Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 937
As the war enters its 937th day, these are the main developments. Here is the situation on Thursday, September 19, 2024. Fighting At least one person was killed and a 90-year-old woman injured in a Russian attack on the central city of Kropyvnytskyi, regional authorities said. The Ukrainian air force said it shot down 46 of 52 drones launched by Moscow against Ukraine and that Russia had used three guided air missiles which did not reach their targets. Russia’s counteroffensive to retake Ukrainian-occupied territory in the Kursk region has been “stopped”, Oleksiy Dmytrashkivskyi, a spokesman from Ukraine’s military administration in Kursk, told the AFP news agency. Russia is engaged in an effort to take back territory seized by Ukraine since its surprise August 6 incursion across the border. Ukraine said it struck an arms depot in Russia’s western Tver region, starting a massive fire that forced the evacuation of the nearby town of Toropets, some 400km (250 miles) northwest of Moscow. The Russian Ministry of Health said at least 13 people were injured in the attack. Politics and diplomacy Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Kyiv had “fully prepared” its “victory plan” to end the war with Russia, and he would discuss the plan with United States President Joe Biden when he visits the US this month. Slovenia, which currently holds the presidency of the 15-member United Nations Security Council, said Zelenskyy would address the body on Tuesday as world leaders converge on New York for the annual United Nations meetings. Defence ministers from nine countries on NATO’s eastern flank called for a collective response to repeated violations of their airspace by Russian drones and missiles targeting Ukraine. Russia detained Major General Denis Putilov, head of the Central Military District’s armoured car service, on suspicion of taking a bribe of 10 million roubles ($108,000). It is the latest in a string of arrests linked to alleged corruption in the defence sector. Weapons US officials told The Associated Press news agency that Washington wants more detailed information about how Kyiv plans to use the Western-supplied long-range weapons it says are necessary for strikes deep inside Russia, and how they would fit into its broader strategy for the war. Adblock test (Why?)
Haiti sets up council to prepare for first elections since 2016
Country is mired in political strife with international peacekeepers drafted in to restore stability. Haiti’s government has set up a provisional electoral council to prepare the troubled Caribbean country for its first general elections since 2016. The electoral council represents groups including farmers, journalists, human rights activists and the Vodou community and is tasked with setting up a legal framework for elections and organising the poll, which is due to be held by 2026. The council created on Wednesday has seven members, the prime minister’s office said on social media platform X. Two other seats, one for human rights groups and another for women’s rights organisations, still lack a delegate, the office added. Smith Augustin, a member of the country’s transitional presidential council, told The Associated Press news agency that the remaining members would probably be announced in the coming days. By law, the council must have nine members. Haiti’s shaky political situation has been exacerbated by a power that emerged following the assassination of President Jovenel Moise in 2021 and has not had a president since. Armed gangs have also spread their control over some 80 percent of the capital Port-au-Prince and most other parts of the nation. A previous electoral council was dissolved in 2021 under former Prime Minister Ariel Henry, who took office after Moise’s death but was forced out of his post earlier this year. In Haiti, executive power is meant to be split between the president and the prime minister. The interim government in May tapped Garry Conille as prime minister. Only Kenya and Jamaica have so far deployed forces to Haiti as part of the United Nations-backed anti-gang offensive, which is set to expire at the start of October if its mandate is not renewed later this month. The mission could also be converted into a formal UN peacekeeping operation, which would ensure funding and the longevity of the mission, a draft resolution showed. Adblock test (Why?)
Fact check: Was Kamala Harris truthful in interview with Black journalists?
During her interview with the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) on Tuesday, Vice President Kamala Harris criticised former President Donald Trump and his running mate, Republican Senator JD Vance, for spreading misinformation about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio. In the presidential debate held last week, Trump claimed that immigrants in the Midwestern state were eating residents’ pets. “When you have that kind of microphone in front of you, you really ought to understand how much your words have meaning,” Harris said on Tuesday. “I learned at a very young stage of my career that the meaning of my words could impact whether someone was free or in prison.” On Israel’s war on Gaza, Harris reiterated that Israel has a right to defend itself, following Hamas’s October 7 attack last year, but didn’t have a straight answer for co-moderator and Politico White House Correspondent Eugene Daniels’ question about how her policies would differ from President Joe Biden’s. Harris said “We need to get this deal done,” referring to freeing captives and a ceasefire deal. The discussion took place at US public radio station WHYY in downtown Philadelphia and featured Daniels, theGrio White House correspondent and Managing Editor of Politics Gerren Keith Gaynor and WHYY Fresh Air programme co-host Tonya Mosley as moderators. Harris’s interview happened days after Trump was targeted in an apparent assassination attempt. Harris said she spoke to Trump earlier in the day. “There’s no place for political violence in our country,” Harris said. In addition to these topics, the moderators tried to get specifics from Harris about her positions on the economy and healthcare. We fact-checked several of her claims. Economy ‘Worst unemployment since the Great Depression’ When Harris and Biden took office, replacing Trump, the US had “the worst unemployment since the Great Depression”. False. Harris had also made this claim during the presidential debate against Trump. She’s wrong. The US unemployment rate spiked to a post-Great Depression record of 14.8 percent in April 2020, as the pandemic escalated. Trump was in office then. But by December 2020, before Biden and Harris took office, the unemployment rate fell to 6.4 percent – high for recent history but well below numerous spikes during recessions. Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris criticised former President Donald Trump during her interview with members of the National Association of Black Journalists [Jacquelyn Martin/AP Photo] ‘Lowest Black unemployment rate in generations’ Harris: “We have the lowest Black unemployment rate in generations.” Half True. The Black unemployment rate in August, the most recent month available, was 6.1 percent. That’s low by historical standards, though it’s up from a record low of 4.8 percent set in April 2023. Black unemployment was also low under Trump, which was not “generations” ago. Trump set a record low of 5.3 percent in September 2019 which was later eclipsed by the record low under Biden. Reduced Black child poverty ‘by half’ Harris: “When we expanded the Child Tax Credit a couple years ago, we reduced Back child poverty by half.” Mostly True. The White House, after Biden made a similar claim in February 2023, said Black child poverty fell from 17.2 percent in 2020 to 8.3 percent in 2021, a 52 percent drop. The drop from 2019, the White House said, was 60 percent. The White House cited supplemental poverty numbers from the Census Bureau. The supplemental poverty measure, introduced in 2011, updated the official poverty measure, which was based on cash resources. The supplemental poverty measure includes cash and non-cash benefits and accounts for government programmes designed to aid low-income families. Biden’s American Rescue Plan increased the child tax credit from $2,000 to $3,600 for children younger than six and to $3,000 for children aged six to 17. Beneficiaries, which included families with very low incomes that weren’t required to file tax returns, received up to half the credit in monthly payments from July 2021 to December 2021. The provision lapsed after that, facing opposition from Republicans and independent Senator Joe Manchin, who said expanding the credit would worsen inflation. When the expanded tax credit expired, child poverty spiked. Supplemental child poverty rose from 12.1 percent in December 2021 to 17 percent in January 2022 – a 41 percent change. This meant 3.7 million more children were living below the poverty line in 2022 compared with 2021. Creating new jobs Harris: “As of today, we have created over 16 million new jobs, over 800,000 new manufacturing jobs.” Mostly True. Non-farm employment has increased by about 15.9 million jobs from January 2021 to August 2024, the period that Biden and Harris have been in office. Manufacturing employment has risen by 739,000. However, there are a few caveats. The Bureau of Labor Statistics, the federal agency that calculates how many people are working, said in August that the initial statistics may have overstated job gains by 818,000. This revision was part of the bureau’s annual effort to fine-tune initial data that the agency acknowledges is imperfect. That would reduce the job gains to about 15 million jobs, not 16 million. But for now, the old numbers Harris was using are the official ones. Any changes would be finalised early next year. Another caveat is that no president can claim full credit for job gains on their watch (or job losses). Many factors that go into employment changes stem from developments beyond presidents’ control, including the health of the global economy. Healthcare Black people are ’60 percent more likely to be diagnosed with diabetes’ Harris: “We know Black folks are 60 percent more likely to be diagnosed with diabetes.” True. Black adults in 2018 were 60 percent more likely than non-Hispanic white adults to be diagnosed with diabetes by a physician, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data shows. In 2019, Black adults were 2.5 times more likely to be hospitalised with the condition and have associated long-term complications. The group was also twice as likely as non-Hispanic white people to die from the disease, the
More deadly explosions hit Lebanon, a day after Hezbollah pager blasts
BREAKINGBREAKING, Lebanon’s state media says three people killed in Lebanon’s Bekaa region, as more explosions reported across the country. At least one person has been killed and hundreds were wounded in Lebanon in a new wave of blasts related to communication devices, the Health Ministry has said, a day after thousands of pagers used by Hezbollah detonated across the country. Multiple explosions were reported across Lebanon on Wednesday, with Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reporting that pagers and “devices” exploded in Hezbollah strongholds in the east and south of Beirut. The Iran-backed group’s Al Manar TV reported explosions in multiple areas of Lebanon, which it said were the result of walkie-talkies detonating. Hezbollah’s Ali Hashem, reporting from Tyre in southern Lebanon, witnessed two explosions. “There was a car that exploded just behind us. At the same time, there was an explosion at another place [nearby],” he said. “I’m currently in the middle of the street. There are a lot of ambulances, chaos everywhere.” Several blasts took place simultaneously, Hashem said, similar to what happened on Tuesday. “But this time, it was mostly walkie-talkies or radios [that exploded],” he said, adding that reports suggested that solar devices and some batteries in cars also exploded. Lebanon’s official news agency reported that home solar energy systems exploded in several areas of Beirut. In Beirut, Al Jazeera’s Imran Khan said a blast was reported in Dahiyeh, a southern suburb of Lebanon’s capital city. “We are hearing a lot of ambulance activity in the area suggesting there may be well casualties coming here or other hospitals nearby, possibly as a result of explosions within Beirut itself.” The new round of explosions took place a day after pagers used by Hezbollah, a Lebanese Iran-backed group, exploded nearly simultaneously in several locations across Lebanon, killing at least 12 people, including two children, and wounding around 2,800. Hezbollah and the Lebanese government blamed Israel for Tuesday’s attacks. Adblock test (Why?)
Deaths reported as more communication devices explode in Lebanon
NewsFeed At least 3 people have been killed and hundreds injured in Lebanon when more communication devices exploded a day after the massive simultaneous detonation of pagers used by members of Hezbollah. Published On 18 Sep 202418 Sep 2024 Adblock test (Why?)
How did Hezbollah’s pagers explode in Lebanon?
Hundreds of pagers belonging to the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah have simultaneously exploded across Lebanon. At the time of publishing, at least nine people have been killed and 2,750 wounded, according to security services and the Lebanese health minister. Pagers are small communication devices used commonly before mobile phones became widespread. The devices display a short text message for the user, relayed by telephone through a central operator. Unlike mobile phones, pagers work on radio waves, the operator sending a message by radio frequency – rather than the internet – unique to the recipient’s device. It is thought that the basic technology used in pagers as well as their reliance upon physical hardware means they are harder to monitor, making them popular with groups such as Hezbollah where both mobility and security are paramount. Pager [GettyImages] What happened? The series of explosions began at about 4:45pm and lasted for around an hour. Casualty numbers are still being confirmed. One eight-year-old girl has been confirmed among the dead. Mohammad Mahdi Ammar, the son of Hezbollah MP Ali Ammar, has also been reported killed. Hezbollah confirmed that two of its fighters had been killed. Lebanese Health Minister Firass Abiad told Al Jazeera: “About 2,750 people were injured, … more than 200 of them critically” with injuries mostly reported to the face, hands and stomach. Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amani, was also injured in the explosions. Lebanese Civil Defense first-responders carry a man who was wounded when his handheld pager exploded in the southern port city of Sidon on September 17, 2024 [AP Photo] Who carried out the attack? Many people, including Hezbollah, are pointing to Israel. Israel and Hezbollah have been engaged in a mostly low-level exchange of fire over the Lebanon-Israel border since October 8, the day after Hamas-led attacks on Israel killed 1,139 people, saw about 240 taken captive and set off Israel’s war on Gaza. Recently, Israeli politicians and media have increasingly talked of military action against Lebanon to drive Hezbollah back from the border to allow for the return of about 60,000 Israelis evacuated right after the attacks began. “We hold the Israeli enemy fully responsible for this criminal aggression,” Hezbollah said in a statement, adding that Israel “will certainly receive its just punishment for this sinful aggression”. Despite a similar condemnation from Lebanese Information Minister Ziad Makary, Israel itself – in keeping with previous situations – remains tight-lipped. Why didn’t similar blasts occur in Gaza? According to Hamza Attar from the Department of Defence at King’s College in London, “They cannot use the same method in Gaza because Hamas is very cyber-aware compared to Hezbollah. “They are very capable when it comes to telecommunications,” he said of Hamas, stressing the efforts the group goes to to encrypt communications. “They don’t use phones or cellphones. They have their own network and internet and communication and don’t need anything above ground,” he said. We still don’t know. Some speculation has focused on the radio network that pagers rely on, suggesting that it may have been hacked, causing the system to emit a signal that triggered a response within the already doctored pagers. “What I think happened [is that] every Hezbollah [member] who was at a specific level was attacked,” data analyst Ralph Baydoun told Al Jazeera. Civil Defense first responders transport a man injured in the pager blasts to Al Zahraa Hospital University Medical Center in Beirut on September 17, 2024 [Hussein Malla/AP] He also suggested that Israel would not need to know the names of whoever received the corrupted signal but it could gather valuable intelligence after the detonations. “If they had the satellites on, … they would know the names and locations of all operatives who were attacked … immediately when [they asked] for help. They would disclose [their] locations,” he speculated. Other analysts, such as former British army officer and chemical weapons expert Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, suggested that Hezbollah’s pagers may have been tampered with along the supply chain and “wired to explode on command”. If the pager’s lithium battery was triggered to overheat, this would kick-start a process called thermal runaway. Essentially, a chemical chain reaction would occur, leading to an increase in temperature and eventually the battery’s violent explosion. However, triggering that chain reaction within multiple devices that have never been connected to the internet is far from straightforward. “You have to have a bug in the pager itself [so that] it will overheat as a result of certain circumstances,” Baydoun said, speculating that those circumstances would most likely be a trigger introduced into the pager through doctored code. Adblock test (Why?)
Bolivia braces for turmoil as antigovernment protesters begin march
A simmering political battle between former allies is threatening to boil over into an all-out struggle for power after Bolivia’s popular and controversial former leftist president, Evo Morales, called on supporters to take to the streets in protest against current President Luis Arce. Morales announced a weeklong “March to Save Bolivia” on Monday after Arce accused him on national TV of trying to overthrow his government in a coup attempt. Antigovernment protesters blocked roads on the outskirts of the capital, La Paz, on Tuesday, calling for Arce’s resignation due to his mismanagement of the economy. Supporters also blocked roads leading to Lake Titicaca, shared by Bolivia and Peru and a popular tourist destination. “It’s an incompetent government that we have, and it won’t solve the economic crisis,” said Pablo Merma, a peasant leader of the so-called Red Ponchos, rebel Indigenous activists from the high plains, who was among the protesters. Morales: a disgraced former strongman Bolivia’s political and economic crisis, sparked by fuel shortages and dwindling foreign currency reserves, has caused some Bolivians to grow nostalgic for the disgraced former strongman who famously reduced poverty while in office. Although Arce was Morales’s former economy minister and his candidate in Bolivia’s 2020 elections, the erstwhile allies began vying for power after Morales returned from exile seeking to make a political comeback. Alleged coup attempt Over the past year, the Arce-Morales rift has polarised Bolivia, tainting the country’s politics and creating a sense of turmoil that soldiers sought to seize upon in June in a bizarre supposed coup attempt. Speaking to reporters, Morales encouraged the international community to follow his near 200km (124-mile) march along a highway from the southeast village of Caracollo to La Paz. “The march is the response of a people fed up with their unthinking government, which has maintained absolute silence in the face of the crisis, corruption and the destruction of stability,” Morales wrote on the social media platform X. Morales made his appeal to Bolivia’s farmers, miners and peasants on Monday after an unprecedented televised speech by Arce late on Sunday, in which he lambasted his former mentor. Arce accused Morales of trying to sabotage his administration and undermine democracy, escalating a high-stakes power struggle that has pushed Bolivia to the brink. “Enough, Evo!” Arce exclaimed on state TV. “Until now, I have tolerated your attacks and slander in silence. But putting the lives of people at risk is something I cannot tolerate.” Bolivian former President (2006-2019) Evo Morales Ayma (C) waves during the so-called ‘March to Save Bolivia’ -against his former ally, leftist leader Luis Arce- in Caracollo, province of Oruro, 200 km south of La Paz, Bolivia, on September 17, 2024. [Aizar Raldes / AFP] “Democracy at risk” Arce, who has faced a series of mounting crises with his governing party riven by disagreements, alleged that Morales’s attempts to mobilise support and run against Arce in next year’s presidential election were “putting democracy at risk.” “You are threatening the entire country,” Arce said, claiming that Morales sought to return to power by “means fair or foul”. His dramatic speech in the Andean nation of 12 million dredged up the chaos and bloodshed of 2019, when Morales ran for an unconstitutional third term and won. After accusations of fraud led to mass protests, Morales resigned under pressure from the army, in what his supporters call a coup. At least 36 people were killed in the ensuing crackdown by security forces. Morales, who served as Bolivia’s first Indigenous president from 2006-2019, was extremely popular until he tried to bypass the constitution and seek a fourth term. Ever since the constitutional court last year barred the charismatic leader from the race, coca cultivators, Indigenous tribes and workers have come to his defence with street protests, marches and road blockades. Another protest leader, Ponciano Santos, warned Arce that the social movement would hold him responsible for whatever happened on Tuesday. “If you tear gas us, if you interfere with our march, the government will fall,” Santos told reporters. Adblock test (Why?)
US downplays ability to prevent escalation after Lebanon pager explosions
Washington, DC – The United States has said it does not want to see further escalation between Israel and Hezbollah after the Lebanese armed group blamed Israel for a series of deadly, coordinated handheld pager blasts. But the administration of US President Joe Biden, which remains Israel’s top military and diplomatic backer, on Tuesday also sought to downplay its ability to tamper tensions between the pair. Speaking to reporters on Tuesday afternoon, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Washington was not involved in the apparent attack and was not given prior notification that it would occur. “I will say that our overall policy remains consistent, which is, we do want to see a diplomatic resolution to the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah,” Miller said. “We are always concerned about any type of event that may cause further escalation.” But when pushed on whether the Biden administration’s influence – the US provides Israel with $3.8bn in military aid annually as well as staunch diplomatic support – could be used to prevent a wider war, Miller said that was “not just a question for the United States”. “Of course, it’s a first … order question to Israel. It’s a question to Hezbollah, but is a question to all of the other countries in the region about what type of region they want to live in,” he said. “So the United States is going to continue to push for a diplomatic resolution.” Miller’s remarks come as rights advocates have urged the Biden administration to apply pressure on Israel to end its war on the Gaza Strip, which has killed more than 41,000 Palestinians since early October and decimated the coastal Palestinian enclave. Analysts have repeatedly accused Washington of acting as both an “arsonist and firefighter” by continually refusing to leverage US military aid to its “ironclad” ally despite the risks that a prolonged Gaza war could lead to a wider regional escalation. Hezbollah, which has been exchanging cross-border fire with Israel since the war in Gaza began, blamed Israel for Tuesday’s pager blasts and pledged that it would get its “fair punishment”. The Israeli army has yet to comment on the explosions. The Lebanese health minister said at least nine people were killed, including an eight-year-old girl, when the pagers exploded across Lebanon. About 2,750 people also were injured, including 200 in critical condition. Asked about the apparently indiscriminate nature of the explosions, Miller at the US State Department declined to comment directly on what happened. However, he said that, broadly speaking, the US position is that “no country, no organisation should be targeting civilians”. ‘Mud in their face’ The explosions took place as the Biden administration continues to say it is pushing to broker a Gaza ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, the Palestinian faction that governs the territory. On Tuesday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was travelling to the Middle East for the latest meeting with mediators. “President Biden doesn’t have a whole lot of time, the US election is less than 60 days away,” Al Jazeera’s Kimberly Halkett reported from Washington, DC. “So if [the Lebanon explosions] are something that Israel is in fact responsible for, this is certainly discouraging to the United States.” The deadly blasts also came less than a day after White House adviser Amos Hochstein met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to push for de-escalation along Israel’s northern border with Lebanon. Following the meeting, Netanyahu’s office released a defiant statement saying Israelis would not be able to return to evacuated areas along the Lebanon border “without a fundamental change in the security situation in the north”. Ramy Khoury, a distinguished fellow at the American University of Beirut, called the Israeli response to the US appeal “par for the course”. “The Israelis routinely not only neglect what the Americans tell them, but throw mud in their face,” Khoury told Al Jazeera. “The Americans have very limited capabilities in terms of their diplomatic action. They’ve focused more on military support for Israel and sanctions against Israel’s foes.” Khoury added that US “diplomatic efforts are not taken very seriously by most people in the region” due to the country’s unconditional support for Israel. “The US should be a huge diplomatic actor,” he said. “But it is clearly on the side of Israel and everything it does has to fit into the priorities of Israel.” Adblock test (Why?)
What’s the point of international law? | Start Here
International law – explained. From the Gaza war to Ukraine – the role of international law has been under intense scrutiny recently. What exactly is international law? How does it work? And what’s the point of it if so often it doesn’t seem to lead to the accountability and justice that many people want? Sandra Gathmann takes #AJStartHere to The Hague – home of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and International Criminal Court (ICC) – to explain. Adblock test (Why?)
Doctors Without Borders halts Russian operations after losing legal status
The aid group announced the decision with ‘a heavy heart’ after losing its legal authorisation. Doctors Without Borders has said it has halted its operations in Russia after Moscow removed its authorisation to work in the country. The NGO, also known as Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), announced the decision late on Monday, saying it was compelled to stop activities because Russia’s justice ministry had removed it from a roster of approved foreign charities. “It is with a heavy heart that we have to close our activities in Russia,” said a statement by MSF, which employed more than 50 people in Russia. “To comply with the [justice ministry] decision, we had to close our operations in the country and terminate the contracts of our staff in accordance with all legal requirements,” spokeswoman Maria Borscheva told the AFP news agency. The decision applied to the Dutch branch of MSF in Russia but since this was the only association active in the country, it effectively ended the group’s presence there. A branch office dealing with nonoperational activities in Moscow will stay open, according to the group. The move puts MSF, which has operated in Russia for 32 years, as part of a growing list of foreign charities pushed out during the Ukraine war. Last year, Russia declared Western aid groups Greenpeace, Transparency International and World Wide Fund for Nature “undesirable,” effectively banning them from operating in the country. Kursk aid With a mission to offer medical assistance to “people affected by conflict, epidemics, disasters, or exclusion from healthcare”, MSF has been in Russia since 1992, operating programmes that give aid to homeless people and migrants, tuberculosis treatment and general healthcare. Russian doctors working for MSF take care of homeless people, most of whom suffer from various skin diseases, at the Kursky railway station in Moscow, on March 2, 1993 [Michael Evstafiev/AFP] Since the invasion of Ukraine, its aid operations have reached 52,000 refugees and displaced people, 15,400 of whom have received free medical, mental health and psychosocial support, the NGO said. One of its most recent goals was to respond to the humanitarian and medical needs of the internally displaced people in Russia’s Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces have recently made inroads, it noted. “We are very sad to conclude our programmes in the country as many people in need of medical and humanitarian assistance will now be left without the support we could have provided to them,” said Norman Sitali, MSF operations manager in Russia. “MSF would like to still work in Russia again, if and when possible,” added Sitali. Adblock test (Why?)