'We are dying, slowly' - Pleas for help after Ukraine dam breach
How dam flooding impacts Ukraine’s war plans
Frank Gardner
Security Correspondent
Regardless of who was responsible for breaching the dam, and whether it was by error or by design, the mass flooding that ensued does have an affect on the war in Ukraine.
Most immediately, it throws the Ukrainians somewhat off-balance just as they were building up for their main assault on Russian-occupied territory.
Dealing with thousands of displaced citizens, their flooded homes and unknown numbers of floating anti-personnel mines, is a major distraction.
Secondly, it narrows Ukraine’s military options in terms of from where they can launch an attack on Russia’s positions.
Summary
- Hundreds of people have pleaded to be rescued from flooding in Kherson following Tuesday's Kakhovka dam breach
- Many of those seeking help are on the Russia-controlled side of the Dnipro river
- Hundreds of thousands of people in the Kherson region, where the dam is located, have been left without drinking water
- Both Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of attacking the dam, though some speculated it could have collapsed from previous damage
- Ukraine’s domestic security service claims to have a recording it says shows Russian soldiers admitting its forces attacked the dam
Food aid suspended in Ethiopia after ‘widespread and coordinated’ thievery
UN and US halt food assistance in the country, where 20 million people rely on aid, in order to investigate ‘diversion’ of supplies
Food aid to Ethiopia has been suspended after the discovery that humanitarian supplies meant for people in need were being stolen.
The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) said on Friday that it is halting food assistance while it rolled out “enhanced safeguards and controls that will ensure humanitarian food assistance reaches targeted, vulnerable people”. It comes a day after the US Agency for International Development (USAid) said it was doing the same, after a “countrywide review” uncovered “a widespread and coordinated campaign” that was diverting food assistance from Ethiopian people.
“We made the difficult but necessary decision that we cannot move forward with distribution of food assistance until reforms are in place,” said a USAid spokesperson.
China registers low inflation as stocks slump
China's economy grew, but indicators show demand is weakening, with factory activity falling in May.
Inflation in China stayed low in May, according to official figures published on Friday.
The consumer price index (CPI) rose 0.2% on-year, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). This was slightly above the figure from April, 0.1%.
Chinese stocks were also flat on Friday amid worries about the health of the world's second-largest economy, despite stocks rallying in Hong Kong and other parts of Asia.
Chinese interest rates low
China has kept interest rates low compared to other major economies.
On Thursday, top economist and government advisor Liu Yuanchun called for regulators to cut borrowing costs to make it easier for small and medium-sized private businesses to secure financing.
He said that many large state-owned firms had loan rates lower than 1.8%, while many private businesses had to pay nearly 9%.
Macron visits victims as France reels from knife attack on children in Annecy
French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday visited the hospital where preschool children who were wounded in a knife attack in the Alpine town of Annecy were being treated. Four children and two adults were injured in the attack by a Syrian refugee. The president said that their conditions were improving.
Macron and his wife Brigitte arrived in the southeastern city of Grenoble, where three of the four injured children were being treated for wounds sustained in Thursday’s knife attack at a public park in Annecy.
The French president also visited those who "contributed in helping and supporting them", including a young Catholic pilgrim who came face to face with the assailant.
Speaking to a group of local officials and victims of the attack who had been discharged from hospital at the Annecy town hall on Friday, Macron hailed the courage and quick response of emergency workers.
He also said he had heard "positive” news on the condition of the wounded children after visiting the Grenoble University Hospital.
Rwandan genocide suspect faces more charges in South Africa
The suspect now faces 54 separate charges in South Africa relating to fraud and immigration offences, up from five previously.
South African prosecutors on Friday significantly increased the number of charges being brought against Rwandan ex-police officer Fulgence Kayishema, who is wanted internationally for suspected participation in Rwanda’s 1994 genocide.
Kayishema, 62, is accused of taking part in the killing of 2,000 people sheltering inside a Catholic church in one of the 1994 Rwandan genocide’s bloodiest episodes.
Iran has a new hypersonic missile. Here’s what that means for the Middle East
It’s not every day that you see billboards in Hebrew on the streets of Tehran.
This one, posted across the Iranian capital this week, reads: “400 seconds to Tel Aviv” in Persian, Arabic and Hebrew. It is an announcement of the latest missile in Iran’s fast expanding arsenal of weapons – one that Iran’s military says can travel up to 15 times the speed of sound.
The missile is called Fattah, apparently named after one of the 99 names of God in Islam meaning “victory giver.” It was unveiled this week as a historic achievement for the country’s military.
The hypersonic projectile has the ability to “penetrate all air defense missile systems and detonate them,” Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ (IRCG) Aerospace Force Commander Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh said in comments published by the semi-official Tasnim news agency.
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