Russia strikes kill at least two in Ukraine

Russia strikes kill at least two in Ukraine
In this handout photograph taken and released by the Ukrainian Emergency Service on April 9, 2025, Ukrainian rescuers working to extinguish a fire at the site of a drone attack in Dnipro. (AFP)
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Updated 11 April 2025
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Russia strikes kill at least two in Ukraine

Russia strikes kill at least two in Ukraine
  • Ukrainian officials said a Russian drone strike on a residential building in the city of Zhytomyr — west of Kyiv — killed one person, while a Russian missile attack on the central city of Dnipro killed another

KYIV: Russian strikes killed at least two people in Ukraine on Thursday and wounded over two dozen, Kyiv said, as Moscow claimed to have captured another village in the northwestern Sumy region.
Ukrainian officials said a Russian drone strike on a residential building in the city of Zhytomyr — west of Kyiv — killed one person, while a Russian missile attack on the central city of Dnipro killed another.
The attacks came despite the US pushing for an end of the conflict and holding separate talks with both Moscow and Kyiv — and as US President Donald Trump this week said he was unhappy with Russia for “bombing like crazy.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia had attacked Dnipro with a ballistic missile after a day of attacking several regions, saying it showed Russia “ignores diplomacy.”
Zelensky said in his evening address rescuers were still working at the site in Dnipro and that: “Unfortunately, one person was killed.”
The regional governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region Sergiy Lysak said the victim was a 42 year-old man and that eight people were also wounded in the attack.
Lysak also said shelling that lasted “all day” on the district of Nikopol, wounding 13 people. He published photographs of houses on fire.
Later on Thursday, the governor of the Zhytomyr region Vitaliy Bunechko said a drone strike on a “high rise building” killed one person.
“Five people are known to be wounded, including a child born in 2011,” Bunechko said, publishing a video of a residential building with a blackened wall and damaged balcony.
Zhytomyr lies some 140 kilometers (86 miles) west of Kyiv.
The attacks on Dnipro, Nikopol and Zhytomyr came after one dozen people were wounded in overnight Russian attacks on Kyiv and the southern Black Sea region of Mykolaiv.
AFP journalists in the capital heard air raid sirens and explosions ring out over the city during the attack.
“And all of this is happening almost a month after the United States proposed a complete ceasefire,” he said, adding that Russia “ignores diplomacy” and calling for a “tactic of pressure” on Moscow.
Kyiv air force said Thursday that Moscow launched 145 Iranian-made Shahed drones on Ukraine overnight, and that 85 of them were shot down by air defense.
Moscow said Kyiv had launched 42 drones into Russia at night, mostly on its border regions, but also on some regions near Moscow.
Russia also said it had captured another village in the northeastern Ukrainian region of Sumy, where Moscow is advancing since pushing Ukrainian troops out of most of its western Kursk region.
In a statement on social media, Russia’s defense ministry said its troops had “liberated” the village of Zhuravka, just over the Ukrainian border.
The claimed Russian advances in Sumy point to the broader difficulties of the Ukrainian army that has steadily lost ground in Russia’s Kursk region after launching their surprise incursion last August.
Zelensky said Thursday that the Sumy region is “subject to constant attacks by guided aerial bombs.”
Ukraine’s most senior military official Oleksandr Syrsky warned earlier this week that Russian forces had launched an offensive in Sumy and the neighboring region of Kharkiv.
Moscow and Kyiv have stepped up their aerial attacks despite recent attempts by the United States to bring both sides to talks to secure a halt to more than three years of fighting.


Ukraine’s Zelensky: Ceasefire with Russia possible at any moment

Czech President Petr Pavel and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky review a military honor guard in front of Prague Castle.
Czech President Petr Pavel and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky review a military honor guard in front of Prague Castle.
Updated 59 min 4 sec ago
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Ukraine’s Zelensky: Ceasefire with Russia possible at any moment

Czech President Petr Pavel and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky review a military honor guard in front of Prague Castle.

PRAGUE: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday that a ceasefire with Russia in its more than three-year-old war is possible at any moment.
Zelensky, speaking at a joint news conference in Prague alongside Czech President Petr Pavel, also said that Ukraine hopes to receive 1.8 million shells in 2025 under a Czech initiative to provide military assistance.


Indonesian president inaugurates Hajj and Umrah airport terminal in Jakarta

President Prabowo Subianto, third from left, and Saudi Ambassador Faisal Abdullah Amodi inaugurate Hajj and Umrah Terminal.
President Prabowo Subianto, third from left, and Saudi Ambassador Faisal Abdullah Amodi inaugurate Hajj and Umrah Terminal.
Updated 04 May 2025
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Indonesian president inaugurates Hajj and Umrah airport terminal in Jakarta

President Prabowo Subianto, third from left, and Saudi Ambassador Faisal Abdullah Amodi inaugurate Hajj and Umrah Terminal.
  • Indonesian Hajj pilgrims have started departing for Saudi Arabia since Friday
  • Kingdom’s Makkah Route initiative will be implemented at new Hajj and Umrah terminal

JAKARTA: Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto inaugurated on Sunday a special terminal for Hajj and Umrah pilgrims at Jakarta’s international airport, where travel will also be facilitated under Saudi Arabia’s Makkah Route initiative.

Indonesia, which has the world’s largest Muslim-majority population, sends the highest number of Hajj and Umrah pilgrims every year.

As pilgrims around the world have already begun to make their way to Saudi Arabia for Hajj this year, about 221,000 people will be coming from Indonesia.

“The government wants to give the best service for our pilgrims. We also understand that many of our pilgrims are seniors, and so we must take very good care of them,” Subianto said during the inauguration ceremony at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport.

“We understand that our pilgrims have saved up for a long time, and even waited for a long time, and so the government under my leadership will do our very best to give the best services and work hard to lower the cost of Hajj.”

The airport’s 2F terminal area, which has undergone renovations, has been transformed into a dedicated area for Indonesia’s Hajj and Umrah pilgrims. It was developed to serve 6.1 million travelers annually, according to a statement issued by the Cabinet Secretariat.

The launch event was attended by Saudi Ambassador to Indonesia Faisal Abdullah Amodi, as well as other Indonesian ministers, including Religious Affairs Minister Nasaruddin Umar and State-Owned Enterprises Minister Erick Thohir.

Special counters for Saudi immigration, which are part of the Kingdom’s Makkah Route initiative, have also been set up at the new terminal.

The program launched in Muslim-majority countries in 2019 allows Hajj pilgrims to fulfill all visa, customs and health requirements in one place, at the airport of origin, and save long hours of waiting before and upon reaching the Kingdom.

In Indonesia, pilgrims departing from the cities of Jakarta, Surabaya and Solo are benefiting from the Makkah Route initiative.

“As President Prabowo said, this is proof of the government’s commitment to give the best service, especially for our senior pilgrims. He is also proud of the modern and comfortable facilities that have been set up,” Umar, the religious affairs minister, said on social media.

Thousands of Indonesian pilgrims have begun to depart for Saudi Arabia, after the first Hajj flights commenced last Friday.

Though the pilgrimage itself can be performed over five or six days, many pilgrims arrive early to make the most of the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to fulfill their religious duty.

In 2025, the Hajj is expected to take place on June 4 and end on June 9.


Five policemen kidnapped in southwestern Pakistan

Five policemen kidnapped in southwestern Pakistan
Updated 04 May 2025
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Five policemen kidnapped in southwestern Pakistan

Five policemen kidnapped in southwestern Pakistan

QUETTA: A separatist militant group in southwestern Pakistan on Sunday claimed an attack on a prison van in which five police officers were taken hostage.
Between 30 and 40 gunmen blocked a major highway that cuts across Balochistan province overnight on Friday, intercepting a prison van being transported by a police team, a police official said.
“The prisoners were released later but five policemen have been kidnapped,” a senior police official in the area, who was not authorized to speak to the media, told AFP on Sunday.
He said a rescue operation was underway.
The gunmen also set fire to government buildings and a bank in the area.
A senior government official, who asked not to be named, said that two gunmen were killed by security forces.
Pakistan has been battling a separatist insurgency in Balochistan for decades, where militants target state forces, foreign nationals, and non-locals in the mineral-rich southwestern province bordering Afghanistan and Iran.
The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), the most active group in the region, claimed the assault in Kalat district.
The BLA has previously targeted energy projects receiving foreign financing — most notably from China.
In March, the group seized a train, taking hundreds of passengers hostage and killing off-duty security forces in a three-day seige.


Two dead, 31 injured in Croatia bus crash

Two dead, 31 injured in Croatia bus crash
Updated 04 May 2025
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Two dead, 31 injured in Croatia bus crash

Two dead, 31 injured in Croatia bus crash
  • he health ministry, cited by state news agency Hina, said several badly hurt people had undergone operations in hospital

ZAGREB: Two people died and 31 people were injured when a Bosnian-registered coach and a car crashed into each other in Croatia on Sunday, police and medical staff said.
The accident occurred at 3:00 am (0100 GMT) on a busy freeway some 50 kilometers (30 miles) east of the capital, Zagreb.
The casualties were taken to nearby hospitals, police spokeswoman Maja Filipovic told AFP, adding that an investigation had been launched to determine the causes.
The health ministry, cited by state news agency Hina, said several badly hurt people had undergone operations in hospital.
Photos published by local media showed a double-decker bus lying on its side in the middle of the freeway with its windows broken.


15 killed in head-on road crash in South Africa

15 killed in head-on road crash in South Africa
Updated 04 May 2025
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15 killed in head-on road crash in South Africa

15 killed in head-on road crash in South Africa
  • South Africa has a sophisticated and busy road network
  • Road accidents claimed more than 11,800 lives in 2023

JOHANNESBURG: A night-time collision between a packed minibus taxi and a pick-up truck has killed 15 people in rural South Africa, a transport official said on Sunday.
Five people were in hospital with serious injuries after the crash at around midnight on Saturday to Sunday near the Eastern Cape town of Maqoma, about 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) south of Johannesburg, provincial transport spokesman Unathi Binqose official told broadcaster Newzroom Afrika.
The drivers of both vehicles were among the dead and an inquest would be opened to determine what happened, Binqose said.
The victims included 13 passengers in the minibus, which was reportedly traveling from the town of Qonce to Cape Town, a journey of nearly 1,000 kilometers.
South Africa has a sophisticated and busy road network. It also has a high rate of road deaths, blamed mostly on speeding, reckless driving and unroadworthy vehicles.
Road accidents claimed more than 11,800 lives in 2023, with pedestrians making up around 45 percent of the victims, according to the latest data from the Road Traffic Management Corporation.