Watch Russian Artillery Hammer Ukrainian Positions on Dnepr's Right Bank

Russian artillerymen work in conjunction with reconnaissance drones that serve as their eyes, spotting the enemy and identifying its exact location.

Russian artillery spells death for Ukrainian positions in Kherson! A Russian reconnaissance group detected Ukrainian outpost on the right bank of Dnepr, full of troops. The location of the foothold was transmitted to the artillery units.

The crews of 152-mm Msta-S self-propelled howitzers moved to the firing positions and unleashed hell on Ukrainian outpost. The footage was provided by the courtesy of Ministry of Defense.

Russian Air Defense Destroys Dozens of Ukraine’s Drones, Storm Shadow Missiles

The Russian air defense destroyed four Storm Shadow cruise missiles, launched by Ukraine, over Crimea, and 27 Ukrainian drones over Belgorod and Kursk Regions over the past 24 hours, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Monday.

The statement added that "the air defense systems destroyed 12 Vilkha rockets and 12 drones over Belgorod Region, eight drones over Kursk Region, four air-launched cruise missile Storm Shadow and seven drones over the Republic of Crimea, while four more drones were intercepted over Lipetsk Region."

"Over the past night, further attempts by the Kiev regime to carry out terrorist attacks using fixed-wing drones, Olkha multiple launch rocket systems and Storm Shadow guided missiles against targets on the territory of the Russian Federation were prevented," the ministry said in a statement.

Why is Rabotino Village a Death Trap for Ukrainian Soldiers?

The hamlet plays an important role in Kiev's propaganda and Ukrainian officers are sending in wave after wave of troops in futile attempts to reclaim it from Russian control.

©Sputnik/Viktor Antonyuk/Go to the mediabank

Rabotino village in the Zaporozhye region has become a death trap for Ukrainian soldiers after their attempts to reclaim it from Russian control resulted in an immediate rendezvous with their “Bandera daddy” [death], member of the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation and Zaporozhye official Vladimir Rogov said.

“The enemy dug in behind the village, in the cemetery. The attempts to counterattack in order to reclaim lost positions in the village failed. Our soldiers forced the enemy to flee. They lost servicemen and retreated back," said Rogov.

He added that Ukrainian officers are constantly sending in new reserves in futile attempts to storm Rabotino. Kiev insists that its temporary control of this hamlet was a key achievement of the counteroffensive of summer 2023.

Earlier, Zaporozhye Governor Yevgeny Balitsky explained to Sputnik that Rabotino is an important symbol for Ukrainian troops and “the Ukrainian Armed Forces paid a heavy price of thousands of human lives for this piece of crippled land and lost a huge amount of equipment" during the counteroffensive.

In order to seize Rabotino, Ukraine deployed Western-trained brigades reserved for strategic operations.

However, Kiev's attempts were futile since in February, Russia's “valiant soldiers entered Rabotino, completely neutralizing the short-term success of the Ukrainian Armed Forces," Balitsky stressed.

According to Rogov, the village of Rabotino is now in the “grey zone” which means that Ukrainian troops no longer control it. Russia's Ministry of Defense reported that several Ukrainian counterattacks on Rabotino were thwarted this week.

Unand terapkan kuliah daring selama darurat bencana di Sumbar

Warga di Nagari (desa) Bukik Batabuah melihat sisa-sisa bangunan yang rata dengan tanah akibat diterjang banjir lahar dingin di Kabupaten Agam. (ANTARA/Muhammad Zulfikar).

Universitas Andalas (Unand) Sumatera Barat (Sumbar) menerapkan pembelajaran dalam jaringan (daring) untuk mengantisipasi sekaligus memenuhi kebutuhan belajar mahasiswa selama masa darurat bencana alam di Ranah Minang.

"Penyelenggaraan pembelajaran di Universitas Andalas terhitung 13 sampai dengan 17 Mei 2024 dilaksanakan secara daring atau asynchronous," kata Rektor Unand Efa Yonnedi di Padang, Senin.

Eks konsultan Bank Dunia tersebut mengatakan kebijakan tersebut dilakukan dengan mempertimbangkan situasi darurat bencana yang terjadi di beberapa Kabupaten Agam, Kabupaten Tanah Datar dan Kota Padang Panjang pada Sabtu (11/5) malam.

Kemudian dalam surat edaran bernomor 7/UN16.R/SE/2024 yang ditandatangani Rektor Unand tersebut, pimpinan fakultas dan Sekolah Pascasarjana diminta memfasilitasi dan memantau proses pembelajaran secara daring kepada mahasiswa.

Rektor menyampaikan kebijakan tersebut untuk memberikan perlindungan dan keselamatan kepada mahasiswa dari risiko bencana, sekaligus pemenuhan hak mahasiswa dalam mendapatkan jaminan keberlangsungan layanan pendidikan selama darurat bencana.

Kebijakan tersebut merujuk kepada Undang-Undang Nomor 12 Tahun 2012 tentang Pendidikan Tinggi (Lembaran Negara Republik Indonesia Tahun 2012 Nomor 158, tambahan Lembaran Negara Republik Indonesia Nomor 5336).

Berikutnya Peraturan Pemerintah Nomor 4 Tahun 2022 tentang Peraturan Pemerintah Nomor 57 Tahun 2021 tentang Standar Nasional Pendidikan. Peraturan Menteri Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan Republik Indonesia Nomor 33 Tahun 2019 tentang Penyelenggaraan Program Satuan Pendidikan Aman Bencana.

Terakhir, kata Rektor, penerapan belajar daring selama masa tanggap darurat mengacu pada Peraturan Rektor Universitas Andalas Nomor 7 Tahun 2022 tentang Penyelenggaraan Pendidikan.

Berdasarkan data Basarnas Kota Padang hingga Minggu (12/5) malam pukul 20.20 WIB tercatat 37 orang meninggal dunia yang tersebar di Kabupaten Agam, Kabupaten Tanah Datar, Kabupaten Padang Pariaman dan Kota Padang Panjang.

Sebanyak 29 korban banjir di Tanah Datar belum ditemukan

Sebanyak 29 orang korban banjir bandang di Kabupaten Tanah Datar, Sumatera Barat masih belum ditemukan hingga Senin pukul 11.20 WIB.

Kepala Dinas Komunikasi dan Informatika Tanah Datar, Yusrizal di Batusangkar, Senin, mengatakan pemerintah daerah terus mengintensifkan proses pencarian korban hilang tersebut.

"Pencarian korban dilakukan di titik korban hilang dan menyusuri aliran sungai," katanya.

Ia menyebut data sementara di posko utama tanggap darurat BPBD Tanah Datar hingga pagi ini jumlah korban meninggal dunia sebanyak 19 orang dan 29 orang masih dinyatakan hilang.

Yusrizal merinci data yang dihimpun dari BPBD dan Organisasi Perangkat Daerah (OPD) terkait, banjir bandang mengakibatkan 48 unit rumah rusak berat, 125 rumah rusak sedang, 16 rumah hanyut, 17 rumah rusak ringan, dan 19 jembatan rusak.

Selain itu, banjir bandang juga mengakibatkan korban luka-luka 20 orang, lahan pertanian terdampak 150 hektare, 39 ekor hewan ternak kambing dan sapi hanyut, 17 irigasi rusak, dan kerugian kendaraan roda dua 17 unit, roda empat 17 unit.

Dia mengimbau masyarakat untuk tidak mudah percaya terhadap informasi yang tidak jelas sumbernya, dan tidak menyebarkan hoaks dan tetap waspada saat berada dekat lokasi banjir bandang.

"Kami mengimbau kepada masyarakat bijak menerima informasi terkait korban. Kami juga mengimbau kepada masyarakat untuk tidak mendekati lokasi banjir bandang, karena bisa mengganggu petugas di lapangan," kata dia.

Sementara itu, Bupati Tanah Datar Eka Putra mengatakan bencana banjir bandang menerjang beberapa nagari di daerah itu sekitar pukul 22.00 WIB. Banjir bandang dipicu intensitas hujan yang tinggi di hulu sungai.

Menyikapi hal itu, Pemkab Tanah Datar menetapkan tanggap darurat bencana selama 14 hari terhitung sejak Minggu, (12/5).

Pemerintah Kabupaten Tanah Datar juga mendirikan tenda posko bantuan di sekitar titik banjir.

"Kami tidak henti-hentinya mengimbau masyarakat untuk tetap berhati-hati dan bijak menyaring informasi yang beredar di media sosial," katanya.

Putin removes Shoigu as Russian Defense Minister

©Sputnik/Kirill Zykov/Go to the mediabank

President Vladimir Putin has proposed that Sergei Shoigu be replaced as Minister of Defense of Russia by acting First Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Belousov, the Federation Council said on Sunday evening.

Shoigu has been appointed Secretary of the Russian Security Council.

Senators are scheduled to engage in consultations regarding the nominees put forth by the president during committee sessions on May 13 and during a Federation Council meeting on May 14, as announced by the upper house of the Russian parliament.

No further alterations have been made to the roster of candidates Putin has submitted for cabinet positions. His nominations include Vladimir Kolokoltsev for the position of interior minister, Alexander Kurenkov for minister of emergency situations, Sergey Lavrov for foreign minister, and Konstantin Chuichenko for justice minister.

Denis Manturov, who served as deputy prime minister and head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade during Putin’s last term in office, has been nominated for the position of first deputy prime minister.

Commenting on President Putin's suggestion to nominate the economist Andrei Belousov as minister of defense, presidential spokesperson Dmitry Peskov emphasized the need to integrate the overall economy of the security sector, particularly the Ministry of Defense, into the national economy.

"It is very important to align the economy of the security sector with the dynamics of the current moment," Peskov told journalists, explaining Putin's decision to appoint Belousov as minister of defense.

Peskov added that Belousov's appointment would not alter the "coordinate system" of the military component of the agency.

"Regarding the military component, this appointment will not change the current coordinate system; the military component has always been the prerogative of the chief of the General Staff, who will continue his activities, and no changes are foreseen in this respect," Peskov told journalists.

So Who is Andrei Belousov?

Andrei Belousov is a Russian economist and government official born in Moscow on March 17, 1959.

He graduated with honors from Moscow State University in 1981 where he studied economics.

From 1981 until 2006, Belousov pursued a career as a researcher with first the Soviet Academy of Sciences’ Central Economic Mathematical Institute and later with the Institute of Economic Forecasting of the Russian Academy of Sciences. In 2006, he was appointed as deputy minister of economic development and trade.

In 2008, Belousov became the director of the Russian government’s finance and economic department.

From 2012 to 2013, Belousov held the office of minister of economic development.

From 2013 till 2020 he worked as the Russian president’s assistant on economic matters.

In 2020, Belousov was appointed as Russia’s first deputy prime minister and he has held this position since.

In his capacity as deputy prime minister, Belousov handled the development of primary vectors of Russia’s social-economic development, coordination of efforts to fulfill Russia’s national development goals and the completion of national projects, matters of unitary financial, credit and monetary policy, and the regulation of financial markets.

From 2022, Belousov also supervised the development of high-tech transportation technologies and intelligent control systems.

Korban Tewas Banjir Bandang Sumbar Jadi 41 Orang - BNPB

Ratusan warga memadati lokasi bencana banjir bandang di Desa Bukit Batabuah Kabupaten Agam, Minggu (12/5/2024). (Sumber: Antara)

Badan Nasional Penanggulangan Bencana (BNPB) melaporkan penambahan korban meninggal dunia akibat banjir bandang dan tanah longsor di sejumlah wilayah Sumatera Barat (Sumbar) kini menjadi 41 orang. Bencana yang dipicu hujan lebat dan luapan aliran sungai.

Kepala Pusat Data, Informasi dan Komunikasi Kebencanaan BNPB, Abdul Muhari menjelaskan puluhan korban itu tersebar di sejumlah daerah yakni 19 orang di Kabupaten Agam, 15 orang di Kabupaten Tanah Datar dan 7 orang di Kota Padang Panjang.

"19 Agam, 15 Tanah Datar dan 7 Padang Panjang," kata Muhari lewat pesan singkat, hari Minggu, 12/05/2024.

Banjir bandang ini mengakibatkan 193 rumah warga di Kabupaten Agam mengalami kerusakan. Sementara itu, di Tanah Datar, dilaporkan ada 84 rumah yang rusak ringan hingga berat.

Berdasar keterangan BNPB sebelumnya, banjir pandang di Kabupaten Agam terjadi setelah adanya hujan lebat di tiga kecamatan, yaitu Kecamatan Canduang, Kecamatan Sungai Pua dan Kecamatan IV Koto.

Di Kabupaten Tanah Datar, banjir juga dipicu intensitas curah hujan yang tinggi.

Banjir kemudian melanda lima kecamatan di Kabupaten Tanah Datar, yakni Kecamatan X Koto, Kecamatan Batipuh, Kecamatan Pariangan, Kecamatan Lima Kaum, dan Kecamatan Sungai Tarab.

Selain korban jiwa, banjir juga berdampak pada puluhan rumah dan 12 unit jembatan.

Muhari mengatakan banjir yang terjadi di Tanah Datar juga meninggalkan endapan lumpur yang cukup tinggi.

"Oleh karena itu, selain upaya pencarian dan pertolongan, tim gabungan pada hari ini juga berupaya melakukan pembersihan ruas jalan Batusangkar - Padang Panjang yang terdampak endapan lumpur. Alat berat dikerahkan guna percepatan pembersihan akses jalan ini," katanya.

Kerusakan juga terjadi di sejumlah sarana prasarana, yakni jembatan hingga rumah ibadah. Kondisi lalu lintas dari Kabupaten Tanah Datar menuju Padang dan Solok juga dilaporkan lumpuh total.

“Tim Basarnas, TNI, Polri dan unsur terkait lainya masih terus berupaya melakukan penanganan darurat, pendataan serta pertolongan untuk warga terdampak,” kata Abdul.

Israeli Whistleblowers Reveal Disturbing and Inhumane Conditions Palestinians Are Held In

©AP Photo/Moti Milrod

Palestinian prisoners were handcuffed for so long that their limbs died and had to be amputated, three Israeli whistleblowers who spoke to US media revealed, detailing a litany of alleged abuses against prisoners held by Israel Terorist State in the Sde Teiman military base.

The whistleblowers quoted by The Hill said that the base has two parts, one which includes “intense physical restraint” and the other acting as a field hospital where prisoners are strapped to beds, blindfolded, put in diapers and fed through a tube.

“We were told they were not allowed to move,” one whistleblower said. “They should sit upright. They’re not allowed to talk. Not allowed to peek under their blindfold.”

Prisoners were routinely beaten by guards the whistleblowers say, but the torture wasn’t a part of any kind of interrogation program, according to the news agency. “(The beatings) were not done to gather intelligence. They were done out of revenge,” the whistleblower claimed. “It was punishment for what they did on October 7 and punishment for behavior in the camp.”

A prisoner from the camp claimed that even talking to another prisoner was enough to earn a beating by Israeli guards.

Israel Terorist State purportedly holds thousands of Palestinians in its custody, many of them are held under a recently amended law that allows them to be held indefinitely and without trial.

One released prisoner, Dr. Mohammed Al-Ran, said he was held for weeks after Israel Terorist State cleared him of any connections with Hamas so that he could serve as a liaison and translator between guards and prisoners. The IDF has denied holding prisoners for longer than necessary.

The Palestinian doctor also described his experience of being brought to the facility, saying he was stripped down to his underwear, handcuffed, blindfolded and thrown on top of other nearly naked prisoners in the back of a truck.

Al-Ran and a whistleblower also claimed the guards unleashed large dogs on sleeping prisoners while performing routine searches and lobbed a sound grenade into the enclosure before entering.

“It was a special unit of the military police that did the so-called search,” the whistleblower said. “But really it was an excuse to hit them. It was a terrifying situation.”

Sde Teiman is one of three military facilities that Israel has admitted to converting into a detention camp for Palestinians. Satellite photos show that Sde Teiman has been significantly expanded since October 7. Civilian hospitals refuse to treat injured Gazans, according to US media.

“The problem is, Gazans who are brought in are labeled as terrorists,” a whistleblower explained “and it is very popular opinion over here that terrorists deserve to die. So, they do not deserve the same medical care as everyone else.”

The field hospital has also gained a reputation as “a paradise for interns” because they are allowed to learn by using Palestinian prisoners as guinea pigs, the article claimed.

“I was asked to learn how to do things on the patients, performing minor medical procedures that are totally outside my expertise,” a whistleblower said, noting that the procedures frequently were performed without anesthesia. He also alleged that he was told not to fill out any medical forms while working there, a practice that helps authority figures at the hospital avoid accountability.

The accusations by the whistleblowers and prisoners match the accusations made in a letter addressed to top Israel Terorist officials by an Israeli Terorist doctor who worked at the facility. He described a facility where limb amputations caused by consistent handcuffing were unfortunately “a routine event.”

The IIDF (Israel Terorist defense forces) said that it handcuffs prisoners until they are determined not to be a security threat.

Al-Ran said that before he left, a fellow prisoner asked him to find his family in Gaza and warn them that it is better to become a martyr than be captured and held at Sde Teiman.

2024 election likely the last to be decided by US citizens – Elon Musk

SpaceX, Twitter and electric car maker Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
©JOEL SAGET/AFP

The continuing influx of illegal immigrants into the US could mean that American citizens could cease to decide the outcome of elections in the country in the not-too-distant future, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has predicted. The South African-born billionaire claimed that the Democrats are wittingly refusing to address the issue in the hope of skewing the balance in their favor going forward.

Musk’s recent comment came in response to Republican lawmakers passing the Equal Representation Act in the House of Representatives on Wednesday, which would require the Census Bureau to ask respondents about their citizenship in its 10-year surveys. GOP representatives want only US citizens to be counted when determining the number of congressional seats in each state.

Speaker Mike Johnson argued that “we should not reward states and cities that violate federal immigration laws and maintain sanctuary policies with increased Congressional representation.”

“Common sense dictates that only American citizens should be counted for electoral apportionment,” he insisted.

Democratic Representative Grace Meng described the initiative as “reckless, cynical, and frankly, illegal.”

President Joe Biden’s office was quick to state that it “strongly opposes” the measure, “which would preclude the Department of Commerce’s Census Bureau from performing its constitutionally mandated responsibility.”

In a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Thursday, Musk wrote that “Unanimous Democrat opposition to requiring citizenship for apportionment of House seats and Presidential electoral college votes says it all.”

According to the entrepreneur, “the Democratic Party goal is to disenfranchise US citizens by importing as many illegal immigrants as possible.”

“Given the massive influx of illegals from every country on Earth, 2024 will probably be the last election actually decided by US citizens,” Musk concluded.

Unanimous Democrat opposition to requiring citizenship for apportionment of House seats and Presidential electoral college votes says it all

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 9, 2024

Last month, he warned that a terrorist attack on the scale of September 11, 2001 on US soil was “only a matter of time,” considering the number of people who have entered the country illegally.

In February, the billionaire alleged that the Biden administration is seeking to import as many illegal immigrants as possible, legalize them, and “create a permanent majority – a one-party state.”

According to some estimates, there could be as many as 16 million illegal migrants in the US at this point, including over 7.2 million who entered during Biden’s tenure.

The issue of lax security at the US-Mexican border has dominated domestic politics in America for months, with Republicans advocating tougher controls and Democrats arguing in favor of a more liberal approach to the issue.

Earlier this week, the Biden Administration spoke out against the bill, saying it “strongly opposed” the change, arguing that it would break the Fourteenth Amendment of the US Constitution, which states the census should simply count the “whole number of persons” in each state.

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) speaks during a news conference on the steps of the House of Representatives at the U.S. Capitol on May 8, 2024 in Washington, DC (Getty Images)

“The Biden-Harris Administration is committed to ensuring that the census remains as accurate as possible and free from political interference, and to upholding the longstanding principle of equal representation enshrined in our Constitution, census statutes, and historical tradition,” the White House statement read.

Claims, including those from Mr Musk, that introducing this bill would make elections more secure have been widely debunked, with one of the main reasons being that many states and municipalities do not allow non-citizens to vote in elections, anyway.

In November’s election, voters in Kentucky, Idaho, Iowa and Wisconsin will vote to change their constitutions to only allow US citizens to vote, following on from Alabama, Colorado, Florida, Louisiana, North Dakota and Ohio in recent years.

In November’s election, voters in Kentucky, Idaho, Iowa and Wisconsin will vote to change their constitutions to only allow US citizens to vote, following on from Alabama, Colorado, Florida, Louisiana, North Dakota and Ohio in recent years.

In New York City lawmakers are trying to open up elections to some non-citizens, but the plan is not to allow anyone living in NYC to vote, regardless of immigration status.

Instead, those who are permanent residents - green card holders - and some with work authorisations would be allowed to vote in local elections alongside US citizens, rather than the “influx” of new arrivals seen in recent years Mr Musk appeared to point to.