MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday urged Russians to vote for him at a “difficult” time for the country, hours before polls open and as Kyiv launched a barrage of deadly attacks on Russian border regions.
The former KGB agent is set to extend his rule by another six years this weekend in a presidential election the Kremlin says will show that the country is fully behind his assault on Ukraine.
Ahead of the vote, Kyiv has ramped up its aerial bombardment of Russian regions just across their shared border.
At least two people were killed and nine wounded in the Russian region of Belgorod Thursday, and the Russian national guard said it was fighting off attacks from pro-Ukrainian militias in Kursk — the latest in a string of border clashes.
“I am convinced: you realize what a difficult period our country is going through, what complex challenges we are facing in almost all areas,” Putin said in an address to Russians on the eve of the vote.
“And in order to continue to respond to them with dignity and successfully overcome difficulties, we need to continue to be united and self-confident,” he added.
All of Putin’s major critics are dead, in prison or exile and authorities blocked the few genuine competitors who tried to stand in the March 15-17 contest.
Alexei Navalny, Putin’s most high-profile opponent over the last decade, died February in an Arctic prison colony.
He was serving 19 years for “extremism” — charges widely seen as retribution for his campaigning against the Kremlin leader.
Kyiv has this week launched some of its most significant aerial attacks since the start of the two-year conflict.
The governor of Russia’s Belgorod region, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said Thursday one person had been killed in an overnight drone attack.
A second aerial attack killed another woman and injured several more, he said in a post on social media, without specifying what weapons had been deployed.
Pro-Ukrainian paramilitaries also claimed to be escalating attacks and incursions in Russian border regions.
In a joint statement Thursday, three pro-Kyiv volunteer groups — claiming to consist of Russians who oppose the Kremlin and have taken up arms for Ukraine — called on authorities to evacuate civilians from the regions of Belgorod and Kursk.
“Civilians should not suffer from the war and any casualties in the process of fighting will be on the conscience of Starovoit and Gladkov,” they added, referring to the regions’ governors.
Russia has rejected the militias’ claims to have gained ground.
The national guard said Thursday its units had beaten back “an attack by enemy diversion groups near the village of Tyotkino in the Kursk region.”
The defense ministry said it had fended off another attack by Ukrainian forces trying to enter the Belgorod region via the village of Spodariushino, without saying when the clash had taken place.
It published video showing a series of air strikes on what it said was a Ukrainian sabotage group.
The fighting come just hours ahead of polls opening in Russia’s Far East for the March 15-17 presidential election.
In power as president or prime minister since the final day of 1999, Putin has ushered in a sweeping crackdown of domestic dissent and an aggressive foreign policy
Victory will allow him stay in the Kremlin until at least 2030, longer than any Russian leader since Catherine the Great in the 18th century.
He called on Russians to use the election to show their unity behind his leadership.
“We have already shown that we can be together, defending the freedom, sovereignty and security of Russia,” he said in a video message, flanked by flags of the Russian tricolor and the president’s state insignia.
“Today it is critically important not to stray from this path,” he said.
Early voting is already underway in occupied territories of Ukraine, and the vote will also take place in Crimea, the peninsula annexed by Moscow in 2014.
Kyiv says staging the election on Ukrainian territory is illegal.
In the Ukrainian city of Mariupol — under the control of Russian forces — election officials on Thursday opened pop-up polling stations at small tables in the street and on the hoods of cars.
Banners were unfurled sporting a red, white and blue ‘V’ logo — an army symbol used as a sign of support for the military offensive.
Ukraine’s foreign ministry on Thursday dismissed the vote as a “farce” and called on the international community not to recognize the results.
Russia’s opposition has called for anti-Putin protests at midday on Sunday, the final day of voting.
Ukraine steps up border attacks as Putin urges Russians to vote
https://arab.news/94xut
Ukraine steps up border attacks as Putin urges Russians to vote
- Ahead of the vote, Kyiv has ramped up its aerial bombardment of Russian regions just across their shared border
- At least two people were killed and nine wounded in the Russian region of Belgorod Thursday
Philippine police to probe social media posts of Filipino-Israeli soldier in Gaza
- Department of Foreign Affairs confirms the Filipino soldier is an Israeli citizen
- Photos shared by Israel Genocide Tracker which monitors soldiers’ social media
MANILA/DUBAI: Photos of a Filipino appearing to be a member of Israel’s troops in Gaza will be investigated by the Philippine National Police, its chief said, after the man’s social media posts went viral showing a rifle with the PNP’s logo.
Screenshots of the posts showing Justin Flores were shared last week by the X handle Israel Genocide Tracker, which scours the internet to find and publicize the actions of Israeli soldiers in Gaza.
The content shared by the X account comprises photos and videos that Israeli soldiers themselves have published online.
The posts range from selfies and pranks among the ruins of houses to blowing up buildings in Gaza, waving women’s underwear and rifling through the property of Palestinian civilians.
The photos and videos from the social media of Flores showed destroyed neighborhoods in Gaza and himself posing amid the rubble.
Another post with the line “Proud to be Israeli/Filipino” shows a rifle bearing the seal of the Philippine police on the ammunition magazine. It is attached to a belt with Hebrew writing.
“I’ll have it investigated,” PNP Chief Gen. Rommel Marbil told Arab News in a text message on Monday evening.
“He is using a TAVOR firearm here. Not the issued rifle for the PNP.”
The weapon is an assault rifle, designed and produced by Israel Weapon Industries. In 2018, the Philippine News Agency reported the acquisition of Tavor rifles for the nation’s police and coast guard.
While the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs said it was waiting for a report from its embassy in Tel Aviv, it confirmed to Arab News that Flores was an Israeli, while his mother held dual Philippine-Israeli citizenship.
His alleged participation in Israel’s deadly war on Gaza has, however, already triggered outrage in his ancestral home and questions over how his Israeli citizenship was acquired, as according to Israel’s Nationality Law, military service streamlines the process.
“Did he acquire Israeli citizenship by serving in the IDF (Israel Defense Forces)? If so, it seems the IDF relies on fighters from overseas to do their dirty work,” said Renato Reyes, president of BAYAN, the Philippines’ largest alliance of grassroots groups.
“It is just shameful that a Filipino would be part of Israeli genocide against Palestinians. We were a colonized people, and we should have more in common with the Palestinians than the Israeli occupiers.”
Drieza A. Lininding, chairman of the civic organization Moro Consensus Group, said individuals joining fighting abroad should be tracked.
“Those joining the IDF and genocide against Palestinians should be treated as terrorists and must be arrested the moment they land here in the Philippines. This is in conformity with the Philippines’ vote in the UN condemning the genocide,” he told Arab News.
“The government must regard them as a threat to our national security.”
If such persons still hold Philippine citizenship, they may lose it under the Commonwealth Act 63, “by accepting commission in the military, naval or air service of a foreign country,” Attorney Farah Decano, dean of the College of Law at the Lyceum Northwestern University, told Arab News.
She said the unauthorized use of the PNP logo was also a violation. “The problem, however, is that the use is in Israel. Our criminal jurisdiction is only in the Philippines,” she said.
“It gives the impression that we are providing arms to the Israelis which the government must immediately deny. The Philippine government must request Israeli government for the confiscation of such arms.”
Israel’s relentless air and ground attacks on Gaza have killed over 45,000 Palestinians and injured more than 101,000, according to Gaza Health Ministry data. But the real toll is feared to be much higher.
A study published by the medical journal The Lancet estimated in July that the true number of those killed could be more than 186,000.
The estimate took into consideration deaths as a result of starvation, injury and lack of access to medical aid as Israeli forces have destroyed most of Gaza’s infrastructure and blocked the entry of aid.
A week after Spain’s floods, families hold out hope that loved ones are not among the dead
- At least 218 have been confirmed dead after a deluge caused by heavy rains late on Oct. 29
- Authorities have yet to any give an estimate of the missing seven days on
SEDAVI, Spain: Francisco Murgui went out to try to salvage his motorbike when the water started to rise. He never came back.
One week after catastrophic flooding devasted eastern Spain, María Murgui still holds out hope that her father is alive and among the unknown number of the missing.
“He was like many people in town who went out to get their car or motorbike to safety,” the 27-year-old told The Associated Press. “The flash flood caught him outside, and he had to cling to a tree in order to escape drowning. He called us to tell us that he was fine, that we shouldn’t worry.”
But when María set out into the streets of Sedaví to try to rescue him from the water washing away everything in its path, he was nowhere to be found.
“He held up until 1 in the morning,” she said. “By 2, I went outside with a neighbor and a rope to try to locate him. But we couldn’t find him. And since then, we haven’t heard anything about him.”
At least 218 have been confirmed dead after a deluge caused by heavy rains late on Oct. 29 and the next morning swamped entire communities, mostly in Spain’s Valencia region, catching most off guard. Regional authorities have been heavily criticized for having issued alerts to mobile phones some two hours after the disaster had started.
Authorities have yet to any give an estimate of the missing seven days on. Spanish state broadcaster RTVE, however, shows a steady stream of appeals by people who are searching for family members who are not accounted for.
María Murgui herself has posted a missing person’s message on social media with a photo of her father, a 57-year-old retiree.
“This is like riding a rollercoaster. Sometimes I feel very bad and sometimes I feel better. I try to stay positive,” she said. “This truly is madness. We don’t know what else to do. Neither does anybody else in town.”
Central government passes relief package
While many search for their loved ones, the gargantuan recovery efforts in Sedaví and dozens of other communities slowly moved forward.
To aid those in need, the central government approved a 10.6-billion-euro relief package for 78 communities on Tuesday. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez compared it to the measures taken during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The package includes direct payments of 20,000 euros to 60,000 euros to owners of damaged homes, among other financial aid for businesses and municipal governments.
“We have a lot of work left to do, and we know it,” Sánchez said.
Sánchez said that he will ask the European Union to help pay for the relief, saying “it is time for the European Union to help.”
Many people are still without basic goods amid scenes of devastation
The floods have left behind post-apocalyptic scenes.
Street after street in town after town is still covered with thick brown mud and mounds of ruined belongings, clumps of rotting vegetation, and wrecked vehicles. A stench arises from the muck.
In many places, people still face shortages of basic goods, and lines form at impromptu emergency kitchens and stands handing out food. Water is running again but authorities say it is not fit for drinking.
The ground floors of thousands of homes have been ruined. It is feared that inside some of the vehicles that the water washed away or trapped in underground garages there could be bodies waiting to be recovered.
Thousands of soldiers are working with firefighters and police reinforcements in the immense emergency response. Officers and troops are searching in destroyed homes, the countless cars strewn across highways, streets, or lodged in the mud in canals and gorges.
Authorities are worried about other health problems caused by the aftermath of the deadliest natural disaster in Spain’s recent history. They have urged people to get tetanus shots and to treat any wounds to prevent infections and to clean the mud from their skin. Many people wear face masks.
Thousands of volunteers are helping out, filling the void left by authorities. But the frustration over the crisis management boiled over on Sunday when a crowd in hard-hit Paiporta hurled mud and other objects at Spain’s royals, Sánchez and regional officials when they made their first visit to the epicenter of the flood damage.
Sánchez’s national government is set to announce a new package of relief on Tuesday.
Erdogan ally floats Turkiye constitutional amendment to let him extend his tenure
ANKARA: The main political ally of longstanding Turkish leader Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday that a constitutional amendment should be considered to allow the president to run again in elections set for 2028.
After his re-election last year, Erdogan is serving his last term as president unless parliament calls an early election, according to the constitution. He has ruled Turkiye for more than 21 years, first as prime minister and then as president.
“Wouldn’t it be a natural and right choice to have our president elected once again if terror is eradicated, and if a heavy blow is dealt to inflation and Turkiye secures political and economic stability,” said Devlet Bahceli, leader of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), which is allied with Erdogan’s ruling AK Party (AKP).
A constitutional amendment to secure Erdogan’s ability to re-run in the presidential elections should be considered, he said in a parliamentary speech to MHP lawmakers.
Bahceli, a staunch nationalist, rattled Turkish politics last month by suggesting that the jailed leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) could be allowed to speak in parliament if he announces an end to the group’s insurgency.
Some analysts said the shock suggestion might be motivated by an AKP-MHP desire to win the support of the pro-Kurdish DEM Party, parliament’s third-biggest, for a constitutional change that could boost Erdogan’s prospects in 2028 elections.
A constitutional change can be put to a referendum if 360 lawmakers in the 600-seat parliament back it. An early election also needs the support of 360 MPs.
AKP and its allies have 321 seats while DEM has 57.
A tiny village in India where Kamala Harris has ancestral roots is praying for her victory
There's little to distinguish the village of Thulasendrapuram from any other rural community in Tamil Nadu, except its connection to a woman who could become America's first leader with South Asian roots.
As millions of Americans vote, Harris has people rooting for her from thousands of miles away in a village surrounded by rice paddies and coconut trees, where her mother's family has ancestral ties. They talk about her at the local tea shop. Banners and billboards bearing her face are seen throughout the community.
“Our deity is a very powerful God. If we pray well to him, he will make her victorious,” said M. Natarajan, the temple priest that led the prayers in front of the image of Hindu deity Ayyanar, a form of Lord Shiva.
Harris’ maternal grandfather was born in the village, about 350 kilometers (215 miles) from the southern coastal city of Chennai, more than 100 years ago. As an adult, he moved to Chennai, where he worked as a high-ranking government official until his retirement.
Harris has never visited Thulasendrapuram and she has no living relatives in the village, but people here still venerate the family that made it big in the U.S.
“Our village ancestors' granddaughter is running as a U.S. presidential candidate. Her victory will be happy news for every one of us,” Natarajan said.
The village's sudden fame has helped bring money into the village. Recently, construction began on a water storage tank with funds donated by a local bank. Village residents say it will carry a plaque with Harris’ name.
Harris’ late mother, Shyamala Gopalan, was born in India. After moving to the U.S. to study, she married a Jamaican man, and they named their daughter Kamala, a Sanskrit word for “lotus flower.”
Other than trips during her childhood, Harris hasn’t visited India much — particularly not since becoming vice president — but she has often spoken emotionally about her ties to her late mother’s country of birth. On Tuesday, she released a campaign video highlighting her mother, who arrived in the U.S. at age 19 and became a cancer researcher.
Titled “Mother,” the video ends with a narrator saying: “This daughter of Shyamala, this daughter of the American story, is ready to lead us forward.”
Harris has often talked about how she was guided by the values of her Indian-born grandfather and mother. She has also spoken of her love of south Indian food, especially a type of steamed rice cake called idli.
Harris’ name is engraved in a list of donors — her aunt Sarala Gopalan gave money to the temple in her name — along with that of her grandfather. Outside, a large banner wishes “the daughter of the land” success in the election.
On Tuesday, the village temple also received rare international visitors: two American tourists and one from the U.K., all wearing black t-shirts that said “Kamala Freakin Harris.”
Manikandan Ganesan, a villager who runs a small store near the temple, said Harris’ bid for the presidency has made the village famous. He hopes Harris will eventually visit them.
“Even if she mentioned that she would visit our village, it would make us very happy,” Ganesan said. “Her victory itself will be a big source of happiness for us.”
Village residents also prayed for Harris’ victory in 2020, and set off firecrackers when she became the U.S. Vice President.
For women of the village, the candidate's journey is a source of inspiration.
Local politician Arulmozhi Sudhakar said Harris embodies a significant step toward female empowerment in places like Thulasendrapuram, where a majority of women continue to face discrimination and gender inequality.
“From the time when women were not even allowed to step out of their house, to now a woman from our village contesting in the U.S. presidential election — this brings happiness for us,” Sudhakar said. “The coming generations will see her as a role model to succeed in life.”
Ukraine’s military says it shot down 48 drones and two missiles overnight
KYIV: The Ukrainian military said on Tuesday it shot down 48 out of 79 drones and two missiles launched by Russia overnight.
The air force said the location of 30 other drones had been lost, while another had returned to Russia.
