An Air India flight from Poland’s Rzeszow carrying students evacuated from northeastern Ukrainian city Sumy, landed in Delhi on Friday morning, officials said. The flight had taken off from Rzeszow around 11.30 pm (IST) on Thursday and landed in Delhi at 5.45 am on Friday, they said.
UN council to meet on Russian claim of US labs in Ukraine
The UN Security Council scheduled a meeting Friday at Russia’s request to discuss what Moscow claims are “the military biological activities of the US on the territory of Ukraine,” allegations vehemently denied by the Biden administration. “This is exactly the kind of false flag effort we have warned Russia might initiate to justify a biological or chemical weapons attack,“ Olivia Dalton, spokesperson for the US Mission to the United Nations said late Thursday. “We’re not going to let Russia gaslight the world or use the UN Security Council as a venue for promoting their disinformation.”
Grimes and Elon Musk’s Christmas present was a new baby.
The once-and-apparently-future couple secretly welcomed a second child in December, the 33-year-old accidentally revealed to Vanity Fair in a new cover story published on Thursday.
The baby girl, born via surrogate, is named Exa Dark Sideræl, but the new parents call her “Y”, musician Grimes said. Son X Æ A-Xii, born in May 2020, goes by X.
It is unclear if they ever intended to reveal their new family member, as Vanity Fair got the scoop only when reporter Devin Gordon heard her crying upstairs during the interview.
The prime minister and the Ukrainian president have been having almost daily phone calls in which Boris Johnson has had to say he cannot support a NATO no-fly zone.
Boris Johnson says it has been “deeply upsetting” and “absolutely agonising” to refuse President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a no-fly zone over Ukraine.
The prime minister, speaking to Sky News’ Beth Rigby Interviews programme, said the pair have had some “very frank conversations” but the UK and NATO cannot cross that line.
On Wednesday, Mr Zelenskyy told Sky News’ special correspondent Alex Crawford, in Kyiv, that Western countries were being indecisive on the issue of “closing the skies” against what he called “the Nazis”.
The Ukrainian president had said: “If you are united against the Nazis and this terror, you have to close. Don’t wait for me ask you several times, a million times. Close the sky.
“Close the sky and stop the bombing.”
He also made the plea during a historic live video address to MPs in the House of Commons on Tuesday.
But the UK, the US and NATO have continually rejected Mr Zelenskyy’s calls for a no-fly zone over Ukraine as they say it would mean having to shoot down Russian planes, which would likely start another world war.
Mr Johnson and the Ukrainian leader have been having almost daily conversations in the 15 days since Russia invaded.
Ukraine latest as Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov meets Ukrainian counterpart in Turkey but talks end without progress; the UN says 2.3 million refugees have now fled Ukraine; Vladimir Putin admits Western sanctions have “created problems”.
Dima Kasyanov, an 8 year-old boy, is seen at a bed in a hospital after being injured during shelling, amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, in Kharkiv, Ukraine March 8, 2022. REUTERS/Oleksandr Lapshyn
Hundreds of thousands of civilians remained trapped in Ukrainian cities on Thursday, sheltering from Russian air raids and shelling as talks between Ukraine and Russia’s foreign ministers made little apparent progress.
With Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine entering its third week, officials in Mariupol said Russian warplanes again bombed the encircled southern port city where a maternity hospital was pulverised on Wednesday.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Ukrainian authorities had managed to evacuate almost 40,000 people from the cities of Sumy, Trostyanets, Krasnopillya, Irpin, Bucha, Hostomel and Izyum, but Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said not a single civilian was able to leave Mariupol on Thursday as Russian forces failed to respect a temporary ceasefire to allow evacuations.
Efforts to send food, water and medicine into the city failed when Russian tanks attacked a humanitarian corridor, Zelenskiy said.
“This is outright terror … from experienced terrorists,” he said in a televised address.
Russia’s defence ministry said earlier that it would declare a ceasefire on Friday and open humanitarian corridors from Mariupol as well as Kyiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, Mariupol and Chernihiv.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has so far failed to reach its stated objectives, but has caused thousands of deaths and forced more than 2 million people to flee Ukraine, where several cities are under siege.
It has also hit the world’s economy, still emerging from the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.
International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said the war and the massive sanctions imposed on Russia as punishment have triggered a contraction in global trade and sent food and energy prices sharply higher, which will force the IMF to lower its global growth forecast next month.
The United States has asked China to provide “unhindered and unsupervised” access to all areas of Xinjiang to United Nations human rights chief Michelle Bachelet, during her visit in May this year.
Bachelet announced this week that she is set to visit China in May, including a trip to Xinjiang, after reaching an agreement with Beijing.
“The United States is aware of High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet’s announcement of her intent to visit Xinjiang. We call upon the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to ensure that her visit is accorded unhindered and unsupervised access to all areas of Xinjiang and to private meetings with a diverse range of Uyghur individuals and civil society groups,” said Sheba Crocker, US Permanent Representative to the United Nations.
In a statement, Crocker said that any credible visit should include access to the locations where atrocities and human rights violations and abuses, including forced labor, and should be followed by a timely, candid, and complete report on the visit’s findings.
Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich has been sanctioned by the UK government; banned from transactions with UK individuals and businesses; Chelsea given special licence to continue to operate; only existing ticket holders can attend games
Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich has been sanctioned by the UK government – meaning he is now unable to sell the club.
Abramovich has had “his assets frozen, a prohibition on transactions with UK individuals and businesses, a travel ban and transport sanctions” imposed on him.
An application to the UK government can be made to sell Chelsea in the future as long as Abramovich does not profit or make any money from the transaction
The sanctions are intended to stop the 55-year-old from making any money in the UK – and this includes from Chelsea. An application to the UK government can be made to sell Chelsea in the future as long as Russian-Israeli billionaire Abramovich does not profit or make any money from the transaction.
The government has granted Chelsea a special licence to allow fixtures to be fulfilled, staff to be paid and existing ticket holders to attend matches.
Nadine Dorries, the minister for Sport and Culture, tweeted: “I know this brings some uncertainty, but the Government will work with the league & clubs to keep football being played while ensuring sanctions hit those intended. Football clubs are cultural assets and the bedrock of our communities. We’re committed to protecting them.”
A government statement said: “Given the significant impact that today’s sanctions would have on Chelsea football club and the potential knock-on effects of this, the Government has this morning published a licence which authorises a number of football-related activities to continue at Chelsea.
The plane was in the air between 20 and 30 minutes before one of the engines failed.
Former President Donald Trump speaks at a rally in Perry, Ga. | Sean Rayford/Getty Images
Former President Donald Trump’s plane made an emergency landing on Saturday evening following his speech at a Republican National Committee-hosted donor retreat in New Orleans, according to two people familiar with the matter.
The plane was in the air for between 20 and 30 minutes before one of the engines failed and the pilot of the private plane decided to turn around and return to the New Orleans airport, one of the sources said. The plane was en route to Palm Beach, Fla., where Trump resides at his Mar-a-Lago estate.
Audio of the communications between the pilot and the air traffic control tower revealed that the landing was described as “emergency in nature,” according to the source, who had been briefed on the recording. However, another person familiar with the recording disputed that the word “emergency” was used.
Former prosecutor Yoon Suk-yeol has emerged the winner of South Korea’s bitterly contested election on Thursday, after a neck and neck race against ex-mayor and lawyer Lee Jae-myung.
After close to all of the ballots had been counted as of 5.30am local time on Thursday, Yoon, the conservative opposition candidate, edged out Lee with 48.6 per cent of the vote to 47.8 per cent. A formal announcement is expected later.
Lee of the ruling Democratic Party conceded defeat soon after.
“I congratulate the president-elect Yoon on his election,” he said. “I hope the president-elect will get over division and conflicts and open a new era of national unity and harmony.”
“This is a great victory by the people,” Yoon said on Thursday, adding he would work towards national unity and cooperate with the National Assembly, which is dominated by liberals.
A Japanese company is selling metallic shelters that can be installed in apartments and small houses, for protection against natural disasters and even radiation and missile strikes.
You’ve probably heard of millionaires and doomsday preppers building their own luxury underground bunkers, but one Japanese company claims you can ride out the nuclear apocalypse from the comfort of your own home, with one of their indoor shelters. WNIshelter specializes in compact shelters designed to resist anything from natural disasters like earthquakes and floods, to missile strikes and radiation. They come with their own air filtration system and come in a variety of sizes, to accommodate anywhere from one to seven people.
The current situation in Ukraine has once again brought into question the possibility of nuclear war, and companies are using it as a pretext to advertise their products. Take Japanese shelter manufacturer WNIshelter, which promotes its indoor metallic shelters by referencing the Ukraine war and the so-called “zigzag” missiles developed by North Korea.
As the Russian invasion of Ukraine entered its fifteenth day, the White House warned on Thursday, 10 March, that the Kremlin could be planning to use chemical or biological weapons in Ukraine.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that Russia was making “false claims about alleged US biological weapons labs and chemical weapons development in Ukraine”.
Additionally, in light of the ban imposed by the US on Russian oil imports, the United Arab Emirates will reportedly encourage OPEC members to bump up oil production, as oil prices surged after the ban was announced.
Ukraine has accused Russia of violating a ceasefire and destroying a hospital in Mariupol.
The United Kingdom announced on 9 March that it will be send more weapons to Ukraine to help defend itself against Russian aggression.
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has released a study that identifies Pakistan as a source, transit and destination country for human trafficking.
The study titled “Modern slavery: Trafficking in women and girls in Pakistan” reveals how economically vulnerable women and under-age girls are targeted in particular.
An HRCP press release issued on Wednesday said, “Although it is difficult to determine the magnitude of the crime–given lack of reliable data–HRCP is particularly concerned over the network of trafficking that exists internally, spanning sex trafficking, forced child labour, bonded labour, forced begging and forced marriage. Economically vulnerable women and under-age girls are targeted in particular.”
Olena Zelenska, the first lady of Ukraine, posted an open letter addressed to the world’s media on Tuesday, detailing what she described as the “mass murder of Ukrainian civilians.”
In recent weeks Zelenska has repeatedly used social media to highlight the plight of her nation, yet none have been quite as direct as her recent post, which ends with the rallying cry: “We will win. Because of our unity. Unity towards love for Ukraine. Glory to Ukraine!”
As her husband, President Volodymyr Zelensky, has emerged as the face of Ukrainian defiance of the Russian invasion, Zelenska has become increasingly vociferous online as a means to support him and bolster international awareness of their country’s plight.
When Russia first invaded Ukraine on February 24, Zelensky declared in a video statement that he believed “enemy sabotage groups” had entered Kyiv and that he was their number one target. His family, he said, was the second target.
The whereabouts of his wife and two children are secret, for security reasons. Nonetheless, Zelenska has been playing an active role on social media, inspiring her people and backing resistance to Russian forces, while garnering support from the rest of the world. On Instagram alone, she has 2.4 million followers.
The 44-year-old published the open letter Tuesday on her various social media platforms, as well as on the President’s official website, in response to what she said was the “overwhelming number of media outlets from around the world” that had requested an interview with her.
Australia will spend about A$38 billion ($28 billion) out to 2040 to expand its active defence personnel by a third to keep the country safe “in an increasingly uncertain global environment”, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Thursday.
Australia has been boosting its defence spending over the past few years as China looks to step up its presence in the Indo-Pacific region. Last year, Australia entered into a deal to buy nuclear submarines from the United States and Britain.
“This is a significant investment in our future force,” Morrison said during a media briefing on Thursday. The planned expansion would see the number of defence personnel rise to 80,000, a level not seen since the Vietnam War.
Morrison, behind in opinion polls in an election year, has made national security a core issue and has attacked the opposition Labor party as being “soft” on China, viewed by two-thirds of Australians as more of a security threat than an economic partner.
Russia’s military admitted on Wednesday that young draftees were sent to fight in its war against Ukraine after Russian President Vladimir Putin denied that conscripts were involved in the attack.
Russian President Vladimir Putin.MIKHAIL KLIMENTYEV/SPUTNIK/AFP via Getty Images
“Unfortunately, some facts have come to light about the presence of conscript servicemen among the Russian armed forces conducting the special military operation on Ukrainian territory,” said Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov.
“Practically all of the conscripts have been returned to the territory of the Russian Federation,” Konashenkov added.
Konashenkov said, however, that some of the conscripts have been captured.
“In addition, one of the divisions operating toll security has been attacked by a diversionist group of the national battalion,” he said, adding, “A number of military personnel, some of which conscripts, were captured in this attack.”
