Bollywood icon Asha Bhosle dies at 92 after eight-decade career
Asha Bhosle, the legendary Indian playback singer whose voice defined generations of Bollywood music, has died at the age of 92 in Mum...
Ukrainian officials reported on Friday that thousands of children and their parents were evacuated from frontline areas in the Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk regions as Russian forces continued to advance.
Restoration Minister Oleksiy Kuleba said on Telegram: “Due to the difficult security situation, over 3,000 children and their parents have been forcibly evacuated from 44 frontline settlements.” Evacuations are also ongoing in the northern Chernihiv region.
Kuleba added that since 1 June, a total of 150,000 people have been moved from frontline areas to safer regions, including around 18,000 children and more than 5,000 people with limited mobility.
Russian troops continue to push through the industrial Dnipropetrovsk region. The evacuation orders came after Russia launched a major drone attack on Zaporizhzhia overnight, with regional administration head Ivan Fedorov reporting that at least nine drones struck the city, damaging residential buildings and civilian infrastructure, but causing no casualties.
According to Ukraine’s Air Force, Russia fired 116 long-range drones overnight, 86 of which were intercepted, while 27 reached their targets.
Russian territorial gains
Data from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) and the Critical Threats Project show that the Russian army captured more than 5,600 square kilometres of Ukrainian territory in 2025. While this exceeds gains from the previous two years combined, it remains far below the more than 60,000 square kilometres taken in 2022.
Diplomatic efforts
Kyiv is hosting security advisors from allied states on Saturday, with representatives from the European Union, NATO, and the United States joining, the latter via video link. The talks will be followed by a summit of leaders from the “coalition of the willing” planned next week in France.
In his New Year’s Eve address, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said a US-brokered peace deal is “90 per cent” ready, but the key issue of territorial disputes remains unresolved.
The diplomatic push comes as Russia continues to press its advantage on the battlefield against outnumbered and outgunned Ukrainian forces.
Hungarians vote in elections on Sunday that could see the end of hard right nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s more than 15 year rule. Opinion polls show Orbán’s Fidesz party trailing 45-year-old Péter Magyar’s centre-right opposition Tisza party.
U.S. and Iranian negotiators held their highest-level talks in half a century in Pakistan on Saturday in an effort to end their six-week war, as President Donald Trump said the U.S. military had begun the process of clearing the Strait of Hormuz.
Amid fragile calm, António Guterres urged constructive U.S.- Iran talks, while Pope Leo XIV warned violence is spreading. Lebanon's President said an Israeli strike killed 13 security personnel in Nabatieh.
Donald Trump’s flagship plan for post-war Gaza has come under scrutiny after reports that its financing is falling short of expectations, claims firmly rejected by the White House-backed Board of Peace.
At least 30 people were killed on Saturday in a stampede at Haiti’s Laferrière Citadel World Heritage Site, with authorities warning that the death toll could rise.
Israel has reprimanded Spain’s most senior diplomat in Tel Aviv after a giant effigy of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was blown up in a Spanish town.
Russia and Ukraine accused each other of violating a 32-hour ceasefire introduced to mark Orthodox Easter on Saturday (11 April). Russian officials said Ukrainian drones attacked targets in the Kursk and Belgorod border regions, injuring five people.
The U.S., EU and their allies are racing to secure supplies of rare earth elements - essential materials for electric vehicles, wind turbines and advanced technologies - as China maintains a dominant position in processing.
At least 30 people were killed on Saturday in a stampede at Haiti’s Laferrière Citadel World Heritage Site, with authorities warning that the death toll could rise.
Hungarians vote in elections on Sunday that could see the end of hard right nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s more than 15 year rule. Opinion polls show Orbán’s Fidesz party trailing 45-year-old Péter Magyar’s centre-right opposition Tisza party.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment