More than 1 million people have fled Ukraine since Russia invaded a week ago, according to the UN, with many leaving via the borders with Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, and Moldova
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Russia-Ukraine war latest news: Zelenskiy asks Putin for direct talks after Macron tells Russian president he is making a ‘major mistake’ – live
Ukrainian president tells Russian leader direct talks are ‘only way to stop this war’; French president tells Russian president ‘you are lying to yourself’
- Kremlin denies planning to institute martial law in Russia
- French warn ‘worst is to come’ after Macron call with Putin
- UK widens sanctions to Alisher Usmanov and Igor Shuvalov
- Father mourns son as civilian victims continue to mount
- Tell us: how have you been affected by the situation in Ukraine?
A compilation of video footage taken by those currently in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson show Russian troops patrolling the city streets.
Kherson’s mayor, Igor Kolykhaiev, confirmed Russian forces had landed in the city in a Facebook post written about 10pm on Wednesday.
Continue reading...Park Seo-joon: ‘I actually couldn’t believe Marvel wanted to speak to me’
The actor talks about joining the MCU, his friendships with BTS’s V and the rest of the ‘Wooga Squad’, and the social and economic issues behind his TV hits Itaewon Class and Fight for My Way
In an early scene of Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite, a brief conversation between rich student Min-hyuk and his friend Ki-woo proves a crucial moment in the multi-Oscar winning film. “Tutor a rich kid. It pays well,” the scooter-riding Min-hyuk tells the impoverished Ki-woo, who lives in a semi-basement home with his family. And when Min-hyuk offers Ki-woo the opportunity to take over his job as a tutor for the rich Park family, he acts as a bridge between the two worlds, and sets the plot of the film in motion.
Min-hyuk is played by Park Seo-joon, and despite the brevity of Park’s appearance in Parasite, it will have been the first time most international audiences will have got a good look at him. Park is a big name in South Korea however, thanks to a string of successful domestic TV series – mostly romantic comedies such as She Was Pretty and Fight for My Way – and the Netflix hit Itaewon Class. Now his international profile is about to be raised, after it was confirmed he will be joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe for Captain Marvel 2: The Marvels, appearing alongside Brie Larson, Iman Vellani and Zawe Ashton, making him the third South Korean actor to join the MCU.
Continue reading...London Stock Exchange suspends 27 Russian listings; wheat prices soar to 14-year high – business live
- European shares drift lower as Moscow stock exchange stays closed for fourth day
- IoD: no longer tenable for Brits to sit on boards of Russian firms
- France seizes yacht linked to Rosneft boss Igor Sechin
- Severstal directors resign a day after Mordashov quits Tui board and shifts Nordgold stake to his wife
- Russian airlines shut out of UK insurance market
- Introduction: Oil prices at nine-year peak
- Ukraine live updates
The drinks giant Diageo, which makes Smirnoff vodka and Guinness, has paused exports to Russia and Ukraine. A spokesperson told Reuters:
Our priority is the safety of our people in Ukraine and the wider region.
The Institute of Directors expresses its solidarity with Ukraine and its people, who are facing intolerable suffering.
Although directors owe legal duties to the companies on whose boards they serve, they should also feel a stronger moral duty to uphold the fundamental values of freedom and democracy. We believe that it is no longer tenable for British directors to be involved in governance roles in the Russian economy. Therefore, we hope that they will now question the viability of their mandates in Russian and Belarusian companies.
Continue reading...Germany seizes Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov’s $600m superyacht – report
Hamburg authorities seized the 156-metre Dilbar as yachts belonging to five other Russian billionaires headed to the non-extradition Maldives
Russia-Ukraine crisis: live news
German authorities have reportedly seized the $600m superyacht belonging to Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov in a Hamburg shipyard.
Usmanov was on a list of billionaires to face sanctions from the European Union in response to Russia’s 24 February invasion of Ukraine. It came as the French finance minister, Bruno Le Maire, said it had seized a yacht linked to Rosneft boss Igor Sechin in the Mediterranean port of La Ciotat.
Continue reading...ICC launches war crimes investigation over Russian invasion of Ukraine
International criminal court inquiry has been expedited by unprecedented number of countries backing move
A war crimes investigation has been launched into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine after an unprecedented number of countries backed the move and Boris Johnson called the military intervention “abhorrent”.
Karim Khan, the chief prosecutor for the international criminal court (ICC), said he would begin work “as rapidly as possible” to look for possible crimes against humanity or genocide committed in Ukraine.
Continue reading...Russian and Belarusian athletes banned from Winter Paralympics after U-turn
Paralympic Committee reverses its original decision after threats of boycott over Ukraine conflict
A revolt among competing nations has forced the International Paralympic Committee to reverse its original decision and ban Russian and Belarusian athletes from this week’s Winter Games.
On Wednesday the IPC had said that Russian and Belarusian athletes would be allowed to take part in competition in Beijing, under a neutral banner and with no place on the medal table. Less than 24 hours after the announcement, however, the president of the IPC, Andrew Parsons, announced a u-turn following protests and a threat of a boycott from national participating committees (NPCs).
Continue reading...‘For our grandchildren’: the man recording the lives of Paraguay’s vanishing forest people
Mateo Sobode Chiqueno’s lifelong project compiling cassettes of the Ayoreo people’s stories, songs and struggles to survive is now the subject of an award-winning film, Nothing but the Sun
In a tattered cardboard box in Mateo Sobode Chiqueno’s home, hundreds of plastic cassette cases contain four decades of memories. “Here in my house, I have more than 1,000 cassettes of Ayoreo histories and songs,” says Chiqueno, who keeps them alongside his tape recorder at his wooden shack in Campo Loro, Paraguay. Many of the voices belong to people who are dead.
Chiqueno began compiling his interviews with the Ayoreo, hunter-gatherers of the Chaco Forest, in 1979, after seeing missionaries using tape recorders to document their experiences. His tapes partially preserve a fast-disappearing culture.
Continue reading...Florida governor Ron DeSantis scolds students for wearing masks – video
Ron DeSantis had strong words for a group of students at the University of South Florida who were wearing face masks before a press conference. The Republican governor for Florida asked them to take their masks off, saying it was 'Covid theater'
Continue reading...Russia-Ukraine war: what we know on day eight
A week after invasion of Ukraine launched, ICC confirms it is gathering evidence of possible war crimes
Russian forces are in control of the local government building in the Black Sea port of Kherson, according to its mayor, Igor Kolykhaiev, although there are conflicting reports about the status of the strategically important city.
More heavy explosions were reported in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and second city, Kharkiv, overnight and on Thursday morning after Russian missile strikes.
A second round of talks is reportedly set to take place today. A Russian negotiator said a ceasefire was on the agenda, but Ukraine has said Russia must stop bombing Ukrainian cities before any progress can be made.
More than one million people have fled Ukraine since Russian forces invaded the country last week, the head of the United Nations refugee agency has said.
The international criminal court (ICC) is opening an investigation into possible war crimes in Ukraine and has begun collecting evidence after 38 countries formally referred reports of atrocities, the largest referral it has ever received.
The Russian advance on Kyiv has been delayed by “staunch Ukrainian resistance, mechanical breakdown and congestion” and is still more than 30km from the centre of the city, Britain’s defence ministry said.
The UN nuclear watchdog has voiced concern after Russian forces claimed to have surrounded Ukraine’s biggest atomic plant and called for its workers to be left alone to do their jobs.
The strategically important Sea of Azov port city of Mariupol is reportedly surrounded by Russian troops.
Police in Moscow detained two women and five children holding a poster outside the Ukraine embassy that said “No to war”.
More than 350 Ukrainian civilians have been killed and more than 2,000 injured, according to Ukraine’s emergency service. Transport facilities, hospitals, kindergartens and homes have been destroyed, it said.
Ukraine claimed nearly 7,000 Russian troops had been killed in the first six days of Moscow’s invasion. Moscow said 498 Russian soldiers had died in Ukraine since the start of its campaign, its first statement on casualties.
The UN general assembly voted overwhelmingly to deplore Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and called for the immediate withdrawal of its forces, with 141 of the 193 member states voting for the resolution on Wednesday.
The US has accused Russia of launching a “full war on media freedom and the truth” by blocking independent news outlets and preventing Russians from hearing news of the invasion of Ukraine.
Russia’s central bank has imposed a 30% commission on foreign currency purchases by individuals on currency exchanges.
Russian and Belarusian athletes have been banned from the Winter Paralympic Games for their countries’ roles in the conflict, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) said, in a reversal of its previous stance.
Interpol arrest warrant allegedly targeting Kuwaiti princess and partner ‘on political grounds’
Dissident couple say their lives would be under threat if returned from Bosnia to Kuwait, as rights groups claim notice undermines refugee law
A Kuwaiti princess seeking asylum in Bosnia-Herzegovina has claimed the Kuwaiti state is using an Interpol red notice to intimidate and harass her and force the extradition of her partner, a prominent dissident blogger, back to the country.
Sheikha Moneera Fahad al-Sabah and Mesaed al-Mesaileem, said they face torture and threats to their lives if they are returned to Kuwait due to their political activism.
Continue reading...Teenagers detained and allegedly tortured in Sudan must be released, says Amnesty
The pair, arrested in connection with the killing of a police officer during pro-democracy protests, are reportedly being denied visits and medical help
Amnesty International has called for the release of two teenagers who have been detained and allegedly tortured in Sudan in connection with the killing of a police officer during pro-democracy protests in Khartoum.
Mohamed Adam, known as Tupac, 17, and Mohamed al-Fateh, 18, have been held without charge since 15 January.
Continue reading...Now that the parliament protest is over, New Zealand must ask itself what lay behind it | Sarb Johal
Were the protesters motivated by valid concerns, radicalisation or was this simply the fist-shaking of a fringe minority?
The protest outside parliament in Wellington has prompted fears of a mass radicalisation of militant actors prepared to use violence to achieve their aims. Although people may dismiss the idea that it could cause real damage to society in New Zealand, where support for the government’s pandemic response is still high, anger has spilt over into explicit hate messaging and actions, both online and in real-life.
Now that the protesters have been dispersed, we need to examine what was behind their loose coalition of grievances: was it the transitory fist-shaking of a fringe minority, a valid concern, or actual radicalisation? If so, what can we do about it? The answer is complex and incomplete, but there are some clues about what caused this impasse and what can be done.
Continue reading...Ukraine war: Putin prompts fears that ‘the worst is yet to come’
Moscow aims to take ‘full control’ of Ukraine capital by diplomatic or military means, according to France
Vladimir Putin has told Emmanuel Macron that Kyiv’s “refusal to accept Russia’s conditions” means he will continue to pursue his war in Ukraine, the Élysée Palace has said, adding: “We expect the worst is yet to come.”
As the number of refugees fleeing the conflict passed 1 million and Russian forces, backed by heavy shelling, advanced on cities and key ports in the south and east, Russia’s president said in a 90-minute call to his French counterpart he was “prepared to go all the way”, the French official said.
Continue reading...‘Lots of happy tears’: joy as New Zealand opens border after two years of isolation
Some reunions were also tempered by grief, as for many New Zealanders the reopening came too late
Tears, hugs, laughter and the shouts of children echoed through the arrivals halls of New Zealand, as the country opened its borders and lifted isolation requirements.
“I’ve been waiting six months for this moment,” says Steve, 72, who was waiting for his fiancee, Karin, to arrive from Australia. “I’m over the moon,” he said. “I feel a bit shaky.”
Continue reading...Covid has intensified gender inequalities, global study finds
Researchers find women hit harder by negative social and economic impacts of the pandemic than men
The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic threatens to reverse decades of progress made towards gender equality, according to a global study that reveals women have been hit much harder socially and economically than men.
Previously, coronavirus-related gender disparity studies have focused on the direct health impacts of the crisis. It is well known, for example, that across the globe men have experienced higher rates of Covid cases, hospitalisation and death. However, until now, few studies have examined how gender inequalities have been affected by the many indirect social and economic effects of the pandemic worldwide.
Continue reading...What more could the west do about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine?
Analysis: From a no-fly zone to sanctions, the options that are on and off the table
Russia’s invading forces have bombed civilians in Kyiv, Kharkiv and elsewhere in Ukraine in the past 48 hours, prompting fears of rising casualties and growing questions as to whether the west could step up military, economic or other efforts to help. Here are some of the options – and the risks.
Continue reading...Netflix to pause all projects and acquisitions in Russia
The streamer has halted work on four original series as a result of the ongoing invasion of Ukraine
Netflix has paused all future Russian projects and acquisitions as a result of the ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
According to Variety, the streamer is “assessing the impact of current events”, which has led to four Russian original series being indefinitely paused. Zato, a crime series set after the fall of the Soviet Union, directed by the Belarus-born director Darya Zhuk, was already in production but has now been put on hold.
Continue reading...Ukraine president asks Jewish people around world to speak against Russia
Nazism is born in silence, says Volodymyr Zelenskiy, after missile struck close to Holocaust memorial site
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has appealed to Jewish people across the world to speak out against the Russian assault on his country, a day after a missile hit close to a Holocaust memorial site in the capital, Kyiv.
The missile strike on Tuesday hit Kyiv’s television tower, reportedly killing at least five people. The tower is located close to the memorial site of Babyn Yar, the ravine where Nazi soldiers massacred up to 150,000 people during the second world war, including more than 30,000 Jews, who were shot there in the autumn of 1941 after the Nazi takeover of Kyiv.
Continue reading...UN votes to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and calls for withdrawal
In an emergency session, 141 of the 193 member states voted for the resolution, 35 abstained and five voted against
The United Nations has voted overwhelmingly for a resolution deploring Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and called for the immediate withdrawal of its forces, in a global expression of outrage that highlighted Russia’s increasing isolation.
In an emergency session of the UN’s general assembly, 141 of the 193 member states voted for the resolution, 35 abstained, and five voted against. The only countries to vote no in support of Moscow were Belarus, North Korea, Eritrea and Syria. Longstanding allies Cuba and Venezuela joined China in abstaining.
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