Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 955
As the war enters its 955th day, these are the main developments. Here is the situation on Monday, October 7, 2024. Fighting Russia unleashed an overnight drone attack across Ukraine targeting the capital Kyiv and hitting infrastructure in the Black Sea port of Odesa, Ukrainian officials said. The State Emergency Service said one person was injured and warehouses and cargo trucks damaged in Odesa during the multi-wave attack, which kept much of the country under air-raid alert for several hours. The Ukrainian Air Force said the Russian attack involved 87 attack drones and four missiles. Air defence units destroyed 56 of the drones and two of the missiles, the Air Force said. Anti-Kremlin activist Ildar Dadin, who was jailed in Russia for protesting against President Vladimir Putin, was killed on the front line in Ukraine where he was fighting alongside Kyiv’s forces, his relatives and Russian media said. Ukraine’s military intelligence agency said one of its units destroyed a Russian automated air defence unit with a first-person view drone. The agency released video of the attack but did not say where or when it took place. Politics and diplomacy Ukraine may be offered “more concrete steps” towards joining NATO at the Ramstein summit that starts in Germany on October 12, The Washington Post reported, citing a diplomat it did not name. Russia arrested Yegor Guzenko, the administrator of the Telegram channel Thirteenth, who has previously criticised the Kremlin and Russia’s Ministry of Defence for not being tough enough in Ukraine. The arrest was reported by military bloggers and opposition media, some of whom said the ultranationalist had been detained after refusing to take a drug test following an altercation with police. Weapons Dutch Minister of Defence Ruben Brekelmans made a surprise visit to Kyiv and announced that the Netherlands would invest 400 million euros ($440 million) in advanced drone development with Ukraine. He said he could also confirm that the country had delivered its first F-16 fighter jets to Kyiv and more would be sent in the coming months. For the first time, I can officially announce that the first Dutch F-16s have been delivered to Ukraine. This is urgently needed. In Kharkiv, I saw the damage from Russian airstrikes and heard frequent air raid alarms. The rest of the 24 jets will follow in the coming months. pic.twitter.com/Oq6IbxQyWP — Ruben Brekelmans (@DefensieMin) October 6, 2024 Adblock test (Why?)
China says two citizens killed, one injured, in Pakistan ‘terrorist attack’
At least 10 people were hurt after a convoy from the Port Qasim Electric Power Company was attacked near Karachi airport. The Chinese Embassy in Pakistan has said at least two of its citizens were killed and a third injured after their convoy was attacked near Karachi airport. The embassy said the attack took place at about 11pm on Sunday (18:00 GMT) close to the Jinnah International Airport, and targeted the Chinese staff of the Port Qasim Electric Power Company. Geo News, a Pakistani news broadcaster, reported at least 10 people were injured. In the statement early on Monday, the Chinese Embassy said it strongly condemned the “terrorist attack” and requested “the Pakistani side to thoroughly investigate the attack, severely punish the perpetrators, and take all necessary measures to protect the safety of Chinese citizens, institutions and projects in Pakistan”. Hassaan Khan, a rescue official, told Dawn.com that 10 vehicles were damaged in the fire caused by the explosion and that four cars were completely destroyed. In a statement emailed to journalists earlier, the armed group the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) said it was behind the attack, which involved an improvised explosive device (IED). The BLA wants independence for Balochistan and is part of a broader rebellion in Pakistan’s largest and least-populated province, which borders Iran and Afghanistan. It has been banned by the government in Pakistan. In August, the BLA launched coordinated attacks in the province, in which more than 70 people were killed. It has claimed attacks in Balochistan including the killing of seven barbers in Gwadar in May and the April killings of several people abducted from a highway. The BLA specifically targets Chinese interests – in particular the strategic port of Gwadar on the Arabian Sea – accusing Beijing of helping Islamabad to exploit the province. In March this year, five Chinese engineers and a Pakistani national were killed in an attack near the China-backed Dasu hydropower project. Nine Chinese engineers were killed in a similar attack near Dasu in 2021. The BLA has also attacked Beijing’s consulate in Karachi. The Port Qasim project involves the construction of two power plants near Karachi and is funded by China. The Chinese Embassy statement reminded its citizens, companies and projects to “be vigilant, pay close attention to the security situation, strengthen security measures, and make every effort to take safety precautions”. Pakistan is due to host the summit of the Shangai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in two weeks’ time. Adblock test (Why?)
Boy ‘stabbed 50 times’, burned alive in suspected drug turf war in France
Prosecutor says slain teenager in the city of Marseille was allegedly hired by a 23-year-old prisoner to intimidate a member of a rival gang. A 15-year-old boy was “stabbed 50 times” and burned alive earlier this week in southern France, in an apparent case of drug-related violence that appeared to be linked to a second murder case, according to prosecutors in the city of Marseille. Speaking to reporters on Sunday, Marseille prosecutor Nicolas Bessone said the teenager was murdered on Wednesday, describing the case as one of “unprecedented savagery”. Marseille, France’s second-largest city but also one of its poorest, has been plagued in recent years by drug-related violence described in the French media as “narco-homicide”. The city has in recent years witnessed a turf war for control of the highly profitable drug market between various clans, including DZ Mafia. According to Bessone, the slain teenager had been hired by a 23-year-old prisoner to intimidate a competitor by setting fire to his door, adding that he had been promised 2,000 euros ($2,200). The L’Yonne Republicaine newspaper identified the mastermind as a detainee at the Aix-Luynes penitentiary near Aix-en-Provence and a member of the DZ Mafia group. Before carrying out the attack, however, the armed teenager was spotted by members of a rival gang, who then stabbed him repeatedly and set him on fire, the prosecutor said. After his original plot failed following the death of the teenager, the same prisoner in Luynes then recruited a second minor, a 14-year-old, to carry out a revenge attack and kill a member of the rival gang, promising to pay the boy 50,000 euros ($55,000). Having been ordered to carry out his mission, the teenager and another individual boarded a taxi to the location of the revenge attack. The teenager then reportedly asked the unnamed 36-year-old driver to wait for him. When the driver refused his request, the would-be teenager killer got enraged and shot the driver dead, using a 357 Magnum revolver, before fleeing, according to the Le Monde newspaper. The suspects and victims of the killings have not been named by the prosecutor. The two latest cases bring the number of drug-related killings in Marseille to 17 this year. A total of 49 people were killed in drug-related violence in Marseille in 2023. Bessone, the prosecutor, noted that the victims and perpetrators of recent violence in the city were becoming increasingly younger. Adblock test (Why?)
Rwanda begins vaccination drive to curb Marburg virus outbreak
Government to prioritise those ‘most at risk’ and ‘most exposed healthcare workers’ following the deaths of 12 people. Rwanda has announced that it has started administering vaccine doses against the Marburg virus to try to combat an outbreak of the Ebola-like disease in the East African country. “The vaccination is starting today immediately,” Health Minister Sabin Nsanzimana said at a news conference on Sunday in the capital, Kigali. The Marburg virus has killed 12 people in Rwanda since it was declared an outbreak on September 27. Authorities said at the time that the first cases had been found among patients in health facilities. There is still no confirmation of the source of the outbreak. The minister said the vaccinations would focus on those “most at risk, most exposed healthcare workers working in treatment centres, in the hospitals, in ICU, in emergency, but also the close contacts of the confirmed cases”. “We believe that, with vaccines, we have a powerful tool to stop the spread of this virus,” the minister said. The country has already received shipments of the vaccines including from the Sabin Vaccine Institute. The Marburg virus has a ‘filamentous’ structure and is transmitted by fruit bats [Shutterstock] The government said there were 46 confirmed cases, with 29 of them in isolation. Health authorities have identified at least 400 people who came into contact with confirmed cases of the virus. Like Ebola, the Marburg virus is believed to originate in fruit bats and spreads between people through close contact with the bodily fluids of infected individuals or with surfaces, such as contaminated bedsheets. Without treatment, Marburg can be fatal in up to 88 percent of people who fall ill with the disease. Its symptoms include fever, muscle pains, diarrhoea, vomiting and, in some cases, extreme blood loss, often leading to death. There is no authorised vaccine or treatment for Marburg. Marburg outbreaks and individual cases have in the past been recorded in Tanzania, Equatorial Guinea, Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Kenya, South Africa, Uganda and Ghana, according to the World Health Organization. Adblock test (Why?)
Video: Tunisia votes in election slammed as unfair by the opposition
NewsFeed Tunisians are voting in an election that few doubt will return President Kais Saied to power for a second term. The vote, widely regarded by observers as not fair, is the first since Saied assumed executive authority in a 2021 constitutional coup. Published On 6 Oct 20246 Oct 2024 Adblock test (Why?)
Trump rallies in Butler, Pennsylvania, site of attempted assassination
Former United States President Donald Trump – the Republican candidate in the presidential election – has returned to Butler, Pennsylvania, where he survived an assassination attempt in July. Supporters on Saturday gathered for the rally, which came just a month before the November 5 election as Trump remains neck-and-neck with Democratic candidate Vice President Kamala Harris. “Exactly 12 weeks ago this evening, on this very ground, a cold-blooded assassin aimed to silence me and to silence the greatest movement – MAGA – in the history of our country,” Trump told the crowd, referring to his Make America Great Again movement. He said he returned to Butler to show his supporters “stand stronger, prouder, united, more determined and nearer to victory than ever before”. He then praised Corey Comperatore, a rally attendee who was fatally shot in the July 13 attack. Comperatore’s family were among those in attendance on Saturday, as were other victims injured in the shooting, Trump’s running mate, Senator JD Vance, and billionaire Elon Musk, who endorsed Trump moments after the assassination attempt. During the July attack, Trump narrowly avoided a bullet fired by a man perched on a nearby roof. The former president briefly went to the floor as Secret Service agents rushed towards him. He then stood up, his ear bloodied, and pumped his fist in the air chanting “fight, fight, fight” as he was moved off stage. The shooting transformed the election season, briefly giving Trump a bump in support as his campaign portrayed the incident as a showcase of Trump’s resiliency. Still, the close call was largely overshadowed by US President Joe Biden’s decision to drop out of the race in July and make way for Harris’s rise. Speaking during the rally, Lara Trump, the co-chair of the Republican National Committee and Trump’s daughter-in-law, sought to again harness the post attack momentum. She framed Trump’s survival as divine intervention. “If you had any question whether God exists and performs miracles we got our answer here July 13 in Butler, Pennsylvania,” she said. “He spared Donald Trump’s life because he wasn’t finished with Donald Trump.” The assassination attempt also raised the spectre of political violence in the US, with Trump briefly pledging to take a more unifying approach before returning to the charged rhetoric that has defined his political career. In September, Trump had another brush with an attempted assassin as he golfed at his resort in Florida, further charging the political climate. Trump has broadly blamed the violence on Democrats’ claims that he poses an existential threat to US democracy. The former president had pushed a series of falsehoods surrounding the 2020 election. His supporters later stormed the US Capitol in an attempt to overturn Biden’s victory. Experts have warned Trump is laying the groundwork to repeat the effort if he loses this time around. Speaking at the rally, vice presidential candidate Vance decried Democrats – and Harris – for arguing the former president could again undermine Democratic norms. “I think you all will join me in saying to Kamala Harris, how dare you call [Trump] a threat to Democracy?” Vance said to cheers. “Donald Trump took a bullet for Democracy.” ‘Strength and resiliency’ For his part, Trump’s son, Eric Trump, lumped the assassination attempts with the legal actions and criminal indictments Trump has faced since leaving office, as well as attempts by lawmakers to impeach Trump while he was in the White House. The younger Trump claimed, baselessly, that Trump has been the subject over a wider coordinated effort to bring him down. “They tried to get my father every second since he went down that golden escalator,” he said, referring to his father’s 2016 campaign launch. The rally came as the US Secret Service continues to face questions over the security breach that allowed 20-year-old gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks to escape detection ahead of the July attack. Crooks was able to take a position on a roof with a direct line of sight on Trump. He was fatally shot at the scene after opening fire. The head of the Secret Service, Kimberly Cheatle, stepped down in the days after the attack, which prompted both internal investigations and a Congressional probe. Anthony Guglielmi, the Secret Service’s chief spokesman, told NBC News that “our people are being pushed to the limit” as they have sought to assure another attack does not happen. “We recognise that this is not sustainable, and we cannot risk another mission failure,” he said. Adblock test (Why?)
Supporters of jailed ex-PM rally in Pakistan despite police crackdown
Demonstrators rally, demanding Imran Khan be released from jail despite a ban on protests and police crackdown. Supporters of former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan have rallied in Islamabad to push for Khan’s release as the police blocked roads, cut off mobile internet and fired tear gas to deter the protesters. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party on Saturday claimed that the party leader from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) Province, Ali Amin Gandapur, has been abducted and unlawfully detained. But Al Jazeera could not independently verify the claim. Gandapur, the chief minister of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, was leading thousands of protesters who camped on Islamabad-Peshwar highway on Friday overnight. Police used teas gas as they attempted to enter the city. This is the latest in a series of protests held by supporters of the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, which has faced a crackdown from authorities. The PTI, which says the Islamabad protest is just for one day, also held a gathering in the eastern city of Lahore on Saturday, where a lockdown of roads was in place. “I am so proud of all our people,” said a message from Khan posted on the social media site X on Saturday afternoon. Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi accused the protesters of clashing with police. “Over 80 police officers have been injured in the clashes,” he said. Naqvi had previously called on the PTI to delay any gathering until after diplomatic engagements in the city, including a Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meeting on October 15-16 which will be attended by delegations, including from China, Russia and India. PTI activists began driving to Islamabad on Friday from his powerbase in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, but encountered shipping container roadblocks and volleys of tear gas. Naqvi said the authorities had intelligence that the protesters planned to disrupt the SCO conference in a bid to gain attention. “We can’t allow this. I will say to them again, to not cross more red lines – don’t make us take extreme steps,” Naqvi said. ‘Worrying clampdown’ Amnesty International said the communications cuts and road blockades “infringe on people’s right to freedom of expression, access to information, peaceful assembly and movement”. “These restrictions are part of a worrying clampdown on the right to protest in Pakistan,” the rights group said. The social media site X has also been blocked across Pakistan since after the election in February, when mobile internet was likewise cut on polling day and PTI has alleged widespread vote-tampering took place. The 72-year-old Khan served as prime minister from 2018 to 2022, when he was deposed in a parliamentary no-confidence vote after falling out with the powerful military establishment, widely considered Pakistan’s political kingmakers. He was imprisoned in August last year on several charges. Though his conviction in most cases has either been overturned or suspended, he continues to remain in jail, facing trial in other cases he claims have been orchestrated to prevent his return to power. Khan was barred from standing in the February elections, which the PTI alleges were rigged. Several other countries had raised “serious concerns” about the fairness of the vote, but election authorities in Pakistan have denied the charges. Last month, several PTI lawmakers were arrested on the premises of Pakistan’s parliament. Adblock test (Why?)
DRC launches first mpox vaccination drive in efforts to curb outbreak
The vaccine will first be given to health workers and those with existing health issues. The Democratic Republic of Congo has launched its first vaccination campaign against mpox in the eastern city of Goma, which was hit the hardest by an outbreak. Vaccines were first administered to hospital staff on Saturday, with the wider vaccine drive due to start on Monday in the east of the country, where the current outbreak began last year. On Friday, the DRC Ministry of Public Health warned that the vaccine campaign would be limited due to few resources. So far, only 265,000 doses are available. “As you can imagine, in a country of 100 million people, we’re not going to solve the problem with 265,000 doses,” Health Minister Samuel-Roger Kamba told a news conference on Friday. He added that the aim of the drive was to target priority groups, including those with existing health issues and health workers. More doses of the vaccine are expected to arrive from France, Japan and the United States. Last month, US President Joe Biden said Washington plans to donate one million doses of the mpox vaccine to African nations. World Health Organization’s Africa Director Matshidiso Moeti said in a statement that the vaccine rollout marks “an important step in limiting the spread of the virus and ensuring the safety of families and communities”. Since the start of 2024, the DRC has reported more than 30,000 suspected and confirmed cases of mpox, and 900 deaths, the World Health Organization said. The virus can spread through close contact with an infected person or animal. Once contracted, the virus typically causes flu-like symptoms and pus-filled lesions on the body. In August, the WHO declared mpox a public health emergency after discovering a new, more infectious variant, named clade Ib. According to the Africa Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, mpox has been detected in 16 African countries so far this year. On Friday, the WHO announced that it had approved a PCR test to detect mpox by swabbing skin lesions. Kamba said the WHO pledged about 4,500 tests for the DRC but did not provide an arrival date. Adblock test (Why?)
Rescuers in Bosnia search for people missing in deadly floods
At least 13 people have been killed in the Jablanica area due to flash floods and landslides. Rescue teams are digging through rubble and searching for people missing after the worst flash floods and landslides in years hit parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina, killing at least 13 people and injuring dozens. The spokesperson for the government of Herzegovina-Neretva Canton, Darko Juka, said on Saturday that 13 people were killed in the Jablanica area due to the collapse of a hill, landslides and floods in the region. “On Friday, we reported a figure of 16, but after reviewing the data and assessing the situation on the ground, the number has been corrected to 13,” Juka said at a news conference. The Jablanica area is 70km (43.5 miles) southwest of the capital, Sarajevo. Earlier on Saturday, N1 TV had reported 21 people had died and dozens were missing. A spokesperson for the Mountain Rescue Service, whose teams are involved in the searches, said some villages were still inaccessible and “we don’t know what we will find there.” Heavy rain overnight halted rescue efforts before they resumed on Saturday, Bosnian media reported. Al Jazeera’s Arduana Pribinja, reporting from the village of Donja Jablanica, said people in the area were in “deep shock”, adding that the floods and landslides that hit on Friday had caught many by surprise. “People here told me that everything happened too fast and they didn’t have time to evacuate,” she said. A drone view shows a flooded residential area and mosque in Donja Jablanica on October 4, 2024 [Amel Emric/Reuters] In Donja Jablanica, many houses were under rubble. Alka Glusic, 74, lost a brother and his three immediate family members. She had stayed in another house with her sister. “That house [her brother’s] is gone now. There is no one there,” Glusic told the Reuters news agency. Pribinja said public anger is now shifting towards the government because some suspect “human factors” contributed to the tragedy. “There is a quarry here, … and it seems that the sudden rainfall stripped the stone and rubble that triggered the landslide,” she said. Bosnia’s Central Election Commission decided to postpone local elections this weekend in municipalities affected by the floods but to carry on with voting elsewhere. The Bosnian Football Association has postponed all matches across the country. Meteorologists say extreme weather can be attributed to climate change. Human-caused climate change, for example, increases the intensity of rainfall because warm air holds more moisture. This summer, the Balkans were also hit by long-lasting record temperatures, causing a drought. Scientists said the dried-out land has hampered the absorption of floodwaters. Flooding was also reported in Croatia and Montenegro this week but caused less damage and no fatalities. Adblock test (Why?)
Israel issues new evacuation order in Gaza as attacks on Nuseirat kill 12
Palestinians living near Netzarim Corridor in central Gaza told to leave as Israel prepares to use ‘great force’ against Hamas. Israel has issued a new warning to thousands of displaced Palestinians sheltering in central Gaza, saying its military is preparing to use “great force” against Hamas in the area as it continues to pummel the besieged strip with attacks that have killed at least 12 people since Saturday morning. The evacuation call issued on Saturday is the first in weeks for Gaza, signalling another possible humanitarian crisis with a new wave of mass displacement as Israel’s war approaches its one-year mark, having killed at least 41,825 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and wounded at least 96,910. A map showing the areas to be evacuated was attached to the order posted on the social media platform X by the Israeli army. They are near the Netzarim Corridor, a strip of land that Israeli forces occupy and that separates northern Gaza from southern Gaza. The area has been previously evacuated due to deadly Israeli attacks. Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary, reporting from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, said that before the warning, Israel carried out deadly bombardments of the area. In the Nuseirat refugee camp, Israel hit a home and killed six members of a family, Khoudary reported. She said another attack hit tents belonging to displaced Palestinians in Deir el-Balah, resulting in more fatalities, including a 13-year-old boy. “Beit Hanoon in the northern Gaza Strip has also been targeted by Israeli forces,” Khoudary said, adding that ground operations were also under way in the eastern part of the Palestinian territory. “Everyone here is traumatised. Everyone here is drained and exhausted. Everyone here is sad,” Khoudary said. Israeli army now ordering new forced evacuation pic.twitter.com/pE603GCdZv — Hind Khoudary (@Hind_Gaza) October 5, 2024 As the latest evacuation order was issued, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi renewed his call for ceasefires in both Gaza and Lebanon, where fighting continues to rage between Israeli forces and Hezbollah, as he held talks with officials from Iran’s ally Syria on Saturday. “The most important issue today is the ceasefire, especially in Lebanon and in Gaza,” he told reporters. “There are initiatives in this regard. There have been consultations that we hope will be successful.” Nearly all of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents have been displaced at least once since Israel began its war on Gaza on October 7 after deadly Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel. Hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced several times. The Israeli military has often returned to areas where it has previously conducted operations in response to reports of Hamas activity. Cultural sites in the Palestinian territory have also paid a heavy price in the war, the United Nations cultural organisation said. On Saturday, UNESCO said it has verified damage to 69 sites in Gaza over the past year: 10 religious sites, 43 buildings of historical and artistic interest, two depositories of moveable cultural property, six monuments, one museum and seven archaeological sites. Adblock test (Why?)