Sunday, May 8, 2022

Six In The Morning Saturday 8 May 2022

 

We're basically dead - fighter at besieged steel plant

Hugo Bachega

Reporting from Dnipro


This was a remarkable news conference, broadcast live online from a bunker in the partially destroyed Azovstal steelworks, the last pocket of Ukrainian resistance in the city of Mariupol.

First, Capt Svyatoslav Kalina Palamar, the deputy commander of the Azov regiment, said they were under intense Russian shelling, and that the invading forces were trying to storm the plant. While hundreds of civilians had been evacuated in recent days, he said there was a "multitude of casualties" across the sprawling complex, both civilian and military.

Another fighter, Lt Illia Samoilenko, then spoke for almost two hours, most of it in English. He started by heavily criticising the government, without giving details, saying it had let 25,000 people be "murdered by the Russian army" in the city, a figure that cannot be independently verified.


‘It’s total terror’: Colombian cartel retaliates over kingpin’s arrest


Otoniel’s Gulf Clan militiamen shut down northern regions, blocking roads and holding residents hostage in their houses

 in Medellín

Jorge, a community activist from Colombia’s conflict-ridden Chocó province, was already traveling to the city of Medellín when he heard news that made him turn back towards home.

Paramilitary militiamen in balaclavas and military fatigues had thrown up a string of roadblocks and declared an “armed strike”, torching vehicles, forcing businesses to close, and stopping all traffic.

“There’s absolutely no one around, because any vehicle they find on the roads they set on fire,” said Jorge, using a false name to avoid any reprisals. “It’s total terror.”


British travel YouTuber detained at Russian space centre

Benjamin Rich denied he was arrested and said he had been questioned, fined and released

Emily Atkinson

British travel YouTuber, known for his videos exploring post-Soviet states, has been detained at a spaceport in Kazakhstan.

Benjamin Rich, whose Bald and Bankrupt channel has 3.53 million followers, confirmed he was questioned by police after visiting the Baikonur Cosmodrome but denied reports he had been arrested.

Dmitry Rogozin, the head of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, said in an online post that Rich and a woman named Alina Tseliupa had been detained near one of the launch pads at Baikonur, which Russia rents from Kazakhstan.


Putin's BrothersTensions Mount in the Balkans as Bosnia and Herzegovina Threatens to Fracture

With the world focusing on Ukraine, the Kremlin is continuing its efforts to destabilize the Balkans – with the eager assistance of Serbs in the region. The country of Bosnia and Herzegovina is at particular risk.
When it comes to the newest signals from Eastern and Southeastern Europe, The Austrian Foreign Ministry has extremely sensitive feelers. After all, the city of Lviv, called Lemberg at the time, along with Sarajevo and Banja Luka in Bosnia were ruled from Vienna until 1918.

Which is why Austrian diplomats aren’t just looking at Ukraine with concern these days, but also at developments in the Balkans. "We all know that Moscow has the ability to cause problems in other areas of the world as well," says Alexander Schallenberg, Austria’s foreign minister. In the Balkans, he says, Bosnia and Herzegovina is particularly at risk.


Australia PM says will 'ensure' no China base on Solomon Islands

 Australia would work with its allies to prevent China setting up a military base in the Solomon Islands, Prime Minister Scott Morrison vowed Sunday during a heated debate before May 21 elections.

China's growing clout in the Pacific has become a hot political issue in Australia ahead of the polls, following Beijing's announcement last month that it had signed a security pact with the Solomons.

The China-Solomons deal has not been publicly released but a leaked draft alarmed countries in the region, particularly sections that would allow Chinese naval deployments to the Solomons -- less than 2,000 kilometres (1,200 miles) from Australia.

Why the 2022 Philippines election is so significant

There are 10 candidates vying to replace Rodrigo Duterte as president, but only two really matter.


The Philippines goes to the polls on May 9 to choose a new president, in what analysts say will be the most significant election in the Southeast Asian nation’s recent history.

Outgoing President Rodrigo Duterte leaves office with a reputation for brutality – his signature “drug war” has left thousands dead and is being investigated by the International Criminal Court (ICC) – economic incompetence, and cracking down on the media and his critics.

Duterte has also been criticised for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed at least 60,439 people in the archipelago.





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