Russian troops inch forward in Ukraine’s east with waves of bombs and infantry

Russian troops inch forward in Ukraine’s east with waves of bombs and infantry
Russian assaults are raising pressure on the strategic eastern logistics hub of Pokrovsk, Ukraine said on Friday, as waves of guided bombs and infantry lead to some of Moscow’s largest territorial gains since the spring. (AFP/File)
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Updated 02 August 2024
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Russian troops inch forward in Ukraine’s east with waves of bombs and infantry

Russian troops inch forward in Ukraine’s east with waves of bombs and infantry
  • The push is fueling a surge in civilians fleeing, with requests for evacuation in the area increasing about tenfold over the past two weeks
  • Russian forces have been steadily inching forward on several fronts in the eastern Donetsk region, staging particularly fierce attacks near Pokrovsk

KYIV: Russian assaults are raising pressure on the strategic eastern logistics hub of Pokrovsk, Ukraine said on Friday, as waves of guided bombs and infantry lead to some of Moscow’s largest territorial gains since the spring.
The push is fueling a surge in civilians fleeing, with requests for evacuation in the area increasing about tenfold over the past two weeks, according to a volunteer helping people leave.
Russian forces have been steadily inching forward on several fronts in the eastern Donetsk region, staging particularly fierce attacks near Pokrovsk with Kyiv’s troops stretched thin 29 months since Russia’s full-scale invasion.
Russia’s gains of around 57 square km (22 square miles) in the space of a week are the third largest recorded since April after they made only modest gains in June, Pasi Paroinen, an analyst with the Black Bird Group, told Reuters.
Russian forces are using warplanes and artillery fire to support waves of infantry assaults in the area near Pokrovsk, Ruslan Muzychuk, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s National Guard said in televised remarks.
“These assaults are not always supported by armored vehicles, often it is infantry assaults,” he said, flagging the bombing by Russian warplanes as a particular problem.
“It’s a significant threat ... because the Pokrovsk and Toretsk fronts are taking a large share of the daily aviation strikes carried out on the positions of Ukrainian defenders.”
Russia’s Ministry of Defense said its forces had captured five settlements in the Donetsk region in the past week.
Russia’s use of warplanes to fire guided bombs was crucial for Moscow’s battlefield tactics, said Valeriy Romanenko, a Kyiv-based aviation expert, who compared it to a “conveyor belt.”
“The Russians are not piercing our defense, they are pushing it back. They are advancing 100, 150, 200 meters every day using this tactic: dropping guided bombs, then a ‘meat assault’, (and if those are) repelled, dropping guided bombs again, a ‘meat assault’ again.”
He said the supply of US F-16 fighters to Ukraine could disrupt that dynamic if the jets were able to threaten Russian warplanes, but that such operations were unlikely for now given the risk it would present for the new pilots operating expensive jets.
Paroinen said the Russian offensives around the settlements of Toretsk and Niu York as well as the one to the east of Pokrovsk around the villages of Ocheretyne and Prohres had created a “double crisis” for Ukraine toward the end of June.
That, he said, followed the Russian offensive into the northeastern Kharkiv region, which was halted by Ukraine, but opened a new front and spread the defenders extremely thin.

’THEY ARE DESTROYING EVERYTHING’
Roman Buhayov, an evacuation driver from humanitarian organization East SOS, told Reuters that the number of requests for evacuation in the area had increased about tenfold over the past two weeks.
On Friday, he drove a bus evacuating residents from Novohrodivka, a town with a pre-war population of some 14,000 near Pokrovsk. It now lies around 10 km from the front line, which inches closer each day.
Antonina Kalashnikova, 62, and her disabled son Denys, 34, evacuated their pummelled home by taking Buhayov’s bus to Pokrovsk where she spoke to Reuters.
Together with their neighbor, they arrived to the town with all of their possessions reduced to a few market bags before continuing their journey to the southern city of Mykolaiv.
“They started bombing heavily and it became extremely frightening. We didn’t sleep all night, and we decided to leave,” Kalashnikova said. “They are destroying everything.”


Ugandan activist arrested in Tanzania found ‘tortured’ at border: rights group

Ugandan activist arrested in Tanzania found ‘tortured’ at border: rights group
Updated 11 sec ago
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Ugandan activist arrested in Tanzania found ‘tortured’ at border: rights group

Ugandan activist arrested in Tanzania found ‘tortured’ at border: rights group
  • Ugandan activist and journalist Agather Atuhaire was arrested earlier this week alongside her Kenyan counterpart, Boniface Mwangi
  • Atuhaire and Mwangi were among activists who went to Tanzania to show solidarity with opposition leader Tundu Lissu
KAMPALA: A Ugandan activist who was arrested and held “incommunicado” in Tanzania after attempting to attend a treason trial for an opposition leader has been found at the Ugandan border with “indications of torture,” a rights group said Friday.
Ugandan activist and journalist Agather Atuhaire was arrested earlier this week alongside her Kenyan counterpart, Boniface Mwangi, a prominent campaigner against corruption and police brutality in Kenya.
Atuhaire and Mwangi were among activists who went to Tanzania to show solidarity with opposition leader Tundu Lissu at the latest hearing of his treason trial on Monday.
Ugandan rights group Agora Discourse posted on X on Friday that Atuhaire had been found.
“She was abandoned at the border by Tanzanian authorities,” it said.
Its co-founder Spire Ssentongo said that “Agather is under the care of family and friends.”
“She was dumped at the border at night by the authorities and there are indications of torture,” Ssentongo added.
Police in Tanzania initially told a Tanzanian rights group that Mwangi and Atuhaire would be deported by air.
But Mwangi was also found abandoned on a roadside in northern Tanzania near the Kenyan border, according to the local newspaper Daily Nation.
“We were both treated worse than dogs, chained, blindfolded and underwent a very gruesome torture,” Mwangi told reporters on his return to Nairobi.
Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan said earlier this week that foreign activists would not be allowed to interfere in the country’s affairs.
She urged security services “not to allow ill-mannered individuals from other countries to cross the line here.”

North Korea denies warship was severely damaged as full investigation underway on its failed launch

North Korea denies warship was severely damaged as full investigation underway on its failed launch
Updated 11 min 13 sec ago
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North Korea denies warship was severely damaged as full investigation underway on its failed launch

North Korea denies warship was severely damaged as full investigation underway on its failed launch
  • North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un expressed fury over an incident that he said was caused by criminal negligence
  • Satellite imagery on the site showed vessel lying on its side and draped in blue covers, with parts of it submerged

SEOUL: North Korea is seeking to arrest those responsible for the failed launch of its second naval destroyer, as it denied the warship suffered major damage – a claim quickly met with outside skepticism.

A statement from North Korea on its handling of the botched launch came after leader Kim Jong Un expressed fury over an incident that he said was caused by criminal negligence. The main military committee said Friday that those responsible would be held responsible for an “unpardonable criminal act.”

Satellite imagery on the site showed vessel lying on its side and draped in blue covers, with parts of it submerged. North Korea says it’ll take about 10 days to repair its damage, but outside observers question that timeframe because damage to the ship appeared much worse than what North Korea claims.

Here is what you need to know about the failed ship launch:

How much damage was there to the ship

North Korea’s state news agency, KCNA, said Friday that the severity of the damage to the 5,000-ton-class destroyer was “not serious” as it canceled an earlier assessment that the bottom of the hull had been left with holes.

It said the hull on the starboard side was scratched and some seawater had flowed into the stern section. But it said it’ll take a total of 10 days to pump up the seawater, set the ship upright and fix the scratches.

It’s almost impossible to verify the assessment because of the extremely secretive nature of North Korea. It has a history of manipulating or covering up military-related setbacks, policy fiascoes and other mishaps, though it has periodically acknowledged some in recent years.

Lee Illwoo, an expert with the Korea Defense Network in South Korea, said the North Korean warship likely suffered much worse damage, including the flooding of its engine room located in the stern section, and holes in the starboard. He said North Korea could simply set the ship upright, paint it and claim the ship has been launched, but that repairs could take more than a year as the replacement of an engine requires cutting the hull.

Why the ship’s launch failed

According to the North Korean account, the destroyer was damaged when a transport cradle on the ship’s stern detached early during a launch ceremony at the northeastern port of Chongjin on Wednesday.

Moon Keun-sik, a navy expert who teaches at Seoul’s Hanyang University, said North Korean workers are probably not familiar with launching a 5,000-tonne-class warship, which is nearly three times heavier than its existing main navy ships.

Observers say North Korea tried to launch the destroyer sideways, a method it has never used for warships, although it has previously employed it with big cargo and passenger ships.

Compared with those non-military vessels, Lee sad it would be more difficult to maintain balance with the destroyer because it’s equipped with heavy weapons systems. He suspected North Korean scientists and workers likely did not factor that in.

How Kim has reacted

The damaged ship is assessed as the same class as North Korea’s first destroyer, launched with great fanfare last month with a floating dry dock at a western shipyard. It is North Korea’s biggest and most advanced warship to date, and Kim called its construction “a breakthrough” in modernizing North Korea’s naval forces to cope with what he calls US-led security threats.

Subsequently, a failure to launch the second destroyer was an embarrassment for Kim. But by disclosing it to both internally and externally, Kim could be trying to show his resolve in modernizing naval forces and boost discipline at home. He ordered officials to thoroughly investigate the case and repair the warship before a high-level ruling Workers’ Party meeting in late June.

North Korea said Friday the country’s Central Military Commission summoned Hong Kil Ho, manager of the Chongjin shipyard, as it begun its investigation of the failed launch.

“No matter how good the state of the warship is, the fact that the accident is an unpardonable criminal act remains unchanged, and those responsible for it can never evade their responsibility for the crime,” the commission said, according to state media.

Kim Dong-yub, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, said North Korea appears to be using the failed launch as a chance to strengthen the ruling party’s control over science and technological sectors.

Lee Choon Geun, an honorary research fellow at South Korea’s Science and Technology Policy Institute, said that North Korea’s handling of the damaged warship could have long-term consequences for its defense science sector, especially if military scientists face harsh punishment.

“If scientists are held severely accountable, I would say the future of North Korea’s defense science doesn’t look very bright, as it would be a sign that political responsibility is being prioritized over technical accountability,” Lee wrote on Facebook.


British king to visit Ottawa amid Trump-Canada tension

British king to visit Ottawa amid Trump-Canada tension
Updated 12 min 55 sec ago
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British king to visit Ottawa amid Trump-Canada tension

British king to visit Ottawa amid Trump-Canada tension
  • The 76-year-old monarch is also Canada’s head of state as part of the Commonwealth
  • Queen Camilla will accompany him on the 24-hour visit to the capital Ottawa

LONDON: Britain’s King Charles III will travel to Canada early next week for a brief but “impactful” visit, at a time when President Donald Trump is floating the idea of making his northern neighbor the 51st US state.

The 76-year-old monarch, who is also Canada’s head of state as part of the Commonwealth, has never publicly commented on the ambitions of the US president, a noted admirer of the royal family.

Despite battling cancer for over a year, Charles accepted an invitation from Canada’s newly appointed Prime Minister Mark Carney to deliver the “speech from the throne” at the reopening of parliament on May 27, outlining the new center-left government’s priorities.

Queen Camilla will accompany him on the 24-hour visit to the capital Ottawa.

“The King and Queen are very much looking forward to the program, mindful that it is a short visit but hopefully an impactful one,” a Buckingham Palace spokesperson said as the couple’s May 26-27 itinerary was released this week.

The throne speech is expected to draw close scrutiny, especially on sovereignty and trade, amid Trump’s renewed rhetoric about annexing the country of 41 million and his recent imposition of higher tariffs.

Charles “will outline our government’s plan to build Canada strong,” Carney said at a press conference on Wednesday.

Earlier he said: “This is a historic honor which matches the weight of our times.”

Traditionally, the speech is read by the governor general, the monarch’s representative in Canada.

The last British sovereign to deliver the speech in Canada was Queen Elizabeth II in 1977.

Carney, who became prime minister in late April, made defending Canada’s sovereignty central to his campaign.

During a May 6 meeting at the White House, he told Trump that Canada “is not for sale.”

“It won’t be for sale, ever,” he said, responding to the US president’s talk of the “tremendous benefits” of a “wonderful marriage.”

This will be Charles’s 20th visit to Canada, but his first since becoming king in September 2022. It is Camilla’s sixth visit and her first as queen.

The visit will begin Monday afternoon with a community event at the city’s Lansdowne Park celebrating Canada’s diversity and cultural heritage through music and crafts.

The king will also meet with Carney and Governor General Mary Simon.

At Rideau Hall, the official residence of the governor general, the king will plant a tree before a short reception with the lieutenant governors of Canada’s 10 provinces and the territorial commissioners.

On May 27, the king and queen will ride in a carriage pulled by 28 horses to the Senate for the throne speech, scheduled around 1500 GMT, with full military honors.

The visit will conclude with a wreath-laying at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

A Canadian doctor has been assigned to the king, who is undergoing weekly treatment for an unspecified cancer.


Paris court will deliver the verdict in Kim Kardashian jewelry heist trial

Paris court will deliver the verdict in Kim Kardashian jewelry heist trial
Updated 23 May 2025
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Paris court will deliver the verdict in Kim Kardashian jewelry heist trial

Paris court will deliver the verdict in Kim Kardashian jewelry heist trial
  • At the heart of the trial is Aomar Aït Khedache, a veteran of Paris’ criminal underworld
  • Prosecutors have asked for a 10-year sentence, the loot was never found

PARIS: A decade after robbers stormed Kim Kardashian’s luxury residence and tied her up at gunpoint, a Paris court is set Friday to decide the verdict in one of the most audacious celebrity heists in modern French history.
Nine men and a woman stand accused of carrying out — or aiding — the crime during the 2016 Paris Fashion Week, when masked men dressed as police entered Kardashian’s Paris home, bound her with zip-ties and vanished with $6 million in jewels.
At the heart of the trial is 70-year-old Aomar Aït Khedache, a veteran of Paris’ criminal underworld. Prosecutors have asked for a 10-year sentence. His DNA, found on the zip-ties used to bind Kardashian, cracked open the case. Wiretaps captured him giving orders, recruiting accomplices, and arranging to sell the diamonds in Belgium. The loot was never found.
Khedache claims he was only a foot soldier. He blamed a mysterious “X” or “Ben” — someone prosecutors say never existed.
The accused became known in France as “les papys braqueurs” — the grandpa robbers. Some arrived in court in orthopedic shoes and one leaned on a cane. Some read the proceedings from a screen, hard of hearing and nearly mute. But prosecutors warned observers not to be seduced by soft appearances.
The trial is being heard by a panel of three judges and six jurors, who will need a majority vote to reach a verdict.
The defendants face charges including armed robbery, kidnapping and gang association. If convicted, they could face life in prison.
Kardashian’s testimony earlier this month was the emotional high point. In a packed courtroom, she recounted how she was thrown onto a bed, zip-tied, and had a gun pressed to her on the night of Oct. 2, 2016.
“I absolutely did think I was going to die,” she said. “I have babies. I have to make it home. They can take everything. I just have to make it home.”
She was dragged into a marble bathroom and told to stay silent. When the robbers fled, she freed herself by scraping the tape on her wrists off against the sink, then she hid with her friend, shaking and barefoot.
She said Paris had once been her sanctuary — a city she would wander at 3 a.m., window shopping, stopping for hot chocolate. That illusion was shattered.
The robbery echoed far beyond the City of Light. It forced a recalibration of celebrity behavior in the digital age. For years, Kardashian had curated her life like a showroom: geo-tagged, diamond-lit, public by design. But this was the moment the showroom turned into a crime scene. In her words, “People were watching… They knew where I was.”
Afterward, she stopped posting her location in real time. She stripped her social media feed of lavish gifts and vanished from Paris for years. Other stars followed suit. Privacy became luxury.
Defense attorneys have asked the court for leniency, citing the defendants’ age and health. But prosecutors insist that criminal experience, not frailty, defined the gang.
On Friday morning, the accused will speak one final time before the court withdraws to deliberate.
Even for France’s painstakingly thorough legal system, observers commented about how long it took for the case to be tried.
Kardashian, who once said “this experience really changed everything,” hopes the verdict will offer a measure of closure.


Guests died of organ failure after toxic mushroom lunch, Australian court hears

Guests died of organ failure after toxic mushroom lunch, Australian court hears
Updated 23 May 2025
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Guests died of organ failure after toxic mushroom lunch, Australian court hears

Guests died of organ failure after toxic mushroom lunch, Australian court hears
  • Erin Patterson is charged with murdering the parents and aunt of her estranged husband in 202
  • Patterson served them a hearty lunch laced with lethal death cap mushrooms

SYDNEY: Three Australians died of organ failure after eating a beef Wellington dish laced with toxic mushrooms, a medical specialist said Friday during a triple-murder trial sparked by the deaths.
Erin Patterson, 50, is charged with murdering the parents and aunt of her estranged husband in 2023 by serving them a hearty lunch laced with lethal death cap mushrooms.
She is also accused of attempting to murder her husband’s uncle, who survived the meal after a long stay in hospital.
Patterson has pleaded not guilty to all charges in a trial that has drawn intense interest from around the world.
Intensive care specialist Stephen Warrillow told the high-profile trial on Friday how doctors had scrambled to save the lunch guests.
But as the toxins coursed through their bodies, causing multiple organs to shut down, there was little they could do.
“It was very apparent that this was not survivable,” Warrillow said, talking about one of the victims he treated.
Another victim got “relentlessly worse” even after receiving a liver transplant, he said.
“We had no other treatments to offer, no other therapies. He was dying,” the doctor said.
Warrillow was asked if the organ failure was caused by mushroom poisoning.
“That’s correct, yes,” he told the court.
Patterson was estranged from her husband Simon, who turned down the invitation to the July 2023 lunch.
But his parents, Don and Gail, died days after eating the beef-and-pastry dish.
Simon’s aunt Heather Wilkinson also died, while her husband Ian fell seriously ill but later recovered.
The court earlier heard how Erin Patterson had sent messages to a Facebook group chat in December 2022, several months prior to the lunch, saying she wanted “nothing to do” with her in-laws.
Patterson and estranged husband Simon were at odds over finances and child support, the court heard, and she had sought help from his parents, who refused to intervene.
“I’m sick of this shit I want nothing to do with them,” Patterson wrote in one message.
The prosecution alleges Patterson deliberately poisoned her lunch guests and took care that she did not consume the deadly mushrooms herself.
Her defense says it was “a terrible accident” and that Patterson ate the same meal as the others but did not fall as sick.
The trial is expected to last another two weeks.