KYIV: Russian shelling killed at least four people and injured nine others in Ukraine’s eastern frontline Donetsk region on Friday, the governor said.
In the town of Myrnohrad, two people were killed and six were injured in an attack that landed near an administrative building and a bus stop, Vadym Filashkin, the governor, wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
A separate attack on an unnamed enterprise in the town of Kostiantynivka killed two civilians and injured three others, he said.
Images from the impact sites which he published alongside his post showed badly-damaged building facades and a bus with shattered windows. There was also a burnt car that appeared to have been thrown to the side by a blast.
Donetsk region, which Russian troops partially occupy, regularly comes under Russian shelling and airstrikes. Moscow denies targeting civilians or civilian infrastructure in its invasion of Ukraine, although thousands of people have been killed.
Four killed, nine hurt in Russian shelling of Ukraine’s Donetsk region, governor says
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Four killed, nine hurt in Russian shelling of Ukraine’s Donetsk region, governor says
- In the town of Myrnohrad, two people were killed and six were injured
- A separate attack on an unnamed enterprise in the town of Kostiantynivka killed two civilians
Harris overtakes Trump in new poll, set to name VP pick ahead of swing state tour
- CBS News/YouGov poll released Sunday showed Harris has a one percent advantage on Trump nationwide — compared to Trump’s previous five point edge on President Joe Biden
- Poll shows Trump is still favored by voters on the economy issue, but when it comes to trust in temperament, voters prefer the former California prosecutor to Trump, a convicted felon
WASHINGTON: A new poll confirmed Sunday that Kamala Harris — set to name her vice presidential pick imminently — has drawn level with Donald Trump, transforming a White House race that the Republican had been increasingly confident he was going to win.
As the November 5 election rapidly approaches, Harris has erased the growing lead that Trump was building before President Joe Biden dropped his reelection bid.
According to the CBS News/YouGov poll released Sunday, Harris has a one percent advantage on Trump nationwide — compared to Trump’s previous five point edge on Biden.
In the swing states that decide the Electoral College contest in US elections, Harris and Trump — who shocked the world with his 2016 presidential victory but was beaten by Biden in 2020 — are equal.
These are considered good numbers for a Democratic candidate who parachuted into the race only last month, when Biden bowed to mounting concerns over his mental acuity and ability at 81 years old to serve a second term.
But Harris, who is Biden’s vice president and the first Black and South Asian woman ever in the role, is in a sprint to define herself to voters before Trump does.
A big moment in that process will be when Harris announces her choice for running mate in a historic bid to become America’s first female president.
“It’s her first major decision that she’s making as an executive, so it tells you about her thought process,” Amy Walter, a polling expert from Cook Political Report newsletter, told CBS News.
The CBS poll, which echoes numerous other surveys indicating rapid gains by Harris, shows that Trump is still favored by voters on the key issue of the economy.
Only 25 percent said they expected to be better off financially if Harris wins, compared to 45 percent who said so about Trump.
However, when it comes to trust in the candidates’ temperament, the poll shows voters prefer the former California prosecutor to Trump, a convicted felon who has made a career out of publicly insulting those who oppose him — including while president.
The issue of cognitive health, which used to bedevil Biden, is now a liability for 78-year-old Trump, the poll found. Only 51 percent of respondents thought Trump is mentally capable for the presidency, compared to 64 percent for Harris.
The Democrats believe that if you “make this referendum on Trump rather than a referendum on the current state of the economy, then we have a real opportunity to win,” Cook said.
Trump was riding high politically last month after surviving an assassination attempt at a rally, then using the Republican convention to highlight his image of vigor against the physically frail Biden.
But with Biden’s dramatic exit and Harris’s fast start, he’s scrambling to recalibrate.
At a rally on Saturday in the swing state of Georgia, Trump called Harris a “Marxist” and a “radical left freak,” claiming she would cause an “economic crash.” On Wednesday, he shocked many when he told an audience of Black journalists that Harris had “turned Black” out of political expediency.
Where Biden often attacked Trump as a threat to democracy, given his unprecedented refusal to accept his loss in 2020, Harris’s team has honed a sharper — more meme-friendly — line built around branding Trump and his vice presidential pick J.D. Vance “weird.”
On Saturday, the Harris campaign said Trump was “scared” to debate her after he turned down a previously scheduled televised debate on ABC, while saying he’d be ready to debate her on Fox News — a network that has for years given him support.
Who will she choose as runningmate?
All paths to the White House run through a handful of swing states, and Harris will kick off her five-day run Tuesday in the largest — Pennsylvania — as she builds momentum for her showdown with Republican Donald Trump on November 5.
Expectations are that Harris will pick a white man to balance the ticket — and likely a moderate Democrat who would help counterweigh attacks on Harris from Republicans that she is too far to the left.
The three figures seen as heading the short list — Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro and Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona — were all visiting Harris in Washington on Sunday, The Washington Post reported.
“At this moment, we face a choice between two visions for our nation: one focused on the future and the other on the past... This campaign is about people coming together, fueled by love of country, to fight for the best of who we are,” she posted on X.
Fresh from winning enough delegate votes to secure the Democratic nomination, the country’s first female, Black and South Asian vice president heads into the national convention in Chicago in two weeks in total control of her party.
In a campaign that is barely two weeks old, the 59-year-old former prosecutor has obliterated fundraising records, attracted huge crowds and dominated social media on her way to erasing the polling leads Trump had built before President Joe Biden quit the race.
Next on the agenda is a vice presidential pick, with an announcement expected any time before her rally Tuesday evening alongside the mystery nominee in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania’s largest city.
The Keystone State is the most prized real estate among the closely fought battlegrounds that decide the Electoral College system.
It is part of the “blue wall” that carried Biden to the White House in 2020, alongside Michigan and Wisconsin — two states where Harris is due to woo crowds on Wednesday.
Pennsylvania is governed by 51-year-old Democrat Shapiro, a frontrunner in the so-called “veepstakes” shortlist.
Later in the week, Harris will tour the more racially diverse Sun Belt and southern states of Arizona, Nevada, Georgia and North Carolina, as she seeks to shore up the Black and Hispanic vote that had been peeling away from the Democrats.
Just a month ago, Trump was in cruise control, having opened a significant lead in swing state polling after a dismal debate performance by Biden, with the Republican tycoon keeping the country in suspense over his own vice presidential pick.
Trump’s White House bid was upended on July 21 when 81-year-old Biden, facing growing concerns about his age and lagging polling numbers, exited the race and backed Harris.
Energetic and two decades younger than 78-year-old Trump, the vice president has made a fast start, raising $310 million in July, according to her campaign — more than double Trump’s haul.
While Biden made high-minded appeals for a return to civility and the preservation of democracy, Harris has focused on the future, making voters’ hard-fought “freedom” the touchstone of her campaign.
She and her allies have also been more aggressive than the Biden camp — mocking Trump for reneging on his commitment to a September 10 debate and characterizing the convicted felon as an elderly crook and “weird.”
While she has disavowed some of the leftist positions she took during her ill-fated 2020 primary campaign, Harris hasn’t given a wide-ranging interview since jumping into the race, and rally-goers will look for more detail on her plans for the country.
Meanwhile Trump and his Republicans have struggled to adapt to their new adversary or hone their attacks against Harris — at first messaging that she was dangerously liberal on immigration and crime, before suggesting she was lying about being Black.
Mali breaks off diplomatic relations with Ukraine, hits Kyiv’s role in rebels’ battlefield victory
- Ukraine’s military intelligence spokesman had earlier admitted Kyiv’s role in a heavy defeat by rebels of Malian troops in a battle last month
- Tuareg-led separatists said on Thursday they had killed 84 fighters from Russia's mercenary Wagner group and 47 Malian soldiers
DAKAR: Mali said Sunday it was breaking diplomatic relations with Ukraine, accusing a senior Ukrainian official of having admitted Kyiv’s role in a heavy defeat Malian troops suffered in July.
Members of the Russian mercenary group Wagner were among the casualties in the defeat, which happened in late July in the north of the country and which Mali’s military rulers have blamed on “separatists and jihadists.”
Mali will break off relations “with immediate effect,” said government spokesman Col. Abdoulaye Maiga.
Mali’s government had been shocked to learn of remarks by Andriy Yusov, spokesman for Ukraine’s military intelligence agency the GUR, Maiga added.
Yusov had “admitted Ukraine’s involvement in a cowardly, treacherous and barbaric attack by armed terrorist groups” that had led to the deaths of Malian soldiers, Maiga’s statement added.
Speaking on Ukrainian television, Yusov said the whole world was aware that the rebels “had received the necessary data that allowed them to carry out their operation against the Russian war criminals.”
On Saturday, Senegal summoned Ukraine’s ambassador for having published the comments in what it described as a “propaganda video” on its Facebook page.
Ukraine’s actions had violated Malian sovereignty and constituted unacceptable foreign interference and support for international terrorism, said Maiga’s statement.
Three days of intense fighting erupted near the Algerian border on July 25 at a military camp at Tinzaouatene.
Tuareg-led separatists said on Thursday they had killed 84 fighters from Wagner and 47 Malian soldiers.
In a video seen by AFP on Friday, Malian Prime Minister Choguel Kokalla Maiga acknowledged they had lost “a battle” at Tinzaouatene.
Mali’s army has admitted it suffered a “large number” of deaths during the fighting but has not released figures.
This week, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov reaffirmed his support for Bamako in a telephone call with his Malian counterpart Abdoulaye Diop.
The West African nation’s military leaders who seized power in a 2020 coup have made it a priority to retake all of the country from separatists and jihadist forces linked to Al-Qaeda and the Daesh group.
Under Col. Assimi Goita, the junta broke off its traditional alliance with former colonial ruler France and has turned toward Russia.
UK leader vows tough action to end ‘far-right thuggery’ as violent anti-migrant protests spread
- PM starmer vowed that the authorities will “do whatever it takes to bring these thugs to justice” and that justice will be swift
- Violence erupted after a 17-year-old son of migrants went on a stabbing rampage at a dance school, leaving 3 girls dead and many more wounded
- Hundreds of people have been arrested in connection with the disorder and many more are likely as police scour CCTV
LONDON: UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer strongly condemned an attack Sunday on a hotel housing asylum seekers that saw at least 10 police officers injured, one seriously, describing it as “far-right thuggery,” as more violence broke out across the country in the wake of a stabbing rampage at a dance class that left three girls dead and many more wounded.
In a statement from 10 Downing Street on Sunday afternoon, the prime minister vowed that the authorities will “do whatever it takes to bring these thugs to justice” and that justice will be swift.
“I guarantee you will regret taking part in this disorder, whether directly or those whipping up this action online and then running away themselves,” he said. “This is not a protest, it is organized, violent thuggery and it has no place on our streets or online.”
Starmer was speaking after another day of far-right violence, which was particularly acute in the north of England town of Rotherham where police struggled to hold back hundreds of rioters who sought to break into a Holiday Inn Express hotel being used as accommodation for asylum-seekers.
Before bringing the riot under some sort of control, police officers with shields had faced a barrage of missiles, including bits of wood, chairs and fire extinguishers. A large bin close to a window of the hotel was also set alight but the small fire was extinguished.
South Yorkshire Police, which is responsible for Rotherham, said at least 10 officers have been injured, including one who was left unconscious.
“The behavior we witnessed has been nothing short of disgusting. While it was a smaller number of those in attendance who chose to commit violence and destruction, those who simply stood on and watched remain absolutely complicit in this,” said Assistant Chief Constable Lindsey Butterfield. “We have officers working hard, reviewing the considerable online imagery and footage of those involved, and they should expect us to be at their doors very soon.”
Far-right agitators have sought to take advantage of last week’s stabbing attack by tapping into concerns about the scale of immigration in the UK, in particular the tens of thousands of migrants arriving in small boats from France across the English Channel.
Tensions were also running high Sunday in the northeastern town of Middlesbrough, where some protesters broke free of a police guard. One group walked through a residential area smashing the windows of houses and cars. When asked by a resident why they were breaking windows, one man replied, “Because we’re English.” Hundreds of others squared up to police with shields at the town’s cenotaph, throwing bricks, cans and pots at officers.
Starmer said anyone targeting people for the color of their skin or their faith is far-right.
“People in this country have a right to be safe, and yet we’ve seen Muslim communities targeted, attacks on mosques, other minority communities singled out, Nazi salutes in the street, attacks on the police, wanton violence alongside racist rhetoric, so no, I won’t shy away from calling it what it is: far-right thuggery,” he said.
The violence over the past days, which has seen a library torched, mosques attacked and flares thrown at a statue of wartime leader Winston Churchill, began after false rumors spread online that the suspect in the dance class stabbing attack was an asylum-seeker, fueling anger among far-right supporters.
Suspects under 18 are usually not named in the UK, but the judge in the case ordered Axel Rudakubana, born in Wales to Rwandan parents, to be identified, in part to stop the spread of misinformation. Rudakubana has been charged with three counts of murder, and 10 counts of attempted murder.
Hundreds of people have been arrested in connection with the disorder and many more are likely as police scour CCTV, social media and body-worn camera footage. However, police have also warned that with widespread security measures in place, with thousands of officers deployed, other crimes may not be investigated fully.
With so many arrests, the courts will face a challenge in processing all the charges at a time when the criminal justice system is overstretched, following years of austerity and the COVID pandemic. In May, the National Audit Office warned that the courts faced a backlog of more than 60,000 cases, while the government said last month that thousands of inmates would have to be released early to ease prison overcrowding.
Stephen Parkinson, director of public prosecutions for England and Wales, said extra lawyers have been deployed over the weekend and will work “around the clock” over coming days to ensure justice is served. He said he has directed prosecutors to make immediate charging decisions where key evidence is in place.
“I am determined that we will act swiftly and robustly, giving the courts maximum ability to pass sentences that reflect what has occurred,” he said.
Many of the demonstrations over the past week were organized online by far-right groups, who mobilize support with phrases like “enough is enough,” “save our kids” and “stop the boats.”
Rallying cries have come from a diffuse group of social media accounts, but a key player in amplifying them is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, a longtime far-right agitator who uses the name Tommy Robinson. He led the English Defense League, which Merseyside Police has linked to the violent protest in Southport on Tuesday, near the scene of the stabbing attack.
Yaxley-Lennon, 41, was banned from Twitter in 2018 but allowed back after it was bought by Elon Musk and rebranded as X. He has more than 800,000 followers. He currently faces an arrest warrant after leaving the UK last week before a scheduled hearing in contempt-of-court proceedings against him.
Nigel Farage, who was elected to parliament in July for the first time as leader of Reform UK, has also been blamed by many for encouraging — indirectly — the anti-immigration sentiment. He has sought to link many of the problems the country faces, such as in health and housing, on the big annual increases in the country’s population.
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Renewed anti-government protests leave nearly 100 dead, hundreds more injured in Bangladesh
- Protesters are calling for the prime minister to resign
DHAKA: Nearly 100 people were killed and hundreds more injured Sunday as renewed anti-government protests swept across Bangladesh, with protesters calling for the prime minister to resign and the prime minister accusing them of “sabotage” and cutting off mobile Internet in a bid to quell the unrest.
The country’s leading Bengali-language daily newspaper, Prothom Alo, said at least 95 people, including at least 14 police officers, died in the violence. The Channel 24 news outlet reported at least 85 deaths.
The military announced that a new curfew was in effect Sunday evening for an indefinite period, including in the capital, Dhaka, and other divisional and district headquarters. The government had earlier imposed a curfew with some exceptions in Dhaka and elsewhere.
Demonstrators are demanding Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s resignation following protests last month that began with students calling for an end to a quota system for government jobs. Those demonstrations escalated into violence that left more than 200 dead.
As the renewed violence raged, Hasina said the protesters who engaged in “sabotage” and destruction were no longer students but criminals, and she said the people should deal with them with iron hands.
The ruling Awami League party said the demand for Hasina’s resignation showed that the protests have been taken over by the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party and the now-banned Jamaat-e-Islami party.
Also Sunday, the government announced a holiday from Monday to Wednesday. Courts were to be closed indefinitely. Mobile Internet service was cut off, and Facebook and messaging apps, including WhatsApp, were inaccessible.
Junior Minister for Information and Broadcasting Mohammad Ali Arafat said the services were severed to help prevent violence.
At least 11,000 people have been arrested in recent weeks. The unrest has also resulted in the closure of schools and universities across the country, and authorities at one point imposed a shoot-on-sight curfew.
Protesters called for a “non-cooperation” effort, urging people not to pay taxes or utility bills and not to show up for work on Sunday, a working day in Bangladesh. Offices, banks and factories opened, but commuters in Dhaka and other cities faced challenges getting to their jobs.
The demonstrators attacked Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, a major public hospital in Dhaka’s Shahbagh area, torching several vehicles.
Video footage showed protesters vandalizing a prison van in the chief metropolitan magistrate’s court in Dhaka. Other videos showed police opening fire on the crowds with bullets, rubber bullets and tear gas. The protesters set fire to vehicles and the ruling party’s offices. Some carried sharp weapons and sticks, according to TV footage.
In Dhaka’s Uttara neighborhood, police fired tear gas to disperse hundreds of people who blocked a major highway. Protesters attacked homes and vandalized a community welfare office in the area, where hundreds of ruling party activists took up positions. Some crude bombs were detonated, and gunshots were heard, witnesses said. At east 20 people were hit by bullets in the area.
At least 18 people were killed in the northwestern district of Sirajganj. That figure included 13 police officers who died after a police station was attacked by protesters, according to police headquarters in Dhaka. Another officer was killed in the eastern district of Cumilla, police said.
Five people died in the Feni district in southeast Bangladesh as Hasina’s supporters clashed with protesters.
Asif Iqbal, a resident medical officer at a state-run hospital in Feni, told reporters that they had five bodies at the hospital, all of them hit by bullets. It was not clear if they were protesters or ruling party activists.
In Munshiganj district near Dhaka, four people were declared dead after being rushed to a hospital, according to hospital official Abu Hena.
The Jamuna television news channel reported that violent clashes took place across more than a dozen districts, including Chattogram, Bogura, Magura, Rangpur, Kishoreganj and Sirajganj, where protesters backed by the main opposition party clashed with police and the activists of the ruling Awami League party and its associated bodies.
The protests began last month as students demanded an end to a quota system that reserved 30 percent of government jobs for the families of veterans who fought in Bangladesh’s war of independence against Pakistan in 1971.
As the violence crested, the country’s Supreme Court ruled that the veterans’ quota must be cut to 5 percent, with 93 percent of jobs to be allocated on merit. The remaining 2 percent will be set aside for members of ethnic minorities and transgender and disabled people. The government accepted the decision, but protesters have continued demanding accountability for the violence they blame on the government’s use of force.
The system also sets aside jobs for members of ethnic minorities and for disabled and transgender people, whose quotas were cut from a collective 26 percent to 2 percent in the ruling.
Hasina’s administration has blamed the opposition parties and their student wings for instigating the violence in which several state-owned establishments were also torched or vandalized.
Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, secretary-general of the main opposition party, repeated a call for the government to step down to stop the chaos.
Hasina offered to talk with student leaders on Saturday, but a coordinator refused and announced a one-point demand for her resignation.
Hasina repeated her pledges to investigate the deaths and punish those responsible for the violence. She said she was ready to sit down whenever the protesters want.
The protests have become a major challenge for Hasina, who has ruled the country for over 15 years. She returned to power for a fourth consecutive term in January in an election that was boycotted by her main opponents.
Japanese cautioned to avoid non-essential travel to Israel
- Overseas Japanese Nationals Safety Division said attacks between Israel and the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah persist
TOKYO: The Japanese Foreign Ministry has cautioned citizens planning to travel or stay in Israel to refrain from non-essential travel especially to the Northern region.
It warned those staying there they should be aware of the potential risks, including the possibility of flight disruptions and the need to evacuate to a safe area if an unforeseen incident occurs.
The warning, issued by the Overseas Japanese Nationals Safety Division, said attacks between Israel and the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah persist in the northern Israeli border area.
On July 27, an attack was carried out on Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights, which is under Israeli occupation, resulting in numerous civilian casualties. The Israeli government’s security cabinet meeting held on the 28th authorized Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defense Minister Galant to decide on a response, potentially escalating the situation further.
“As of July 29, flights to and from Tel Aviv (Ben Gurion) Airport generally operate normally, but we cannot rule out the possibility that flight schedules may change depending on future developments. Therefore, if you wish to leave Israel (return home temporarily), please check the latest operating status of scheduled commercial flights before considering your departure.”
The Ministry also strongly advised those traveling to inform others of their itinerary and contact information. It also recommends submitting a residence notification to the local diplomatic mission, confirming their emergency contact information.
The Ministry has issued stricter warnings elsewhere, raising the level for Lebanon to 3, which advises against all travel, and for Syria to 4, which urges all Japanese to evacuate the country immediately. However, Japan has kept Israel at level 2, except in the border areas.
The Foreign Ministry also warned its citizens to be extra cautious and ensure safety in the Middle East, describing the situation there as being “volatile and could quickly deteriorate, as evidenced by the recent assassination of Hamas Political Bureau Chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on July 31.”
The Foreign Ministry’s advice is not mandatory, but official Japanese organizations, travel and insurance agencies and businesses follow it strictly.
