Russia starts exercises with Yars intercontinental ballistic missiles

Russia starts exercises with Yars intercontinental ballistic missiles
A Russian Yars intercontinental ballistic missile launcher parades through Red Square during the Victory Day military parade in central Moscow (AFP)
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Updated 29 March 2023

Russia starts exercises with Yars intercontinental ballistic missiles

Russia starts exercises with Yars intercontinental ballistic missiles
  • The drills involve the Strategic Missile Forces comprehensive control checking of the Omsk missile formation together with a command and staff exercise

Russia has begun exercises with its Yars intercontinental ballistic missile system and several thousand troops, its defense ministry said on Wednesday, in what is likely to be seen as another attempt by Moscow to show off its nuclear strength.
President Vladimir Putin has aimed to make the Yars missile system, which replaced the Topol system, part of Russia’s “invincible weapons” and the mainstay of the ground-based component of its nuclear arsenal.
“In total, more than 3,000 military personnel and about 300 pieces of equipment are involved in the exercises,” the defense ministry said in a statement on the Telegram messaging service.
The drills involve the Strategic Missile Forces comprehensive control checking of the Omsk missile formation together with a command and staff exercise with the Novosibirsk missile formation equipped with the Yars systems.
During the exercises, the Yars mobile systems will conduct maneuvers in three Russian regions, the ministry said, without identifying the regions.
“Also, strategic missilemen will carry out a set of measures to camouflage and counter modern aerial reconnaissance means in cooperation with formations and units of the Central Military District and the Aerospace Forces.”
There are few confirmed tactical and technical characteristics of the Yars mobile intercontinental ballistic missile systems, which reportedly have an operational range of 12,000 km (7,500 miles).
According to military bloggers, the systems are able to carry multiple independently targetable nuclear warheads and can be mounted on a truck carriers or deployed in silos.
Since launching an invasion of Ukraine in February last year, Russia has conducted numerous military exercises on its own or with other countries, such as China or South Africa.
It has also increased military training with Belarus, which borders both Russia and Ukraine, conducting a series of comprehensive drills over the past year.
Belarus has said it had decided to host Russian tactical nuclear weapons was a response to Western sanctions and what it said was a military build-up by NATO member states near its borders.
US President Joe Biden had indicated he would be concerned by the decision although the United States said it had not seen any indications that Russia was closer to using tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine.


UNICEF concerned by Taliban move to bar international groups from Afghan education sector

UNICEF concerned by Taliban move to bar international groups from Afghan education sector
Updated 10 sec ago

UNICEF concerned by Taliban move to bar international groups from Afghan education sector

UNICEF concerned by Taliban move to bar international groups from Afghan education sector
  • Latest restriction on NGOs in Afghanistan after ban imposed in December on Afghan female staff
  • Around 17,000 teachers, including 5,000 women, work in UNICEF’s education activities
ISLAMABAD: UNICEF said Thursday it is deeply concerned by reports of the Taliban pushing out international organizations from Afghanistan’s education sector and ordering them to hand over their activities to local nongovernmental groups.
It’s the latest restriction on NGOs operating in the country after the ban imposed in December on Afghan female staff, allegedly because they weren’t wearing the Islamic headscarf, or hijab, correctly and weren’t complying with gender segregation in the workplace. In April, the ban was extended to the UN
A WhatsApp voice note, purportedly from a senior education official in Kabul, says all international organizations have a one-month deadline to transfer their education work to local groups.
The Education Ministry was not immediately available to verify the voice note, but aid agency officials said they are aware of the message and are taking it seriously. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the media.
The ban on Afghan female staff working at the UN was also relayed through a WhatsApp voice note, purportedly from a senior Taliban figure.
“As the lead agency for education in Afghanistan, UNICEF is deeply concerned by reports that over 500,000 children, including over 300,000 girls, could lose out on quality learning through community-based education within a month if international non-governmental organizations working in the field of education are no longer allowed to operate and if handovers to national NGOs are done without comprehensive assessment and capacity building,” the agency said in a statement.
“UNICEF is seeking to better understand the reported directive, and what it could mean for the nationwide program that provides learning opportunities for children in some of the most remote and rural areas of Afghanistan.”
Around 17,000 teachers, including 5,000 women, work in UNICEF’s education activities.
UNICEF is meeting the Education Ministry in Kabul for further information.
Aid sources said some provinces have ordered the immediate suspension of all foreign-led education activities after officials reportedly told Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada that foreigners are creating their own Education Ministry and not coordinating their work with the Taliban.
The latest voice note says the new measure affects all international organizations, even if they are Islamic, and that only ministry-approved Afghan NGOs that agree to ministry conditions can take on education work. The order also affects school construction.
In April, the Taliban closed education centers and institutes supported by NGOs in the country’s south until further notice. The centers were mostly for girls, who are banned from going to school beyond sixth grade.
The ministry did not provide an explanation for the closures at the time. But an education department spokesman in Kandahar said the decision was made in response to complaints.
Aid agencies have been providing food, education and health care support to Afghans in the wake of the Taliban takeover of August 2021 and the economic collapse that followed it.

Italy ‘must not be left alone’ on migration: Germany’s Scholz

Italy ‘must not be left alone’ on migration: Germany’s Scholz
Updated 2 min 20 sec ago

Italy ‘must not be left alone’ on migration: Germany’s Scholz

Italy ‘must not be left alone’ on migration: Germany’s Scholz
  • Italy, Greece and the other Mediterranean countries are receiving a huge influx of migrants
  • Scholz called for a “joint distribution of responsibility and competences between EU Member States”
ROME: Italy cannot be abandoned to deal alone with migrant arrivals, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Thursday ahead of a meeting in Rome with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
“Italy, Greece and the other Mediterranean countries are facing a huge challenge as the number of people arriving at their borders is increasing,” Scholz said in an interview with Italy’s Corriere della Sera newspaper.
“We cannot leave Italy and the other countries alone, we must adopt an approach of solidarity and responsibility,” the chancellor added.
Meloni, who heads a hard-right coalition, vowed in her election campaign last year to clamp down on migrant arrivals, but the number of people crossing to Italy by boat has risen significantly since the start of 2023.
Some 52,300 people landed in Italy between January 1 and June 7, compared to 21,200 during the same period in 2022, according to figures from the Interior Ministry.
Scholz called for a “joint distribution of responsibility and competences between EU Member States”, pointing out that Germany took in “more than a million” Ukrainian war refugees in 2022 as well as “230,000 refugees from other countries”.
Italy, which has long been on the frontline of migration from North Africa, says other European Union countries should do more to help, particularly by taking in some of the arrivals.
EU interior ministers were meeting Thursday in Luxembourg to attempt to reach an agreement on a long-stalled revision of the bloc’s rules to more equally share asylum seekers and migrants.
But diplomats have cautioned that the odds of a deal were still 50-50, with more countries adopting hard-line policies on the issue.

Blast tears through mosque at funeral of deputy governor in northern Afghanistan

Blast tears through mosque at funeral of deputy governor in northern Afghanistan
Updated 36 min 59 sec ago

Blast tears through mosque at funeral of deputy governor in northern Afghanistan

Blast tears through mosque at funeral of deputy governor in northern Afghanistan
  • The deputy governor of Afghanistan’s northern Badakhshan province was killed by a car bomb on Tuesday
KABUL, June 8 : An explosion took place inside a mosque in northern Afghanistan on Thursday during the funeral of the provincial deputy governor who was killed in an attack this week, a provincial official said.
Mahzudeen Ahmadi, the head of the information office of northern Badakshan province, said the explosion had caused casualties but did not clarify how many. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for a car bomb on Tuesday that killed the deputy governor. (Reporting by Mohammad Yunus Yawar Writing by Charlotte Greenfield Editing by Peter Graff)

Philippines on alert as Mayon volcano spews ash

Philippines on alert as Mayon volcano spews ash
Updated 08 June 2023

Philippines on alert as Mayon volcano spews ash

Philippines on alert as Mayon volcano spews ash
  • Mayon is considered one of the most volatile of the country’s 24 active volcanoes
  • Five years ago, Mayon displaced tens of thousands of people after spewing millions of tons of ash, rocks and lava

MANILA: Philippine scientists said that a “hazardous eruption” of a volcano in the archipelago could be days or weeks away, and urged the evacuation of nearby residents from their homes.
Hundreds of families living around Mount Mayon in central Albay province are expected to be moved to safer areas after the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology raised the alarm.
Mayon, a near-perfect cone located about 330 kilometers southeast of the capital Manila, is considered one of the most volatile of the country’s 24 active volcanoes.
The seismology agency said it observed three fast-moving avalanches of volcanic ash, rock and gases, known as pyroclastic density currents (PDCs), on Mayon’s slopes on Thursday.
There are “increased chances of lava flows and hazardous PDCs... and of potential explosive activity within weeks or even days,” the agency said, raising the alert level from two to three on a scale of zero to five.
“All necessary preparations are being done,” said Eugene Escobar, the Albay provincial disaster management agency’s officer-in-charge.
Rommel Negrete, an officer for the agency, said residents would be evacuated from Anoling village on the volcano’s slopes.
Meanwhile, Taal volcano, located about 50 kilometers south of Manila, has been releasing sulfur dioxide this week, blanketing surrounding areas in smog and prompting warnings for people to stay indoors.
Steam-rich plumes have been recorded rising two kilometers into the sky, the seismology agency said on Thursday. It has left the alert level at one.
Earthquakes and volcanic activity are not uncommon in the Philippines due to its position on the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” where tectonic plates collide deep below the Earth’s surface.
Five years ago, Mayon displaced tens of thousands of people after spewing millions of tons of ash, rocks and lava.
The most powerful explosion in recent decades was the 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo, about 100 kilometers northwest of Manila, which killed more than 800 people.
It sent out an ash cloud that traveled thousands of kilometers in a matter of days and was blamed for damaging nearly two dozen aircraft.


Swathes of Ukraine’s Kherson region under water after dam destroyed – governor

Swathes of Ukraine’s Kherson region under water after dam destroyed – governor
Updated 33 min 43 sec ago

Swathes of Ukraine’s Kherson region under water after dam destroyed – governor

Swathes of Ukraine’s Kherson region under water after dam destroyed – governor
  • Moscow and Kyiv have traded blame for the destruction of Kakhovka hydroelectric dam
  • President Erdogan said that a commission could be established with the participation of experts from the warring parties, the United Nations and the international community

KYIV: About 600 square kilometers of the Kherson region in southern Ukraine was under water on Thursday following the destruction of the Kakhovka hydroelectric dam, the regional governor said.

Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said 68 percent of the flooded territory was on the Russian-occupied left bank of the Dnipro River. The “average level of flooding” in the Kherson region on Thursday morning was 5.61 meters, he said.

“We’re already working. We will help everyone that has ended up in trouble,” he said in a video statement of the flooding caused by the collapse of the dam, which is about 60km upstream from Kherson.

Russia, which launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and Ukraine blame each other for the destruction of the Russian-occupied dam on Tuesday.

“Despite the immense danger and constant Russian shelling, evacuation from zones of flooding is continuing,” Prokudin said.

He said almost 2,000 people had left flooded territory as of Thursday morning.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky visited the flood-hit southern region of Kherson on Thursday as evacuations continued after the destruction of a major Russian-held dam on the front line.

Zelensky said he held a “working trip to Kherson region” where he discussed the “evacuation of the population from potential flood zones, elimination of the emergency caused by the dam explosion, (and the) organization of life support for the flooded areas.”

Zelensky said in a video address late on Wednesday that it was impossible to predict how many people would die in Russian-occupied areas due to the flooding.

Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan earlier proposed, in a call with his Ukrainian counterpart, creating an international commission to probe the destruction of a major dam in southern Ukraine, his office reported.

“President Erdogan said that a commission could be established with the participation of experts from the warring parties, the United Nations and the international community, including Turkiye, for a detailed investigation into the explosion at Kakhovka dam,” his office said after the call with the Ukrainian president.