Ukraine’s counter-offensive against Russia sends panic to Moscow as Zelensky praises his troops
Ukrainian officials have imposed an information blackout to help operational security, but say that Russia has suffered much greater losses than Ukraine has during its new assault. A regional official said Ukrainian forces had destroyed a Russian ammunition dump in occupied Kherson region, part of a weeks-long effort by Kyiv to disrupt Russian supply lines.
African leaders attempt mediation in Ukraine war but Russia ‘greets’ them with rocket strikes on Kyiv
African are seeking agreement on a series of “confidence building measures”, but Kyiv has said its own peace initiative must be the basis of any settlement and has launched a counteroffensive to push back Russian occupying forces.
Russian defence vulnerabilities exposed after Ukraine rained drones on Moscow
Last week, the Russian border region of Belgorod was the target of one of the most serious cross-border raids since the war began, with two far-right pro-Ukrainian paramilitary groups claiming responsibility. Officials in the southern Russian city of Krasnodar near annexed Crimea said two drones struck there Friday, damaging residential buildings. The attacks also drew calls for bolstering Russia’s borders.
‘Only an evil state can fight against clinics’, Ukrainian president says of Russian attack on hospitals
Moscow has dismissed allegations that its soldiers have committed war crimes and denies deliberately targeting civilians although it has bombarded cities across Ukraine since invading 15 months ago. Moscow said earlier on Friday Ukraine had struck two regions in southern Russia with a rocket and a drone, but the missile was shot down.
Pandemic of a different nature: Developed countries led by UK report ‘excess deaths’
Official UK statistics also showed that in the week ending April 21, 2023, the number of deaths exceeded the five-year average by 22.1 per cent (2,540 excess deaths), while in the week ending April 28, the excess figure was 12.9 per cent (1,569 excess deaths). Only 3.8 per cent of deaths during this period mentioned Covid-19 in the death certificates.
Privatising war: Why the US and Russia hire private companies to fight for them on frontlines
The involvement of private companies has allowed Washington to continue to conduct its operations around the globe, even if many Americans think that our war on terror in Afghanistan, Iraq, and elsewhere has ended. I tried looking for any kind of a survey of how many of us realise that it continues in Iraq and elsewhere, but all I could find was pollster Nate Silver’s analysis of “lessons learned” from that global conflict, as if it were part of our history.
Why King Charles III coronation ceremony has changed little for a thousand years and still happens at London’s Westminster Abbey
Sitting on the historic Coronation Chair, known as St Edward’s chair and containing the Stone of Destiny, he will be anointed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, the spiritual leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion, with holy oil consecrated in Jerusalem.
ECB raises interest rates days after euro zone banking data showed lowest loan appetite in 10 years
Policymakers had been split in the run up to the meeting between a 25 basis point and a 50 basis point rise but markets and economists had overwhelmingly bet on the smaller increase after soft data in recent weeks and similar moderation by other big central banks.
Ukraine prepares to reopen food and grain transit through Poland as first step to ending import bans
Ukraine is holding additional talks this week in Romania on Wednesday, and in Slovakia on Thursday, Solsky added. Poland’s embargo, in effect since Saturday evening, also applied to transit through the country to keep grain transport from entering the Polish market.
Jupiter mission launched by Europe’s space agency will be first to orbit moon of another planet
If everything goes according to plan, the European Space Agency (ESA) probe will circle back and pass close to both Earth and the Moon in around one year’s time, which will help to slingshot the spacecraft towards the outer Solar System. This double fly-by will require “the most accurate gravity-assist manoeuvre ever done”, said ESA payload-system engineer Alessandro Atzei at the briefing.
