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.
OPTIMISTIC: A Philippine Air Force spokeswoman said the military believed the crew were safe and were hopeful that they and the jet would be recovered A Philippine Air Force FA-50 jet and its two-person crew are missing after flying in support of ground forces fighting communist rebels in the southern Mindanao region, a military official said yesterday. Philippine Air Force spokeswoman Colonel Consuelo Castillo said the jet was flying “over land” on the way to its target area when it went missing during a “tactical night operation in support of our ground troops.” While she declined to provide mission specifics, Philippine Army spokesman Colonel Louie Dema-ala confirmed that the missing FA-50 was part of a squadron sent “to provide air support” to troops fighting communist rebels in
Two daughters of an Argentine mountaineer who died on an icy peak 40 years ago have retrieved his backpack from the spot — finding camera film inside that allowed them a glimpse of some of his final experiences. Guillermo Vieiro was 44 when he died in 1985 — as did his climbing partner — while descending Argentina’s Tupungato lava dome, one of the highest peaks in the Americas. Last year, his backpack was spotted on a slope by mountaineer Gabriela Cavallaro, who examined it and contacted Vieiro’s daughters Guadalupe, 40, and Azul, 44. Last month, the three set out with four other guides
ECONOMIC DISTORTION? The US commerce secretary’s remarks echoed Elon Musk’s arguments that spending by the government does not create value for the economy US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on Sunday said that government spending could be separated from GDP reports, in response to questions about whether the spending cuts pushed by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency could possibly cause an economic downturn. “You know that governments historically have messed with GDP,” Lutnick said on Fox News Channel’s Sunday Morning Futures. “They count government spending as part of GDP. So I’m going to separate those two and make it transparent.” Doing so could potentially complicate or distort a fundamental measure of the US economy’s health. Government spending is traditionally included in the GDP because
Sri Lanka’s fragile economic recovery could be hampered by threatened trade union strikes over reduced benefits for government employees in this year’s budget, the IMF said yesterday. Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s maiden budget raised public sector salaries, but also made deep cuts to longstanding perks in a continuing effort to repair the island nation’s tattered finances. Sri Lanka’s main doctors’ union is considering a strike from today to protest against cuts to their allowances, while teachers are also considering stoppages. IMF senior mission chief for Sri Lanka Peter Breuer said the budget was the “last big push” for the country’s austerity
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