Zelenskyy vows retaliation for Chernihiv attack
KYIV, Aug 20: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday vowed stern retaliation for a Russian missile strike in the center of the northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv that killed seven people and wounded almost 150 others the day before. “I am sure our soldiers will respond to Russia for this terrorist attack. Respond tangibly,” Zelenskyy said in a video address published in the early hours of Sunday at the end of a visit to Sweden, his first foreign trip since attending a NATO summit in Lithuania last month. He identified a 6-year-old girl named Sofia as among the dead in the attack and confirmed that the wounded included 15 children. The governor of the Chernihiv region, Vyacheslav Chaus, said Sunday that the total number of people confirmed to have been wounded had risen to 148.Further east, Russian forces shelled the city of Kupiansk on Sunday morning, seriously wounding a man, according to Kharkiv regional Gov. Oleh Syniehubov. (IANS)
Disapproval rate of Kishida cabinet rises to 50%
TOKYO, Aug 20: The disapproval rate of the Japanese government headed by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida reached 50 per cent for the first time since last December, an opinion poll showed on Sunday. The approval rate for the cabinet remained low at 33.6 per cent, according to the nationwide survey conducted via telephone by the national news agency Kyodo News from Saturday to Sunday, citing public concerns over the national identification card system and soaring prices. The support rate has declined in recent months and is now only a tad higher than the lowest level since Kishida took office in October 2021, which was 33.1 per cent logged in November and December 2022. Some 79.8 per cent of those surveyed lacked faith in Kishida’s ability to allay public angst over the “My Number” identification card system, which has experienced a number of personal information leaks and registration errors. A total of 88.1 per cent also expressed concerns over the government’s plan to discharge treated radioactive wastewater from the disaster-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant into the ocean, according to the survey. (IANS)