A 46-year-old woman was killed and three people were injured. Ukraine asserted its right to strike Russian territory in response to Moscow’s ongoing attacks. (REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov)
Ukraine launched its biggest drone attack so far on the Russian capital, killing at least one woman and destroying dozens of homes. The Kremlin reported they destroyed at least 20 Ukrainian attack drones as they swarmed over the Moscow region and 124 more over eight other regions. Three of Moscow’s four airports were closed for more than six hours and almost 50 flights were diverted. Russia counter-attacked with 46 drones.
Meanwhile, in a rare joint trip, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was taking the train to Kiev with UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy, whose two-month-old Labor government has vowed to keep up Britain’s role as a key defender of Ukraine.
The pair, who boarded the train early Wednesday at the Polish border town of Przemysl, are expected to meet in Kiev with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who has kept pressing the West for weapons with more firepower and fewer restrictions.
US President Joe Biden, asked in Washington whether he would let Ukraine use longer-range weapons, said: “We’re working that out right now.”
Sources:
https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/03/politics/cnn-poll-trump-indictment/index.html
US, UK top diplomats head to Ukraine with eye on weapons (rfi.fr)Ukraine targets Moscow in biggest drone attack yet | Reuters
Israeli Man Pleads Guilty to Violating Export Restrictions Imposed on Russia
Gal Haimovich was arrested in southern Florida on 4 June 2023.
Gal Haimovich (49) of Israel, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit export control and smuggling violations in a scheme to illegally ship aircraft parts and avionics from US manufacturers and suppliers to Russia, including for the benefit of sanctioned Russian airline companies. Haimovich admitted to deceiving US companies about the true destination of the goods. The defendant and others attempted to conceal the scheme by submitting false information in export documents filed with the US government.
Haimovich owned an international freight forwarding company that facilitated the export of aircraft parts and avionics, including those with missile technology applications from the US to various third-party transhippers on behalf of Russian customers.
Russian Su-35 multi-purpose fighter jet (Wikimedia Commons)
As part of Haimovich’s plea agreement, he forfeits the sum of $2,024,435, as well as various aircraft parts and components. A sentencing hearing has been set for 22 Nov.
Sources:
EU Weighs ‘Strong’ Response to Iranian Deliveries of Ballistic Missiles to Russia
The EU has joined the US, UK, France, and Germany in accusing Iran of supplying short-range ballistic missiles for Russia to wage its war in Ukraine.
The 27-country bloc has received “credible” evidence of the deliveries, which adds that the weapons are likely assisting Moscow in its “escalatory bombing campaign against Ukrainian civilians, cities and civilian infrastructure, further increasing civilian casualties and destruction.”
The EU’s reaction came hours after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, speaking alongside British Foreign Secretary David Lammy in London, promised fresh sanctions on Tehran for its procurement of the deadly weapons.
The foreign ministers of the UK, France, and Germany also issued a joint statement describing the move as an “escalation” by both Iran and Russia and a “direct threat to European security.”
Source:
EU weighs ‘strong’ response to Iranian deliveries of ballistic missiles to Russia | Euronews
13 Die of Mysterious Illness Following High Fever in Gujarat, India
350-bed government hospital in Gujarat. (Undated public domain imagery)
Thirteen people have died in Gujarat’s Kachchh district due to a mysterious disease days after the region suffered from heavy rainfall. The doctors have yet to diagnose the disease accurately.
The patients who died from the mysterious disease had symptoms including fever, cold, cough, and pneumonia. Young patients had reduced immunity following high fever and died of lung and liver damage. Elderly patients died just two days after getting a fever. The health department could not verify the type of fever and are investigating the situation.
“Primarily, the deaths appear to have been caused by pneumonia. It does not appear to be from contamination nor does it seem like a communicable disease,” Amit Arora, an official from Kachchh said.
“Samples are being collected for testing against dengue, malaria, H1N1 swine flu, and pneumonia. The family members of the affected are being provided updates, and 22 teams from the Health Department are keeping a close watch on this.”
Source:
Gujarat News 13 Die Of Mysterious Illness Following High Fever In Gujarat, Probe Underway (ndtv.com)
Explosion Reported at US Military Facility Near Baghdad Airport Ahead of Iranian President’s Visit
Satellite imagery of Baghdad International Airport (circa 2023)
Iraqi security officials said an explosion targeted a site used by the US military next to Baghdad airport late Tuesday, one day before an expected visit by Iran’s president. The expected visit by Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian to Baghdad Wednesday would be his first official trip abroad since taking office.
The explosion was heard at 11 PM in an area used by advisers to the US-led international coalition.Iraqi security forces were unable to determine the “type or causes of the explosion, and no party has claimed responsibility for it.” It added that the incident was under investigation and civilian air traffic continued as normal. There was no immediate information on damages or casualties.
Officials who were at the airport preparing for Pezeshkian’s visit heard “the sound of two strong strikes,” which apparently targeted a logistics support site for the coalition. Over the past 11 months, Iranian-backed Iraqi militias have periodically targeted bases housing US forces in Iraq in retaliation for Washington’s support of Israel in the war in Gaza.
One of those militias, Kataib Hezbollah, appeared to be trying to distance itself from Tuesday night’s strike. Jaafar al-Husseini, the group’s spokesperson, said the targeting of the airport was “carried out by suspicious hands and its aim is to disrupt the Iranian president’s visit to Baghdad.”
Sources:
Rebel Army Captures Major Myanmar Navy Training Base
Map courtesy of http://www.globalsecurity.org
Insurgents in western Myanmar have captured an important military training base after a month of fighting, dealing what is likely to be a severe blow to the embattled military. The Arakan Army seized the Central Naval Diving and Salvage Depot in Rakhine state. The Rakhines are an ethnic minority insurgent force battling for self-determination.
This facility was the last naval base held by junta forces in Thandwe township, and it was defended on a “huge-scale” by the junta’s air force and navy as well as more than 1,200 soldiers, including new graduates trained at the base.
“More than 400 junta soldiers were killed during our attack, and junta weapons, ammunition, and equipment were seized,” the AA reported.
“Losing such a base will affect training as well as fighting. The AA destroyed the navy and weakened the army, like cutting a man off at the waist,” an AA spokesman said. “The military is like a bird with one wing now.”
Arakan Army forces after capturing the junta’s Central Naval Diving and Salvage Depot in Rakhine state on 5 Sep 2024.
The loss of the base will not only damage the junta’s morale and reputation but also bring in more resources for the AA through the control of goods coming through a nearby port. The AA said it expected junta retaliation against civilians in the area. Human rights investigators say junta forces have been increasingly attacking civilian targets as they lose ground to insurgent forces in different parts of the country. The Myanmar military denies attacking civilians.
The Arakan Army, which launched a new offensive against the military in Nov 2023, controls nine townships in Rakhine state and one in neighboring Chin state, and is battling to take full control of three other townships.
In February, the military rulers enacted a draft law to bolster troop shortages and has since trained around 9,000 recruits for front-line fighting. Myanmar’s junta has also begun forcibly recruiting male civilians up to age 65 – including even those who are disabled – to protect villages, towns, and cities against encroaching rebel militias. Since the 2021 coup, junta forces have lost 76 towns across the country to ethnic rebels and other armed opposition groups.
The move comes amid mounting battlefield losses since the junta’s 2021 coup d’etat as rebel groups and ethnic armies have gained the upper hand in Myanmar’s three-year civil war.
According to Human Rights Watch:
“Since the February 2021 military coup in Myanmar, the junta has driven the country further into a human rights and humanitarian catastrophe. At least 55 townships are under martial law. Faced with opposition from the general population and pro-democracy armed groups, the military has struggled to maintain control over the country. The junta’s widespread and systematic abuses against the population—including arbitrary arrests, torture, extrajudicial killings, and indiscriminate attacks on civilians—amount to crimes against humanity and war crimes.”
“More than 600,000 Rohingya in Myanmar continue to live under apartheid conditions, facing persecution and effective imprisonment from the junta authorities. Of this population, roughly 140,000 Rohingya have been confined to camps in central Rakhine State since 2012, denied the right to return to their homes.”
Sources:
Rebel army captures major Myanmar navy training base — Radio Free Asia (rfa.org)
World Report 2024: Myanmar | Human Rights Watch (hrw.org)
Homepage » Myanmar Peace Monitor (mmpeacemonitor.org)
https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/myanmar/navy-bases.htm
Lebanon Judge Orders Arrest of Ex-Central Bank Governor
Riad Salameh is accused of amassing a fortune during three decades in the job and faces numerous charges, including embezzlement, money laundering, and tax evasion in separate probes. He is probably the worst central bank governor in history. (Undated photo courtesy of AFP)
Last week Lebanese authorities arrested Riad Salameh (74), the former governor of Lebanon’s central bank, after he was questioned over the alleged embezzlement of more than $42 million. Lebanon’s financial prosecutor initiated legal proceedings against Salameh over allegations of “embezzling” public funds, as well as “illicit enrichment and money laundering”, and the case was referred to an investigating judge.
That investigating judge questioned Riad Salameh for two and a half hours and then issued an arrest warrant against him. The warrant ended Salameh’s provisional detention and placed him under formal arrest, indicating that the investigating judge’s suspicions against Salameh strengthened.
The judge’s move follows an 18-month investigation into allegations that Riad and his brother Raja embezzled $300m from the Banque du Liban between 2002 and 2015.
Salameh, who has French nationality, is widely viewed as a key culprit in Lebanon’s devastating economic crash which began in late 2019. The World Bank called the crash one of the worst in recent history, leaving more than 80% of the population living in poverty and struggling to afford food and medicine.
A handful of protesters gathered outside Beirut’s justice palace on Monday, some trying to attack a convoy of vehicles transporting Salameh as he arrived for an interrogation, hitting the windows and yelling “Riad Salameh is a thief!”
“No to your corruption, conspiracy, indifference, yes to justice,” one of the protest signs read.
After questioning, Salameh was returned to the jail where he had been detained. Last year, Germany and France issued arrest warrants for Salameh over accusations including money laundering and fraud, though German prosecutors later cancelled their warrant. He is currently under sanctions by Canada, the UK, and the US.
Salameh has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and defended his three-decade legacy, saying he is a “scapegoat” for Lebanon’s catastrophic economic collapse.
The central bank governor’s departure and arrest raises questions over how Lebanon’s political and economic elite enriched themselves at the expense of the public—even as their actions helped bring about an enormous economic crisis. (The National Interest).
Sources:
Lebanon Judge Orders Arrest Of Ex-central Bank Chief: Official (hngn.com)
https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy1687
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-64746658
How “Financial Engineering” Helped Push Lebanon’s Economy into Crisis | The National Interest
Bear Trying to Nap Loses Fight Against Pesky Hammock in Colorado
Source:
Watch: Large bear wrestles with hammock outside Colorado home (usatoday.com)
Coriolanus 