
-
Kenya's economy faces climate change risks: World Bank
-
Where Trump's tariffs could hurt Americans' wallets
-
Trump tariffs on Mexico: the good, the bad, the unknown
-
With tariff war, Trump also reshapes how US treats allies
-
Penguin memes take flight after Trump tariffs remote island
-
Tom Cruise pays tribute to Val Kilmer
-
'Everyone worried' by Trump tariffs in France's champagne region
-
UK avoids worst US tariffs post-Brexit, but no celebrations
-
Canada imposing 25% tariff on some US auto imports
-
Lesotho, Africa's 'kingdom in the sky' jolted by Trump
-
Trump's trade math baffles economists
-
Macron calls for suspension of investment in US until tariffs clarified
-
Trump tariffs hammer global stocks, dollar and oil
-
Mexico president welcomes being left off Trump's new tariffs list
-
Lesotho hardest hit as new US tariffs rattle Africa
-
Stellantis pausing some Canada, Mexico production over Trump auto tariffs
-
Rising odds asteroid that briefly threatened Earth will hit Moon
-
Is the Switch 2 worth the price? Reviews are mixed
-
Countries eye trade talks as Trump tariff blitz roils markets
-
AI could impact 40 percent of jobs worldwide: UN
-
US trade partners eye talks after Trump tariff blitz
-
Dollar, stocks sink as gold hits high on Trump tariffs
-
Trump tariff blitz sparks retaliation threats, economic fears
-
Lessons and liquids: buried alive in Myanmar's earthquake
-
Nintendo Switch 2 sparks excitement despite high price
-
Sri Lanka's crackdown on dogs for India PM's visit sparks protest
-
China vows 'countermeasures' to sweeping new US tariffs
-
Trump jolts allies, foes and markets with tariff blitz
-
How Trump's 'liberation day' tariffs will impact China
-
Europe hits out at Trump tariffs, keeps door open for talks
-
Australia sweats through hottest 12 months on record: official data
-
South African artist champions hyenas in 'eco-queer' quest
-
Taiwan says US tariffs 'highly unreasonable'
-
Trump escalates trade war with sweeping global tariffs
-
China says opposes new US tariffs, vows 'countermeasures'
-
Quake-hit Myanmar's junta chief to head to Bangkok summit
-
New Spielberg, Nolan films teased at CinemaCon
-
Shiny and deadly, unexploded munitions a threat to Gaza children
-
Stocks tank, havens rally as Trump tariffs fan trade war
-
Financial markets tumble after Trump tariff announcement
-
Europe riled, but plans cool-headed response to Trump's tariffs
-
'Shenmue' voted most influential video game ever in UK poll
-
Revealed: Why monkeys are better at yodelling than humans
-
Key details on Trump's market-shaking tariffs
-
US business groups voice dismay at Trump's new tariffs
-
Trump sparks trade war with sweeping global tariffs
-
US stocks end up, but volatility ahead after latest Trump tariffs
-
Boeing chief reports progress to Senate panel after 'serious missteps'
-
Is Musk's political career descending to Earth?
-
On Mexico-US border, Trump's 'Liberation Day' brings fears for future

IAEA team heads to Ukraine nuclear plant, as offensive launched in south
International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi said on Monday he was en route to inspect Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, as Kyiv's forces launched a counteroffensive to retake the occupied southern region of Kherson.
The coastal region of Kherson and its capital city of the same name have been contested by Russian troops since the war broke out six months ago.
"Today there was a powerful artillery attack on enemy positions in... the occupied Kherson region," local government official Sergey Khlan told Ukraine's Pryamyi TV channel.
"This is what we have been waiting for since the spring -- it is the beginning of the de-occupation of Kherson region."
Kherson city lies some 200 kilometres (125 miles) southwest of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant -- Europe's largest atomic facility -- which has also been occupied by Russian troops since early March.
The plant was targeted over the weekend by fresh shelling, its operator said, with Moscow and Kyiv trading blame for attacks around the complex of six nuclear reactors in Energodar, a town on the banks of the Dnipro River.
Ukraine's nuclear agency Energoatom has warned of the risk of a radiation leak.
Russian troops "continued to fire at Energodar and the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant" on Sunday, injuring 10, among them four plant workers, it said in an update early on Monday.
As of 10:00 am (0700 GMT), the plant was operating "with the risk of violating radiation and fire safety standards".
But Russia's defence ministry accused Ukrainian troops of shelling near the plant on Sunday, claiming it had shot down a "Ukrainian strike drone" approaching a nuclear fuel and radioactive waste storage area.
And Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov urged the international community "to put pressure on the Ukrainian side so it stops endangering the European continent by shelling".
Peskov said Russia saw the IAEA visit as "necessary" and had been "waiting for this mission for a long time", insisting it would ensure its safety in the face of "constant" risks.
- 'Radiation blackmail' -
Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky on Monday called for sanctions against Russia's state nuclear energy agency Rosatom over the occupation of the plant.
"It's not normal that there are no sanctions against Rosatom for its radiation blackmail at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant," he said.
"The Russians are the only terrorists in the world that have managed to turn a nuclear plant into a battlefield."
The UN's nuclear watchdog has for months been asking to visit the site, warning of "the very real risk of a nuclear disaster".
Writing on Twitter, Grossi on Monday said an IAEA support and assistance mission was "now on its way" with the team due to arrive "later this week".
The United Nations has called for an end to all military activity in the area surrounding the complex.
Ukraine initially feared an IAEA visit would legitimise the Russian occupation of the site before finally supporting the idea of a mission.
In its Monday update, Energoatom said the Russians had "increased pressure on the personnel of the plant to prevent them from disclosing (to the IAEA) evidence of the occupiers' crimes at the plant and its use as a military base".
The G7 industrial powers on Monday demanded free access for the IAEA team to "engage directly, and without interference, with the Ukrainian personnel responsible for operating these facilities".
And in Stockholm, Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said the team's mission was "the hardest in the history of the IAEA, given the active combat activities undertaken by the Russian federation on the ground."
Ukraine was the site of the world's worst nuclear catastrophe in 1986, when a reactor at the northern Chernobyl plant exploded and spewed radiation into the atmosphere.
Experts say any leak at Zaporizhzhia would more likely be on the scale of the 2011 Fukushima disaster in Japan.
Energoatom on Monday warned any leak would scatter radiation over swathes of southern Ukraine and southwestern regions of Russia.
- Handing out iodine pills -
On the ground, at least two people were killed when Russian shells ploughed into the centre of the southern city of Mykolaiv, mayor Oleksandr Senkevych wrote on Telegram.
"For now, we know about two dead and five wounded," he wrote, saying residential buildings had been hit.
With tensions high around the plant, Ukraine's rescue services have been holding training sessions on managing the risk of nuclear accidents.
"The tablet is taken in case of danger, when the alarm is raised," said Elena Karpenko, a nurse at the Zaporizhzhia Children's Hospital.
burs-hmw/jts/kjm
H.Cho--CPN