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☆ Nova Kakhovka dam collapse: Russians shooting at rescuers in flooded areas, Zelensky says
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-08 | by ( Olga Voitovych Yulia Kesaieva Fred Pleitgen Radina Gigova Sarah Dean Helen Regan | Olga Voitovych | Yulia Kesaieva | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

CNN —Russian forces have been shooting at Ukrainian rescuers trying to reach flooded areas in the Kherson region that are under Russian control, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Wednesday. Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal claimed occupying Russian forces have offered “no help” to residents in flooded areas. Vladyslav Musiienko/Reuters Flooded streets are seen in Kherson on June 7 following the collapse of the Nova Kakhovka dam. Rescuers evacuate a local resident from a flooded area after the Nova Kakhovka dam breached in Kherson, Ukraine, on June 7. Conditions for residents in flooded areas are dire, with “hundreds of thousands of people left without normal access to drinking water,” Zelensky said.

Persons: Volodymyr Zelensky, Zelensky, ” Zelensky, won’t, ”, Roman Skabdrakov, Denys Shmyhal, “, Evgeniy, Angelina Kopayeva, Alex Babenko, Vladyslav Musiienko, Muhammed Enes Yildirim, Tetiana, Ivan Antypenko, Alexey Konovalov, Felipe Dana, Musiienko, Nina Lyashonok, Oleksandra, Alina Smutko, Shmyhal, Oleksandr Prokudin, Ihor, Selena Kozakijevic, Kozakijevic Organizations: CNN, Russian, Rescuers, “, Kaiman Volunteer, Military, Ukrainian, AP, Anadolu Agency, Planet Labs PBC, Reuters Red Cross, AP Local, Culture, Reuters, Reuters Local, United Nations, Humanitarian Affairs, UN, Ukraine’s Ministry, Internal Affairs, Internal, CARE Locations: Kherson, Ukrainian, Russian, Nova Kakhovka, Dnipro, Kherson region, Moscow, Russia, Oleshky, Kherson “, Ukraine, Nova, Kherson . Roman, Vladyslav, Libkos, Zelensky, UN

The flooding has already killed 300 animals at the Nova Kakhovka zoo, according to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry. Satellite images show a close-up view of the Nova Kakhovka dam and hydroelectric power facility before and after the dam collapse on June 6, 2023. Satellite images show homes along the Dnipro River before and after the Nova Kakhovka dam collapsed. Several Ukrainian regions that receive some of their water supply from the reservoir of the Nova Kakhovka dam are making efforts to conserve water. Local residents carry their personal belongings on a flooded street after the Nova Kakhovka dam collapsed, in Kherson, Ukraine, on June 6.

Persons: Volodymyr Zelensky, ”, Ihor Syrota, ” Syrota, ” Olena, Alina Smutko, Ruslan Strilets, Strilets, António Guterres, Vladyslav Musiienko, Martin Griffiths, Griffiths, ” Griffiths, Zelensky, Oleksandr Prokudin, Maxar Technologies Griffiths, Mohammad Heidarzadeh, Heidarzadeh, Vladimir Saldo, Rafael Grossi, ” Grossi Organizations: CNN, Reuters, Reserve, Nova, Ukrainian Defense Ministry . United Nations, ”, UN Security, Dnipro, Maxar, Maxar Technologies, University of Bath, Science Media, Russian Foreign Ministry, International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA, UN Locations: Nova, Ukraine, Russian, Kyiv, Moscow, Russia, Dnipro, Kherson, Reuters Ukrainian, Zaporizhzhia, England, Dnipropetrovsk, Kryvyi

☆ Nova Kakhova: Critical dam in Russian-occupied southern Ukraine near Kherson destroyed sparking region-wide evacuations
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-06 | by ( Helen Regan Jonny Hallam Josh Pennington Olga Voitovych Irene Nasser | Helen Regan | Jonny Hallam | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

“The Russians will be responsible for the possible deprivation of drinking water for people in the south of Kherson region and in Crimea, the possible destruction of some settlements and the biosphere,” he said. As of 10:00 a.m. local time, 742 people have been evacuated from the Kherson region, the ministry said. “We are helping citizens in the liberated west-bank part of the Kherson region. Around 16,000 people on the west bank of Kherson region are in a “critical zone,” Oleksandr Prokudin, the Ukraine-appointed head of the Kherson region military administration, said. It also supplies water for the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, which lies upstream and is also under Russian control.

Persons: Moscow’s, Volodymyr Zelensky, “, ”, Andriy Yermak, Charles Michel, Mykhailo Podolyak, Zelensky, Russia’s, Ihor, Oleksandr Prokudin, Nova Kakhovka, Vladimir Leontiev, ” Leontiev, Andrey Alekseenko, ” Alekseenko, Alekseenko, ‘, Natalia Humeniuk, Energoatom Organizations: CNN, Ukrainian, European, Ukrainian Armed Forces, Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ukraine, Internal, Ukraine’s National Police, Ukraine’s Ministry, Internal Affairs, Novosti, Emergency, International Atomic Energy, Maxar Technologies Locations: Ukraine, ”, Nova, Dnipro, Kherson, Ukraine’s Kherson, Russia, Ukrainian, Kherson region, Crimea, Moscow, Kyiv, Salt, Utah

☆ Australia to triple size of Macquarie Island Marine Park to protected area larger than Germany
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-05 | by ( Helen Regan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —Australia plans to triple the size of an ecologically important marine park and close off an area larger than Germany to fishing and mining, the government announced Monday, protecting millions of vulnerable seabirds and animals. The remote Macquarie Island Marine Park, located off Australia’s southeastern coast between Tasmania and Antarctica in the Southern Ocean, is set to expand to 475,465 square kilometers (about 184,000 square miles). The wind-swept World Heritage-listed Macquarie Island and its surrounding waters is a site of outstanding geological and natural significance. The plan to expand the marine park was released in February and Monday’s announcement comes after two months of public consultations with more than 14,700 submissions that were 99% in support, according to the government. Darren Kindleysides, chief executive of the Australian Marine Conservation Society, said sanctuaries are vital for marine wildlife, healthy ocean ecosystems and sustainable commercial fisheries.

Persons: Tanya Plibersek, ”, Fiona Maxwell, “, Darren Kindleysides Organizations: CNN, Pew, Albanese Government, UNESCO, Heritage, Australian Marine Conservation Society Locations: Australia, Germany, Macquarie, Tasmania, Antarctica

☆ Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko offers nuclear weapons to nations willing 'to join the Union State of Russia and Belarus'
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-28 | by ( Mariya Knight Uliana Pavlova Helen Regan | Mariya Knight | Uliana Pavlova | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

CNN —Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko has claimed that nations who are willing “to join the Union State of Russia and Belarus” will be given nuclear weapons, days after confirming the transfer of some tactical nuclear weapons from Moscow to Minsk had begun. “Join the Union State of Belarus and Russia. It was not clear how wide Lukashenko’s invitation to join the Union State extended, and he offered no other specifics. Tactical nuclear weapons are smaller than strategic nuclear weapons – which can decimate entire cities – and are designed for use in a limited battlefield. Strong condemnationsThe United States and the European Union, as well as opposition leaders in Belarus, have denounced the move to deploy Russian tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus.

His family – all 11 of them – had huddled together in their house in Sittwe, on the coast of Myanmar’s Rakhine state, as ferocious winds intensified overhead. As the water rose, the family ran to escape the storm surge but they got separated in the chaos. Sai Aung Main/AFP/Getty ImagesCrisis upon crisisWhile western Rakhine state took a direct hit from the cyclone, the UN estimates 150,000 people in the country’s northwest were also heavily affected. One resident from Magway, where around 11,000 households were affected by the storm, said her husband died in flooding caused by Cyclone Mocha. Smashed-up boats are piled up next to a broken bridge in Sittwe, in Myanmar's Rakhine state, on May 15 after Cyclone Mocha.

☆ Cyclone Mocha: Myanmar junta travel restrictions are holding up vital aid to cyclone-hit communities
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Helen Regan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

CNN —Myanmar’s military junta is holding up humanitarian access to some cyclone-hit communities in western Rakhine state after Cyclone Mocha devastated the lives and livelihoods of millions of people in the poorest parts of the country. Storm damage has hampered efforts to access rural and hard-to-reach areas while pre-existing travel restrictions imposed by the junta have delayed the delivery of vital aid to communities in urgent need. “It seems that many agencies haven’t even been able to conduct needs assessments, let alone deliver aid, because SAC (junta) officials have not granted travel authorization. This is extremely worrying.”A girl draws water from a pump at Basara refugee camp in Sittwe on May 16 in the aftermath of Cyclone Mocha. A Rohingya woman stands in her damaged house at Basara refugee camp in Sittwe on May 16 following Cyclone Mocha.

Bangkok, Thailand CNN —Opposition parties intent on preventing the military establishment from remaining in power in Thailand have formed a coalition with the hopes of forming a new government that could radically transform the kingdom if they are successful. Pita Limjaroenrat, the leader of Thailand’s Move Forward Party, which won the largest share of seats and the popular vote in Sunday’s election, said Thursday seven other parties had joined him in a coalition. Together, they secure a majority 313 votes in the lower house, according to Pita, who said: “We definitely will be able to form a government.”The eight parties include Move Forward, Pheu Thai, Thai Sang Thai, Prachachart, Seri Ruam Thai, Pheu Thai Ruam Palang, FAIR Party, and the Plung Sungkom Mai Party. Party members in the new coalition will now develop a memorandum of understanding, which will be presented on May 22. Prayut’s United Thai Nation Party won just 36 seats in the election, while another military-backed party Palang Pracharat, led by former army chief Prawit Wongsuwan, received 40.

Pita Limjaroenrat’s progressive Move Forward Party is on track to win the largest share of seats and the popular vote, according to unofficial results, far ahead of the party of incumbent Prime Minister – and 2014 coup leader – Prayut Chan-o-cha. Move Forward Party leader Pita Limjaroenrat leads a victory parade with fellow party members and supporters outside Bangkok City Hall on May 15. A party or coalition needs to win a majority in both houses to elect a prime minister and form a government. Asked what would happen if Thailand’s military tried to subvert election outcomes, Pita said, “we have to minimize the risk” of subversion. Move Forward’s predecessor, the Future Forward Party, won the third most seats in the 2019 election.

☆ Thailand elections: Opposition parties won a landslide in elections but forming a government is not guaranteed
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Helen Regan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

Pheu Thai, the main opposition party that has been a populist force in Thailand for 20 years, came second. “This is an unmistakable frontal rebuke, a rejection of Thailand’s military authoritarian past. Move Forward’s predecessor the Future Forward Party won the third most seats in the 2019 election. In the short term, that decision ended the threat from the Future Forward Party. But some also went on to create the Move Forward party that swept to victory in the popular vote on Sunday.

☆ Arman Soldin: AFP journalist killed in rocket fire near eastern Ukraine's Bakhmut
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Helen Regan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —A French journalist working for the international news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP) was killed by rocket fire near the embattled city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine on Tuesday. “We are devastated to learn of the death of AFP video journalist Arman Soldin in eastern Ukraine today,” AFP said. Their reporting team was with Ukrainian soldiers when they came under fire around 4:30pm local time on Tuesday, according to AFP. “The whole agency is devastated by the loss of Arman,” said Fabrice Fries, CEO of AFP, according to the news agency. In their obituary, AFP wrote that Soldin celebrated his 32nd birthday on March 21 from Kramatorsk in eastern Ukraine.

☆ Zaporizhzhia: Evacuations from Russian-occupied Ukrainian region raise concerns of nuclear power plant safety
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Helen Regan Julia Kesaieva Mariya Knight Katharina Krebs Kostan Nechyporenko Stephanie Halasz | Helen Regan | Julia Kesaieva | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

But the evacuation of a town close to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant has raised concerns about the facility’s stability. The plant, Europe’s largest nuclear power station, is held by Russian forces but mostly operated by a Ukrainian workforce. The plant is also significant because Ukraine relies heavily on nuclear power. On the groundOn Sunday, Ukraine’s Operation Command South spokeswoman said Russian forces were trying to exhaust Ukraine’s air defense system. Bakhmut has been the site of a months-long assault by Russian forces that has driven thousands from their homes and left the area devastated.

CNN —Ukrainian air defenses withstood Russia’s most intense air attack on Kyiv since the start of the year overnight into Thursday, the capital region’s military chief said. Last night, the aggressor launched another large-scale air strike on the capital,” Serhiy Popko, head of the Kyiv city military administration, wrote on Telegram. Russian air attacks have targeted Kyiv on three days out of the past four, Popko said. Russian oil refinery firesAlso early on Thursday, fires broke out in two oil refineries in southwestern Russia, following separate alleged drone strikes. It is unclear who is responsible for the drone attack.

Peskov did not provide any evidence to his claims, nor additional details regarding the alleged attack, saying that information would be released later. Earlier this week, Russia claimed Ukraine launched a drone strike targeting the Kremlin in an attempt to assassinate Russian President Vladimir Putin, calling it a “planned terrorist attack.” Ukraine has strongly denied any involvement. The United States had nothing to do with this. Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty ImagesRyabkov also accused US officials of trying to “promote the idea of Washington’s non-involvement” in the purported drone attack, TASS reported. “Washington has long been a direct party to the Ukrainian conflict and aims to destroy sovereign Russia,” he said, according to TASS.

CNN —Palestinian detainee Khader Adnan, an Islamic Jihad commander who became a symbol of Palestinian resistance to Israeli detention policies, died Tuesday after 87 days of hunger strike, authorities said. He was found dead in his cell early Tuesday following his almost 3-month hunger strike, the prison service added. According to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society, he has been arrested at least 11 times since 2004 and held five hunger strikes. In 2015, he went on hunger strike for 55 days before Israeli authorities released him. Israel has 4,900 Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons, with 1,000 of them being held in administrative detention without charge – the highest number since 2003, according to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society.

The death toll from Russia’s deadly, early-morning missile strikes across Ukraine on Friday has risen to 14, officials said, after two more bodies were pulled from the rubble of a residential building in the city of Uman. “As of 11:50 a.m., the body of one more dead person was removed from the rubble of a residential building,” Ukraine’s state emergency service said on the Telegram messaging app. The press office of Ukraine’s Minister of Internal Affairs later said another body had been found. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Twitter earlier that one apartment building in Uman had been “destroyed” and many others damaged before dawn on Friday. “More lives tragically lost as Russia’s missiles hit another apartment building.

Al-Jamil Al-Fadil, a resident of Tuti in Khartoum, told CNN that projectiles fell on the neighborhood. And in the Kafouri area north of Khartoum, warplanes overhead came under fire from anti-aircraft missiles, eyewitnesses told CNN journalists in Sudan. Food and water shortagesAndou Dieng, the UN’s humanitarian coordinator in Sudan, said looting as well as fighting is continuing across the country despite attempted ceasefires. In the capital Khartoum, eyewitnesses and CNN journalists in the north of the city told CNN that RSF paramilitary soldiers are occupying at least one water station, causing shortages to vital water supplies. More than 2,700 people from around 76 countries have arrived in Saudi Arabia in recent days after being evacuated from Sudan, the Saudi ambassador to the UK told CNN on Thursday.

☆ More than two-thirds of elephant habitat lost across Asia, study finds
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Helen Regan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

CNN —Elephants have lost almost two-thirds of their habitat across Asia, the result of hundreds of years of deforestation and increasing human use of land for agriculture and infrastructure, a new study has found. The study found that the greatest decline in elephant habitats was in China, where 94% of suitable land was lost between 1700 and 2015. Meanwhile, more than half of suitable elephant habitats have been lost in Bangladesh, Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia’s Sumatra. The era also saw “new value systems, market forces, and governance policies” reaching beyond the cities of Europe into the forests of Asia – speeding up elephant habitat loss and the fragmentation of the species, the study found. Habitat loss also means elephants are migrating from their usual territories, creating “challenges for human communities that have little experience with elephants,” the study said.

CNN —A once powerful member of the former Sudanese government wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes and crimes against humanity has been freed from prison in the capital Khartoum. Prisoners of Kober prison were released by authorities after inmates protested the lack of food and water by burning two cars inside the prison grounds, two Sudanese police sources told CNN. Unconfirmed reports claimed the former President al-Bashir was among the prisoners released from Kober prison. Sudan’s then-President, Omar al-Bashir, was charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity by the ICC, including genocide, related to the Darfur conflict in 2009. He was ousted in a military coup in April 2019 following a lengthy popular uprising and jailed in Khartoum.

☆ Barry Humphries, Australian comedian best known for alter-ego Dame Edna Everage, dies
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-22 | by ( Helen Regan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —The Australian comedian Barry Humphries, best known for his drag character Dame Edna Everage, has died aged 89. Born in Melbourne, Australia in 1934, Humphries created the character of housewife Edna Everage in 1955 as a social satire. Before Edna made it big, Humphries appeared in numerous West End productions including “Oliver” and “Maggie Way” in the 1960s. Throughout the 1970s, 80s and 90s, Humphries landed a series of TV talk shows, specials and films, as Dame Edna and his other alter-egos Les Patterson and Sandy Stone, among them The Dame Edna Experience in 1987. As well as performing on television, Humphries was a prolific author Marianna Massey/WireImage/Getty ImagesIn 2000, Humphries won a Special Tony Award for his Broadway show “Dame Edna, The Royal Tour”, officially breaking into the US market.

☆ Deadly heat waves fueled by climate change are threatening India's development, study says
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Helen Regan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —Deadly heat waves fueled by climate change are threatening India’s development and risk reversing its progress on poverty alleviation, health and economic growth, a new study has found. Since 1992, more than 24,000 people have died because of heat waves in India, the study said. And the impacts are expected to get worse as heat waves become more frequent, intense and lethal due to the climate crisis. More than 90% of the country could be severely impacted by heat waves, falling into an extreme heat “danger” zone, according to the heat index, the study found. The heat index is how hot it feels and considers both air temperature and humidity to assess the heat’s impact on the population.

☆ Myanmar airstrike survivors ask what will it take for the world to act: 'How many more children have to die?'
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Helen Regan Sandi Sidhu Anna Coren Salai Tz Su Chay | Helen Regan | Sandi Sidhu | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +11 min

The aftermath of an airstrike in Pazigyi village in Sagaing Region's Kanbalu Township, Myanmar, Tuesday, April 11, 2023. The three-year-old girl (left) was among the 186 people who were killed in the military attack in Sagaing, Myanmar. There were 56 air attacks by the military junta between January and March this year, according to Myanmar’s Ambassador to the United Nations Kyaw Min Tun, who represents the NUG. The one-year-old girl (left) was another victim of the military airtsike in Sagaing, Myanmar. The survivors who lost families in last Tuesday’s attack ask how many more people have to die before such action is taken.

In Southeast Asia, some countries posted their highest ever recorded temperatures this week, while searing heat in the Indian subcontinent has killed more than a dozen people. Neighboring Myanmar set an April temperature record on Monday as Kalewa, in central Sagaing region, reached 44°C (111°F), Herrera tweeted. April and May are typically the hottest months of the year for South and Southeast Asia as temperatures rise before monsoon rains begin and bring some relief. On Monday, more than 100 weather stations in 12 provinces broke their April temperature record, according to climatologist Jim Yang. Extremely hot temperatures across South and Southeast Asia are expected to continue.

Japanese-Brazilian singer-songwriter Kauan Okamoto alleged during a press conference that over the course of four years, beginning in 2012 when he was 15, he was repeatedly sexually assaulted by Kitagawa, who died age 87 in 2019. In 1999, Japanese magazine Shukan Bunshun published accounts of other young men and boys who claimed they were sexually abused by Kitagawa. They ‘knew it was my turn’Singer-songwriter Okamoto joined Kitagawa’s agency in February 2012 while he was in junior high school. Okamoto said Kitagawa would often invite these young recruits to spend the night in his apartment, and pick “favorites” among the boys. “He began massaging my feet,” Okamoto said, and alleged that Kitagawa touched his genitals and performed oral sex on him.

At least 133 people, including women and children, were killed after Myanmar’s military junta bombed Kanbalu township in the central Sagaing region on Tuesday, the human rights minister of the ousted shadow National Unity Government Aung Myo Min told CNN. Like much of Sagaing, the area is not under the control of the military junta. I saw flesh on the road.”The eyewitness said he saw dozens of bodies after the attack, including children as young as five. The attacks have killed civilians, including children, and targeted schools, clinics, hospitals and other civilian infrastructure. And a military airstrike on a school in Sagaing in September killed at least 13 people, including seven children.

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