ֱ

Zelensky and UN atomic agency head warn of heightened risk at huge Ukrainian nuclear plant

Zelensky and UN atomic agency head warn of heightened risk at huge Ukrainian nuclear plant
A Russian service member stands guard at a checkpoint near the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. (Reuters)
Short Url
Updated 01 October 2025

Zelensky and UN atomic agency head warn of heightened risk at huge Ukrainian nuclear plant

Zelensky and UN atomic agency head warn of heightened risk at huge Ukrainian nuclear plant
  • Zaporizhzhia is one of the 10 biggest nuclear plants in the world, and its fate amid the fighting has caused fears of a potential nuclear catastrophe
  • The Vienna-based IAEA has been walking a tightrope in the war, eager to maintain access to nuclear facilities and issuing warnings about the dangers without angering either side

KYIV: Ukraine’s president and the UN nuclear agency head are sounding the alarm about increased safety risks at the Russia-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in southern Ukraine, which lost its external power supply more than a week ago as the war raged around it.
Emergency diesel generators are providing power for crucial cooling systems for the facility’s six shutdown reactors and spent fuel, and there is no immediate danger to Europe’s biggest nuclear plant, according to International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi.
But “it is clearly not a sustainable situation in terms of nuclear safety,” he said.
The backup generators have never needed to run for so long, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
“The generators and the plant were not designed for this,” Zelensky said late Tuesday, describing the situation as “critical.”
Zaporizhzhia is one of the 10 biggest nuclear plants in the world, and its fate amid the fighting has caused fears of a potential nuclear catastrophe. Russian forces seized it days after the full-scale invasion of neighboring Ukraine began on Feb. 24, 2022.
The Vienna-based IAEA has been walking a tightrope in the war, eager to maintain access to nuclear facilities and issuing warnings about the dangers without angering either side. Ukraine has four nuclear plants, though Zaporizhzhia is the only one in Russian hands.
Grossi said that Zaporizhzhia’s emergency generators were coping with the extra strain so far.
“The current status of the reactor units and spent fuel is stable as long as the emergency diesel generators are able to provide sufficient power to maintain essential safety-related functions and cooling,” he said in a statement late Tuesday.
An IAEA team at the plant reported that it has fuel reserves ensuring the generators can operate for more than 10 days, with regular off-site supplies maintaining this level.
“Nevertheless, it is extremely important that off-site power is restored,” Grossi said, adding that he was in touch with Russian and Ukrainian officials about how to swiftly reconnect the plant to the grid.
As Russia’s invasion churns across the Ukrainian countryside, the Zaporizhzhia facility has repeatedly been caught in the crossfire.
It lost its off-site power for the 10th time during the war on Sept. 23, when its only remaining power line was damaged by military activity about 1½ kilometers (a mile) from the plant, the IAEA statement said.
Eight emergency diesel generators are operating, with nine additional units in standby mode and three in maintenance, according to the IAEA.
It said that over the past week, the plant has been alternating those in use and servicing idle generators in an effort to ensure continuous availability.


Trump says China’s Xi using soy as negotiation tactic ahead of talks

Trump says China’s Xi using soy as negotiation tactic ahead of talks
Updated 9 sec ago

Trump says China’s Xi using soy as negotiation tactic ahead of talks

Trump says China’s Xi using soy as negotiation tactic ahead of talks
  • Chinese importers have not yet bought soybeans from the autumn US harvest during the trade war between Washington and Beijing, costing US farmers billions of dollars in lost sales

CHICAGO/WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that soybeans would be a major topic of discussion when he meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping in four weeks.
“The Soybean Farmers of our Country are being hurt because China is, for ‘negotiating’ reasons only, not buying,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Chinese importers have not yet bought soybeans from the autumn US harvest during the trade war between Washington and Beijing, costing US farmers billions of dollars in lost sales.
Autumn is the prime marketing season for US soybeans as farmers bring in fresh crops from their fields. However, China, the world’s top soybean importer, has turned to South America for supplies instead, pressuring US soybean prices.
US Senator John Hoeven of North Dakota, a Republican, said he did not think there was a specific timeline for China to resume purchases of US soy following a briefing on Tuesday with US Ambassador to China David Perdue.
“He didn’t indicate to me sales are imminent,” Hoeven said in an interview. “The discussion was more, we need to keep the pressure on until we get sales and in the meantime be supportive of our farmers.”
In his post, Trump repeated a promise to use proceeds from tariff revenues to help farmers.
Last month, Trump said he and Xi agreed during a call to meet face-to-face in South Korea to discuss a trade conflict that has kept the countries bitterly at odds. The two leaders are set to meet on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum during the last week of October in Gyeongju, South Korea.
Trump also said he would visit China early next year and that Xi would come to the US at a later date.
Efforts by the countries to lower trade tensions have led to expectations that China could direct more agriculture purchases to the US as part of a deal with Trump.
“Right now, they’re buying from South America and using that to try to put pressure on us in these trade negotiations,” Hoeven said.
In 2020, during Trump’s first term in office, he signed a trade deal with China that included promises to buy tens of billions of dollars in US agricultural products while expanding US access to Chinese agriculture markets.
China never met its agreed purchase targets under the deal, and it has sought to diversify its food sources.
The Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.


UK announces £27m Rohingya refugee aid package

UK announces £27m Rohingya refugee aid package
Updated 01 October 2025

UK announces £27m Rohingya refugee aid package

UK announces £27m Rohingya refugee aid package
  • Funding will provide food, shelter, clean water and other life-saving services to half a million displaced
  • UN warns of growing food shortages in Myanmar state from where the Muslim minority are fleeing

LONDON: The UK will provide £27 million ($36 million) to help Rohingya refugees who have fled war and food shortages in Myanmar.

The aid package will provide food, shelter, clean water and other life-saving services to half a million people living in camps in neighboring Bangladesh.

The funding was announced by the UK’s Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper on Monday as a UN conference on the Muslim minority group took place in New York.

The US also announced $60 million in assistance for Rohingya and other Myanmar minority refugees “who have been victims of repression and violence,” and fled their country.

The UK aid will be delivered through various UN agencies including the World Food Program and UNICEF, along with other aid groups.

The money will also go toward reproductive health services for 175,000 women and girls, and to support survivors of sexual, physical and mental harm.

Cooper said that the funding would also help to support Bangladeshi host communities.

“The UK will continue to work tirelessly to ensure that those displaced by violence have the support, protection, dignity and opportunities they deserve,” she said.

The funding comes as the UN warns of a fresh hunger crisis in Myanmar’s Rakhine state, where fighting is raging between the military-led government and a group known as the Arakan Army. 

More than a million Rohingya live in refugee camps in Bangladesh after vast numbers fled a brutal military crackdown in Rakhine in 2017.

The refugee crisis has been exacerbated by cuts in international aid, particularly by the US, which shut down the US Agency for International Development earlier this year.

The UK says that it has now provided more than £447 million since 2017 to help the Rohingya, and is continuing to work with Bangladesh to “promote stability and hope” for the Rohingya community.


3 alleged Hamas members arrested in Germany on suspicion of plotting attacks on Jewish institutions

3 alleged Hamas members arrested in Germany on suspicion of plotting attacks on Jewish institutions
Updated 01 October 2025

3 alleged Hamas members arrested in Germany on suspicion of plotting attacks on Jewish institutions

3 alleged Hamas members arrested in Germany on suspicion of plotting attacks on Jewish institutions
  • Germany’s federal prosecutor said the three have been involved in procuring firearms since earlier this summer
  • Hamas, however, said in a statement Wednesday that it has no connection to the three suspects

BERLIN: Three alleged members of the Palestinian militant group Hamas were arrested Wednesday on suspicion of plotting attacks on Israeli or Jewish institutions in Germany, officials said.
The suspects are set to appear in court Thursday. A judge will then determine whether the trio can be held in custody ahead of a trial.
Germany’s federal prosecutor said the three have been involved in procuring firearms since earlier this summer. Various weapons, including an AK-47 rifle, and ammunition were found during a raid.
Hamas, however, said in a statement Wednesday that it has no connection to the three suspects, calling the allegations of a link to the group baseless and aimed at “undermining the German people’s sympathy with our Palestinian people and their legitimate struggle against the Zionist occupation.”
Hamas also said it has always confined its armed struggle to Israel and the Palestinian territories and would continue to do so.
Two of the suspects are German citizens. The federal prosecutor’s office described the third as being born in Lebanon. They were only named as Abed Al G., Wael F. M., and Ahmad I., in line with German privacy rules.
Alexander Dobrindt, Germany’s federal interior minister, said Wednesday that the country has become an area where alleged terrorists now operate, German news agency dpa reported. He added that authorities must be prepared to defend against it.
Hamas has carried out hundreds of attacks against Israeli civilians over the years but has rarely operated outside Israel and the Palestinian territories. Questions will likely be raised over whether the suspects were acting on orders from Hamas’ leadership or if they were merely sympathizers with Hamas or the Palestinian cause.
The arrests took place as Hamas said it would study US President Donald Trump’s peace proposal to end the Israeli-Hamas war in Gaza.
A Hamas-led attack on southern Israel nearly two years ago killed some 1,200 people and 251 others were abducted. Most of the hostages have been freed under previous ceasefire deals, but 48 are still held in Gaza — around 20 believed by Israel to be alive.
Israel’s subsequent campaign in Gaza has killed more than 66,000 Palestinians and wounded nearly 170,000 others, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and militants in its toll, but has said women and children make up around half of the dead.
Police in many European countries have been on heightened alert since the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks. Some forces have boosted security and patrols against possible attacks against Jewish or Israeli sites in recent months amid a spike of antisemitic violence on the continent and beyond.
In December 2023, four alleged Hamas members were arrested on suspicion of organizing weapons caches across Europe. It was a pilot case for prosecutors and went to trial in February.
The men are accused of seeking out some weapons depots set up years ago — as well as setting up new ones — for the militant group across Europe for later attacks against Israeli and Jewish targets on the continent, prosecutors previously said.
The weapons were allegedly moved around Europe in preparation for the Oct. 7, 2023 attack, prosecutors said.
All four had important positions within Hamas, prosecutors asserted.
The trial remains ongoing.


Strong earthquake kills at least 69 in central Philippines

Police and rescuers carry an injured person as they are brought to the hospital in Bogo City, Cebu province, central Philippines
Police and rescuers carry an injured person as they are brought to the hospital in Bogo City, Cebu province, central Philippines
Updated 01 October 2025

Strong earthquake kills at least 69 in central Philippines

Police and rescuers carry an injured person as they are brought to the hospital in Bogo City, Cebu province, central Philippines
  • Quake in Cebu was most powerful to strike the central Philippines in more than a decade
  • Philippine seismology agency records 722 aftershocks, warns of more tremors in coming days

MANILA: Dozens of people were killed after a magnitude 6.9 earthquake struck a central Philippine province, officials said on Wednesday, as they declared a state of calamity in the whole island province of Cebu.

The quake struck off the northern part of the island overnight, with the epicenter in Bogo City — the worst-hit area, where the Office of Civil Defense recorded 30 deaths. The toll of 69 was expected to rise as civilian and army rescuers continued to look for survivors amid the rubble.

More than 200 people were injured in Bogo — a coastal city with a population of about 90,000 — and surrounding towns, including San Remigio — the second worst-affected, where 22 were killed. Since the morning patients were seen waiting outside hospitals, after tremors severely damaged the infrastructure and knocked out 27 power plants.

“We are still within the golden hour of rescue operations, and we’re still receiving reports that some villages need assistance,” Office of Civil Defense Deputy Administrator Bernardo Rafaelito Alejandro IV told reporters.

“Many have been reported trapped or pinned under debris because of the earthquake, so operations are ongoing.”

Footage shared by residents across the region showed cracked bridges and roads, damaged buildings, and people holding onto each other as the tremors started.

In the provincial capital, Cebu City, some 100 km from Bogo, several major structures were damaged, including the University of the Visayas and several commercial areas.

Jayford Maranga, who was trapped in the city’s Nustar Mall when its ceiling collapsed, told Arab News that the tremors felt as if “the world had suddenly stopped” when they started.

“The shaking was extremely strong, especially since we were on the fourth floor of the building ... The shaking was sideways. It was quick but very strong. Then came the aftershocks,” he said.

He was trapped with his friend in the mall’s food court and hid under the table when parts of the ceiling started to fall.

“The table was really sturdy. That’s what kept us safe ... We managed to get out with the help of the mall guards who came looking for us,” he said.

“I couldn’t go home right away because it started raining hard around midnight, and there was some flooding. People were still stranded outside.”

The earthquake was the most powerful to strike the central region of the Philippines in more than a decade. The Philippine seismology agency, PHIVOLCS, said that 722 aftershocks had been recorded and warned that the affected areas might experience more tremors in the coming days.

The whole Cebu province, home to 3.5 million people, was placed under a state of calamity following the earthquake, which came just weeks after the region was hit by two typhoons in a row.

Even though Cebu is outside the usual typhoon path in the country, it still faces strong storms and is prone to earthquakes because it is part of the Pacific Ring of Fire.

In 2013, at least 215 people were killed when a magnitude 7.2 earthquake hit Cebu and the neighboring island province of Bohol.


Seven jailed in latest UK grooming gang convictions

Seven jailed in latest UK grooming gang convictions
Updated 01 October 2025

Seven jailed in latest UK grooming gang convictions

Seven jailed in latest UK grooming gang convictions
  • A jury hearing their four-month trial in Manchester found all seven guilty in June of rape and dozens of other offenses
  • The men sentenced Wednesday were prosecuted as part of Operation Lytton, a police investigation launched in 2015 into historical child sexual exploitation in Rochdale

LONDON: A UK court on Wednesday jailed seven “grooming gang” members for between 12 to 35 years for using two teenage girls as “sex slaves,” the latest sentences in a decades-long scandal.
The men, all of South Asian descent, groomed at least two vulnerable white teenage girls in Rochdale, near Manchester in northwest England, and then repeatedly raped them over a five-year period starting in 2001.
A jury hearing their four-month trial in Manchester found all seven guilty in June of rape and dozens of other offenses, after both victims gave evidence in court.
Jurors heard they were forced to have sex “with multiple men on the same day, in filthy flats and on rancid mattresses.”
“They were passed around for sex — abused, humiliated, degraded and then discarded,” judge Jonathan Seely said on passing sentence.
It is the latest in a string of so-called grooming gang cases that prompted the government in June to order a public inquiry following years of calls for a wider probe.
Numerous official reports, including a landmark review by parliamentarian Louise Casey, have found men of mostly South Asian origin were suspected of having sexually abused thousands of mostly white, working-class girls over several decades.
Police probes into historic child sexual exploitation in Rochdale have so far led to the conviction of 32 offenders, including the seven sentenced Wednesday, according to police.
They have collectively been jailed for more than 450 years.
Far-right British figures, including activist Tommy Robinson, are among those to have seized on the issue as a rallying cry against multiculturalism and immigration.
It received international attention earlier this year when US tech billionaire Elon Musk launched incendiary attacks on his X platform against the UK government after it resisted calls for a national inquiry.
The men sentenced Wednesday were prosecuted as part of Operation Lytton, a police investigation launched in 2015 into historical child sexual exploitation in Rochdale.

- ‘Highly vulnerable’ -

Handing down the jail terms, Seely said the two victims “were highly vulnerable, both had deeply troubled backgrounds and were known to the authorities.”
“They were highly susceptible to the advances of these men and others, and both were sexually abused by numerous other men,” he noted.
“Both were seriously let down by those whose job it was to protect them.”
Social services and police have apologized for their past failings surrounding the victims.
The longest sentence of 35 years went to market stallholder Mohammed Zahid, 65.
The father-of-three gave free underwear from his lingerie stall to both teenagers, alongside money, alcohol and food, expecting in return regular sex with him and his friends.
The Manchester resident had been found guilty of 20 offenses including rape, indecency with a child, and attempting to procure unlawful sexual intercourse from a girl.
Fellow Rochdale market traders Mushtaq Ahmed, 67, and Kasir Bashir, 50, both of Oldham, received jail terms of 27 years and 29 years, respectively.
Both had been convicted of offenses including rape and indecency with a child.
Bashir, who absconded before the trial began and is believed to have fled abroad, was sentenced in absentia.
Taxi drivers Mohammed Shahzad, 44, Naheem Akram, 49, and Nisar Hussain, 41, all of Rochdale, had been convicted of multiple counts of rape and received sentences ranging from 19 to 26 years.
A final offender, 39-year-old Roheez Khan, of Rochdale, was jailed for 12 years for a single count of rape.
Liz Fell, specialist prosecutor in the case, thanked both victims for their “strength and dignity throughout what has been a lengthy and challenging legal process.”
“Their determination to see justice done has been fundamental to securing these convictions,” she said, noting the defendants had failed to show the “slightest remorse.”