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Nikita Yurefev, a municipal deputy for Smolninskoe in St. Petersburg, and Dmitry Palyuga, another municipal deputy for the area, both shared screenshots of text messages from the city’s police department No. 76. The pair were ordered to make an appearance at a police station located on Mytninskaya Street in St. Petersburg at 9 a.m. local time on Friday, according to the messages. They were informed that the purpose of the summons was to draw up a protocol on an administrative offense under a stringent new law that cracks down on dissent over the war against Ukraine....

Paris Saint-Germain are preparing a €70 million offer for Arsenal star Alexis Sanchez, according to reports from Maxifoot. The Chilean has 18 months remaining on his contract at the Emirates and has been linked with a move to the Far East, a move which would see him follow Chelsea’s Oscar and John Obi Mikel to the riches of the Chinese Super League. Alexis has struck 13 times in the Premier League this season and registered six assists, giving his representatives a platform in which to negotiate the best possible terms for the forward....

The Athletic’s Bob Kravitz reported that trade talks to send Westbrook and a first-round pick to Indiana in a deal that would bring Buddy Hield and Myles Turner to Los Angeles are “currently dead.” The Pacers reportedly want the Lakers to add another first-round pick to that package. The only way that negotiations could continue is if the Lakers include that second pick, according to Kravitz. Los Angeles has offered to pair a 2027 first-round pick with Westbrook to get the deal done, but the Pacers would also like a 2029 first-rounder....

The Rockets and Wizards both shared official announcements around 9 p.m. ET on Wednesday night confirming the teams had agreed to swap their disgruntled guards. Houston is sending Russell Westbrook to Washington in exchange for Wall and a protected future first-round pick. MORE: Opening Night, Christmas Day games for 2020-21 season ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, who first broke the news of the trade, revealed that Sheppard and Rockets GM Rafael Stone hadn’t spoken about a deal in weeks but hopped on the phone Wednesday afternoon and ironed out the details in a few hours....

The Thunder point guard has passed all physical tests and his reps and team doctors agreed that he will play in Sunday night's game against the Phoenix Suns, Mayberry reported. In his debut, Westbrook will start and has no minute restriction, according to Royce Young of CBSSports. Westbrook, initially expected to be out 6-8 weeks, had already beat the odds when he recently returned to practice. There, Westbrook showed explosiveness that had teammates raving....

“They don’t know what to do, so they are improvising. Putin needs to achieve something that will convince Russians that he won and he can’t get it,” the ex-speechwriter, Abbas Gallyamov, told Radio Free Europe. Gallyamov’s comments come after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced earlier this week that Russia’s territorial ambitions go beyond the Donbas region—which has been the nation’s focus in recent months. Reuters reported that in an interview with state media, Lavrov said Russia’s geographical ambitions are “now different” and are “far from being just” Donetsk and Luhansk—which together make up the Donbas region....

After lengthy talks Wednesday between Maduro’s administration and a Russian delegation led by Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov, the two sides signed a series of strategic cooperation agreements spanning a number of key fields. “We have reviewed the map of world geopolitics, the state of Russia-Venezuela bilateral cooperation and we have addressed in detail each of the aspects of trade, energy, financial cooperation in the fields of health, culture, education, military,” Maduro said during a televised nighttime press conference....

A major new offensive is expected as Russia attempts to reverse its fortunes following fierce Ukrainian resistance since the beginning of the invasion on February 24 and the failure to capture the capital city of Kyiv. Experts who spoke to Newsweek suggested that while the new theater of conflict presented the Russians with certain advantages, the situation would still be difficult for the invading force amid low morale, logistical issues and the casualties they have already sustained....

In an “intelligence update” posted on Twitter, the ministry claimed that in the last week, Moscow has “increased its targeting of civilian infrastructure even where it probably perceives no immediate military effect.” Russian missiles struck a reservoir dam near the Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih, the BBC reported on Thursday, which caused the flooding of some houses and prompted officials to evacuate some areas. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the dam had “no military value at all....

President Joe Biden announced the United States would take away the benefits of being a “most favored nation” from Russia, a move that opens the door to hit Russian imports with tariffs. Russia’s economy is already suffering from the economic sanctions the world has imposed as retaliation for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the White House called Friday’s action another “serious economic blow.” Aside from Russia, only Cuba and North Korea are the only countries that do not have most favored nation status with the United States....

Officials are offering $13 coupons (1,000 rubles) to Russians over 60 who get the vaccine in an attempt to inflate demand, according to the Associated Press. In a country where members of this population receive monthly pensions of just $260 (20,000 rubles), the stipend is a substantial incentive. But not incentive enough. Older Moscow residents told AP that the coupons were difficult to register for online and that many grocery stores would not accept them....

In an intelligence update posted to Twitter, the ministry said that Russia is “moving reserve forces from across the country and assembling them near Ukraine for future offensive operations,” and added that many of the new infantry units are “probably deploying” MT-LB armored vehicles, which Russia “has long considered unsuitable for most front-line infantry transport roles.” “It was originally designed in the 1950s as a tractor to pull artillery, has very limited armour, and only mounts a machine gun for protection,” the ministry said....

The country’s coronavirus task force said it reached 34,325 new infections over the past 24 hours, bringing total recorded infections since the beginning of the pandemic to 8,027,012. Nearly 1,000 Russians died from COVID-19 over the same period, bringing the total to 224,310. That’s slightly less than the record 1,002 on Saturday, but the virus and low vaccination rates continue to crush the nation. Officials have attempted to lure Russians to vaccine clinics with lotteries and other incentives, but widespread misinformation and conflicting messages from authorities have set those efforts back....

The robot, better known as Fedor, will arrive at the ISS on August 24, with Soyuz docking on the Poisk module at approximately 1.30 a.m. Cosmonaut Alexander Skvortsov, who has been specially trained to handle Fedor, will meet the robot when it arrives at the ISS, Russia’s Tass news agency reports. It will spend just over two weeks on the space station, working with Russian crew members who will test “the space-designated anthropomorphous system,” Dmitry Rogozin, director general of Roscosmos, told Tass....

The comments by Anatoly Antonov come as CNN reported that Russia is engaged in a continuing and evolving campaign to interfere in the U.S. electoral process. The Russian embassy posted on its Facebook page the comments by Antonov in response to a media question about what he thought of “speculations” that Russia was trying “to interfere” in American domestic politics. The post did not specify which outlet asked the question, to which Antonov responded, “some politicians are trying to divert public attention from internal problems by looking for an external enemy who can be blamed for all of America’s troubles....

The accusation from Kyiv came after Russia alleged that Ukrainian-fired HIMARS [High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems] had killed more than 40 Ukrainian prisoners of war detained in Olenivka, which is part of the Russian-backed self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic. “Ukrainian security forces fired [U.S.-supplied] HIMARS rockets at a pre-trial detention center near Olenivka tonight,” Russia’s defense ministry said Friday, according to The Moscow Times. It reported that 40 Ukrainian POWs were killed and more than 80 others were wounded....

President Donald Trump first revealed Thursday that Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Boxer “took defensive action against an Iranian drone which had closed into a very near distance, approximately 1000 yards, ignoring multiple calls to stand down and was threatening the safety of the ship and the ship’s crew.” The president said that “the drone was immediately destroyed” and urged international support against Iran in the Persian Gulf. Russia, which joined China, the European Union, France, Germany and the United Kingdom in continuing to support a 2015 nuclear deal with Iran abandoned by last year by the Trump administration, has repeatedly called on both sides to de-escalate, but has especially blamed the U....

How is the Russia-Ukraine war taking a toll on technology? When there is an environment of tension in the globe, even the smallest incidents affects the technology and stock market. While technology is a useful tool for development, it can also be used for destruction. Here are the possible effects of the Russia-Ukraine war on technology. 1. Restriction on tech goods The US and other countries have imposed restrictions on the import of tech goods....

Promobot, the company behind “Android Robo-C” claims its human-like bot, which has a specially-developed artificial skin, has over 600 facial expressions. “Everyone will now be able to order a robot with any appearance—for professional or personal use,” Aleksei Iuzhakov, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Promobot, said in a statement. “Imagine a replica of Michael Jordan selling basketball uniforms and William Shakespeare reading his own texts in a museum?...

Ukraine’s Operational Command “South” reported in a Facebook post on Tuesday that that military had killed 20 Russian soldiers and destroyed two T-72 tanks, along with an “Msta-B” howitzer and four armored military vehicles. The battleground in the southern part of Ukraine was described as particularly “complex and tense.” The post also said that the danger of Russian missile strikes to Ukrainian civilians remained high, pointing out the presence of an enemy fleet of 13 ships and boats in the Black Sea, some of which could be carrying missiles....