Biden refuted increasingly desperate calls from Kyiv for NATO to intervene against the Russian assault.
Biden Warns Direct NATO-Russia Clash Would Trigger “World War 3”
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China calls for Russia-Ukraine ceasefire over ‘grave’ conflict
The situation in Ukraine is grave and China is deeply concerned, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said on Friday, as confrontations between Russia and the West persisted with no sign of easing.
Doubling down on an invasion that the West says has been losing momentum, Russian President Vladimir Putin gave the green light for thousands of volunteers from the Middle East to be deployed alongside Russian-backed rebels in Ukraine.
The move, just over two weeks since Putin ordered the invasion, allows Russia to deploy battle-hardened mercenaries from conflicts such as Syria without risking additional Russian military casualties.
At a meeting of Russia’s Security Council, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said there were 16,000 volunteers in the Middle East who were ready to fight alongside Russian-backed forces in the breakaway Donbas region of eastern Ukraine.
Ukraine war: Russia forced to rely on ‘stand-off’ munitions, MoD says – as satellite images show craters and houses hit outside Kyiv
New satellite imagery has shown what appears to be Russian forces firing artillery from a village 17 miles northwest of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, as well as damage to Hostomel Airport.
New satellite images show homes on fire as Russian troops advance closer to Kyiv, with long lines of cars trying to flee the Ukrainian capital.
The UK’s Ministry of Defence has also warned that “staunch resistance” from Ukraine means Russian tactical aircraft are relying on unguided “dumb” munitions.
“Such weapons are relatively inaccurate and indiscriminate and their use significantly increases the likelihood of civilian casualties,” a defence intelligence update released on Friday night said.
The satellite images from Maxar appear to suggest that Russian military units are “actively firing artillery towards residential areas” – and in one photograph, a bright muzzle flash can be seen from an artillery gun.
Widespread damage and impact craters have been seen in Moschun, a town northwest of Kyiv, and fires are continuing to burn at Hostamel Airport, which is also known as Antonov Airport.
Facebook owner defends policy on calls for violence that angered Russia
Facebook owner Meta Platforms (FB.O) said Friday that a temporary change in its content policy, only for Ukraine, was needed to let users voice opposition to Russia’s attack, as Russia opened a criminal case after the company said it would allow posts such as “death to the Russian invaders.”
Russian prosecutors asked a court to designate the U.S. tech giant as an “extremist organisation,” and the communications regulator said it would restrict access to Meta’s Instagram starting March 14. The company said the decision would affect 80 million users in Russia.
“A criminal case has been initiated … in connection with illegal calls for murder and violence against citizens of the Russian Federation by employees of the American company Meta, which owns the social networks Facebook and Instagram,” Russia’s Investigative Committee said.
The committee reports directly to President Vladimir Putin. It was not immediately clear what the consequences of the criminal case might be.
Meta Global Affairs President Nick Clegg responded after the Russian government action with a tweeted statement saying that the company aimed to protect rights to speech as an expression of self-defense reacting to the invasion of Ukraine and that the policy only applied to Ukraine.
“If we applied our standard content policies without any adjustments we would now be removing content from ordinary Ukrainians expressing their resistance and fury at the invading military forces, which would rightly be viewed as unacceptable,” Clegg wrote.
“We have no quarrel with the Russian people. There is no change at all in our policies on hate speech as far as the Russian people are concerned,” he added.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy says 100,000 evacuated amid blockade
“They have a clear order to hold Mariupol hostage, to mock it, to constantly bomb and shell it,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address to the nation. He said the Russians began a tank attack right where there was supposed to be a humanitarian corridor.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said 100,000 people have been evacuated during the past two days from seven cities under Russian blockade in the north and center of the country, including the Kyiv suburbs.
But he said the Russian refusal to allow evacuations from Mariupol, a port city in the south, was “outright terror.”
The city of 430,000 has been without food supplies, running water and electricity for 10 days. Ukrainian officials say about 1,300 people have died, including three in the bombing of a maternity and children’s hospital on Wednesday.
Ukraine-Russia war: Moscow bans exports of cars, auto parts
Russia has decided to put a ban on exports of 200 items, including cars and auto parts, in response to the sanctions imposed against it for invading Ukraine.
Russia has decided to ban exports of cars and auto parts among more than 200 products after sanctions were imposed against the country for the ongoing Ukraine-Russia war. The conflict continues to impact the auto industry, not only in Russia, but across the world. The decision will further worsen the ongoing semiconductor crisis being faced by the auto manufacturers in coming days.
Jussie Smollett sentenced to 150 days in jail in fake attack
A judge sentenced Jussie Smollett to 150 days in jail Thursday, branding the Black and gay actor a narcissistic charlatan for staging a hate crime against himself to grab the limelight while the nation struggled with wrenching issues of racial injustice. Smollett responded by defiantly maintaining his innocence and suggesting he could be killed in jail.
The sentence and Smollett’s post-hearing outburst capped an hourslong hearing and more than three years of legal drama following Smollett’s claim that he had been the target of a racist and homophobic attack.
Smollett didn’t make a statement when offered the opportunity before the judge announced the sentence, saying he was listening to his attorneys’ advice. But after Cook County Judge James Linn issued his decision, Smollett removed the face mask he wore throughout the hearing to proclaim himself innocent.
“If I did this, then it means that I stuck my fist in the fears of Black Americans in this country for over 400 years and the fears of the LGBT community,” Smollett said, standing up at the defense table as his lawyers and sheriff’s deputies surrounded him. “Your Honor, I respect you and I respect the jury but I did not do this. And I am not suicidal. And if anything happens to me when I go in there, I did not do it to myself. And you must all know that.”
As deputies led him from the courtroom, Smollett shouted out again.
“I am innocent,” he yelled, raising his fist. “I could have said I am guilty a long time ago.”
The judge sentenced Smollett to 30 months of felony probation, with 150 days served in Cook County Jail, and ordered that he pay $120,106 in restitution to the city of Chicago and a $25,000 fine.
Special prosecutor Dan Webb asked Linn to include “an appropriate amount of prison time” when sentencing the actor for his conviction on five counts of disorderly conduct.
“His conduct denigrated hate crimes,” Webb said after the hearing. “His conduct will discourage others who are victims of hate crimes from coming forward and reporting those crimes to law enforcement.”
Smollett’s attorneys wanted the judge to limit the sentence to community service, arguing that he had already been punished by the criminal justice system and damage to his career.
Family members echoed those comments.
Source: https://apnews.com/article/jussie-smollett-sentencing-live-updates-dca736b72447363711dbda548f13d79d
Kamala Harris says US and Poland ‘united’ after jets controversy
Speaking in Warsaw, US vice president also supports an international investigation into possible Russian war crimes in Ukraine.
Harris told reporters at a joint news conference with Polish President Andrzej Duda in Warsaw on Thursday that US military and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine is an “ongoing process”.
“I want to be very clear: the United States and Poland are united in what we have done and are prepared to do to help Ukraine and the people of Ukraine, full stop,” she said.
Earlier this week, officials in Washington rejected the public Polish proposal to help deliver the Russian-made MiGs to Ukraine, saying that the move risked escalation with Moscow.
“Polish generosity is clearly on display for the whole world to see,” Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said on Wednesday. “But at this time, we believe that provision of additional fighter aircraft provides little increased capabilities at high risk.”
Russia-Ukraine war : Flight carrying 242 Indians from Poland lands in Delhi
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.”
Elon Musk and Grimes secretly welcome new child, Exa Dark Sideræl
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.
Ukraine war: Boris Johnson tells Sky News it is ‘deeply upsetting’ to refuse Volodymyr Zelenskyy a no-fly zone
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.
Ukraine-Russia updates: Ukraine accuses Russia of nuclear terrorism after bomb lands near reactor; UN to meet over Russian allegations of biological weapons
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”.
Besieged Ukrainians endure bombardments, with no breakthrough in talks
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.
US asks China to allow UN rights chief ‘unhindered’ access to Xinjiang
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 sanctioned by UK Government
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.
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.
Trump plane made emergency landing after weekend speech to GOP donors
The plane was in the air between 20 and 30 minutes before one of the engines failed.
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.
South Korea election: Yoon Suk-yeol wins mandate to tackle inequality, US-China relations and Kim Jong-un’s nuclear ambitions
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.
This Indoor Nuclear Shelter Fits Even in a Tiny Apartment
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.
US Says Russia May Use Chemical Weapons in Ukraine; UK to Send More Military Aid
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.
Rights body raises concern about human, sex trafficking in Pakistan
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.”
Ukraine’s first lady emerges as a staunch defender of her nation on social media
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.
Australia Pledges $28 Billion to Expand Defence Personnel by a Third
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 admits it sent young conscripts into its Ukraine war after Putin denied those troops were involved
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.
“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.”