Russian cosmonauts set station record | The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Russian cosmonauts set station record

MOSCOW – Two Russians set a record for the longest uninterrupted stay on the International Space Station on Friday, according to the Russian space agency.

Roscosmos said Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub broke the old record of 370 days, 21 hours and 22 minutes set in September 2023 by Russians Sergei Prokopiev and Dmitry Petelin and American Francisco Rubio.

Chub and Kononenko will add a few more days to their total time before their scheduled return to Earth on Monday.

Kononenko, 59, holds other records for time spent in space, including the longest cumulative time spent in space: 1,110 days over the course of five missions until his landing in Kazakhstan next week.

Two American astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, were accidentally on board the space station for most of the Russians' record-breaking stay. Williams and Wilmore had only planned to spend eight days on the ISS when they launched in June, but their problem-plagued Boeing Starliner capsule was sent back without them. They are now scheduled to return in February.

9 Pakistani soldiers killed in attacks

PESHAWAR, Pakistan – Militants killed nine Pakistani soldiers in separate attacks in northwest Pakistan, security officials said Friday.

The attacks took place in the tribal areas of North and South Waziristan in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan.

After midnight, militants attacked a military post in Misha village in South Waziristan, killing six soldiers. Another 11 soldiers were injured. In North Waziristan, militants attacked a patrol on Thursday, killing three security personnel.

Although no one has directly claimed responsibility for the attacks, suspicion probably falls on the Pakistani Taliban, who use the province as a base.

Security officials confirmed the incidents on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

The Pakistani military issued a statement on both attacks on Friday, but only gave the death toll for the attack in South Waziristan. It did not say that any soldiers were killed in the attack in North Waziristan.

Ukraine blocks Telegram for officials

KIEV, Ukraine – Ukraine has banned government officials, military personnel and other defense and critical infrastructure workers from installing the popular messaging app Telegram on government-issued devices, calling the move necessary for national security amid the war with Russia.

The National Cybersecurity Coordination Center of Ukraine said it had imposed the ban on the official devices of government employees, military personnel, security and defense personnel, and critical infrastructure employees. The ban was announced by the Security and Defense Council of Ukraine on Friday.

On Thursday, the Security Service of Ukraine and the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said Telegram was being used by Russia for cyberattacks, phishing, spreading malware, determining user locations and calibrating missile attacks.

An exception to the ban applies to people who use the app as part of their official duties. Ukrainians can freely use the app on their private devices.

The app is widely used in Ukraine not only for sending text messages but also for reading news, including updates on Russian airstrikes. In addition, it is the main means of Ukrainian politicians, including President Volodymyr Zelensky, to engage with the public and report on war developments. Zelensky will likely continue to use Telegram for his public communications, as this is his official function.

The head of Ukraine's intelligence service, Kyrylo Budanov, said Russian intelligence services had access to app users' personal messages, including deleted messages, as well as their personal data, the statement said.

Man charged with stabbing in the Netherlands

THE HAGUE, Netherlands – A 22-year-old man arrested after a fatal stabbing in Rotterdam that left one person dead and another seriously injured is suspected of murder and attempted murder with terrorist intent, prosecutors said Friday.

The Rotterdam Public Prosecutor's Office said in a statement that the investigation into the suspect, whose identity was not disclosed, had “revealed indications that the suspect may be ideologically motivated. For example, the suspect shouted 'Allahu akbar' several times while committing the crimes.”

In the stabbing on Thursday evening in the center of Rotterdam, a 32-year-old man from Rotterdam was killed and a 33-year-old man from Switzerland was injured.

The suspect, who lives in downtown Amersfoort, has already been convicted of violent crimes, the prosecutor's office said in a statement. He will be arraigned in a court in The Hague on Monday.

The Dutch government's terror alert level is four out of a possible five. This means that “there is a realistic possibility that an attack will be carried out in the Netherlands,” the national anti-terror coordinator said in a statement in early August.