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A man employed by the US defense contractor V2X has been killed in a drone attack on Erbil airbase, amid concerns from colleagues that they are being placed in harm’s way and pressured to remain in Iraq despite security risks, five sources said.

The worker, from Kenya, died in a night attack in his sleeping quarters on the base on 24 March. Another five workers were injured. They are from Kenya and India, and are among a group of about 45 workers employed by V2X who have remained on the base. One of the workers is in a critical condition with severe burns, sources said.

“The company has messed up here bad,” said a source speaking on the condition of anonymity. “He didn’t have to die. The company thought it was more important to keep the mission going rather than get people to safety.”

V2X has almost 300 employees in Erbil, in Iraqi Kurdistan, who are mainly American, Indian and Kenyan. Other US defense contractors active on Erbil’s military base, including Lockheed Martin and Amentum, evacuated their staff several weeks ago, according to V2X workers interviewed, who question why efforts have not been made to repatriate them. Lockheed Martin and Amentum did not respond to requests for comment.

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Ukraine has returned seven more children from temporarily occupied territories as part of the “Bring Kids Back UA” initiative, Ukrainian Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets reported on Saturday, April 4.

The group, consisting of childrAmong those returned is a 13-year-old boy from the Kherson region who had been placed in a rehabilitation center after losing both parents. Two brothers, aged 13 and 16, were also repatriated after resisting attempts by occupation officials to prevent them from reuniting with their sister in government-controlled territory. Another 14-year-old boy was reunited with his mother after a four-year separation.en aged 13 to 17, includes several orphans who had been held in Russian-controlled social centers or subjected to psychological pressure by occupation authorities. Lubinets expressed gratitude to US First Lady Melania Trump for her “humanitarian support” in facilitating the return.

Among those returned is a 13-year-old boy from the Kherson region who had been placed in a rehabilitation center after losing both parents. Two brothers, aged 13 and 16, were also repatriated after resisting attempts by occupation officials to prevent them from reuniting with their sister in government-controlled territory. Another 14-year-old boy was reunited with his mother after a four-year separation.

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US federal agents have arrested the niece and grandniece of the late Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani after the Trump administration’s top diplomat, Marco Rubio, revoked their lawful permanent resident status, officials said on Saturday.

“Hamideh Soleimani Afshar and her daughter are now in the custody of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement,” or ICE, the state department said in a statement.

US authorities arrest relatives of State department said niece and grandniece of Qassem Soleimani, killed in 2020 US drone strike, celebrated attacks against US soldiers

In his own statement on social media, Rubio, the US secretary of state, confirmed that the mother-daughter pair are “pending removal” from the US, a development that came after the US and Israeli militaries began waging war on Iran in late February, in part citing an Iranian history of terrorism sponsorship.

More...https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/apr/04/soleimani-family-arrested-us-federal-authorities

Global approval of China surpassed the U.S. in 2025, the widest favorability gap between the two countries in almost 20 years, according to a new Gallup poll released Friday.

Gallup found that China’s global approval rating last year reached a median of 36 percent in support of the country’s leadership. U.S. leadership saw its median approval rating drop to 31 percent, a fall of 8 percentage points since 2024. China’s approval rose from 32 percent in 2024.

Disapproval of China’s leadership remained flat at 37 percent, Gallup found. U.S. leadership’s disapproval reached a record-high of 48 percent.

Last year was the second year on record where both countries registered negative net global approval ratings. The median net approval for China dipped to -1, with the U.S. dropping down to a median net approval of -15, the lowest on record.

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President Volodymyr Zelensky has revealed that Ukrainian expert teams are actively working across the Middle East and Gulf region, assessing defense systems, advising governments, and laying the groundwork for long-term military cooperation.

During an off-the-record meeting with journalists on April 2, Zelensky said Ukrainian teams are already on the ground in several countries.

“Our expert groups are there to analyze what is happening in a particular country – what level their defense is at, what changes are needed, what can strengthen them,” he said.

According to the president, this effort has now moved into a second phase, where partner countries are outlining their needs and priorities.

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The Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) in March liberated a bit more territory held by enemy forces than it lost to Russia, according to compiled data made public by the AFU on Wednesday and reviewed independently.

Ukrainian troops in March in battles across the Russo-Ukraine War’s 1,200-kilometer (745-mile) fighting front scored a net gain of 27 square kilometers (10.4 square miles) more ground recaptured from Russian forces, for the first time since at least October, a March 31 review published by the Washington D.C.-based Institute for the Study of War said. The finding tallied with Kyiv Post research during the month.

The finding that Ukraine has actually shifted combat dynamics to the point where its forces have the initiative and are making net ground gains against Russia was noted by Ukraine’s army commander General Oleksandr Syrsky in comments to ICTV television on Tuesday. In an hour-long interview, Syrsky said that since late January, his troops have been advancing slowly but continuously, with local counterattacks in the southern Olesandrivka-Zaporizhzhia sectors scoring the biggest successes.

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