UR MAG

A Russian general serving as deputy head of Russian military intelligence was shot and seriously wounded in Moscow on Friday, officials said – the latest in a series of attacks on top military figures.

An unknown attacker fired several shots at Lt. Gen. Vladimir Alekseyev in a residential building on Volokolamskoye Highway in Moscow and fled the scene, a Russian Investigative Committee spokesperson said in a statement.

The Russian Investigative Committee said its officers are at the scene and investigators are searching for the shooter. The committee has opened a criminal case into what it called the attempted murder of a high-ranking defense ministry official.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov accused the Ukrainian government of being behind the attempted murder of Alekseyev, without citing evidence.

Ukrainian authorities have not commented on the shooting.

Alekseyev has been transferred to a city hospital, the Investigative Committee statement said. He is in intensive care and in a serious condition following the shooting, according to Russian state media.

Alekseyev, 64, is the first deputy head of Russia's Main Intelligence Directorate, the GRU. The Russian general was one of several GRU officials sanctioned by the United States in 2016 for wide-ranging malicious cyber activity directed at undermining US democratic processes.

He was also sanctioned by the European Union in January 2019 following anerve agent attackin Salisbury, England, which the British government said was carried out by GRU agents to poison a former Russian spy. The EU sanctions describe Alekseyev as "responsible for the possession, transport and use in Salisbury… of the toxic nerve agent 'Novichok' by officers from the GRU," along with sanctioned Russian military intelligence chief Igor Kostyukov.

Alexseyev has had significant involvement in the war in Ukraine, serving as one of Russia's negotiators in thesecret talkswith a member of the Ukrainian parliament to end Russia's 2022 siege of the strategic city of Mariupol, Ukraine.

A Ukrainian intelligence report on Alexseyev claims he has been responsible for "the organization of the preparation of initial data for launching missile and air strikes on Ukrainian territory," including on civilian targets, as well as being responsible for theillegal referendain the occupied Ukrainian territories. Ukraine has also accused him of war crimes in Syria.

In 2023, Alekseyev was sent by the Russian military to negotiate withYevgeny Prigozhin, founder of the Wagner private mercenary group, during the Wagner group's mutiny. At the time, he called Prigozhin's actions a coup as well as "a stab in the back of the country and the president."

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in a Friday press briefing that the intelligence services were investigating the attack and would report any findings to Russian President Vladimir Putin. He added: "We wish the general survival and recovery."

"It is clear that such military leaders and highly qualified specialists are at risk during a war," Peskov said when asked about the security of military officials' residences. "That's a matter for the intelligence services."

A neighbor of Alekseyev told Reuters that she heard several shots around 6:30 a.m. local time Friday. The woman, who only gave her first name as Alexandra, said she "woke up because of shots" and rushed outside the residential building alongside other neighbors. Another resident had already called police, who arrived by 7 a.m., she said.

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Several prominent Russians have been killed by explosive devices or shot dead in Moscow inattacksblamed on the Ukrainian security services since the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Russian strikes continue

Friday's shooting in Moscow comes one day after Russian, Ukrainian and US negotiators met for trilateral talks in the United Arab Emirates, where the Russian delegation was led by their military intelligence chief Kostyukov.

The Kremlin on Friday described the trilateral talks as "both constructive and challenging."

Ukraine's negotiation team also said the talks were "truly constructive" in a comment to news agency RBC-Ukraine, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said they'd "agreed that the next meeting will be held in the near future."

But beyond a prisoner swap that took place on Thursday, which saw 314 POWs exchanged, no major breakthroughs were announced by either side.

Despite the diplomatic engagement, Russia's attacks on Ukraine have continued this week.

At least three Ukrainian people were killed and 15 people injured in Russian attacks within the last day, Ukrainian authorities said on Friday. Russia launched two ballistic missiles, five cruise missiles and hundreds of drones overnight into Friday, hitting the Ukrainian regions of Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson and Kharkiv.

In Zaporizhzhia, a Russian attack on Friday heavily damaged an animal shelter, according to the city council, which released video showing several animals injured or killed.

Throughout the winter – the coldest one Ukraine has experienced in 20 years – Russia's military has also intensified itsassault on the country's energy sector.

In the capital Kyiv, where temperatures are below freezing on Friday, 1,100 high-rise residential buildings remain without power, according to local authorities. In the two districts of Kyiv that have been hit hard by attacks on energy infrastructure, about half the schools are operating without heat.

"The Kremlin is doubling down on war crimes, deliberately striking homes and civilian infrastructure," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Friday, as she announced the EU is tabling its 20th package of sanctions against Russia.

"This is not the conduct of a state seeking peace. It is the behaviour of a nation waging a war of attrition against a civilian innocent population," von der Leyen said.

This is story has been updated with developments.

CNN's Victoria Butenko and Svitlana Vlasova contributed to this report.

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BANI WALID, Libya (AP) — Thousands converged on Friday in northwestern Libya for the funeral ofSeif al-Islam Gadhafi, the son and one-time heir apparent ofLibya'slate leader Moammar Gadhafi, who waskilled earlier this weekwhen four masked assailants stormed into his home and fatally shot him.

Mourners carried his coffin in the town of Bani Walid, 146 kilometers (91 miles) southeast of the capital, Tripoli, as well as large photographs of both Seif al-Islam, who was known mostly by his first name, and his father.

The crowd also waved plain green flags, Libya's official flag from 1977 to 2011 under Gadhafi, who ruled the country for more than 40 years before being toppled in a NATO-backedpopular uprisingin 2011. Gadhafi was killed later that yearin his hometown of Sirteas fighting in Libya escalated into a full-blown civil war.

As the funeral procession got underway and the crowds swelled, a small group of supporters took Seif al-Islam's coffin away and later performed the funeral prayers and buried him.

Attackers at his home

Seif al-Islam, 53, was killed on Tuesday inside his home in the town of Zintan, 136 kilometers (85 miles) southwest of the capital, Tripoli, according to Libyan's chief prosecutor's office.

Authorities said an initial investigation found that he was shot to death but did not provide further details. Seif al-Islam's political team later released a statement saying "four masked men" had stormed his house and killed him in a "cowardly and treacherous assassination," after disabling security cameras.

Seif al-Islam was captured by fighters in Zintan late in 2011 while trying to flee to neighboring Niger. The fighters released him in June 2017, after one of Libya's rival governments granted him amnesty.

"The pain of loss weighs heavily on my heart, and it intensifies because I can't bid him farewell from within my homeland — a pain that words can't ease," Seif al-Islam's brother Mohamed Gadhafi, who lives in exile outside Libya though his current whereabouts are unknown, wrote on Facebook on Friday.

"But my solace lies in the fact that the loyal sons of the nation are fulfilling their duty and will give him a farewell befitting his stature," the brother wrote.

Since the uprising that toppled Gadhafi, Libya plunged into chaos during which the oil-rich North African country split, with rival administrations now in the east and west, backed by various armed groups and foreign governments.

Gadhafi's heir-apparent

Seif al-Islam was Gadhafi's second-born son and was seen as the reformist face of the Gadhafi regime — someone with diplomatic outreach who had worked to improve Libya's relations with Western countries up until the 2011 uprising.

The United Nations imposed sanctions on Seif al-Islam that included a travel ban and an assets freeze for his inflammatory public statements encouraging violence against anti-Gadhafi protesters during the 2011 uprising. The International Criminal Court later charged him with crimes against humanity related to the2011 uprising.

In July 2021, Seif al-Islam told the New York Times that he's considering returning to Libya's political scene after a decade of absence during which he observed Middle East politics and reportedly reorganized his father's political supporters.

He condemned the country's new leaders. "There's no life here. Go to the gas station — there's no diesel,″ Seif al-Islam told the Times.

In November 2021, he announced his candidacy in the country's presidential election in a controversial move that was met with outcry from anti-Gadhafi political forces in western and eastern Libya.

The country's High National Elections Committeedisqualified him, but the election wasn't held over disputes between rival administrations and armed groups.

Associated Press writer Fatma Khaled in Cairo contributed to this report.

A fuel leak atHartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airportlast week dumped 10,000 gallons ofjet fuelinto the Flint River, environmental officials said.

Griffin residents were warned not todrink their wateron Jan. 30, and Governor Brian Kemp issued aState of Emergencyfor Spalding County to start cleanup efforts.

Kemp's executive order said there was a "significant release of fuel at or near" the airport.

How did the fuel spill from the airport?

The fuel leak occurred when a fuel pit hydrant attached to a fuel systempipeline burstnorth of Terminal T at Hartsfield-Jackson, the EPA told outlets.

The fuel entered theairport's storm water systemwhich flows to the Flint River, south of the airport. The Flint River is used as a primary water source for Spalding County.

According to the EPA, cleanup crews had removed 80% of the jet fuel from the river as of Wednesday, or about 8,300 gallons of the 10,000. They also collected 28,000 gallons of water that had come in contact with petroleum and some debris that had become contaminated.

Is the water in Griffin safe to use?

The water in Griffin wasdeemed safeto use the same day as the spill, later in the evening, but some residents believed the water still had an unpleasant smell.

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Thursday night, a city official said that tests had been run on the water to ensure safety, and found there waspropylene glycol presentin the clear well. The official said when it mixes with chlorine and gets into the city's distribution system, it can smell like fuel. Propylene glycol, however, is safe to consume and is found in products used every day.

The city official said Thursday that every test run on the water supply since last Friday has come back negative for any fuel or fuel derivatives in the water. The test results will be madepublicly availableon the city's website.

Previous spills in Flint River

The headwaters of the Flint River, which flows south all the way to Florida, begin from seepage around the area of the Atlanta airport, meaning any contaminants from that area can reach the river more easily.

There have been multiple incidents ofcontamination of the riverfrom the area of the airport, including a fuel spill in September 2021 that dumped 1,300 gallons into the river, according to the Southern Conservation Trust.

Other than the airport, the surrounding area has high industrial activity, posing a threat to the Flint River as a safe water source, the trust said.

Irene Wright is the Atlanta Connect reporter with USA Today's Deep South Connect team. Find her on X @IreneEWright or email her at ismith@usatodayco.com.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:EPA says 10,000 gallons of jet fuel spilled from Atlanta airport

The allegations against Emmanuel Clase appear to stretch much further than previously known.

A court filing has revealed that the Cleveland Guardians closer is accused of manipulating pitches in 48 different MLB games over the span of two years,according to ESPN's David Purdum. That's far more than the nine specific games identified inthe federal government's indictment last year.

Including playoffs, Clase appeared in 178 games ranging from May 2023 to June 2025, the timeline of the scheme alleged by prosecutors. If the 48-game figure is correct, that would mean Clase threw suspicious pitches (i.e. intentional balls to allegedly help his co-conspirators win prop bets) in 27% of his appearances with the Guardians in that span.

That figure reportedly comes from Clase's co-defendant, Guardians teammate Luis Ortiz, who is accused of manipulating only two pitches in June 2025. It was Ortizwho was first implicated in the scandal, but his attorneys are now reportedly requesting that his case be severed from Clase's due to "markedly different levels of culpability."

Basically, Ortiz's camp is arguing that the case against Clase is so overwhelming, it hurts Ortiz's case to be at the same defendant's table. From ESPN:

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In Thursday's filing, Ortiz's attorney pointed to this difference in scale and emphasized that the indictment did not contain evidence of Ortiz communicating directly with bettors.

Georgalis argued that a jury presented "with 26 months of alleged criminal conduct by Mr. Clase — including suspect pitches during 48 games, dozens of communications with [a bettor], cash transfers and coordination of illegal wagers" could find Ortiz guilty by association.

Another court record reportedly shows that a judge asked prosecutors to provide Clase's attorneys with evidence for suspicious pitches:

"[Clase] has identified at least 250 pitches on which bets were placed, so the Court encouraged the government to disclose discovery to [Clase] as to any additional pitches that it alleges were included in the conspiracy," a record of the court proceeding states.

Clase and Ortiz were indicted in November on charges of wire fraud conspiracy, honest services wire fraud conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy and conspiracy to influence sporting contests by bribery. They have both pleaded not guilty to the charges, which carry a total maximum sentence of decades in prison.

Their trial is scheduled for May.

The pitchers officially remain members of the Guardians organization, but they remain on the restricted list (i.e. unpaid leave). In addition to prison time, they face a lifetime ban from baseball, pending MLB's investigation into the allegations.

Clase is alleged to have done all this despite his status as one of the top closers in baseball and a contract that would have paid him $6.4 million in 2026, with a pair of team options for $10 million each in 2027 and 2028.

"America's Team" is going international for the first time in 12 years.

The Dallas Cowboys will be one of the participating teams in the NFL's first game in Rio de Janeiro next season.

The date and time of the game, as well as the Cowboys' opponent, will be announced at a later date,per a league release on Thursday night. It will be played in the Maracanã Stadium, which famously hosted the 2014 FIFA World Cup final.

#Cowboysheaded to Brazil.pic.twitter.com/Ko3zwCUU9w

— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo)February 6, 2026

The NFL has already played two games in Brazil, but those took place in São Paulo at Corinthians Arena, where the Philadelphia Eagles defeated the Green Bay Packers on Sept. 6, 2024, and the Los Angeles Chargers bested the Kansas City Chiefs on Sept. 5, 2025. Both were season openers, and both were decided by one score.

The Cowboys' game in Rio will be their first international date since 2014, when they faced off against the Jacksonville Jaguars in London.

[Get more Cowboys news: Dallas team feed]

It will also mark the franchise's 11th time playing an international game, however, nine of those matchups have arrived during the preseason,according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, which listed those 10 prior games as such:

• 2014 vs. Jacksonville Jaguars | London

• 2001 vs. Oakland Raiders | Mexico City (preseason)

• 2000 vs. Atlanta Falcons | Tokyo (preseason)

• 1998 vs. New England Patriots | Mexico City (preseason)

• 1996 vs. Kansas City Chiefs | Monterrey (preseason)

• 1995 vs. Buffalo Bills | Toronto (preseason)

• 1994 vs. Houston Oilers | Mexico City (preseason)

• 1993 vs. Detroit Lions | London (preseason)

• 1992 vs. Houston Oilers | Tokyo (preseason)

• 1986 vs. Chicago Bears | London (preseason)

The NFL also announced Thursday that the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Ramswill play in the league's first game in Melbourne, Australia, next season.

In total,there will be an NFL-record nine international gamesduring the 2026 campaign.