RUSSIA: President Vladimir Putin said today that Russia’s air defences were responsible for shooting down an Azerbaijani airliner in December that killed 38 people in his first admission of blame for the crash.

Mr Putin made the statement at a meeting with Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliev in Tajikistan’s capital of Dushanbe.

The Azerbaijan Airlines passenger jet crashed on December 25 2024, while on a flight from Baku to Grozny in the Russian republic of Chechnya.

SECURITY DEAL: Australian and Indian defence ministers signed a new bilateral security deal today that Australia said upholds Indo-Pacific stability.

Rajnath Singh has become the first Indian defence minister to visit Australia since 2013, his Australian counterpart Richard Marles said.

“Australia and India are top-tier security partners and our defence co-operation delivers practical effects to uphold Indo-Pacific stability,” Mr Marles’ office said in a statement.

ARGENTINA: A court in Argentina sentenced Fernando Sabag Montiel to 10 years in prison on Wednesday after finding him guilty of attempting to kill former President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner on September 1 2022.

Ms Fernandez, then Argentina’s vice-president, was unharmed when the gun failed to go off.

CONGO: An Ebola outbreak that has plagued southern Congo in recent weeks is starting to be contained, the World Health Organisation said on Wednesday, with no new cases reported since the United Nations health agency’s last update on October 1.

The agency said a total of 64 cases, including 53 confirmed and 11 probable, have been reported in Congo’s Kasai Province as of October 5.

The WHO also reported 43 deaths, including 32 confirmed and 11 probable.