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Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has upgraded the automated system for assessing the condition of roads, managing their maintenance and pavement to achieve the relevant strategic objectives.

The system constitutes a comprehensive programme for automating and governing the assessment of the performance of the functional and construction pavement condition of the road network through software applications such as the automated systems for pavement management system.

“This system is a digital version of roads with artificial intelligence techniques in implementing the strategies and policies of RTA and maintenance department to assess the road network and optimum selection of the appropriate type of maintenance within the allocated budgets. This development is subject to great challenges given the continued expansion of the road network and these challenges are represented by the exposure of this network to various factors that lead to the emergence of some damages due to its obsolescence caused by environmental factors or operational payloads,” said Hamad Al Shehi, Director of Roads and Facilities Maintenance, RTA.

“To achieve the transformation to the digital version, the software mechanism has been developed to identify and schedule the implementation of the annual maintenance needs based on the planning that is carried out through these modern systems, to maximise the satisfaction of road users first and rationalize operating expenses secondly. The system has been developed to distribute the budget to the network maintenance activities to ensure that it maintains quality though optimal utilisation of the allocated budget,” added Al Shehi.

“The automated smart system for assessing the condition of roads and managing their maintenance uses laser scanning techniques to configure the digital copy of roads and verify the life cycle of paving assets and their maintenance in the Road Maintenance and Facilities Department. The life cycle of RTA’s Agile PMS is characterized by the accuracy of data and a reference compatible with reality. All parts of the road network within the system have a fixed digital label in the system database, which represents the smallest part that can be used in planning maintenance works.”

He added, “The road network has been divided into parts not exceeding 100m/lane to raise data accuracy to 99%. It requires raising the reliability index of data accuracy and matching it with sites to more than 97%, accurately locating damages on the network through the automatic detection of damages, determining the optimal type of maintenance on the network and rationalizing the operational expense. It requires performing maintenance on priority sites while making the most of the allocated budget. Accordingly, the system can list roads length based on their functional importance such as highways, main roads and internal roads, as the digital version of roads contributes to automating the process.

Al Shehi concluded, “The economic feasibility of developing the digital version of the roads and smart maintenance management systems to maintain the network has multiple benefits that include: keeping pace with the industrial revolution in generating the digital version of the roads and optimising the spending on maintenance as maintenance of the road network means fundamental investment in the value of road assets.

Through the digital version of roads developed using artificial intelligence to evaluate the paving of roads to ensure their sustainability and maintain their operational condition, this smart system has achieved savings in operating expenses equivalent to 78% of the annual maintenance works, thanks to the use of smart software to ensure the optimal planning of maintenance works of the new system compared with the traditional method.

Emirates NBD, a leading banking group in the MENAT (Middle East, North Africa and Turkey) region, has launched a global accelerator programme for metaverse start-ups to enhance customer experience for the new virtual economy.

The program has been started in partnership with the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) Fintech Hive, the largest financial technology hub in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia (MEASA) region, and powered by technology provider Microsoft.

Marking Emirates NBD’s first play in the metaverse, the accelerator programme positions the bank as a leader in the next phase of banking innovation in alignment with the Dubai Metaverse Strategy aimed at placing Dubai in the top ten metaverse economies of the world, supporting more than 40,000 virtual jobs by 2030 and adding USD4 billion to Dubai’s economy in five years.

With 94% of all financial transactions and requests conducted outside the branches, the bank is exploring new technologies in the web 3.0 world to expand its digital footprint and create immersive experiences for our customers.

Emirates NBD is scouting for leading FinTech’s, digital experience start-ups and emerging technology players operating across the metaverse landscape to enhance its immersion in the virtual world across three key areas: building the technology stack to facilitate the shift to 3D, creating virtual worlds to augment the customer experience in the metaverse and enabling a decentralised payment infrastructure for customers to create, monetise, buy and sell digital assets and services.

Over a ten-week acceleration programme, the DIFC Fintech Hive will evaluate and match Emirates NBD with leading start-ups offering unique propositions on the value creation, experience and technology stack required for the metaverse. This will culminate in a demo day at GITEX where the shortlisted participants will pitch their solutions for an opportunity to co-create engaging experiences for our customers in the new reality.

Commenting on the launch, Marwan Hadi, Executive Vice President and Head of Retail Banking at Emirates NBD said: “Attracting innovative start-ups is crucial to Dubai’s ambition to be an international leader in the metaverse. As a leader in the region’s banking sector, Emirates NBD has always been a front-runner of digital innovation, looking to experiment and partner with tech start-ups who can help us accelerate our transformation journey and develop solutions that optimise customer experience. With our entry into the metaverse, we seek to reimagine financial services using extended reality and create compelling new propositions for our customers in the new metaverse economy.”

Miguel Rio Tinto, Group Chief Information Officer at Emirates NBD said, “As a Bank that has always been at the forefront of adopting emerging technologies, see unique opportunity areas to reimagine financial services including virtualising interactions with customers and providing financial services to the creator economy by enabling new products and marketplaces. With the support of the DIFC FinTech Hive and Microsoft, Emirates NBD is looking forward to becoming a launchpad of innovative financial services in the metaverse, playing an active role in co-creating new experiences for our customers with innovative start-ups from around the world.”

Raja Al Mazrouei, Executive Vice President of DIFC FinTech Hive, said: “We are pleased to collaborate with Emirates NBD to launch the global accelerator programme for metaverse start-ups, which are growing rapidly and witnessing increasing interest from around the world. This step reaffirms our commitment to support Dubai’s ambition to be among the top ten metaverse economies in the world. At DIFC FinTech Hive, we continue to adopt latest technologies to keep pace with the rising momentum in the global digital space.”

“In the metaverse, where physical and digital worlds come together to create an entirely new platform layer, we have an exciting opportunity to create transformative solutions that completely revolutionize the journeys and experiences of consumers”, said Naim Yazbeck, General Manager at Microsoft UAE: “Innovative tech start-ups play a crucial role in this reimagining, bringing creative, unique viewpoints to the design of an entirely new world. We recognize the impact that startups can deliver when they are armed with next-generation technologies that bring their ideas to life, and we look forward to working with these innovators and helping them to realize this potential over the course of the programme.”

Taliban militANN(Asian News Network) aircraft roared over the Afghan capital on Wednesday as the group’s defence ministry tested out recently repaired hardware, much of it left behind by foreign militaries and acquired since the Taliban seized power a year ago.

Aircraft, including helicopters and at least one plane, flew low over Kabul skies near the airport, including what appeared to be at least one Russian-made MI-24 attack helicopter and two other American-made aircraft.

A defence ministry spokesperson, Enayatullah Khowarazmi, told Reuters the Taliban had recently repaired some helicopters and were conducting the flyovers as a test. He did not confirm the exact make or country of origin, saying only that “all types of aircraft” were being tested.

It was not clear who had provided the technical expertise to repair the helicopters.

Taliban officials have said that pilots, mechanics and other specialists from the former Afghan National Army would be integrated into their security forces.

The defence ministry also said in a statement that its engineering team had recently repaired 35 tanks, 15 Humvee armoured vehicles and 20 U.S.-produced Navistar 7000 militANN(Asian News Network) vehicles.

All had been damaged as the Taliban took over the country in August 2021, the anniversANN(Asian News Network) of which was marked on Monday with gatherings and gunfire by the hardline Islamist group.

U.S. troops destroyed more than 70 aircraft and dozens of armoured vehicles and disabled air defences before flying out of Kabul’s airport following a chaotic evacuation operation.

Between 2002 and 2017, the United States transferred to the Afghan government over $28 billion worth of defence articles and services, including weapons, ammunition, vehicles, night-vision devices, aircraft, and surveillance systems, according to the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction.

Some of the aircraft were flown into neighbouring Central Asian countries by fleeing Afghan forces a year ago, but the Taliban inherited left-over aircraft. It remains unclear how many are operational.

China will discourage abortions and take steps to make fertility treatment more accessible as part of efforts to boost one of the world’s lowest birth rates, its National Health Authority said on Tuesday.

Support measures from taxation and insurance to education and housing would be improved and implemented, with local governments encouraged to boost infant care services and family friendly workplaces, according to guidelines published on the authority’s website.

The authority said it would carry out reproductive health promotion to enhance public awareness while “preventing unintended pregnancy and reducing abortions that are not medically necessANN(Asian News Network).”

China’s fertility rate of 1.16 in 2021 was far below the 2.1 OECD standard for a stable population and among the lowest in the world.

The guidelines come as China’s uncompromising “zero-COVID” policy of curbing outbreaks with strict controls on people’s lives may have caused profound damage on their desire to have children, demographers say.

The authority said it would guide local governments to gradually include assisted reproductive technology in its national medical system. Technology such as IVF is typically very expensive in China and not accessible to unmarried women.

New births in China, with a population of 1.4 billion, are set to fall to record lows this year, demographers say, dropping below 10 million from last year’s 10.6 million babies – which were already 11.5% lower than in 2020.

China, which imposed a one-child policy from 1980 to 2015, has officially acknowledged it is on the brink of a demographic downturn. It replaced that policy with a two-child policy in 2016, and changed it again in 2021, allowing married couples to have up to three children.

Over the past year authorities have started to introduce measures such as tax deductions, longer maternity leave, enhanced medical insurance, housing subsidies, extra money for a third child and a crackdown on expensive private tutoring.

The guidelines on Tuesday mark the most comprehensive notice at a national level, including the reference to reduce abortions, which have been generally readily accessible for many years.

The authority said the measures were crucial for “promoting the long-term balanced development of the population.”

The number of abortions carried out stood above 9.5 million between 2015 to 2019, according to a National Health Commission report published at the end of 2021.

Instant noodle makers asked Thailand on Monday to allow them to charge more for their products to meet rising costs, potentially paving the way for the first price hike in the staple for 14 years.

The prices of instant noodles and other staples are controlled under Thai law. Five producers of noodle brands including, Mama, Wai Wai and Japan’s Nisshin said they were seeking approval from the Commerce Ministry to increase prices of their products from 6 baht ($0.17) to 8 baht ($0.23).

Some companies have previously been denied requests to increase prices by the government.

“The price of oil has increased considerably due to Russia-Ukraine conflict,” said Weera Napapruekchat, Vice President of Thai Food Products Factory, which makes Wai Wai, adding that the price of wheat flour and palm oil have also risen sharply.

Weera said that some of its products were being sold at a loss and that it would reduce sales in Thailand and switch to overseas markets, where it has already increased prices, if approval is not granted.

The government will consider proposals on a case-by-case basis and any solution would have to be a win-win for both consumers and producers, Thailand’s Director-General of Internal Trade Wattanasak Sur-iam said in a statement.

($1 = 35.4700 baht)

Britain recorded its biggest rise in foreign workers since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in the year to June, driven overwhelmingly by workers from outside the European Union, official figures showed on Tuesday.

Since JanuANN(Asian News Network) 2021, most EU citizens not already working in Britain must be sponsored by an employer and be paid a salANN(Asian News Network) that does not significantly undercut existing wages, after losing their previous almost-unrestricted right to work.

The post-Brexit change puts EU migrants on the same footing as those from the rest of the world, but has drawn complaints from employers who find the process bureaucratic, and a non-starter for most jobs that pay less than 25,600 pounds ($30,760) a year. read more

Tuesday’s Office for National Statistics data showed the number of foreign-born workers in Britain rose by 223,000 in the year to the end of June, up from an increase of 184,000 in the year to March and the biggest rise since early 2020.

“Migration – a key source of worker shortages through the pandemic – is showing some signs of bouncing back,” said James Smith, an economist at ING.

The data may be welcomed by the Bank of England which is worried that a shortage of candidates to fill jobs could push up wages too quickly and aggravate the recent jump in inflation.

Samuel Tombs, at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said migration was likely to rise further as the salANN(Asian News Network) thresholds for sponsoring work visas had not been raised in line with average wages, which are 5.1% higher than a year ago.

The latest figures confirm a big shift in migration patterns compared with before Brexit.

Non-EU workers increased by 189,000 while the number of EU workers rose by 34,000 over the past year.

Previous government data showed India, Nigeria and the Philippines were the countries whose nationals received the most skilled work visas in the year to March.

By contrast, more than a million EU workers moved to Britain between the 2008-09 financial crisis and June 2016’s Brexit referendum, since when the number of EU-born workers in employment has broadly stabilised at slightly under 2.4 million.

The number of non-EU workers employed in Britain has risen to 3.9 million from 3.1 million in the six years since June 2016.

Russia has “no need” to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine, its defence minister said on Tuesday, describing media speculation that Moscow might deploy nuclear or chemical weapons in the conflict as “absolute lies”.

“From a militANN(Asian News Network) point of view, there is no need to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine to achieve the set goals. The main purpose of Russian nuclear weapons is to deter a nuclear attack,” Sergei Shoigu said during a speech at an international security conference in Moscow.

“The media are spreading speculation about the alleged use of Russian tactical nuclear weapons in the course of the special militANN(Asian News Network) operation, or about the readiness to use chemical weapons. All these informational attacks are absolute lies.”

Shoigu also alleged that Ukrainian militANN(Asian News Network) operations were being planned by the United States and Britain and that NATO had increased its troop deployment in eastern and central Europe “several times over”.

Referring to the New START Treaty to control U.S. and Russian nuclear arms, Shoigu said talks to extend the treaty were “a two-way street”, and the situation around it was “difficult”.

“A difficult situation is also developing with regard to the Treaty on the Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms. The agreement remains in force until 2026,” Shoigu added.

Also Read: Russian army says munitions explode at Crimea depot

“On the Russian side, obligations are being fulfilled, the declared levels of carriers and warheads are maintained within the established limits.”

Moscow denounced sabotage and Ukraine hinted at responsibility for new explosions on Tuesday at a militANN(Asian News Network) base in Russian-annexed Crimea that is an important supply line for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The blasts engulfed an ammunition depot at a militANN(Asian News Network) base in the north of the Crimean peninsula, disrupting trains and forcing the evacuation of 2,000 people from a nearby village, according to Russian officials and news agencies.

Plumes of smoke were later seen at a second Russian militANN(Asian News Network) base in central Crimea, Russia’s Kommersant newspaper said, while blasts hit another facility in the west last week.

The explosions raised the prospect of new dynamics in the six-month-old war if Ukraine now has capability to strike deeper into Russian territory or pro-Kyiv groups are having success with guerrilla-style attacks.

Russia has used Crimea, which it annexed from Ukraine in 2014, to reinforce its troops fighting in other parts of Ukraine with militANN(Asian News Network) hardware, a process Ukraine is keen to disrupt ahead of a potential counter-offensive in the south.

Crimea is the base of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet and also popular in the summer as a holiday resort.

In Tuesday’s blasts, an electricity substation also caught fire, according to footage on Russian state TV. Seven trains were delayed and rail traffic on part of the line in northern Crimea had been suspended, Russia’s RIA news agency said.

‘CREATING CHAOS’

Ukraine has not officially confirmed or denied responsibility for explosions in Crimea, though its officials have openly cheered incidents in territory that, until last week, appeared safe in Moscow’s grip beyond range of attack.

Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak and chief of staff Andriy Yermak both exulted on social media at “demilitarisation”: an apparent mocking reference to the word Russia uses to justify its invasion.

“Operation ‘demilitarisation’ in the precise style of the Armed Forces of Ukraine will continue until the complete de-occupation of Ukraine’s territories,” Yermak wrote on Telegram.

Podolyak told Britain’s Guardian newspaper later that Ukraine’s strategy was to destroy Russian “logistics, supply lines and ammunition depots and other objects of militANN(Asian News Network) infrastructure. It’s creating a chaos within their own forces.

“I certainly agree with the Russian ministry for defence, which is predicting more incidents of this kind in the next two, three months,” Podolyak was quoted by the Guardian as saying.

Heavy rainfall hit Paris on Tuesday evening after a recent heatwave across France, affecting metro stations in the French capital.

The RATP transport organisation said several Paris metro stations had been affected by flooding after the rainfall. Meteo France has said that much of southern France could be hit by storms later this week.

Earlier, a wildfire advanced through the Gironde region of southwestern France on Wednesday, destroying homes and forcing the evacuation of thousands of residents, some of whom had clambered onto rooftops as the flames got closer.

More than 1,000 firefighters backed by water-bombing aircraft were fighting the fire that has razed more than 6,000 hectares and is still burning out of control.

France, like the rest of Europe, is struggling with successive heatwaves and its worst drought on record. Dozens of wildfires are ablaze across the country, including at least four other major ones.

In the village of Hostens in the Gironde, police went door to door telling residents to leave as the fire advanced. Camille Delay fled with her partner and her son, grabbing their two cats, chickens and house insurance papers before taking flight.

Also Read: Drought in England, fires rage in France as heatwave persists 

“Everyone in the village climbed onto their rooftops to see what was happening – within ten minutes a little twist of smoke became enormous,” the 30-year-old told Reuters by telephone.

KYIV: Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan and UN chief Antonio Guterres will meet President Volodymyr Zelensky in Ukraine on Thursday to discuss a political solution to the conflict, the UN announced, as Kyiv reported an “unprecedented” cyberattack on its nuclear energy agency’s website it said was launched from Russia.

Tuesday’s announcement came as Russia claimed massive explosions at a militANN(Asian News Network) facility on the Kremlin-controlled Crimean peninsula that also damaged electrical power infrastructure were the result of “sabotage”.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in FebruANN(Asian News Network) has killed thousands, displaced millions from their homes and ravaged swathes of the country.

It has also blocked key grain exports, although ships have now started to set sail from the war-torn country after a landmark deal brokered by the UN and Turkey last month to relieve the global food crisis.

Guterres, Erdogan and Zelensky will meet in the western city of Lviv to discuss “the need for a political solution to this conflict,” UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

The UN chief will then visit the Ukrainian port city of Odessa — one of three ports being used in the recent deal to export grain — before heading to Turkey.

Ukraine’s nuclear agency Energoatom reported what it called an “unprecedented” cyberattack on its website, but said its operations had not been disrupted.

“On August 16, 2022, the most powerful cyberattack since the start of the Russian invasion occurred against Energoatom’s website,” the agency said on Telegram, adding that it “was attacked from Russian territory”.

‘Catastrophe’

Early on Tuesday, huge fireballs erupted at a militANN(Asian News Network) site in Crimea where ammunition was temporarily being stored and clouds of black smoke billowed into the air, images posted on social media showed.

“As a result of an act of sabotage, a militANN(Asian News Network) storage facility near the village of Dzhankoi was damaged,” Russian news agencies reported the defence ministry as saying.

The blasts — caused by a fire that led ammunition to detonate — damaged civilian infrastructure, “including power lines, a power plant, a railway track” and residential buildings, the ministry said.

The explosions come one week after at least one person was killed in similar explosions at a Russian militANN(Asian News Network) airbase in Crimea.

Ukraine has not directly claimed responsibility for either incident, but senior officials and the militANN(Asian News Network) have implied Ukrainian involvement.

Ukrainian presidential aide Mykhailo Podolyak said the explosions had likely damaged infrastructure supplying power generated at the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant to Crimea.

Kyiv and Moscow have traded accusations over a series of strikes this month on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in southern Ukraine — Europe’s largest.

UN spokesman Dujarric said he had “no doubt that the issue of the nuclear power plant” would be raised at Thursday’s meeting.

‘Cannon fodder’

Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and has used the Black Sea region as a staging ground for its invasion.

Moscow ordered the invasion of Ukraine in FebruANN(Asian News Network), anticipating little militANN(Asian News Network) resistance and hoping for a lightning takeover that would topple the government in Kyiv within hours.

But after failing to capture the capital, its forces have become entrenched in a war of attrition along a sprawling front line in the east and south.

“The situation in Ukraine shows that the US is trying to prolong this conflict,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said.

Washington is “using the people of Ukraine as cannon fodder”, he added.

Washington has provided key backing to Kyiv, in particular supplying long-range, precision artillery that has allowed Ukraine to strike Russian supply facilities deep inside Moscow-controlled territory.

Meanwhile, in the eastern Donbas region, which has seen most of the fighting, Ukraine said Russia had launched a “massive” offensive from an oil refinery in the recently captured city of Lysychansk in Lugansk province.

Ukraine’s presidency said one woman was killed in Donetsk province, which together with Lugansk makes up the industrial Donbas region now mostly controlled by Russian forces.

‘Symbols of repressions’

The first UN-chartered vessel departed on Tuesday from the Ukrainian port of Pivdennyi and will head to Djibouti “for delivery to Ethiopia”, Ukraine’s infrastructure ministry said.

The MV Brave Commander, carrying 23,000 tonnes of wheat, was able to leave after the deal last month lifted a Russian blockade of Ukraine’s ports, establishing safe corridors through the naval mines laid by Kyiv.

Ukraine has said it is hoping two or three similar shipments will follow soon.

Russia’s invasion has driven an economic, political and cultural wedge between Moscow and European capitals.

The prime minister of former Soviet satellite Estonia said Tuesday her government had decided to remove all Soviet-era monuments from public spaces in the country.

Finland, meanwhile, announced plans to limit Russian tourist visas to 10 percent of current volumes beginning in September, due to rising discontent over Russian tourism amid the war in Ukraine.

Some US states and Mexico must cut their water usage to avoid “catastrophic collapse” of the Colorado River, Washington officials said Tuesday, as a historic drought bites.

More than two decades of well below average rainfall have left the river — the lifeblood of the western United States — at critical levels, as human-caused climate change worsens the natural drought cycle.

Despite years of warnings, states that depend on the river have not managed to reduce their demands enough, and on Tuesday, the federal government said it was imposing cuts.

“In order to avoid a catastrophic collapse of the Colorado River System and a future of uncertainty and conflict, water use in the Basin must be reduced,” said Tanya Trujillo, Assistant SecretANN(Asian News Network) for Water and Science at the Interior Department.

Arizona’s allocation from the river will fall by 21 percent in 2023, while Nevada will get eight percent less. Mexico’s allotment will drop by seven percent.

California, the biggest user of the river’s water and the most populous of the western states, will not be affected next year.

The Colorado River rises in the Rocky Mountains and snakes its way through Colorado, Utah, Arizona, Nevada, California and northern Mexico, where it empties into the Gulf of California.

It is fed chiefly by snowpack at high altitudes, which melts slowly throughout the warmer months.

But reduced precipitation and the higher temperatures caused by humanity’s unchecked burning of fossil fuels means less snow is falling, and what snow exists, is melting faster.

As a consequence, there is not as much water in the river that supplies tens of millions of people and countless acres of farmland.

Deputy SecretANN(Asian News Network) of the Interior, Tommy Beaudreau, said the department — the part of government with responsibility for water resources — was “using every resource available to conserve water and ensure that irrigators, Tribes and adjoining communities receive adequate assistance.”

“The worsening drought crisis impacting the Colorado River Basin is driven by the effects of climate change, including extreme heat and low precipitation,” he said.

“In turn, severe drought conditions exacerbate wildfire risk and ecosystems disruption, increasing the stress on communities and our landscapes.”

The western United States is suffering under a drought that is now in its 23rd year, the worst episode in more than 1,000 years.

That drought has left swathes of the country dry and vulnerable to hotter, faster and more destructive wildfires.

Communities served by the Colorado River, including Los Angeles, have been ordered to save water, with unpopular restrictions in place on outdoor watering

KYIV: Ukraine’s nuclear operator Energoatom on Tuesday reported what it called an “unprecedented” cyberattack on its website, but said its operations had not been disrupted.

“On August 16, 2022, the most powerful cyberattack since the start of the Russian invasion occurred against Energoatom’s website,” the operator said on Telegram.

It “was attacked from Russian territory”.

The Russian “popular cyberarmy” group used more than 7 million internet bots to attack the website for three hours, Energoatom said.

But the assault “did not have a considerable impact on the work of the Energoatom website”.

A Telegram channel called “popular cyberarmy” in Russian around midday called on its followers to attack the Ukrainian nuclear operator’s website.

But by Tuesday evening, it had announced a “change” in plans, redirecting supporters to a new target — the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance, whose website was sluggish.

The cyberattack comes as tensions flare over the Zaporizhzhia power plant in the south of the country, which Russian forces occupied in March, shortly after invading its pro-EU neighbour.

Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of shelling the nuclear installation, which is the largest in Europe, sparking fears of a nuclear accident.

Ukraine counted on four nuclear power stations to supply it with around half of its electricity supply before Russia’s invasion on FebruANN(Asian News Network) 24.

Ukraine was the site of the world’s worst nuclear accident in 1986, when the Chernobyl power station’s reactor number four exploded.

The power station’s three other reactors were successively closed down, with the latest shutting off in 2000.

Russian troops on the first day of the invasion seized the Chernobyl plant, occupying it and a highly radioactive exclusion zone around the complex for several weeks.

MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday accused Washington of seeking to prolong the conflict in Ukraine and of fuelling conflicts elsewhere in the world, including with the visit of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan.

“The situation in Ukraine shows that the US is trying to prolong this conflict. And they act in exactly the same way, fuelling the potential for conflict in Asia, Africa and Latin America,” Putin said in televised remarks, addressing the opening ceremony of a security conference in Moscow via videolink.

“The American adventure in relation to Taiwan is not just a trip of an individual irresponsible politician, but part of a purposeful, conscious US strategy to destabilise and make chaotic the situation in the region and the world,” he added.

He said the visit was a “brazen demonstration of disrespect for the sovereignty of other countries and for its (Washington’s) international obligations”.

“We see this as a carefully planned provocation,” Putin said.

Relations between Moscow and Washington have been in tatters since Russia in late FebruANN(Asian News Network) launched a militANN(Asian News Network) intervention in pro-Western Ukraine.

Pummelled by a barrage of unprecedented Western sanctions, Putin has sought to bolster ties with countries in Africa and Asia, especially with China.

Moscow was in full solidarity with key ally Beijing during Pelosi’s August visit to self-ruled, democratic Taiwan, which China considers its territory.

MOSCOW: Russia said Tuesday that a fire had set off explosions at a munitions depot in Crimea, a week after a series of similar blasts at an airbase in the peninsula annexed from Ukraine.

The defence ministry said in a statement that a fire erupted around 6:15 am local time (0315 GMT) at a temporANN(Asian News Network) militANN(Asian News Network) storage site near the village of Mayskoye in the Dzhankoi district, causing ammunition to detonate.

Images posted on social media showed huge fireballs erupting at the site and clouds of black smoke billowing into the air.

The ministry said no one had been seriously injured and that work was underway to determine the cause of the fire.

Crimea’s Moscow-appointed governor Sergei Aksyonov, who went to the site, said two civilians had been injured but that their lives were not at risk.

Local officials told Russian news agencies that some 2,000 people were evacuated from the area as a precaution.

Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 in the wake of massive nationwide street demonstrations in Ukraine that led to the ouster of a Kremlin-friendly president.

Those protests precipitated fighting between the army and Moscow-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine, which laid the groundwork for Moscow’s full-scale assault on FebruANN(Asian News Network) 24 this year.

On August 9, Moscow said ammunition had detonated at a militANN(Asian News Network) airfield in Crimea, killing one person and wounding several more.

It indicated that the airfield was not targeted by Ukrainian forces but experts said satellite imagery pointed to a likely attack, with several Russian warplanes destroyed.

Ukraine has not claimed responsibility for any attacks in Crimea but officials have made several comments suggesting its forces could be involved.