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☆ Former Russian mercenary commander flees to Norway and seeks asylum
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( Mithil Aggarwal | Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Caroline-Radnofsky-Circle-Byline-Template.Jpg | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

A former member of an infamous Russian mercenary group who fought in Ukraine says he staged a dramatic escape to Norway, where he is seeking asylum and offering to cooperate with international war crimes probes. Medvedev said he had crossed into Norway and surrendered to local police before claiming asylum in the country, which shares an Arctic border with Russia. The former mercenary recounted his defection from his former employer, which he joined last year on a four-month contract after serving time in prison. Medvedev said he climbed through barbed-wire fences, evaded border patrol dogs, ran away from guards' bullets and ran through a forest and over an icy lake to make it into Norway. Norwegian soldiers patrol the border with Russia near Korpfjells, Norway.

Harrowing video has emerged of the plane that crashed in Nepal over the weekend, showing passengers’ excitement turn to terror and offering a rare glimpse into a flight's final moments. Authorities said Monday that they had retrieved the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder from the wreckage. The recovery of the black boxes could offer crucial insight into what caused the crash of the twin-engine ATR 72 aircraft Sunday. It was carrying 68 passengers on board, including six children, as well as four crew members. At least 41 bodies had been identified out of the 69 retrieved, Nepal’s Civil Aviation Authority said in a statement.

In just his second year of pro football, Damar Hamlin had just come into his own with the Super Bowl-contending Buffalo Bills before he was rushed to a Cincinnati hospital. Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin (31) at Soldier Field in Chicago, on Aug. 21, 2021. He was a sixth-round pick from Pitt last year and he took a starting role for Buffalo after a neck injury to Micah Hyde. Kathy Hochul, a Buffalo native, tweeted: "Praying for Damar Hamlin. Josh Shapiro said in a statement: "Praying for Damar Hamlin and his family."

Two people died in a rock slide earlier this week at the Yosemite National Park, according to the local county sheriff’s office. On Friday evening, the park announced another closure at Big Oak Flat Road, east of Foresta, due to another rockfall incident. As of Saturday morning, Big Oak Flat Road remains closed. According to the Yosemite National Park, although uncommon, the Yosemite Valley can experience numerous rockfalls each year. According to the U.S. National Park Service, the Yosemite National Park welcomed 3.3 million visitors in 2021, making it one out of the 25 most visited national parks in the nation.

For the second time this year, Buffalo, N.Y., is coming together in the wake of a major disaster. For Toya Johnson, 38, who has lived in Buffalo her entire life, helping others has always been an easy decision. Tommy Roetzer digs out his driveway on West Delavan Street in Buffalo, N.Y., on Monday. Klein runs a food pantry in her neighborhood and packed up food to give to families affected by the snowstorm. A resident leaves a local corner store in Buffalo, N.Y., on Monday, as many major grocery stores remained closed.

☆ Travel chaos as severe weather cancels flights at Iceland’s Keflavík Airport, leaving Americans among those stranded
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( Matthew Mulligan | Matthew Mulligan Is A Reporter For Nbc News' Social Newsgathering Team Based In London. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

Heavy snowfall and strong winds have imposed restrictions on operations at Iceland’s Keflavik Airport since the weekend, with a notice on the country’s airport authority Isavia’s website warning passengers of delays due to the weather. The Icelandic Meteorological Office issued a weather warning for the entire country, forecasting poor visibility and dangerous driving conditions. One Icelandic member of parliament tweeted that the country’s branch of the Red Cross had set up shelters for stranded travelers. "Where I feel they failed in their duty was to provide guidance and announcements to those stranded," said Jolene Christensen of Richmond, Virginia. Despite the ordeal, Becky hasn’t let the days of disruption at the end of her first trip abroad deter her.

On Tuesday, those criticizing the team made their voices heard: This was the Islamic Republic's loss, not Iran's. Meanwhile, there were thousands of tweets in Persian, or in English from prominent Iranians, saying how happy they were their own team had fallen at the first hurdle of the competition. Dean Mouhtaropoulos / Getty Images"For 43 years the regime brainwashed Iranians to hate America," Masih Alinejad, a New York-based Iranian journalist and activist, tweeted . "But see how people across Iran are celebrating the victory of the U.S. soccer team against the Islamic Republic." Reuters TVWhere the Iranian soccer team fits into all this has been a subject of debate among Iranians and those watching from abroad.

☆ Iran's violent crackdown against protesters escalates in parts of the country
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-26 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Alex-Smith-Circle-Byline-Template.Jpg | Alexander Smith | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +7 min

The group, which focuses on human rights in Iranian Kurdistan, said that at least 1,500 people have been injured. Scenes from reported clashes in the northeastern Iranian city of Javanrud, shared by a Kurdish human rights group on Tuesday. The regime-aligned agency blamed the violence on “rioters” and “Kurdish separatists” who infiltrated crowds of protesters and attacked an IRGC base. Some protesters have called for an overthrow of the regime and “death to the dictator” — meaning Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. These have been condemned by Kurdish officials and the Iraqi government, despite the latter being dominated by parties close to Iran.

Two people subdued the gunman who opened fire at Club Q, a Colorado Springs LGBTQ nightclub late on Saturday, saving lives, officials say. "Colorado stands with our LGTBQ community and everyone impacted by this tragedy as we mourn together.”Follow along for the latest coverage of the shootingPolis' statement is supported by Club Q, who said in a statement that "heroic customers" stopped the attack. "We thank the quick reactions of heroic customers that subdued the gunman and ended this hate attack," the club posted on its Facebook page. The suspected shooter was injured in the incident at Club Q, apprehended and hospitalized, Colorado Springs Police Department spokeswoman Sgt. The hospitals are helping us to notify family who have been injured,” Castro said.

A Delta Air Lines flight from Atlanta to Los Angeles was forced to make an emergency landing in Albuquerque on Tuesday after the plane's cabin appeared to fill with smoke, the airline said. Delta Flight 2846 was enroute to Los Angeles International Airport from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport when what a Delta spokesperson described as a smoky odor started to fill the cabin. Smoke fills the cabin of Delta flight 2846 from Atlanta to Los Angeles on Nov. 1, 2022. He said he and other passengers were waiting for a new plane to arrive to transport them to Los Angeles. “That’s why our flight crew followed procedures to safely divert today’s flight 2846 to Albuquerque," the Delta spokesperson said, apologizing for the delay to passengers' travel plans.

Almost six weeks after the death of Mahsa Amini, the unrest in Iran shows little sign of abating. Defying security forces, thousands marched to her grave in the northwestern city of Saqqez on Wednesday, as crowds clashed with security forces on the streets of the capital, Tehran, and several other major metropolitan areas. Wednesday was 40 days since Amini's death after she was detained by morality police last month. “Freedom, freedom! A crowd chants "Freedom, freedom!

A suspected Russian spy was arrested in a Norwegian Arctic town this week, adding to fears about Moscow’s activity in the region after a string of recent incidents. “The person concerned was an intern at UiT The Arctic University of Norway, and thus not employed by the university,” the statement said. He said both he and the arrested man were part of a research network for students and researchers working on different types of security. It said that the “spy mania against Russia has been actively promoted in Norway lately.”“Everything Russian, whether it be state bodies, private companies or individual citizens, is suspicious and smacks of espionage,” it added. The latest incident comes after Norwegian media reported at least eight arrests of Russian nationals in recent weeks, suspected of flying drones and taking photos in restricted areas in northern and central Norway.

Security forces clashed with crowds who had gathered at 22-year-old Amini's grave in her hometown of Saqqez, according to a semi-official Iranian news agency, which also said that the internet in the region was subsequently cut-off. Anti-government protests since Amini’s death last month have persisted across Iran despite an intense crackdown. Cemetery clashes“A limited number of those present at Mahsa Amini’s memorial clashed with police forces on the outskirts of Saqqez and were dispersed," according to the semi-official news agency ISNA. Internet in Saqqez was then "cut off due to security considerations,” the agency reported, adding about 10,000 people had gathered. The governor also said that Amini's family decided against holding a memorial service for her and described as "false" any reports of roads to Saqqez being closed.

A Russian military bomber crashed Monday into the courtyard of an apartment complex in the Russian resort town of Yeysk, which is a few dozen miles across the Sea of Azov from Ukraine, Russia's Defense Ministry said. Calling it an accident, the Defense Ministry said the pilot had been performing a training flight of the SU-34 aircraft when the engine ignited during takeoff. “They were poisoned by combustion products," the deputy governor of the Krasnodar territory, Anna Minkova, said on her Telegram channel. The Armed Forces of Ukraine and its Defense Ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment. There was a large fire at a Russian military enlistment office in June, according to a report from Komsomolskaya Pravda, a Russian tabloid.

A rare protest calling for Chinese President Xi Jinping’s overthrow was staged in the country’s capital Thursday, days before the start of the Communist Party congress, which is expected to cement his rule for an unprecedented third term. Small protests and confrontations with authorities have taken place in the past, in several cities where lockdowns have been enforced. Scorched pavement is seen on a highway overpass where social media videos earlier appeared to show smoke and protest banners in Beijing on Thursday. Posts containing the hashtags Beijing or Haidian were quickly blocked on Weibo, China's popular microblogging site similar to Twitter. Security across Beijing is extremely tight ahead of the ruling Communist Party’s five-yearly congress, which is set to open Sunday.

What is the latest challenge for Iran's cleric-led government as it works to crush weeks of anti-government protests? “It’s an indication that this is a struggle for the future,” said Hadi Ghaemi, executive director of the Center for Human Rights in Iran. Last month the human rights group Amnesty International also said it had documented children among the people killed by the government in its crackdown. On Wednesday Human Rights Watch said that Iran's security forces have used excessive force against women protesting peacefully across the country. Human Rights Watch said assault rifles and shotguns have been employed against the demonstrators - even against people fleeing from the police and the military.

As thousands of Russians try to flee the country to escape the partial mobilization of civilians into the military, Ukraine’s president late Friday urged those who are conscripted to “sabotage any enemy activity.”Addressing Ukrainians in Russian-occupied regions, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a video address that his countrymen should “hide” from mobilization and “avoid summons” of military commanders. His comments came three days after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a partial mobilization of reservists. One woman, 23, said she booked seats on a flight to Kyrgyzstan with her husband, 24, an hour after Putin made his mobilization announcement. NBC News agreed not to name the couple because they fear repercussions by Russian authorities for speaking to foreign media. After crossing into Georgia, he told The Associated Press that he did "not very much like," what Russia was doing in Ukraine.

An activist targeted Leonardo Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa on Monday, throwing cake at the portrait inside the Louvre Museum in Paris. Sergio Migliaccio, a witness to the incident, said the man was in a wheelchair wearing a long wig amid the crowd of people there to see the famed painting. “All of a sudden the guy jumped from the wheelchair and, with a red rose between his lips, he climbed the fences and attacked the Mona Lisa with a cake,” Migliaccio said. The painting hangs behind a layer of glass, leaving it unharmed by the cake. It was also damaged in an acid attack perpetrated by a vandal in the 1950s, and has since been kept behind glass.

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