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Russia: 5 Killed, 46 Injured in Ukraine Strike on Belgorod

In this pool photograph distributed by Russian state owned Sputnik agency President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting on situation in Belgorod, Kursk and Bryansk regions following an invasion of Ukrainian troops in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict, via video link at the Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow on August 22, 2024. (Photo by Gavriil GRIGOROV / POOL / AFP)
In this pool photograph distributed by Russian state owned Sputnik agency President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting on situation in Belgorod, Kursk and Bryansk regions following an invasion of Ukrainian troops in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict, via video link at the Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow on August 22, 2024. (Photo by Gavriil GRIGOROV / POOL / AFP)
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Russia: 5 Killed, 46 Injured in Ukraine Strike on Belgorod

In this pool photograph distributed by Russian state owned Sputnik agency President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting on situation in Belgorod, Kursk and Bryansk regions following an invasion of Ukrainian troops in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict, via video link at the Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow on August 22, 2024. (Photo by Gavriil GRIGOROV / POOL / AFP)
In this pool photograph distributed by Russian state owned Sputnik agency President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting on situation in Belgorod, Kursk and Bryansk regions following an invasion of Ukrainian troops in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict, via video link at the Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow on August 22, 2024. (Photo by Gavriil GRIGOROV / POOL / AFP)

Five people were killed and 46 injured in a Ukrainian attack on the southwestern Russian city of Belgorod late on Friday, the local governor said.
Vyacheslav Gladkov said that 37 of the injured, including seven children, were taken to hospital, Reuters reported.
Video from a car dashboard, posted on social media and purporting to demonstrate the attack, showed another car being blown up while moving on the road. Seconds later an explosion is seen on the other side of the road. Reuters could not immediately verify the authenticity of the video.
Russia's Investigation Committee said on its Telegram channel that it had initiated a criminal case into the Belgorod attack.
Authorities also reported that a woman was injured on Saturday during Ukrainian shelling of the border town of Shebekino in the Belgorod region.
Ukraine has staged frequent attacks on Belgorod and other Russian border regions in recent months. The city has been the focal point of the attacks.
Ukraine and Russia say they do not deliberately target civilians in the war that began when Russia sent thousands of troops into its smaller neighbor in February 2022. Moscow has called the invasion a "special military operation.”

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Brazil Blocks X after Company Refuses to Name Local Representative

Photo illustration of the logo of the social media platform X (former Twitter) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on August 30, 2024. (Photo by Mauro PIMENTEL / AFP)
Photo illustration of the logo of the social media platform X (former Twitter) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on August 30, 2024. (Photo by Mauro PIMENTEL / AFP)
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Brazil Blocks X after Company Refuses to Name Local Representative

Photo illustration of the logo of the social media platform X (former Twitter) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on August 30, 2024. (Photo by Mauro PIMENTEL / AFP)
Photo illustration of the logo of the social media platform X (former Twitter) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on August 30, 2024. (Photo by Mauro PIMENTEL / AFP)

Brazil started blocking Elon Musk’s social media platform X early Saturday, making it largely inaccessible on both the web and through its mobile app after the company refused to comply with a judge’s order.
X missed a deadline imposed by Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes to name a legal representative in Brazil, triggering the suspension. It marks an escalation in the monthslong feud between Musk and de Moraes over free speech, far-right accounts and misinformation.
To block X, Brazil’s telecommunications regulator, Anatel, told internet service providers to suspend users’ access to the social media platform. As of Saturday at midnight local time, major operators began doing so, The Associated Press reported.
De Moraes had warned Musk on Wednesday night that X could be blocked in Brazil if he failed to comply with his order to name a representative, and established a 24-hour deadline. The company hasn’t had a representative in the country since earlier this month.
“Elon Musk showed his total disrespect for Brazilian sovereignty and, in particular, for the judiciary, setting himself up as a true supranational entity and immune to the laws of each country,” de Moraes wrote in his decision on Friday.
The justice said the platform will stay suspended until it complies with his orders, and also set a daily fine of 50,000 reais ($8,900) for people or companies using VPNs to access it.
In a later ruling, he backtracked on his initial decision to establish a 5-day deadline for internet service providers themselves — and not just the telecommunications regulator — to block access to X, as well as his directive for app stores to remove virtual private networks, or VPNs.
The dispute also led to the freezing this week of the bank accounts in Brazil of Musk's satellite internet provider Starlink.
Brazil is one of the biggest markets for X, which has struggled with the loss of advertisers since Musk purchased the former Twitter in 2022. Market research group Emarketer says some 40 million Brazilians, roughly one-fifth of the population, access X at least once per month.
“This is a sad day for X users around the world, especially those in Brazil, who are being denied access to our platform. I wish it did not have to come to this – it breaks my heart,” X’s CEO Linda Yaccarino said Friday night, adding that Brazil is failing to uphold its constitution’s pledge to forbid censorship.
X had posted on its official Global Government Affairs page late Thursday that it expected X to be shut down by de Moraes, “simply because we would not comply with his illegal orders to censor his political opponents.”
“When we attempted to defend ourselves in court, Judge de Moraes threatened our Brazilian legal representative with imprisonment. Even after she resigned, he froze all of her bank accounts,” the company wrote.
X has clashed with de Moraes over its reluctance to comply with orders to block users.
Accounts that the platform previously has shut down on Brazilian orders include lawmakers affiliated with former President Jair Bolsonaro’s right-wing party and activists accused of undermining Brazilian democracy. X’s lawyers in April sent a document to the Supreme Court in April, saying that since 2019 it had suspended or blocked 226 users.