International

China to provide Ukraine about $790,000 in aid: official

BEIJING, China (AFP) — Beijing said Wednesday it will provide war-torn Ukraine with about $790,000 in humanitarian aid, with the first shipment already on its way, though China has yet to condemn Russia’s invasion of the country. China has repeatedly blamed NATO’s “eastward expansion” for worsening tensions between Russia and Ukraine, echoing the Kremlin’s prime security grievance while refusing to criticise Moscow’s decision to send troops across the border. But a day after Chinese President […]

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Ukrainian girl dies of thirst under rubble of home: mayor

  DNIPRO, Ukraine (AFP) —  A six-year-old girl has died from dehydration under the rubble of her destroyed home in the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol, the city council said Tuesday. Mariupol is surrounded by Russian forces, who have bombarded the port city despite promises of a ceasefire to allow civilians to be evacuated. It is not known how long the girl, named only as Tanya, had been under the ruins of her home before […]

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Austria suspends mandatory Covid vaccine law

by Julia ZAPPEI VIENNA, Austria (AFP) — Austria said Wednesday it is suspending mandatory Covid-19 vaccinations for all adults saying the pandemic no longer poses the same danger, just weeks after the law took effect in an EU first. The Alpine nation of nine million people was among few countries in the world to make jabs against the coronavirus compulsory for all adults. The law took effect in February and called for fines up to […]

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Russia, Ukraine agree day-long evacuation corridors: Ukraine official

KYIV, Ukraine (AFP) — Russia and Ukraine on Wednesday agreed a day-long ceasefire around a series of evacuation corridors to allow civilians to escape the fighting, Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said. Vereshchuk said Moscow vowed to respect the truce from 9:00 am to 9:00 pm around six areas that have been heavily hit by fighting, including regions near Kyiv, in Zaporizhzhia in the south, and some parts of Ukraine’s northeast. © Agence France-Presse

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10 dead in strikes in Severodonestk in eastern Ukraine: local official

KYIV, Ukraine (AFP) — At least 10 people were killed in a Russian military attack in the eastern Ukrainian town of Severodonestk on Tuesday, a local official for the Lugansk region said in a statement on Telegram. The Russian military “opened fire” on residential homes and other buildings in the town, he said, without immediately specifying whether it was an artillery attack. The region has seen heavy fighting in recent days. © Agence France-Presse

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Israel’s president heads to Turkey in bid to rebuild ties

by Jonah Mandel JERUSALEM, Undefined (AFP) — Israel’s president heads to Turkey Wednesday to meet his counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the first visit by an Israeli head of state since 2007, as the countries seek to mend fractured ties. President Isaac Herzog’s visit to Ankara and Istanbul was in the making weeks before Russia invaded Ukraine, but the conflict could feature at the talks, with both Israel and Turkey playing mediation roles in recent days. […]

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Putin nuclear threats ‘extremely dangerous’, ‘blackmail’: ICAN

by Nina LARSON GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin is using nuclear “blackmail” to keep the international community from interfering in his Ukraine invasion, the head of the Nobel prize-winning group ICAN said. “This is one of the scariest moments really when it comes to nuclear weapons,” Beatrice Fihn, who leads the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, told AFP in an interview Tuesday. The 40-year-old Swede, who has spearheaded the group’s global […]

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South Korea votes in tight presidential race with inequality top concern

by Cat BARTON / Kang Jin-kyu SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — South Koreans are voting Wednesday in a tightly fought presidential election with the deciding votes set to be cast by young people, whose top concerns are economic inequality and unemployment — not recent sabre-rattling from the nuclear-armed North. Official figures showed high turnout of about 65 percent by 2 pm (0500 GMT), after record early voting, following a campaign dominated by mud-slinging between the […]

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Mandatory Hong Kong Covid testing ‘not a priority’: city leader

by Xinqi SU HONG KONG, China (AFP) — Hong Kong’s leader said Wednesday that mandatory coronavirus testing was no longer a priority after plans for mass screening of all 7.4 million residents and an accompanying citywide lockdown triggered panic. Wednesday’s announcement by Carrie Lam comes after weeks of uncertainty and mixed messages from the government, fuelling panic-buying sprees by residents snapping up vegetables, canned goods, frozen foods, and even over-the-counter medicine such as paracetamol, and […]

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Chinese-linked hackers target at least six US states: Mandiant

SAN FRANCISCO, United States (AFP) — At least six US states have been targeted by hackers linked to China who exploited vulnerabilities in web programs, cybersecurity company Mandiant said on Tuesday. Notorious Chinese hacking group APT41 has been targeting US states in a tenacious and adaptive campaign, according to a Mandiant report. From last May to this February, the group compromised at least six state government networks by exploiting vulnerabilities in internet-facing programs including an […]

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IAEA says loses contact with Chernobyl nuclear data systems

VIENNA, Austria (AFP) – The Chernobyl nuclear power plant is no longer transmitting data to the UN’s atomic watchdog, the agency said Tuesday, as it voiced concern for staff working under Russian guard at the Ukrainian facility. On February 24, Russia invaded Ukraine and seized the defunct Chernobyl plant, site of a 1986 disaster that killed hundreds and spread radioactive contamination west across Europe. International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi “indicated that remote data […]

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US rejects Poland offer of jets for Ukraine as not ‘tenable’

WASHINGTON, D.C., United States (AFP) – The United States on Tuesday rejected a Polish offer to send MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine via a US air base, saying the proposal raised “serious concerns” for the entire NATO alliance. Warsaw caught US officials off guard with the offer to deliver the Soviet-era planes to the US base in Ramstein, Germany. Under the proposed scheme, those jets could then be deployed to Ukraine, while the Polish air […]

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