PUTIN WARNS MACRON OF 'CATASTROPHE' AT NUCLEAR PLANT

Russian President Vladimir Putin warned his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron that shelling of the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine, which he blamed on Kyiv, could result in a large-scale disaster.

Moscow and Kyiv have accused each other of shelling Europe's largest nuclear power plant, which was captured by Russia in March but is still run by Ukrainian technicians. Only two of the facility's six reactors are working.

"Vladimir Putin, in particular, stressed that the systematic shelling of the territory of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant by the Ukrainian military created the danger of a large-scale catastrophe that could lead to radiation contamination of vast territories," the Kremlin said in a readout of the call, which it said had been initiated by Macron.

Ukraine and Russia have accused each other of planning provocations at the plant. Kyiv said that Russian forces planned to disconnect the facility from the Ukrainian power grid and link it up to the Russian one.

The Kremlin said that Putin and Macron had stressed the importance of sending a delegation from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to the plant as soon as possible.

PUTIN, XI TO ATTEND G20 MEET: REPORT

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping will attend the upcoming Group of 20 summit, the leader of host nation Indonesia said in an interview published on Friday.

The pair’s attendance would set the stage for showdown talks with U.S. President Joe Biden at a time when the U.S. is at odds with both powers, particularly over crises in Ukraine and Taiwan.

“Xi Jinping will come. President Putin has also told me he will come,” President Joko Widodo said, according to the report.

FINNISH PM TAKES DRUGS TEST AFTER PARTY VIDEO GOES VIRAL

Finland’s Prime Minister said on Friday she had taken a drug test and reiterated she had never taken narcotics, after a video of the 36-year-old partying sparked criticism.

The leaked video, which shows Sanna Marin dancing and partying with a group of friends and celebrities, has been shared widely on social media and local media.

Some have interpreted comments by the partygoers heard on the video as referring to narcotics, something heavily debated on social media and strongly denied by the Prime Minister.

“To clear up any suspicions, I have taken a drug test today,” she said. The results will be ready within a week and shared with the media as soon as they are ready, she added.

Ms. Marin has previously said she was “spending an evening with friends” and that the videos were “filmed in private premises”.

She admitted to having drunk alcohol. In addition to denying taking drugs, she said she did not witness any drug use by any attendees.

Ms. Marin’s behaviour in the video has nonetheless been criticised by some as inappropriate for a PM.

CHINA JAILS CANADIAN TYCOON FOR 13 YEARS

A Chinese-born Canadian tycoon, who disappeared from Hong Kong in 2017, was sentenced on August 19 to 13 years in prison for a multibillion-dollar string of financial offences and his company was fined $8.1 billion, a court announced.

Xiao Jianhua was convicted of misusing billions of dollars of deposits from banks and insurers controlled by his Tomorrow Group and offering bribes to officials, a Shanghai court said on its social media account. Xiao was fined 6.5 million yuan ($9,50,000) and his company was fined 55 billion yuan ($8.1 billion), the court said.

Xiao was last seen at a Hong Kong hotel in January 2017 and was believed to have been taken by Chinese authorities.

The Canadian government said diplomats were blocked from attending his July 5 trial. Xiao was deemed to be a Chinese citizen, which meant he wasn’t entitled to see Canadian diplomats under a treaty between the two governments, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said.

CHINA GIVES SOLOMON ISLANDS $66M LOAN FOR HUAWEI DEAL

Sydney : Solomon Islands has secured a $66 million loan from China to fund tech giant Huawei building 161 telecoms towers across the Pacific nation, its government said on Thursday. It is the first large-scale financing the country has received from Beijing since they signed a secretive security pact in April.

The island nation’s growing financial and security links to China have roused concern from the US and its allies, including Australia, which had agreed to build six telecoms towers in the country. The Solomons will receive a 20-year concessional loan from state-linked Export-Import Bank of China that will fully fund Huawei's construction of the towers, the government said, calling it a “historical financial partnership”. Almost half of the towers will be built before the country hosts the Pacific Island Games in November 2023, according to the government’s statement. The towers would allow Solomon Islanders, especially those in rural areas, to watch the games even if they cannot travel to capital Honiara, the government said.

Western officials have warned China could use the security pact to build a military base in the country — something the Pacific nation’s prime minister, Manasseh Sogavare, has repeatedly denied.

IMRAN: TOP AIDE HELD ON SEDITION CHARGES TORTURED, SEXUALLY ABUSED

Islamabad : Former Pakistan PM Imran Khan accused authorities on Friday of mentally, physically and sexually torturing his chief of staff and top former aide Dr Shahbaz Gill in custody following his arrest last week on sedition charges. He also announced a rally in Islamabad on Saturday in support of his detained aide and urged people to turn out in large numbers. “All the pictures & videos show clearly Gill was tortured both mentally & physically including sexual abuse –most too gruesome to relate. He was humiliated to break him down,” he tweeted, while sharing a video of Gill on a wheelchair surrounded by security personnel, crying and pleading for an oxygen mask. The 42-year dual US-Pakistan citizen was arrested last Tuesday outside Khan’s residence in Islamabad after police dragged him out of his vehicle by smashing its windows. On August 9, Gill had alleged on ARY private TV station that the coalition government was provoking army’s lowerand middle ranks against PTI. He said families of such “rank and file” support Khan and his party, and this “is fuelling rage within the government”. Khan alleged his aide was targeted for advising army officers against obeying unlawful commands and is being forced to say that “I” had told him to do so.

CHINA ISSUES NATIONAL DROUGHT ALERT; CITY DIMS LIGHTS AS RECORD HEAT HITS POWER SUPPLY

China has issued its first national drought alert of the year as authorities battle forest fires and mobilise specialist teams to protect crops from scorching temperatures across the Yangtze river basin. The ‘yellow alert’, issued late on Thursday, comes after regions from Sichuan in the southwest to Shanghai in the Yangtze delta have experienced weeks of extreme heat. The alert is two notches short of the most serious warning on Beijing’s scale. Meanwhile, aprovincial capital in southwest China has dimmed outdooradvertisements, subway lighting and building signs to save energy, official announcements said, as the area battles a power crunch triggered by record-high temperatures. The mercury has soared beyond 40C in Sichuan province this week, fuelling demand for air conditioning and drying up reservoirs in a region reliant on dams for electricity. Factories including a joint venture with Japanese car giant Toyota in provincial capital Chengdu have been forced to halt work. Photos online showed dimmed lights on metro platforms, walkways and in malls.

NO TUBE: LONDON SUBWAY HIT BY STRIKE DAY AFTER RAIL WALKOUT

A strike by London Underground workers brought the British capital’s transit network to a grinding halt on Friday, a day after a nationwide walkout by railway staff.

Another rail strike is scheduled for Saturday as the UK endures a summer of action by workers demanding pay increases to offset soaring food and energy price hikes.

No subway trains were running on most of London’s Tube lines because of the strike over jobs, pay and pensions by members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport Union, operator Transport for London said.

“It is going to be a difficult day,” said Nick Dent, TFL’s director of customer operations. “We’re advising customers not to travel on the Tube at all.” There was also continuing disruption above ground as trains started to run again following Thursday’s strike by thousands of railway cleaners, signallers, maintenance workers and other staff.

Only about a fifth of trains ran during the 24-hour walkout, the latest in a series of strikes on Britain’s railways.

“We’re very sorry that people are inconvenienced,” said RMT union General Secretary Mick Lynch.

The government denies meddling, but says rail companies need to cut costs and staffing after two years in which emergency government funding kept them afloat.

Postal workers, lawyers, British Telecom staff, and port workers have all announced walkouts for later this month.

PILOTS FALL ASLEEP WHILE FLYING AT 37,000 FEET, MISS LANDING

It was a miraculous landing for Flight ET343 travelling from Khartoum to Addis Ababa on August 15 when the two pilots flying it fell asleep at 37,000 feet and missed their landing.

The incident took place on Monday, according to Aviation Herald, which added that the Air Traffic Control (ATC) raised an alert when flight ET343 approached the airport, but did not start the descent.

Finally, the crew awoke, after the aircraft's autopilot disconnected and sounded an alarm.

The pilots managed to land the plane safely and it stayed on the runway for around two-and-a-half hours before it left for its next flight.

Data confirms the incident, which showed that the aircraft had overflown the runway and managed to make another approach when the pilots awoke.

Aviation analyst Alex Macheras wrote on Twitter: 'Deeply concerning incident at Africa's largest airline — Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 #ET343 was still at cruising altitude of 37,000ft by the time it reached destination Addis Ababa.

'Why hadn't it started to descend for landing? Both pilots were asleep.

He referred to 'pilot fatigue' which he described as 'nothing new'.