Tag: news

UN chief urges ‘immediate ceasefire’ in Gaza as 35,000 Palestinians killed | Israel War on Gaza News

The United Nations’ Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has renewed his call for “an immediate humanitarian ceasefire” in the Gaza Strip as Israeli forces have killed more than 35,000 Palestinians in the besieged territory since the attacks began in October, say officials.

In a video address to international donors gathered in Kuwait on Sunday, Guterres also called for “the unconditional release of all captives held by Hamas as well as an immediate surge in humanitarian aid” into Gaza.

“A ceasefire will only be the start,” he said in the video, cautioning that “it will be a long road back from the devastation and trauma of this war”.

As Guterres repeated his plea, Israeli forces hit multiple points in Gaza, displacing anew hundreds of thousands of refugees already fleeing the war. Israeli tanks rolled into Jabalia, while multiple strikes killed dozens of people in Beit Lahiya in the north and Rafah in the south.

Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that at least 12 bodies arrived at Kamal Adwan Hospital in the town of Beit Lahiya following what it described as the Israeli “carpet bombing”.

Emad Oudeh, resident of Beit Lahiya, told Al Jazeera they did not know where to go as Israeli attacks intensified. “We are shocked. We do not know what to do. We are physically and mentally worn out. We are on the verge of going insane.”

Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum, reporting from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, said Israeli tanks have started “to go deeper” into the Jabalia refugee camp.

Jabalia is the biggest of Gaza’s eight refugee camps and is home to more than 100,000 people, most of them descendants of Palestinians who were driven from towns and villages in what is now Israel during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war that led to the creation of the state of Israel.

“We have been hearing from eyewitnesses on the ground, in that very densely populated area, that military tanks are surrounding evacuation centres and residential buildings,” Abu Azzoum said.

Those fleeing Israeli bombardment also have to contend with an acute shortage of food and medical supplies in areas where they have taken shelter.

Mahmoud Basal of the Palestinian Civil Defence in Gaza said there were no more medical services or humanitarian aid being provided to displaced people in the northern part of the Strip.

“We have lost 80 percent of our capabilities and no one is responding to the appeals we make to international institutions,” the civil defence spokesman said in a statement.

Imad Abu Zayda, an emergency doctor in Jabalia, told Al Jazeera that most of the injured arriving at his hospital were women and children, describing the situation as dire.

“We are operating with minimum facilities. No light due to the lack of fuel and there’s no medical supplement available as Israel has expanded their operation in the area. We have no oxygen to give to patients,” he said.

A displaced Palestinian woman, who fled Jabalia after the Israeli military called on residents to evacuate, sits atop her belongings as she travels in an animal-drawn cart, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Gaza City, May 12, 2024. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
A Palestinian woman who was forced to flee Jabalia after the Israeli military called on residents to evacuate, in Gaza City in northern Gaza [Mahmoud Issa/Reuters]

‘No safe place in Gaza’

In central Gaza, the civil defence department reported at least two fatalities, a father and son, both doctors, in an Israeli strike in Deir el-Balah on Sunday.

Further south in Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost city along the border with Egypt, the Kuwaiti hospital said it received the bodies of 18 people killed in Israeli strikes over the past 24 hours.

Israeli military vehicles roll near the boundary with the Gaza Strip as its forces expand their operation in the besieged Palestinian territory [Menahem Kahana/AFP]

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, gave a similar estimate of “around 300,000 people” who have fled Rafah over the past week, decrying in a post on X the “forced and inhumane displacement of Palestinians” who have “nowhere safe to go” in Gaza.

Palestinians in Rafah, many of them displaced by the fighting elsewhere in the territory, piled water tanks, mattresses and other belongings onto vehicles and prepared to flee again.

“The artillery shelling didn’t stop at all” for several days, said Mohammed Hamad, 24, who has left eastern Rafah for the city’s west. “There is no safe place in Gaza where we can take refuge.”

Residents were told to go to the “humanitarian zone” of al-Mawasi, on the coast northwest of Rafah, though aid groups have warned it was not ready for an influx of people.

EU chief Charles Michel, however, said on social media that Rafah civilians were being ordered to “unsafe zones”, denouncing it as “unacceptable”.

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Nepal’s ‘Everest Man’ beats own record by climbing summit for 29th time | Mount Everest News

Kami Rita and fellow Sherpa guide Pasang Dawa have been competing for the title of most climbs of the world’s highest peak.

One of the world’s most skilled climbing guides on Mount Everest has reached the Earth’s highest peak for the 29th time, beating his own record for most times to the summit, according to expedition organisers.

Kami Rita reached the 8,849-meter (29,032-foot) peak early morning on Sunday, said Mingma Sherpa from Seven Summits Treks.

He was reported to be in good health and already on his way down to lower camps of the mountain. Mingma Sherpa said the weather on the mountain was good and favourable for climbing to the summit.

“Back again for the 29th summit to the top of the world…One man’s job, another man/woman’s dream,” Rita posted on his Instagram from base camp last week.

Rita had climbed Mount Everest twice last year, setting the record for most climbs on his first expedition and adding to it less than a week later.

He and fellow Sherpa guide Pasang Dawa have been competing with each other for the title of most climbs of the world’s highest peak. Dawa has made it to the top of the mountain 27 times.

Rita first climbed Everest in 1994 and has been climbing to the top almost every year since, earning the nickname “Everest Man”. He has built a reputation for being a vital guide for foreign climbers.

He builds on his father’s legacy, who was among the first Sherpa guides.

Hundreds of people will be attempting to climb the mountain this month, with Nepalese authorities issuing hundreds of climbing permits to foreign climbers.

Nepal is home to eight of the world’s 10 highest peaks and welcomes hundreds of people each spring, when temperatures are warm and winds are light.

Last year, more than 600 climbers made it to the summit of Everest but it was also the deadliest season on the mountain, with 18 fatalities.



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Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 808 | Russia-Ukraine war News

As the war enters its 808th day, these are the main developments.

Here is the situation on Sunday, May 12, 2024.

Fighting

  • A missile attack on a restaurant in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine, killed three people and wounded eight, Denis Pushilin, the head of the region’s Russian-backed administration, said, adding that there were two strikes by US HIMARS precision rocket launchers.
  • One woman was killed, 29 people wounded and hundreds of buildings, including a school and a hospital, were damaged after Ukraine attacked Russia’s Belgorod region over the weekend, according to regional Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov.
  • Gladkov said Belgorod city, the region’s administrative centre, faced further risk of Ukrainian attack, with the entire region under air raid alerts on Sunday.
  • The Russian Ministry of Defence says its air defence forces destroyed two Soviet-era conventional ballistic missiles launched overnight by Ukrainian forces over Belgorod.

  • Fierce fighting raged overnight on the fringes of Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region as Moscow claimed it had captured five villages and was advancing in the Donetsk region. However, Kyiv said it was repulsing the attacks and battling for control of the settlements.

  • President Volodymyr Zelenskyy admitted in his nightly video address that battles were going on around seven border villages in Kharkiv and called the situation in the southern Donetsk region “extremely difficult”.
  • Kharkiv regional Governor Oleg Synegubov said more than 1,700 people evacuated from areas near the Russian border, as Moscow launched a surprise ground offensive in the region.
Damaged vehicles in Belgorod, Russia, following a recent military attack, which authorities claim was launched by Ukraine [Handout Photo/Reuters]

Politics and diplomacy

  • Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that he was giving extra duties to two key government officials overseeing the defence industry and energy sectors, as the Kremlin chief girds the world’s second-largest oil exporter for a longer war in Ukraine.
  • Incumbent Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda, a staunch supporter of Ukraine, and his closest opponent, Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte, promise to stand up to Russian threat at home, as the country heads to the polls on Sunday. Voters in the Baltic state are worried that the country could be a target of Russian aggression.
  • Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Ukrainians with a residence permit and work in Germany could stay even as Ukraine seeks to recruit nationals living abroad to serve in the war against Russia.

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Fourth Indian arrested and charged in Canada over Sikh activist’s killing | Politics News

Amandeep Singh, 22, was already in custody for unrelated gun charges before being charged in Hardeep Singh Nijjar’s murder.

A fourth Indian national has been arrested and charged by the Canadian authorities over the killing of a separatist Sikh activist in Vancouver last year – a case that has strained diplomatic relations with India.

Amandeep Singh, 22, was already in custody for unrelated gun charges before being charged with “first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder” in the slaying of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT) said on Saturday.

Singh lived in the cities of Brampton, Surrey and Abbotsford.

Three other Indian nationals were arrested earlier this month in the city of Edmonton in Alberta, with the authorities saying they were investigating whether the men had ties to the Indian government.

Kamalpreet Singh, 22; Karan Brar, 22; and Karanpreet Singh, 28, appeared in court on Tuesday via videolink and agreed to a trial in English. They have also been charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder.

Sikh leaders in North America have welcomed the arrests, but allegations that the Indian government was involved have fuelled questions and unease.

Nijjar, 45, was shot dead in June outside a Sikh temple in Surrey, a Vancouver suburb with a large Sikh population. He was campaigning for the creation of Khalistan, an independent Sikh homeland carved out of India.

India has long been embittered by Sikh separatist groups in Canada and had deemed Nijjar a “terrorist”.

Shortly after his death, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said there was evidence of potential Indian government involvement in Nijjar’s murder, which led to a backlash from India.

New Delhi dismissed the allegations as “absurd” and responded furiously, briefly curbing visas for Canadians and forcing Ottawa to withdraw diplomats.

In November, the US Department of Justice charged an Indian citizen, Nikhil Gupta, living in the Czech Republic with plotting a similar assassination attempt on US soil.

Prosecutors said in unsealed court documents that an Indian government official was also involved in the planning to assassinate Sikh-American activist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun.

The shock allegations came after US President Joe Biden hosted Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a rare state visit as Washington seeks closer ties with India against China’s growing influence.

US intelligence agencies have assessed that the plot on US soil was approved by India’s top spy official at the time, Samant Goel, The Washington Post reported in April.

About 770,000 Sikhs live in Canada, nearly 2 percent of the country’s population and the largest number of the community outside India.

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At least 14 dead, several missing in Indonesia flash floods, cold lava flow | Weather News

Heavy rain triggers a flash flood and a cold lava flow from Mount Marapi, resulting in the disaster in West Sumatra.

At least 14 people, including several children, have been killed and many others are missing after flash floods and cold lava flow from a volcano hit western Indonesia, according to rescue officials.

Basarnas search and rescue agency said in a statement on Sunday the disaster hit Agam and Tanah Datar districts in the West Sumatra province at about 10:30pm (15:30 GMT) on Saturday after hours of heavy rain, triggering a flash flood and a cold lava flow from Mount Marapi.

Cold lava, also known as lahar, is volcanic material like ash, sand and pebbles carried down a volcano’s slopes by rain.

Ilham Wahab, head of the Regional Disaster Mitigation Agency in West Sumatra, was quoted by the Indonesian media company, Sumbar, as saying that as of Sunday morning, at least 14 people had been reported killed.

Abdul Malik, head of the local rescue agency, said nine bodies were identified, including those of a three-year-old and an eight-year-old.

Four other people are still being searched in Agam district, he said. “Today, we will continue the search in the two districts.”

Photos and videos posted on social media showed large rocks and thick mud covering the streets of West Sumatra.

The disaster comes just two months after another deadly flooding hit the same island.

Authorities dispatched a team of rescuers and rubber boats to look for the missing victims and to transport people to shelters.

The local government set up evacuation centres and emergency posts in several spots in the two districts.

Indonesia is prone to landslides and floods during the rainy season.

Last week, 15 people were killed in South Sulawesi after landslides and flooding swept away homes and damaged roads.

In March, at least 26 people had been found dead after landslides and floods hit West Sumatra.

Saturday’s floods in Agam and Tanah Datar also carried cold lava down from Mount Marapi, the most active volcano in Sumatra and one of nearly 130 active volcanoes in the Indonesian archipelago.

In December, Marapi erupted and spewed an ash tower 3,000 metres (9,800 feet) into the sky, higher than the volcano itself.

At least 24 climbers, most of them university students, died in the eruption.

In a separate deadly incident on Saturday evening, at least 11 people were killed and dozens of others were injured when a bus carrying more than 60 high school students on a graduation trip and their teachers crashed on Indonesia’s biggest island of Java.

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India Lok Sabha election 2024 Phase 4: Who votes and what’s at stake? | India Election 2024 News

India is bracing itself for the fourth phase of its weeks-long elections on May 13 to elect 96 members of parliament to the Lok Sabha, or the lower house of parliament, as the world’s largest electoral exercise moves into its final month.

The two main contenders for power are Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), a coalition of 26 parties led by the main opposition party, Rahul Gandhi‘s Indian National Congress.

Last week, the third phase of the voting saw Modi cast his vote in Gujarat’s Gandhinagar constituency. It also saw the competition between the two main contenders heighten as the Congress Party’s former President Sonia Gandhi said Modi and the BJP were focusing “only on gaining power at any cost”.

The fourth phase also features a bit of glamour in the east of the country, where Bollywood veteran Shatrughan Sinha is seeking re-election in West Bengal’s Asansol, and to the south, where actress Maadhavi Latha from the BJP is standing for the Hyderabad seat in Telangana. Latha is pitted against Asaduddin Owaisi, a four-time MP from the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen party.

The first three phases of the election, which were held on April 19, April 26 and May 7, saw a voter turnout of 66.1, 66.7, and 61 percent, respectively. The voting so far has been lower than in the 2019 elections. In total, 969 million people are registered to vote in 543 parliamentary constituencies across 36 states and federally-governed union territories.

Who is voting in the fourth phase?

Registered voters across nine states and a union territory will cast their ballots for the following constituencies:

  • Andhra Pradesh: All 25 constituencies in the southern coastal state
  • Telangana: All 17 constituencies in the southern state
  • Jharkhand: Four of the eastern state’s 14 constituencies
  • Odisha: Four of the eastern state’s 21 constituencies
  • Uttar Pradesh: Thirteen of the northern state’s 80 constituencies
  • Madhya Pradesh: Eight of the central state’s 29 constituencies
  • Bihar: Five of the eastern state’s 40 constituencies
  • Maharashtra: Eleven of the western state’s 48 constituencies
  • West Bengal: Eight of the eastern state’s 42 constituencies
  • Jammu and Kashmir: One of the union territory’s five constituencies

Which are some of the key constituencies?

Hyderabad (Telangana): Asaduddin Owaisi is being challenged by the BJP’s Maadhavi Latha in his family bastion. Owaisi’s brother, Akbaruddin Owaisi is a member of the state legislative assembly while his father, Sultan Salahuddin Owaisi, represented the parliamentary constituency, with a substantial Muslim population, six times. Owaisi pitches himself as the voice of India’s Muslim minority whose issues he regularly raises in his parliamentary debates. Owaisi was given the “best parliamentarian” award in 2022.

Srinagar (Jammu and Kashmir): This constituency in Kashmir registered just 15 percent voting in the 2019 election, which was marred by a boycott. This is the first parliamentary election in Kashmir since the region’s special status was removed in August 2019. The two biggest mainstream pro-India parties in the region – the National Conference and People’s Democratic Party – have fielded Aga Syed and Waheed Parra, respectively, as their candidates.

Krishnanagar, Baharampur and Asansol (West Bengal): These three parliamentary contests in West Bengal state, bordering Bangladesh, offer a mix of star power and political significance. Bollywood actor-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha is seeking re-election from Asansol, while ex-cricketer Yusuf Pathan is taking on senior Congress Party leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, who has been representing Bahrampur since 1999. Chowdhury was also the leader of the opposition Congress Party in the outgoing Lok Sabha. Pathan is the candidate of the Trinamool Congress (TMC), the party that rules the state and is also aligned with the national opposition INDIA alliance – even though the coalition’s members are standing against each other in West Bengal.

Yet, the most high-profile electoral battle in the state on May 13, is in Krishnanagar, where the fiery TMC parliamentarian and fierce critic of Modi, Mahua Moitra, is seeking a second term. A former vice president of JPMorgan Chase based in London, Moitra entered politics in 2009. Her parliamentary speeches asking tough questions of the government often go viral. In December 2023, the firebrand MP was expelled from parliament after being accused of accepting cash to ask questions. She said her expulsion was a way to silence her. She has challenged her expulsion in the Supreme Court. The BJP has fielded Amrita Roy, whose husband is a descendant of the erstwhile king of the region, against Moitra.

Kannauj and Lakhimpur Kheri (Uttar Pradesh): Akhilesh Yadav, the leader of the Samajwadi Party – a regional powerhouse that has seen its influence shrink with the BJP’s rise – has decided to enter the electoral race in Kannauj in northern Uttar Pradesh state, which accounts for 80 seats in the parliament. The BJP currently governs the state. Kannauj, known for its perfume industry, has been a Yadav family bastion. Akhilesh, his father Mulayan Singh Yadav and his wife Dimple Yadav have represented the seat since 1999. But in 2019, Dimple lost to the BJP in a shock defeat. Akhilesh’s entry into the electoral fray is an attempt to wrest back the family pocket borough.

The other seat that has attracted a lot of attention is Lakhimpur Kheri, where controversial federal Minister of Home Affairs Ajay Mishra Teni is seeking re-election. Mishra has been caught in a storm since his son Ashish Mishra allegedly ran his car over farmers protesting against now-repealed farm laws. Ashish is out on bail and farmers’ groups as well as activists have been demanding that Mishra be denied a ticket by the BJP.

Indore (Madhya Pradesh): This constituency, a stronghold of the BJP, has been in the news for unlikely reasons. The Congress candidate Akshay Kanti Bam withdrew from the race at the last minute, after the last date for candidates to file nominations had passed. The Congress could not field a replacement and Bam later joined the BJP. Thirteen other candidates are in the fray, but the Congress Party has urged voters to opt for NOTA (none of the above) in protest.

When does the voting start and end?

Voting will begin at 7am local time (01:30 GMT) and end at 6pm (12:30 GMT). Voters already in the queue by the time polls close will get to vote, even if that means keeping polling stations open longer.

Complete election results for all phases are to be released on June 4.

Which parties rule the states being polled in the fourth phase?

  • The BJP governs Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh outright.
  • The BJP governs Maharashtra and Bihar in alliances.
  • Odisha is governed by the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), which leans towards the NDA but is not a part of the alliance.
  • Andhra Pradesh is governed by the Yuvajana Sramika Rythu (YSR) Congress Party.
  • Congress governs Telangana.
  • Jharkhand is governed by the INDIA alliance led by Jharkhand Mukti Morcha.
  • West Bengal is governed by the All India Trinamool Congress Party, a member of the INDIA alliance.
  • Jammu and Kashmir is governed directly by New Delhi. Its state legislature remains suspended.

Who won these Lok Sabha seats in 2019?

  • In the last Lok Sabha elections, Congress, along with parties now affiliated with the INDIA alliance and those affiliated then with the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance, won 13 of the 96 seats to be decided on May 13.
  • The BJP and parties affiliated with the NDA won 50 of the seats in 2019.
  • The YSR Congress Party in Andhra Pradesh won 22 seats while the Telangana-based Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) won nine seats in 2019.
  • The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) won two seats in 2019.

How much of India has voted so far?

The first three phases of the Lok Sabha elections have already decided the fate of 284 MPs.

So far, voting has concluded for all seats in the states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Meghalaya, Assam, Manipur, Karnataka, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tripura; the Andaman and Nicobar islands; and the Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman, Diu, Lakshadweep and Puducherry union territories.

The fifth phase will kick off on May 20 and the sixth on May 25, before the election heads towards the seventh and final phase on June 1.

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Thousands protest against Israel’s participation in Eurovision final | Israel War on Gaza News

Thousands of people have protested in the Swedish city of Malmo against Israel’s participation in the Eurovision Song Contest, with Israel’s war on Gaza casting a shadow over the final of the glitzy contest.

On Saturday, a large crowd of protesters gathered on the central square of the Swedish host city before marching towards the contest venue, waving Palestinian flags and shouting “Eurovision united by genocide” – a twist on the contest’s official slogan “united by music”.

A protester told Al Jazeera that it was unfair that a country that is “committing genocide” was allowed to take part in the event, and he said that demonstrators were upset by the confiscation of Palestinian flags and scarves by the authorities.

“Here in Malmo a lot of people are from Palestine and many of their families are getting hurt [in Gaza and Palestine] and they just feel angry about the situation and how the Swedish government and the city has handled this situation,” he said.

“So there is a lot of frustration and a lot of anger.”

Reporting from Malmo, Al Jazeera’s Paul Rhys said that the protests over the past few days have been relatively peaceful, but as the final got under way, several protesters were taken away by the police.

“Quite a few demonstrators kind of got in here [the Malmo arena] in secret and started protesting with Palestinian flags. They were boxed in by the police and taken away one by one,” he said.

Police estimated that between 6,000 and 8,000 people joined the demonstrations in Malmo on Saturday.

Meanwhile, inside the auditorium French singer Slimane halted his rehearsal act earlier on Saturday to say it had been a childhood dream of his to sing for peace.

“We need to be united by music,” Slimane said, referring to the official Eurovision slogan.

The final, the culmination of the festival of catchy songs, gaudy costumes and tongue-in-cheek kitsch, kicks off at 19:00 GMT.

Police remove pro-Palestinian protesters in front of the Malmo Arena in Malmo, Sweden [Tobias Schwarz/AFP]

Pro-Palestinian protesters have complained of double standards as the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which organises the contest,

banned Russia from Eurovision in 2022 following its invasion of Ukraine.

Eurovision organisers, who have always billed the annual event as non-political, resisted calls to exclude Israel and in March, the EBU confirmed that Israel’s contestant Eden Golan would take part.

Golan’s song is an adaptation of an earlier version named, October Rain, which she modified after organisers deemed it too political because of its apparent allusions to the Hamas-led October 7 attack.

On Thursday, some booing was heard from the crowd before, during and after his performance in the semifinals, but there was also applause and Israeli flags being waved.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also wished Golan good luck and said she had “already won” by enduring protests that he called a “horrible wave of anti-Semitism”.

Dutch contestant disqualified

Earlier on Saturday, the contest was also rattled earlier by the disqualification of Dutch contestant Joost Klein.

“Swedish police have investigated a complaint made by a female member of the production crew after an incident following his performance in Thursday night’s semi-final,” the European Broadcasting Union, which oversees the event, said in a statement.

“While the legal process takes its course, it would not be appropriate for him to continue in the contest.”

Dutch broadcaster AVROTROS said the incident had involved Klein being filmed directly after coming off stage “against clearly made agreements”.

According to an AVROTROS statement, Klein then repeatedly indicated he did not want to be filmed after which he made a “threatening movement” toward the camera, but did not touch the camerawoman.

“We stand for good manners – let there be no misunderstanding about that – but in our view, an exclusion order is not proportional to this incident,” AVROTROS said.

Klein had already courted controversy at Thursday’s news conference when he repeatedly covered his face with a Dutch flag, seemingly signifying he did not agree with being placed next to Israel’s contestant, Golan.

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Russia claims capture of villages in northeast Ukraine amid renewed assault | Russia-Ukraine war News

Moscow’s forces captured five villages in a renewed ground assault in northeastern Ukraine, the Russian Ministry of Defence has said, as journalists in the city of Vovchansk described multiple buildings destroyed after Russian air raids.

Ukrainian officials on Saturday did not confirm whether Russia had taken the villages, which lie in a contested “grey zone” on the border of Ukraine’s Kharkiv region and Russia.

Ukrainian journalists reported that the villages of Borysivka, Ohirtseve, Pylna and Strilecha were taken by Russian troops on Friday.

Russia said the village of Pletenivka was also taken.

In an evening statement Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said fighting was continuing in Strilecha and Pletenivka, as well as Krasne, Morokhovets, Oliinykove, Lukyantsi and Hatyshche.

“Our troops are carrying out counterattacks there for a second day, protecting Ukrainian territory,” he said.

On Friday, the Institute for the Study of War said that geolocated footage confirms at least one of the villages was seized. The Washington-based think tank described recent Russian gains as “tactically significant”.

The renewed assault on the region has forced more than 1,700 civilians residing in settlements near the fighting to flee, according to Ukrainian authorities. It comes after Russia stepped up attacks in March targeting energy infrastructure and settlements, which analysts predicted were a concerted effort by Moscow to shape conditions for an offensive.

On Saturday, Russia continued to pummel Vovchansk with air raids and rockets as police and volunteers raced to evacuate residents. At least 20 people were evacuated to safety in a nearby village. Police said that 900 people had been evacuated the previous day.

Journalists from The Associated Press news agency who accompanied an evacuation team described empty streets with multiple buildings destroyed and others on fire. The road was littered with newly made craters and the city was covered in dust and shrapnel with the smell of gunpowder heavy in the air. Mushroom clouds of smoke rose across the skyline as Russian jets conducted multiple air attacks.

The AP journalists witnessed nine air attacks during the three hours they were there.

“The situation in Vovchansk and the settlements along the border [with Russia] is incredibly difficult. Constant aviation attacks are carried out, multiple rocket missile systems strikes, artillery strikes,” said Tamaz Hambarashvili, the head of the Vovchansk military administration.

“For the second day in a row, we evacuated all the inhabitants of our community who are willing to evacuate,” he said.

“I think that they are destroying the city to make [local] people leave, to make sure there are no militaries, nobody. To create a ‘grey’ zone.’”

Residents from Vovchansk and nearby villages board a bus during an evacuation to Kharkiv [Vyacheslav Madiyevskyy/Reuters]

Russia’s recent push in Kharkiv seeks to exploit ammunition shortages before promised Western supplies can reach the front line and pin down Ukrainian forces in the northeast and keep them away from heavy battles under way in the Donetsk region where Moscow’s troops are gaining ground, analysts said.

Russian military bloggers said the assault could mark the start of a Russian attempt to carve out a “buffer zone” that President Vladimir Putin pledged to create earlier this year to halt frequent Ukrainian attacks on Belgorod and other Russian border regions.

The governor of Russia’s Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine, said on Saturday that one woman was killed and 29 people were wounded, including a child, in shelling by Ukraine’s armed forces.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials have downplayed Russian statements about captured territory, with reinforcements being rushed to the Kharkiv region to hold off Russian forces.

On Telegram, Kharkiv regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said that heavy fighting continued in the areas around Borysivka, Ohirtseve, Pylna and Oliinykove, but that the situation was under control and there was no threat of a ground assault on the city of Kharkiv.

In the meantime, artillery, mortar and aerial bombardments hit more than 30 different towns and villages in the region on Saturday, killing at least three people and injuring five others, Syniehubov said.

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Solar storm produces stunning northern lights across US, UK, Russia | In Pictures News

An unusually strong solar storm hitting Earth produced stunning displays of colour in the skies across the Northern Hemisphere early on Saturday, with no immediate reports of disruptions to power and communications.

The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued a rare severe geomagnetic storm warning when a solar outburst reached Earth on Friday afternoon, hours sooner than anticipated.

The effects of the northern lights, which were on display in the United Kingdom, were due to last through the weekend and possibly into next week.

Many in the UK shared phone snaps of the lights on social media early Saturday, with the phenomenon seen as far south as London and southern England.

There were sightings “from top to tail across the country,” said Chris Snell, a meteorologist at the Met Office, the British weather agency. He added that the office received photos and information from other European locations including Prague and Barcelona.

NOAA alerted operators of power plants and spacecraft in orbit, as well as the Federal Emergency Management Agency, to take precautions.

“For most people here on planet Earth, they won’t have to do anything,” said Rob Steenburgh, a scientist with NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center.

The storm could produce northern lights as far south in the US as Alabama and northern California, NOAA said. But it was hard to predict and experts stressed it would not be the dramatic curtains of colour normally associated with the northern lights, but more like splashes of greenish hues.

“That’s really the gift from space weather: the aurora,” Steenburgh said. He and his colleagues said the best aurora views may come from phone cameras, which are better at capturing light than the naked eye.

The most intense solar storm in recorded history, in 1859, prompted auroras in Central America and possibly even Hawaii. “We are not anticipating that” but it could come close, NOAA space weather forecaster Shawn Dahl said.

This storm poses a risk for high-voltage transmission lines for power grids, not the electrical lines ordinarily found in people’s homes, Dahl told reporters. Satellites also could be affected, which in turn could disrupt navigation and communication services here on Earth.

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Hamas says a captive has died of wounds sustained in Israeli air strike | Israel War on Gaza News

British-Israeli Nadav Popplewell was taken captive from Nirim kibbutz by Palestinian group Hamas on October 7.

Hamas’s armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, has said British-Israeli captive Nadav Popplewell died of wounds sustained in an Israeli air strike a month ago.

The group’s announcement on Saturday came just hours after the Palestinian group released an 11-second video showing Popplewell with a bruised eye.

In the video republished on social media and cited by Israeli news outlets, a man is seen wearing a white T-shirt and he introduces himself as 51-year-old Nadav Popplewell from the Nirim kibbutz in southern Israel.

Superimposed text in Arabic and Hebrew reads: “Time is running out. Your government is lying.”

Popplewell was taken captive in Nirim during the Hamas-led attack on October 7, according to Israel’s Ynet news site. His mother was also taken as a captive but later released during the exchange of captives and prisoners by Hamas and Israel last year. Popplewell’s brother was killed in the attack, Ynet reported.

The video posted on Saturday on the Telegram channel of Hamas’s armed wing is the third time in less than a month the group has released footage of captives held in Gaza.

On April 27, Hamas released a video showing two captives alive – Keith Siegel and Omri Miran. Three days earlier it also broadcast another video showing captive Hersh Goldberg-Polin alive.

The videos come amid growing domestic pressure on the Israeli government to secure the release of the remaining captives.

Reporting from Amman, Al Jazeera’s Stefanie Dekker, said this tactic of releasing videos of captives on a Saturday, when protests take place in Tel Aviv, is a way of pressurising the Israeli government.

“This is what’s been a drip-feed if you will from Hamas. Where, by releasing videos, at times showing hostages dead, they are trying to put pressure on the Israeli government,” she said.

“But this hasn’t really changed the policies of [the Israeli] government.”

On Saturday, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum in Israel released a statement calling on the Israeli government to strike a deal with Hamas in order to secure the release of captives.

“Every sign of life received from the hostages held by Hamas is another cry of distress to the Israeli government and its leaders,” the families’ group said in its statement.

“We don’t have a moment to spare! You must strive to implement a deal that will bring them all back today.”

Despite the immense pressure, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government have so far failed to strike a deal with Hamas.

Some 1,139 people were killed on October 7 when Hamas and allied fighters attacked southern Israel, and 250 captives were also taken to the Gaza Strip. Israeli officials say 128 of them are still being held in the Palestinian territory, including 36 who are dead.

Israel’s seven-month military campaign in Gaza has so far killed at least 34,971 people and wounded 78,641 others.

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