Ukraine downs a Russian warplane and Russia claims gains in the east

Ukraine downs a Russian warplane and Russia claims gains in the east
Ukrainian servicemen examine fragments of a Russian military plane that was shot down on the outskirts of Kostyantynivka, a near-front line city in the Donetsk region, on Oct. 5, 2024. (AP)
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Updated 05 October 2024
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Ukraine downs a Russian warplane and Russia claims gains in the east

Ukraine downs a Russian warplane and Russia claims gains in the east
  • The Russian bomber was shot down near the city of Kostiantynivka in the Donetsk province
  • Also in the partially occupied Donetsk province, Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed Saturday that it had taken control of the village of Zhelanne Druhe

KYIV: Ukrainian forces said they shot down a Russian fighter plane on Saturday while Russia claimed it made gains in Ukraine’s east.
The Russian bomber was shot down near the city of Kostiantynivka in the Donetsk province, head of the Kostiantynivka Military Administration Serhiy Horbunov was quoted as saying by Ukraine’s public broadcaster, Suspilne. Photos showed charred remains of an aircraft after it landed on a house that caught fire.
Also in the partially occupied Donetsk province, Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed Saturday that it had taken control of the village of Zhelanne Druhe.
If confirmed, the capture would come three days after Ukrainian forces said they were withdrawing from the front-line town of Vuhledar, some 33 kilometers (21 miles) from Zhelanne Druhe, following a hard-fought two-year defense.
Although unlikely to change the course of the war, the loss of Vuhledar is indicative of Kyiv’s worsening position, in part the result of Washington’s refusal to grant Ukraine permission to strike targets deep inside Russian territory and preventing Kyiv from degrading Moscow’s capabilities.
Zelensky will present his victory plan to allies
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Saturday that he will present his “victory plan” at the Oct. 12 meeting of the Ramstein group of nations that supplies arms to Ukraine.
“We will present the victory plan — clear, concrete steps toward a just end to the war. The determination of our partners and the strengthening of Ukraine are what can stop Russian aggression,” he wrote on X, adding that the 25th Ramstein meeting would be the first to take place at the leaders’ level.
Zelensky presented his plan to US President Joe Biden in Washington last week. Its contents have not been made public but it is known that the plan includes Ukraine’s membership of NATO and the provision of long-range missiles to strike inside Russia.
Russia shells southern Ukraine and a Ukraine drone hits a bus
Meanwhile, two people died in Russian shelling in Ukraine’s southern Zaporizhzhia region, regional Gov. Ivan Fedorov said.
Ukraine’s air force said that Russia had launched three guided missiles and 13 attack drones at Ukraine overnight into Saturday. It said the missiles were intercepted, three drones were shot down over the Odesa region and 10 others were lost.
Nine people were wounded when a Ukrainian drone struck a passenger bus in the city of Horlivka in the partially occupied Donetsk region, the city’s Russian-installed Mayor Ivan Prikhodko said.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said Saturday that air defenses shot down 10 Ukrainian drones overnight in three border regions, including seven over the Belgorod region, two over the Kursk region, and one over the Voronezh region.


Parents rush to vaccinate children after measles outbreak hits Texas

Parents rush to vaccinate children after measles outbreak hits Texas
Updated 8 sec ago
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Parents rush to vaccinate children after measles outbreak hits Texas

Parents rush to vaccinate children after measles outbreak hits Texas
  • Measles is a highly contagious respiratory virus spread through droplets when an infected person coughs, sneezes or simply breathes

Lubbock: Five-year-old Shado is one of dozens of children being rushed to a health center in the US state of Texas to get the measles vaccine, after the recent death in the area of a child who was not immunized against the highly contagious virus.
“Look at you, you’re so brave,” the nurse administering the shot tells the young girl, who is sitting on her father’s lap.
The death came as immunization rates have declined nationwide, with the latest cases in the west Texas town of Lubbock concentrated in a Mennonite religious community that has historically shown vaccine hesitancy.
Mark Medina brought his children, Shado and her brother Azazel, after they heard about that death.
“It kind of sparked fear and we’re like, ‘Alright, it’s time to go get vaccinated. Let’s go,’” the 31-year-old father told AFP.
Rachel Dolan, a Lubbock health official, said the initial outbreak spread rapidly through the community south of the town, potentially fueled by a lack of vaccination.
“It’s the most contagious virus that we know of, and so just that one little spark, you know, really caused a lot of cases and rapid spread among that population,” she said.
This year more than 130 measles cases already have been reported in west Texas and neighboring New Mexico, the vast majority in unvaccinated children.
Around 20 have been hospitalized in Texas, and officials warn the outbreak is likely to grow.
The disease’s spread comes as Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has long spread falsehoods about the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine, begins his tenure as President Donald Trump’s health secretary.
Kennedy has downplayed the outbreak, saying: “It’s not unusual. You have measles outbreaks every year.”
’The safe side’
Nationwide immunization rates have been dropping in the United States, fueled by misinformation about vaccines.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends a 95 percent vaccination rate in order to maintain herd immunity.
However, measles vaccine coverage among kindergartners has dropped from 95.2 percent in the 2019-2020 school year to 92.7 percent in 2023-2024, leaving around 280,000 children vulnerable.
News of the death in Lubbock, however, has spurred some into action.
“Well, I heard about this little kid... That’s one of the reasons, just to be on the safe side,” said Jose Luis Aguilar, a 57-year-old driver who was encouraged by his boss to get vaccinated.
Dolan, the health official, said there was an increase in people seeking the vaccine since the death.
“There are pockets of our population that are hesitant toward vaccination,” she said.
“We have seen some of those people realize that this threat is more imminent and have made that decision to vaccinate.”
The CDC says the MMR vaccine is “very effective” at protecting people against those illnesses.
Two doses of the vaccine are 97 percent effective at preventing measles, the agency says.
The last US measles-related death was in 2015, when a woman in Washington state died from pneumonia caused by the virus. She had been vaccinated but was taking immunosuppressive medication.
Before that, the previous recorded measles death was in 2003.
Measles is a highly contagious respiratory virus spread through droplets when an infected person coughs, sneezes or simply breathes.
Known for its characteristic rash, it poses a serious risk to unvaccinated individuals, including infants under 12 months who are not ordinarily eligible for vaccination, and those with weakened immune systems.
While measles was declared eliminated in the US in 2000, outbreaks persist each year.


Russian divers found dead near popular Philippines resort

Russian divers found dead near popular Philippines resort
Updated 28 sec ago
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Russian divers found dead near popular Philippines resort

Russian divers found dead near popular Philippines resort
  • While three of the group were able to surface and return to the boat, the others were found by rescuers hours later
  • Shark attacks in the waters around the Philippines are exceedingly rare, with none recorded in at least a year

MANILA: Two Russian divers were found dead, one in the jaws of a shark, after a strong current separated them from their group in a popular Philippine scuba spot, a coast guard official said Friday.
Four Russian men aged 18 to 57 were diving Thursday afternoon near the resort area of Batangas on the main island of Luzon when they and their dive master were pulled apart by the current, coast guard district chief Airland Lapitan said.
While three of the group were able to surface and return to the boat, the others were found by rescuers hours later, according to Lapitan, who said the first man discovered was pronounced dead on arrival at a local hospital.
“The other one was found at about 4-5:30 p.m. (0800-0930 GMT Friday) and retrieved around 5-6 p.m.,” he said. “When the rescuers found him, he was being pulled by a shark. He was eventually retrieved but his arm was missing.”
It was unclear if the man had been killed by the shark or was already dead, Lapitan said, as the bodies were turned over to family members without an autopsy.
Shark attacks in the waters around the Philippines are exceedingly rare, with none recorded in at least a year, according to a global database.
The Russian embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.


Zelensky, Trump to sign minerals deal at White House

Zelensky, Trump to sign minerals deal at White House
Updated 25 min 53 sec ago
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Zelensky, Trump to sign minerals deal at White House

Zelensky, Trump to sign minerals deal at White House
  • Trump upended years of US policy on Ukraine two weeks ago when he spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin and started talks on ending the three-year-old war

Washington: A week ago Donald Trump branded Volodymyr Zelensky a dictator. On Friday he will host the Ukrainian president at the White House and sign a deal granting Washington access to Ukraine’s rare minerals.
The extraordinary turnaround caps a week of frantic international diplomacy centered on Washington, as Kyiv seeks to shore up support despite Trump’s recent pivot toward Russia.
Trump upended years of US policy on Ukraine two weeks ago when he spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin and started talks on ending the three-year-old war — without Kyiv.
He also alarmed allies as he appeared to turn on Zelensky, berating him as a “dictator without elections” and blaming Ukraine for Russia’s February 2022 invasion.
But Trump’s tone has softened in recent days after visits by French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
“I have a lot of respect for him,” Trump said of Zelensky on Thursday. “We’re going to get along really well.”
Trump also backtracked on the “dictator” broadside he launched on social media at Zelensky last week — a jibe he had previously refused to retract even as he declined to call Putin a dictator too.
“Did I say that? I can’t believe I said that,” Trump responded when asked about the Zelensky comment by journalists during a meeting with Starmer.
The dictator outburst was sparked in particular by Zelensky’s initial rejection of the deal to give Washington preferential access to Ukrainian natural resources, including oil, gas and rare earth metals.
Zelensky demanded US security guarantees as part of any deal but Trump has refused to give any commitments.
’Dig, dig, digging’
Trump, a billionaire real estate tycoon, insisted the deal was necessary for Washington to recoup the billions of dollars it has given Ukraine in military and other aid.
Finally, Zelensky relented and agreed to come to the White House to sign it.
The deal would give the United States a share in much of Ukraine’s mineral wealth.
“We’ll be dig, dig, digging” for Ukraine’s resources, Trump told reporters Thursday.
Few details of the minerals deal have emerged. Zelensky told reporters this week that it would act as framework for broader deals.
Further discussions between US and Ukrainian officials would determine the nature of security guarantees for Ukraine and the exact sums of money at stake in the accord, he said.
But Trump has repeatedly refused to commit to any guarantees.
Britain and France have both offered peacekeepers in the event of a deal to end the Ukraine war but say there must be a US “backstop” — including American intelligence and possibly air power.
The US president told Starmer Thursday he was “open to many things” in terms of security guarantees but that he wanted to get a Russia-Ukraine deal in place first.
Trump added that there had been a “lot of progress” toward a deal but then added: “It’ll either be fairly soon or it won’t be at all.”
US and Russian officials met on Thursday in Istanbul in a new round of talks.
Putin and Trump said after their February 12 phone call that they had agreed to meet personally — but they have not finalized any meeting yet.


North Korea performs cruise missile tests, days after vowing to respond to US threats

North Korea performs cruise missile tests, days after vowing to respond to US threats
Updated 28 February 2025
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North Korea performs cruise missile tests, days after vowing to respond to US threats

North Korea performs cruise missile tests, days after vowing to respond to US threats
  • Kim Jong Un oversaw the missile tests off the country’s west coast Wednesday
  • They were North Korea’s fourth missile launch event this year

SEOUL: North Korea said Friday it had test-fired strategic cruise missiles to demonstrate its nuclear counter-attack capability, days after it vowed to respond to what it called escalating US-led hostilities since the start of the Trump administration.
The official Korean Central News Agency said leader Kim Jong Un oversaw the missile tests off the country’s west coast Wednesday. They were the North’s fourth missile launch event this year and the second of President Donald Trump’s second term.
The launches were designed to inform “the enemies, who are seriously violating our security environment and fostering and escalating the confrontation environment,” of the North Korean military’s counterattack capability and the readiness of its nuclear operations, KCNA said.
Kim expressed satisfaction over the results of the drills and said the military must be fully ready to use its nuclear weapons, the report said.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement later Friday that it had detected and tracked the North Korean launches. It said the South Korean military maintains readiness to repel any potential provocation by North Korea based on the solid South Korea-US military alliance.
Since his Jan. 20 inauguration, Trump has boasted of his summitry with Kim during his first term and said he would reach out to Kim again. North Korea hasn’t directly responded to Trump’s overture as it continues its typical aggressive rhetoric against the US and weapons testing activities.
Many experts say Kim, now preoccupied with his support of Russia’s war against Ukraine with supply of weapons and troops, won’t likely embrace Trump’s outreach anytime soon. They say Kim could reconsider if he doubts he’ll maintain North Korea’s current solid cooperation with Russia after the war ends.
Last Saturday, North Korea’s Defense Ministry alleged the US and its allies were ramping up more serious military provocations targeting North Korea since Trump took power. It cited the recent US-South Korean aerial exercise involving a US B-1B bomber and other reported activities involving US military assets. A Defense Ministry statement said North Korea will counter the strategic threat of the US with strategic means.
Kim and Trump met three times from 2018-19 to discuss the fate of North Korea’s nuclear program, but their diplomacy derailed due to disputes over US-led sanctions on the North. Kim has since sharply increased the pace of weapons tests to expand and modernize his nuclear arsenal. Having a bigger nuclear arsenal now, experts say Kim would think he could win greater US concessions if he revives diplomacy with Trump.


US condemns Uyghur deportations from Thailand to China

US condemns Uyghur deportations from Thailand to China
Updated 28 February 2025
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US condemns Uyghur deportations from Thailand to China

US condemns Uyghur deportations from Thailand to China

WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday strongly condemned ally Thailand for deporting dozens of Uyghurs back to China, where he said the mostly Muslim minority faced “genocide.”
“We condemn in the strongest possible terms Thailand’s forced return of at least 40 Uyghurs to China, where they lack due process rights and where Uyghurs have faced persecution, forced labor and torture,” Rubio said in a statement.