Russian forces took over Ukraine's second-biggest power plant and are conducting a "massive redeployment" of troops to three southern regions, a Ukrainian presidential adviser said, amid expectations of a Ukrainian counter-offensive. Russian-backed forces said on Wednesday they had captured the Soviet-era coal-fired Vuhlehirsk power plant intact, in what was Moscow's first significant gain in more than three weeks. Oleksiy Arestovych, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, confirmed the capture of the plant in the eastern Donetsk region, but said it was only a "tiny tactical advantage" for Russia. The Russian redeployment to the south appeared to be a switch…

Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), yesterday, made good its threat to shut down the country over ongoing five-months strike by university workers as the first of the two-day protest crippled various states. The protest, which commenced as early as 6.30a.m with the gatherings of workers in designated locations in every state capital attracted all the 35 affiliates of the NLC including the Non-Academic Union of Allied and Education Institutions, (NASU), Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), members of the civil societies, students and parents as well as the Trade Union Congress (TUC). From the Southwest…