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For those not from that area, lets take a look at whats going on there !

Russia's Wagner mercenary group has reportedly recruited tens of thousands of prisoners to fight in Ukraine. But the growing number of casualties and extrajudicial executions make it much harder to find volunteers, even in prisons. Many convicts are now worried that they can be simply forced to go to war - and migrant workers from Central Asian countries find themselves particularly vulnerable. Anuar came to Russia in search of work in 2018. He was later imprisoned for drug trafficking and sent to serve his term at Penal Colony Number Six in Vladimir region. The BBC is not disclosing his real name and citizenship for safety reasons. At the end of January, he told his father that a group of Central Asians had been sent to fight in Ukraine without their consent. "There are lots of Uzbeks, Tajiks, Kyrgyz there in that prison. Now they are planning to send another group and my son is worried that they will force him to go too," Anuar's father told the BBC.

At least three people have been killed after a gunman opened fire at Michigan State University, police say. As well as the three victims, police said the suspect had died apparently from a "self-inflicted gunshot wound". Another five people were injured in the attack at the main campus in the city of East Lansing late on Monday. Police described the suspect as "a black male, shorter in stature". They later said he was 43 years old with no known affiliation to the university. Students and local residents were told to shelter-in-place during the manhunt, however police later lifted the order, saying there was "no longer a threat to campus". They added that the suspect was "located off campus". In photos released earlier, the suspect was wearing a denim jacket, a navy baseball cap and red trainers. The shooting started shortly after 20:00 local time on Monday (01:00 GMT Tuesday).

Moldova's president has accused Russia of plotting to use foreign "saboteurs" to overthrow her pro-EU government. Maia Sandu nominated a new prime minister on Friday, Dorin Recean, who is pro-EU like his predecessor. President Sandu said the "plot" would involve "protests by the so-called opposition", aiming to "overthrow the constitutional order". Russia's war in neighbouring Ukraine has put Moldova - one of Europe's poorest countries - under great strain. Last week Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Kyiv's intelligence service had uncovered a Russian plan to destroy Moldova. Moldova, wedged between Romania and Ukraine, became a candidate for EU membership last summer. The country of 2.6 million people has struggled with an influx of refugees from Ukraine and tensions with Transnistria, a breakaway pro-Moscow region where some 1,500 Russian soldiers are stationed.

India has replaced France as the world's biggest buyer of Scotch whisky by volume, latest figures show. Whisky makers exported 219 million bottles to India, up 60% on 2021, the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) said. The US is still the largest buyer by value - it imported Scotch whisky worth £1.05bn ($1.27bn) in 2022. India was fifth on the list. Scotch has long been a status symbol in India, but still has only a 2% share in the world's largest whisky market. Blended whisky, which is cheaper, has long been the preferred choice for millions of Indian consumers. But demand for more expensive single malts has been growing too, driven by cultural shifts and a rise in Indians' spending power. While India's share in global Scotch sales has surged - export volumes to the country rose more than 200% over the past decade - exporters see a lot of room to grow.

Whether it's getting cookery advice or help with a speech, ChatGPT has been the first opportunity for many people to play with an artificial intelligence (AI) system. ChatGPT is based an an advanced language processing technology, developed by OpenAI. The artificial intelligence (AI) was trained using text databases from the internet, including books, magazines and Wikipedia entries. In all 300 billion words were fed into the system. The end result is a Chatbot that can seem eerily human, but with an encyclopedic knowledge. Tell ChatGPT what you have in your kitchen cabinet and it will give you a recipe. Need a snappy intro to a big presentation? No problem. But is it too good? Its convincing approximation of human responses could be a powerful tool for those up to no good.

The sensors from a suspected Chinese spy balloon shot down after crossing the US have been recovered from the Atlantic Ocean, the US military says. Search crews found "significant debris from the site, including all of the priority sensor and electronics pieces identified", said US Northern Command. The FBI is examining the items, which the US says were used to spy on sensitive military sites. The US has shot down three more objects since the first one on 4 February. "Large sections of the structure" were also recovered on Monday off the coast of South Carolina, military officials say. About 30-40ft (9-12m) of the balloon's antenna array are among the items found, according to CBS, the BBC's US partner. US officials said the high-altitude balloon originated in China and was used for surveillance, but China said it was merely a weather-monitoring airship that had blown astray.

The Queen Consort has tested positive for COVID-19 after suffering from cold symptoms, Buckingham Palace has said. "After suffering the symptoms of a cold, Her Majesty The Queen Consort has tested positive for the COVID virus," the statement said. "With regret, she has therefore cancelled all her public engagements for this week and sends her sincere apologies to those who had been due to attend them."

A basic mistake by the Iranian military has helped prove it is breaching UN Security Council resolutions on drones and missiles, says the UK. A boatload of missiles intercepted by the Royal Navy in the Persian Gulf last year included a drone quadcopter whose hard drive revealed the shipment's origin. Iranians go to great lengths to disguise weapons and missiles they smuggle to allies in the region. They do so to avoid leaving evidence they are breaching UN resolutions, hoping to reduce the risk of further sanctions.

Flying taxis could be with us sooner than you think as Dubai hopes to launch its "aerial ridesharing" service by 2026. United Arab Emirates Prime Minister Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum has announced the approval of the designs for new air taxi stations across the city. Renewing Dubai's commitment to the flying taxi programme, he said the services will start operating within three years' time - after first being touted in 2017. A promotional video, which was also tweeted out by the ruler, shows a six-rotor electric flying taxi made by Joby Aviation, which is headquartered in Santa Cruz, California.

Lloyd Devereux Richards, a full time attorney and father of three, spent 14 years pursuing his dream of writing a book, and the next 11 years hoping for the thriller to take off. It did not, until last week when his daughter posted a 16-second TikTok video with a simple message: "I'd love for him to get some sales." The book jumped to No. 1 on Amazon's Serial Killer Thrillers list. Her dad's response was: "I'm ready for a nap." The viral video, which details Mr Richards' long journey to finishing the novel, Stone Maidens, has garnered more than 40 million views. TikTok, a short-form video hosting platform, has helped fuel sales of hundreds of books in recent years, including through the hashtag #BookTok, which readers use to discuss their favourite authors and book picks. In 2021 alone, BookTok helped authors sell 20 million printed books, according to a New York Times report.

An independent commission looking into the sexual abuse of minors in the Catholic Church said on Tuesday it had documented cases pointing to at least 4,815 victims. Set up by the Portuguese Episcopal Conference to examine abuse in recent decades, the commission added this was the tip of the iceberg. Presenting the report, the commission's president, child psychiatrist Pedro Strecht, described its objective as "giving voice to the silence" of victims. He paid tribute to the hundreds who contacted its staff to provide testimony. "They have a voice; they have a name," he said. In all, the commission documented 564 experiences of people who said they had been victims of abuse by priests or other Church officials. The exercise looked at cases dating back to 1950.

BBC News New Zealand has declared a state of emergency due to Cyclone Gabrielle, the third such alert in its history. The Minister for Emergency Management, Kieran McAnulty, signed the declaration into place Tuesday morning. It will apply to the Northland, Auckland, Tairawhiti, Bay of Plenty, Waikato and Hawkes Bay regions and streamline the government's response to the disaster. At least 38,000 homes were without power on Tuesday morning. In New Zealand's largest city, Auckland, authorities earlier evacuated people from 50 homes around a 30m-high tower that was in danger of collapse, local media reported. Dozens of evacuation centres have also been set up in the city. Mr McAnulty described the storm as "an unprecedented weather event". He said the state of emergency will allow for federal co-ordination of a clean- up response and would provide additional resources to those who are affected. It also gives the government more power to respond to dangerous situations, including restricting travel. New Zealand's Prime Minister Chris Hipkins announced a NZ$11.5m (£6m; US$7.3m) aid package on Monday.

Cold case officers have travelled to Thailand to speak with the husband and family of a woman found dead in the Yorkshire Dales almost 19 years ago. Walkers discovered the half-naked body of Lamduan Armitage, nee Seekanya, in a stream near Pen-y-ghent in 2004. For 15 years her identity was unknown until family in Thailand came forward and DNA proved it was their daughter. As well as her parents, police are hoping to speak to husband David Armitage who now lives in Thailand. North Yorkshire officers, who arrived in the country on Sunday, said being there was a crucial next step in their attempts to finally solve the case. Adam Harland, manager of the major investigation team's cold case review unit, said: "To understand Lamduan's life we need to speak to the people who knew her.

CNN — It’s time to face the music – Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy” franchise is coming to an end. A new trailer for the third and final film in the series debuted during the Super Bowl on Sunday, and dropped some clues as to how Chris Pratt’s Peter Quill/Star-Lord is dealing with the loss – and return – of his beloved Gamora (Zoe Saldana). “I’m Star-Lord,” Pratt’s voice is heard saying in the opening of the trailer. “I formed the Guardians. Met a girl, fell in love. That girl died. But then she came back…”

The Philippines has accused China of shining a "military grade" laser light to scuttle a resupply mission to a disputed shoal in the South China Sea. The laser glare temporarily blinded the crew of the Filipino coast guard boat, forcing it to retreat. The vessel was headed to a marooned navy vessel that Manila has used for years to claim the Second Thomas Shoal. China has in the past used water cannon and sirens to enforce its claim to much of the South China Sea. The incident, on 6 January, was only reported publicly on Monday. It was a "clear violation of Philippine sovereign rights" in waters that Manila refers to as the West Philippine Sea, the Filipino coastguard said in a statement. Aside from flashing laser light twice, the Chinese ship also made "dangerous manoeuvres" about 150 yards (137m) from the Filipino ship's starboard side, authorities said.

Cambodia's leader Hun Sen has shut down one of the country's last independent media outlets - just months before the country's election. VOD, or the Voice of Democracy, had published a story last week that "hurt" his government's reputation, Hun Sen said in a Facebook post on Sunday. He has refused to accept the group's apology - cancelling its licence on Monday. Advocates say VOD's loss is a major blow to the nation's limited press. Editors at the news organisation confirmed to the BBC that police had arrived at their Phnom Penh office on Monday morning with an order revoking their operating licence. Access to past stories on VOD's Khmer and English sites has also been blocked by some internet service providers, staff confirmed.