Putin’s order comes as both Russian and Ukrainian forces suffer mounting casualties. What we know on day 1,679

Russian president Vladimir Putin has ordered ⁠an increase ​in the size ⁠of the army to 1.55 ⁠million ​active ‌servicemen, according ‌to a ‌presidential decree on Monday. The order comes as both Russia and Ukraine suffer mounting casualties in the more than four-and-a-half-year Ukraine war. The expansion, which follows a similar increase ordered in August, ‌will put the size ​of Russia’s armed forces at ⁠2,441,630. Of those are 1,550,000 ​active ​servicemen, an increase of ​15,500.

Ukrainian president ⁠Volodymyr Zelenskyy said ​on X ​on ‌Monday ‌there were now more than 8,000 ‌North Korean ​troops on ⁠Russian territory ​and preparations ​were ​under way ​to ‌deploy ​another ​10,000 troops. Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un confirmed for the first time last year that North Korea had sent troops to fight for Russia in the war with Ukraine, with both leaders describing the soldiers as “heroes”.

Citing “new data” on the deployment of North Korean troops to Russia, ⁠Zelenskyy said they were “being selected for training and subsequent deployment to Russia”. North Korea has sent an estimated 14,000 to 15,000 ⁠troops to support Russia’s war in Ukraine since 2024, ​according to Ukrainian ​and South Korean estimates, ​with most deployed in the Kursk region to ​help repel a ‌Ukrainian incursion.

Explosions ⁠were heard in the Ukrainian capital of ⁠Kyiv early ⁠on ​Tuesday, a Reuters witness said, as Russia ⁠continues its near-daily attacks. Missile ‌debris fell in the ‌courtyard of a residential building, among other damage, and a non-residential building caught fire in another ‌part of the city, Kyiv mayor ​Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram. On Monday, Zelenskyy said nine ⁠people had been killed and more ​than ​80 injured ​in Russian drone strikes ​throughout ‌the country, ​including ​in Kyiv.

Pope Leo urged Russia and ⁠Ukraine to sit down and discuss how to end their war, hours after ⁠he had urged ⁠European leaders ​seeking to end conflicts to make concessions to achieve peace. Addressing a press conference aboard his ​flight to Rome on Monday after ‌a four-day trip ‌to France, Leo said the 1.4-billion-member Catholic church had an obligation ‌to call for peace and respect of human life. “The Church has a responsibility to promote these values, continually inviting leaders – from Russia and Ukraine, as well as other countries – to come together, sit down, engage ‌in dialogue,” the pope said.

Nato’s top military commander said Russia’s sabotage campaign in Europe was failing to put countries off supporting Ukraine. “State-directed sabotage is growing increasingly brazen,” US general Alexus Grynkewich told a committee of EU lawmakers on Monday. Nato’s supreme allied commander for Europe cited recent incidents including the discovery of an explosive-laden drone at a German airport and a Russian naval ship firing flares at a Danish helicopter. “These are clear examples of attempts to instil fear and fracture our unified support to Ukraine. It isn’t working,” he said.

Ukraine will postpone some spending commitments, including reconstruction work, because of delays in receiving aid from its foreign backers, Ukraine’s prime minister said. The government would carry out these projects eventually, “but for now, all resources must be directed toward critical areas”, Sergiy Koretsky said on Telegram on Monday. Russia’s offensive has battered Ukraine’s economy, causing billions of dollars in destruction and punching a huge hole in its neighbour’s finances.

Putin has ordered the Russian assets of German retailer Metro AG to be placed under temporary administration, amid Russian-German tensions over the Ukraine war. The order, posted on Monday on the government website, did not state a reason. The step follows similar steps against the Russia businesses of global food company Nestlé and French retailer Auchan under a 2023 decree aimed at businesses associated with “unfriendly countries”. Temporary administration has led to local owners taking over the Russia businesses of French dairy concern Danone and Danish brewer Carlsberg at knockdown prices.

A Russian jet-powered drone struck a Ukrainian village near the Polish border earlier on Monday, damaging a border checkpoint, a regional Ukrainian official said. The official did not give details about the nature of the checkpoint or extent of damage from the blast. Russia has launched multiple attacks near Ukraine’s border with Poland in recent weeks, drawing condemnation from Warsaw and its European allies.

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The photographer’s photos are so meticulously staged that viewers often assume they were taken in a studio – not behind a London nightclub or in an Australian goat field

One bright spring day, the photographer Damien Frost arrived at a farm in Gungal, outside Muswellbrook, New South Wales. Goats grazed in a paddock, eucalyptus trees stretched into the brilliant blue sky and a tin shed weathered in the sun. Frost walked into the shed and entered another world.

“It’s a drag studio,” says Frost. Lining the walls were dozens of wigs and rails of flamboyant outfits belonging to Beverly Fabulosity. “I’ve never seen anything like it. It was a very Priscilla scenario.”

Frost grew up in Australia and is now based in London, where for more than a decade he has photographed drag queens and club kids for his acclaimed Night Flowers series. Since late August, he has been back in his home country, commissioned by Newcastle’s New Annual festival to photograph night owls in and around the city. These new portraits are being exhibited alongside a selection from Frost’s archive at Watt Space gallery as part of the festival.

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This little one graced my garden, so blessed.

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AMD has agreed to acquire Fei-Fei Li's World Labs for about $8.2 billion in stock, making it the chipmaker's second-largest acquisition and giving it a major foothold in "world models" that simulate 3D environments for robotics and other physically grounded AI. CNBC reports: AI researchers expect world models will be able to help develop robots and other physically-grounded artificial intelligence applications. AMD plans to keep World Labs separate from its chipmaking business until the transaction closes later this year. The lab's research on next-generation models will allow AMD to plan for what its AI chips need to be capable of years in advance.

World Labs was founded by AI researcher Fei-Fei Li, who is widely seen as an AI pioneer as a Stanford professor, and who previously worked for Google leading AI research. Li will become an AMD's chief scientist and an executive vice president at the company.

In a demo presented by Li and AMD CEO Lisa Su earlier this year, the two executives showed a World Labs model called Marble creating a three-dimensional scene out of a few images. "Intelligent agents, whether it's robots or vehicles or even tools, can learn inside very-rich physics-aware digital worlds before they even need to be deployed into the real one, making them much safer," Li said at the presentation.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Our experts bring you all the important betting information you need before making your predictions as the rescheduled Bahrain Grand Prix heads to Sepang.

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Oyama, Tokyo, Japan