Russia conducts first nuclear weapons drill since Ukraine invasion

Military exercises heighten western fears that Moscow is fabricating a pretext to escalate faltering campaign

North Korea fired a missile over Japan for the first time in five years. Here’s what you need to know

Jessie Yeung Yoonjung Seo Brad Lendon Emiko Jozuka

By Jessie Yeung, Yoonjung Seo, Brad Lendon and Emiko Jozuka, CNN

Seoul, South Korea CNN — North Korea fired a ballistic missile without warning over Japan on Tuesday for the first time in five years, a highly provocative and reckless act that marks a significant escalation in its weapons testing program. The missile traveled over northern Japan early in the morning, and is believed to have landed in the Pacific Ocean. The last time North Korea fired a ballistic missile over Japan was in 2017. This marks North Korea’s 23rd missile launch this year, including the most ballistic missiles fired in a single year since leader Kim Jong Un took power in 2012. By comparison, Pyongyang conducted four tests in 2020 and eight in 2021.

What do we know about the missile?

Tuesday’s missile flew a distance of about 4,600 kilometers (2,858 miles), with an altitude of some 1,000 kilometers (621 miles) and a top speed reaching Mach 17 – meaning 17 times the speed of sound, according to Japanese officials. By way of comparison, the US island territory of Guam is just 3,380 kilometers (2,100 miles) from North Korea. Two experts told CNN these flight details suggest the missile fired was likely a Hwasong-12 – an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) last tested in January.

Ukrainian forces break through in the south as Putin's problems mount

Kyiv’s troops pushed forward Monday, threatening a major new breakthrough and forcing Russian soldiers to retreat from territory the Kremlin claimed to have annexed.

By Rhoda Kwan

Ukrainian forces appeared to make sweeping new gains Monday, piling pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin as the Kremlin faced growing domestic unease over the state of its struggling military and the chaotic efforts to reinforce it. Kyiv’s troops were pushing forward in the country’s east and south, threatening a major new breakthrough and forcing Putin's soldiers to retreat from territory he claimed to have annexed in a grand ceremony last week.

Moscow has matched its annexation claims with a call-up of reservists and new nuclear threats, a broad intervention that has not only threatened to escalate its clash with Ukraine’s Western allies, but also expose domestic vulnerabilities. Russian lawmakers Monday ratified the illegal annexation of four partially occupied Ukrainian regions: Donetsk and Luhansk in the east, and Kherson and Zaporizhzhia in the south. But while the Kremlin said it had not yet determined where the borders for its newly claimed land would be established, the areas under its control were being rapidly pushed back.

Russia accused of kidnapping chief of Ukrainian nuclear power plant

President Vladimir Putin on Friday signed treaties to absorb Moscow-controlled Ukrainian territory into Russia, in a sharp escalation of his war.

By Associated Press

Ukraine’s nuclear power provider accused Russia on Saturday of “kidnapping” the head of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, a facility now occupied by Russian troops and located in a region of Ukraine that Russian President Vladimir Putin has moved to annex illegally. Meanwhile, a senior Ukrainian official said Russian forces had killed 20 people when they shelled a civilian evacuation convoy in the country’s northeast. Bombardments have intensified as Moscow annexed the territory in a sharp escalation of the war.

Russian officials have not commented on the incident; NBC News was not able to confirm details. Russian forces seized the director-general of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, Ihor Murashov, around 4 p.m. Friday, Ukrainian state nuclear company Energoatom said. That was just hours after Putin, in a sharp escalation of his war, signed treaties to absorb Moscow-controlled Ukrainian territory into Russia. Energoatom said Russian troops stopped Murashov’s car, blindfolded him and then took him to an undisclosed location.

Russian patrol detains head of Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant

Reuters

KYIV, Oct 1 (Reuters) - A Russian patrol has detained the director general of Ukraine's Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the state-owned company in charge of the plant said on Saturday, and the U.N. nuclear watchdog said Russia had confirmed the move. Ihor Murashov was detained on his way from the nuclear plant, Europe's largest, to the town of Enerhodar at around 4 p.m. (1300 GMT) on Friday, the head of state-owned Energoatom, Petro Kotin, said in a statement. "He was taken out of the car, and with his eyes blindfolded he was driven in an unknown direction," Kotin wrote on the Telegram messaging app, adding there was no immediate word on Murashov's fate.

Can the British government avert a financial crisis? | Counting the Cost

Al Jazeera English

Oct 1, 2022  The British prime minister is betting big on a fiscal policy that includes the biggest tax cuts in the United Kingdom in half a century - funded by borrowing. Liz Truss says the plan will kick-start the economy. But her critics say it is a reckless gamble. And the plans seem to have backfired already. The pound has fallen to record lows, and financial markets have gone into turmoil.

19 killed, including 4 elite Guard members, in Iran attack

kget

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — An attack by armed separatists on a police station in a southeastern city killed 19 people, including four members of Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard, Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency reported Saturday. The assailants in Friday’s attack hid among worshippers near a mosque in the city of Zahedan and attacked the nearby police station, according to the report. IRNA quoted Hossein Modaresi, the provincial governor, as saying 19 people were killed. The outlet said 32 Guard members, including volunteer Basiji forces, were also wounded in the clashes.

It was not immediately clear if the attack was related to nationwide antigovernment protests gripping Iran after the death in police custody of a young Iranian woman. Sistan and Baluchestan province borders Afghanistan and Pakistan and has seen previous attacks on security forces by ethnic Baluchi separatists, although Saturday’s Tasnim report did not identify a separatist group allegedly involved in the attack. IRNA on Saturday identified the dead as Hamidreza Hashemi, a Revolutionary Guard colonel; Mohammad Amin Azarshokr, a Guard member; Mohamad Amin Arefi, a Basiji, or volunteer force with the IRG; and Saeed Borhan Rigi, also a Basiji.

Russia forces ‘encircled’ in Lyman, Ukraine's nuclear plant director detained

Al Jazeera English

Oct 1, 2022  Ukraine has encircled Russia’s forces around the eastern town of Lyman, in an operation that is still under way, a Ukrainian military spokesperson said on Saturday. The director-general of Ukraine’s Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant has been detained by a Russian patrol, according to Energoatom, the state agency in charge of the plant. Russian President Vladimir Putin proclaimed the annexation of territory seized in his invasion in four regions – Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia – amounting to 15 percent of total Ukrainian territory on Friday.