Putin’s ally’s daughter killed in Moscow car bomb
A car driven by the daughter of ‘Putin’s ideologist’ Oleksandr Dugin, Daria Dugima, blew up near the village of Velyki Vyazomi, on the outskirts of Moscow, according to ‘Ukrainska Pravda’, citing Russian media. Tass writes that “a Toyota Land Cruiser Prado exploded near the village of Velyki Vyazomy, on the outskirts of Moscow. The driver died, the police inform. According to some mass media, the daughter of Oleksandr Dugin, Daria, is the person who died in the explosion.” Dugin, who is known as “Putin’s brain”, may have been the intended target of the attack. According to Russian media outlet 112, the pair were due to travel back from an event on Saturday evening in the same car before Dugin made the decision to travel separately from his daughter at the last minute. The philosopher’s daughter, Darya, was herself a prominent journalist who vocally supported the invasion of Ukraine. Earlier this year she was sanctioned by US and UK authorities, who accused the 30-year-old of contributing to online “disinformation” in relation to Russia’s invasion. In May, she described the war as a “clash of civilisations” in an interview and expressed pride in the fact that both she and her father had been sanctioned by the West. Alexander Dugin was sanctioned by the US in 2015 for his alleged involvement in the Russian annexation of Crimea. His writings are credited with having a deep influence on Vladimir Putin’s worldview and he is considered to be a chief intellectual architect of the ultra-nationalist ideology adhered to by many in the Kremlin. For years, Dugin has called on Moscow to assert itself more aggressively on the global stage and has supported Russian military action in Ukraine. Numerous images and videos of the explosion site circulate on Twitter.
Fresh Ukraine strike on Russia’s Black Sea fleet headquarters
Ukraine has launched a fresh strike on Russia’s Black Sea fleet headquarters at Sevastopol, where officials in the annexed Crimean peninsula said that at least one drone had been shot down by air defences. The reported attack on Saturday morning – a day after explosions erupted near military bases in Russian-held areas of Ukraine and Russia itself – came on the same day that 12 civilians were reportedly wounded when a Russian missile hit a residential area of a Ukrainian town.
Russian crops, fertilisers must move ‘unimpeded’, Guterres says
Russian fertilisers and agricultural products must be able to reach world markets “unimpeded” or a global food crisis could strike as early as next year, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has warned. “It is important that all governments and the private sector cooperate to bring them to market,” the UN chief said from the Joint Coordination Centre, which oversees the implementation of the Ukrainian grain export agreement signed in July by Kyiv and Moscow. The agreement, of which the UN and Turkey are guarantors, also guarantees Russia the right to export its agricultural products and fertilisers despite Western sanctions. “What we see here in Istanbul and in Odessa is only the more visible part of the solution. The other part of this package deal is the unimpeded access to the global markets of Russian food and fertiliser, which are not subject to sanctions,” Guterres said, adding that despite this, Russian fertiliser and agricultural exports still faced ‘obstacles’. “Without fertiliser in 2022, there may not be enough food in 2023. Getting more food and fertiliser out of Ukraine and Russia is crucial to further calm commodity markets and lower prices for consumers,” he said.
Ukrainian parades destroyed Russian vehicles
The Ukrainian authorities have brought dozens of Russian vehicles destroyed in the fighting – tanks, armoured vehicles, trucks and more – to the centre of Kiev, making them an attraction for citizens.Photos and videos have gone viral on social media, captured by various international media. Whole families poured into the central Khreshchatyk street, and children climbed onto the burned-out tanks and out of order guns, with their parents photographing them. A smaller number of destroyed Russian vehicles had previously been shown on Mykhailivskyi Square. The parade of enemy vehicles takes place on the eve of the celebrations for the independence of Ukraine, on August 24, celebrations for which gatherings were prohibited for fear of a missile launch on the capital.
Turkey: Separate bus crashes leave 32 dead and 51 injured
At least 32 people have been killed in two separate events in Turkey when vehicles crashed into first responders following earlier accidents. A bus hit the scene of a road crash near Gaziantep on Saturday morning, killing 16 people and injuring 21. Hours later a truck hit a crowd of people 250km away in Mardin, also killing 16 people and reportedly hitting emergency workers. There have been no reports of a connection between the incidents. Twenty-nine people were injured in the second crash, eight of them seriously, Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said. The incident in the town of Derik in Mardin province “occurred after the brakes gave out on a lorry, which hit a crowd”, he wrote on Twitter. The emergency workers had been sent to the scene following a crash involving three vehicles, Anadolu news agency reported. The first incident on Saturday occurred near the southern town of Nizip in Gaziantep province. A bus ploughed into rescue crews and reporters who had come to the scene of a crash involving a car that had come off the road. Three firefighters, two emergency workers and two journalists were among those killed, the governor of Gaziantep said on twitter. Photos on Turkey’s DHA news agency showed the back of an ambulance ripped out and metal debris strewn around it. Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag has announced an investigation into the crash.
‘Guarantee freedom of religion and opinion in Nicaragua’ – CEI
The Italian Bishops Conference has expressed solidarity with the Church of Nicaragua subjected to “harsh persecutions” and launched an appeal so that “freedom of worship and opinion is guaranteed in the country, not only for members of the Catholic Church,” but to all citizens”. This is what Cardinal President Matteo Zuppi writes in a message of closeness to Mgr. Carlos Enrique Herrera Gutiérrez, president of the Bishops’ Conference of Nicaragua. On the arrest of the bishop of Matagalpa, Mgr. Rolando José Álvarez Lagos, Zuppi underlines: “This is a very serious act, which does not leave us insensitive and which induces us to keep our attention high.”
Strike to begin at UK’s biggest container port
About 1,900 workers at the UK’s busiest container port, members of the union Unite, are today to walk out in a pay dispute, expected to last eight days, at the Port of Felixstowe in Suffolk. The union said members rejected a 7% pay offer from port operator, the Felixstowe Dock and Railway Company, which it said was “significantly below” the rate of inflation. A port spokesman described the union decision to strike as “disappointing”. About 2,550 people work at the Port of Felixstowe, which is the UK’s biggest container port, handling 48% of container trade.
Somali forces claim end to deadly 30-hour hotel siege
Somali forces claim to have defeated the militants who stormed a hotel in the capital Mogadishu after a bloody siege. At least 12 people were killed in the deadly 30-hour ordeal, although local media reports the death toll could be even higher. The assailants used explosives to gain entry to Mogadishu’s Hayat Hotel on Friday before violently taking control and holding guests hostage overnight. Islamist extremist group al-Shabab has taken responsibility for the attack. “The security forces have ended the siege now and the gunmen are dead, we’ve had no incoming gunfire from the building in the past hour,” an unnamed official told AFP news agency. The hotel has been largely destroyed following intense bombardment by security forces throughout Friday night and Saturday, with videos showing explosions and smoke billowing from the building’s rooftop.
