RUSSIA
Drones downed in Crimea
The Ministry of Defense yesterday said that it downed 42 Ukrainian drones near Crimea, in the largest recent air attack on the peninsula and a day after Kyiv claimed a special forces raid on the territory. Nine drones were “destroyed ... over the territory of the Republic of Crimea,” the ministry wrote on Telegram. Thirty-three others “were suppressed by electronic warfare and crashed without reaching the target,” it said, without specifying whether there had been any damage or casualties. Earlier, a local Russian-installed official said that several drones had been destroyed over the sea off Crimea’s Cape Khersones in the southwest of the peninsula near Sevastopol. Emergency services reported no damage to civilian infrastructure from those drones, Sevastopol governor Mikhail Razvozhayev wrote on Telegram. It was not clear whether they were included in the 42 reported by the ministry. “All forces and services are in a state of combat readiness,” Razvozhayev said.
UNITED KINGDOM
Prigozhin fate unclear
There is not yet definitive proof that Wagner mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin was onboard a plane that crashed with no survivors earlier this week, but it is “highly likely” he is dead, the Ministry of Defence said yesterday. Russian authorities have said that Prigozhin was listed as a passenger on the plane, which fell from the sky northwest of Moscow on Wednesday evening, two months after he led an abortive mutiny against the army top brass. Russian investigators have opened a probe into what happened, but have not officially confirmed the identities of the 10 bodies recovered from the wreckage. “There is not yet definitive proof that Prigozhin was onboard and he is known to exercise exceptional security measures. However, it is highly likely that he is indeed dead,” the ministry said in a defense intelligence update posted on X. “The demise of Prigozhin would almost certainly have a deeply destabilizing effect on the Wagner Group. His personal attributes of hyperactivity, exceptional audacity, a drive for results and extreme brutality permeated Wagner and are unlikely to be matched by any successor,” it said. “Wagner’s leadership vacuum would be compounded by the reports that founder and field commander Dimitry Utkin and logistics chief Valery Chekalov also died.”
SOUTH AFRICA
Xi and Modi meet
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Johannesburg, asking officials to work at resolving a border dispute. Xi and Modi have largely avoided direct talks since the border conflict began in May 2020, despite having crossed paths at international gatherings. Both leaders touched on the dispute, which sparked the worst armed clashes in four decades, with thousands of troops and weaponry rushed to the border. Several rounds of talks involving military officials and diplomats have made little progress in resolving the standoff. “Modi raised the border dispute with President Xi,” Indian Secretary of Foreign Affairs Vinay Kwatra said at a briefing in Johannesburg on Thursday. “The two leaders directed officials to resolve the border dispute expeditiously.” The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Xi told Modi that improving ties would be conducive to regional peace and economic development. “Both sides should properly handle the border issue and jointly maintain peace in the area,” it said.
Airlines in Australia, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia and Singapore yesterday canceled flights to and from the Indonesian island of Bali, after a nearby volcano catapulted an ash tower into the sky. Australia’s Jetstar, Qantas and Virgin Australia all grounded flights after Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki on Flores island spewed a 9km tower a day earlier. Malaysia Airlines, AirAsia, India’s IndiGo and Singapore’s Scoot also listed flights as canceled. “Volcanic ash poses a significant threat to safe operations of the aircraft in the vicinity of volcanic clouds,” AirAsia said as it announced several cancelations. Multiple eruptions from the 1,703m twin-peaked volcano in
A plane bringing Israeli soccer supporters home from Amsterdam landed at Israel’s Ben Gurion airport on Friday after a night of violence that Israeli and Dutch officials condemned as “anti-Semitic.” Dutch police said 62 arrests were made in connection with the violence, which erupted after a UEFA Europa League soccer tie between Amsterdam club Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv. Israeli flag carrier El Al said it was sending six planes to the Netherlands to bring the fans home, after the first flight carrying evacuees landed on Friday afternoon, the Israeli Airports Authority said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also ordered
Former US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi said if US President Joe Biden had ended his re-election bid sooner, the Democratic Party could have held a competitive nominating process to choose his replacement. “Had the president gotten out sooner, there may have been other candidates in the race,” Pelosi said in an interview on Thursday published by the New York Times the next day. “The anticipation was that, if the president were to step aside, that there would be an open primary,” she said. Pelosi said she thought the Democratic candidate, US Vice President Kamala Harris, “would have done
Farmer Liu Bingyong used to make a tidy profit selling milk but is now leaking cash — hit by a dairy sector crisis that embodies several of China’s economic woes. Milk is not a traditional mainstay of Chinese diets, but the Chinese government has long pushed people to drink more, citing its health benefits. The country has expanded its dairy production capacity and imported vast numbers of cattle in recent years as Beijing pursues food self-sufficiency. However, chronically low consumption has left the market sloshing with unwanted milk — driving down prices and pushing farmers to the brink — while
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