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Zelensky said he had offered Fedorov several posts, including deputy prime minister.

Last week's removal of Fedorov - who is praised for transforming the armed forces - triggered mass protests. Zelensky was later forced to sack commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskyi, who conflicted with Fedorov.

Some protesters say the firing of Syrskyi is not enough, vowing to continue their street demonstrations until Fedorov is reinstated as defence minister.

Fedorov, 35, has been credited for using data to significantly improve the Ukrainian army performance on the front line and other innovations, including his successful Army of Drones initiative. He has also been praised for leading a drive against corruption.

Gen Syrskyi, 60, played a key role in the successful defence of the capital Kyiv during the first days of the Russian full-scale invasion in February 2022. But he is now seen by many in Ukraine as a Soviet-school commander reluctant to implement much-needed radical changes in the army.

In a statement sent to journalists on Thursday, Fedorov said his team had a "specific plan how to end the war" when he was appointed defence minister in January.

The key elements were the protection of the skies, stabilisation of the front, and also strikes against Russia's economy, he said.

"For six months, we have consistently implemented this very plan. For the first time in recent years, Ukraine has begun to seize the initiative [on the battlefield].

"Our collective results have created something unprecedented - a window of opportunity to force Russia into peace through strength. And we cannot afford to lose it."

He stressed that he had never been seeking any "post or status", but only wanted to have the "opportunity to really influence the result and bring Ukraine's victory closer".

Fedorov has already been replaced by Yevhenii Khmara, a former top official at Ukraine's Security Service (SBU).

Zelensky, who earlier this week had a meeting with Fedorov, revealed that he had offered him the post of deputy prime minister for military innovation.

"This is a very important role," the president said on Thursday, "because innovation must be co-ordinated with the leadership of the defence ministry, the commander-in-chief... and the president."

But Fedorov refused. It's not clear if his statement means that negotiations over his future are at an end.

Presidential adviser Dmytro Lytvyn said discussions were continuing "and it would be inappropriate to disclose details at this stage". %!s()

The interface has been completely redesigned, with inspiration pulled from "the colors and visual aesthetics of album artwork." The updated miniplayer always stays on the screen as users navigate, offering playback control while poking around the app. The play queue has been updated, with more nuanced control options.

There's a new Explore section that gives people similar albums, artists, radio stations and playlists to what they normally listen to. Content can also now be separated by genre or even record label.

The credits section has been redesigned, with "more accessible information about the works and artists." This section also lets people follow affiliated artists or record labels directly from the credits page. Finally, there's Siri integration for voice control. These updates (excluding Siri, obviously) are currently available to users on both iOS and Android.

Qobuz is one of our favorite music-streaming services. It really seems to care about the artists that populate the service, at least more so than the competition. Albums come with liner-notes-like reviews, there's an integrated magazine that interviews up-and-coming musicians and the app prioritizes full albums instead of algorithmically-decided singles (though it also does that.)

The biggest piece for artists, however, comes down to pay. Qobuz is one of the better paying streamers out there. Previous data suggested a per-stream rate of $0.043. At the time of that calculation, in 2023, artists would accrue $1,000 from just over 23,000 streams. As a comparison, it would take over 312,000 streams on Spotify to garner that amount. Qobuz also lets people buy albums and songs directly from the app, which is pretty cool. Subscription prices range from $12 to $15 per month, depending on the tier, though there is a free 30-day trial. %!s()

Valentín Lavín Romero, who was from the Green party, an ally of the ruling leftwing Morena party, was wounded at the end of January when hitmen shot him at a petrol station on a motorway.

This time the hitmen entered the town hall of Temoac, near Mexico City, in the middle of the day before shooting Lavín Romero dead and escaping on a motorbike.

Authorities are yet to identify a motive or suspects, but the Morelos prosecutor’s office vowed to “exhaust all lines of investigation”.

Almost 100 mayors have been murdered in Mexico since 2006, when the then president, Felipe Calderón, deployed the military to take on Mexico’s organised crime groups, ultimately causing drug-related violence to rise.

The municipal level of government is the least protected layer of the state and where criminal groups seek deals with authorities to strengthen their hold over the local territory and its businesses.

Local media reported Lavín Romero himself allegedly had ties to local crime groups. His mother-in-law, a former treasurer for the municipal government, was arrested in September 2025 for alleged ties to a criminal group known as Los Aparicio and involvement in kidnappings.

In March, the People’s Front in Defence of Land and Water, an activist group, demanded authorities investigate Lavín Romero for his alleged involvement in the murders of two activists, Samir Flores and Sandra Rosa Camacho Flores.

In May – three months after the first attempt on his life – a banner was left in the centre of Temoac, seemingly by a criminal group, accusing Lavín Romero of protecting its rivals and demanding he fall in line with their interests.

His assassination comes as Mexico’s federal government takes steps to unpick the corruption networks between municipal authorities and criminal groups as part of Operation Swarm, under which 85 officials have been arrested across three states, including Morelos.

According to official data, the homicide rate in Mexico has fallen by roughly half over the past year, although security analysts say the true reduction is likely smaller, while more than 130,000 people are registered as missing. %!s()

If you've been keeping an eye on the rumor mill, you're expecting to see every major handset maker follow Samsung's lead. Google is thought to be adding at least $100 onto the price of the new Pixel handsets. That wouldn't be ideal, but if you care enough about getting a brand new phone and can afford it, it won't be the end of the world. Especially if it's split across the length of your contract, burying the bad news across the next 12 or 24 months.

Meanwhile, Apple's outgoing CEO Tim Cook has already laid the groundwork for iPhones to get more expensive, too. Not long after uncharacteristically saying the company couldn't hold prices at their current level, it bumped up the prices on almost all of its product lines. It doesn't take a genius to know that similar rises will be applied to the new iPhones when they launch this fall.

There's a wild theory that Apple is going to split the launch of the iPhones 18 in two as part of this price strategy. It proposes that the (rumored) ultra-flagship iPhone Fold will debut alongside the more lucrative Pro models, with their higher price and higher markup, in the fall. Only after the holiday buying season would the regular iPhone 18 make its debut, perhaps alongside an even more "affordable" iPhone 18e.

The industry-wide price rises have certainly been tough to swallow, and it's clear it's made a lot of people reconsider purchases. It's not as if this is limited to the technology industry, either, as the US Department of Labor says the price of energy has risen by 15.7 percent in the last 12 months.

As budgets get stretched, it's clear people are hoping to make do with what they've got.

There's already hints that the rises are having a chilling effect. In May 2026, Valve withdrew the entry-level Steam Deck, which was priced at $399. The mid-range and premium tier models, meanwhile, saw their prices rise from $549 and $649 to $789 and $949, respectively. A BoilingSteam report believes the price increases caused sales of the popular gaming handheld to drop by a whopping 82 percent.

Similarly, 9to5Mac polled its readers on how the price rises would affect their behavior, with 38 percent saying they would hold onto their hardware for longer. Industry analysts IDC believe the rises will cause a hefty drop in sales across the rest of the year and across 2027. Similarly, it says the smartphone industry should expect to see a "record low" as the memory crunch bites.

So while a $100 price increase certainly isn't the gift we'd all like to see, it could have been a hell of a lot worse. It may just shake out that the monthly cost of all these phones, which was already more than some people would be willing to pay, is even more out of reach. %!s()

Written by Albertini and Simone Ranucci, “Armony” tells the story of an unconventional but loving family. At its center is Armony (Mastandrea), a solitary, 55-year-old truck driver who is forced to care for his 6-year-old niece, Carlotta (Cherchi), after his sister’s disappearance.

Finding help from Pamela, an older transgender woman (played by the late Pamela Schettino in her final performance), and Jenny (Clara Tramontano), his young, pregnant neighbor, a chosen family soon forms. Their fragile happiness is threatened, however, when social services move to take Carlotta away, forcing Armony to confront a difficult journey to fight for legal custody.

The cast also includes Nando Paone, Elena Lietti, Francesca Antonelli and Ornella Muti.

“’Armony’ won us over with its intimate portrayal of the characters and its authenticity,” says Xenix’s Cyrille Thurston.

The Locarno premiere will certainly boost the film’s prospects in the country, she adds.

“We are convinced that word-of-mouth will have a positive effect and that visitors to the Piazza Grande will recommend the film to others.”

“Armony” is the first Albertini film to be distributed by Xenix, which regularly releases Italian titles in Switzerland, among them Nanni Moretti’s upcoming “It Will Happen Tonight.”

In making his latest film, Albertini sought to explore family ties through the lens of loneliness and “how an unexpected event can rekindle a sense of responsibility.”

The story also reflects the economic hardships afflicting parts of Italian society, the director adds.

“This is undoubtedly a deeply rooted aspect in the areas where the film is set. As happens in many parts of Italy, the problem of finding work or decent housing is compounded by personal and family vulnerabilities. And yet, it is precisely in the darkest moments that, if one finds the strength to look at one’s reality from a different perspective, the desire to fight back can emerge. This leads people to open themselves up to new paths that, until then, had seemed unsuitable for them or beyond their reach, especially when the most intimate and family bonds come into play.

“At first, Armony chooses to live a life that is almost on the margins, held back by the fear of confronting the outside world and, above all, by a deep fear of bonding and surrendering to affection,” Albertini explains.

The film was mainly shot on location in Fiumara, near Fiumicino, a coastal area on the outskirts of Rome “that nevertheless feels profoundly distant from today’s reality,” the director told Variety.

“This location allowed Armony to immerse himself in a context completely unknown to him, visually amplifying his sense of estrangement. The fact that the setting has remained unchanged over the years made it possible to capture a territory untouched by modernization, a microcosm suspended in time. At the same time, Fiumara’s enclosed layout visually conveys the idea of a closed space. This made it possible to stage, in an almost tangible way, the protagonist’s tension, constantly watched by eyes scrutinizing him from within a tightly knit community.”

The idea behind “Armony” “comes from a true story that happened to someone very dear to me,” Albertini says. “It is from this intimate fragment of life that I developed the entire evolution of the story. At the center of the narrative is the theme of parenthood, explored through the eyes of someone who chooses to give it up out of sheer fear and inadequacy. And yet, when fate brings us together with someone in a completely unexpected way, our defenses collapse. From that unexpected encounter comes a genuine spark, capable of turning the story into a journey into the human soul.”

In the role of Armony, Mastandrea was ideally suited to bring life to the character, Albertini added.

“The character of Armony had been conceived a long time ago, but I could not quite find its true shape. Valerio was able to grasp its most intimate and hidden nuances, making every gesture feel natural and removing any trace of staged performance. Thanks to this work, Armony fits perfectly into the story.” %!s()