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RUSSIAN forces began 10 days of military exercises with Belarus yesterday, in what Western officials fear could be a cover for renewed invasion of Ukraine.

The manoeuvres involve thousands of troops and sophisticated weapons systems including S-400 surface-to-air missiles, Pantsir air defence systems and Su-35 fighter jets.

A day earlier, Russian warships sailed toward the Black Sea for an exercise that puts them within range of Ukraine’s long southern coastline.

The training exercises are the largest Russia has ever conducted in Belarus.

Officials in Moscow and Minsk have said Russian troops will withdraw after the exercises.

| Washington Post

Corruption

A FORMER Goldman Sachs banker charged with helping to embezzle hundreds of millions of dollars from Malaysia’s 1MDB sovereign wealth fund will go on trial in the US on Monday.

Roger Ng, pictured, Goldman’s former investment banking chief in Malaysia, will stand trial in Brooklyn over one of the biggest financial scandals in Wall Street history. The charges are related to some $4.5 billion allegedly embezzled between 2009 and 2014 from 1Malaysia Development Berhad, a fund launched in 2009 to spur economic growth.

Ng’s former boss, Timothy Leissner, pleaded guilty in 2018 to corruption and money- laundering charges. | Reuters

Afghanistan

UNITED Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has expressed concern about the well-being of missing women activists in Afghanistan.

“Several have ‘disappeared’, some not heard from in weeks,” Guterres said in a tweet. “I strongly urge the Taliban to ensure their safety so that they can return home,” he said.

Tamana Zaryab Paryani, Parwana Ibrahimkhil, Mursal Ayar, and Zahra Mohammadi, pictured, have allegedly been detained during the past month.

There has been global outrage over the fate of the missing women who participated in protests to demand fundamental rights for women from the Taliban. | ANI

META has admitted the sale of counterfeit designer goods on its social media platforms is “a problem”.

According to a report published by Reuters, social media analytics firm

Ghost Data found fake goods masquerading as Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Prada and more across 26 000 active accounts on Facebook between June and October.

Meta has addressed the data and insisted it was working hard to crack down on fraudsters. |

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