Russian forces take over village in eastern Ukraine, TASS says

This handout photograph taken and released by the National Police of Ukraine on September 12, 2024, shows a burning trucks of the International Committee of the Red Cross, following an artillery shelling in the Donetsk region, amid the Russian invasion in Ukraine. (AFP)
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Updated 14 September 2024
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Russian forces take over village in eastern Ukraine, TASS says

Russia said on Saturday it had recaptured another village in eastern Ukraine, where it has made a string of advances.
“The locality of Jelannoe Pervoe (Jelanne Perche in Ukrainian) was freed thanks to the active and decisive operations of the southern units,” the defense ministry said.
The village is located in the Pokrovsk district, an important logistical hub for the Ukrainian army.
Russian forces has advanced rapidly in the eastern region of Donetsk in recent weeks, putting pressure on a Ukrainian army that is short of both soldiers and weapons.


Denmark vows to push EU membership for Ukraine

Updated 3 sec ago
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Denmark vows to push EU membership for Ukraine

"We must strengthen Ukraine. And we must weaken Russia," Frederiksen said
Zelensky is meeting Frederiksen in the city of Aarhus, as well as European Commission President Ursula Von Der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa

AARHUS, Denmark: Denmark promised on Thursday to push for Ukraine to join the EU, as the Nordic country welcomed Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky to mark the start of its six-month EU presidency.

Ukraine launched its bid to become an EU member in the aftermath of Russia's 2022 invasion, but it has stalled because of opposition from Hungary.

"We must strengthen Ukraine. And we must weaken Russia," Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said in a statement, promising to mix increased military support to Kyiv with sanctions on Moscow.

Zelensky is meeting Frederiksen in the city of Aarhus, as well as European Commission President Ursula Von Der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa.

Frederiksen has stressed the importance of European security, which she links to a strict migration policy, and the country has promised to push the agenda and champion Ukraine during its EU presidency.

The Aarhus meeting comes as the United States announced it would stop supplying some weapons to Ukraine, after President Donald Trump effectively nixed the country's attempts to join the NATO military alliance.

Russian strikes have intensified in the absence of progress on resolving the conflict, and the US moves have severely hampered Kyiv, which has relied on Western military support since Russia launched its invasion in February 2022.

"Ukraine is essential to Europe's security. Our contribution to Ukraine is also a protection of our freedom," Frederiksen said.

"Ukraine belongs in the European Union. It is in both Denmark's and Europe's interest. Therefore, the Danish EU presidency will do everything we can to help Ukraine on their way towards EU membership."

Denmark's Europe minister Marie Bjerre told reporters earlier on Thursday that Ukraine's EU membership bid was "very important for us".

"We are still trying to lift the resistance from Hungary," she said.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has said that Ukraine's membership of the EU would "ruin" the 27-nation bloc.

Using its veto power, Hungary has effectively frozen the accession process.

Ukraine has insisted it still hopes Budapest can be brought around, claiming intensive work is being done "behind the scenes".

The Danish government said discussions at the Aarhus meeting would include increased military support, cooperation with the Ukrainian defence industry and new sanctions against Russia.

The Nordic nation has also made repeated calls for Europe to boost defence spending.

Denmark wants to move forward on a European plan presented in March to increase the defence capabilities of EU countries using simplified procedures and loans to finance investments in the European defence industry.

The Scandinavian country has already begun increasing its own defence spending, which now exceeds three percent of GDP.

Shock in Jakarta, MPs demand action after Israel assassinates Indonesian hospital director

Updated 25 min 20 sec ago
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Shock in Jakarta, MPs demand action after Israel assassinates Indonesian hospital director

  • Dr. Marwan Al-Sultan, renowned cardiac surgeon, was killed in targeted Israeli airstrike
  • Israel has killed at least 492 doctors and health workers in Gaza since October 2023

JAKARTA/DUBAI: Israel’s assassination of Dr. Marwan Al-Sultan, director of the Indonesian hospital in northern Gaza, has sparked shock in Jakarta, with parliamentarians calling for new international accountability mechanisms to hold Israel legally responsible for its crimes in Gaza.

A renowned cardiac surgeon and one of Palestine’s most senior doctors, Dr. Al-Sultan graduated from Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences in Hyderabad, Pakistan, in 2001.

He was killed along with his wife and children in an Israeli airstrike on their temporary residence in northern Gaza on Wednesday.

His surviving daughter, Lubna, told the media that the missile “targeted his room exactly, right where he was.” Her testimony confirmed statements from the Gaza Ministry of Health and the Jakarta-based Medical Emergency Rescue Committee — which funded the Indonesia Hospital in Beit Lahia — that the attack was a targeted assassination.

“The attack on Dr. Marwan was utterly savage and barbaric,” Dr. Sarbini Abdul Murad, chairman of MER-C’s board of trustees, told Arab News.

“It was a shock to hear the news. I couldn’t believe it. He was the only heart specialist left in the north. This is a huge loss.”

The Indonesia Hospital in Beit Lahia, one of the biggest health facilities in Gaza, was one of the first targeted by Israel when it started its deadly war on the Palestinian enclave in October 2023.

Dr. Al-Sultan had never left his post, remaining with patients through multiple Israeli offensives on the hospital and personally overseeing repairs to restore essential services, MER-C said in a statement recalling how in December 2024, he evacuated the facility while under Israeli siege.

The moment was recorded on a mobile phone, showing Dr. Al-Sultan leaving only after he had ensured the safety of every patient.

The Indonesia Hospital opened in late 2015. Coordinated by MER-C, its construction and equipment were financed from donations of the Indonesian people, with dozens of engineers and builders volunteering to design and build the facility and to prepare its operations.

The killing of Dr. Al-Sultan has spurred outcry in Indonesia, with the government issuing an official condemnation and lawmakers from the Committee for Inter-Parliamentary Cooperation calling on parliamentarians around the world to “push for international accountability mechanisms” to ensure that “crimes against humanity be immediately brought to international forums, including global parliamentary bodies, so that Israel can be held legally and morally accountable for its actions in Gaza.”

Israel has killed more than 56,000 Palestinians and wounded more than 133,000 others, since October 2023. The true death toll is feared to be much higher, with research published in The Lancet medical journal in January estimating an underreporting of deaths by 41 percent.

The study says the death toll may be even higher, as it does not include deaths caused by starvation, injury and lack of access to health care, caused by the Israeli military’s destruction of most of Gaza’s infrastructure and the blocking of medical and food aid.

Data from the UN and international health organizations shows that Israel has killed at least 492 doctors and medics in Gaza since October 2023.

Dr. Al-Sultan is the 70th health care worker to be killed in the last 50 days, according to Healthcare Workers Watch.

“He was a prominent medical figure, both as a heart specialist and director of the Indonesia Hospital,” Dr. Hadiki Habib, chairman of MER-C’s executive committee, told Arab News.

“We had feared that this could happen, but he had said that he would remain in Gaza and, if he were to be martyred, it would be in his homeland.”


Russian strikes kill eight in Ukraine

Updated 41 min 13 sec ago
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Russian strikes kill eight in Ukraine

  • Among the sites hit were a military enlistment office in the eastern city of Poltava and port infrastructure in the southern city of Odesa
  • The Ukrainian army reported there were “dead and wounded” at a recruitment office in Poltava

KYIV: Russia launched a wave of attacks on Ukraine on Thursday, killing at least eight people and wounding dozens of others, Ukrainian officials said.

Among the sites hit were a military enlistment office in the eastern city of Poltava and port infrastructure in the southern city of Odesa.

Moscow has stepped up its drone and missile bombardment of Ukraine in recent weeks, with peace talks stalling and Kyiv’s key ally Washington signalling it could cut military support.

The warring sides last met for direct talks more than a month ago and no further meeting has been organized.

The Ukrainian army reported there were “dead and wounded” at a recruitment office in Poltava.

Emergency services posted images of buildings on fire and rescue workers at the scene of the strike.

“Two people were killed,” the emergency services said. The region’s police added 47 people were wounded.

In Odesa, two people were killed when “an Iskander missile” struck the seaport, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Kuleba said on Telegram.

He added that six people had been wounded in the strike.

In Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, strikes killed four people, the regional prosecutor’s office said.

“At least nine apartment buildings, three garages, a shop facade and a power line were damaged in the settlements,” it added.

In Russia’s Lipetsk region, debris from a Ukrainian drone killed a woman and wounded two other people, its governor said Thursday.

The debris fell on a building in Lipetsk, which lies about 400 kilometers (250 miles) southeast of Moscow, killing a woman in her seventies, Igor Artamonov wrote on Telegram.


Austria deports Syrian convict in EU first since Assad fall

Updated 03 July 2025
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Austria deports Syrian convict in EU first since Assad fall

  • “The deportation carried out today is part of a strict and thus fair asylum policy,” Interior Minister Gerhard Karner said
  • It was the first deportation of a Syrian directly to Syria in about 15 years

VIENNA: Austria on Thursday deported a Syrian criminal convict back to Syria, becoming the first EU country to do so officially “in recent years,” the interior ministry said.

Austria has been pushing to be able to deport Syrians back since the ouster of Syria’s leader Bashar Assad in December.

“The deportation carried out today is part of a strict and thus fair asylum policy,” Interior Minister Gerhard Karner said in a statement sent to AFP.

The ministry said it was the first deportation of a Syrian directly to Syria in about 15 years, and Austria was the “first European country to officially deport a Syrian criminal directly to Syria in recent years.”

Karner traveled to Syria with his German counterpart Nancy Faeser in April to discuss deportations, among other topics.

Karner, from the governing conservative People’s Party (OeVP), on Thursday vowed to “continue this chosen path with hard work and determination.”

Austria was among European Union nations that suspended all Syrian asylum applications after Assad’s ouster. It also stopped family reunifications.

Some 100,000 Syrians live in Austria, one of the biggest diaspora in Europe.

Austria’s anti-migration far right topped national elections in September though they were unable to find partners to govern, leaving the runner-up conservatives to form a new government.


Indonesian rescuers search for dozens of missing passengers after ferry sinks off Bali

People react as they wait for news of their missing relatives after KMP Tunu Pratama Jaya sank near Indonesian island of Bali.
Updated 03 July 2025
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Indonesian rescuers search for dozens of missing passengers after ferry sinks off Bali

  • Authorities dispatched a helicopter, 9 boats, 13 underwater rescuers to find missing passengers
  • KMT Tunu Pratama Jaya is second passenger ferry to sink off Bali in the past few weeks

JAKARTA: Rescuers were racing on Thursday to search for dozens of people missing after a ferry sank overnight near Indonesia’s resort island of Bali, leaving at least five people dead.

The KMP Tunu Pratama Jaya, which carried 53 passengers, 12 crew members and 22 vehicles, sank about half an hour after leaving Ketapang port on Indonesia’s main island of Java for a 50-km trip to Bali’s Gilimanuk port late on Wednesday.

Crew members on the ferry sent a distress call around 20 minutes after departure, but sank about 15 minutes later, said Mohammad Syafii, chief of the National Search and Rescue Agency.

As of Thursday afternoon, 31 people had been rescued as search operations continued for 29 others who were missing.

“Identities of the victims are still under data collection and verification by our team members on the field,” Syafii said during a press conference.

The agency has dispatched a helicopter, nine boats and a team specializing in underwater rescue to search for survivors, with assistance from local fishermen.

“Rescue efforts are facing challenges in the form of strong waves between 2 to 2.5 meters, and strong winds and currents,” the Indonesian Ministry of Transport said in a statement.

The ferry from Java to Bali usually takes about an hour and is often used by people crossing between the islands by car.

Authorities have yet to disclose whether any foreigners were onboard when KMP Tunu Pratama Jaya sank.

It is also common for the actual number of passengers on a boat to differ from the manifest in Indonesia, so there may be other passengers who are unaccounted for.

Some families were gathered at Ketapang port, located in the East Java city of Banyuwangi, for updates on the missing passengers, while survivors were taken to nearby medical facilities, including the Jembrana Regional Hospital in Bali.

Ferries are a common mode of transport in Indonesia, an archipelagic country comprising more than 17,000 islands.

However, they are prone to accidents due to bad weather and lax safety standards that allow vessels to be overloaded and operated without adequate lifesaving equipment.

In 2023, a small ferry capsized near Indonesia’s Sulawesi island, killing at least 15 people.

KMT Tunu Pratama Jaya was the second passenger ferry to sink off Bali in the past few weeks.

A fast boat carrying 89 tourists, including 77 foreign travelers, capsized in early June after it was hit by a big wave upon leaving a port on a smaller island off Bali. All the passengers aboard were rescued.