Putin calls up reservists after losses in Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a call-up of military reservists last Wednesday after recent military losses in Ukraine. Putin said he will use all available means to protect the Russian people.

His televised speech to the nation was seven minutes long.

The total number of reservists the Russian government will call up is around 300,000, Russian officials said. However, the number could get larger.

It is the first mobilization of reservists since the Second World War.

After Putin’s decision, airlines sold out plane tickets for flights leaving the country.

Russian political expert Dmitry Oreshkin said “The Russian people will find ways to resist Putin’s decision. They will organize demonstrations and many men will leave the country.”

Following Putin’s speech, Russian activist group Avtozak reported small demonstrations in several cities in Siberia and the Far East, with some arrests.

Russian officials warned that organizing or participating in these actions could lead to up to 15 years in prison. The Russian state agency monitoring communication and media warned “We will block websites if they publish false information about the military reservists”.

The war in Ukraine killed thousands of people, drove up food prices worldwide and increased energy costs. Many people are very worried about a possible disaster at Europe’s largest nuclear plant in Ukraine’s now Russia-occupied southeast.

Russian defense minister Sergei Shoigu said 5,937 Russian soldiers died in the conflict. However, that figure is lower than Western estimates of tens of thousands.

Russian police officers detain a protester during an unsanctioned rally

Photo Credit: Russian Presidential Press Service via AP and  Reuters

Article adapted from VOA News 

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New York (CNN Business) Apple iPhone 14 Emergency SOS via Satellite will help people using the company's next-generation phones to communicate when their cell service isn't working — a process that Apple said took years to make a reality.

The service will roll out in November in the United States and Canada. The iPhone 14 comes with a starting price of $799.

The iPhone 14 will have the built-in antenna required to communicate with satellites — and it will not look like the bulky satellite phones of years past.

The phone will come equipped with software that will show users where to point their phones in order to link up to a satellite when no other service options are available. Once connected, the phones will send and receive information to get emergency help.

Apple created a short text compression mechanism to condense messages and it will take about 15 seconds to send if a user has a clear view of the sky.

The service will be offered for free for two years with an iPhone 14 purchase, according to Apple iPhone marketing vice president Kaiann Drance. She did not reveal how much the service will cost after that.

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Gun jams during bid to kill Argentina vice-president

 

The former president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner was returning home from court, where she faces allegations of corruption. She denies the charges.

Police said the gunman, who local media identified as a 35-year-old Brazilian man, has been taken into custody.

They are attempting to establish a motive for the attack on the left-leaning populist, who was Argentina's president from 2007 to 2015, and its first lady for four years before that.

President Alberto Fernández revealed the gun was loaded with five bullets, but failed to fire when triggered.

Video circulating on social media shows the gun emerging from the crowd, and Ms Fernández de Kirchner ducking to avoid it - covering her ears as she crouches.

In another video, people in the crowd appear to try to block Ms Fernández de Kirchner from the suspected gunman, who came within inches of her. The crowd has been gathering outside her home for the last few nights in a show of support as she fights charges of defrauding the state and being involved in a scheme to divert public funds while she was president.

A police spokesperson earlier told Reuters news agency that a weapon was found a few metres from the scene after the man had been arrested.

Addressing the nation late on Thursday night, President Fernández - who worked as chief-of-staff to both Ms Fernández de Kirchner and her husband during their tenures - said: "Cristina remains alive because, for a reason not yet technically confirmed, the gun, which contained five bullets, did not fire."

He went on to condemn the attacker and said the attempt on Ms Fernández de Kirchner's life was one of the "most serious" incidents since the country returned to democracy in 1983.

"We can disagree, we can have deep disagreements, but hate speech cannot take place because it breeds violence and there is no chance of violence coexisting with democracy," President Fernández said, declaring a national holiday on Friday to allow Argentines time to "express themselves in defence of life, democracy and in solidarity with our vice president".

Argentina's economy minister, Sergio Massa, called the attempted shooting an "attempted assassination".

"When hate and violence prevail over debate, societies are destroyed and situations like these arise: attempted assassination," he said in a tweet.

Ms Fernández de Kirchner has yet to make any comment.

She is accused of defrauding the state and of fraudulently awarding public works contracts in her stronghold in Patagonia while she was president between 2007 and 2015.

If convicted at trial, prosecutors have asked that the ex-president face 12 years in prison and a lifetime ban from politics.

However, Ms Fernández de Kirchner is the Senate president and so enjoys parliamentary immunity. She would not be imprisoned unless her sentence was ratified by the country's Supreme Court, or she loses her Senate seat at the next elections at the end of 2023.

Ms Fernández de Kirchner has faced numerous other corruption trials following her time as president. The verdict of this trial is expected to take some months.

From BBC News