THE Kremlin says the Russian military has successful tested a new hypersonic glide vehicle.
It said Russian president Vladimir Putin oversaw the test launch of the Avangard vehicle from the Defence Ministry’s control room.
In today's test, the weapon was launched from the Dombarovskiy missile base in the southern Ural Mountains.
The Kremlin said it successfully hit a designated practice target on the Kura shooting range on Kamchatka, 3700 miles away.
Putin named the Avangard, which is among the array of new nuclear weapons that he presented in March, saying they cannot be intercepted.
MEANWHILE, authorities in France have dropped a sensitive, long-running investigation into the plane crash that
sparked Rwanda’s 1994 genocide, claiming lack of sufficient evidence.
Several people close to Rwanda’s current president, Paul Kagame, had been under investigation in the case.
A French judicial official said that investigating judges decided last week to close the case, based on a request from prosecutors. The official provided no details about the decision.
The 1994 plane crash killed Rwanda’s then-president Juvenal Habyarimana, an ethnic Hutu.
Militants from the Hutu majority blamed minority Tutsis for the death, sparking an ethnic slaughter that killed 800,000 people, mostly Tutsis.
ELSEWHERE, the trial of a prominent human rights lawyer began in China, with about two dozen plainclothes police stationed outside the court and at least one supporter taken away by police.
Reporters, foreign diplomats and supporters were prevented from approaching the court in Tianjin city where lawyer Wang Quanzhang was being tried.
Wang’s wife, Li Wenzu, was prevented from attending by security agents who had blocked the exit of her home since yesterday.
Li told The Associated Press that Liu Weiguo, Wang’s government-appointed lawyer, confirmed the trial had started.
The court said in a statement on its website that it “lawfully decided not to make public” the trial hearings because the case involved state secrets.
FINALLY, Kosovo’s government has said a proposed border swap with Serbia is not negotiable.
The country’s prime minister Ramush Haradinaj said, following a meeting, that he would “welcome any idea or suggestion for the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue but a land swap never will be negotiated”.
The European Union has told Serbia and Kosovo they must normalise their ties to have a chance to join the bloc.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here