India has successfully tested a domestically developed long-range hypersonic missile, it said on Sunday, attaining a key milestone in military development that puts it in a small group of nations possessing the advanced technology.

The global push for hypersonic weapons figures in the efforts of some countries, such as India, which is striving to develop advanced long-range missiles, along with China, Russia and the United States.

The Indian missile, developed by the state-run Defence Research and Development Organisation and industry partners, is designed to carry payloads for ranges exceeding 1,500 km (930 miles) for the armed forces, the government said in a statement.

“The flight data … confirmed the successful terminal maneuvers and impact with high degree of accuracy,” it added.

The test-firing took place from Dr APJ Abdul Kalam island off the eastern coast of Odisha state on Saturday, it said.

Defense Minister Rajnath Singh called the test a “historic achievement” in a post on X, adding that it placed India among a select group of nations possessing such critical and advanced technologies.

Australian police on Monday charged former radio show host Alan Jones with 24 assault and sexual touching offenses, indictments that followed accusations in a newspaper that Jones had assaulted young men for decades.

Police confirmed the arrest and charges against an 83-year-old man in Sydney but did not name him.

He was widely identified by Australian media as Alan Jones and TV footage on Monday showed him in a police car arriving at a police station.

Police allege the offenses took place between 2001 and 2019 against 8 victims, some of whom Jones knew professionally or personally. The youngest was 17 at the time of the offense, they said.

More alleged victims are likely to come forward now charges have been laid, New South Wales police assistant commissioner Michael Fitzgerald told a press conference.

Reuters has sought comment from Jones. He denied the assault allegations made against him last year by the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper. Police said the “energy” generated by the stories had helped bring the case to court.

Jones had hosted radio shows for decades and anchored the popular Sydney breakfast show on radio station 2GB for about 18 years until 2020.

A well-known conservative “shock jock,” listeners knew Jones for his sharp questions and equally sharp tongue. In 2019, he said then Prime Minister Scott Morrison should give his then New Zealand counterpart Jacinda Ardern a “few backhanders” and “shove a sock down her throat” because of her views on climate change.

Jones has faced defamation lawsuits many times. After leaving 2GB, he worked at a digital start-up, but had been off the air since the Sydney Morning Herald allegations were made.

Iran’s foreign ministry denied that a meeting was held between the Iranian ambassador to the United Nations and Elon Musk, the world’s wealthiest person and close ally of US President-elect Donald Trump, Iranian state media reported Saturday.

The New York Times reported the meeting took place earlier this week, citing two Iranian officials.

But Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei “categorically denied” that a meeting took place and was “surprised” by the coverage in US media, state-run IRNA said.

The Times reported that a meeting between Musk and Iran’s envoy Amir Saeid Iravani was held at a secret location in New York on Monday and lasted more than an hour, citing the Iranian officials, who reportedly described the discussion as focused on how to defuse tensions between the two countries.

Reports of the alleged meeting raised questions about what Musk’s influence might look like in the incoming administration, especially when it comes to US foreign policy.

Just last week, the day after the presidential election, Musk joined Trump’s call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, according to two sources. Trump put the call on speaker and Zelensky thanked Musk for his help with providing communications through Starlink to Ukraine in the ongoing war with Russia, a source added.

Trump announced Tuesday that Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy will lead a new “Department of Government Efficiency” in his second administration. Musk, who is the CEO of Space X and Tesla, has benefitted from billions of dollars worth of federal contracts, including from NASA, the military and other US government agencies, and the announcement raised immediate concerns about potential conflicts of interest.

It is not immediately clear how the department – which Trump said would “provide advice and guidance from outside of Government” – would operate, and whether the US Congress – even fully controlled by Republicans – would have the appetite to approve such a massive overhaul of government spending and operations.

The bad news keeps coming. Wherever Kyiv looks, Moscow seems to have the advantage.

Russia is making gains at key spots along the frontlines of eastern and southeastern Ukraine, while unleashing wave after wave of aerial terror against Ukrainian cities.

At the same time, Moscow is preparing to launch a counteroffensive in the southern Russian region of Kursk, the site of Kyiv’s only major military success this year. Moscow has deployed nearly 50,000 troops to Kursk, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says, numbers that were boosted by recently arrived North Korean troops.

Barros, who leads the Russia and Geospatial Intelligence teams at the DC-based conflict monitoring group, said that Russia’s advantage on the battlefield makes it impossible for Ukraine to prepare for a possible counteroffensive.

“The Russians are the ones taking action, and they’re forcing the Ukrainians to respond. That’s not a good thing, because you lose wars by constantly being on the defensive. … You just get boxed into a corner and you have to choose from a buffet of bad options,” Barros added.

The situation is particularly dire around Kupiansk. The key northeastern city is once again at risk of falling to Russia after it was liberated by the Ukrainians in September 2022 following more than six months under Russian occupation.

Kupiansk sits on the crossroads of two major supply roads and the Oskil river, which forms a major defensive feature in the area. Taking over Kupiansk would make it a lot easier for Russia to push further into the Kharkiv region. That would in turn put further pressure on Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second biggest city that has been pummeled by Russian drones and missiles on nearly daily basis.

Russian state news agency Tass reported on Friday that Russian troops entered the outskirts of the city, although Ukrainian officials insisted Kupiansk remained under full control of their forces.

At the same time, Ukraine is struggling to hold back Russian advanced further south, around the city of Kurakhove, which has been surrounded from three sides for months. Earlier this week, Zelensky called the situation around Kurakhove “the most difficult area” of the frontline.

But while Russia seems poised to take over the city in the coming days or weeks, Barros said this may not be a strategically significant loss for Kyiv, as it won’t significantly impact its ability to defend the wider region.

Ukraine has put up a fierce fight in the area in recent months, even though it has lost some ground.

Kurakhove lies some 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of Pokrovsk, a key logistical hub that has been in Russia’s crosshairs for many months. By late summer, Pokrovsk appeared almost certain to fall. Yet Kyiv’s forces have – for now – managed to repel Russia’s advances there, forcing Moscow to redraw its plans.

Barros said that the Pokrovsk situation is just one example of Russia’s failure to achieve its own, publicly stated goals.

“They were working towards trying to seize Pokrovsk this fall, but they have abandoned this operational objective, and they’ve actually started attacking in a different direction,” Barros said.

“It’s not just the Russians failing. It is actually part of a very stalwart Ukrainian defense,” he added.

Since seizing Avdiivka in early 2024, Russia has only managed to advance some 30 to 40 kilometers (18 to 25 miles) deeper into Ukraine’s territory. That is a very small advance given the huge costs to the Russian military.

Moscow has lost about five divisions worth of mechanized equipment, amounting to many hundreds of tanks and armed personnel carriers, in the Pokrovsk region in just the past year, according to the ISW’s assessment of visual evidence from the battlefield.

“To lose five divisions worth of tanks and other personnel carriers over the course of a year to only advance about 40 kilometers, you can go and compare this to all the other major mechanized offenses of the 21st century and even the great battles of the Second World War …. that’s actually a really terrible performance,” Barros said.

War of attrition – but for how much longer?

Since the start of the full-scale invasion, and despite the assistance from its allies, Ukraine has always been on the back foot when it comes to material and manpower.

Russia has more weapons; more ammunition and more people.

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s strategy still appears to be slowly grinding Ukraine down by outgunning and outspending it and by wearing down its western allies.

But number of analysts have said that Putin has a limited window of opportunity to achieve this goal, given the staggering losses Russia is suffering to make even the smallest advances.

The strain the conflict is putting on Russia’s economy is clearly growing. Russia has massively increased its military spending over the past two years and its economy is now showing signs of overheating: inflation is running high, and companies are facing labor shortages. Trying to control the situation, the Russian Central Bank has raised interest rates to 21% in October, the highest in decades.

And while Russia has many more people than Ukraine, it is suffering significant losses and recruitment of new troops is already a problem – last time the Russian military introduced a partial mobilization, hundreds of thousands of men fled the country.

The recent influx of North Korean troops into Russia will help for some time, but the material losses could be harder to make up for.

“Between the economy, the shortage of men in Russia and losing the pile of vehicles that the Russians require for their current style warfare, these are strategic resources that are going to impose serious problems on the Kremlin if the current tempo holds for the next year,” Barros said.

Whether Ukraine could take advantage of these problems will depend mostly on the willingness of its allies to continue support it – and the return of the former president Donald Trump to the White House certainly puts a major question mark over that.

Zelensky this week said that the war will end “faster” once Trump returns to the presidency.

“If the international Western coalition, including the United States, keeps backing the Ukrainians for the next maybe 12 to 16, 18 months, there will be opportunities to really disrupt the way that the Russians have been resourcing this war,” Barros said. “(They) can decide whether the Russians win or lose.”

Intense Israeli strikes targeted areas of Beirut’s southern suburbs Saturday as the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah considered its response to a fresh ceasefire proposal.

The strikes marked the fifth straight day of Israeli attacks on the Dayiyeh region of Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold. Lebanon’s National News Agency said three areas were hit.

The Israel Defense Forces said it had targeted Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure, accusing the Iran-backed group of embedding itself within the civilian population. It issued evacuation orders across several locations ahead of the attacks.

Israel has intensified its strikes on the capital and expanded its ground operation in southern Lebanon in recent days. The heavy strikes coincide with revived negotiations for a ceasefire in Lebanon.

The latest proposal is the first to be submitted by the US and Israel since a temporary ceasefire was negotiated in late September. Those efforts were upended when Israel killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in a major bombing attack in Beirut’s southern suburbs.

Authorities are “optimistic” that Hezbollah will agree to the terms of the agreement and expect to submit an official response to the latest proposal next Monday, the Lebanese official said. But Hezbollah is yet to respond.

It remains unclear if the intensified strikes across Lebanon will influence the ceasefire negotiations. On Thursday alone, Israeli airstrikes resulted in the deaths of at least 59 individuals throughout Lebanon, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health.

Most of the strikes have been in Shia-majority areas where Hezbollah wields influence, but Israel has also struck buildings housing displaced families well outside areas of the militant group’s dominance.

Meanwhile Hezbollah has continued systematically firing projectiles onto areas in northern Israel. At least 60 projectiles were identified crossing from Lebanon into Israel on Saturday, the IDF said.

Israel launched a major offensive in Lebanon in mid-September following months of tit-for-tat border attacks, which started when Hezbollah attacked Israel in solidarity with Hamas and Palestinians in Gaza. Returning 60,000 civilians to their homes in northern Israel has become a political imperative for the Israeli leadership.

More than half a million people have been evacuated from their homes as Super Typhoon Man-yi made landfall along the eastern coast of Catanduanes, Philippines on Saturday.

Winds are currently up to 160 mph (260 kph), making Man-yi the equivalent of a Category 5 hurricane.

More than 500,000 people in the country’s Bicol region have been evacuated, a disaster official told DZRH radio, Reuters reported Saturday. This number is expected to rise.

At least 26,000 people in the country’s Northern Samar province were evacuated on Friday and Saturday, according to the country’s government-run Philippine News Agency (PNA).

A further 18,000 were preemptively evacuated from the Eastern Samar and Samar provinces, PNA reported, with patients and staff members of Eastern Samar’s Arteche District Hospital being evacuated to the area’s municipal hall.

Man-yi underwent rapid intensification on Friday, jumping from a tropical storm early Friday to a super typhoon early Saturday. The increase of 55 mph in 24 hours well exceeds the definition of rapid intensification, which is 35 mph in 24 hours.

Signal 5 warnings have been issued for the Catanduanes area by the Philippines meteorological agency PAGASA. This is the highest level for warnings that can be issued.

Catanduanes Governor Joseph Boboy Cua asked for “continued prayers” for the area in a Facebook post, PNA reported.

“Most importantly, we pray you do not forget about Catanduanes. We appeal for your power restoration teams, free calls and text booths, in-kind donations, help and attention, especially after the typhoon leaves the country,” he said in the Facebook post, according to PNA.

After crossing Catanduanes, Man-yi is expected to make another landfall about 70 miles (110 km) northeast of Manila Sunday afternoon.

The storm is expected to bring several meters of potentially catastrophic storm surge, widespread damaging winds and power outages, severe flooding and landslides across a significant swath of eastern Luzon.

The head of Georgia’s Central Electoral Commission was doused with black paint Saturday at a meeting to confirm the results of the country’s divisive Oct. 26 parliamentary elections.

Protesters gathered outside the commission’s building in Tbilisi, where officials announced that the ruling Georgian Dream party had won 53.93% of the vote.

Opposition supporters have rejected the results amid allegations that the vote was rigged, an accusation that Georgian Dream denies.

The Saturday session was interrupted when David Kirtadze, a commission member from the opposition United National Movement party, threw black paint at commission chairman Giorgi Kalandarishvili.

Before the incident, Kirtadze told Kalandarishvili that the official results of the vote did not reflect voters’ “true choice.”

Kalandarishvili responded by saying that the use of “pressure, bullying and personal insults” proved that there was no evidence of vote rigging.

When the meeting resumed, Kalandarishvili was seen with a bandaged eye.

“It once again becomes evident that there is no tangible proof indicating that the elections were manipulated,” he told the audience.

European election observers have described the Georgian parliamentary elections as taking place in a “divisive” atmosphere marked by instances of bribery, double voting and physical violence.

Many Georgians viewed the vote as a pivotal referendum on the country’s effort to join the European Union. The bloc suspended Georgia’s membership application process indefinitely in June after the country’s parliament passed a “foreign influence law” that critics say mimics Moscow’s crackdown on civil society.

Critics have accused the ruling Georgian Dream, established by Bidzina Ivanishvili, a shadowy billionaire who made his fortune in Russia, of becoming increasingly authoritarian and tilted toward Moscow. It has recently adopted laws similar to those used by the Kremlin to crack down on freedom of speech and LGBTQ+ rights.

President Salome Zourabichvili, who has rejected the official results, says Georgia has fallen victim to pressure from Moscow against joining the European Union. Zourabichvili, who holds a mostly ceremonial position, has urged the United States and EU to support the demonstrations.

Officials in Washington and Brussels have urged a full investigation of the election, while the Kremlin has rejected the accusations of interference.

Dozens of people detained during protests over Venezuela’s disputed presidential election have been released, according to the local rights group Foro Penal.

Fifty people were released from the Tocorón prison in the state of Aragua and 20 more from three other prisons, Foro Penal’s leader Alfredo Romero said early Saturday.

Video footage from outside one of the prisons shows some of those released hugging loved ones surrounded by cheering crowds.

According to Foro Penal, more than 1,800 people have been detained for protesting July’s election, which saw strongman President Nicolas Maduro reelected despite widespread skepticism about the result in Venezuela and abroad.

Human Rights Watch has said there are “credible” reports of 24 people being killed during the crackdown on the protests.

More releases could be on the way, with Venezuela’s Attorney General saying Friday it would review the cases of more than 200 people detained during the protests.

The releases come after one protester died in custody.

Jesús Manuel Martínez Medina, a member of the opposition party Vente Venezuela, was detained on August 2 and had been in hospital since October 11.

The Attorney General said Friday he had died in hospital after receiving “adequate medical attention,” but did not specify the date of his death.

Venezuela has been in a state of crisis since the July election, when Venezuela’s electoral authority – a body stacked with Maduro allies – declared him the winner with 51% of the vote.

But tens of thousands of tallies published by the opposition suggested a win for opposition leader Edmundo Gonzalez.

Multiple countries have refused to recognize Maduro’s victory.

Maduro – a follower of “Chavismo,” the left-wing populist ideology named after his predecessor Hugo Chávez – is set to begin his third consecutive six-year term in January.