- With assistance from Loni Prinsloo, Paul Richardson and Arijit Ghosh.
#Renewables #wont #save #power #woes #Germany #learnt #painfully #Mantashe
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Amid escalating attacks around Zaporizhzhia power plant in Ukraine, evacuees find themselves at a refugee reception center looking to escape the violence.
The Taliban have marked the first anniversary of their return to power in Afghanistan with a national holiday.
"We fulfilled the obligation of jihad and liberated our country," said Niamatullah Hekmat on Monday.
He is a fighter who entered Kabul on August 15 last year just hours after then-president Ashraf Ghani fled the country.
Exactly a year ago, the group captured Kabul after their nationwide lightning offensive against government forces ended 20 years of US-led military invasion.
A chaotic withdrawal of foreign forces continued until August 31, with tens of thousands of people rushing to Kabul's airport hoping to be evacuated on any flight out of Afghanistan.
Images of crowds storming the airport, climbing atop aircraft – and some clinging to a departing US military cargo plane as it rolled down the runway – aired on news bulletins around the world.
READ MORE: How smouldering discontent affects the Taliban rule in Afghanistan
Authorities have so far not announced any official celebrations to mark the anniversary, but state television said it would air special programmes.
Taliban fighters, however, expressed happiness that their movement was now in power.
"The time when we entered Kabul, and when the Americans left, those were moments of joy," said Hekmat, now a member of the special forces guarding the presidential palace.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ee1XYE14GCY[/embed]
A year in power
While Afghans acknowledge a decline in violence since the Taliban seized power, many Afghans continue to struggle to steer through many challenges, including rising prices.
"People coming to our shops are complaining so much of high prices that we shopkeepers have started hating ourselves," said Noor Mohammad, a shopkeeper from Kandahar, the de facto power centre of the Taliban.
For Taliban fighters, however, the joy of victory overshadows the current economic crisis.
"We might be poor, we might be facing hardships, but the white flag of Islam will now fly high forever in Afghanistan", said a fighter guarding a public park in Kabul.
READ MORE: Top Taliban leader hails 'freedom' in rare appearance to mark Eid
Source: AFP
The "alarming" situation at a Russian-occupied nuclear power plant in southeastern Ukraine had reached a "grave hour," the head of the United Nations' nuclear watchdog said Thursday, as he called for an immediate inspection of the facility by international experts.
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi warned that parts of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant had been knocked out due to recent attacks, risking an "unacceptable" potential radiation leak.
"IAEA experts believe that there is no immediate threat to nuclear safety," but "that could change at any moment," Grossi said.
"Any military action jeopardizing nuclear safety, nuclear security, must stop immediately," he added. "These military actions near to such a large nuclear facility could lead to very serious consequences."
Ukraine and Russia blame each other: The Zaporizhzhia facility — the largest nuclear plant in Europe — occupies an extensive site on the Dnipro river near the Russian-occupied city of Enerhodar. It has continued operating at reduced capacity since Russian forces captured it early in March, with Ukrainian technicians remaining at work.
Russia and Ukraine have so far been unwilling to agree to an IAEA inspection of the plant and have accused each other of shelling the facility — action the IAEA has said breaches "indispensable nuclear safety and security pillars."
Russia's UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia on Thursday blamed Ukraine for the shelling and urged Kyiv's supporters to stop attacks and prevent a disastrous radiation leak.
But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky pointed the finger at Moscow, which he said was putting all of Europe in danger.
"Only the complete withdrawal of Russians from the territory of the Zaporizhzhia NPP and the restoration of Ukraine's full control over the situation around the plant will guarantee the restoration of nuclear safety for all of Europe," Zelensky said.
More shelling: Ukraine's nuclear agency Energoatom said 10 shells landed near the complex on Thursday, preventing a shift handover.
"For the safety of nuclear workers, the buses with the personnel of the next shift were turned back to Enerhodar," the agency said. "Until the situation finally normalizes, the workers of the previous shift will continue to work."
Energoatom said radiation levels at the site remained normal, despite renewed attacks.
Read the full story here.
ISLAMABAD: PTI on Monday announced that it will hold its public gathering in Lahore on August 13 after the former premier Imran Khan called on its supporters to rally against the government.
PTI was earlier set to gather the public at Islamabad's Parade Ground and was also granted permission by the Interior Ministry.
Earlier today, the TLP also shared its intention to organise the Nazariya Pakistan March and Conference at Faizabad on August 13. The party said that its request to hold a rally at the Parade Ground was denied by interior minister Rana Sanaullah.
Taking to Twitter, PTI made the announcement regarding its anticipated jalsa.
"On the night between August 13-14, a huge Independence Day celebration will be observed at the Hockey Stadium," the tweet read.
The party also mentioned that Khan would attend the event and address participants.
Addressing a press conference earlier today, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan said Khan announced that he would hold a protest in Islamabad on August 13 in which he would give the government a one-month ultimatum to hold the general election.
Taking a jibe at Khan, the minister said that he should first remove Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja from office upon whom he had expressed "no trust".
When a new election commissioner is appointed, then the PTI chairman should demand fresh elections, Sanaullah added.
The minister asserted that holding peaceful protests was the right of every political party and they were allowed to hold public gatherings, but warned that those who tried taking the law into their hands will be dealt with an iron hand.
It should be noted that Khan was ousted from the prime minister's office through a no-confidence motion in April, and since then, he has been holding large rallies across the country.
The PTI chairman claims the United States and the then-opposition conspired to oust his party from power. However, both deny the allegation.
ISLAMABAD: PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry on Saturday announced that the party will organise a public gathering in the federal capital on the eve of Pakistan’s 75th independence day.
The decision was taken during a party meeting presided by PTI chief Imran Khan.
Taking to Twitter, Fawad Chaudhry shared that the party will hold a gathering at the Parade Ground Islamabad where Khan will announce the party’s future strategy.
“Imported government is running from elections, but the nation will not let them get away. On August 13, Pakistan will gather in parade Ground alongside Imran Khan,” he tweeted, urging party workers to prepare for the last leg.
“Election or revolution,” tweeted the former minister.
Sources mentioned that former premier presided a meeting of PTI’s political committee in which the country’s current situation was also under discussion, in addition to reviewing legal issues regarding Khan contesting the by-elections in nine constituencies across Pakistan.
Briefing on the party’s legal strategy regrading resignations of PTI members in the assembly was also conducted. PTI’s legal team informed party members about the progress of applications in the courts.
Speaking in Geo News show Naya Pakistan, Federal Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah commented on PTI’s plans to gather workers and supporters in Islamabad.
“They are allowed to gather at Parade Ground and were granted permission earlier as well,” the minister said, adding that the party is using the jalsa to hide its wrongdoings.
Talking about the party’s plan to attract crowds in the federal capital, the interior minister maintained that the government will not be threatened by the party.
He added that the foreign funding verdict has exposed Khan in front of the nation and that PTI is not sincere about the elections.
“Their lies have now been caught,” he said, criticizing Khan and his party for misleading the youth.
The chair of a West African regional bloc said at a briefing with France's president that Guinea would cut its transition to civilian rule from three to two years.
Speaking alongside French President Emmanuel Macron at a media briefing in Bissau, Guinea-Bissau President Umaro Sissoco Embalo, who is chair of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), said on Thursday that he had recently convinced Guinea's junta to shorten its timeline.
"I was in Conakry with the president of the commission (of ECOWAS) to make the military junta understand the decision of the summit of heads of state that the transition cannot exceed 24 months", Embalo said.
"They had proposed 36 months, but we succeeded in convincing them," he added.
Ousmane Gaoual Diallo, a Guinean minister and spokesman for the transitional government, told AFP that "neither the government nor the presidency confirm this information about the duration of the transition in Guinea".
An ECOWAS official said on condition of anonymity: "The principle is accepted but we were waiting to formalise it... before announcing it."
A junta led by Colonel Mamady Doumbouya, which overthrew President Alpha Conde in September last year, had pledged to hand over power to elected civilians within three years.
But regional powers rejected this timeline, with ECOWAS suspending Guinea after the coup.
West African mediators last week met Guinea's ruling junta for talks on a return to civilian rule, according to ECOWAS and state media.
Embalo, Gambian diplomat Omar Alieu Touray, who is the president of the bloc's commission, and Benin's former president Thomas Boni Yayi, the ECOWAS mediator for Guinea, were all present.
Protests in Conakry
Earlier in July, ECOWAS leaders had met in Ghana's capital Accra to discuss transitions to civilian rule in Guinea, as well as Mali and Burkina Faso, which together have undergone four coups since August 2020.
They lifted tough sanctions that had been imposed on Mali's military regime, accepting a March 2024 return to civilian rule.
And they agreed to allow Burkina Faso two years for its transition back to democracy.
But discussions until then had been trickier with the rulers of Guinea, where the junta had announced a 36-month transition -- a period that African Union chairman and Senegalese President Macky Sall described as "unthinkable".
On Thursday, protests against Guinea's military leaders brought Conakry to a standstill.
The National Front for the Defence of the Constitution (FNDC), a coalition of political parties, trade unions and civil society organisations, called the demonstrations to denounce the junta's "unilateral management" of any return to civilian rule.
Other parties and coalitions joined the protests.
The junta in May banned public demonstrations, and Thursday's protests led to sporadic clashes between demonstrators and police.
Source: AFP
![[File] Russian-backed forces had earlier announced the capture of the Soviet-era, coal-fired Vuhlehirsk power plant.](https://cdni0.trtworld.com/w960/h540/q75/136674_ReutersfilePowerPlantUkraine_1658957340334.jpeg)
Wednesday, July 27, 2022
Russia seizes another Ukraine power plant — Zelenskyy’s adviser
Russian forces have captured Ukraine's second biggest power plant and Moscow is undertaking a "massive redeployment" of troops to Kherson, Melitopol and Zaporizhzhia regions, a senior adviser to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
Russian-backed forces had earlier announced the capture of the Soviet-era, coal-fired Vuhlehirsk power plant.
"They achieved a tiny tactical advantage - they captured Vuhlehirsk," presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych said in an interview posted on YouTube.
Moscow lashes out at West
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has lashed out at the West for creating a grains supply chain crisis by slapping unjustified sanctions on Moscow.
Speaking at the Russian Embassy in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, Lavrov said that Western media was presenting the "situation in a totally distorted manner.”
“Of course, the situation in Ukraine has a negative impact on food markets, but not because of Russia’s special military operation,” he said, instead pointing to the coronavirus pandemic and the West's "reckless policy...on so-called green transition"
He added that China, which has developed the world's number one economy will be the next target because it “…defeated the West on their own turf.”
Russia will stick with space station until at least 2028
Russian space officials told their US counterparts that Moscow expects to remain on the International Space Station at least until their own outpost in orbit is built in 2028, NASA's space operations chief said.
Russia's assurance on Tuesday came after the newly appointed head of its space agency, Roscosmos, surprised NASA earlier in the day by announcing that Moscow intended to end more than two decades of partnership on the space station "after 2024."
"We're not getting any indication at any working level that anything's changed," Kathy Lueders, NASA's space operations chief, said on Wednesday, adding the National Aeronautics and Space Administration relations with Roscosmos remained "business as usual."
Police officer killed by Ukrainian 'resistance' in Kherson
A police officer in the Russian-controlled city of Kherson was killed by an explosive device planted by the Ukrainian "resistance movement" and another one was injured, Ukraine's defence ministry said.
The reported killing is the latest in a series of attacks on local officials in regions captured by Russia since it attacked Ukraine in February.
On Saturday, the directorate urged citizens in the Kherson region to reveal where Moscow's troops were living and which locals were collaborating with the occupying authorities.
EU Court upholds broadcast ban on Russia Today
The Court of Justice of the European Union upheld the EU ban on Russia Today (RT) broadcasts that the bloc imposed as part of its sanctions in response to Russia’s offensive in Ukraine.
The EU Court ruling found the sanctions “aimed at suspending the activity of a vehicle for propaganda in support of that military aggression” did not violate the general principle of freedom of expression.
It also stated that the limitations to RT’s right to be heard are “proportionate, inasmuch as they are appropriate and necessary, to the aims pursued” despite “the exceptional context and the extreme urgency in which the contested acts were adopted.”
Russia cuts gas through Nord Stream 1 to 20% of capacity
Russia’s Gazprom has halved the amount of natural gas flowing through a major pipeline from Russia to Europe to 20 percent of capacity.
It’s the latest reduction to Nord Stream 1 that Russia has blamed on technical problems, but European countries call a political move to sow uncertainty and push up prices amid the conflict in Ukraine.
The Russian state-controlled energy giant announced on Monday that it would carry out the reduction citing equipment repairs, further raising fears that Russia could cut off gas completely.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9shDtfBAkus[/embed]
Russia cuts gas supplies to make winter harsh for Europe — Zelenskyy
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia was deliberately cutting supplies of natural gas to impose “price terror” against Europe, and he called for more sanctions on Moscow.
“Using Gazprom, Moscow is doing all it can to make this coming winter as harsh as possible for the European countries. Terror must be answered — impose sanctions,” he said in a video address.
US Yellen discusses price cap on Russian oil with UK's Zahawi
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has highlighted a proposed price cap on Russian oil on a phone call with British Finance Minister Nadhim Zahawi, a move to reduce the impact of the conflict in Ukraine on global energy prices.
Both discussed the need to continue to accelerate budgetary support for Ukraine, and opportunities to build on sanctions imposed on Russia, the US Treasury Department said in a statement.
Bridge closed in Russia-held Kherson after HIMARS shelling
Authorities in the Russian-controlled Ukrainian city of Kherson have closed the city's only bridge across the Dnieper river after it came under fire from US-supplied high mobility artillery rocket systems (HIMARS).
The Antonovsky bridge has been closed for civilians but its structural integrity has not suffered from the shelling, Kirill Stremousov, deputy head of the Russian-appointed city administration, told Interfax.
Separately, TASS quoted the official saying that HIMARS had targeted the bridge.
Russia continues to target Ukraine’s southern Black Sea regions of Odessa and Mykolaiv with air strikes, hitting private buildings and port infrastructure with missiles, says Kiev as the conflict continues on 154th day
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For live updates from Tuesday (July 26), click here
Source: TRTWorld and agencies
Tunisians have begun voting in a referendum on a new constitution that critics of President Kais Saied fear will hurt the democracy that emerged from a 2011 revolution by handing him nearly total power.
Monday's vote is being held on the first anniversary of Saied's ousting of an elected parliament, when he established emergency rule and began governing by fiat.
Few people were out when polls opened at 0500 GMT, but at Rue Marseilles polling station in downtown Tunis, Illyes Moujahed was first in line, saying Saied was the only hope.
"I'm here to save Tunisia from collapse. To save it from years of corruption and failure," he said.
It is not clear when the results will be announced after polls close at 2100 GMT, but with little apparent enthusiasm for the vote among most Tunisians and a boycott by major parties, analysts expect a 'yes' vote with low turnout.
Around 9.3 million out of Tunisia's 12 million people — civilians aged over 18 — have opted in or been automatically registered to vote, according to the ISIE electoral commission. They include about 356,000 registered overseas.
READ MORE: Tunisian union fears proposed constitution could threaten democracy
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCefgK2cHMA[/embed]
Visible disunity
Under Saied's own rules for the referendum, no minimum level of participation is needed to approve the new constitution. They only stipulate it will come into effect once the final results are published and do not say what happens if voters reject it.
Saied has hailed his changes as the foundation of a new Tunisian republic to put the revolution back on course and end years of political resistance to change and economic stagnation. His foes accuse him of a coup.
While nearly all major political parties and civil society organisations have denounced Saied's unilateral approach to rewriting the constitution and the legitimacy of the referendum, they have failed to build a united front.
Disunity was visible in protests against Saied in recent days. The Ennahda, the biggest party in parliament, took part in a protest on Saturday. Civil society organisations and smaller parties held one on Friday. A party that backed the pre-revolution autocracy held its own on both days.
The protests attracted only small numbers, but rallies organised by Saied supporters have also had only modest attendance and there has been little sign of excitement around the campaign.
Most Tunisians remain focused on the dire economy and rising prices.
However, the economic decline since 2011 has left many people angry at the parties that have governed since the revolution and disillusioned with the political system they ran.
"I don't support Saied, but I will vote 'yes' in the referendum because those protesting against it are the main cause of our problems for the past decade," said Mohammed, a Tripoli resident.
Of the three parliamentary elections and two presidential elections since the revolution, the lowest turnout, of 41 percent, was in 2019 for the chamber that Saied has dissolved.
READ MORE: Leader of Tunisian constitution committee criticises president's draft
