Hugo Motta to strip Ramagem of his seat.

Motta has the power to put a possible amnesty for Bolsonaro to a vote, though party leaders have said in recent months that it is very unlikely because it would be struck down later by the Supreme Court if approved.

Bolsonaro remains a key figure in Brazilian politics, despite being ineligible to run for office until at least until 2030 after a separate ruling by Brazil’s top electoral court. The first day of his prison sentence should mark an extension of that deadline to 2033.

Polls show he would be a competitive candidate in next year’s vote if allowed to run.
U.S. tensions

The former president is an ally of Trump, who has called the trial of the former Brazilian leader a “witch hunt.” Bolsonaro was mentioned in a July order by the U.S. administration to raise tariffs on several Brazilian exports by 50 per cent.

Relations between the two countries have improved since, with Lula and Trump meeting in Malaysia at the ASEAN summit in October. Most of those higher tariffs have been dropped.

The U.S. also imposed sanctions on de Moraes and other Brazilian officials.

The measures in support of Bolsonaro did not have their desired effect and the trial proceeded nevertheless. Lula’s popularity was boosted by the perception that he was defending Brazilian sovereignty.

Bolsonaro is not the first former president to spend time behind bars. His predecessor Michel Temer (2016-2018) and his successor Lula have also been to prison. Fernando Collor de Mello, who governed between 1990 and 1992, is currently under house arrest due to a corruption conviction.

Bolsonaro is the first to be convicted of attempting a coup.

Mauricio Savarese, The Associated Press

Some U.S. families are ‘adopting’ turkeys for Thanksgiving instead of eating them.

ERIE, Colo. — “Gus” the turkey has been spending Thanksgiving week much differently than millions of other unlucky gobblers across the U.S.

As he trots in a sprawling animal sanctuary on the Colorado plains, he is stopped every few steps by staff who pet him, hug him or even give him a peck on his red face. Gus has been there since 2023 after being pardoned by the governor.

“What do you think? Do you want to do snuggles today?” Lanette Cook, education and engagement manager at the Luvin Arms Animal Sanctuary in Erie, says to Gus.

Gus is among a growing number of turkeys that are being “adopted” instead of being covered in gravy and eaten at Thanksgiving dinner tables.

An increasing number of farm animal sanctuaries across the country have started promoting this alternative version of Thanksgiving in which families “adopt” turkeys and donate money to their lifelong care. In return, they receive photos, certificates and sometimes even one-on-one visits with the birds.

The goal: Spare a few of the tens of millions of turkeys slaughtered this time of year, many of which are raised in what animal rights advocates say are inhumane conditions in factory farms.

At Luvin Arms, a US$25 donation comes with a certificate, photo and either a virtual or in-person visit, explained Kelly Nix, its executive director. Since launching the program in 2022, the sanctuary, located about 25 miles (40 kilometres) north of Denver, has seen the number of sponsorships double every year. And this year they’re on track to reach their goal of US$18,000, she said.

Luvin Arms’ website features Gus and a gaggle of turkeys along with their personality traits (Gus is very talkative!) as part of its sponsor-a-turkey program. It encourages the public to donate for the birds for Thanksgiving and maybe even rethink their holiday traditions.

The funds have helped pay for extending the turkeys’ outdoor pasture area, along with feeding and rescuing more turkeys. They’ve helped with veterinary bills, which can sometimes cost thousands of dollars because of the medical complications that arise for turkeys that come from factory farms, which breed them to grow very big in a short period of time, said Nix. In the wild, turkeys tend to live an average of three or four years, according to the National Wild Turkey Federation.

But the sanctuary says the program is about more than just the turkeys or money. There’s also an important educational factor, including the conditions in factory farms and that turkeys are more than just centerpieces.

“Even if it makes you stop and double think what it is you’re about to do,” said Nix. “Or that you’re like, ‘wow this is a life of a sentient being,’ for us that’s a conversation starter.”

Farm Sanctuary, which is located in New York and California, is believed to be the first to launch this type of turkey adoption program, starting in 1986. Gene Baur, its president and co-founder, said initially the public was confused about the program and the concept of rescuing farm animals altogether.

In the nearly four decades since, the sanctuary has rescued thousands of turkeys. And the public has not only caught on to the concept but in some years has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars, Baur said.

“We grow up with certain traditions. But just because something is a tradition doesn’t mean that it needs to remain as a tradition,” said Baur.

Lizzie Parra’s family has been adopting a turkey from the organization since 2021, ever since they visited a sanctuary in Pittsburgh and a turkey followed them around, seemingly desperate to be a part of their tour group.

She, her husband and 11-year-old son are vegan and so always leave turkey off their Thanksgiving table. But Parra said the adoption program gives them a chance to help save turkeys while raising awareness.

“This is just an opportunity for us to tell people that they can, at least for one meal, kind of make the same compassionate choice,” she said.

Barn Sanctuary has had a similar program since 2023 in Chelsea, Michigan. Chase DeBack, its advocacy, education and engagement coordinator, said it’s about shining a more positive light on the birds and their distinct personalities.

He rattles off some of the organization’s residents like they’re close friends: Lewis isn’t much of a people person. Sabrina and Hilda are always interested in what people are bringing into the coop.

“We really wanted to shine a light on the unique personalities that turkeys have and how loving and caring they are for humans and for each other,” said DeBack.

___

Golden reported from Seattle.

Hallie Golden And Thomas Peipert, The Associated Press

#Afghanistan says #Pakistani airstrikes in east of the country have killed 10 people, mostly children.

KABUL, Afghanistan — Afghanistan’s Taliban government on Tuesday accused Pakistan of launching overnight strikes in three eastern provinces, killing 10 civilians, including nine children, in a sign of worsening tensions between the two neighbours.

Zabihullah Mujahid, the chief spokesperson for the Afghan government, said on X that Pakistan “bombed” the home of a civilian in Khost province, killing nine children and a woman. He said additional strikes were carried out in the provinces of Kunar and Paktika, injuring four other people.

Mujahid described the attacks as “atrocities,” and said the strikes were “a violation of Afghan territory.” Afghanistan, he added in his post on X, “considers the use of its airspace and territory and defense of its people to be its legitimate right, and at the appropriate time, it will give the necessary response.”
Rising tension

Pakistan’s military and government did not immediately comment on the allegation, which comes more than a month after cross-border clashes erupted when the Afghan government claimed Pakistani drone strikes hit Kabul.

However, the ceasefire brokered by Qatar and Turkey between the two sides in October was still holding Tuesday despite the alleged overnight strikes by Pakistan deep inside Afghanistan. There was no immediate comment from Qatar and Turkey.

Iran in recent weeks has also offered to play a role in defusing tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Ali Larijani, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said Tuesday on X that he met with Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar in Islamabad, a day after arriving on a previously scheduled visit. Dar’s office was also expected to release a statement about the meeting.

In Khost, residents combed through the rubble of the destroyed home, retrieving belongings.

“You see the cruelty with your own eyes, that young children, a woman and nine children, were martyred,” said Muhammad Iqbal, who said the dead were his cousin’s family.

Local tribal leader Mer Adam Khan said the attack was carried out by a drone that was flying over the area at around midnight. “It is not known where it came from and by whom,” he said, adding that the home that was destroyed was that of a local man, whom he identified as Shariat Khan.

“He has not interfered in any government. He lives a poor life here,” the tribal leader said.
Recent attacks in Pakistan

The latest escalation follows a deadly attack a day earlier in Pakistan’s northwestern city of Peshawar, where two suicide bombers and a gunman stormed the headquarters of the Federal Constabulary. Three officers were killed and 11 others were wounded in the Monday morning attack.

No group has claimed responsibility for the Peshawar attack, but suspicion quickly fell on the Pakistani Taliban, or Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan.

It is a separate group but closely allied with the Afghan Taliban, and many of its leaders are believed to be hiding in Afghanistan. Kabul in 2022 brokered a brief ceasefire between the TTP and Pakistan. However, the militant group ended the truce after accusing Pakistan of violating it.

Pakistan has intensified intelligence-based operations against militants in recent weeks.

On Tuesday, the military said security forces killed 22 militants during a raid on what it described as a hideout of “Indian-backed” fighters in Bannu, a district in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province near the Afghan border.

In a statement, the army referred to the killed insurgents as Khawarij, a term the government and the military use for militants they allege are supported by Afghanistan and India. Kabul and New Delhi deny providing any support to such groups.

The statement said Pakistan “will continue at full pace to wipe out the menace of foreign-sponsored and supported terrorism from the country.”

Pakistan has repeatedly urged Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers to prevent TTP militants from using Afghan territory to launch attacks. Kabul denies the accusation, but relations further deteriorated after Afghanistan blamed Pakistan for the Oct. 9 drone strikes on its capital and threatened retaliation.

The clashes that followed killed dozens of soldiers, civilians and militants before the sides agreed to the Oct. 19 ceasefire.
Peace talks

Two subsequent rounds of talks in Istanbul failed to resolve the dispute, when Pakistan said Afghanistan had refused to provide a written guarantee that TTP fighters would not operate from Afghan soil.

The Afghan government insists it does not allow anyone to use its soil for attacks against any country, including Pakistan.

The lingering tensions have stalled bilateral trade between Pakistan and Afghanistan, with all border crossings between the two neighbors remaining shut since last month. It has also affected movement of people, as residents from both sides have been unable to travel to meet with relatives and friends since early October.

___

Abdul Qahar Afghan and Munir Ahmed, The Associated Press

Ahmed reported from Islamabad. Associated Press writer Riaz Khan in Peshawar, Pakistan, contributed to this story.

#Brazilian Supreme Court upholds Bolsonaro’s incarceration after ankle monitor tampering.

BRASILIA, Brazil — Brazil’s Supreme Court on Monday upheld former President Jair Bolsonaro’s incarceration after he admitted to trying to break his ankle monitor while under house arrest. A justice saw the action as an attempt to escape and avoid a 27-year prison sentence for leading a coup attempt.

Bolsonaro, 70, was arrested and kept in a cell at the country’s federal police headquarters in the capital, Brasilia, early Saturday.

A four-member panel of the court unanimously ruled that Bolsonaro should remain under preemptive arrest.

Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who issued the arrest warrant on Saturday, considered Bolsonaro to be a flight risk. The former president is set to begin serving his 27-year prison sentence for attempting a coup to remain in office after his 2022 election defeat to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

De Moraes’ decision was approved by his peers Flávio Dino, Cristiano Zanin and Carmen Lúcia in an online session of the court.

Bolsonaro told an assistant judge on Sunday that a change in his medication caused him to have a nervous breakdown and hallucinations, which led him to try and break his ankle monitor. His doctors and lawyers repeated his claims while talking to reporters.

However, De Moraes wrote in his decision that “Bolsonaro ... confessed he had broken the ankle monitoring in a serious foul play, repeated non-compliance with precautionary measures (that allowed him to stay in house arrest) and evident disrespect to the court.”

The judge was informed that the far-right leader’s ankle monitor was tampered with at 12:08 a.m. local time on Saturday. The arrest order came hours later.

Bolsonaro has been under house arrest since August. Supporters and detractors of the former president have taken to the streets in several Brazilian cities since the news broke on Saturday.

On a rainy Monday in Brasilia, few demonstrators appeared in front of the federal police headquarters. As some drove by, they honked, either shouting insults at Bolsonaro or showing support for Lula.

As lawmakers start coming back to the city for what is likely to be a busy and tense week, one of the sons of the former president, Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro, told journalists he will keep pushing for an amnesty bill for his father — a move that has lost steam over the last few months.

“We will do this all over 2026,” said Flávio Bolsonaro, who is also a presidential hopeful in next year’s presidential election. Other right-leaning politicians would rather have a candidate outside of the family, such as Sao Paulo Gov. Tarcisio de Freitas.

Bolsonaro’s lawyers can file other appeals until the end of Monday, but that does not rule out the Supreme Court from ordering the former president to start serving his prison sentence as early as Tuesday if de Moraes decides so.

De Moraes has not hinted whether he will make that decision so quickly, though.

Mauricio Savarese, The Associated Press

#TOKYO — A man driving a stolen car struck 12 people in Tokyo on Monday, killing one person and seriously injuring a woman, Japanese media reported. The driver was arrested after fleeing the scene.

Police didn’t immediately comment, but they said a representative would provide an update as soon as possible.

Kyodo News reported that a seriously injured man in his 80s was confirmed dead several hours later. Of the 11 other people injured, a woman in her 20s was seriously injured and remains unconscious, according to Nippon TV.

The car, which turned out to be a stolen vehicle, drove onto a walkway for pedestrians and struck people, the report said. Police arrested the driver, a man who fled the scene. He’s under investigation for a suspected hit-and-run, reports said.

Other details weren’t immediately available. Monday was a national holiday in Japan.

The Associated Press

#Driver arrested in Tokyo after car hits about 10 people, seriously injuring 2, local media say

Tackling global crime groups a focus of G7 security meeting, European official says. OTTAWA — Magnus Brunner, the European commissioner for internal affairs and migration, says security officials from around the globe are discussing ways to better fight organized crime.

Brunner, attending an Ottawa gathering of G7 interior and security ministers, says Europe can learn a lot from Canada on tackling organized crime groups as they become more sophisticated and global in their reach.

Brunner says international co-operation, including information sharing, is key to combating organized crime, including the lucrative drug trade.

The G7, an informal grouping of leading economies, includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States, as well as the European Union.

The two-day meeting, which wraps up today, was also expected to focus on the problems of migrant smuggling and the intimidation of diaspora communities by authoritarian states.

Participants were also slated to discuss tactics to deal with the online challenges of terrorist and violent extremist content, cybercrime and the internet-related dimensions of child sexual exploitation and abuse.

Jim Bronskill, The Canadian Press