(Reuters) -Russia's defence ministry accused Ukraine on Saturday of poisoning some of its servicemen in the Russian-controlled part of Ukraine's southeastern region of Zaporizhzhia in late July.

An adviser to Ukraine's interior ministry said in response that the alleged poisoning could have been caused by Russian forces eating expired canned meat.

The Russian defence ministry said a number of Russian servicemen had been taken to a military hospital with signs of serious poisoning on July 31. Tests showed a toxic substance, botulinum toxin type B, in their bodies, it said.

"On the fact of chemical terrorism sanctioned by the (Ukrainian President Volodymyr) Zelenskiy regime, Russia is preparing supporting evidence with the results of all the analyses," the ministry said in a statement.

It did not say how many servicemen had suffered or what their condition was now. It did not say what the "supporting evidence" was.

Botulinum toxin type B is a neurotoxin that can cause botulism when ingested in previously contaminated food products, but it can also have medical uses.

Ukraine's defence ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment, but interior ministry adviser Anton Gerashchenko commented on the Russian allegation on the Telegram messaging app.

"The department (Russian defence ministry) does not clarify whether the poisoning could have been caused by expired canned meat, in which botulinum toxin is often found. Overdue rations have been massively complained about by the occupying forces since the first days of the invasion of Ukraine," he said.

The Russian defence ministry said it was conducting an additional investigation into an incident in which Volodymyr Saldo, the Russian-installed administration in Ukraine's occupied Kherson region, was taken ill.

Saldo, a former mayor of the city of Kherson who was appointed to head the region of the same name when Russian troops overran it in early March, fell ill in early August.

Russia says its "special military operation" launched on Feb. 24 is aimed at demilitarizing Ukraine and protecting Russian speakers on what President Vladimir Putin called historical Russian land.

Ukraine and Western countries view it as an unprovoked war of conquest aimed at wiping out Ukraine's national identity.

COVID-19 lockdowns in China threw a wrench into global supply chains earlier this year, causing shipping and production delays worldwide, and hindering economic growth.

Now, the country is facing another major threat—and this one could be even worse for the economy.

China has been coping with its worst heat wave in 60 years this month, with temperatures in several provinces routinely reaching 40°C (104°F). But one key province is experiencing the worst financial repercussions from the suffocating heat.

In Sichuan, a regional manufacturing powerhouse that is home to more than 80 million people, the record heat wave has exacerbated an ongoing drought, cutting water levels at hydropower reservoirs in half this month, according to the Sichuan Provincial Department of Economics and Information Technology.

Sichuan relies on hydropower for roughly 80% of its energy needs, and with consumers using more energy than usual to stay cool during the heat wave, energy supplies are running short.

As a result, officials announced on Aug. 15 that factories in 19 cities and prefectures would be forced to close their doors for five days to reserve electricity for “use by the people.”

But an expert told Fortune that the ongoing heat wave is more than just a regional problem, and could have dramatic repercussions worldwide. Because of the specific challenges that heat poses, manufacturing work-arounds that became common during the height of COVID will no longer be possible, potentially leading to even more severe economic outcomes.

“These shutdowns have the potential to be equally if not more impactful on supply chains than recent COVID lockdowns,” said Mirko Woitzik, global director of intelligence solutions for Everstream Analytics, a supply-chain insights and risk analytics company.

From Sichuan to the rest of China

Some factories in China were able to remain open during pandemic lockdowns through the use of “closed loop” systems, where workers would isolate themselves at factories in order to continue operations.

But these types of mitigation efforts aren’t possible in a heat wave.

“Everyone's depending on the same hydropower, so the entire region is really affected by it. And there’s no white list at the moment of exemptions. So it’s really the indiscriminate nature compared to the targeted COVID lockdowns that make this much more harmful,” Woitzik said.

For now, factory shutdowns caused by the heat wave in China are confined to Sichuan. But because of the region’s status as a manufacturing powerhouse, the effects will likely be widespread.

Electronic component manufacturers like Foxconn and Compal, which are both suppliers for Apple, and auto manufacturers like Tesla, Toyota, and SAIC Motor Corp. may be affected the most by the deadly heat.

Tesla and SAIC said on Thursday that they are having difficulty maintaining production amid the power crunch, and asked Chinese officials if their production could be prioritized. Toyota has also suspended production at its plant in Sichuan this week, according to Japanese media outlet Kyodo News.

Additionally, BOE Technology Group, an Apple supplier that makes LED screens and other hardware components, said on Wednesday that it will need to “make adjustments” at its operations in Sichuan owing to power rationing in the region. And Contemporary Amperex Technology, the world’s largest battery maker, said it will stop production at its Sichuan plant until Aug. 20, as a result of the power cuts, Reuters reported.

“The Sichuan region has become very important in the last 10 years in terms of raw material production,” Woitzik said. “Foxconn has their battery production there, and the list goes on, so it’s still very, very impactful in a supply-chain sense.”

Lithium and semiconductors could also be affected, though it likely won’t be to the same extent as electronic component manufacturers.

Sichuan is a key supplier of lithium, and some experts are concerned that China’s heat wave could cause prices of the silvery-white metal to soar.

Supplies of lithium have already been strained amid rising demand for EVs and production issues. And Woitzik notes that one of China’s top lithium producers, Sichuan Yahua Industrial Group, has shut down operations for five days and that prices for lithium are expected to rise in the near term as a result.

Still, Woitzik said that he isn’t too worried about the supply of lithium—at least for now.

“We believe that the impact will be more felt in terms of the intermediate and end products,” he said. “For lithium, the heat wave would have to last for much longer for it to create a significant impact.”

Another key industry that could be affected by the heat wave is semiconductors (also known as chips), which are used in everything from smartphones to fighter jets. Over the past two years, there’s been a global shortage of semiconductors, and the situation in China is set to make things even worse.

Woitzik said that Sichuan semiconductor manufacturers are already being affected by shutdowns, adding that they are “likely going to cause more ripple effects through semiconductor supply chains.”

But he also noted that Sichuan isn’t home to many semiconductor producers, so the impact on the ongoing chip shortage will likely be limited compared with past pandemic-related disruptions.

“In terms of semiconductor issues, they’ll probably be more confined, but then there’s a lot of other electric component producers, especially Taiwanese ones, that have settled down there [in Sichuan],” he said. “So, it’s really more the electronic components other than semiconductors that are key in Sichuan.”

The repercussions of longer factory shutdowns

Right now, factories in Sichuan are expected to be shuttered for only a little while.

But if the heat persists they could stay closed for much longer, making the situation for Chinese manufacturers even more dire.

“If it’s confined to the five to seven days, it would still be manageable,” said Woitzik.

But Chinese officials have already extended some factory shutdowns in Chongqing, a self-administered municipality located within Sichuan province, to Aug. 24, Woitzik noted.

“Factories can sort out inventory, and shutdowns won’t have that much of an impact,” he said of the heat wave. “But if it is going to 10 days, two weeks, or anything more than that, then we’re really talking about serious supply disruptions.” / Fortune.com

The daughter of a far-right Russian ideologue commonly known as “Putin’s brain” for his purported influence over the Russian president’s fascist views was reportedly killed in a car bombing outside Moscow late Saturday.

Images of the blast were widely circulated on Telegram by the news outlets Baza and 112, which reported that Darya Dugina, the daughter of Alexander Dugin, was killed instantly in the explosion. Russia’s TASS news agency cited law enforcement sources who confirmed that a Toyota Land Cruiser Prado had blown up, but they did not confirm the identity of the driver, only describing the victim as female. A man identified by TASS as an acquaintance of Dugina, however, confirmed that she was killed.

The Russian news outlet Baza reported that Dugina, 30, had been returning home from a literature and music festival called “Tradition” when the blast occurred. She reportedly was behind the wheel for only 10 minutes before the detonation.

Alexander Dugin was meant to be in the vehicle his daughter was driving but had gotten in a different one at the last second, according to Pyotr Lundstrem, a Russian violinist quoted by the outlet.

Dugin had reportedly been following right behind his daughter and had watched as her car exploded. Photos shared by Baza appeared to show Dugin distraught at the scene, holding his head in both hands as he stood in front of the fiery wreckage.

Denis Pushilin, the Russian proxy leader of Ukraine's occupied Donetsk, angrily blamed “terrorists of the Ukrainian regime” for the blast, writing on Telegram that they had been “trying to liquidate Alexander Dugin” but “blew up his daughter.”

“In loving memory of Darya, she is a true Russian girl,” Pushilin wrote.

Pro-Kremlin Telegram channels and social media pages similarly blamed Ukraine for the explosion and called on Russians to “avenge” Dugina’s death.

Investigators are reported to be viewing the explosion as a targeted hit that may have been meant for Alexander Dugin, a philosopher widely believed to be the chief architect of Vladimir Putin’s ideology of a “Russian World” and the driving force behind his aggression against Ukraine.

Darya Dugina had been outspoken in her support of Russia’s war against Ukraine. As evidence began to pile up in April of Russian war crimes in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha, Dugina argued in an interview that the slaughter of civilians had been staged, bizarrely claiming that the U.S. had chosen the city because in English the name sounds like “butcher.” She was also sanctioned by the U.S. government in March in connection with her role in a Kremlin-run influence operation known as Project Lakhta.

The Daily Beast.

Europe's worst drought in years has pushed the mighty river Danube to one of its lowest levels in almost a century, exposing the hulks of dozens of explosives-laden German warships sunk during WW2 near Serbia's river port town of Prahovo.

The vessels were among hundreds scuttled along the Danube by Nazi Germany's Black Sea fleet in 1944 as they retreated from advancing Soviet forces, and still hamper river traffic during low water levels.

However, this year's drought –– viewed by scientists as a consequence of global heating –– has exposed more than 20 hulks on a stretch of the Danube near Prahovo in eastern Serbia, many of which still contain tonnes of ammunition and explosives and pose a danger to shipping.

"The German flotilla has left behind a big ecological disaster that threatens us, people of Prahovo," said Velimir Trajilovic, 74, a pensioner from Prahovo who wrote a book about the German ships.

Workers in the local fishing industry are also at risk, including those from Romania which lies just across the river.

Extracting ammunition, explosives

Months of drought and record-high temperatures have snarled river traffic on vital arteries in other parts of Europe, including Germany, Italy and France. 

In Serbia, the authorities have resorted to dredging to keep navigation lanes on the Danube open.

By Prahovo, some of the hulks have narrowed the navigable section on this stretch of the Danube to just 100 metres from 180 metres.

Strewn across the riverbed, some of the ships still boast turrets, command bridges, broken masts and twisted hulls, while others lie mostly submerged under sand banks.

In March, the Serbian government invited a tender for the salvage of the hulks and removal of ammunition and explosives.

The cost of the operation was estimated at $30 million.

Source: Reuters

A Muslim woman who was gang-raped as 14 other people were murdered during one of post-independence India's worst religious riots has said she is "numb" after her attackers were released early from prison.

Bilkis Bano said in a statement released by her lawyer on Wednesday that she was "bereft of words. I am still numb." "I trusted the highest courts in our land. I trusted the system, and I was learning slowly to live with my trauma.

"The release of these convicts has taken from me my peace and shaken my faith in justice. My sorrow and my wavering faith are not for myself alone but for every woman who is struggling for justice in courts," she said.

On Thursday around a dozen people staged a demonstration in New Delhi against the release of the men.

Bilkis and two of her children were the only survivors among a group of 17 Muslims attacked by a Hindu mob in the western state of Gujarat in 2002.

Bilkis was pregnant at the time and seven of those killed were relatives including her three-year-old daughter. The attack took place when current Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was Gujarat state premier.

Eleven Hindu men were later sentenced to life in prison but were freed on Monday, with the Gujarat government timing its announcement to coincide with celebrations for the 75th anniversary of India's independence.

The attackers, released following a recommendation by a state government panel, were greeted by relatives outside the prison who gave them sweets and touched their feet in a traditional Indian sign of respect.

Ruling BJP defends release of convicts 

On Thursday, opposition politician Rahul Gandhi, grandson of former premier Indira Gandhi, tweeted: "Prime Minister... the entire country is seeing the difference between your words and deeds."

Modi was accused of turning a blind eye to the riots but was cleared of any wrongdoing in 2012, two years before becoming leader of the Hindu-majority nation that is home to 200 million Muslims.

"BJP's bias for a religion is such that even brutal rape & hate crimes are forgivable," prominent Muslim politician Asaduddin Owaisi said, referring to Modi's ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party.

The Gujarat state government, run by the BJP, defended the decision to release the men.

"The remission of the 11 convicts was considered after taking various factors like life imprisonment term in India which is typically of 14 years or more, age, behaviour of the person and so on," senior official Raj Kumar was quoted by the Hindustan Times as saying.

According to the official toll, around 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, were hacked, beaten, shot or burnt to death in the riots, which erupted after 59 Hindu pilgrims died in a train fire that was blamed on a Muslim mob.

More than three dozen Muslims were later convicted over the fire, although the cause remains disputed. 

Source: AFP

A New Zealand city devastated by flooding will take years to recover, the mayor has said, as hundreds more homes were evacuated.

Several streets in the city of Nelson were flooded after the local river, the Maitai, burst its banks.

Nelson Mayor Rachel Reese said on Friday the damage to roads and the city's infrastructure will "take years, not months" to repair.

She added that it was "critical" for Nelson's residents to conserve water as the city's supply was disrupted by a landslide that damaged the main line from the local reservoir.

The Pacific nation has been lashed by wild weather with the Nelson-Tasman district on the South Island bearing the brunt after 75 centimetres of rain reportedly fell over three days.

On a visit to witness the damage, New Zealand's Minister for Emergency Management Kieran McAnulty pledged $125,000 of aid and confirmed more than 400 homes have now been evacuated in Nelson, where a state of emergency remains in place.

He added that flooding and landslides have made 60 homes potentially uninhabitable.

McAnulty told reporters one of the most striking things he saw was a street on a housing development "where the road had just been washed out, (leaving) a crater deeper than I am tall".

Nelson resident Paul Maskell said a neighbour alerted him to the rising water on his street.

"By the time I got back, it was a foot deep in water with boulders running down the road. It was surreal," he told the New Zealand Herald.

Homes without power

An elderly resident recovering after an operation had to be winched to safety by firefighters late on Thursday night after his home was threatened by flooding.

New Zealand's South Island was bracing for another lashing of heavy rain, but other regions did not escape the extreme weather.

The nearby city of New Plymouth endured its wettest August day since records began with 10 centimetres falling in 12 hours.

"More than a metre of rain has fallen causing significant flows down all rivers," said Taranaki Civil Defence controller Todd Velvin with flooding, road closures and fallen trees creating problems.

Kaitaia, a town near the top of North Island, was cut off by flooding and landslides, and around 400 homes were left without power in the far north.

Experts say the climate crisis driven by human activity is boosting the intensity and frequency of extreme weather events, such as heatwaves, droughts and flooding.

Source: AFP