Kyiv has accused Moscow of firing an ICBM at Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region early Thursday. However, two Western officials later told CNN the weapon appears to have been a shorter-range ballistic missile — not an ICBM.

The main difference between an ICBM and other types of ballistic missile is only in their respective ranges. As the name suggests, ICBMs can travel thousands of miles — crossing continents — whereas ballistic missiles have shorter and intermediate ranges.

But rather than focusing on the range of the missile, what matters instead is the explosive power packed by the missile — known as its “payload” — Fabian Hoffmann, a doctoral research fellow at the Oslo Nuclear Project, told CNN.

Although Russia’s strike was non-nuclear, the missile appeared to carry a “MIRV” payload, meaning it used multiple warheads to strike separate targets.

MIRVS, or Multiple Independently-targetable Reentry Vehicles, were developed during the Cold War to permit a missile to deliver multiple nuclear warheads to different targets.

Although the nuclear payload appeared to have been replaced with a non-nuclear one in this case, the use of the MIRV technology was intended to send a message, Hoffmann said.

The likelihood of escalation in the Ukraine war could significantly increase in the next two months, as long as Biden remains in power, Russian TASS news agency has cited Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban as saying following a meeting of the Defense Council.

“The threat of escalation of hostilities in Ukraine has never been as high,” he said, adding that the government’s mission is to prevent Hungary from being dragged into the war.

“All of Hungary’s knowledge and diplomatic expertise would be essential to keeping us distanced from this war,” he said.

Orban added that Trump’s election has “brought us closer to peace, or at least a ceasefire”.

Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani has dismissed an Israeli complaint to the UN Security Council about strikes by Iraq’s Shia militias on Israel as a “pretext and argument to attack Iraq” and to “expand the war in the region”.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar earlier posted on X a letter to the Security Council saying: “Israel has the inherent right to self-defence … and to take all necessary measures to protect itself and its citizens against the ongoing acts of hostilities by Iranian-backed militias in Iraq.”

An umbrella group of Iraqi militias, known as the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, has regularly launched drone strikes on targets in Israel in recent months in support of its Hamas and Hezbollah allies in the ongoing wars in the Middle East.

Saar said some of the militias are part of the Popular Mobilization Forces, a coalition of mostly Shia armed groups, and urged the Iraqi government to “take immediate action to halt and prevent these attacks”.

Al-Sudani’s office said in a statement that Iraq has refused to enter into the regional conflict while “seeking to provide relief to the Palestinian and Lebanese people”.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told the Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee that Hamas only wants a ceasefire deal so that Israeli forces must leave the Gaza Strip and it can return to power, Israeli media reported.

Netanyahu says Hamas only wants ceasefire to continue ruling

According to the reports, Netanyahu told the committee that Hamas “sees the pressure on Israel” and believes that it can hold out for a better deal.

“We’ve struck Hamas militarily, but we haven’t harmed their ruling capabilities enough,” says Netanyahu, according to Channel 12.

According to Israel National News, Netanyahu says he gave instructions for a plan to replace Hamas in the distribution of humanitarian aid to Gaza by Thursday.

Members of the committee also told Channel 12 that the prime minister does not believe that a ceasefire agreement in Lebanon will be effective, which is why Israel is demanding freedom of action against Hezbollah.

No. 15 Texas A&M made its Saturday night matchup with New Mexico State a one-sided affair as it cruised to a 38-3 win at Kyle Field. A&M picked up its eighth victory of the season for the first time since 2021 in front of a Senior Night crowd of 105,815.

“I think I came out strong,” Reed said. “You know, we executed what we were supposed to do with the game plan. Then, [we] kind of got a little sloppy in the second quarter, which is not good. Obviously, I threw that pick right before the half. Really should have thrown it out of bounds, but it is what it is. Got to live with it. … But overall, I think I did alright. Obviously, I have places where I can improve and do better.”

Redshirt sophomore QB Conner Weigman made his return to the field with two drives, finishing with 37 yards and an interception on 2-of-5 passing. Even freshman QB Miles O’Neill made an appearance, completing five of six passes for 51 yards and a touchdown in his first action of his career. The quarterbacks’ 356 passing yards was the most this season

A man was arrested after he tried to carjack at least three times on Saturday in Lincoln Heights and Boyle Heights, the Los Angeles Police Department said Thursday.

Maurice Latorre is accused of approaching a woman at a gas pump and trying to force his way into her car at around 10:40 a.m. Saturday in the 3200 block of North Broadway. Then he made similar attempts at around 2 p.m. and 5 p.m., targeting two other women, police said.

The 49-year-old had been hospitalized at Los Angeles General Medical Center. But after police circulated the video footage of the attempted carjackings, a nurse at the hospital recognized him and called the authorities.

Trump’s picks are coming faster now. Forbes ran a roundup story yesterday headlined, “Trump’s Cabinet: Here Are His Picks For Key Roles—Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy, Pete Hegseth And More.”

Apart from the ones I’ve already told you about, here are the latest lists of announced (not rumored) selections through sometime last night:

A new “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE): Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, no introductions needed.

Secretary of Defense: Pete Hegseth, Fox News host, Army veteran, author of “The War on Warriors,” who was banned from Biden’s inauguration as an “extremist”.

Department of Homeland Security: Kristi Noem, South Dakota’s anti-lockdown Governor who once put down a training-resistant puppy and a misbehaving goat in the same day.

CIA Director: John Ratcliffe, who triggered dems by declassifying and releasing Hillary’s Russian Hooker Pee-Pee Binder.

White House Counsel: William McGinley, GOP elections lawyer and former Trump White House outside counsel for election integrity. Ahem.

Special Envoy to the Middle East: Steven Witkoff, real estate entrepreneur and Trump loyalist who testified at the President’s New York Trial, where dim-bulb Letitia James ironically called Steven “not an expert” in real estate values.

Envoy to Israel: Mike Huckabee, former Arkansas governor and former evangelical pastor, who’s been on GLAAD’s ‘three minutes of hate’ list for decades.

National Security Advisor: Mike Waltz (R-Fl.), former Green Beret and four-time Bronze Star winner, who once triggered Gen. Mark Milley, causing the general to accidentally smear his lipstick in barely contained rage.

Corporate media is badly freaking out about that list of deplorables, white supremacists, garbage people, and phobics of various kinds. But it sounds good to me so far! Who’s next?

David Sanger, the New York Times’s “National Security Correspondent” and the voice of the deep-state, ran a thoughtful, cautious story about Trump’s growing list of picks yesterday, headlined “Once They Were Neocons. Now Trump’s Foreign Policy Picks Are All ‘America First.’” It was good news for all sane people who yearn for peace, though oddly, Sanger seemed slightly alarmed at an expected shift from Biden’s aggressive military intervention and regime change tactics to Trump’s style of ‘transactional diplomacy.’

A Dutch appeals court on Tuesday overturned a landmark ruling that ordered energy company Shell to cut its carbon emissions by net 45% by 2030 compared to 2019 levels, while saying that “protection against dangerous climate change is a human right.”

The decision was a defeat for the Dutch arm of environmental group Friends of the Earth, which hailed the original 2021 ruling as a victory for the climate. Tuesday’s civil ruling can be appealed to the Dutch Supreme Court.

In a written summary of the ruling, the court said that Shell has a duty of care to limit its emissions, but it annulled the lower court’s decision because it was “unable to establish that the social standard of care entails an obligation for Shell to reduce its CO2 emissions by 45%, or some other percentage.

“There is currently insufficient consensus in climate science on a specific reduction percentage to which an individual company like Shell should adhere.”uled that “for Shell to reduce CO2 emissions caused by buyers of Shell products … by a particular percentage would be ineffective in this case. Shell could meet that obligation by ceasing to trade in the fuels it purchases from third parties. Other companies would then take over that trade.”

Joustra said that, “The court’s final judgment is that Friends of the Earth’s claims cannot be granted. The court therefore annuls the district court’s judgment.”

“This hurts,” Friends of the Earth director in the Netherlands Donald Pols said. “At the same time, we see that this case has ensured that major polluters are not immune and has further stimulated the debate about their responsibility in combating dangerous climate change. That is why we continue to tackle major polluters, such as Shell.”

A hyper-realistic model of a dead whale has been set up on an embankment outside the COP29 venue in Baku this year, attracting the attention from passers-by and visitors.

It’s an installation by Belgium art collective Captain Boomer, of a life-sized sperm whale.

Their website describes it as a metaphor “for the disruption of our ecological system”.

It has previously appeared around the world in different places, to stimulate discussion over pollution and the environment