KYIV: Military authorities in the eastern Ukrainian town of Pokrovsk on Friday urged civilians to speed up their evacuation because the Russian army is quickly closing in on what has for months been one of Moscow’s key targets in the war.
The call for people to get out as soon as possible came as Kyiv’s forces are trying to divert the Kremlin’s military effort from the front line in Ukraine to Russian soil by launching a bold incursion across the border into Russia’s Kursk region.
The urgency also underscored the high-stakes gamble Ukraine is making by taking the war into Russia with its ongoing Kursk assault that started Aug. 6.
The attack is a daring attempt to change the dynamics of the 2½-year conflict, but it could backfire and leave Ukraine’s shorthanded defense on the front line at the mercy of Russia’s push. The Kremlin’s forces have had battlefield momentum and superior forces in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region since the spring.
Ukraine is wagering it can cope with the strain on its resources in Kursk without sacrificing Donetsk. Russia apparently reckons it can contain the incursion without needing to ease up in Donetsk.
“Both cannot be right,” Nigel Gould-Davies, a senior fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said Thursday. “The outcome hangs in the balance.”
Russia’s slow slog across Donetsk this year has been costly in terms of troops and armor, but its gains have mounted up.
Pokrovsk, which had a prewar population of about 60,000, is one of Ukraine’s main defensive strongholds and a key logistics hub in the Donetsk region. Its capture would compromise Ukraine’s defensive abilities and supply routes. It would bring Russia closer to its stated aim of capturing the Donetsk region than ever before.
Evacuations in the Donetsk region around Pokrovsk have become increasingly urgent in recent weeks.
Pokrovsk officials said in a Telegram post Friday that Russian troops are “advancing at a fast pace. With every passing day there is less and less time to collect personal belongings and leave for safer regions.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had warned on Thursday that Pokrovsk and other nearby towns in the Donetsk region were “facing the most intense Russian assaults.”
“Priority supplies — everything that is needed — are being sent there,” Zelensky said on X.
That same day, authorities told people to start evacuating the town.
Pokrovsk officials were meeting with the residents to provide them with logistical details on the evacuation. People were offered shelter in western Ukraine, where they will be hosted in dormitories and separate houses prepared for them.
“As the front line approaches Pokrovsk, the need to move to a safer place is becoming increasingly urgent,” the local administration said.
In Kursk, meanwhile, Ukrainian troops have taken full control of Sudzha, Zelensky said Thursday. It’s the largest Russian town to fall to Ukraine’s forces since the start of their incursion 10 days ago, and the success raised Ukrainian spirits while embarrassing the Kremlin.
A family who fled from Sudzha showed on Russian state TV the shattered windows of their car, the result of an attack while on the road.
“At the turn they were shooting, there were mines, we drove around the mines. Then we were driving further, the drone hit us in Bondarevka,” said Nikolai Netbayev.
Ukrainian officials urge civilians to evacuate eastern town of Pokrovsk as Russian troops close in
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Ukrainian officials urge civilians to evacuate eastern town of Pokrovsk as Russian troops close in
- The urgency also underscored the high-stakes gamble Ukraine is making by taking the war into Russia with its ongoing Kursk assault
- The attack is a daring attempt to change the dynamics of the 2½-year conflict
Japan allows longer nuclear plant lifespans
- The world’s fourth-largest economy is targeting carbon neutrality by 2050 but remains heavily reliant on fossil fuels
- Many of the country’s nuclear reactors were taken offline after the 2011 Fukushima meltdown
The world’s fourth-largest economy is targeting carbon neutrality by 2050 but remains heavily reliant on fossil fuels – partly because many nuclear reactors were taken offline after the 2011 Fukushima meltdown.
The government now plans to increase its reliance on nuclear power, in part to help meet growing energy demand from artificial intelligence and microchip factories.
The 60-year limit was brought in after the 2011 disaster, which was triggered by a devastating earthquake and tsunami in northeast Japan.
Under the amended law, nuclear plants’ operating period may be extended beyond 60 years – in a system similar to extra time in football games – to compensate for stoppages caused by “unforeseeable circumstances,” the government says.
This means, for example, that one reactor in central Japan’s Fukui region, suspended for 12 years after the Fukushima crisis, will now be able to operate up until 2047 – 72 years after its debut, the Asahi Shimbun daily reported.
But operators require approval from Japan’s nuclear safety watchdog for the exemption. The law also includes measures intended to strengthen safety checks at aging reactors.
The legal revision is also aimed at helping Japan better cope with power crunches, after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sparked energy market turmoil.
Japan’s Strategic Energy Plan had previously vowed to “reduce reliance on nuclear power as much as possible.”
But this pledge was dropped from the latest version approved in February, which includes an intention to make renewables the country’s top power source by 2040.
Under the plan, nuclear power will account for around 20 percent of Japan’s energy supply by 2040 – up from 5.6 percent in 2022.
Also in February, Japan pledged to slash greenhouse gas emissions by 60 percent in the next decade from 2013 levels, a target decried by campaigners as far short of what was needed under the Paris Agreement to limit global warming.
Japan is the world’s fifth largest single-country emitter of carbon dioxide after China, the United States, India and Russia.
Three Serbs charged over paint attack on France Jewish sites
- France’s Holocaust memorial, three Paris synagogues and a restaurant were vandalized with paint in the night of Friday to Saturday
PARIS: A French judge has charged three Serbs with vandalizing Jewish sites with paint at the weekend “to serve the interests of a foreign power,” a judicial source said Friday.
A source close to the case said investigators suspect Russia is behind the attacks for which the men were charged on Thursday evening.
They had exchanged messages on Telegram with other individuals not yet apprehended, it added.
France’s Holocaust memorial, three Paris synagogues and a restaurant were vandalized with paint in the night of Friday to Saturday, in what the Israeli embassy denounced as a “coordinated anti-Semitic attack.”
The source following the case described the three suspects, two born in 1995 and one born in 2003, as having completed a task motivated by financial compensation, but without being aware of any geopolitical implications.
They were two brothers and a third person who had lived in France for several years, the source said.
They were arrested on Monday in southeast France as they tried to leave the country.
French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said he was “deeply disgusted by these heinous acts targeting the Jewish community.”
Israeli’s President Isaac Herzog said Saturday he was “dismayed” by the Paris vandalism, noting that his great-grandfather had been a rabbi at one of the synagogues.
In the run-up to the Summer Olympics in Paris last year, several high-profile stunts intended to influence French public opinion led French officials to point the finger at Moscow.
They included red hands tagged on Paris’s main Holocaust memorial in May 2024.
In October 2023, soon after the Palestinian militant attack on Israel that sparked the latest Gaza war, stars of David were tagged on buildings in the Paris region, with two Moldovans suspected of working for the Russian FSB security service later arrested.
Russia has previously denied any involvement in any of the plots attributed to it by French officials.
Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong faces second charge under national security law
- Activist Wong faced a new charge of conspiracy to collude with a foreign country or with external elements to endanger national security
HONG KONG: Hong Kong authorities once again arrested prominent activist Joshua Wong on Friday and charged him with conspiracy to collude with a foreign country under a Beijing-imposed national security law.
Wong, 28, was originally set to be released in January 2027 from a 56-month jail sentence he is serving under the same law for conspiracy to commit subversion after he participated in an unofficial primary election.
Taken to the West Kowloon magistrates’ courts, Wong faced a new charge of conspiracy to collude with a foreign country or with external elements to endanger national security.
The former student pro-democracy activist, who wore a blue shirt and appeared noticeably thinner than before, replied, “Understand,” when the clerk read out the charge and details of the offense.
Wong did not apply for bail, and the case was adjourned to August 8. Before returning to custody, he waved, shrugged, and shook his head in the direction of the public gallery.
In a statement, Hong Kong’s national security police said they had arrested a 28-year-old man on suspicion of the offense, as well as for “dealing with property known or believed to represent proceeds of an indictable offense.”
A charge sheet seen by Reuters accuses Wong of having conspired with exiled activist Nathan Law and others to ask foreign countries, institutions, organizations, or individuals outside China to impose sanctions or blockades.
Such actions against Hong Kong or China, along with other hostile activities targeting them, took place in 2020, between July 1 and November 23, it added.
The National Security Law, which punishes offenses such as acts of subversion, collusion with foreign forces, and terrorism, with terms of up to life in jail, was imposed by Beijing on the former British colony in 2020.
The Chinese and Hong Kong governments say the law is necessary to restore stability following anti-government protests in 2019.
But some Western governments have criticized it as being used to suppress free speech and dissent.
Economic hardships subdue the mood for Eid Al-Adha this year
- While sales increased ahead of Eid, Indonesian sellers say their businesses have lost customers in recent years
- In New Delhi, sellers were busy tending to their animals while potential buyers negotiated prices with them
JAKARTA: Less spending, higher prices and fewer animal sacrifices subdued the usual festive mood as the Muslim holiday of Eid Al-Adha was celebrated in many parts of the world.
In Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta, Muslim worshippers were shoulder-to-shoulder in the streets and the Istiqlal Grand Mosque was filled for morning prayers Friday.
Eid Al-Adha, known as the “Feast of Sacrifice,” coincides with the final rites of the annual Hajj in Saudi Arabia. It’s a joyous occasion, for which food is a hallmark with devout Muslims buying and slaughtering animals and sharing two-thirds of the meat with the poor.
Outside Jakarta, the Jonggol Cattle Market bustled with hundreds of cattle traders hoping to sell to buyers looking for sacrificial animals. While sales increased ahead of Eid, sellers said their businesses have lost customers in recent years due to economic hardship following the COVID-19 pandemic.
A foot-and-mouth disease outbreak in 2022 to 2023 also significantly dampened the typically booming holiday trade in goats, cows and sheep, though Indonesia’s government has worked to overcome that outbreak.
Rahmat Debleng, one of the sellers in the market, said before the pandemic and the FMD outbreak, he could sell more than 100 cows two weeks ahead of Eid Al-Adha. But on the eve of the celebration this year, only 43 of his livestock were sold, and six cows are still left in his stall.
“Though the foot-and-mouth outbreak threats remain loom large, but the declining in sales mostly because of economic hardship,” Debleng said.
Jakarta city administration data recorded the number of sacrificial animals available this year at 35,133, a decline of 57 percent compared to the previous year.
The government has made next Monday an additional holiday after Friday’s festival to allow people more time with their families. Eid momentum is expected to support economic growth in Indonesia, where household consumption helps drive GDP. It contributed over 50 percent to the economy last year, though analysts expect more subdued consumer spending in 2025.
Eid expected to come Saturday in South Asia
Eid Al-Adha commemorates the Qur’anic tale of Ibrahim’s willingness to sacrifice Ismail as an act of obedience to God. Before he could carry out the sacrifice, God provided a ram as an offering. In the Christian and Jewish telling, Abraham is ordered to kill another son, Isaac.
South Asian countries like India and Bangladesh will celebrate Eid Al-Adha on Saturday. Ahead of the festival, many Muslims in the region were turning to livestock markets to buy and sell millions of animals for sacrifice.
In New Delhi, sellers were busy tending to their animals at these markets, while potential buyers negotiated prices with them.
Mohammad Ali Qureshi, one of the sellers, said this year his goats were fetching as high as $640, some $60 more than the last year.
“Earlier, the sale of goats was slow, but now the market is good. Prices are on the higher side,” Ali said.
Preparations for the festival were also peaking in Indian-controlled Kashmir, where many Muslims dye sheep and goats in henna before they are sacrificed.
“We are following the tradition of Prophet Ibrahim,” said Riyaz Wani, a resident in Kashmir’s main city of Srinagar, as his family applied henna on a sheep they plan to sacrifice.
UK Labour gets rare boost with surprise election win
LONDON: Labour scored a surprise win in a Scottish Parliament by-election on Friday, giving UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and his government a rare moment of celebration.
Labour won with 8,559 votes, overturning the comfortable majority of 4,582 earned by the Scottish National Party (SNP) in 2021.
The SNP were favorites going into the election, but saw their vote collapse by almost 17 percent, netting them 7,957 votes and delivering a heavy blow to the party that runs Scotland.
“People in Scotland have once again voted for change,” Starmer wrote on X.
“Next year there is a chance to turbo charge delivery by putting Labour in power on both sides of the border,” he added.
Starmer and his government have seen their popularity plunge since coming to power last July.
Labour secured 31.6 percent of the vote, slightly down on the 2021 election.
But they capitalized on a fractured opposition, with the anti-immigration Reform UK party making inroads into Scottish politics for the first time with 26.1 percent of the vote.
The Conservative party continued its dismal recent electoral record, gaining just six percent of the vote.
The ballot was held following the death of SNP lawmaker and government minister Christina McKelvie in March.
