UN nuclear chief visits Ukraine nuclear plant amid safety concerns

UN nuclear chief visits Ukraine nuclear plant amid safety concerns
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi is seen on his way to Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine on Mar. 29, 2023. (Reuters)
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Updated 29 March 2023

UN nuclear chief visits Ukraine nuclear plant amid safety concerns

UN nuclear chief visits Ukraine nuclear plant amid safety concerns
  • Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, arrived by car at Europe's largest nuclear power plant to review the situation there
  • Grossi wants to assess first-hand the "nuclear safety and security situation" and press on with efforts to broker a deal to protect the plant

KYIV: The head of the UN nuclear watchdog visited the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station in southeastern Ukraine on Wednesday as part of efforts to avert the risk of an atomic accident.
Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, arrived by car at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant to review the situation there, an IAEA spokesperson said.
Grossi wants to assess first-hand the “nuclear safety and security situation” and press on with efforts to broker a deal to protect the plant.
“I am not giving up in any way. I think on the contrary we need to multiply our efforts, we need to continue,” Grossi told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday.
In Moscow-held territory, he told Russian news agencies that the situation at the plant had not improved, that fighting nearby had intensified and that he wanted to come up with realistic ways to reduce the threat of a catastrophe.
Moscow and Kyiv have repeatedly accused each other of shelling the site of the power station over the last year. Grossi has been pushing for a safety agreement between Ukraine and Russia to protect the facility.
A Reuters reporter at the Russian-held plant saw a motorcade transporting the IAEA expert mission arriving at the facility, escorted by the Russian military.
Grossi told Reuters in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro on Tuesday that the situation at the plant remained “very dangerous” and “very unstable,” noting that military activity in the region had increased in recent weeks.
Russia, which invaded Ukraine in February last year, has been pressing a winter offensive in the east, while Ukraine is expected to launch a counteroffensive using Western-supplied battle tanks and fighting vehicles.
The sprawling Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant was a prized part of Ukraine’s energy network and accounted for around 20 percent of national power generation before the Russian invasion.
It has not produced any electricity since September, when the last of its six reactors was taken offline.
Ukraine’s Energoatom nuclear agency said Grossi would assess how the situation had changed at the plant, speak to workers and also act as a “guarantor” for the rotation of a group of IAEA monitors at the facility.
The IAEA has had monitors stationed at the plant since September, when Grossi traveled to the facility as fears were mounting of the possibility for a nuclear accident.
It is Grossi’s second visit to the Zaporizhzhia plant since it was captured by Russian troops.
Grossi, who met President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday, says his attempt to broker a deal on protecting the plant is still alive, and that he is adjusting the proposals to seek a breakthrough.


Malaysia searches Chinese ship suspected of looting WWII wrecks

Malaysia searches Chinese ship suspected of looting WWII wrecks
Updated 11 sec ago

Malaysia searches Chinese ship suspected of looting WWII wrecks

Malaysia searches Chinese ship suspected of looting WWII wrecks
  • Officers discover unexploded shells upon boarding the Chinese-registered vessel
  • Vessel from the city of Fuzhou had a crew of 32 comprising mostly Chinese nationals
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s coast guard said on Tuesday authorities were questioning the crew of a Chinese vessel detained on suspicion of looting two British World War II shipwrecks.
Officers discovered unexploded shells upon boarding the Chinese-registered vessel, which was detained for illegal anchorage at the weekend, said Nurul Hizam Zakaria, Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency chief in Johor state.
“Our investigation is now directed to where these cannon shells originated from. Right now, we have officers from multi-agencies searching the big ship,” he said.
Nurul Hizam said the vessel from the city of Fuzhou had a crew of 32 comprising 21 Chinese nationals, 10 Bangladeshis and one Malaysian, some of whom were in coast guard custody for questioning.
“This case also involves the discovery of explosives,” he said.
China’s foreign affairs ministry said the Chinese embassy in Malaysia was in close communication with local authorities “to understand the situation.”
It asked Malaysia to handle the case “fairly and in accordance with the law.” Beijing also asked Malaysia to protect the rights and safety of Chinese citizens.
A senior Malaysian maritime official said on condition of anonymity that the pieces of metal and shells could have originated from two sunken British warships.
More than 800 British sailors were killed when the HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse were torpedoed by Japanese aircraft in the South China Sea.
The attack on December 10, 1941, happened three days after Japan attacked the US fleet in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
Photos and a video shared by the Malaysian coast guard showed large pieces of corroded metal and shells, as well as a large crane and gas torches used to cut metal on board the ship.
The shells could also be linked to the discovery of unexploded World War II-era ordnance at a jetty in Johor on May 19, the maritime agency said in a statement Monday.
Nurul Hizam said the maritime agency would not tolerate any form of illegal salvage activities in Malaysian waters.
“Our national treasure must be protected and preserved,” he said, describing looting as “an uncivilized act.”
Britain’s Ministry of Defense condemned the “desecration” of maritime military graves after reports that scavengers had targeted two WWII wrecks, the BBC said Saturday.
Malaysia’s New Straits Times newspaper reported in recent weeks that illegal salvage operators had targeted high-grade aluminum and brass fixtures from the two British warships.

Five Greek border police accused of smuggling migrants

Five Greek border police accused of smuggling migrants
Updated 7 min 18 sec ago

Five Greek border police accused of smuggling migrants

Five Greek border police accused of smuggling migrants
  • The five men appeared before a prosecutor in the northeastern city of Orestiada
  • Thousands of migrants, mainly from Syria, Afghanistan and Pakistan, have in recent years crossed into Greece from Turkiye in the hope of making it to western Europe

ATHENS: Five Greek border police officers were arraigned Tuesday as suspected accomplices of a smuggling network that illegally brought migrants into the country from Turkiye.
The five men appeared before a prosecutor in the northeastern city of Orestiada, a day after the police department’s internal affairs division said they had been arrested on suspicion of taking bribes and breach of duty.
They are accused of helping to smuggle an unknown number of migrants on at least 12 occasions in the Didymoteicho area in northeastern Greece, the police said in a statement.
“An investigation so far has shown that the officers had been in contact with networks operating in a neighboring country at least since October, and allegedly carried out actions or omissions aimed at facilitating the entry of (non-EU) nationals into our country,” it said.
Evidence linked to the case includes nearly 60 cellphones, Turkish lira and banknotes from a number of Asian countries, the police said.
Thousands of migrants, mainly from Syria, Afghanistan and Pakistan, have in recent years crossed into Greece from Turkiye in the hope of making it to western Europe.
With the stepping up of patrols in the Aegean Sea making it harder for migrants to reach Greek islands, more are taking their chances by crossing the River Evros, Greece’s natural border with Turkiye, and having traffickers take them from there by road.
Athens has decided to extend by 35 kilometers (22 miles) a five-meter high steel fence which runs along the river.
The fence is currently 38 kilometers long, and Athens aims to carry out the extension within a year, adding a total of 100 kilometers by 2026.


South Korea, Australia agree to step up defense cooperation

South Korea, Australia agree to step up defense cooperation
Updated 57 min 16 sec ago

South Korea, Australia agree to step up defense cooperation

South Korea, Australia agree to step up defense cooperation
  • The two countries agreed to hold working-level meetings as part of steps to revise a memorandum of understanding signed in 2011 aimed at enhancing defense industry cooperation

SEOUL: South Korea and Australia’s defense chiefs agreed on Tuesday to step up defense cooperation, South Korea’s defense ministry said.
Korean Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup met his Australian counterpart Richard Marles on the sidelines of the inaugural South Korea-Pacific Islands Summit in Seoul.
Lee expressed the South Korean military’s willingness to join the Indo-Pacific Endeavour, an Australian-led multinational military drill, as well as Operation Render Safe, activities by the Australian Defense Force to remove underwater mines in the Pacific.
The two countries agreed to hold working-level meetings as part of steps to revise a memorandum of understanding signed in 2011 aimed at enhancing defense industry cooperation.
Marles also met with South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol and discussed joint efforts to expand cooperation with the Pacific Islands countries, a presidential spokesperson said.


Sudan refugees strain cash-strapped Chad’s hospitality

Sudan refugees strain cash-strapped Chad’s hospitality
Updated 30 May 2023

Sudan refugees strain cash-strapped Chad’s hospitality

Sudan refugees strain cash-strapped Chad’s hospitality
  • They are among 90,000 people who have escaped to Chad since fighting broke out in Sudan in mid-April
  • Tensions have risen over water use, which is traditionally sourced from communal wells

KOUFROUN: There used to be one family in Fanna Hamit’s compound, now there are 11 families struggling to get by selling roasted crickets after she took in relatives fleeing the conflict in Sudan.
They are among 90,000 people who have escaped to Chad since fighting broke out in Sudan in mid-April — a major extra burden on one of the world’s poorest countries.
Even before this emergency, Chad was hosting 600,000 refugees from its war-torn neighbors and grappling with a fourth consecutive year of acute food shortages. Overall, around 2.3 million people are in urgent need of food aid, the World Food Programme warned earlier in May.
“The extraordinary hospitality of the Chadian government and its people has been demonstrated yet again ... but the scale of this crisis requires more funding to save lives,” UN aid agency OCHA said in a call for increased international support.
Hamit, a 58-year-old widow with six children of her own, has had to make careful economies to provide for those sheltering in her compound, most of whom arrived in this border village of Koufron with nothing.
Squeezed into the open-air compound, the women cook together over small braziers in the sand as children play around them.
“They share everything with us: their food, their toilet, their clothes and all the rest,” said 78-year-old Kaltouma Yaya Abderahmane, who pitched up at Hamit’s door in the middle of the night in late April.
The sudden arrival of large numbers of people has also distorted the market for goods and squeezed water supplies in Chad’s remote and arid borderlands.
“Let’s not even talk about sugar ... it’s doubled in price,” Hamit said, also lamenting the higher cost of grains and peanuts.
Tensions have risen over water use, which is traditionally sourced from communal wells. Some refugees at the Goungour refugee camp, south of Koufroun, told Reuters they had been barred by locals from drawing water in a nearby village and had to dig their own wells in dry riverbeds.
Hamit said she tried to help “even the refugees who have set up shelters nearby .... they come to us for water”.

“The situation is tough for everyone.”


At least 10 dead, 55 injured as bus of Hindu pilgrims falls into gorge in Indian-controlled Kashmir

At least 10 dead, 55 injured as bus of Hindu pilgrims falls into gorge in Indian-controlled Kashmir
The overloaded bus was on way to Katra from Punjab state when it fell off the highway bridge. (AP)
Updated 30 May 2023

At least 10 dead, 55 injured as bus of Hindu pilgrims falls into gorge in Indian-controlled Kashmir

At least 10 dead, 55 injured as bus of Hindu pilgrims falls into gorge in Indian-controlled Kashmir
  • The overloaded bus was on way to Katra from Punjab state when it fell off the highway bridge and into the gorge near Jammu city

SRINAGAR: A bus carrying Hindu pilgrims to a shrine in Indian-controlled Kashmir skid off a highway bridge into a Himalayan gorge Tuesday, killing at least 10 people and injuring 55, police said.
The bus was on way to Katra town from the northern state of Punjab’s Amritsar city when it fell into the gorge near Jammu city, police said.
Local police officer Chandan Kohli told reporters that the bus was overloaded. He said the dead were from India’s eastern Bihar state.
Residents and authorities rushed to the accident spot and launched a rescue operation. The injured have been hospitalized.
The shrine of Vaishno Devi in Katra is highly revered by Hindus and hundreds of thousands visit it every year.
India has some of the highest road death rates in the world, with hundreds of thousands of people killed and injured annually. Most crashes are blamed on reckless driving, poorly maintained roads and aging vehicles.