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Slovakia’s health minister said yesterday the prognosis for Prime Minister Robert Fico was “positive” after an assassination attempt as a court put the suspected gunman in pre-trial detention.Fico has been in hospital since Wednesday when a lone gunman shot him four times, including in the abdomen.He underwent a five-hour surgery on Wednesday and another surgery on Friday, both at a hospital in the central Slovak city of Banska Bystrica.“Yesterday’s surgery, which took two hours, contributed to a positive prognosis of the prime minister’s health condition,” Health Minister Zuzana Dolinkova told reporters.“The prime minister’s condition is stable, but despite this it’s still serious,” she added.The suspected gunman, identified by Slovak media as 71-year-old poet Juraj Cintula, was placed in pre-trial detention by a special penal court in Pezinok northeast of the capital Bratislava yesterday. “The reason...is concerns about a potential escape or that the criminal activity may continue,” court spokeswoman Katarina Kudjakova told AFP.The decision followed a request from a prosecutor made Friday. Cintula had been charged with a premeditated murder attempt earlier.Fico was shot as he was walking to greet supporters after a government meeting in the central mining town of Handlova.Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok said earlier that if one of the shots “went just a few centimetres higher, it would have hit the prime minister’s liver”.Defence minister and deputy premier Robert Kalinak, Fico’s closest political ally, said the prime minister was conscious and his condition allowed him to recover.“I don’t think he could be taken to Bratislava in the coming days, his condition is still serious,” he told reporters outside the hospital. Kalinak told the TA3 news channel later yesterday that Fico had suffered four gunshot wounds, two light, one medium and one serious.He added doctors had removed all potentially infectious material from his wounds during Friday’s surgery.“It will take the organism four or five days to start winning over such injuries, but we’re not there yet,” Kalinak said, hailing the good physical shape of the prime minister known as a keen runner and body-builder.The 59-year-old Fico took office in October after his centrist populist Smer party won a general election.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told AFP in an exclusive interview he expects Russia to step up its offensive in the northeast and warned Kyiv only has a quarter of the air defences it needs to hold the front line.Russian forces, which had made only moderate advances in recent months, launched a surprise assault in the Kharkiv region on May 10 that has resulted in their biggest territorial gains in a year-and-a-half.Zelensky said Russian troops managed to advance between 5-10km along the northeastern border before being stopped by Ukrainian forces, but added that the region could be the “first wave” in a wider offensive.“I won’t say it’s a great success (for Russia) but we have to be sober and understand that they are going deeper into our territory,” he said, speaking from Kyiv on Friday in his first interview with foreign media since the offensive began.Zelensky said the situation in the Kharkiv region has been “controlled” but “not stabilised”.He doubled down on pleas to allies to send more air defence and fighter jets to combat Russia’s air superiority as the war grinds through its third year.“Today, we have about 25 percent of what we need to defend Ukraine. I’m talking about air defence,” he said.Ukraine needs “120 to 130” F-16 fighter jets or other advanced aircraft to achieve air “parity” with Russia, Zelensky said.Russian President Vladimir Putin said during a trip to China this week the northeastern offensive was in retaliation for Ukraine’s shelling of border regions and that Moscow was trying to create a “security zone”.Russian forces have taken 278sq km between May 9 and 15, their biggest gains since the end of 2022, AFP calculated using data from the Institute for the Study of War.Russia said yesterday it had seized another village in the Kharkiv region.Ukraine’s defence forces said they “were focusing their main efforts on preventing the Russian occupants from advancing.”Ukraine has evacuated almost 10,000 people from the northeast border area since Russia launched the assault.Ukrainian officials have accused Russian soldiers in the eastern town of Vovchansk of capturing dozens of civilians to use as “human shields” to defend their command headquarters — a claim AFP was not able to immediately verify.Two civilians — aged 70 and 83 — were killed when trying to leave Vovchansk by car, the Kharkiv regional prosecutor said.“The battle in the area of Vovchansk is ongoing,” Ukraine’s armed defences said.Putin said there was no intention at this stage to take Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second city, about 30km from the border. More than one million people still live there.With no end to the war in sight, Ukraine’s army is struggling to recruit, while fighters are growing exhausted and angry at the lack of rotation. Zelensky acknowledged issues with staffing and “morale” within Ukraine’s often outgunned and outnumbered ranks, and signed a mobilisation law that came into force yesterday.“We need to staff the reserves... A large number of (brigades) are empty,” Zelensky told AFP.Many Ukrainian soldiers have been fighting for more than two years without the possibility of being discharged.Kyiv has lowered the age at which men can be drafted from 27 to 25 and tightened punishments for those who avoid being called up.It also required that all persons liable for military service, conscripts and reservists aged 18-60 update their military registration.To facilitate the process — usually involving long lines at the military centres — it created an online registration system where more than 150,000 people had logged in yesterday morning. Lawmakers have scrapped a proposal to grant soldiers who have served for more than 36 months the option to be discharged.Ukraine’s strongest allies, the Baltic states and Poland, have grown nervous that Russia may try to attack them.Poland announced it would spend $2.5bn to fortify its eastern border, which includes Russia, Belarus and Ukraine.As other Western allies press for a quick end to the war, Zelensky insisted Ukraine is still playing the long game.“The West wants the war to end. Period. As soon as possible. And, for them, this is a fair peace,” he said.He pushed his allies to taker a firmer approach to Russia, including by allowing his armed forces to strike into Russian territory with Western weapons.“We are in a nonsense situation where the West is afraid that Russia will lose the war. And it does not want Ukraine to lose it,” Zelensky said.But Russia said its air defences yesterday destroyed French-made guided bombs and US-made anti-radar missiles over the western Belgorod region that borders Ukraine.

The Kuwaiti Speciality Hospital is one of the few places in Rafah the wounded or dying can turn for care, but that role may come under unbearable pressure if Israel launches a full-scale advance into the southern Gaza city, doctors there say.Israeli forces are bearing down on Rafah as part of their drive to eradicate Palestinian group Hamas, despite warnings this could result in mass casualties in an area where displaced civilians have found shelter.Staff at the Speciality Hospital say they fear such an assault would produce a crush of new patients that would overwhelm exhausted doctors, who already complain of shortages of medicine and proper equipment.“We have been here from the start of the war until now, and I do hope they will not target us, they will not threaten us,” said doctor Jamal al-Hams.“I do hope the whole medical team will continue to present its services to the injured people, to the critically ill patients, to the people who have chronic diseases,” he added.As ambulances stood by at the hospital gates, plumes of smoke rose into the air nearby.Gaza’s medical system has virtually collapsed under Israeli bombardment, which began after a Hamas-led storming of Israel in the first week of October.The Israeli campaign has killed over 35,000 Palestinians and wounded over 75,000, Gaza health authorities say. Doctors complain they have to perform surgery, including amputations, with no anaesthetics or pain killers.Palestinian Abdelilah Farhat, a patient at the hospital, said he had survived a brush with death while he was out looking for a grocery store that was open.ANXIETY, TRAUMA “Thank God, he had it fated that I would get injured, and he saved me. The rocket fell only one metre away from a man,” he said.“They (Israelis) dropped a rocket on civilians just walking — they were just looking for food to eat,” he said.Witnesses and medical professionals said Israeli troops have attacked hospitals, blockaded them and killed doctors and other civilians there. Israel denies such allegations and says it goes to great lengths to protect civilians.It says hospitals in Gaza are used by Hamas as bases, and has released videos and pictures supporting the assertion. Hamas and medical staff deny this.The closure of the Rafah crossing between southern Gaza and Egypt has deepened the anxiety and trauma for patients desperate for medical attention abroad.It has been a main conduit for humanitarian aid entering the enclave, a medical supply route and exit point for medical evacuees seeking treatment outside the besieged territory.Israel said on May 7 it had taken operational control of the crossing, vowing it would not compromise on preventing Hamas having any future role there.“The last medical supplies that we got in Gaza was before May 6,” World Health Organisation spokesperson Tarik Jasarevic said at a UN press briefing yesterday.“We don’t have fuel; we have hospitals that are under evacuation order; we have a situation where we cannot move physically.”

Israeli strikes on southern and eastern Lebanon killed at least five people yesterday including two children, security sources and Unicef said.Israel and Lebanese armed group Hezbollah have been exchanging fire across Lebanon’s southern border for seven months in parallel with the Gaza war. Other Lebanese factions as well as Palestinian groups have also fired rockets at Israel from Lebanon.Yesterday, a series of Israeli strikes on a coastal town further north than the usual conflict area killed a Hezbollah member as well as two Syrian civilians, the security sources said. Unicef Lebanon separately said two children were killed in an Israeli strike on Friday.A separate Israeli strike on Majdal Anjar, on Lebanon’s eastern border with Syria, killed Sharhabil al-Sayed, a member of Palestinian group Hamas who was in charge of the faction’s operations in Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa Valley, according to two security sources. The strike also killed another Palestinian Hamas member, the sources said.The Israeli military said its forces struck a Hezbollah launcher and military infrastructure in southern Lebanon and confirmed the death of al-Sayed.It said sirens warning of incoming rockets and hostile aircraft sounded in several communities throughout yesterday and at one point identified 75 launches crossing from Lebanon into Israel. It said dozens of the launches were intercepted and there were no immediate reports of deaths or damage. The exchanges of fire between armed groups in Lebanon and the Israeli military have ramped up in recent days. Hezbollah has deployed new types of rockets against Israel and launched a drone attack the furthest into Israeli territory since October.Speaking to soldiers during a situational assessment and tour of the north, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said that while Israel hoped for a diplomatic resolution, it was also readying for further escalation.“We must be prepared and take into consideration that anything can happen,” he said. “We want to exhaust every opportunity to do so by agreement because we know that there are costs to war that we would rather avoid, but you must take in account that this (escalation) might happen.”

Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan appeared before the Supreme Court by video link from prison yesterday to plead his petition against changes in Pakistan’s anti-graft laws.His video appearance was expected to be streamed live on the court’s website and YouTube, making it the first publicly seen visuals of the jailed leader since his arrest in August last year.However, the pictures could not be seen on the website as proceedings began.It was not immediately clear why the feed was not available on the website or YouTube. The top court has lately been allowing live streaming of important cases.Posts about the appearance, however, crossed 200,000 within hours on social media platform X.Up to 15,000 of Khan’s supporters waited on the YouTube channel of his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party for the court visuals to be aired.That number fell below 5,000 when it became apparent the live stream was not happening.Khan, a 71-year-old cricketer-turned-politician, has been appearing in other courts since being jailed on corruption charges, but cameras have not been permitted to cover those proceedings which are usually conducted on the jail premises.While Khan has been fighting dozens of cases registered against him, yesterday’s appearance was in connection with a case he has filed against amendments to Pakistan’s anti-graft legislation.During three hours of proceedings, Khan’s microphone was muted before Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa adjourned the hearing.A date for the next hearing would be given later after consultation with his fellow judges, he said.Regarding Khan’s video link appearance, he said “the same arrangement will continue”, according to a Reuters reporter inside the courtroom.His party leader Ali Mohamed Khan demanded that his appearance should be livestreamed at the next hearing.Khan’s party circulated a screen grab, which instantly went viral, that showed him wearing a sky-blue polo shirt, with sleeves rolled up and both buttons open, freshly shaven and with dyed hair.“Picture is out. So will be him, soon,” said a post on X.Though the origin of the screen grab could not be verified independently, it appeared to match what was shown on the screen inside the court, according to the Reuters reporter present.Court staff were seen checking how such an image could have been captured when phones or cameras were not allowed in the courtroom, the Reuters reporter said, but the court did not take any formal notice or issue any orders for an investigation.Khan remained seated throughout the hearing but looked uncomfortable and kept changing positions when he was not asked any questions by the court even after couple of hours, according to the Reuters reporter.The Supreme Court had this week ordered the government to ensure that Khan be produced via video link, granting his request to be allowed to represent himself instead of through a lawyer.Khan, who was removed from power in 2022, was granted bail in a land corruption case on Wednesday, but will remain in prison having been convicted in four cases, of which sentences in two have been suspended.The former prime minister, who remains widely popular in Pakistan, alleges that the cases are part of an effort by his political rivals and the country’s powerful military to sideline him and keep him from returning to power. Both deny this.Khan-backed candidates won the most seats in a national election earlier this year despite him being in jail, but they did not have the numbers to form a government.An alliance of his rivals led by previous Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif eventually formed a government.

When the fourth Qatar Economic Forum (QEF) - which brought together more than 1,000 world leaders, intellectual figures, and influential decision-makers from about 50 countries - concludes today, the country would have reiterated its position as a major hub for political, economic, and cultural dialogue. Through its focus on global challenges that affect societies and economies around the world, and covering the pillars of the international economy, whether in terms of trade and its connection to energy, investment, modern technology, or the general mood of consumers, as well as geopolitical turmoil and its complicated effects, the QEF has emerged as one of the most important events in terms of strengthening international partnerships.This event showcased Qatar’s ability to unite various parties even in light of regional crises such as the conflict in Gaza, as the world awaits the statements of Qatari leaders with an eagerness that was evident in the opening session in which HE the Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim al-Thani was interviewed on stage. He stressed that the best way to stop the ongoing fighting in the Gaza Strip, which Qatar is demanding, is reaching an agreement, putting an end to the atrocities committed against civilians, and negotiating a deal to release the hostages.Sheikh Mohamed pointed out that the Qatari government has been keen on creating opportunities for the private sector, attracting foreign direct investments (FDI), and the growth of the manufacturing, logistics, tourism, and ICT sectors, as well as financial services. He underscored Qatar’s infrastructure-related investments in its healthcare and education sectors and cited the great strides in its digitalisation strategy, and the need for major investments in artificial intelligence (AI)-related infrastructure or applications.Sheikh Mohamed highlighted the role of educational institutions in pushing Qatar’s plans to maximise the use of AI. He also announced the launch of ‘Al Fanar’ or the Arabic Artificial Intelligence project. The objective is to collect quality data in Arabic, contributing to enriching large linguistic models and preserving the Arab identity.Saudi Vision 2030 and its integration with the Gulf economy received great attention, as was shown in the joint session with the Qatari Minister of Finance. The Saudi economy, with regard to the Gulf region, is always seen as a unified economic entity. The blend of ideas about politics, economics, technology, and future investments is an indication of the broad ambition and comprehensive outlook adopted by Qatar and the entire region to confront global challenges such as inflation and supply chain problems.In addition, continuing to exploit the legacy of the World Cup to promote tourism, especially Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions (MICE) tourism, is considered a vital element in the development of the Qatari economy. The region’s real opportunity to achieve economic prosperity depends largely on stopping wars, such as the conflict in Gaza, which threaten to spread to wider areas. The Gulf region is an attractive and vital source of energy globally, and the major countries must bear their responsibility for the stability of the region, and crises such as the interruption of supply chains during the Ukraine war and the events in the Red Sea have shown that no one emerges a winner from these wars, which affect global growth directly and indirectly.Among the highlights of the QEF are the agreements signed by the Investment Promotion Agency Qatar (Invest Qatar) and Media City Qatar (MCQ). Invest Qatar and Boeing signed a memorandum of understanding to establish a permanent legal entity, Boeing Aerospace Doha LLC, in Qatar. The new Boeing hub will focus on strengthening the local aerospace sector through research and technology advancements, fostering innovation and support for start-ups, as well as driving and developing sustainable aviation. Additionally, the hub will build a local skilled workforce that can contribute to the sector’s long-term success. Boeing’s new entity will complement the work carried out through its existing Qatar branch companies, Boeing Qatar Inc. and Boeing International Corporation.MCQ signed two MOUs at QEF. The partnership with the Qatar Research, Development and Innovation (QRDI) Council aims to foster an innovation-driven media sector in Qatar, enhancing technological capabilities and global competitiveness in alignment with the National Development Strategy 3. The MoU with Qatar University (QU) envisages to offer comprehensive media education programmes to current students and recent graduates of QU. The aim is to nurture future media professionals, in alignment with the goals of the Qatar National Vision 2030, focusing on building an education-based media society.The QEF highlighted the impressive and positive changes witnessed by Qatar and the region after hosting the 2022 World Cup. The tournament has led to several positive outcomes and significant changes in Qatar’s infrastructure leaving a great legacy. It also has led to many societal changes and has lifted the image of the country which is reflected in the announcement of FIFA that Qatar will host three more editions of the Arab Cup,” remarked HE Hassan al-Thawadi, secretary-general of the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy for the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup He also pointed out several other changes and the tourism opportunities that the tournament generated as the country hosted several major events creating great opportunities in many areas.In the current global arena full of challenges, and where there is a growing need for constructive dialogues that shed light on the pressing issues sweeping the economic field in particular, and where decision-makers from all over the world aspire to shape a more sustainable and dynamic economic future, the importance of the is not only for Qatar and the countries of the region, but for the entire [email protected]

Finnish healthcare companies supported by the embassy of Finland in Doha, and in strategic collaboration with Biotech Medical Qatar, will organise a Finland Healthcare Seminar today at Sheraton Grand Doha, from 4pm to 9pm, a statement said.“This seminal event heralds a transformative chapter in fortifying healthcare alliances between Finland and Qatar,” stated Biotech Medical Qatar’s chairman Mohamed Nasser A al-Misnad.Aligned with Qatar National Vision 2030 and with a focus on recent advancements and pioneering solutions, the seminar aims to convene leading experts from diverse healthcare sectors for a comprehensive dialogue, he explained.The seminar will be opened by the Finnish Minister of Foreign Trade and Development Ville Tavio.Finnish ambassador to Qatar Pekka Voutilainen is to welcome the gathering.In his keynote address, Prof Hanan Khalil, a renowned figure in the field, will delve into the evolution of rehabilitation in Qatar. His elucidation on groundbreaking neurological rehabilitation research from Qatar University promises to unveil novel insights and transformative paradigms.Complementing the discourse, Prof Arto Hautala from the University of Jyvaskyla will share expertise in physiotherapy and rehabilitation, shedding light on best practices and emergent trends that are poised to redefine the healthcare landscape.At the heart of the seminar’s agenda is a showcase of an array of ‘Made in Finland’ medical devices. “This curated showcase serves as a testament to Finland’s ingenuity and innovation in pioneering healthcare technology, offering attendees a firsthand glimpse into cutting-edge solutions poised to revolutionise healthcare delivery,” the statement added.

French bakers cooked the world’s longest baguette yesterday at 140.53m (461’), reclaiming a record for one of the nation’s best-known emblems taken by Italy for five years.The baguette, about 235 times longer than the traditional one, was made in Suresnes in the suburbs of Paris during an event for the French confederation of bakers and pastry chefs.The previous longest baguette of 132.62m was baked in the Italian city of Como in June 2019.To better that, the French bakers began kneading and shaping the dough at 3am before putting it in a specially-built slow-moving oven on wheels.“Everything has been validated, we are all very happy to have beaten this record and that it was done in France,” Anthony Arrigault, one of the bakers, said after the baguette was approved by the Guinness World Records judge.Part of the baguette, which had to be at least 5cm thick throughout, was cut and shared with the public.The rest was to be given to the homeless.The traditional French baguette must be about 60cm long, be made from wheat flour, water, salt and yeast only, and weigh about 250g, according to the official regulation.

Indian cartoonist Rachita Taneja and Hong Kong’s Zunzi (pictured) were awarded the biennial Kofi Annan Courage in Cartooning Award yesterday, which is international press freedom day.Taneja has been under threat of a prison sentence since a member of India’s ruling Hindu nationalist party complained about her online webcomic Sanitary Panels, whose stick figures take on subjects like harassment, menstruation and authoritarianism.Zunzi was dismissed by his newspaper in 2023, three years after China adopted National Security laws that have reshaped Hong Kong’s arts, culture and media.Officials complained his images were “distorting and unethical”.India ranks 161 out of 180 countries on Reporters Without Borders (RSF) Press Freedom Index and Hong Kong ranks 140.The ceremony yesterday for the Kofi Annan award is accompanied by an exhibition of press cartoons, which Iranian lawyer and Nobel Peace Prize winner Shrin Ebadi was due to open later in the day near the headquarters on Lake Geneva of the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights.This year’s award and exhibition highlight “the pivotal role of women in the fight for freedom (and)...the challenges faced by female cartoonists globally” said the organisers – the Freedom Cartoonists Foundation and the city of Geneva.“We want to highlight the increasing numbers of women press artists. In addition to the pressures they are under due to their professions, they have to face threats because they are women,” said the foundation head, Swiss cartoonist Patrick Chappatte.Taneja risks six months imprisonment if India’s Supreme Court upholds a complaint from a member of the student wing of the ruling BJP.The country’s press freedom rankings have declined markedly since Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi took office in 2014, while restrictions on civil society have seen rights groups such as Amnesty International severely curtail their local operations.Zunzi, born in Hong Kong in 1955, began his career as a political caricaturist with Ming Pao in 1983.The paper sacked him last year after months of criticism from officials and attacks on freedom of expression, the foundation said.The authorities complained his drawings displayed “sanctimonious humour that damages Hong Kong’s image”.His books and albums are banned from public libraries.The exhibition “Cartooning for Freedom” focuses on three topics – women’s rights; the ongoing wars in the Middle East, Ukraine and Sudan; and artificial intelligence (AI).

The death toll from floods and mudslides triggered by torrential storms in southern Brazil climbed to 37 yesterday, officials said, as rescuers searched for 74 people reported missing in the devastation.Rising water levels in the state of Rio Grande do Sul was putting strain on dams and threatening the metropolis of Porto Alegre with “unprecedented” flooding, authorities warned.“Forget everything you’ve seen, it’s going to be much worse in the metropolitan region,” Governor Eduardo Leite said yesterday as streets of the state capital, with a population of some 1.5mn, started flooding.Since the start of the week, at least 235 municipalities have suffered storm damage in Rio Grande do Sul, injuring at least 74 people and displacing more than 23,600.More than 350,000 people have experienced some form of damage, according to authorities.And there was no end in sight, with officials reporting an “emergency situation, presenting a risk of collapse” at four dams in the state.The level of the state’s main Guiaba river, meanwhile, was estimated to have reached 4.2-4.6 (about 13.7-15’) yesterday, but could not be measured as the gauges have washed away, the mayor of Porto Alegre said.As it kept rising, officials raced to reinforced flood protection.Porto Alegre’s worst recorded flood was in 1941, when the river reached 4.71m.Elsewhere in the state, several cities and towns have been completely cut off from the world in what governor Leite described as “the worst disaster in the history” of Rio Grande do Sul.Many communities have been left without access to drinking water, telephone or Internet services.Tens of thousands had no electricity among the ruins of collapsed homes, bridges and roads, authorities said.President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva visited the region on Thursday, vowing “there will be no lack of human or material resources” in responding to the disaster, which he blamed on climate change.The central government has sent aircraft, boats and more than 600 soldiers to help clear roads, distribute food, water and mattresses, and set up shelters.School classes have been suspended state-wide.South America’s largest country has suffered a string of recent extreme weather events, which experts say are made more likely by climate change.The floods came amid a cold front battering the south and southeast following a wave of extreme heat.The country’s north recently experienced an historic drought, and the number of forest fires reached a new record in the first four months of this year.“Rain in the south, fire in the north...these two tragedies bear the fingerprints of the climate crisis,” the Climate Observatory non-governmental organisation (NGO) warned in a statement. “The government must take urgent measures to prevent the situation from getting even worse.”Last September, at least 31 people died as a cyclone hit Rio Grande do Sul.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called for additional air defence systems to be sent to Kyiv to help protect against Russian strikes, adding that a pause in US funding had helped Moscow seize the initiative.His comments come just days after Congress emerged from a half-year of deadlock to approve a $61bn aid package for Ukraine.Yesterday the Pentagon announced that it will buy $6bn worth of new weapons for Ukraine including interceptors for the Patriot air defence system, the single largest assistance package President Joe Biden’s administration has provided (see report on Page 7).“This year, Russian jets (have) already used more than 9,000 guided aerial bombs against Ukraine and we need the ability to shoot down the air combat aircraft so that they do not approach our positions and borders,” Zelensky said at the start of a virtual meeting led by the United States on helping arm Ukraine.The first such meeting, known as the Ukraine Contact Group, was held two years ago.“While we were waiting for a decision on the American support, the Russian army managed to seize the initiative on the battlefield,” Zelensky said. “We can still now, not only stabilise the front, but also move forward achieving our Ukrainian goals in the war.”He also highlighted the stakes in the conflict, saying that Russian success could breed further aggression.“Predatory regimes like Russia’s are rapidly increasing their appetite for aggression. When they succeed in one part of the world, it creates problems in many other places. Aggression spreads when not stopped,” he said.After the meeting, US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said he would ask allies to accept more risk.“We’re going to ask (allies) to accept a little bit more risk so that we can do what’s necessary in Ukraine,” he told reporters.Austin said the Patriot missile defence system itself would not be a “silver bullet” for Kyiv, but rather integrating it with other missile defence systems.Spain’s defence minister said yesterday that Madrid would deliver Patriot anti-aircraft missiles to Ukraine, following pressure from the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) and European Union allies to send more military aid to Kyiv.The new $6bn US weapons package announced will be purchased from defence contractors and not drawn from US stocks and delivery to Ukraine will take time, perhaps even years for some systems.The United States hopes its new deliveries of weaponry will help Ukraine rebuild defences and refit its forces as it recovers from a gap in US assistance, but it does not expect Kyiv to launch large-scale offensive operations against Russian forces in the near term.The influx of weapons could improve Kyiv’s chances of averting a major Russian breakthrough in the east, just over two years since the start of Moscow’s full-scale invasion, military analysts say.However, it remains unclear how much pressure Kyiv can apply on Russia after months of rationing artillery as its stocks ran low.Kyiv also faces manpower shortages on the battlefield and questions linger over the strength of its fortifications along a sprawling, 1,000km (621-mile) front line.Kyiv clears hospitals over air strike fearsOfficials in Ukraine’s capital Kyiv announced yesterday the evacuation of two hospitals which they feared could be targeted by Russian strikes.“The city is urgently beginning to evacuate two hospitals because a video is being widely circulated online, de facto announcing an enemy attack on these medical facilities,” Kyiv’s city administration said.It referred to comments made by the head of the KGB in Moscow-allied Belarus, who said on national television that the buildings hosted military personnel “hiding behind sick children” – suggesting Russia could regard the facilities a legitimate military target.“This is an absolute lie and a provocation by the enemy, which it is trying to use to attack the social infrastructure of the capital,” the administration wrote on Telegram.Ivan Tertel, the head of the Belarusian KGB, provided the addresses of the two Kyiv hospitals where he said fighters were “hiding behind the backs of children”.“Without a doubt, all of them will suffer well-deserved punishment, even though they have chosen Kyiv hospitals as their lair,” he said in a speech broadcast by the state news agency Belta.Belarusian troops are not fighting in the war in Ukraine, but Minsk is a close ally of Moscow and Russian forces used Belarusian territory as a staging ground for their full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.Kyiv’s city authorities said they were moving patients and staff from both hospitals to other medical facilities.AFP journalists on the scene saw around 10 ambulances waiting for patients to be evacuated.A child on a stretcher connected to medical equipment was placed in one of the vehicles, which left the scene.Some patients were leaving the hospital on their own.The head of Kyiv’s military administration, Sergiy Popko, said the evacuations were taken out of precaution.“So far, there is no evidence to suggest that Russia is actually going to launch such strikes. However, for us, the lives and health of our people and our children are the highest value,” he said.“We are doing our best to protect children, their parents, adult patients and staff from a possible attack on these medical institutions,” Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said.The World Health Organisation (WHO) has recorded at least 1,682 attacks against Ukraine’s healthcare system since the beginning of the war.These caused 128 deaths and 288 injuries, according to WHO statistics released in early April. – AFP/Reuters

Joe Biden said yesterday that he is ready to face off against his White House challenger Donald Trump in a debate ahead of their likely presidential rematch in November.Candidate debates have been important milestones in US presidential elections for decades, helping make or break voters’ opinions of the contestants’ personal style and demeanour as much as their policy chops.However, Biden’s team has for months been non-committal about his willingness to participate in the tradition, which is usually held in front of an audience and moderated by a well-known journalist.“I am happy to debate him,” Biden told radio host Howard Stern yesterday. “I am, somewhere. I don’t know when.”“Ok, let’s set it up!” Trump campaign adviser Chis LaCivita said on X in response to Biden’s comments.Presumptive Republican nominee Trump declined to face off against his primary opponents in any debates during the 2024 cycle.However, he has indicated his eagerness with the man who beat him in 2020, saying on social media earlier this year that he was ready to hold a presidential debate with Biden “ANYTIME, ANYWHERE, ANYPLACE!”Biden, who has branded Trump as a threat to democracy, told reporters last month that any agreement to debate the real estate mogul “depends on his behaviour”.The nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) has already arranged three dates and locations for Trump and Biden to go head-to-head for the 2024 fight, at US universities throughout the country in September and October.However, Trump bashed the CPD as being biased toward Democrat Biden when in 2020 it planned to move a third and final debate to a virtual format amid the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.Then-president Trump had himself shown up to the second 2020 debate against Biden only three days before testing positive for Covid-19.Biden at the time had said he would not participate in another in-person debate with Trump while the Republican was still ill.A verbal spar could be a useful opportunity for both the 77-year-old former president and 81-year-old current president to display stamina, as Biden is still dogged by Trump’s old “Sleepy Joe” nickname – and Trump faced online teasing when he appeared to nod off during his criminal trial in New York last week.Biden has a lead among registered voters of 41% to 37% over Trump, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found earlier this month.Asked during a trip to Las Vegas in early February about Trump calling for Biden to debate him, Biden said: “If I were him, I would want to debate me too. He’s got nothing to do.”

TikTok repeated yesterday its free-speech concerns about a bill passed by the House of Representatives that would ban the popular social media app in the US if Chinese owner ByteDance did not sell its stake within a year.The House passed the legislation on Saturday by a margin of 360 to 58.It now moves to the Senate where it could be taken up for a vote in the coming days.President Joe Biden has previously said that he would sign the legislation on TikTok.Many US lawmakers from both the Republican and Democratic parties and the Biden administration say TikTok poses national security risks because China could compel the company to share the data of its 170mn US users.The step to include TikTok in a broader foreign aid package may fast-track the timeline on a potential ban after an earlier separate bill stalled in the Senate.“It is unfortunate that the House of Representatives is using the cover of important foreign and humanitarian assistance to once again jam through a ban bill that would trample the free speech rights of 170mn Americans,” TikTok said in a statement.TikTok in February had criticised the original bill that ultimately stalled in the Senate, saying that it would “censor millions of Americans”.It had similarly argued that a state ban on TikTok in Montana passed last year was a violation of the First Amendment.The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) opposed the House bill on free speech grounds.TikTok insists it has never shared US data and never would.Democratic Senator Mark Warner, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said yesterday that TikTok could be used as a propaganda tool by the Chinese government, noting that “many young people” use TikTok to get news.“The idea that we would give the Communist Party this much of a propaganda tool as well as the ability to scrape 170mn Americans’ personal data, it is a national security risk,” the senator told CBS News.The Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, a free speech group, said the latest bill had “no real pay-off” because China and other US rivals could still buy Americans’ data from brokers in the open market and engage in disinformation campaigns using US-based social media platforms.Some Democrats have also raised free speech concerns over a ban and instead asked for stronger data privacy legislation.Democratic Representative Ro Khanna told ABC News yesterday that he felt a TikTok ban may not survive legal scrutiny in courts, citing the Constitution’s free speech protections.The House voted on March 13 to give ByteDance about six months to divest the US assets of TikTok or face a ban.The legislation passed on Saturday gives a nine-month deadline that could be extended by three months if the president was to determine progress toward a sale.Maria Cantwell, the Senate Commerce Committee chair, expressed support for the latest bill.She had earlier asked the House to revise some details in the March 13 bill.TikTok was also a topic of conversation in a call between Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping earlier this month.Biden raised concerns about the app’s ownership.

Ecuadorans were voting yesterday in a referendum on proposed tougher measures to fight a surge in gang-related crime.The once-peaceful South American country has been grappling with a shocking rise in violence that has seen two mayors killed this week.The terrorising streak has been blamed on gangs with links to transnational cartels using Ecuador’s ports to ship drugs to the United States and Europe.The results of the referendum “will define the course and the state policy that we will take in order to face the challenge” of organised crime, said President Daniel Noboa as voting began in Quito.Nearly 13.6mn of the country’s 17.7mn inhabitants are eligible to cast a “Yes” or “No” ballot over 10 hours of voting.“We continue on a peaceful, calm, safe voting day,” National Electoral Council President Diana Atamaint said.Noboa declared in January a state of “internal armed conflict” with about 20 criminal groups blamed for a spasm of violence sparked by the jailbreak of a major drug lord, still on the run.Gangsters kidnapped dozens of people, including police and prison guards, opened fire in a TV studio during a live broadcast, and threatened random executions in the days-long outburst that caused about 20 deaths.Noboa imposed a state of emergency and deployed soldiers to retake control of the country’s prisons, which had become the nerve centre for gang operations and a bloody battleground that has claimed the lives of more than 460 inmates in three years.Despite these efforts, the violence has persisted.Two mayors have been killed in the past week, making it five in a year and three in less than a month.Since January last year, at least a dozen politicians have been killed in Ecuador, including presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, who was gunned down last August after a campaign event.In the weekend vote, Noboa is seeking popular backing for his plans to clamp down even harder on those responsible for such acts.Citizens are being asked to approve an expansion of military and police powers, significantly boosting gun controls and imposing harsher penalties for “terrorism” and drug trafficking.Noboa is also proposing to change the constitution so that Ecuadorans who are wanted abroad for organised crime-related offences can be extradited.The extradition issue animates Alexandra Rocha, 25, a teacher, who said she voted in favour.“I feel that the laws here are not strong enough to make people who commit a crime pay for what they are doing,” she said.However, another voter, Dulce Negrete, “voted no to everything”, believing that extradition serves no real purpose – and that the army’s participation in operations against gangs has mainly resulted in “more deaths”.Most of the referendum questions are related to crime prevention – a priority even as Ecuador also grapples with widespread corruption, a crippling electricity shortage and a diplomatic spat with Mexico.Last year, the country’s murder rate rose to a record 43 per 100,000 inhabitants – up from six in 2018, according to official data.In a publication on Friday, polling firm Gallup said no other region in the world, excluding active war zones, felt less secure in 2023 to residents than Ecuador’s Guayas province.Other polls show a majority of Ecuadorans will likely vote for Noboa’s reforms.The vote is taking place in the same week that Ecuadorans faced power cuts of up to 13 hours as drought left key hydroelectric reservoirs nearly empty.The government ordered workers to stay at home for two days in a bid to save scant energy resources.Noboa has put some of the blame on “sabotage” without naming anyone in particular.

The United States appears close to sanctioning an Israeli military unit over alleged human rights violations in the West Bank, a move the Israeli prime minister angrily denounced as “the height of absurdity”.US Secretary of State Antony Blinken hinted at such steps when asked by a reporter in Italy about reports that his department had recommended cuts in military aid to an Israeli unit involved in violent incidents in the West Bank.The allegations precede the deadly October 7 attacks by Hamas on southern Israel.Blinken, without providing details, said that his department is conducting investigations under a law that prohibits sending military aid to foreign security units that violate human rights with impunity.He then added: “I think it’s fair to say that you’ll see results very soon. I’ve made determinations; you can expect to see them in the days ahead.”In late 2022 the State Department directed embassy staff in Israel to investigate alleged abuses in the West Bank by the army’s ultra-Orthodox Netzah Yehuda battalion.That included a January 2022 incident which a 78-year-old Palestinian American died of a heart attack after being detained.Although the allegations precede the Hamas attacks and Israel’s retaliatory war in Gaza, the suggestion of any sanctions against Israeli forces drew an angry response from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.“In recent weeks, I have been working against the imposition of sanctions on Israeli citizens, including in my conversations with senior American government officials,” he posted late on Saturday on social media platform X.“If anyone thinks they can impose sanctions on a unit of the IDF (Israel Defence Forces) – I will fight it with all my strength,” he said.Israeli war cabinet minister Benny Gantz, a centrist former armed forces chief, said in a statement yesterday that he spoke with Blinken and asked him to reconsider the matter.Gantz said any such sanctions would be a mistake because they would harm Israel’s legitimacy during a time of war and that they were unjustified because Israel has an independent justice system and a military that keeps international law.The Axios website, citing three US sources with knowledge of the matter, reported on Saturday that Blinken is expected to announce sanctions against the battalion “within days.”It said the sanctions would ban the unit from receiving any US military aid or training.An earlier report from ProPublica said a special State Department panel had recommended in December that Blinken disqualify several military and police units serving in the West Bank from receiving any US aid.Before the war in Gaza, violence had already been on the rise in the West Bank, land that the Palestinians seek for a state, and it has risen since with frequent Israeli raids, Palestinian street attacks and settler rampages in Palestinian villages.The Israeli military said the Netzah Yehuda battalion is an active combat unit that operates according to the principles of international law.“Following publications about sanctions against the battalion, the IDF is not aware of the issue,” the military said. “If a decision is made on the matter it will be reviewed. The IDF works and will continue to work to investigate any unusual event in a practical manner and according to law.” – AFP

South Africa’s most famous cartoonist, Zapiro, says the upcoming elections brought an unexpected gift: the surprise comeback of his favourite subject, former president Jacob Zuma.The caricaturist has depicted the 82-year-old politician with a shower head poking out of his skull for almost two decades and has no intention of stopping.“The shower man is giving us trouble,” he quipped. “I have huge fun drawing Zuma”.Zapiro came up with the shower gibe in 2006 after Zuma infamously told a physical abuse trial he took a shower after having unprotected sex with an HIV-positive woman to avoid contracting the virus.The depiction is known to irritate the graft-accused former leader who has sued Zapiro several times with little success.Thirty years after democracy ended decades of apartheid regime censorship, political satire is alive and kicking — and scandal-tinged Zuma remains a source of inspiration to many.“Zuma is giving us amazing material, this is a very exciting time,” said 34-year-old cartoonist Nathi Ngubane, who was born a month after Nelson Mandela was released from prison.Forced out of office under a cloud of corruption in 2018, Zuma has returned with a bang as head of a new opposition party, uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK).The move has shaken up South African politics, with polls showing MK could pull off an upset on May 29, winning more than 10% of the vote.That could see his former political home — the ruling African National Congress (ANC) — return its worst result in three decades and lose its parliamentary majority.Ngubane said his parents, who are Zulus like Zuma, were initially shocked at his irreverent depictions.“In black South African culture, you are expected to respect your elders,” he said.Yet, he was unmoved. “Because I can, I pressed on,” he said. “We have to use our freedom.” In one of his recent drawings, Zuma is seen wearing traditional Zulu garb as he spikes his ANC rival, President Cyril Ramaphosa.The latter was a tough nut to crack, said Zapiro, whose real name is Jonathan Shapiro.“Cyril took me ages,” he said in an interview in his sunny Cape Town studio, his dog Captain Haddock lying under the desk.“He is the most reluctant president we have ever had.” Ramaphosa came to power on largely unfulfilled promises of stamping out corruption. Zapiro now draws him as “spineless” or as a “faux superhero”.Getting a cartoon right takes a lot of pondering, he said.“I never start out with a joke or a drawing. I use my left brain. I look at what are the issues, what is in the news and how I react to it,” he said.Recently he drew himself reflecting about whether Artificial Intelligence threatened his work in a series of vignettes for the Daily Maverick newspaper where he works. After an analysis of the current state of political play, including Ramaphosa interrupted by a blackout during a speech outlining progress in tackling outages and a Zulu nationalist party using its late leader as the face of the election campaign, his character concludes it does not.“Cartoonists will be the last to go,” said Zapiro, who sports a neat goatee, explaining AI does not “see irony in stuff”.“I’ll never run out of material in a place like South Africa,” he said. “We have wild politicians.” For tragic events like a wave of xenophobic violence that killed dozens of people in 2008, he uses Mandela and late archbishop Desmond Tutu, shown side by side, to represent the nation’s moral conscience.“Critical thinking is what cartooning is about,” he said. “I point out the anomalies to help things get better.” Yet, as South Africa struggles with high unemployment, rampant crime, failing infrastructure and widespread graft, he sometimes feels a “dissonance” between his role as a satirist and as a citizen.“We are absolutely at a tipping point,” he warned. “The next five years are going to be unbelievably scary.”

Somali pirates freed a Bangladesh-flagged cargo vessel and its 23 crew early yesterday after sackloads of US dollars were air-dropped to them in ransom, the company and relatives said.The bulk carrier MV Abdullah was transporting more than 55,000 tonnes of coal from Maputo to the United Arab Emirates when it was seized by dozens of pirates around 550 nautical miles (1,000km) off the Somali coast a month ago.The seizure came amid a surge in Somali pirate activity, with international naval forces diverted from the Gulf of Aden into the Red Sea to guard against attacks on shipping by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels.Negotiations for the ship’s release were led by Meherul Karim, chief executive of its owners KSRM.“The pirates called us when they reached near the Somalia coast” and one of them spoke English, he told reporters in Chittagong yesterday.“He communicated with us till we finalised the negotiation,” he added. “We will not discuss or reveal the amount of ransom money.”Video footage had been provided to show all the crew were safe, and yesterday around 65 pirates left the ship on nine boats, he said.Reuters reported that the ransom amounted to $5mn, citing two pirates.“The money was brought to us two nights ago as usual ... we checked whether the money was fake or not. Then we divided the money into groups and left, avoiding the government forces,” Abdirashiid Yusuf, one of the pirates, told Reuters.The MV Abdullah was on its way to its original destination escorted by two European Union ships, he said, and the pirates had given the crew a letter of safe passage in Somali promising “the ship would not come under any more attacks by pirates until it reached Dubai port”.Fahmida Akter Anny, wife of the ship’s master Mohamed Abdur Rashid, said her husband told her an airplane dropped three sacks filled with US dollars to the pirates before circling the vessel three times.“After receiving the money, they released all crew,” she said. “My husband was happy.”The vessel’s capture came after the first successful case of Somali piracy since 2017 was recorded in December.A series of incidents since then has fuelled concerns about a resurgence of Indian Ocean raids by opportunistic pirates exploiting a security gap after the redeployment of international forces.Houthi gunmen have launched scores of attacks in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden targeting what they deem to be Israeli-linked vessels in response to Israel’s war against the Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza.Naval forces – including from India, Sri Lanka and the Seychelles – have since freed fishing boats seized by gunmen and thwarted other attempted attacks.Last month, Indian commandos boarded and recaptured the vessel seized in December, the Maltese-flagged MV Ruen, around 260 nautical miles (480km) off the Somali coast.All 17 hostages were rescued and 35 alleged pirates were brought to Mumbai to face prosecution.Analysts say that the Somali pirate threat remains well below its 2011 peak, when gunmen launched attacks as far as 3,655km from the Somali coast in the Indian Ocean.It fell off sharply after international navies sent warships and commercial shipping deployed armed guards.

The lakes where Africa’s flamingos congregate in spectacular numbers are producing less food for the iconic birds as their water levels rise, researchers said yesterday, threatening the survival of a much-loved species.Three-quarters of the world’s lesser flamingos live in East Africa and more than a million birds at a time can gather at lakes in huge “flamboyances” for feeding and courtship. But as these lakes expand to record highs, scientists have discovered they produce less of the unique algae upon which flamingos rely, putting at risk a species already in decline.This is driving the distinctive, pink-plumed birds away from their usual habitats into unprotected areas in search of food, said Aidan Byrne, lead author of the research. “They might be able to move elsewhere, but they could be lost from the region that they’re currently in at these key feeding lakes,” said Byrne, a PhD student jointly supervised by King’s College London and the Natural History Museum.Flamingos use their specialised beaks to feed on a particular type of algae that exists in salty, alkaline waters known as soda lakes.These lakes are concentrated in Kenya, Tanzania and Ethiopia and despite being harsh landscapes, certain species — including the flamingo and the algae they feast on — have adapted to thrive there.But the lakes have risen to levels not seen in decades, driven in part by increased rainfall linked to climate change over the catchment areas.This has greatly diluted the alkalinity and salinity of the water at these soda lakes.Byrne and other researchers wanted to study the impact that had on biodiversity and found a “massive decline” in concentrations of the very algal blooms upon which flamingos survive.Earlier studies had looked at the problem but its extent was not known until now, he said.“We were surprised at the scale of the changes, and how much the flamingo habitats are threatened,” he said.Erratic and extreme rainfall predicted for East Africa in future would only make the problem worse and “increase the threat to the species within the region”, he added. The study, published in the journal Current Biology, is the first to use satellite imagery to observe all 22 of the soda lakes that host flamingos across the East African region.This was combined with climate records and bird observation data over more than 20 years.The sharpest drops in algae concentrations were observed in Kenya, including at Nakuru, one of the most important flamingo feeding lakes in Africa known for hosting million-strong “flamboyances”. It expanded by roughly 90% between 2009 and 2022 while algal concentration halved.Lake Bogoria and Lake Elmenteita, also tourist magnets for their brilliant flamingo displays, experienced steep declines as well. And where algal blooms declined, so too did flamingo numbers, Byrne said, putting in doubt revenue from tourism as well.Flamingo habitats in East Africa are protected whereas outside these ranges monitoring would be difficult and other threats —including from humans — could emerge, he said.“They’re just such an iconic species that are unique to these environments. If they’re lost, it would be devastating,” Byrne said.