Saturday, April 27, 2024

Six In The Morning Saturday 27 April 2024

 



Elite force bucks trend of Ukrainian losses on eastern front


The Azov brigade, which leaders say has a culture of ‘mutual respect’, is tasked with repelling relentless Russian attacks as the invaders make most of artillery mismatch

by  in Lyman. Photographs by Julia Kochetova

Fifteen miles east of the garrison town of Lyman, a desperate fight has been taking place on Ukraine’s eastern front for months. The once verdant Serebryansky pine forest has been reduced to burnt-out stumps, reminiscent of images from the Somme, destroyed amid Russian attacks aimed at eliminating Ukrainian foxholes.

Fearful that the frontline could crack last summer, Ukraine’s commanders deployed the Azov infantry brigade to the sector. Their task was and is to repel what “Maslo”, a 29-year-old staff sergeant with the unit’s first battalion, described as “constant assaults, every day, sometimes for 24 hours”. Occasionally the brigade makes dangerous counterattacks on foot.

Australians protest gender violence after knife attack

Australians are calling for an end to violence against women after a recent knife attack in Sydney left five women dead. Australian Labor Party PM Anthony Albanese endorsed the rallies.

Australians marched across the country, including in the cities of Sydney and Adelaide, on Saturday, urging an end to violence against women.

The demonstrations came after a recent stabbing attack at the Bondi Junction mall in Sydney left six people dead, including five women. In addition, Australian actor Orpheus Pledger on Thursday was arrested after a three-day manhunt on charges of assaulting a woman. 

Russia arrests Forbes reporter over social media posts on Bucha massacre

Russia has arrested a journalist from the Russian edition of Forbes magazine for social media reposts over accusations of Russian atrocities in the Ukrainian town of Bucha, his lawyer and Forbes said on Friday.

Rights groups say hundreds of Russians have been arrested, fined and jailed for criticising Russia's offensive on Ukraine under tough military censorship laws.

Russian authorities have particularly targeted people for comments on Bucha, the Kyiv suburb where Russian troops have been accused of massacring civilians.

Moscow has rejected those charges and accused Kyiv and the West of staging the scenes of dead civilians and testimonies of torture.

"Sergei Mingazov was detained and is being held in a temporary detention centre" in the Far East city of Khabarovsk, the journalist's lawyer Konstantin Bubon said in a Facebook post.

Japan to force Apple, Google to open app stores to competition

THE ASAHI SHIMBUN

April 27, 2024 at 15:43 JST

The government on April 26 approved legislation at a Cabinet meeting designed to loosen the stranglehold of tech giants Apple and Google and encourage competition in the smartphone app market.

The companies were deemed to have a monopoly as their respective operating systems, iOS and Android, are fitted in 99 percent of the smartphones in use in Japan, according to a study by the U.S. company StatCounter.

“It is important to expand the choices available to smartphone users,” Kazuyuki Furuya, chairman of the Fair Trade Commission, said at an April 26 news conference. Furuya will oversee implementation once the bill passes into law.

Xi shakes up China’s military in rethink of how to ‘fight and win’ future wars

China has rolled out the largest restructuring of its military in almost a decade, focusing on technology-driven strategic forces equipped for modern warfare, as Beijing vies with Washington for military primacy in a region rife with geopolitical tensions.
In a surprise move last week, Chinese leader Xi Jinping scrapped the Strategic Support Force (SSF), a military branch he created in 2015 to integrate the People’s Liberation Army’s space, cyber, electronic and psychological warfare capabilities as part of a sweeping overhaul of the armed forces.
In its place, Xi inaugurated the Information Support Force, which he said was “a brand-new strategic arm of the PLA and a key underpinning of coordinated development and application of the network information system.”

Iraqi TikTok star Om Fahad shot dead outside Baghdad home

Officials say unidentified man killed influencer who had previously been imprisoned over dancing videos

A man on a motorbike has shot dead a social media influencer known as Om Fahad outside her Baghdad home, Iraqi security officials have said.

The unidentified attacker shot Om Fahad in her car in the Zayouna district on Friday, a security official said, requesting anonymity because he was not cleared to speak to the media.

Another security source said the attacker appeared to have pretended to be making a food delivery.



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