News in Brief-2024-05-25

Russian forces 'bogged down' in battle
for border town, Ukraine says
KYIV, May 24: Russian forces have become "bogged down" trying to capture the Ukrainian border town of Vovchansk but have intensified their offensive elsewhere on the eastern front, Ukraine's top general said on Friday. Kyiv has been battling a fresh Russian land assault on its northeastern Kharkiv region since May 10, when thousands of Moscow's troops stormed the border, making their biggest territorial advances in 18 months. President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the region's capital on Friday to discuss the battle for Vovchansk, a town that sits fewer than five kilometres (three miles) from the border. —AFP
Building fire kills 14 people in Hanoi
HANOI, May 24: At least 14 people were killed and three injured in a fire that broke out at a densely populated residential area in Hanoi early on Friday, police said. Firefighters managed to rescue seven people from the fire at a five-storey building in a small alley in Vietnam's capital city, the Ministry of Public Security said in a statement. The ministry said it is investigating the cause of the fire, whose victims are yet to be identified. —Reuters
US property confiscation: Putin signs decree
MOSCOW, May 24: Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree Thursday on the seizure of U.S. properties in response to the potential confiscation of Russian assets by the United States. According to the decree, the Russian Central Bank and Russian entities will have the right to seek legal redress in court in case of the unlawful seizure of properties by the United States. A special commission of the Russian government will identify U.S. assets or properties, including movable and immovable U.S. properties in Russia, securities, shares in Russian enterprises for confiscation. —Xinhua
fled Myanmar fighting: UN
GENEVA, May 24: The United Nations warned on Friday that escalating fighting in conflict-torn Myanmar's Rakhine State had forced around 45,000 minority Rohingya to flee, amid allegations of killings and burnings of property. "Tens of thousands of civilians have been displaced in recent days by the fighting in Buthidaung and Maungdaw townships," UN rights office spokeswoman Elizabeth Throssell told reporters in Geneva. "An estimated 45,000 Rohingya have reportedly fled to an area on the Naf River near the border with Bangladesh, seeking protection," she said. —AP