World News

LONDON (Reuters) -Russia’s defence ministry on Friday accused Ukrainian forces of shelling the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the biggest in Europe, saying a leak of radiation had been avoided only by luck.

It said that as a result, the generating capacity of one unit had been reduced and power supply to another had been cut. In addition, the nearby city of Enerhodar was suffering from problems with its power and water supplies, it added in a statement.

“Fortunately, the Ukrainian shells did not hit the oil and fuel facility and the oxygen plant nearby, thus avoiding a larger fire and a possible radiation accident,” it said.

Ukraine’s state nuclear power company, Energoatom, earlier said Russia had shelled the plant, but that it was still operational and no radioactive discharges had been detected. Two of the six reactors are still operating.

“The possible consequences of hitting an operating reactor are equivalent to the use of an atomic bomb,” Ukraine’s foreign ministry said on Twitter, accusing Russia of resorting to “numerous provocations” at the plant.

The Russian-installed administration of Enerhodar said on Friday that power lines at the plant had been cut by a Ukrainian artillery strike. The facility continues to be run by its Ukrainian technicians.

Enerhodar and the nearby nuclear plant were seized by invading Russian troops in early March, and are still close to the frontline.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday accused Moscow of using the plant as a shield for its forces, and Ukraine has accused Russia of shelling its positions from positions near the power station.

A Russian-installed official in Ukraine said on Wednesday, however, that Ukrainian forces had repeatedly attacked the plant with Western munitions.

Reuters was unable to verify the battlefield reports.

Ukraine’s foreign ministry urged the international community to “urgently take measures to force Russia” to release the nuclear plant into Ukrainian control.

Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said this week that contact with the plant was “fragile” and communications did not function every day. He appealed for access to determine whether it was a source of danger.

(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Kevin Liffey, David Ljunggren and Sandra Maler)

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BANGKOK (AP) — At least 13 people were killed and dozens injured when a fire broke out early Friday morning at a crowded music pub in eastern Thailand, police and rescue workers said.

Video circulating on social media showed people fleeing the pub while thick black smoke billowed from the door and then the entrance through which people were escaping was suddenly engulfed in flames. Several people’s clothing was on fire as they emerged from the pub. Rescue workers said more than three dozen people were injured.

The cause of the fire at the Mountain B pub in Sattahip district of Chonburi province, about 160 kilometers (100 miles) southeast of Bangkok, is under investigation, provincial police chief Maj. Gen. Atthasit Kijjahan told PPTV television news. He said the pub’s owner and staff were giving statements at the police station and the police forensic team would be collecting evidence at the scene. Police said the fire was reported around 12:45 a.m.

Several witnesses described seeing smoke and fire on the ceiling near the venue’s stage followed by the sound of explosions.

“The fire started at the top right corner of the stage,” a witness identified only as Nana told PPTV. “The singer must have seen it too, so he shouted ‘fire’ and threw away the microphone.”

“I am quite shocked. But I am lucky that when I saw the fire, I could get myself together and get out of there,” she said, adding that she saw several pub security guards with their clothing on fire.

A waitress at the venue, Thanyapat Sornsuwanhiran, also told Thai television reporters that she saw smoke near the stage.

“I shouted ‘fire’ to customers, and I was near the doors, so I directed them out. I kept shouting ‘fire, fire’ and the security guards were also helping lead people out,” she said.

Police chief Atthasit said the club had three entrances: at the front, on the side near the cashier for unloading goods and at the back. Thai public television station TPBS reported that the back door is often locked.

A DJ at the pub who did not identify himself told PPTV that the fire had spread quickly, in about a minute, when he heard the sound of an explosion, shattering windows.

The pub was lined with flammable soundproofing, and it took two hours for firefighters to put out the blaze, Manop Theprith of a private emergency services group told the television station. His group said 40 people were injured.

One of Thailand’s deadliest fires in recent decades was at a nightclub in the capital, Bangkok, during a 2008-2009 New Year’s Eve celebration, when 66 people were killed and more 200 injured. That blaze at the Santika nightclub also began on the ceiling above a stage, apparently sparked by an indoors fireworks display. Toxic smoke flooded the venue as the entire club caught fire.

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By Naveen Thukral and Rajendra Jadhav

SINGAPORE/MUMBAI (Reuters) – Adverse weather across top rice suppliers in Asia, including the biggest exporter India, is threatening to reduce the output of the world’s most important food staple and stoke food inflation that is already near record highs.

Rice has bucked the trend of rising food prices amid bumper crops and large inventories at exporters over the past two years, even as COVID-19, supply disruptions and more recently the Russia-Ukraine conflict made other grains costlier.

But inclement weather in exporting countries in Asia, which accounts for about 90% of the world’s rice output, is likely to change the price trajectory, traders and analysts said.

“There is an upside potential for rice prices with the possibility of production downgrades in key exporting countries,” said Phin Ziebell, agribusiness economist at National Australia Bank.

“An increase in rice prices would add to already major challenges for food affordability in parts of the developing world,” Ziebell told Reuters.

Patchy rains in India’s grain belt, a heatwave in China, floods in Bangladesh and quality downgrades in Vietnam could curb yields in four of the world’s top five rice producers, farmers, traders and analysts told Reuters.

“Rice has remained accessible even as overall food prices reached record levels earlier this year,” said U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organisation economist, Shirley Mustafa.

“We are now witnessing weather-related setbacks in some key rice producing countries, including India, China and Bangladesh, which could result in lower output if conditions don’t improve in the next few weeks,” Mustafa added.

World cereals prices have surged in 2022 despite relatively flat rice prices: https://tmsnrt.rs/3d7kgiB

‘PRODUCTION DROP IS CERTAIN’

India’s top rice producing states of Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh have recorded a monsoon rainfall deficit of as much as 45% so far this season, data from the state-run weather department shows.

That has in part led to a 13% drop in rice planting this year, which could result in production falling by 10 million tonnes or around 8% from last year, said B.V. Krishna Rao, president of the All India Rice Exporters Association.

The area under rice cultivation is down also because some farmers shifted to pulses and oilseeds, Rao said.

India’s summer-sown rice accounts for more than 85% of its annual production, which jumped to a record 129.66 million tonnes in the crop year to June 2022.

“A production drop is certain, but the big question is how the government will react,” a Mumbai-based dealer with a global trading firm said.

Milled and paddy rice stocks in India as of July 1 totalled 55 million tonnes, versus the target of 13.54 million tonnes.

That has kept rice prices down in the past year together with India’s record 21.5 million tonnes shipment in 2021, which was more than the total shipped by the world’s next four biggest exporters – Thailand, Vietnam, Pakistan and the United States.

“But the government is hypersensitive about prices. A small rise could prompt it to impose export curbs,” the trader said.

In Vietnam, rains during harvest have damaged grain quality.

“Never before have I seen it rain that much during harvest. It’s just abnormal,” said Tran Cong Dang, a 50-year-old farmer based in the Mekong Delta province of Bac Lieu.

    “In just ten days, the total measured rain is somewhat equal to the whole of previous month,” said Dang, who estimated a 70% output loss on his 2-hectare paddy field due to floods.

IMPORTS, PRICES

China, the world’s biggest rice consumer and importer, has suffered yield losses from extreme heat in grain growing areas and is expected to lift imports to a record 6 million tonnes in 2022/23, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

China imported 5.9 million tonnes a year ago.

The world’s third-biggest consumer, Bangladesh, is also expected to import more rice following flood-damage in its main producing regions, traders said.

The full extent of shortfalls in countries other than India has yet to be estimated by analysts or government agencies that often only publish output data later in the year.

But the impact of unfriendly crop weather can already be seen in the slight rise in export prices from India and Thailand this week.

“Rice prices are already close to the bottom and we see the market rising from current levels,” said a Singapore-based trader at one of the world’s biggest rice merchants.

“The demand is picking up with buyers such as the Philippines and others in Africa looking to book cargoes.”

Two-year price percent change in key global food staples: https://tmsnrt.rs/3PWKL8F

(Reporting by Naveen Thukral in Singapore and Rajendra Jadhav in Mumbai; additional reporting by Phuong Nguyen in Hanoi and Enrico Dela Cruz in Manila; Editing by Gavin Maguire and Himani Sarkar)

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By Tim Cocks

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa is beset by crises that have cast doubt on his presidency and left him vulnerable to a leadership challenge as his party begins the process of selecting candidates for the next national election.

As clouds gather, analysts and party insiders say his best chance of survival is that many in the governing African National Congress see him as the least objectionable nominee – both to investors and voters – in the 2024 polls, which could see the party lose its parliamentary majority for the first time since white minority rule ended nearly three decades ago.

ANC members will chose their party leader, and hence presidential nominee, in December. But the battle lines are being drawn now, with power blocks coalescing around candidates at gatherings to elect provincial party officials, and at a national policy conference last weekend.

Challengers include former health minister Zweli Mkhize, Tourism Minister Lindiwe Sisulu and Duduzane Zuma, son of the former president Jacob Zuma.

“It’s severely dented, but (Ramaphosa) still retains more trust than the other alternative political leaders,” Susan Booysen, director of research at the Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection, said. “The alternatives would have to show they’ve got credibility.”

The ANC has never been so unpopular.

Struggling state power company Eskom has imposed its worst power cuts in more than two years. Poor service delivery saw the ANC’s support in municipal polls in November drop below 50% for the first time.

A looting spree a year ago and mass shootings in July highlighted police failures and yawning wealth inequalities.

And a $4 million heist at Ramaphosa’s private farm in June raised questions about his vast wealth – awkward for a leader who won his ticket on a promise to clean up endemic graft.

Four ANC insiders said Ramaphosa’s rivals are to varying degrees allied with his predecessor Jacob Zuma’s faction, whose victory would be seen as a setback by investors in Africa’s most industrialised economy. A judicial corruption inquiry pointed to systemic graft during Zuma’s tenure in 2009-2018; he denies wrongdoing.

Zuma’s faction recently captured the party leadership in the ANC strongholds of Mpumalanga and Kwazulu-Natal, shrinking Ramaphosa’s provincial power base.

Some ANC members also favour Deputy President David Mabuza, who hasn’t said he’ll run but would automatically take over if Ramaphosa is forced out early.

GATHERING CLOUDS

Ramaphosa acted decisively against COVID-19 in 2020 – imposing some of the world’s toughest restrictions and expanding social welfare to prevent hunger – but has prevaricated on other contentious policy issues. It took his government over two years to start implementing plans to buy more power from private producers and cut reliance on Eskom, a process fraught with delays.

“He’s caught between paranoia and paralysis. There’s that indecisiveness, lurching from thing to thing,” Ebrahim Fakir of South Africa’s Auwal Socio-Economic Research Institute said.

Police are probing the origin of millions of dollars worth of foreign banknotes stolen from Ramaphosa’s private farm for tax or exchange control irregularities. He says the funds are from game sales and has welcomed the investigation.

“Ramaphosa is in a very weak position because of this foreign currency found in his house,” said Moeletsi Mbeki, deputy chairman of the South African Institute of International Affairs and a brother of ex-president Thabo Mbeki. “He has to account for why (it) was … not in the bank.”

At the policy conference, Ramaphosa faced down Zuma allies arguing that the party should suspend a rule that any officials charged with crimes must step down while they are being investigated.

The “step-aside” rule is preventing the ANC’s suspended secretary general Ace Magashule from challenging Ramaphosa after being charged with corruption. But it could come to haunt the president if he himself is charged.

RAMAPHOSA’S CHALLENGERS

Any one of his likely challengers would prompt fears from investors about “taking South Africa back to a more difficult place,” Razia Khan, Standard Chartered’s head of research for Africa and the Middle East, said.

Mkhize was suspended a year ago over allegations his department irregularly awarded COVID-19-related contracts to former associates. He did not respond to a request comment, but denies wrongdoing.

Mabuza has struggled to shrug off allegations – which he denies – of irregular tenders for a 2010 World Cup stadium and links to political killings. His spokeswoman did not comment.

Sisulu supported Zuma throughout the graft inquiry. He “is a valued and respected leader of the ANC,” her spokesman Steve Motale said.

Duduzane Zuma – known for his designer suits, partying on speed boats in Dubai and crashing his Porsche into a minibus taxi in 2014 – is being investigated alongside his father for alleged corruption.

“I’ve showed up every time and pleaded not-guilty,” he told Reuters. “I’m young at heart. If I want to jump on a jet ski or quad bike or a private plane, that shouldn’t be an issue. I’ve worked hard.”

If the ANC loses its parliamentary majority, it could force the party into an uneasy coalition. Several conference delegates told Reuters they still see Ramaphosa as their best bet.

“I don’t see any other person who can rival him,” Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi told Reuters.

Some analysts agree.

“Removing Ramaphosa would be a suicide mission. He is what has slowed down their decline,” author and political analyst Ralph Mathekga said. “He’s the most electable, and … can help the party to survive.”

(Additional reporting by Siyabonga Sishi in Johannesburg; editing by Alexandra Zavis and Toby Chopra)

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By Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen

UTOEYA, Norway (Reuters) – NATO members are working closely with defence companies to ensure Ukraine gets more supplies of weapons and equipment to be prepared for the long haul in its war with Russia, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Thursday.

“We are providing a lot of support but we need to do even more and be prepared for the long haul,” Stoltenberg told Reuters in an interview.

“Therefore we’re also now in close contact and working closely with the defence industry to produce more and to deliver more of different types of ammunition, weapons and capabilities,” he said.

In recent months, the United States and other Western countries have begun shipping more advanced conventional weapons systems to Ukraine, including high mobility artillery rocket systems (HIMARS) that offer a longer range and more precision.

Stoltenberg said separately in a speech in Norway to local Labour party activists on Thursday that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which Moscow calls a “special military operation”, had created the most dangerous moment for Europe since World War Two and that Russia could not be allowed to win.

He also accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of engaging in “reckless and dangerous” rhetoric regarding the potential use of nuclear arms.

While NATO members are not directly involved in the war, NATO is closely involved in coordinating the Western response to the invasion.

Stoltenberg reiterated his position that the war would likely end only after negotiations.

“We know most wars end at the negotiating table. We also know that the outcome of those negotiations will be totally dependent on the strength on the battlefield,” he told Reuters.

“It’s not for me to tell Ukraine what those terms exactly should be. It’s for me and NATO to support them to strengthen their hands, so we maximize the likelihood of an acceptable solution,” reiterating similar comments he made in June.

The war has led previously non-aligned Finland and Sweden to seek NATO membership, with the request so far ratified by 23 of the 30 member states, including the United States.

“This is the fastest accession protocol in NATO’s modern history. I expect the other seven remaining allies to do the same,” Stoltenberg said.

He said Turkey’s demand for extraditions from Sweden and Finland of terrorism suspects would have to be decided by courts in the two Nordic nations.

“The rule of law applies in Finland and Sweden,” Stoltenberg said.

(Reporting by Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen; Writing by Terje Solsvik; Editing by Susan Fenton)

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By Rod Nickel

WINNIPEG, Manitoba (Reuters) – Canada will send up to 225 personnel to the United Kingdom to train Ukrainian military recruits, starting with the first troops next week, Canadian Defence Minister Anita Anand said on Thursday.

Ukraine has been forced to cede some territory in the east of the country in the face of a Russian offensive, and the head of the NATO military alliance said Moscow must not be allowed to win the war, which began with Russia’s invasion in February.

The Canadian Armed Forces has trained more than 33,000 Ukrainian military and security personnel since 2015, but paused aspects of the training effort since February.

“We have now entered a new and very dangerous phase of this conflict with (Russia) engaging in a protracted attempt to inflict long-term damage on Ukraine and its people,” Anand said in Toronto.

“I am therefore announcing today that we are fulfilling our promise to resume large-scale training.”

The deployment will last four months. Most of the soldiers will come from 3rd Battalion Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, based in Edmonton, Alberta.

The Ukrainian Canadian Congress, a group representing the Ukrainian diaspora in Canada, welcomed Canada’s resumption of training, saying Canadian expertise will greatly benefit Ukraine.

The Netherlands and New Zealand have also committed military trainers to the U.K.-led mission.

Canadian-led training, to take place at a military base in southeast England, will include weapons handling, first aid and patrol tactics.

Last month, Canada said it would send 39 General Dynamics-made armored vehicles https://www.reuters.com/world/canada-send-39-armored-vehicles-ukraine-this-summer-2022-07-07 to Ukraine this summer.

(Reporting by Rod Nickel and Ismail Shakil; Editing by Daniel Wallis)

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BERLIN (Reuters) – More than 100 firefighters on Thursday battled a fire at an ammunitions dump in western Berlin, using water cannons and an army robot to try to contain the blaze that has triggered explosions and was still spreading, officials said.

The fire service set up a perimeter zone 1,000 metres (0.6 miles) from the centre of the fire, which it said had spread across 15,000 square metres of Grunewald, a forested area bordered by upscale villas and swimming lakes, as well as the sealed-off ammunitions dump.

Firefighters had been unable to reach the source of the blaze due to several explosions at the bomb disposal site, and they were using the army robot to obtain images of the area.

The firefighters laid hoses through the forest from nearby rivers and lakes, and an armoured vehicle supplied by the Bundeswehr was cutting a fire break through the forest at the southern edge of the perimeter zone.

“Everything is prepared at the borders of the perimeter. That is where we want to stop it,” a spokesperson for the fire service told Reuters.

Berlin frequently carries out bomb disposal operations as explosives are still being discovered from World War Two. The Grunewald site is used to defuse such old munitions, as well as weapons and fireworks, a fire department spokesperson said.

It has been in operation since 1950 and is equipped with fire alarm systems and a firebreak that is several metres wide, police said on Twitter. The explosives stored there were being continuously sprinkled with water.

The fire service said it was unclear what had caused the fire but that several buildings at the bomb disposal site were ablaze by the time firefighters arrived.

No residential areas were affected by the fire, and no evacuations had been ordered.

Berlin is experiencing a heatwave. Weather service DWD forecast Thursday as one of the hottest days of the year with temperatures expected to reach between 34 and 38 degrees Celsius.

Germany has also been tackling wildfires at its border with Czech Republic for more than a week.

A dozen European countries have suffered major blazes this year, forcing thousands to evacuate and destroying homes and businesses. Countries including Italy, Spain and France still face extreme fire risk.

Data published on Thursday showed that this summer’s European wildfires have burned the second-largest area on record.

(Reporting by Rachel More and Maria Sheahan; Editing by Miranda Murray, Bill Rigby. John Stonestreet and Jane Merriman)

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TAIPEI (Reuters) – Taiwan’s government urged the island’s companies on Thursday to enhance their cybersecurity in the coming days as authorities were seeing a record number of attacks on their websites amid escalating tensions with China.

(Reporting By Yimou Lee; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)

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MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -Rescuers in Mexico, including dozens of soldiers, were working desperately on Wednesday to reach ten miners trapped in a flooded coal mine following the collapse of an inner wall, the ministry handling the disaster said.

Three miners had been rescued and hospitalized, the Security and Citizen Protection Ministry said in an update on the rescue efforts at the mine in the Sabinas municipality of the northern state of Coahuila.

Television footage showed family members outside the mine clamoring for information on the missing men.

“I hope we find them safe,” Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said earlier on Twitter. Lopez Obrador had said nine miners were likely to be trapped, but authorities revised the number later.

Some 92 soldiers were working at the scene, as well as specialists and rescue dogs, the president said.

The Labor Ministry said it had not received any complaints about safety at the mine, which began operations in January.

(Reporting by Carolina Pulice, Adriana Barrera and Valentine Hilaire; Editing by Brendan O’Boyle, Sandra Maler & Simon Cameron-Moore)

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By Lucy Craymer

WELLINGTON (Reuters) – New Zealand’s health ministry sees strong signs that the country’s latest COVID-19 wave has peaked, as new cases continue to trend lower.

The number of people in hospitals with COVID is also down on late July.

“The case rates have continued to trend lower across all regions for the second week running,” Andrew Old, head of the New Zealand Public Health Agency, told reporters on Thursday.

In the past seven days there were on average 6,142 new cases daily of COVID, down from a seven-day rolling average of 7,776 new cases a week earlier, according to Health Ministry data released on Thursday.

According to data issued on Thursday, 663 people are in hospital with COVID, well below levels seen in late July, when more than 800 people were in hospital with the virus.

Australia is seeing signs of an unexpectedly early peak in its winter outbreak. Australian Health Minister Mark Butler told Nine News that the government was quietly hoping cases had begun falling.

New Zealand’s latest modelling showed case numbers were at the lower end of what had been expected. The decline “strongly suggests we’ve reached a peak,” Old said.

The Omicron BA.5 sub-variant is driving the current wave in New Zealand, which has 5.1 million people. There have been 44,776 active cases in the past seven days.

(Reporting by Lucy Craymer; Editing by Bradley Perrett)

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