Putin offers 'condolences' after Wagner plane crash - CNA

A "COMMON CAUSE"

When Putin broke his silence on Thursday he paid a qualified tribute to the mercenary boss and the paramilitary group he led.

"I knew Prigozhin for a very long time, since the early 90s. He was a man of complicated fate, and he made serious mistakes in his life, but he achieved the right results," Putin said.

In an address to Russians during the Wagner rebellion on Jun 23 to Jun 24 in which he warned against "civil war", Putin had called Prigozhin - once his ally - a "traitor".

But on Thursday, he said the Wagner members who had died in the crash had made a "significant contribution" to Moscow's offensive in Ukraine.

They had shared a common cause, Putin said, adding: "We remember that, we know that, and we will not forget that."

He said the investigation into the crash would take time, but added: "It will be conducted in full and brought to a conclusion."

"REASONABLE DOUBTS"

Some Western leaders expressed doubts that the crash had been an accident.

"There's not much that happens in Russia that Putin's not behind," said US President Joe Biden, after having said he did not know what happened.

France saw "reasonable doubts" about the crash, while Germany said it followed a pattern of "unclarified" fatalities in Russia.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said it was suspicious that "a disgraced former confidant of Putin suddenly, literally falls from the sky two months after he attempted a mutiny".

Even influential pro-Kremlin figures, such as state television personality and Putin ally Margarita Simonyan, seemed to suggest that it could have been an assassination.

"Among the versions that are being discussed (about the crash) is that it was staged. But personally, I'm leaning towards the more obvious one," she said on social media.

Russia's aviation authority published the passenger list for the Embraer private jet late on Wednesday.

It included Prigozhin and his right-hand man, Dmitry Utkin, a shadowy figure who managed Wagner's operations and allegedly served in Russian military intelligence.

Russian police patrolled the crash site near the village of Kuzhenkino, some 350km north of Moscow in the Tver region.

One woman living near Kuzhenkino said her neighbour had heard a roar and saw "sparkling from the plane", accompanied by fire.

"A neighbour ran up to me with shaking hands and when we went to the window I saw only one mushroom (cloud from the explosion), a black cloud," she said in a video published by state-run news agency RIA Novosti.

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2023-08-24 20:26:15Z
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Beijing fishmongers worry as Japan begins Fukushima water release - CNA

Meanwhile, many shoppers responded by rushing to buy large quantities of table salt, prompting the state monopoly to issue a plea for moderation.

Chinese consumers snapped up salt in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima disaster based on groundless rumours that the iodine in it could prevent radiation poisoning.

"Due to the impact of Japan's discharge of nuclear wastewater, some markets in China have seen panic buying of table salt," China Salt said in a statement on Thursday evening.

"Salt reserves and supplies remain abundant," the state-owned firm said, but added that "online retailers as well as some commercial supermarket channels have exhibited temporary shortages".

"We are working overtime to add extra production and deliveries, and doing all we can to guarantee market supply," the company said.

"We urge all sectors of society to consume salt in a managed way and not blindly hoard it."

Elsewhere in the Beijing market, workers said the impact of the water release plan had been significant.

Many recently stopped selling all seafood from Japan.

"The plan to release the water is causing trouble for Japan and all other countries," said Huang Xiaohao, the boss of a store advertising imported products.

"If you look around at what we're selling, you'll find that most of these things are actually domestic products," he said.

Pressure has come from both official customs restrictions, others said, as well as from consumers who worry about the impact of Japanese seafood products on their health.

One merchant who declined to be named told AFP that tuna from places other than Japan - where he usually sourced products - are simply not as good.

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2023-08-24 15:13:33Z
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Fukushima wastewater release: Malaysia to monitor Japan food imports amid rising public concerns - CNA

Following news that treated wastewater will be released from Fukushima into the ocean, Malaysians have expressed concerns over food safety issues, particularly over seafood imported from Japan. 

Several netizens on social media platform X called for the government to ban all seafood imported from the East Asian country. 

“Will sushi be more expensive after this?” asked an X user. 

Another netizen pointed out that although Japan has no choice but to release the treated wastewater to the sea, it is an “unprecedented event”. 

“(This) means we don't really know what exactly will happen,” she said. 

Some netizens also questioned whether the treated wastewater is safe from radiation and expressed worries of falling ill.

“More and more people are quickly getting cancer and other illnesses,” said one netizen. 

The public has been urged to “remain calm”, with Malaysia’s Deputy Agriculture and Food Security Minister Chan Foong Hin sharing in a Facebook post that the country does not currently import live marine fish from Japan. 

He added that for non-live fishery products from Japan, his ministry is working closely with the health ministry and other government agencies to monitor food safety issue levels. 

Among the things being done include checks on health certifications and radiation during post import, said Mr Chan. 

The Vibes had earlier in June reported that there is fear that the release of the wastewater may affect the world’s marine ecosystem.

According to The Vibes, Dr Maizah Abdullah - a lecturer at the Faculty of Marine Science and Environment at the Universiti Malaysia Terengganu - warned that there is a possibility that the nuclear wastewater may drift into Malaysia’s waters. 

“There is no limit to the movement of ocean currents. It is coupled with marine life that constantly migrates, so any animal that reaches an area that is affected or at risk by this radioactive waste will definitely reach our waters, potentially contaminating the food chain of marine life and affecting human health,” she told the online news portal. 

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2023-08-24 10:30:00Z
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Japan begins release of Fukushima water: TEPCO - CNA

"It's like dumping an atomic bomb in the ocean. Japan is the first country that was attacked with an atomic bomb in the world, and the prime minister of the country made this decision," said Kenichi Sato, 68.

China's environment ministry on Thursday blasted Japan's plan as "extremely selfish and irresponsible", saying it would "track and study" the impact on its waters.

MULTIPLE MELTDOWNS

With around 1,000 steel containers holding the water, TEPCO has said it needs to clear space for the removal of highly dangerous radioactive nuclear fuel and rubble from the wrecked reactors.

Three of the reactors at the Fukushima-Daiichi facility in northeastern Japan went into meltdown following a massive earthquake and tsunami that killed around 18,000 people in 2011.

Since then, TEPCO has collected 1.34 million cubic metres of water contaminated as it cooled the wrecked reactors, along with groundwater and rain that has seeped in.

TEPCO will carry out four releases of the treated water from Thursday until March 2024. The first discharge will take about 17 days.

About 5 trillion becquerels - a measure of radioactivity - of tritium will be released this fiscal year, TEPCO added.

Japan insists that all radioactive elements have been filtered out except the tritium, levels of which are harmless and lower than what is discharged by operational nuclear power plants, including in China.

This is backed by most experts.

"When released into the Pacific, the tritium is further diluted into a vast body of water and would quickly get to a radioactivity level which is not discernibly different from normal seawater," said Tom Scott from the University of Bristol in England.

"Hence, it poses very little risk and the risk itself decreases with time due to the relatively short radioactive half-life... meaning that the amount of tritium (and hence the risk) continually reduces."

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2023-08-24 04:34:00Z
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Japan set to release Fukushima water amid criticism, seafood import bans - CNA

According to Tepco test results released on Thursday, that water contains about up to 63 becquerels of tritium per litre, below the World Health Organisation drinking water limit of 10,000 becquerels per litre. A becquerel is a unit of radioactivity.

Tepco expects the process of releasing the wastewater - currently totalling more than 1.3 million metric tons - to take decades.

Civic groups have launched protests in Japan and South Korea, although South Korea's government has said its own assessment found no problems with the scientific and technical aspects of the release.

The Fukushima Daiichi plant was destroyed in March 2011 after a massive 9.0 magnitude earthquake off the Japanese coast generated powerful tsunami waves that caused the meltdowns of three of its reactors.

The water release is a key step in a dauntingly long and difficult process of decommissioning the plant, including the removal of molten fuel.

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2023-08-24 03:02:04Z
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Prigozhin: Russia's mercenary supremo turned Kremlin enemy - CNA

BITTER TOP BRASS RIVALRY

He gained public acclaim as Wagner spearheaded the capture of several key Ukrainian towns including Bakhmut. But Prigozhin began blasting what he said was systemic mismanagement and lying in the Russian defence ministry.

Prigozhin was locked in a bitter months-long power struggle with the defence ministry as his ragtag forces spearheaded the costly battles for limited gains in eastern Ukraine.

He had earlier accused the Russian military of trying to "steal" victories from Wagner and slammed Moscow's "monstrous bureaucracy" for grinding progress on the ground.

And he directly blamed Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and other senior officials for his fighters' deaths, claiming Moscow had not provided sufficient ammunition.

Unlike Russia's generals, who have been criticised for shirking the battles, the stocky and bald Prigozhin regularly posed for pictures alongside mercenaries allegedly on the front lines.

He posted on social media images from the cockpit of a SU-24 fighter jet and challenged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to an aerial duel.

The former hotdog seller and native of Putin's hometown Saint Petersburg, who was jailed for nearly a decade during the Soviet era, for years dismissed he was linked with Wagner.

But last September, he conceded that he had founded the fighting force and opened headquarters in Saint Petersburg.

A video surfaced of a man bearing a strong resemblance to Prigozhin in a prison courtyard, offering contracts to prisoners to fight in Ukraine with a chilling set of conditions.

SHOOTING DESERTERS

"If you arrive in Ukraine and decide it's not for you, we will regard it as desertion and will shoot you," said the man.

When video footage circulated showing an alleged Wagner deserter being executed with a sledgehammer, Prigozhin praised the killing, calling the man featured in the video a "dog".

Prigozhin rose from a modest background in Russia's former imperial capital to become part of an inner circle close to Putin.

He spent nine years in prison in the final period of the USSR after being convicted of fraud and theft and, in the chaos of the 1990s, he began a moderately successful fast food company.

He fell into the restaurant sector and opened a luxury location in Saint Petersburg whose customers included Putin, then making the transition from working in the KGB to local politics.

The company he founded at one point worked for the Kremlin, earning Prigozhin the soubriquet of "Putin's chef".

Prigozhin has been described as a billionaire with a vast fortune built on state contracts, although the extent of his wealth is unknown.

One of the best-known images shows him at the Kremlin in 2011, bending down over a seated Putin and offering him a dish while the Russian leader looks back with an approving glance.

THE "TROLL" FACTORY

He was sanctioned by Washington, which accused him of playing a role in meddling in the 2016 US presidential election, in particular through his internet "troll factory".

Prigozhin at the time denied any involvement and in 2020 asked for $50 billion in compensation from the United States.

In July 2018, three journalists researching Wagner's operations in the Central African Republic for an investigative media outlet were killed in an ambush.

Western countries have accused the private fighting group of coming to the aid of the military junta in Mali, in a move that contributed to France's decision to end an almost decade-long military operation there.

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2023-08-24 00:33:00Z
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In historic first, India's Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft lands on Moon's south pole - The Straits Times

BENGALURU - An Indian spacecraft landed on the Moon on Wednesday in a mission seen as crucial to lunar exploration and India’s standing as a space power, just days after a similar Russian lander crashed.

“This is a victory cry of a new India,” said Prime Minister Narendra Modi who was seen waving the Indian flag as he watched the landing from South Africa, where he is attending the Brics summit.

Scientists and officials clapped, cheered and hugged each other as the spacecraft landed as the government now looks to spur investment in private space launches and related satellite-based businesses.

“India is on the Moon,” said Mr S Somanath, chief of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) as the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft landed on the lunar south pole.

This was India’s second attempt to land a spacecraft on the Moon and comes less than a week after Russia’s Luna-25 mission failed. People across the country were glued to television screens and said prayers as the spacecraft approached the surface.

Chandrayaan means “Moon vehicle” in Hindi and Sanskrit. In 2019, ISRO’s Chandrayaan-2 mission successfully deployed an orbiter, but its lander crashed.

The Chandrayaan-3 is expected to remain functional for two weeks, running a series of experiments including a spectrometer analysis of the mineral composition of the lunar surface.

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2023-08-23 12:43:07Z
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