UKRAINE INTENSIFIES ATTACKS ON RUSSIAN FRONTLINE POSITIONS

Ukrainian forces have advanced around Bakhmut, Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar has said, describing the eastern city as the "epicentre of hostilities".

She did not say whether a long awaited counter-offensive had begun.

Separately, Russia's military said it had repelled a new attack in the eastern Donetsk region on Monday.

Bakhmut has for months been at the heart of fierce fighting. It has little strategic value - but is important symbolically both for Kyiv and Moscow.

Monday's claims by Ukraine and Russia have not been independently verified.

In the early hours of Tuesday, air raid sirens were activated all over Ukraine, with officials in Kyiv reporting that air defence systems were in operation in the capital region.

In a post on social media on Monday, Ms Maliar said that "despite stiff resistance and the enemy's attempts to hold the their positions, our military units advanced in several directions during the fighting".

She said in Orikhovo-Vasulivka and Paraskoviivka, Ukrainian troops gained from 200m to 1,600m (656-5,250ft), while in Ivanivske and Klishchiivka they advanced between 100m and 700m (330-2,300).

All four villages are located within several kilometres of Bakhmut. The battle for the city in the Donetsk region has been the longest and bloodiest of the war.

In a video address late on Monday, President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked Ukrainian fighters for delivering "the news we are expecting" on the Bakhmut direction.

"The enemy knows that Ukraine will win," he said.

Earlier in the day, Ukrainian military sources told the BBC that a series of small-scale armoured offensive operations were under way.

WAGNER: KYIV RETOOK VILLAGE NEAR BAKHMUT

Russian mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin said on Monday that Ukrainian forces had retaken part of a village near Bakhmut. Prigozhin’s private Wagner militia captured Bakhmut last month and handed its positions there to regular Russian troops. “Now part of the settlement of Berkhivka has already been lost, the troops are quietly running away. Disgrace!” he said.

POLLS WILL BE HELD IN OCTOBER: PAK DEFENCE MINISTER ASIF

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has rejected all speculations about a possible delay in polls, saying that the next general elections for the national and provincial legislatures will take place in October this year, media reports said.

"The assemblies will complete their five-year term in August and polls will take place within the next 60 days. Elections will be held on time, " Asif said, The Express Tribune reported.

When asked what he means by "on time", he replied: "In October. Elections will take place in October without any delay, " the report said.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) had dissolved the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assemblies in January this year, hoping that the move would force the ruling alliance into dissolving the other legislatures as well and hold elections within the 90-day period. However, that did not happen.

The government has repeatedly opposed holding snap polls or holding polls for the national and provincial legislatures separately citing lack of security, funds and fresh census results.

Earlier, the PTI had expressed fears that the government might not hold polls even in October.

PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari had even said delaying general elections beyond October would be "foolish".

PTI DEFECTORS FORM NEW OUTFIT

Meanwhile, a group of former provincial lawmakers, who quit Imran Khan’s PTI party following the May 9 riots, on Monday floated a new outfit called the “Democrats”. The former home minister of the Punjab province Hashim Dogar is leading this outfit. There has been no information on any plans to register it with the Election Commission.

US EX-VEEP PENCE OFFICIALLY ENTERS 2024 REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL RACE

Washington : Former US vice-president Mike Pence on Monday declared himself a candidate in the 2024 Republican race for the White House, setting up a fight against former President Donald Trump. Pence’s campaign filed a declaration of candidacy with the Federal Election Commission. Pence will launch his campaign with a video and a speech in the early nominating state of Iowa on Wednesday, three sources familiar with the situation said last week.

Pence’s run pits him against front-runner Trump, whom he once loyally stood by but refused to back when the former president attempted to overturn the results of the 2020 election won by Democrat Joe Biden. A staunch social conservative, the former governor of Indiana has increasingly distanced himself from Trump, saying his encouragement of the rioters who attacked the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, endangered Pence and his family, who were in the building at the time. Pence joins a growing field of Republican candidates, which includes Trump, US Senator Tim Scott and former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley.

‘BIBI’S NEW MEDIA ADVISOR SAID BIDEN UNFIT TO RULE’

Tel Aviv : Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has appointed anew media advisor who has tweeted critically against President Joe Biden, the daily Haaretz reported. Gilad Zwick, a journalist with a conservative Israeli TV station, has in his tweets called Biden “unfit” to rule and said that he was “slowly but surely destroying America”. He also posted tweets suggesting he supported ex-President Trump’s false claims that the 2020 US election was rigged. At least one of the tweets that was live earlier was deleted later in the day. Zwick tweeted in English on Monday that he was a private citizen when writing the posts about Biden. “I don’t hold those views today and Iwill act in a completely professional manner in the PM’s office,” he said.

His appointment comes as ties between Israel and its closest ally, the US, are fraught over a contentious Israeli government plan to overhaul the judiciary and over the government’s ultranationalist character. Biden has publicly expressed concern over the Netanyahu government’s plan to reshape the legal system. The Biden administration has also voiced unease about Netanyahu’s government, made up of ultranationalists. Amid the tensions, Biden has so far denied Netanyahu a customary invitation to the White House after his election win last year.

RUSSIAN RADIO STATIONS HACKED, PLAY ‘PUTIN MESSAGE’ ANNOUNCING INVASION BY UKRAINE

Several Russian radio stations were hacked and played a fake President Putin speech announcing an invasion from Kyiv’s troops and emergency measures in three regions bordering Ukraine, the Kremlin said Monday. The fake message, still circulating on social media, said that “Ukrainian troops armed to the teeth by NATO and with Washington’s consent and support have invaded the Kursk, Belgorod and Bryansk” territories. The voice, very similar to Putin’s, also announced martial law, general mobilisation and the evacuation of civilians. “This was indeed a hack,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. “Control has already been restored.” The Belgorod region administrative centre said the message was a “deep fake” aiming to “sow panic among peaceful Belgorod residents”. The MIR radio station said the hacking had lasted around 40 minutes.

SUNAK SAYS HIS IMMIGRATION PLAN IS WORKING, NUMBERS HAVE REDUCED

LONDON: U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said his plan to stop migrants arriving by small boats had reduced crossings by 20%, an update he hopes will ease criticism from his party over immigration policy. He has promised to “stop the boats” from crossing the English Channel as one of his five pledges after he came to power.

CASH-STRAPPED BANGLADESH SHUTS POWER PLANT AS HEATWAVE HITS

Dhaka : Cash-strapped Bangladesh shut its biggest power plant Monday because it was unable to afford the coal to fuel it, as a sweltering heatwave creates surging electricity demand. The 1,320-megawatt government-run Payra Power Plant in southern Bangladesh had already slashed production last month due to fuel shortages, but it was forced to go a step further on Monday, manager Shah Abdul Mawla said. “Due to the coal shortage, the plant came to a complete shutdown at 12. 15pm today,” Mawla said. Bangladesh is struggling against a depreciating currency, with foreign exchange reserves slumping from $46 billion in January last year to $30 billion at the end of April thisyear.

The official inflation rate is around 9. 9%, but independent economists say the real figure is substantiallyhigher.

The country has faced nationwide blackouts of up to five hours a day in recent weeks as a heatwave sweeps across the country. Bangladesh recorded a temperature of 41. 1 ° Con Monday, with the government closing primary schools until Thursday. Power grid company of Bangladesh spokesman ABM Badruddoza Khan said the country had experienced “2,500 MW shortage of electricity in the national grid”, compared to 2,200 MW a day earlier, with daily demand16,000 MW. Minister for power Nasrul Hamid said he hoped tonormalise the situation within 10 to 15 days.

EU URGES TECH COS TO LABEL AI CONTENT TO FIGHT DISINFORMATION

London : The EU is pushing online platforms like Google and Meta to step up the fight against false information by adding labels to text, photos and other content generated by artificial intelligence, a top official said Monday. EU Commission vicepresident Vera Jourova said the ability of a new generation of AI chatbots to create complex content and visuals in seconds raises “fresh challenges for the fight against disinformation. ” Online platforms that have integrated generative AI into their services, such as Microsoft’s Bing search engine and Google’s Bard chatbot, should build safeguards to prevent “malicious actors” from generating disinformation, Jourova said at a briefing in Brussels.

Google, Microsoft, Meta and TikTok did not respond immediately to requests for comment.

JACINDA ARDERN IS NOW A DAME

Jacinda Ardern was awarded the title of dame Monday for service to New Zealand, barely four months after ending her term as prime minister, during which she became the global face of a compassionate brand of liberal politics. The accolade — Dame Grand Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit — is the country’s second highest and was granted as part of an annual tradition of awarding honours for the King’s Birthday holiday. The honorees are usually chosen by the PM and approved by the British monarch, King Charles III, who is New Zealand’s head of state. Ardern said she was “humbled”. “So many of the things we went through asanation over the last five years were about all of us rather than one individual,” she said in a statement. The former PM was recognised in part for her role in the country’s response to the terrorist attacks in the city of Christchurch in 2019 and the Covid pandemic — “some of the greatest challenges our country has faced in modern times,” according to her successor, PM Chris Hipkins.