Foreign Tit Bits Today
Compiled by Yadnom Awu/Asaba
Ukraine
Russia Pounds Ukraine in Largest Ever Daily Attack
Russia, overnight, launched its single largest daily serial assault on Ukraine, hitting multiple targets including cities in the otherwise safe West of the country.
Ukrainian President, Wladimyr Zelensky, lamented the attack which, he said, was proof that his Russian counterpart , Vladimir Viktor Putin, was not interested in peace as their American colleague, Donald Trump, had hoped for.
Other officials of Ukraine said that at least 728 drones were fired overnight at different targets in Ukraine.
They said at least 13 ballistic/ cruise missiles were also fired by Russia.
But unlike the tradition of Ukraine, they gave no figures of casualties, beyond admitting to the fact that some persons were killed and wounded in the attack.
They were also mum on the number of the drones and missiles that were intercepted by the country’s air defence systems.
Russia,which has been exchanging living and dead troops with its smaller neighbour, has been ramping up its aerial assaults on Ukraine as its ground troops make slow but steady progress in battlegrounds across the country.
France
Wildfires hit Marseille
Wildfires have reached the perimeter of the strategic French city of Marseille.
More than 400 persons have been evacuated from their homes as the wild Fires reached the outskirts of the city, the second largest in France.
Emergency Services said the fires were started from a car which ignited after it suffered a mishap.
The airport in the city has been temporarily halted as a result.
At least nine persons, including fire fighters and policemen,have been hurt in the fires.
Wildfires are a rarity in the city and other parts of France.
America
Texas Flash Floods Death Toll Now 110, As 160 Remain Missing
Search and Rescue operations deepened today in and around Kerr county as the death toll in Friday’s flash floods in Texas, America, reached the 110 mark.
The dead included 30 children.
Emergency Services said that 160 others, an upgrade on earlier projections, remained missing as of this morning.
Most of the dead were from Kerr county where 94 fatalities had been recorded.
Texas State Governor, Greg Abbott, said the search and rescue operations would continuebfir as long as necessary, even as experts say the prospects of finding survivors were dimming fast.
The floods descended in the impacted areas after the nearby Guadalupe River overflowed its bank, rising 8 metres in 45 minutes creating floods that swept everything in their way.
Many of the dead were teenage girls attending a Christian training programme at Camp Mystic.
Qatar
Israeli/ Hamas Talks Stalled
Indirect talks between officials of Israel and Hamas in Doha, Qatar, have largely stalled, according to sources familiar with the goings on.
The talks, mediated by diplomats from Qatar and Egypt, began on Sunday, to draw up the framework for upcoming negotiations between Israel and Hamas.
But they appear to have either stalled, or, made little, if any, progress, according to sources, which did not outline details of the sticking points.
The development comes as both the visiting Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and his host, Donald Trump, expressed optimism of a breakthrough at the talks.
Trump had repeatedly told the media of recent that a breakthrough in the talks could lead to a deal, as early as this week.
But he had failed , just as Netanyahu, to publicly lay out the predicate of his optimism.
More than 55,000 Palestinians have been killed in the course of the war in which more than 103,000 others have been wounded, some severely
Israel, which has a tradition of underreporting its casualty figures, recently admitted to losing 879 soldiers, to enemy fire during the nearly two years old war.
It said that the figure included some 440 who died since its full invasion of the embattled enclave of Gaza.
Aside from the dead, credible security sources say that up to 4,000 other Israeli troops had been wounded during the war.
America
Fresh Flood Hits New Mexico
At least three persons have died in fresh flash floods in the American state of New Mexico.
The floods followed the earlier rains in the state on Tuesday .
Emergency Services were called in to action as the floods swept through cities, causing severe damage.
Many buildings and public infrastructure have been damaged in the Western parts of the state, but the actual tally of damage remained unknown at press time because assessment was ongoing.
Palestine
Israel Kills 60 Gazans In Wednesday Attacks
More than 60 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli troops since dawn on Wednesday, according to the Hamas-run Ministry of Health.
The dead, it said, included women and children who had been huddling in make shift shelters.
Today’ s death toll is a continuation of recent upstajr in Israeli attacks on Palestinians in Gaza City and Rafah city.
The killings came as talks continued in Qatar between officials of Israel and Hamas
