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Ukraine war briefing: Kim Jong-un strengthens military ties with Russia and hails soldiers who fought in Kursk | Russia
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has hailed the troops from his country who fought alongside Russia in Kursk a year ago, state media KCNA said on Monday. Kim made his remarks after a Russian delegation arrived in Pyongyang to attend the opening ceremony of a memorial complex honouring those killed helping Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. In 2024 Ukraine launched a surprise incursion into the Kursk region, capturing more than 1,000 sq km (386 sq miles) of Russian land, but were ultimately pushed back.
During discussions in Pyongyang, Russia and North Korea agreed to “long-term” military cooperation. Moscow’s defence minister Andrey Belousov said “We agreed with the DPRK defence ministry to place our military cooperation on a stable, long-term footing,” The agreement will cover 2027-2031, he said. North Korea has sent thousands of troops – as well as missiles and munitions – to support Russia’s war in Ukraine. In return, analysts say North Korea is receiving financial aid, military technology, food and energy from Russia.
Kim said his government “would continue to fully support Russia’s policies of defending its sovereignty, territorial integrity and security interests”, KCNA reported. Kim has steadily moved to elevate the North Korean troops who fought for Russia in the Kursk region into symbols of sacrifice and loyalty, using state ceremonies and memorial projects to publicly honour their role. “The souls of the fallen will live forever with the great honour they defended,” Kim said in a handwritten message at the memorial on Sunday, according to state media.
Meanwhile, strikes across Ukraine, Russian-occupied territory and Russia over the past day killed at least 16 people, authorities said. Russian drone and missile strikes on the city of Dnipro killed at least nine, regional head Oleksandr Hanzha said. One man was killed in a Ukrainian drone strike on the port city of Sevastopol, in Russian-occupied Crimea, Moscow-installed authorities said.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of “nuclear terrorism” as he marked the 40th anniversary of the Chornobyl reactor disaster on Sunday. Zelensky said Russia was “again bringing the world to the brink of a man-made disaster”. He said Russian drones regularly pass over Chornobyl and one had hit its protective shell last year.
Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), echoed Zelenskyy’s concerns over Chornobyl during a visit to Kyiv, saying repairs to the plant’s damaged outer protective shell must begin immediately. IAEA assessments show the damage sustained after a strike last year has already compromised a key safety function of the structure, he said. He warned years of inaction could heighten danger to the original sarcophagus beneath it. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development said repairs would require at least 500 million euros ($586m).
Ukrainian forces struck an oil refinery in Yaroslavl, deep inside Russian territory, Ukraine’s General Staff said on Sunday. The strikes sparked fires at the facility, which processes 15m tons of oil a year and produces gasoline, diesel and jet fuel for the Russian military. Russia did not immediately comment. Ukraine has developed its own long-range drones, which can reach targets 1,500km (900 miles) inside Russia.
A Ukrainian drone attack also hit a fertiliser plant in Russia’s Vologda region, local governor Georgy Filimonov said on Sunday. Filimonov said a high-pressure sulphuric acid pipeline was damaged at a complex operated by Apatit, a subsidiary of PhosAgro, one of the world’s largest producers of phosphate-based fertilisers. The leak has been contained and there were no releases of hazardous chemicals, he said, adding that five people were injured.
Donald Trump said on Sunday he has had “good conversations” with Vladimir Putin and Zelenskyy as he aims to settle the Ukraine war. “We’re working on the Russia situation, Russia and Ukraine, and hopefully we’re going to get it,” Trump said in an interview on Fox News. Ukrainian peace talks have stalled since the US and Israel launched attacks on Iran on 28 February.
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David Guetta and Sia’s song Titanium got me through my fertility treatment | Dance music
At the end of 2011, party season was under way but I was in no mood for festivities. Two years into fertility treatment, my body was pumped full of synthetic hormones and felt like a pin cushion, while my head was filled with both the fragile hope of having a baby, and the exhaustion of failed clinical attempts to do so.
I was in my late 20s. I met my husband when I was 22; we got married when I was 25. “I want to have kids young,” I’d told him. It was a feeling I’d harboured since my teenage years. But I’d also had the nagging sense that it might not come easily to me. As it turned out, my intuition was right. Approaching 28, I was a regular on the infertility merry-go-round.
I was recovering from my second miscarriage that year when I heard Sia’s raspy voice on the car radio belting out words that sounded emotionally weighty for an electronic dance number – her David Guetta collaboration, Titanium.
It’s not a song I would have necessarily rated or listened to again – I’m more likely to play 00s R&B and hip-hop – but it came at the perfect time in my life. I had forgotten how days felt before fertility drugs and the diarised cycles of administering them. I’d been constantly wearing a brave face and cramming in hospital appointments before and after work, going about my job through a fog of longing and hormones. It had left me in a “cry on the bedroom floor” kind of a heap. I needed something to drag the hope back into me.
I turned the radio up and listened to the lyrics: “I’m bulletproof, nothing to lose / Fire away, fire away.” It felt as if it was talking to and about me, issuing a riposte to all those shots of disappointment that had been fired our way. As Sia’s vocals ascended through the chorus with Guetta’s soaring synths – “Ricochet, you take your aim” – I cried, but I felt myself gaining power with her, too. “You shoot me down, but I won’t fall / I am titanium.” Those were the words I needed to hear.
I felt like a puppet pulled upright again. I streamed it on repeat in the days that followed. I might not have been able to face the work Christmas party but I wasn’t going to languish on the bedroom floor any more.
Over the next months, I spent a lot of time in my car, travelling to work and to fertility appointments to get my blood tested, hormones measured or insides scanned. Listening to Titanium became routine. Each time, its cinematic surge had the same empowering effect and I’d turn up the volume, wind down the windows and defiantly sing along in my terrible voice so it could wash over me.
The following May, when my husband and I headed to the clinic for another IVF embryo transfer, I let it motivate me; when we drove back from scans confirming we were six weeks, then 12 weeks pregnant, I celebrated with it. As I nervously made my way through my pregnancy, I turned to it when I needed the boost.
In January 2013, our first son was born. Today, he is the eldest of three: his brother arrived 15 months later, via IVF too (the last of our fertilised embryos) and four years later, another brother, without fertility treatment. We consider ourselves unspeakably lucky; for many, the outcome is not the same.
In our family, everyone knows Titanium is my fight song. It’s the only big commercial dance hit on my playlists, and a marker of something I overcame.
My kids call me in whenever it streams or plays on TV. When I made my husband a playlist for our 15th wedding anniversary, it’s the song that represented our 2011. And the other week, when he was out with friends, he sent me a voice note from the bar: he’d recorded it playing in the background.
There’s something all-consuming about fertility treatment: you view life only through the filter of your efforts to get pregnant. If you’re lucky, the filter lifts. It did for me, but the fight song remained. So, now, elsewhere in life, when I need a shot of strength and find myself alone in the car, down goes the window and on it goes.
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Parents 'facing uncertainty' as SEN children left without school places
Amy Gibney says she is one of eight families at her child’s school to find out that they don’t have a place for next year.
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Edinburgh airport reopens after security alert but passengers warned of ‘knock on’ effect | Scotland
Edinburgh airport reopened on Saturday morning after parts of the terminal building were evacuated on Friday night because of a security alert.
An explosive ordnance disposal team was sent to the airport to investigate what Police Scotland described as a “potentially suspicious package” discovered at about 6.50pm on Friday.
An evacuation was ordered and a police cordon was set up, with roads closed.
Passengers faced disruption as result of the operation and the airport warned that schedules would continue to be affected on Saturday.
In a statement at about 3am on Saturday, the airport confirmed it had reopened and would work to restore normal services as quickly as possible.
“Following investigations by specialist teams, the airport has now reopened.
“This incident will have knock-on impacts throughout today and staff are working hard to address these and support passengers.
“Operational teams are continuing to work to restore normal services as quickly as possible.
“Please check with your airline for the latest information on your flight.”
The statement did not provide an update about the examination of the suspicious package.
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