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An upcoming film titled 'Putin' has grabbed attention for its promise to delve deep into the life and personality of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Using advanced AI technology, the movie aims to portray Putin's character over six decades, including moments from Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Scheduled for release in September, the trailer shows Putin in unusual situations, like wearing a soiled diaper and practicing karate.

Directed by Polish filmmaker Besaleel, also known as Patryk Vega, the film is described as a "psychological thriller" that aims to uncover the mysteries surrounding Putin's personality. Vega highlights the extensive three-year process of filming, advanced AI techniques, and careful storytelling used to explore the motives and actions of one of today's most talked-about political figures.

The producers are dedicated to presenting a detailed and realistic depiction of Putin's story, utilising cutting-edge AI to achieve this. Set to be released in English, 'Putin' promises to provide viewers with an unprecedented look into the complexities of Putin's life and influence.

In a statement released via PR Leap, Polish studio AIO said the film will be released in 35 countries and describes itself as "up close and personal with the Kremlin leader's story.".

The studio has released a 2.5-minute trailer for the film.

According to the makers, the movie was filmed over three years in locations such as the Russian Federation, Ukraine, Israel, Syria, Jordan, and Poland. The movie's timeliness is one of its most significant aspects.

"Putin is not just a film," filmmaker Vega states. "It's a response to a global quest to understand the motives and actions of one of the most controversial figures in contemporary politics. My production's mission is to provide viewers with a 'user manual' for Putin.

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More than 130 people were arrested overnight during pro-Palestinian protests at the New York University campus, as student demonstrations gather pace in the United States over the Israel-Hamas war.

Some of America's most prestigious universities have been rocked by protests in recent weeks as students and other agitators take over quads and disrupt campus activities.

The demonstrations come amid sweeping debates over Israel's assault on Gaza, following Hamas's deadly invasion on October 7.

Such bastions of higher education -- Harvard, Yale, Columbia and others -- are grappling for a balance between students demanding free speech rights and others who argue that campuses are encouraging intimidation and hate speech.

On Tuesday, the New York Police Department told AFP that 133 people had been arrested at NYU and released after being issued with court summons, as protests also intensify at Yale, Columbia University and other campuses.

As the holiday of Passover began Monday night, police began detaining demonstrators at an encampment at NYU who had earlier refused orders to disperse.

A New York University spokesman said the decision to call police came after additional protesters, many of whom were not thought to be affiliated with NYU, suddenly breached the barriers erected around the encampment.

This "dramatically changed" the situation, the spokesman said in a statement on the school's website Monday, citing "disorderly, disruptive and antagonizing behavior" along with "intimidated chants and several antisemitic incidents."

"Given the foregoing and the safety issues raised by the breach, we asked for assistance from the NYPD. The police urged those on the plaza to leave peacefully, but ultimately made a number of arrests."

The spokesman said the school continues to support freedom of expression and the safety of students.

But protests have grown large and disruptive enough -- New York Police Department spokesmen have spoken of their officers facing violence when confronting protesters at NYU -- to draw the attention of President Joe Biden and his administration.

"Anti-Semitic hate on college campuses is unacceptable," US Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona posted on X on Tuesday, expressing concern about the unrest. 

The protests began last week at Columbia University, also in New York, with a large group of demonstrators establishing a so-called "Gaza Solidarity Encampment" on school grounds.

But more than 100 protesters were arrested after university authorities called the police onto Columbia's campus Thursday, a move that seemingly escalated tensions and sparked a greater turnout over the weekend.

Social media images late Monday appeared to show pro-Palestinian Jewish students holding traditional seder meals inside the protest areas on campuses including at Columbia.

There were also demonstrations at MIT, the University of Michigan, UC Berkeley and Yale, where at least 47 people were arrested Monday after refusing requests to disperse.

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The 240-meter television tower in Ukraine's city of Kharkiv broke in half and fell to the ground on Monday, footage obtained by Reuters showed, after what local officials said was likely a Russian missile attack on television infrastructure.

The broadcasting signal was disrupted to Ukraine's second-largest city, which has been pounded by Russian missile and drone strikes in recent weeks.

"At the moment there are interruptions to the digital television signal," regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said.

There were no casualties because workers were in shelters, he added.

Footage from the scene showed the main mast of the tower breaking off and falling as a cloud of smoke rose into the sky.

It was not clear from the footage what had hit the mast, but Kharkiv prosecutors said Russia had likely used a cruise Kh-59 missile in the attack.

The video was verified by corroborating video from another angle showing the same moment the top of the tower collapsed.

Russia first attacked Kharkiv's television tower several times in early March 2022 soon after it launched its full-scale invasion. The signal was disrupted at the time.

Moscow has recently stepped up its attacks, while Ukraine is suffering a shortage of air defense capabilities. Kharkiv and the surrounding region have experienced the most intense strikes.

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The voting for 21 national and provincial seats ended amid the temporary suspension of cellular services in "specific districts" of Punjab and Balochistan provinces, which authorities claim were steps to "safeguard" the electoral process, Dawn reported on Sunday.

Elections were held for five seats in the National Assembly, twelve seats in the Punjab Assembly, two seats in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, and two seats in the Balochistan Assembly, according to the Election Commission of Pakistan.

According to the Pakistan-based news website, the by-elections were held under the umbrella of violence and disruption in the network services across the polling stations.

In Sheikhupura's PP-139, the polling process was temporarily stopped after a "firing incident".

In a statement, the Punjab election commissioner's office said that due to a "firing incident" at a polling station (Government Primary School Nizampura), the polling process had been stopped.

However, it had later resumed after the police controlled the situation, the statement added.

In Lahore, at polling station number 171 (Lahore College), workers of the Pakistan Tehreeke-e-Insaf (PTI) and Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) coalition had a fight with those of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on the issue of setting up polling camps. The argument was then brought to a conclusion with the help of police intervention.

Reports of arguments also emerged from various political leaders.

Istehkam-i-Pakistan Party's (IPP's) Shoaib Siddiqui said there were reports of a face-off in Union Council 184, Dawn reported.

Separately, SIC's Mian Shahzad Farooq claimed that his party workers were being arrested in NA-119 and that the polling agent had been forced out of the returning officer's office after he went there to file a complaint.

Across Lahore, 24 superintendents, 45 senior deputy police officers (SDPOs), 168 inspectors, station house officers (SHOs), and investigation in-charges will serve their duties during the by-elections, Dawn reported.

A total of 195 pickets were established at Lahore's entry and exit points while security was on "high alert".

Earlier on Saturday, the interior ministry had allowed the suspension of mobile internet services to "maintain law and order" in 13 districts and tehsils in Punjab, Dawn reported.

It should be mentioned that mobile and internet services were also shut down during the February 8 general elections. Meanwhile, access to social media platform X has been disrupted since Feb 17, when the former Rawalpindi commissioner accused the chief election commissioner and chief justice of Pakistan of being involved in rigging.

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The party of Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu won control of parliament in a Sunday election landslide, results showed, with voters backing his tilt towards China and away from regional powerhouse and traditional benefactor India.

Muizzu's People's National Congress (PNC) won 66 of the first 86 seats declared, according to the Elections Commission of Maldives results, already more than enough for a super-majority in the 93-member majlis, or parliament.

The vote was seen as a crucial test for Muizzu's plan to press ahead with closer economic cooperation with China, including building thousands of apartments on controversially reclaimed land.

The PNC and its allies had only eight seats in the outgoing parliament, with the lack of a majority stymieing Muizzu after his presidential election victory in September.

The main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) -- which had previously had a super-majority of its own -- was headed for a humiliating defeat with just a dozen seats.

Muizzu, 45, had been among the first to vote Sunday, casting his ballot at a school in the capital Male -- where he was previously mayor -- and urging Maldivians to turn out in high numbers.

President Dr @MMuizzu cast his ballot in the 2024 Parliamentary Elections. The voting process took place at the polling station for the President's constituency at the Thaajudheen School. pic.twitter.com/p4pHuXzx2R

— The President's Office (@presidencymv) April 21, 2024

"All citizens should come out and exercise their right to vote as soon as possible," Muizzu told reporters.

The Maldives, a low-lying nation of some 1,192 tiny coral islands scattered some 800 kilometres (500 miles) across the equator, is one of the countries most vulnerable to sea level rises caused by global warming.

Muizzu, a former construction minister, has promised he will beat back the waves through ambitious land reclamation and building islands higher, a policy which environmentalists argue could even exacerbate flooding risks.

The Maldives is known as a top luxury holiday destination thanks to its pristine white beaches and secluded resorts. 

But in recent years it has also become a geopolitical hotspot in the Indian Ocean, where global east-west shipping lanes pass the archipelago.

Muizzu won last September's presidential poll as a proxy for pro-China ex-president Abdulla Yameen, freed last week after a court set aside his 11-year jail term for corruption.

This month, as campaigning for the parliamentary elections was in full swing, Muizzu awarded high-profile infrastructure contracts to Chinese state-owned companies.

His administration is also in the process of sending home a garrison of 89 Indian troops who operate reconnaissance aircraft gifted by New Delhi to patrol the Maldives' vast maritime borders.

The outgoing parliament, dominated by the pro-India MDP of Muizzu's immediate predecessor Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, has sought to disrupt his efforts to realign Maldivian diplomacy.

Since Muizzu came to power, lawmakers blocked three of his nominees to the cabinet and refused some of his spending proposals.

"Geopolitics is very much in the background as parties campaign for votes in Sunday's election," a senior Muizzu aide told AFP ahead of the poll, asking not to be named.

"He came to power on a promise to send back Indian troops and he is working on it. The parliament has not been cooperating with him since he came to power."

Solih was also among those voting early and expressed confidence his party would emerge victorious. There was no immediate reaction from his party to their poor showing in Sunday's vote.

Election chief Fuad Thaufeeq said after polls closed that turnout had already reached 73 percent of the 284,663 electorate when half an hour of voting remained.

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The Palestinian Red Crescent said Saturday at least 14 people had been killed in an Israeli raid on Nur Shams refugee camp in the north of the occupied West Bank.

The Israeli army said troops had killed 10 militants during the operation, which it said started on Thursday.

AFP journalists saw bodies in the streets and houses hit by blasts as Israeli drones flew overhead and armoured vehicles moved through the camp.

Since early last year, violence has flared in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967. It has escalated further since war broke out in Gaza on October 7.

"So far, our crews have evacuated 14 martyrs from Nur Shams camp to the hospital," the Palestinian Red Crescent said.

Earlier, the Palestinian health ministry said it had confirmed 11 injured in the Israeli raid, seven of them "wounded by live gunshots". Among them was a paramedic shot while trying to get to the wounded, it added.

Medics had been alerted to "a number of killed and injured" inside the camp, but the army was "denying them access to tend to the wounded", the ministry said.

An AFP journalist said paramedics had tried to enter the camp but had been refused access by the army. Gunshots rang out and soldiers carried out door-to-door raids, the journalist said.

Residents say power cut

The Israeli army said that it had "eliminated 10 terrorists" and made eight arrests around Nur Shams. Eight soldiers and a police officer were wounded, it added.

Israeli forces say their frequent raids target Palestinian militants, but civilians are often among the dead.

On Friday, the health ministry said 16-year-old Qais Fathi Nasrallah had been killed by Israeli troops in the nearby Tulkarem refugee camp.

Official Palestinian news agency Wafa said he had died after being "shot in the head by Israeli live gunfire". It was unclear exactly when he died.

A 30-year-old man, Salim Faisal Ghanem, had been "killed by Israeli troops" on Friday in the Nur Shams camp, Wafa said.

Residents contacted by AFP on Saturday said there was no electricity in the camp and food was running short, but nobody was being allowed to enter or leave.

Minister Muayad Shaaban, head of the Palestinian Colonisation and Wall Resistance Commission, said residents were suffering from the "destruction of homes, shops, the electricity grid, the sewerage, the water network and infrastructure".

Paramedic killed

Around 480 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli troops or settlers in the West Bank since the start of the Gaza war, according to Palestinian official sources.

Excluding annexed east Jerusalem, the West Bank is home to around 490,000 Israeli settlers who live in communities considered illegal under international law.

On Saturday, an ambulance driver was killed in clashes between settlers and Palestinians in the West Bank village As-Sawiya, the Palestinian Red Crescent and the health ministry said.

"Volunteer paramedic Mohammed Awad Allan of the Palestine Red Crescent was killed while treating those injured by settlers' gunfire," the organisation said.

One witness said Israeli soldiers were present and had fired shots along with the settlers, but said it was not clear whether the army or settlers had shot at the ambulance driver.

The army has not responded to AFP's request for comment.

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The Republican-controlled US House of Representatives on Saturday passed the first in a series of bills in a $95 billion legislative package providing security assistance to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, over bitter objections from party hardliners.

More than two months have passed since the Democratic-majority Senate passed a similar measure and U.S. leaders from Democratic President Joe Biden to top Senate Republican Mitch McConnell have been urging embattled House Speaker Mike Johnson to bring it up for a vote.

Johnson this week chose to ignore ouster threats by hardline members of his fractious 218-213 majority and push forward the measure that includes some $60.84 billion for Ukraine as it struggles to fight off a two-year Russian invasion.

The unusual four-bill package also includes funds for Israel, security assistance for Taiwan and allies in the Indo-Pacific and a measure that includes sanctions, a threat to ban the Chinese-owned social media app TikTok and the potential transfer of seized Russian assets to Ukraine.

The bill imposing the new limits on TikTok was the first of the four to pass on Saturday.

"The world is watching what the Congress does," the White House said in a statement on Friday. "Passing this legislation would send a powerful message about the strength of American leadership at a pivotal moment. The administration urges both chambers of the Congress to quickly send this supplemental funding package to the president's desk."

A bipartisan 316-94 House majority on Friday voted to advance the bill to a vote, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer told senators to be ready to work over the weekend if it passes the House as expected.

"It's not the perfect legislation, it's not the legislation that we would write if Republicans were in charge of both the House, the Senate, and the White House," Johnson told reporters on Friday. "This is the best possible product that we can get under these circumstances to take care of these really important obligations."

Some hardline Republicans have voiced strong opposition to further Ukraine aid, with some arguing the US can ill afford it given its rising $34 trillion national debt. They have repeatedly raised the threat of ousting Johnson, who became speaker in October after his predecessor, Kevin McCarthy, was ousted by party hardliners.

Representative Bob Good, chair of the hardline House Freedom Caucus, told reporters on Friday that the bills represent a "slide down into the abyss of greater fiscal crisis and America-last policies that reflect Biden and Schumer and (House Democratic leader Hakeem) Jeffries, and don't reflect the American people."

But Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, who carries huge influence in the party, on April 12 voiced support for Johnson and in a Thursday social media post said Ukraine's survival is important for the U.S.

The bills provide $60.84 billion to address the conflict in Ukraine, including $23 billion to replenish U.S. weapons, stocks and facilities; $26 billion for Israel, including $9.1 billion for humanitarian needs, and $8.12 billion for the Indo-Pacific.

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At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded boat capsized in the Central African Republic's capital Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. 

"We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies. We don't know the total number of people who are underwater," Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. 

According to witnesses and videos on social media, the boat was carrying more than 300 people -- some standing and others perched on wooden structures -- when it overturned on the Mpoko river on Friday. 

The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief but capsized shortly after setting off, with rescuers arriving 40 minutes after the disaster. 

Maurice Kapenya, who followed the boat in a canoe because there was no space on board, said he collected the bodies of some of the victims, including his own sister, with the help of fishermen and residents. 

Families were seen near the river on Saturday looking for their loved ones who were still missing. 

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A leader of Palestinian militant group Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, arrived in Istanbul Friday evening for talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as the death toll in Gaza passed 34,000.

A statement from Hamas Friday said Erdogan and Haniyeh would discuss the conflict in Gaza, adding that the head of the group's political bureau was accompanied by a delegation.

Middle East tensions are at a high after Israel's reported attack on Iran and Gaza bracing for a new Israeli offensive.

Erdogan insisted on Wednesday that he would continue "to defend the Palestinian struggle and to be the voice of the oppressed Palestinian people".

But talking to journalists on Friday, he refused to be drawn on the details on the meeting.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan was in Qatar Wednesday and said he spent three hours with Haniyeh and his aides for "a wide exchange of views in particular about negotiations for a ceasefire".

Qatar, a mediator between Israel and Hamas, acknowledged Wednesday that negotiations to end hostilities in Gaza and liberate hostages were "stalling".

Fidan said he spoke with Haniyeh, who lives in Qatar, about how Hamas -- designated as a terrorist organisation by Israel, the United States and the European Union -- "must clearly express its expectations, especially about a two-state solution".

Erdogan's last meeting with Haniyeh was in July 2023 when Erdogan hosted him and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas at the presidential palace in Ankara. Haniyeh had last met Fidan in Turkey on January 2.

The war in Gaza started after Hamas's unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7 that resulted in the deaths of about 1,170 people, mainly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures.

Militants also took about 250 hostages. Israel says around 129 are believed to be held in Gaza, including 34 presumed dead.

Israel's retaliatory military campaign has killed at least 34,012 people, mostly women and children, according to Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry.

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Pakistan's Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz's motorcade allegedly killed a motorcyclist when she was travelling from Narowal to Kartarpur for the three-day celebrations of the Baisakhi festival, reported Dawn.

Her motorcade was going from Narowal to Kartarpur when the Elite Force vehicle hit the motorcyclist coming from the opposite direction at the Chandowal Stop on the Shakargarh Road on Thursday.

The motorcyclist, identified as 23-year-old Abubakar, a resident of Jassar town, died on the spot, Dawn reported.

Despite the accident, the CM's motorcade did not stop to take the injured to the hospital.

Ali Rizwan, a cousin of the deceased, said that Abubakar was going from home to a filling station where he was employed.

He further said that no official stopped their car to help the injured Abubakar and neither of them picked him up or even called Rescue 1122.

Instead, he lamented, that the police officers came to the spot after the incident and washed the blood from the road with water to remove the evidence, according to Dawn.

Abubakar's mother, Arifa Bibi said the police car had killed her son, emphasising that his son was supporting the family during the hard times of inflation, adding that her husband, Fakhar Ayaz, was a labourer.

She sought justice from CM Maryam Nawaz, and said that an FIR should be registered against the person responsible for the accident and he should be arrested.

After hearing the news of his son's death, Abubakar's father, Fakhar Ayaz, fainted at the shock of it.

He was then shifted to the District Headquarters Hospital, Narowal, where he remained under treatment for a couple of hours.

District Emergency Officer Muhammad Naeem Akhtar claimed that Rescue 1122 motorcycles and ambulances reached the site immediately after receiving information of the accident but the victim had died on the spot.

He said Rescue 1122 had shifted the body to the District Headquarters Hospital, Narowal.

District Police Officer Muhammad Naveed Malik said that two people, Abubakar and Hamza, were riding the motorcycle and were coming from Jassar Town to Narowal when a high-speed motorcycle coming from behind hit them. Abubakar fell on the right side while Hamza fell on the left side due to the collision of the motorcycles.

The DPO said Abu Bakar, who had fallen on the right side of the road, was hit by the vehicle and died in the accident, reported Dawn.

However, the eyewitnesses, Muhammad Aslam and Attaullah, rejected the police version, saying that there was only one person (Abubakar), riding the bike while the police vehicle was overtaking him.

Abubakar's cousin Rizwan also denied the statement of the police officers, saying that only Abubakar was riding the motorcycle.

He further alleged that the police were lying to protect the police driver responsible for the accident, Dawn reported.

Rana Lal Badshah, former president of the District Bar Association, Narowal, and a leader of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), said a judicial inquiry should be conducted into the incident.

Moreover, the Saddar Police Station registered an FIR against the unidentified driver of the police vehicle on the complaint of Ali Rizwan.

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The jury for Donald Trump's historic hush-money trial was completed on Friday, clearing the way for prosecutors and defense attorneys to make opening statements next week in a case stemming from hush money paid to a porn star.

The 12 jurors, along with six alternates, will consider evidence in a first-ever trial to determine whether a former US president broke the law.

The jury consists of seven men and five women, mostly employed in white-collar professions: two corporate lawyers, a software engineer, a speech therapist and an English teacher. Most are not native New Yorkers, hailing from across the United States and countries like Ireland and Lebanon.

Trump is accused of covering up a $130,000 payment his former lawyer Michael Cohen made to porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election to keep quiet about a sexual encounter she says they had a decade earlier.

Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and denies any such encounter with Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford.

Trump has pleaded not guilty in three other criminal cases as well, but this is the only one certain to go to trial ahead of the Nov. 5 election, when the Republican politician aims to again take on Democratic President Joe Biden.

A conviction would not bar him from office.

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Myanmar's detained former leader and Aung San Suu Kyi was moved from prison to house arrest possibly to be used by the Southeast Asian nation's ruling junta as a human shield in its conflict with resistance fighters, her son said on Thursday.

Suu Kyi has been detained by the Myanmar military since it overthrew her government in a 2021 coup. The 78-year-old Nobel laureate was held under house arrest for a total of 15 years under a previous junta.

A spokesperson for the junta said this week that Suu Kyi had been moved to house arrest as a step to protect her and other elderly prisoners from the hot weather. It was not clear where exactly she had been moved to.

Her son, Kim Aris, who lives in London, told Reuters that he had heard Suu Kyi was suffering from the heat, but that the junta's official reason for moving her was "not very likely".

"I think they have their own reasons for moving her, namely that they'd like to use her as a human shield or a bargaining chip," Aris said in an interview.

"As the fighting's getting closer and closer to the military strongholds, I think they may just want to keep her close to use as a human shield, or they might like to negotiate with the resistance forces on her release, trying to gain some sort of, you know, footing for the future," he said.

Anger against the junta in Myanmar has turned into a nationwide armed resistance movement that is now increasingly operating in coordination with established ethnic rebel groups to challenge the military across large parts of the country.

World leaders and pro-democracy activists have repeatedly called for Suu Kyi's release. She faces 27 years in prison for crimes ranging from treason and bribery to violations of the telecommunications law, charges she denies.

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A man suspected of aiding a plot by Russian intelligence services to assassinate Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has been arrested in Poland, Polish and Ukrainian prosecutors said Thursday.

The Polish national, named only as Pawel K., is suspected of supplying information to Russian military intelligence and "helping the Russian special forces to plan a possible assassination attempt" against Zelensky, said a statement from Polish prosecutors.

It said the suspect had stated he was "ready to act on behalf of the military intelligence services of the Russian Federation and established contact with Russian citizens directly involved in the war in Ukraine".

Ukrainian prosecutors had informed Poland about the activities, which had enabled them to gather "essential evidence" against the suspect, the statement added.

Ukraine's chief prosecutor Andriy Kostin said the suspect had been tasked with "gathering and transmitting to the aggressor state information about security at Rzeszow-Jasionka airport" in southeastern Poland.

Zelensky frequently passes through the airport on his trips abroad. It is also used by foreign officials and aid convoys heading to Ukraine.

The suspect is in detention pending judicial procedures, the two countries' prosecutors said.

"This case underscores the persistent threat Russia poses not only to Ukraine and Ukrainians but to the entire free world," Kostin wrote on X, the former Twitter.

"The Kremlin's criminal regime... organises and carries out sabotage operations on the territory of other sovereign states," he added.

Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski commended the work of his country's special services and prosecutors in the operation as well as cooperation with neighbouring Ukraine.

Warsaw has been one of Kyiv's staunchest backers since the Russian invasion in February 2022, although ties have frayed recently in a dispute over agricultural imports.

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