PYN MAG

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that the United States wants a peace settlement between Ukraine and Russia by early summer, despite repeated rounds of talks failing to reach a breakthrough over the issues of territory and security guarantees.

"They say they want to get everything done by June," Zelensky said in remarks published Saturday by the Presidency. "And they will do everything to end the war. They want a clear schedule of events."

"If the Russians are really ready to end the war, then it is really important to set a deadline," he added.

Zelensky said that Washington had proposed that Ukrainian and Russian delegations meet in the United States, probably in Miami, in a week's time. "We have confirmed our participation."

CNN has sought comment from the US government on Zelensky's remarks.

The Kremlin has insisted that Kyiv gives up all of the Donbas region, about a quarter of which is still held by Ukrainian forces. Ukraine has refused to cede the territory.

"We stand where we stand," said Zelensky, with the current frontline the basis for a ceasefire.

"The American side says they can guarantee the monitoring," Zelensky said, referring to the trilateral negotiations in Abu Dhabi this week.

"There can be no end to the war without security guarantees. This is an absolute certainty."

He added that there were signs that some bilateral discussions between the US and Russia might impinge on Ukraine. "Ukraine will not support any such even potential agreements about us that are made without us," Zelensky asserted.

Zelensky's remarks came as Russia carried out another large-scale attack on Ukraine's power infrastructure, with several regions targeted by hundreds of drones and missiles overnight.

The overnight attacks follow a recent lull in strikes on energy infrastructure by both sides, which was proposed by the US. Zelensky said Washington had proposed "that both sides once again support the US President's energy de-escalation initiative. Ukraine has agreed, but Russia has not yet responded."

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Zelensky said the latest Russian strikes involved "more than 400 drones and around 40 missiles of various types. The main targets were the energy grid, generation facilities, and distribution substations."

"Energy facilities have suffered significant damage, which has affected the energy situation across practically the entire country, resulting in major power outages," the Ukrainian president said.

Many of the targeted sites were in central and western Ukraine, including the Lviv and Rivne regions, Zelensky said, but the Kyiv and Kharkiv regions had also been hit. Much of Ukraine faces temperatures well below freezing for the next few days.

Ukrainian energy minister Denys Shmyal said the Russians had attacked the backbone of the country's energy grid, including high voltage 750 kV and 330 kV overhead lines and two thermal power plants.

Emergency blackouts had been implemented throughout Ukraine, Shmyhal said.

"Energy workers are ready to begin restoration as soon as the security situation allows."

More than 600,000 subscribers throughout the Lviv region were without electricity on Saturday morning, according to Maksym Kozytskyi, head of Lviv region military administration.

Ukrainian power provider DTEK said the strikes on the thermal plants were the 10th massive attack on the company's facilities since October. DTEK's thermal power plants "have been attacked by the enemy more than 220 times" since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion, the company said.

The power outages led Ukraine's nuclear plants to reduce their output, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency. The agency's Director General, Rafael Grossi, reiterated a call for restraint as the "worsening grid situation compromises nuclear safety," theIAEAsaid.

"Every day, Russia could choose real diplomacy, but it chooses new strikes," Zelensky said.

"Moscow must be deprived of the ability to use the cold as leverage against Ukraine. This requires missiles for Patriot, NASAMS, and other (air defense) systems. Every shipment helps us get through this winter."

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PARIS, Feb 7 (Reuters) - The French Financial Prosecutor's Office said on Saturday it had opened an investigation into former culture minister Jack Lang and his ​daughter Caroline on suspicion of 'aggravated tax fraud laundering', a move that follows the ‌release of files linked to late convicted U.S. sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Pressure is rising on Lang to resign ‌as president of the Arab World Institute in Paris since files released on January 30 by the U.S. Department of Justice showed Epstein and Lang corresponding intermittently between 2012 and 2019, when the financier died by suicide in jail.

French media including Le Monde, Le Figaro and Mediapart said ⁠the preliminary investigation had been ‌opened after the U.S. documents revealed years of correspondence and financial links between Lang and Epstein.

The office confirmed the investigation but did not ‍provide further details.

Jack Lang has been summoned to report on Sunday to the Foreign Ministry, which supervises the Arab World Institute, a cultural and research institution that promotes understanding of the Arab world.

Lang said ​on X that he welcomed the investigation "with serenity and even relief".

"It will allow all ‌the light to be shed on accusations attacking my integrity and my honour," he added.

"The accusations levelled against me are baseless, and I will demonstrate this, beyond the sound and fury of the media and digital courts."

Lang's name appears more than 600 times in the Epstein files, according to a Reuters review of them. On Monday, Caroline Lang, a long-time media ⁠executive, resigned as head of France's Independent Production Union ​after her own links to Epstein surfaced.

Jack Lang's lawyer ​told BFM TV that he would "prove that he is not involved in any malpractice or criminal offence".

"There has been no movement of funds ... But ‍I think it is ⁠normal for the justice to want to verify this," Laurent Merlet said.

The file dump has heightened scrutiny of Epstein's global connections with public figures including Britain's Andrew ⁠Mountbatten-Windsor - the younger brother of King Charles - Peter Mandelson, the former UK ambassador to the United States and ‌Norwegian Crown Princess Mette-Marit.

(Reporting by Camille Raynaud, Tangi Salaun and Benoit Van ‌Overstraeten; Editing by Louise Heavens and Kevin Liffey)

By Guillermo Martinez and Jon Nazca

Storm Marta hits parts of Spain

CORDOBA, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Farmers in Spain warned on Saturday that torrential rains and high winds had left fields submerged and caused millions of euros worth of ​damage to crops, as Spain and Portugal braced for more extreme weather.

The Iberian Peninsula has already experienced ‌a succession of storms in recent weeks, bringing heavy rain, thunder, snow and strong gales ahead of the arrival of Storm Marta on ‌Saturday.

More than 11,000 people have been forced to leave their homes in Spain's southern Andalusia region, while nearly 170 roads have been closed across Spain and rail services have been disrupted in Portugal.

Portugal's agriculture ministry said on Friday that preliminary estimates put losses in the agricultural and forestry sectors at around 750 million euros ($890 million) due to the storms, which ⁠are expected to intensify in the coming ‌days.

Spanish state weather agency AEMET warned on Saturday that Storm Marta would bring snow and hazardous coastal conditions, as well as more rain. Authorities issued an orange weather warning, ‍the second highest after red.

The top-flight soccer match between Sevilla and Girona was postponed because of the bad weather, La Liga said, after a request by the Andalusian club.

Miguel Angel Perez, of the farmers organisation COAG in Andalusia's Cadiz province, told Spanish television ​TVE on Saturday: "It is raining without stopping. Crops like broccoli, carrots and cauliflowers are under water. Thousands of ‌hectares inundated. We have a real natural catastrophe."

Perez said the storm had caused millions of euros of damage to this year's crop and farmers would seek government help to recover.

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GROUND TREMBLING, RIVER RISING

Waterlogging has also raised fears of structural shifts including landslides.

Residents of several towns in the Serranía de Ronda mountain range in Málaga, which had been battered by Storm Leonardo this week, said on Saturday the ground had trembled for days.

The council of one town in ⁠the area, Cortes de la Frontera, said in a post on ​social media on Saturday that there was "no danger" from the tremors which ​have also been felt in nearby towns of Benaoján, Gaucín, and Jimera de Líbar.

Specialists from the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) were deployed in the area to monitor the situation.

Several residential areas ‍near the Guadalquivir River in ⁠Andalusia's Cordoba province were evacuated on Friday due to the dramatic rise in water levels.

Spain's Deputy Prime Minister María Jesús Montero warned that the river was expected to reach its peak level on Saturday or ⁠Sunday.

In Portugal, where the heavy rains have prompted three towns to postpone Sunday's presidential vote till next week, more than 26,500 rescue ‌workers have been deployed to cope with the impact of the storms.

($1 = 0.8463 euros)

(Reporting by Graham ‌Keeley, Sergio Gonclaves; Editing by Aidan Lewis and Toby Chopra)

Texas Tech coach Grant McCasland has not pressed the panic button ahead of the No. 13 Red Raiders' Big 12 Conference matchup against West Virginia on Sunday in Morgantown, W.Va.

While every game in the conference offers a stern test, McCasland is confident the Red Raiders (16-6, 6-3 Big 12) will bounce back from two straight losses. The first was an 88-80 setback at UCF on Jan. 31, and the latest a 64-61 home defeat against No. 11 Kansas on Monday.

"We've got the right guys, we just need more experience and time together," McCasland said. "I love this group and I believe in them and I know we can win real games that are meaningful in March. We've got to find ways to collectively get a little more experience, get a little tougher, get a little more fight and grit to the way we compete down the stretch. We are just scratching the surface of what we can be."

Christian Anderson was a last-minute scratch for the loss to Kansas due to a reported illness. The sophomore guard ranks second on the Red Raiders in scoring at 19.6 points per game and leads the Big 12 in assists at 7.5 per contest. He shoots 43.6% from 3-point range and connects on 3.4 shots from beyond the arc per game.

Texas Tech thought there still was a possibility he could get ready to play against the Jayhawks by halftime.

"Before the game we didn't have any idea it was an option (he wouldn't play)," McCasland said. "In warmups we were told he was being held out for now. But I fully anticipated him playing. As he got closer to being out there, I was told we were trying to warm him up during the intros to see if we could get him ready to play."

Even as the teams took the court after halftime, Texas Tech thought it could get Anderson back. Without him in the lineup, the Red Raiders surrendered a 10-point lead in the last eight minutes.

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"We don't have time to think about anything other than we need to beat West Virginia on Sunday," McCasland said. "Staying in the Big 12 (race) is about being resilient, and we need to get better. Our guys are tough and care a lot about this team even though they are all hurt."

West Virginia (15-8, 6-4 Big 12) is coming off a 59-54 road win over Cincinnati on Thursday, but it could use a victory over Texas Tech as a resume-builder. The Mountaineers are 2-5 in Quad 1 games and 1-3 in Quad 2 games. That makes Sunday tilt in Morgantown, where they are 13-1, even more important.

"We have a little momentum and need to go back home and take care of business there," said West Virginia's leading scorer, Honor Huff, who puts up 15.8 points per game.

"We don't try to look ahead or hear the outside noise as to what can happen if you win this game or lose that game. We have to take care of every game that comes on our schedule."

Even though the Mountaineers trailed the Bearcats by as many as 14 points in the second half, they rode a familiar formula to victory: Muddy things up on defense and wait for Huff to get hot from beyond the arc. Huff scored 14 straight Mountaineers points to put his team up 42-40, and the West Virginia defense held Cincinnati to 36.4% shooting from the field and 30.4% on 3-point attempts.

"For us it always starts on the defensive end of the floor," West Virginia coach Ross Hodge said. "Can you defend and can you rebound? In the last couple games, we've gotten some good offensive looks and are struggling a bit on that end of the floor. But I tell these guys all the time, let's beat someone 52-48 then if that's what it takes. It takes what it takes."

--Field Level Media

Former NFL linebacker Darron Lee was arrested and charged for the alleged homicide of his girlfriend on Thursday, per the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office.

First responders were dispatched to a residence in the small town of Ooltewah, Tenn, about 30 minutes from Lee's hometown of Chattanooga.

Paramedics arrived on the scene and attempted live-saving measures, however the victim succumbed to her injuries and was pronounced dead on the scene. Lee was identified as a suspect and taken into custody.

Lee was charged with first-degree murder and tampering with evidence. Jail records indicate that he is being held without bond, and has a court appearance scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 11.

Lee previously faced legal issues in 2023, when he was charged with two counts of domestic violence and two counts of assault. He also was charged with a felony drug possession charge when he failed to show up for his court date related to that case later in the year. He pleaded guilty to two lesser counts in 2025.

After winning a national championship with the Ohio State Buckeyes in 2014, Lee was drafted 20th overall by the New York Jets in the first round of the 2016 NFL Draft. In addition to 40 games with the Jets, Lee made 16 appearances for the Kansas City Chiefs in 2019, as well as two for the Buffalo Bills in 2020. He accumulated 273 tackles, 17 tackles for loss, four sacks and three interceptions over his five-year career, starting 38 of the 58 games he played.

--Field Level Media

It appears Anthony Davis will be waiting until next season to make his Washington Wizards debut.

The All-Star big man is expected to sit out the rest of the season to get fully healthy for 2026-27, according to Prime Video's Chris Haynes. The 32-year-old Davis hasn't played since early January due to a finger injury.

The Wizards acquired Davis earlier this week ina blockbuster trade with the Dallas Mavericks that saw eight different players get moved. The deal sets up Davis and Trae Young as the franchise's two veteran pillars going forward.

Those two players also happen to both be out with injuries right now, which is highly convenient for Washington from a draft pick standpoint. In addition to Davis potentially being out for the season, Young hasn't played since late December due to MCL and quad injuries in his right leg. He is expected to be out until at least the All-Star break, and it seems quite possible the Wizards will exercise similar "caution" with him.

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If Davis indeed doesn't play again, he will finish with a career-low 20 games played this season, all with the Mavericks.

The Wizards currently hold the fifth-worst record in the NBA, and it's a competitive race to the bottom this season due to one of the best draft classes in NBA history. It's hard to think of a season in college basketball with so many impact freshmen, and the trio of Kansas' Darryn Peterson, Duke's Cameron Boozer and BYU's AJ Dybantsa all loom as potential franchise-changers.

Washington is one of five teams with 14 or fewer wins this season, and not playing their two best players certainly increases their chances of sticking at the bottom. Also in the hunt are the Sacramento Kings, Indiana Pacers, Brooklyn Nets and Atlanta Hawks, who can take the New Orleans Pelicans' first-round pick this year because the latter fell in love with Derik Queen in last year's draft.

The vision for the Wizards at this point is a pick-and-roll duo of Davis and Young, supplemented by young talents like Alex Sarr, Kyshawn George and whomever they get in the draft this year. Clearly, they are already thinking about the latter.

For 10 hours, a Chinese village sat in the dark – and a pig dangled from the sky.

A farmer, who was using a drone to transport a pig to a slaughterhouse, had accidentally shut down the local power supply after the drone's rope carrying the animal became tangled in an electrical line.

Images shared on social media showed the silhouette of the pig suspended in the air against a grey sky, dangling limply from the drone above, as bemused onlookers gathered below.

The farmer, who has not been identified, said the remote location of his village in Tongjiang county, Sichuan province, makes it difficult to transport pigs by vehicle, prompting him to use drones instead.

On Jan 24, he set out to airlift several pigs from the mountainous area.

The first attempt ended abruptly when the pig became suspended mid-air after the rope attached to the drone caught on a high-voltage power line – turning "when pigs fly" from an expression into a logistical problem.

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The farmer blamed poor visibility for the mishap. He had planned to transport more than 10 pigs throughout the day, but had to abandon the project.

An employee from the local power supply authority said the village experienced a 10-hour blackout as a result. "We sent 12 workers to repair the line. The repair costs are about 10,000 yuan (£1,100)," she was quoted as saying.

Local authorities said the farmer is suspected of breaking the law by operating the drone in a no-fly zone.

"We are still collecting evidence. If he is confirmed to have breached the law, he will face an administrative punishment and need to compensate for electricity equipment losses," an officer said.

The use of drones in agriculture is widespread in China's rural areas, although their role does not typically extend to suspending pigs above electricity lines.

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