What happened
Russian commanders are killing troops who refuse to fight in the war against Ukraine, according to a new investigation.

The report, from the independent news outlet Verstka, accused 101 Russian servicemen of torturing and murdering their own comrades. The authors verified at least 150 deaths, but they believe that there are many more.

Who said what
The report reveals a “detailed catalogue” of the “methods used to enforce obedience and terror within the ranks”, said The Guardian, and it “paints a bleak picture of internal violence” in Russian forces.

It includes testimonies from soldiers who said commanders had appointed “execution shooters” to open fire on refusers, before dumping their bodies and registering them as killed in action. Drones and grenades were used to “finish off” wounded or retreating troops, and some soldiers were allegedly “tortured to death”, said the broadsheet.

What next?
The Kremlin has “repeatedly rejected” claims of “indiscipline among Russian troops”, added The Guardian. And although about 12,000 complaints have been filed with the military prosecutor’s office since the start of the full-scale war, most have gone “unanswered”, said pro-human rights news outlet Charter 97.

What happened
O2 is to become the first network operator to offer UK customers automatic connectivity via satellite in places without a phone signal.

Virgin Media O2 has agreed to a multi-year partnership with Elon Musk’s Starlink as part of an effort to tackle so-called coverage “not spots” in remote rural areas.

Who said what
The telecoms industry is “engaged in a space race”, said The Telegraph, as operators “seize on satellite technology to fix patchy coverage that has long frustrated customers”.

O2’s move comes “several months after rival Vodafone carried out a successful live video call via satellite from a mountain in Wales”, said the BBC, but Vodafone “has not yet revealed any plans to roll out satellite-to-device services to customers”.

What next?
Enabled smartphones on O2 will automatically switch to satellite coverage in parts of the UK where no terrestrial signal is available. But the service will only work with messaging, maps and location apps, not calls at this point.

The firm has not yet revealed how much it will cost users, but there will be an additional fee to pay each month.

In the week the clocks went back an hour across Europe, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez reignited the debate over daylight saving time (DST) and raised his concerns with the EU.

“Changing the time twice a year no longer makes sense,” said Sánchez in a post on X. The change has a “negative impact” on Europeans’ health and lives, and a “review mechanism” should be introduced to assess the existing measures.

Sánchez believes the concept is “outdated, inefficient and unhealthy”, said The Times. He questions its energy-saving capacity and argues that the changes disrupt biological and sleep rhythms.

The Spanish leader has long been against DST, which the European Commission said in 2018 it would remove. It has so far failed to do so owing to a lack of unanimity. Spain raised the issue at the EU’s Transport, Telecommunications and Energy Council meeting in Luxembourg on Monday.

“It’s unclear if Spain’s effort is quixotic,” said Politico. Sánchez’s proposals require significant backing, although this can be achieved in many ways. He needs either the support of 15 of the EU’s 27 members or a selection of countries representing at least 65% of the EU’s population to back him. All the while his measures can be dismissed if four or more “capitals oppose it outright”.

It is thought that most Europeans are against the concept of DST, although they “begrudgingly” accept it, said DW. The issue contains logistical complexities that would require consensus before any changes could be made. Perhaps the “main sticking point” is whether the clocks would be permanently set to summer or winter time.