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Ukraine

RUSSIA and Ukraine accused each other of shelling Europe’s biggest nuclear power plant as the UN chief proposed a demilitarised zone at the site amid fears of a catastrophe.

Ukraine’s Energoatom agency said the Zaporizhzhia complex was struck five times on Thursday, including near where radioactive materials are stored. Russianappointed officials claimed Ukraine shelled the plant twice, disrupting a shift changeover, Russia’s Tass news agency reported.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres called on both sides to halt all fighting near the plant. | Reuters

A MAN armed with a nail gun and an AR-15-style rifle attempted to breach an Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) office in the US state of Ohio this week, a few days after the FBI searched former president Donald Trump’s Florida home, infuriating right-wing supporters, although there was no immediate indication that the events were linked.

According to local media, the man fired a nail gun and brandished the rifle before fleeing by car. The vehicle was pursued by police and was stopped in a rural area. The suspect was killed in a standoff with police. | AFP

EU/Russia

THE Czech Republic, which holds the rotating EU presidency, said on Friday that a blanket ban on visas for all Russian travellers could be the bloc’s next sanction on Moscow.

“The halting of Russian visas by all EU member states could be another very effective sanction,” Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky said in a statement.

He said he would propose the idea at an informal meeting of EU foreign ministers in Prague at the end of the month. This after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called on the West to ban all Russian travellers in an interview with the Washington Post this week

The EU has so far come up with six sanction packages against Russia. |

Brazil

THOUSANDS of Brazilians took to the streets of several cities this week in “defence of democracy” in the face of President Jair Bolsonaro’s sustained attacks on the voting system, weeks before the elections.

The demonstrations were sparked by fears the far-right leader, lagging in opinion polls, would not respect the outcome of October’s vote, given his repeated attempts to cast doubt on Brazil’s electoral system. | AFP