Headline

Russia Launches ‘Massive’ Attack On Ukraine Power Grid

Published

1 year ago

June 22, 2024

Editor

Ukraine on Saturday Lamented that Russia had launched a “massive” overnight attack on energy infrastructure in the west and south, adding that at least seven people died in strikes elsewhere.

Russia launched 16 cruise missiles from land, sea and air as well as 13 attack drones, aiming at energy infrastructure in several regions, Ukraine’s military said.

Air defences downed all but four of them, it added.

The energy ministry said this was “the eighth massive, combined attack on energy infrastructure facilities” in the past three months, targeting the southern Zaporizhzhia region and Lviv in the west.

“Equipment at (operator) Ukrenergo facilities in the Zaporizhzhia and Lviv regions was damaged,” the ministry said.

Ukrenergo said that two employees were wounded and hospitalised in Zaporizhzhia, where Europe’s biggest nuclear plant is located.

More than two years into the Russian invasion, targeted missile and drone attacks have crippled Ukraine’s electricity generation capacity and forced Kyiv to impose blackouts and import supplies from the European Union.

Ukrenergo said outages across the country would start earlier than usual on Saturday, running from 1100 GMT to 2100 GMT due to damage from the attacks.

In Zaporizhzhia, shelling over the last day also killed one civilian and destroyed residential buildings and infrastructure, according to the regional military administration.

Russia controls a part of the region and the nuclear plant. The Russian-appointed administration said Ukrainian attacks had damaged a substation linked to the city’s nuclear power plant but did not affect nuclear safety.

Maksym Kozytskyi, the governor of the western Lviv region, said Russia “launched a missile attack on a critical energy infrastructure facility”, sparking a fire that was later extinguished.

Ukrainian troops based in the west shot down seven out of 10 cruise missiles fired by Moscow, the Lviv regional governor said.

Five civilians were killed by Russian shelling in frontline areas of the eastern Donetsk region over the last day, the head of the region, Vadym Filashkin said.

Moscow is trying to advance in the area near the town of Pokrovsk, where intense clashes took place on Saturday, Ukraine’s military said, adding the situation was “under control”.

– ‘Crisis’ warning –

In the southern Kherson region, a policeman manning a checkpoint was killed by a drone, the national police force said.

Russia’s defence ministry said it had hit 340 Ukrainian targets over the past day.

Russian attacks have destroyed half of Ukraine’s energy capacity, according to President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Zelensky said this week that all hospitals and schools in Ukraine must be equipped with solar panels “as soon as possible”.

“We are doing everything to ensure that Russian attempts to blackmail us on heat and electricity fail,” he said Thursday.

DTEK, the largest private energy company in Ukraine, said Thursday that strikes caused “serious damage” at one of its plants.

DTEK chief executive Maxim Timchenko warned that Ukraine “faces a serious crisis this winter” if the country’s Western allies do not provide military aid to defend the energy network.

Zelensky has repeatedly urged Ukraine’s allies to send more air-defence systems to protect the country’s vital infrastructure.

Headline

US Suspends Work Visas For Nigerian, Foreign Truck Drivers

Published

11 hours ago

August 23, 2025

Editor

The United States government has suspended the issuance of work visas for Nigerian and other foreign truck drivers, citing job security concerns and safety risks for American citizens.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the decision on Thursday, saying it takes immediate effect.

According to him, the rising number of foreign truck drivers on U.S. highways is both threatening lives and reducing opportunities for American truckers.

“Effective immediately, we are pausing all issuance of worker visas for commercial truck drivers.

“The increasing number of foreign drivers operating large tractor-trailer trucks on U.S. roads is endangering American lives and undercutting the livelihoods of American truckers,” Rubio said.

The move comes under President Donald Trump’s renewed clampdown on immigration since returning to office in January 2025.

As part of new measures, travellers from countries with high visa overstay rates or weak travel databases will be required to pay a bond of $5,000 to $15,000 before obtaining certain categories of visas.

The U.S. Embassy in Nigeria also directed all visa applicants to disclose their social media handles from the past five years, warning that failure to comply could result in denial of applications and possible ineligibility for future visas.

Headline

Judge Orders Closure Of Trump’s Controversial ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ Migrant Camp

Published

24 hours ago

August 22, 2025

Editor

A US federal judge on Thursday barred the Trump administration and Florida state government from bringing any new migrants to the detention centre known as “Alligator Alcatraz” and ordered much of the site to be dismantled, effectively shuttering the facility.

Florida’s government swiftly announced it would appeal the decision.

The detention centre was hastily assembled in just eight days in June with bunk beds, wire cages and large white tents at an abandoned airfield in Florida’s Everglades wetlands, home to a large population of alligators.

President Donald Trump, who has vowed to deport millions of undocumented migrants, visited the centre last month, boasting about the harsh conditions and joking that the reptilian predators will serve as guards.

Headline

Japan City Mulls Two-hour Daily Smartphone Limit

Published

1 day ago

August 22, 2025

Editor

A Japanese city will urge all smartphone users to limit screen time to two hours a day outside work or school under a proposed ordinance that includes no penalties.

The limit, which will be recommended for all residents in central Japan’s Toyoake City, will not be binding, and there will be no penalties incurred for higher usage, according to the draft ordinance.

The proposal aims “to prevent excessive use of devices causing physical and mental health issues… including sleep problems,” Mayor Masafumi Koki said in a statement on Friday.

The draft urges elementary school students to avoid smartphones after 9:00 pm, and junior high students and older are advised not to use them after 10:00 pm.

The move prompted an online backlash, with many calling the plan unrealistic.

“I understand their intention, but the two-hour limit is impossible,” one user wrote on social media platform X.

“In two hours, I cannot even read a book or watch a movie (on my smartphone),” wrote another.

Others said smartphone use should be a decision for families to make for themselves.

The angry response prompted the mayor to clarify that the two-hour limit was not mandatory, emphasising that the guidelines “acknowledge smartphones are useful and indispensable in daily life”.

The ordinance will be considered next week, and if passed, it will come into effect in October.

In 2020, the western Kagawa region issued a first-of-its-kind ordinance calling for children to be limited to an hour a day of gaming during the week, and 90 minutes during school holidays.

It also suggested children aged 12 to 15 should not be allowed to use smartphones later than 9:00 pm, with the limit rising to 10:00 pm for children between 15 and 18.

Japanese youth spend slightly over five hours on average a day online on weekdays, according to a survey published in March by the Children and Families Agency.