U.S. senators who opposed housing bill got tens of thousands from Blackstone, other groups

Peter Steinberger's artificial intelligence agent tool OpenClaw has taken the tech world by storm with its ability to execute real-life tasks such as checking him in for his flight to Tokyo.

AI is not yet a ubiquitous personal assistant for ordinary people, but "you'll see much more of that this year because this is the year of agents", Steinberger told AFP in the Japanese capital on Monday.

"There are still some things we need to do to make it better," the Austrian programmer said.

Demand is ramping up, however, with more developers now "making the future happen", he added in an interview during a gathering for OpenClaw enthusiasts.

When downloaded, OpenClaw can be connected to existing AI models and given simple instructions through instant messaging apps, as if to a friend or colleague.

Jensen Huang, head of the world's most valuable company Nvidia, this month hailed the tool -- whose symbol is a bright red lobster -- as "the next ChatGPT".

But all the buzz has raised concerns over the cybersecurity risks of allowing AI systems vulnerable to hacks to access personal data such as bank details.

- Chinese 'momentum' -

Steinberger built OpenClaw in November while playing around with AI coding tools in an attempt to organise his digital life.

He has since been hired by ChatGPT creator OpenAI "to drive the next generation of personal agents", the US startup's boss Sam Altman said in February.

"What you have to know about OpenClaw is, like, it couldn't have come from those big companies," Steinberger told AFP.

"Those companies would have worried too much about what could go wrong instead of just, like -- I wanted to just show people I've been into the future," he said.

While tech giants work out how agent tools could be used by businesses, the next AI innovation could come from "someone who just wants to have fun", Steinberger said.

At Monday's "ClawCon" event in Tokyo, where many of the hundreds of participants were dressed as lobsters, OpenClaw demos were held on stage and experts helped attendees install their agents.

Similar scenes have been seen across China, where users have been particularly quick to embrace OpenClaw's potential to organise emails, help with coding and a plethora of other digital tasks.

"If you see it as a competition, it certainly looks like China is gaining a lot of momentum" in the AI sector, Steinberger said.

"But right now there's still quite a bit of a leap between the best models from China and the best models in the US."

- AI 'hammer' -

OpenClaw's success in China has led national cybersecurity authorities and Beijing's IT ministry to issue official warnings over potential risks.

Is Steinberger concerned that people could use his tool for illicit purposes?

"Yes, I do worry a bit, especially because there's now a whole cottage industry of companies that try to make a big buck and make it even simpler to install OpenClaw," he said.

"I purposefully didn't make it simpler so people would stop and read and understand: what is AI, that AI can make mistakes, what is prompt injection -- some basics that you really should understand when you use that technology."

But at the end of the day, "if you build a hammer... you can hurt yourself. So should we not build hammers any more"?

A Reddit-like pseudo social network for OpenClaw agents called Moltbook, where chatbots converse, has also grabbed headlines and provoked soul-searching over AI.

"A lot of that was, in my view, very much driven by humans to just create those stories," Steinberger said, adding that joining OpenAI means he now has more resources to use on "cool ideas".

He said 2023-2024 "was the year of ChatGPT, last year was the year of the coding agent, this year's going to be the year of the general agent".

"I love that I helped a lot of people to bring AI from this scary thing into something that is fun and weird and gets them excited, because we need to to make it good for this next century," Steinberger explained.

"We need more people to think more about AI."

kaf/lga

(The Center Square) -- U.S. senators collectively spend more than a million taxpayer dollars each year for pricey flights on private planes for themselves and their staff, even though Senate rules greatly discourage the practice, an investigation by The Center Square has found.

That includes a Midwestern senator who regularly charters flights to travel to and from Washington, D.C., at an expense that is about 10 times what he would pay to fly commercially from his local airport.

It also includes New York's two senators who have repeatedly used the charter planes to crisscross their state for public appearances and press conferences, including for initiatives to protect the environment. Private jets are notorious polluters and often criticized by environmentalists when celebrities use them.

And one former Arizona senator spent about $50,000 for one flight from Washington, D.C., to the Grand Canyon in 2023 to attend an event with then-President Joe Biden, who signed a proclamation to protect sacred tribal land in the area.

"It shows that when you're spending somebody else's money, you aren't looking for the best deal," said David Williams, president of the Taxpayers Protection Alliance, a national government spending hawk. "There's got to be better guidelines, better regulations and better oversight to make sure that they're not spending thousands of dollars on a round-trip flight that could cost hundreds of dollars."

Senate rules allow for reimbursement for charter aircraft with no more than two engines and six seats under certain circumstances. Those situations include: flights that exceed 14 hours; the transportation of someone with a medical disability; security concerns; no other available flights; and "other exceptional circumstances."

A representative of the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Ethics -- which oversees the spending -- did not respond to a request to comment on the rules and the flights of senators.

The senators' spending is reported twice each year by the Secretary of the Senate, but it is published in a manner that makes it difficult for the general public to evaluate. The text documents are thousands of pages long and cannot be easily transferred to spreadsheets for analysis. The U.S. House provides the information in spreadsheet form.

The Center Square used artificial intelligence tools to extract the data and manually verified the key information that is the basis of this article.

Senate spending for charter flights has far outpaced that of the U.S. House, where the top spender averaged about $10,000 per year. The Senate spending has been driven primarily by three people.

The top spender

Sen. Mike Rounds, a South Dakota Republican, spends by far the most on the flights. In 2024, the most-recent full calendar year available in the Senate expense reports, he spent about $480,000.

That was nearly half of the total spent by all senators.

Senators who live in sparsely populated and geographically large states often opt for private planes  for some of their travel to visit far-flung constituents, but Rounds' spending is mostly for travel to Washington, D.C., the Senate's records show.

He often spends between $10,000 and $15,000 each week for the travel. On Mondays he typically flies from his city of Pierre -- in the middle of South Dakota -- on a charter plane to a suburb of Minneapolis, where he switches to a typical commercial flight to Washington. Later in the week, he returns by a similar combination of commercial and charter flights.

Each charter flight to the Minneapolis area costs about $6,000. Roundtrip commercial flights from Pierre to Washington, D.C. often cost between $500 and $1,000.

Rounds' office did not respond to requests to comment for this article. He has explained the flights to other new organizations as necessary for his schedule.

There are no direct commercial flights to Washington from Pierre, which despite being the state's capital has a population of about 14,000. Yet some of the available commercial flights can take as little as about six hours to reach the nation's capital, The Center Square found through commercial flight booking websites.

The total travel time for Rounds' typical trips was not immediately available. He is required to report how much they cost and when they happened, but federal lawmakers have shielded themselves from public records requests that might reveal more information about their travels.

Most of the charter flights Rounds commissions are from Mustang Aviation, a decades-old company that also offers aircraft maintenance and flight training. Its owner, Jim Peitz, did not respond to a request to comment for this article.

Campaign finance disclosures show that Peitz donated $4,000 to Rounds in his last election cycle, which culminated with a dominant win in 2020. Rounds, a former governor, was first elected to the Senate in 2014.

South Dakota's other senator -- Majority Leader John Thune, a Republican of Sioux Falls -- also flies from an out-of-state airport to Washington, Senate records show. Thune flies between Omaha, Nebraska, and Washington, at a cost that is often less than $1,000. The records do not indicate how he travels to and from Omaha.

Thune's office did not respond to a request to comment for this article.

Thune is also one of the top spenders for charter flights, often spending about $50,000 each year. Records indicate he uses the flights for in-state travel. His home in Sioux Falls is in the far southeast corner of the state.

New York's senators

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, both New York Democrats, are routinely the second- and third-highest spenders for charter flights, according to the Senate data.

In 2024, Gillibrand spent about $270,000, and Schumer spent about $160,000.

They often use the flights to make multiple stops across their state,  usually for public appearances and press conferences. For instance, Schumer's flights last year coincided with events in which he discussed federal health care funding freezes, the impact of tariffs on businesses and efforts he opposed to eliminate clean energy tax credits, according to a review of his schedule.

The final destinations of the Schumer flights were sometimes Washington, D.C.

The senators spent even more money on flights in 2022, a mid-term election year that featured a tighter-than-usual governor's race and a strong Republican turnout. That year, Gillibrand spent about $350,000, which approached the amount spent by Rounds.

Spokespeople for Gillibrand and Schumer did not respond to requests to comment for this article.

Many of the destinations for both senators were larger New York cities with regular commercial flights available for hundreds of dollars. Instead, Schumer commissioned flights that typically cost between $7,000 and $10,000.

Gillibrand's were about twice as expensive per trip, with many of them originating in Washington. They ranged in cost from about $15,000 to $19,000.

Gillibrand typically charters flights from Venture Jets, a Pennsylvania-based company. Schumer uses Flying Zebra in New York.

Most expensive flight

Former Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, an Arizona independent, was a Top 5 spender for chartered flights in 2022 and 2023. She spent a comparable amount to Gillibrand in 2023, largely because of the most-expensive flight listed in Senate expenditure data in recent years.

Sinema and several members of her staff flew on a charter plane from Washington to the Grand Canyon in her state in August 2023 at a cost of about $50,000, the data show.

One-way direct flights from Washington to Flagstaff, Arizona -- near the Grand Canyon -- can cost less than $200 per person, according to current commercial airline ticket prices.

On the day of her flight, she attended an event in which then-President Joe Biden signed a proclamation to protect more than 900,000 acres of land important to native Americans near Grand Canyon National Park.

Sinema was a lead advocate of banning future uranium mining in the area.

Senate records indicate Sinema chartered further flights that day and the next to visit several other cities at an additional cost of $19,000.

Sinema did not respond to a request to comment for this article.

G7 ministers and central bank officials gathered Monday to tackle the economic consequences of the war in the Middle East that has sent energy prices soaring and has triggered fears for the world economy.

The United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran in late February, and Tehran has hit back by targeting crude-exporting countries in the region and halting most shipments through the Gulf.

The squeeze on supply has pushed oil and natural gas prices higher, with drastic knock-on effects for supply chains in multiple industries.

French Finance Minister Roland Lescure said the G7 was convening finance ministers, energy ministers, and central bank officials, the first gathering in that format since the G7 was established in 1975.

"We know that what's happening now in the Gulf is having energy consequences, economic consequences, financial market consequences and potentially inflation consequences," he told reporters ahead of the meeting.

"The idea is to monitor developments, to exchange diagnoses especially on potential disruptions."

Representatives of the International Energy Agency (IEA), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank were present at the meeting held by video link.

The G7, an informal grouping of the United States, Canada, Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Japan, helps shape policy debates in the world's wealthiest nations.

France currently holds the rotating presidency of the G7 advanced economies.

The United States has sought support from the group to help halt Iran's blockade of the Strait of Hormuz shipping route.

After a meeting last week, G7 foreign ministers said it was an "absolute necessity" for Iran to re-establish free passage through the strait and called for an end to attacks on civilian infrastructure.

- 'Act quickly' -

Under increasing pressure, many governments have rolled out measures to limit the impact of supply difficulties and soaring energy prices. 

On Friday, the French government announced it would spend 70 million euros ($80 million) to help the fishing, agriculture and transport industries in April.

Lescure said on Monday that measures of support should be targeted and rapid.

"This is a crisis that affects all of us and that will result in costs for the nation," Lescure told reporters.

We need to "act quickly and act fairly," he said.

US officials, including President Donald Trump, have said their goals in the war are almost achieved, but thousands of US personnel have been sent to the region in an unprecedented military build-up.

Activists based outside Iran say the US-Israeli campaign has killed more than 3,000 people in the country, over half of them civilians, while Lebanese officials have said more than 1,000 have been killed there since Israel began attacking its territory in retaliation for Hezbollah attacks on March 2.

Officials in Israel and countries across the Gulf have also reported much smaller numbers of casualties.

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Kenya's 2021 New York marathon champion Albert Korir has been banned for five years after he admitted using a banned performance-enhancing drug, the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) said on Monday.

Korir, 32, tested positive for the synthetic form of erythropoietin (EPO) that stimulates red blood cell production during out-of-competition tests in Kenya in October 2025.

The AIU said that Korir had received a one-year reduction from the original six-year suspension "based on an early admission and acceptance of the sanction".

His five-year ban will run from January 8, 2026, the date he was provisionally suspended, until January 7, 2031.

Korir won the 2021 New York marathon in a time of 2hr 08min 22sec and came third in 2023 with a personal best time of 2:06:57.

He won the Ottawa marathon in 2019 and 2025.

Korir's sanction comes nearly six months after compatriot Ruth Chepngetich, the current world marathon record holder was banned for three years after admitting the use of Hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ), a banned diuretic used as a masking agent.

Running is a way out of poverty for many in Kenya, putting pressure on many to turn to drugs, especially since the country lacks the sophisticated infrastructure to train stars.

Kenya worked to clean up its image after a string of doping scandals around the 2016 Rio Olympics led to it being declared non-compliant by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

More than 140 Kenyan runners, mainly long-distance athletes, have been sanctioned for drugs offences since then.

In June 2024, Kenya handed out its first lifetime ban to marathon runner Beatrice Toroitich and a six-year ban to 10km record-holder Rhonex Kipruto.

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Here are the latest key facts and figures about the blockage of the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial shipping route virtually paralysed by the Middle East war.

Around a fifth of global crude oil and liquefied natural gas passes through the waterway in peacetime.

The war erupted on February 28 when the United States and Israel began bombing Iran, prompting Tehran to retaliate with strikes across the region and sharply restrict access to the strait.

- Handful of crossings -

Fifteen vessels crossed the strait over the weekend, 12 of them on Saturday, making it one of the busiest days for crossings since March 1, according to Kpler.

From March 1 to 30 as of 0900 GMT Monday, commodities carriers made just 195 crossings, according to data from analytics firm Kpler -- a decrease of 95 percent from peacetime.

Of these, 121 were by oil tankers and gas carriers and most were travelling east out of the strait.

- Chinese container ships pass -

Later on Monday, two further ships -- ultra-large container vessels owned by Chinese shipping giant Cosco -- appeared to have successfully crossed the strait after an aborted attempt last week, maritime tracker MarineTraffic said on X.

It interpreted their passage as "signalling a potential shift in conditions for commercial shipping".

- Steel, soybeans shipped -

Seven of the ships passing through the strait over the weekend were dry bulk carriers transporting steel, iron ore pellets and soybean meal.

Four vessels were liquified petroleum gas tankers and the rest were liquid tankers.

The channel in peacetime sees around 120 daily transits, according to shipping industry intelligence site Lloyd's List.

- 2,000 ships in Gulf -

Around 2,142 vessels have sent transponder signals in the Gulf west of the Strait of Hormuz in the past day, according to Bloomberg data.

Of those, 298 were tankers, including 10 very large gas carriers and 55 very large crude carriers.

- No reported incidents since March 22 -

Since March 1, 2026, 24 commercial vessels, including 11 tankers, have been attacked or reported incidents in the Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz or the Gulf of Oman, according to the British naval maritime security agency UKMTO.

No incidents have been logged since March 22, when the bulk carrier Phoenix reported an explosion next to the ship in Emirati waters, according to the UKMTO.

Drones struck fuel tanks at Oman's Salalah port on Saturday, injuring one worker and disrupting operations but hitting no vessels.

- Eight sea workers killed -

Since the conflict began, at least eight seafarers or dock workers have died in incidents in the region, according to the International Maritime Organization (IMO).

A further four remained missing and 10 were injured.

Around 20,000 seafarers are affected in the region, according to the IMO.

- Iran-approved route -

Recent crossings appeared to have mainly used a route apparently approved by Iran around Larak Island just off the country's coast.

Leading shipping journal Lloyd's List last week said at least 34 ships had been tracked using it.

Over the weekend three ships sent signals close to Larak Island before turning off their transponders to cross the strait.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said the route was closed to vessels travelling to and from ports linked to its "enemies".

- 45% sanctioned ships -

Since the war started, 45 percent of the crossings have been by ships under US, EU or UK sanctions, according to an AFP analysis of passage data.

Of the crossings by oil and gas tankers, 61 percent were by vessels under sanctions.

lmc/rlp/rl

Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa started a visit to Berlin on Monday for talks on the Middle East war, rebuilding his country and the return of refugees, with critics saying his record on human rights is being ignored. 

On his first trip to Germany since ousting his country's longtime strongman Bashar al-Assad in late 2024, Sharaa met his German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Monday morning before talks with Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt.

Europe's top economy is home to the largest Syrian diaspora in the European Union at more than a million, many of whom arrived during the peak of the migrant influx in 2015-2016.

Sharaa, 43, a former Islamist rebel leader, has managed to build relations with Western governments and made several overseas trips, including to the United States, France and Russia.

As a result, many international sanctions on Syria have been lifted to help the country rebuild after a bloody 14-year civil war.

Sharaa told a foreign ministry forum in Berlin that the country had experienced a "huge amount of destruction" during its long conflict, saying that Syrians "want to catch up with the rest of the world" as Germany did after World War II.

He pointed to investment opportunities in Syria's energy, transport and tourism sectors, describing his homeland as very diverse and with "a great wealth of human resources".

"We stand with Syria," German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said, pledging to support reconstruction efforts. "The Syrians deserve a chance, and we want to help ensure that this opportunity is well utilised."

Sharaa also suggested that he would like to see some of the Syrians who fled to Germany return to help with reconstruction.

"They have studied at German universities, acquired modern expertise that German companies have," he said. 

- 'No grounds for asylum' -

Rights campaigners have criticised the visit, pointing to Sharaa's Islamist past and Syria's ongoing violence and instability.

Protesters gathered in front of the foreign ministry on Monday waving Kurdish flags and placards criticising the rapprochement between Merz and Sharaa, highlighting the latter's time as an Islamist militant.

Near the chancellery dozens of Syrians also turned out to welcome Sharaa, waving Syria's new revolutionary flag and a banner showing the president surrounded by hearts.

Merz, a conservative who took power last May, has stepped up a drive to limit irregular immigration as he seeks to counter the rise of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.

Merz said last year that, with Syria's civil war over, people from the country now have "no grounds for asylum in Germany".

The government in December resumed deporting convicted criminals to Syria, though only a handful of cases have gone ahead so far.

Merz also said he assumed many Syrians would return home voluntarily, drawing criticism from campaign groups that cite continued instability and rights abuses in Syria.

The Green party's foreign affairs spokeswoman Luise Amtsberg told AFP that Germany should not engage in a "premature normalisation" with Sharaa's government.

Merz had reduced Syria policy "to the question of deportations and is ignoring the situation on the ground", she said.

- 'Authoritarian tendencies' -

Since Sharaa has been in power, sectarian tensions have continued to cause repeated bloodshed, while the Islamic State group remains at large.

After Assad's overthrow, Israel moved its forces into the UN-patrolled demilitarised zone on the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, and has carried out hundreds of strikes in Syria as well as regular incursions.

Sharaa was initially planning to visit Germany in January, but the trip was postponed as he sought to end fighting between government troops and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in his country's north.

KGD, a group that represents the Kurdish community in Germany, has said that Sharaa "bears responsibility for numerous human rights violations, war crimes and crimes against humanity".

Sophie Bischoff, president of the German-Syrian NGO Adopt A Revolution, told reporters at an event on Monday that any support from the German government "must be linked to clear conditions" and warned that "authoritarian tendencies are on the rise again in Syria".

fec-jsk/sbk

French carmaker Renault said on Monday it was developing a ground-based drone for military and civilian use as Europe scrambles to boost weapons production in the face of Russian aggression.

French industry magazine L'Usine Nouvelle said that the carmaker is working in partnership with the Belgian group John Cockerill, which owns the main French supplier of military vehicles Arquus.

"Our R&D teams are testing and exploring various options, such as ground robots, which also have potential for civilian applications," Renault said in a statement to AFP.

"This is an exploratory study project," the company said without confirming the name of the partner company.

The car manufacturer said that it had been contacted by the defence ministry earlier this year.

"Our R&D teams are working on various projects in the defence sector, while also seeking civilian applications in each case," added Renault.

According to L'Usine Nouvelle, the land drone prototype that Renault is developing is said to be the size of a small car and is expected to be unveiled at the Eurosatory international defence and security exhibition in June.

Designed for battlefield reconnaissance, it resembles a lunar rover equipped with several suspended cameras, according to the specialist publication.

In January, Renault said it was teaming up with Turgis Gaillard, a French defence group, to produce aerial drones in France.

Aerial and terrestrial drones have redefined the nature of war in recent years. 

Last week a top NATO commander, Pierre Vandier, said NATO countries must respond to challenges such as Russia and Iran mass-producing drones, whose capacities are rapidly evolving.

leb-as/ekf/yad

Iran on Monday hanged two men who were members of a banned opposition group and described by rights groups as political prisoners, as Tehran keeps up executions against the background of the war against the US and Israel.

Akbar Daneshvarkar, 60, and Mohammad Taghavi-Sangdehi, 59, were hanged at dawn in the notorious Gehzel Hesar prison in the Tehran satellite city of Karaj for membership of the outlawed People's Mujahedin of Iran, also known as Mujahedeen-e-Khalq (MEK).

They were executed "after confirmation and final approval of the sentence by the Supreme Court", the judiciary's Mizan Online website said.

The MEK opposed the rule of the shah and initially supported the 1979 Islamic revolution but rapidly fell out with the new clerical leadership in the 1980s. It is now based in exile and is designated as a terrorist organisation by Tehran.

The group's political wing the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) in a statement confirmed that the two were members of the MEK.

Its leader Maryam Rajavi said "the desperate clerical regime, in fear of the people's uprising, vainly attempts to delay the explosion of the people's anger for a short while by executing the bravest children of Iran."

- 'Severe internal repression' -

Campaign groups have long expressed fear that there will be a new surge in executions as authorities use capital punishment to spread fear throughout society against the background of the now over month-long war against Israel and the US.

"We fear that the Islamic republic will exploit the current wartime conditions to carry out mass executions inside prisons, to instill societal fear," said director of Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam.

IHR said the two "political prisoners" were "subjected to physical and psychological torture, denied due process rights and sentenced to death in a process that did not meet minimum fair trial standards."

It warned four co-defendants are "at grave and imminent risk of execution" in Ghezel Hesar prison after being sentenced to death in the same case.

Shadi Sadr, co-founder of the NGO Justice for Iran, which seeks legal accountability for rights violations in the Islamic republic, said "the Iranian people are trapped between an international war and severe internal repression."

Mizan said the two executed men were charged with participating in "terrorist acts", carrying out actions aimed at overthrowing the Islamic republic, and disrupting national security.

According to the NCRI, the MEK regularly carried out actions inside Iran aimed at the clerical authorities.

Iran on March 19 executed three men who were accused of killing police officers during protests in January, the first hangings Iran has carried out related to the nationwide demonstrations that were met with a brutal crackdown by the authorities.

One of them was teenager Saleh Mohammadi, who had only just turned 19 and had taken part in international wrestling competitions.

Iranian authorities also in March executed Kouroush Keyvani, a dual Iranian-Swedish national, on charges of spying for Israel, in a hanging strongly condemned by Stockholm and the EU.

Iran is the world's most prolific executioner after China, according to rights groups. Last year it hanged at least 1,500 people, according to figures from IHR.

sjw/ser

Russia on Monday kicked out a British diplomat over allegations he was working as a spy -- charges rejected by London as "complete nonsense".

Moscow and London have each expelled multiple embassy staff over the last decade, trading accusations of espionage.

Expulsions from one side have typically been followed by a tit-for-tat response from the other.

The diplomat, named as 29-year-old embassy secretary Albertus Gerhardus Janse Van Rensburg, was expelled for engaging in "subversive intelligence activities that threaten Russia's security", Russia's FSB security service said.

"A decision was made to strip Janse Van Rensburg of his accreditation, and he was ordered to leave Russia within two weeks," it added.

The Russian foreign ministry said it had summoned Britain's charge d'affaires over the incident and warned the United Kingdom not to retaliate.

Britain accused Russia of waging an "aggressive and co-ordinated campaign of harassment".

"The accusations made today by Russia against our diplomats are complete nonsense," a foreign ministry spokesperson said, adding Russia was "pumping out malicious and completely baseless accusations about their work".

Relations between London and Moscow, currently at a low point over the Ukraine war, have been strained by spying allegations for decades.

In 2006, former FSB officer and Russian defector Alexander Litvinenko was killed in London, poisoned by polonium in what British investigators said was a hit by the Russian secret service.

In 2018, the UK said Russian double agent Sergei Skripal was poisoned with a Novichok nerve agent in the British cathedral city of Salisbury.

One member of the public was killed after handling the delivery device, a discarded perfume bottle, triggering the largest Western expulsion in decades of Russian diplomats alleged to be spies.

burs/jhb

Japanese locals and tourists packed the country's most stunning cherry blossom spots on Monday to enjoy the dazzling flowers at full bloom.

The tiny white and pink petals of cherry flowers, known as sakura, herald the start of spring in Japan, and full bloom ushers in a brief period of boisterous outdoor parties held by residents.

Across the nation families and friends rolled out blankets and tarpaulins at parks, temples and even cemeteries over the weekend to eat and drink under cherry trees for traditional "hanami" or flower viewing gatherings.

Japanese people hold "very special feelings for sakura", said Tokyo resident Akiko Nyman, 48, as she admired flowers in crowded Ueno park in the centre of the capital.

"We love it, because it is so short... it doesn't last long, it comes every year, something very special," she said.

At this time of the year, weather forecasters are laser focused on when the blossom will peak in each city, and they advise excited residents on the best weather days for picnics and how long the flowers might last.

In the ancient capital of Kyoto, officials on Monday declared full bloom after examining a sample tree within the grounds of Nijo-jo Castle, a world heritage site.

- 'Good photo opportunity' -

"We observed the cherry blossoms in full bloom on March 30," Kyoto Local Meteorological Office said.

Cherry flowers at ancient temples and shrines in Kyoto are particularly popular among visitors and locals.

Australian tourist Olivia Martell-Groves went all in for the seasonal experience, and donned a flower-printed kimono while marvelling at the flowers.

"We wanted to see them because they're really pretty, good photo opportunities and something you can only see in certain times of the year... and also it just feels so peaceful and nice," she said.

In Tokyo, the flowers reached full bloom during the weekend, entering a brief period of stunning beauty, before the petals will fall like flurries of snow.

The flowers symbolise both the youthful energy and the fragility of life in Japanese culture as full blooms only last about a week.

The season marks the start of the new business year when university graduates join the work force.

It is also a time of farewells, when school graduates leave their hometown while many corporate professionals receive assignments in new cities.

hih/aph/ane