Blasts hit Russian base in Crimea, Ukraine targets supply lines
Russia blamed sabotage for explosions at one of its military bases in Moscow-annexed Crimea while Kyiv hinted it was responsible as Ukrainian officials said their strategy was to destroy supply lines supporting Russia’s invasion, Reuters reported.
The blasts on Tuesday engulfed an ammunition depot at a military base in the north of the Crimean peninsula, disrupting trains and forcing the evacuation of 2,000 people from a nearby village, according to Russian officials and news agencies.
Plumes of smoke were later seen at a second Russian military base in central Crimea, Russia’s Kommersant newspaper said. The action followed explosions at a Russian military air base in western Crimea last week that destroyed eight warplanes.
Russia’s defence ministry said Tuesday’s explosions at the ammunition depot were “a result of sabotage”. The Crimean peninsula, which Moscow annexed in 2014, is the main supply route for Russian forces in southern Ukraine and the base for its Black Sea fleet.
Ukraine did not confirm or deny responsibility for the explosions though its officials openly cheered Russia’s setbacks there.
Presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak and chief of staff Andriy Yermak both exulted on social media at “demilitarisation”, an apparent mocking reference to the word Russia uses to justify its invasion.
“Operation ‘demilitarisation’ in the precise style of the Armed Forces of Ukraine will continue until the complete de-occupation of Ukraine’s territories,” Yermak wrote on Telegram.
Podolyak told Britain’s Guardian newspaper later that Ukraine’s strategy was to destroy Russian “logistics, supply lines and ammunition depots and other objects of military infrastructure. It’s creating a chaos within their own forces.”
As Kyiv considers a potential counter-offensive in the south, the explosions raised the prospect of new dynamics in the six-month-old war if Ukraine now has capability to strike deeper in Russian-occupied territory or pro-Kyiv groups are having success with guerrilla-style attacks.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged Ukrainians to steer clear of Russian military bases and ammunition stores and said the explosions could have a number of causes, including incompetence, according to Reuters.
“But they all mean the same thing – the destruction of the occupiers’ logistics, their ammunition, military and other equipment, and command posts, saves the lives of our people,” he said in an evening address.
In Tuesday’s blasts, an electricity substation also caught fire, according to footage on Russian state TV. Seven trains were delayed and rail traffic on part of the line in northern Crimea had been suspended, Russia’s RIA news agency said, Reuters reported.
Liz Cheney: Trump arch-enemy ousted in Wyoming election
Voters in the US state of Wyoming have ousted congresswoman Liz Cheney, a rare Republican critic of former President Donald Trump, in a primary election, BBC reported.
She has been trounced by a relative political newcomer and Trump-backed candidate, Harriet Hageman.
Ms Cheney was one of only two members of her party to join the congressional committee investigating Mr Trump's attempts to cling to power.
The three-term congresswoman was once a rising Republican star.
All 10 Republicans who voted to impeach Mr Trump after his supporters attacked the US Capitol building in January last year have been targeted in a scorched-earth campaign of revenge.
So far, four have retired, and now four have been defeated by his chosen candidates in primary ballots in the states of Wyoming, Washington, Michigan and South Carolina.
The daughter of ex-Vice-President Dick Cheney, Ms Cheney was the last of the 10 to face the Trumpian assault.
Seventy per cent of voters in Wyoming cast their ballots for Mr Trump in 2020.
Opinion polls had consistently shown Ms Hageman - who has stated she believes that election was "rigged" - leading in Wyoming by a large margin.
With partial results in Tuesday night's vote count showing Ms Hageman ahead by more than 30 percentage points, most US networks called the race for her not long after polls closed.
In her concession speech, Ms Cheney made clear she would not let up in her criticism of Mr Trump, who has been hinting he may run for the White House again in 2024.
Ms Cheney said she could easily have won re-election if she had gone along with Mr Trump's false claims that he - not President Joe Biden - won the 2020 election, according to BBC.
"That was a path I could and would not take," she said.
Mr Trump congratulated Ms Hageman on her victory in a post on his social media platform, Truth Social.
He also said: "Liz Cheney should be ashamed of herself, the way she acted, and her spiteful, sanctimonious words and actions towards others.
"Now she can finally disappear into the depths of political oblivion where, I am sure, she will be much happier than she is right now."
"Wyoming has put the elites on notice," she said. "We are no longer going to tolerate representatives who don't represent us."
Earlier, at the state's junior rodeo finals in the city of Casper, some voters told the BBC how they had soured on Ms Cheney.
The rodeo president, Chad Westbrook, said from beneath his 10-gallon hat: "When she goes against the masses, it doesn't work good for us.
"We really liked Dick Cheney, you know, but she's gone too far."
Ms Cheney's famous father, once a hate figure of the American left, now finds himself something of an anti-Trump fellow traveller.
In a campaign advert for his daughter, Dick Cheney had described Mr Trump as the biggest threat ever to the country.
Outside one polling booth, in a charming wooden schoolroom overshadowed by the stunning Teton Mountains, Democratic voters had answered Ms Cheney's call to switch their registration to Republican in order the lend her their support - itself a sign of how poorly she had rated her chances.
"I've never agreed with one thing Liz Cheney has ever said, but I respected how she fought for democracy," one such voter, a middle-aged woman, told me.
"I'm a Democrat and I came out and voted for Liz Cheney because she's standing up for truth and that's what we need in this country," another man of similar age agreed.
In the suburbs of the state capital of Cheyenne earlier, a group of Republicans were knocking on doors in a show of last-minute support for Ms Cheney - something they clearly accepted was an uphill battle, BBC reported.
Evan Wagner, who had driven 17 hours from Austin, Texas, said: "She's standing for principle, she's saying I don't care if I lose my job, I'm going to do the right thing."
But their efforts were in vain.
Wyoming primary elections do not normally attract much media attention.
Tuesday's vote is being seen as a test - not just for party but for country too - of how much the legacy of Donald Trump and his election denying narrative continue to loom over this landscape.
Artemis: Nasa readies giant Moon rocket for maiden flight
The American space agency Nasa is rolling out its giant new Moon rocket to prepare it for a maiden flight, BBC reported.
Known as the Space Launch System (SLS), the vehicle is being taken to Pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida for a lift-off scheduled for 29 August.
The debut outing is a test with no crew aboard, but future missions will send astronauts back to the lunar surface for the first time in over 50 years.
The near 100m-tall (328ft) SLS is riding an immense tractor to the pad.
It started moving from its assembly building at Kennedy late on Tuesday evening, local time,but with a cruising speed of just over 1km/h (under 1mph), it could take 8-10 hours to complete the 6.7km (4.2 miles) journey.
Sport turbulence: FIFA suspends All India Football Federation, court panel for Olympic body
A suspension from international football, the appointment of a Committee of Administrators (CoA) to run the Indian Olympic Association (IOA), and uncertainty over hosting the hockey World Cup. Even as the dust settles over a successful Commonwealth Games campaign, Indian sport has been thrown into turmoil, The Indian Express reported.
Nepal logs 848 new Covid-19 cases, one death on Tuesday
Nepal reported 848 new Covid-19 cases and one death on Tuesday. According to the Ministry of Health and Population, 2, 722 swab samples were tested in the RT-PCR method, of which 399 returned positive. Likewise, 2, 897 people underwent antigen tests, of which 449 were tested positive. The Ministry said that 526 infected people recovered from the disease. As of today, there are 5, 259 active cases in the country.
Nepse plunges by 24. 83 points on Tuesday
The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) plunged by 24. 83 points to close at 2,041.06 points on Tuesday. Similarly, the sensitive index dropped by 3. 75 points to close at 394. 39 points. A total of 6,406,738 units of the shares of 221 companies were traded for Rs 2. 73 billion. Meanwhile, Upper Hewakhola Hydropower Company Limited was the top gainer today with its price surging by 9. 99 percent. At the end of the day, the total market capitalization stood at Rs 2. 91 trillion.
Ruling coalition decides to send Citizenship Bill as it is to President’s office for authentication
The ruling coalition has decided to send the Citizenship Bill without making any changes again to the President’s office for authentication. A meeting of the ruling coalition held at the Prime Minister’s office in Baluwatar on Tuesday decided to send the Citizenship Bill to the President’s Office by completing all the parliamentary process for authentication. Government spokesperson Gyanendra Bahadur Karki said that the meeting has decided to send the Citizenship Bill as it is to the President’s office. Earlier, President Bidya Devi Bhandari had sent the Citizenship Bill back to the Parliament for reconsideration. On July 31, Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota had sent the Citizenship Bill to the President’s office for certification.
EC intensifies preparations to hold November 20 elections in free, fair manner
The Election Commission (EC) has intensified preparations in order to hold the November 20 elections of the provincial and federal parliaments in a free and fair manner. In this connection, it endorsed the election schedule. The directive, work procedure and amendments relating to the elections have also been approved. Chief Election Commissioner Dinesh Kumar Thapaliya said that the EC had called for registration of the political parties willing to participate in the elections and completed the financial management work procedure and budget. The EC has been provided 107 days for the preparations. It has estimated the election cost at Rs 10 billion while the total voters would be around 18.2 million. Even the international organizations have been called for election observation in order to hold the elections in a free, fair and frugal manner. It is shared that there will be some 10,825 polling stations. CCTV surveillance will be put in place for making the vote count credible. It will be helpful for monitoring of the elections and vote count as well. The citizens turning 18 years on the eve of the elections are eligible to exercise voting rights. For voting literacy, digital media is used extensively by the Election Commission. There is continuous discussion and consultation with the experts and political representatives in a bid to minimize the percentage of invalid votes and increase voters' turnout. Moreover, the EC has also planned to ensure voting rights to the employees and security persons mobilized for the elections and the inmates by including them in the temporary voter list. With this, they can at least vote for proportional elections. Efforts are on to discourage prodigal election publicity. Another nagging issue the EC is facing and taking efforts to address is the spread of fake news. The EC believes that fake news- disinformation and misinformation- pollutes the electoral information system. Equal attention has been drawn towards the promotion of honest politics. The candidates will be urged to make self-disclosure on their qualification and financial issues.
