- US trade chief defends tariff hikes when paired with investment
- EU court blocks French ban on vegetable 'steak' labelling
- Meta AI turns pictures into videos with sound
- US dockworkers return to ports after three-day strike
- DR Congo to begin mpox vaccination campaign Saturday in east
- Meta must limit data use for targeted ads: EU court
- Oil extends gains, jobs report lifts Wall Street
- US hiring soars past expectations in sign of resilient market
- As EU targets Chinese cars, European rivals sputter
- Top EU court finds against FIFA in key transfer market ruling
- Oil extends gains, Hong Kong stocks resume rally
- 'A man provides': Ukrainian miners send families away as Russia advances
- EU states greenlight extra tariffs on EVs from China
- Hong Kong stocks resume rally, oil dips after Middle East-fuelled surge
- Crude stable after Israel-Iran surge, Hong Kong stocks resume gains
- Hera spacecraft to probe asteroid deflected by defence test
- US dockworkers to head back to work after tentative deal
- After Helene's destruction, North Carolina starts to rebuild
- Dockers end three-day strike at Montreal port
- What next for OpenAI after $157 billion bonanza?
- Israel-Hamas war causes 86-percent dive in Gaza GDP: IMF
- Milan's Morata moves house after Inter-fan town mayor 'violates' privacy
- 'Devastating' storm hits Augusta National but Masters will go on
- Relief in Brazil, Asia over delay to EU deforestation rules
- Oil prices jump, stocks fall on Middle East tensions
- Biden says 'discussing' possible Israeli strikes on Iran oil facilities
- Oil prices rise, stocks fall on Middle East tensions
- Oil rallies, stocks mostly retreat on Middle East tensions
- Phasing out teen smoking could save 1.2 mn lives: study
- 'Welcome relief': Asia producers hail EU deforestation law delay
- Japan PM slated to announce plans for 'happiness index'
- Turkish inflation falls less than expected in September at 49.4%
- Easing inflation lifts profit at UK supermarket Tesco
- Skiing calls on UN climate science to combat melting future
- China wine industry looks to breed climate resilience
- Tokyo rallies on weak yen, Hong Kong drops after surge
- Dutch airline KLM unveils 'firm' cost-cutting measures
- Carpe diem: the Costa Rican women turning fish into fashion
- Senegal looks to aquaculture as fish stocks dwindle
- Will AI one day win a Nobel Prize?
- Climate change, economics muddy West's drive to curb Chinese EVs
- Argentina's Milei vetoes university budget after huge protests
- TotalEnergies plans to grow oil and gas production until 2030
- 2024 Nobels offer glimmer of hope as global crises mount
- Tokyo rallies on weak yen, Hong Kong reverses after surge
- Tunisia readies for vote as incumbent Saied eyes victory
- High childcare costs in US weigh on women's employment
- US voters seek help with crushing childcare costs
- Taiwan shuts down for second day as Typhoon Krathon to land
- Supercharged storms: how climate change amplifies cyclones
UN team pushes ahead with risky mission to Ukraine nuclear plant
UN inspectors pressed on towards a Russian-held nuclear plant in southern Ukraine Thursday despite an early shelling attack, as the ICRC warned the consequences of a strike on the facility could be "catastrophic".
As the 14-strong team from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) left for the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, Ukraine said Russian troops had shelled the area, forcing the closure of one of its six reactors.
Energoatom, Ukraine's nuclear agency, said it was "the second time in 10 days" that shelling had forced the closure of a reactor.
The area around the plant -- Europe's largest nuclear facility -- has suffered repeated shelling, with both sides accusing the other of responsibility, sparking global concern over the risk of an accident.
"It is high time to stop playing with fire and instead take concrete measures to protect this facility... from any military operations," ICRC chief Robert Mardini told reporters in Kyiv.
"The slightest miscalculation could trigger devastation that we will regret for decades."
Energoatom said the plant's emergency protection system kicked in shortly before 5:00 am (0200 GMT) "due to another (Russian) mortar shelling" and that "operating power unit five was shut down".
But the backup power supply "was damaged" in the attack, it said.
After Russian forces seized the plant on March 4, Energoatom shut two of the reactors, followed by a third after shelling on August 5.
With a fourth in repairs, Thursday's incident means only one of the six is functioning.
- 'The stakes are immense' -
Mardini said it was "encouraging" that the IAEA team was en route to inspect the plant because the stakes were "immense".
"When hazardous sites become battlegrounds, the consequences for millions of people and the environment can be catastrophic and last many years," he said.
On leaving Zaporizhzhia, IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said his team had been updated about the shelling but would press on anyway.
"We are not stopping," he vowed, despite being aware that in crossing the frontline into Russian-held territory, there was a security "grey area... where the risks are significant".
"We have to proceed with this. We have a very important mission to accomplish."
By early afternoon, the team had crossed into the grey zone after waiting for "several hours at a checkpoint" for permission to cross, Ukraine's Interfax news agency reported, saying "gunfire could be heard" along the road.
- Shelling, saboteurs and back-to-school -
Earlier, Energodar Mayor Dmytro Orlov said his town had come under sustained attack at dawn on Thursday, saying Russian troops had fired "mortars and used automatic weapons and rockets".
Energodar town is located next to the plant on the southern banks of the Dnipro River.
But Moscow accused Kyiv of smuggling in up to 60 military "saboteurs", saying they reached the area near the plant just after dawn and that Russian troops had taken "measures to annihilate the enemy".
Grossi on Wednesday said the IAEA would seek to establish a "permanent presence" at the plant to avoid a nuclear disaster at the facility which is located on the frontline of the fighting.
"My mission is... to prevent a nuclear accident and preserve the largest nuclear power plant in Europe," he said.
Ukraine has accused Russia of deploying hundreds of soldiers and storing ammunition at the plant.
Both Moscow and Kyiv have accused each other of staging "provocations" aimed at disrupting the work of the IAEA mission.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian troops pressed ahead with a counteroffensive in the nearby southern region of Kherson that began on Monday to retake areas seized by Russian forces at the start of the invasion.
In its morning update, the presidency said "heavy explosions continued for the last 24 hours" across Kherson region, while five people had been killed and 12 others wounded in fighting in the eastern Donetsk region.
Despite the conflict, now in its seventh month, September 1 marked the start of a new school year for children across Ukraine.
Figures from Ukraine's education ministry show 2,199 educational institutions have been damaged in the fighting, with 225 of them completely destroyed.
Just over half of the 23,000 schools surveyed by the ministry are equipped with bomb shelters, meaning they can physically reopen, while those without will only offer online learning.
An investigation by the Centre for Information Resilience found 41 institutions had been "partially or completely destroyed" in the northeastern city, with researchers finding the shelling "was targeted, rather than a by-product of indiscriminate attacks on civilian infrastructure".
Elsewhere, the foreign ministry in London said a British medic volunteering in Ukraine had died in the fighting on August 24 but gave no further details on the circumstances of his death.
M.P.Jacobs--CPN