Category Archives: World News

China ponders how Russia’s actions in Ukraine could reshape world order

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Beijing is walking a diplomatic tightrope but crisis also offers the opportunity to express grievances against its adversaries

The news came as a surprise to many in Beijing. Barely 24 hours ago, Chinese pundits predicted that a war in Ukraine was not inevitable. In New York, as Russia geared up for a full-on assault on its neighbour, China’s UN envoy, Zhang Jun, urged in a security council meeting that “the door to a peaceful solution to the Ukraine issue is not fully shut, nor should it be shut”.

But when people in Kyiv woke up to sound of bombs in what the Nato chief called a “deliberate, cold-blooded” invasion, the door had clearly been closed. China’s state media, however, insisted it was a “special military action” by Russia. Quoting Vladimir Putin, China’s central television tweeted: “Russia was left with no other choice.”

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‘Of course I worry’: shock waves from Ukraine reach Taiwan

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With the threat of invasion from China ever present, people’s fears are playing out in eastern Europe

About 5,000 miles away from the violence in Ukraine, shock waves from Russia’s invasion are being felt in Taiwan. Until recently, Taiwan was considered to be one of the world’s most significant potential flashpoints for a multination war. It was heralded – albeit with some exaggeration – as “the most dangerous place on Earth”, under growing threat of invasion by Xi Jinping’s China, which considers the independently governed democracy to be a Chinese province.

This week its people have watched their fears play out in eastern Europe, as Russian forces – ordered by Xi’s ally Vladimir Putin – attacked in the pre-dawn hours of Thursday.

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UK says it will work ‘all day’ to persuade Europe to cut Russia off from Swift

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Foreign secretary goes on diplomatic drive to rally support for peak sanctions measure

The UK has said it will work “all day” to persuade fellow European states to cut Russia off from the international Swift payment system.

The UK defence secretary, Ben Wallace, ended the pretence that Britain was not at odds with its fellow European leaders over the issue. He said there was still time for Russia to be excluded, and the foreign secretary, Liz Truss, said: “The UK is working with allies to exclude Russia from the Swift financial system.”

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Ukraine soldiers told Russian officer ‘go fuck yourself’ before they died on island

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Thirteen border guards died in air and sea bombardment on Snake Island in Black Sea after refusing to surrender

Ukrainian soldiers who died defending an island in the Black Sea from an air and sea bombardment reportedly told an officer on board a Russian navy warship to “go fuck yourself” when asked to surrender.

There were 13 border guards stationed on Snake Island, a roughly 16-hectare (40-acre) rocky island owned by Ukraine that sits about 186 miles (300km) west of Crimea, when Russian troops bombed the island on Thursday.

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Kyiv faces attack from Russia – in pictures

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As the invasion enters its second day, Ukrainians reel from the shock of the attack. The capital Kyiv is braced for the arrival of Russian forces, after Putin unleashed a full-scale ground invasion and air assault that quickly claimed dozens of lives and displaced at least 100,000 people

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Can Germany function without Vladimir Putin’s gas?

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Analysis: Nord Stream 2 was meant to deliver 70% of country’s gas and switch to renewable energy has been slow

The Ukraine crisis has plunged Germany into an intense debate about how it will heat its homes and power its industry in future, summed up in the short question: can Europe’s largest economy function without Vladimir Putin’s gas?

The Green federal economics minister, Robert Habeck, answered with a decisive “yes it can”, a day after the chancellor, Olaf Scholz, announced the suspension of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which was meant to deliver from Russia as much as 70% of Germany’s gas requirements. There are considerable doubts as to whether the $11bn project will ever now go ahead.

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Effort under way to challenge Russia’s right to seat on UN security council

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In wake of Ukraine invasion, diplomats consider if Russia can be removed as one of five permanent security council members

An effort is under way to isolate Vladimir Putin diplomatically by challenging Russia’s right to a permanent seat of the UN security council on the grounds that Russia took the seat from the defunct Soviet Union in 1991 without proper authorisation.

Diplomats are also looking to see if there is a basis for removing Russia from the presidency of the council.

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Dominican Republic starts work on border wall with Haiti

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Officials claim the controversial barrier will stop migrant crossings, as well as drugs and contraband, from crisis-hit Haiti

The Dominican Republic has begun work on a border wall with Haiti, sparking controversy between the neighbouring Caribbean countries.

Construction began this week on a concrete barrier that will span nearly half of the 244-mile (392km) border between the two countries, with Dominican officials claiming it will reduce flows of migrants, drugs, weapons and contraband.

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Plastic summit could be most important green deal since Paris accords, says UN

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World leaders to gather in Nairobi next week to discuss first global treaty to combat plastic waste

World leaders will come together online and in Nairobi, Kenya, next week, in what is described as a “critical moment” in progress towards the first ever global treaty to combat plastic waste. Inger Andersen, director of the UN Environment Programme, said an agreement at the UN environment assembly could be the most important multilateral pact since the Paris climate accord in 2015.

Public disgust and impatience over the growing mountain of plastic waste has led to an unprecedented “degree of focus” that could see member states agreeing a blueprint for a legally binding treaty to control plastics “from source to sea”, she said.

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Singapore courts set to consider executions amid fears authorities want to clear backlog

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Case of Nagaenthran K Dharmalingam, who has learning difficulties, among four to be heard next week

Courts in Singapore will next week consider arguments by four men who have spent more than a decade on death row, amid fears the city state may push ahead with executions to free up space on death row.

The Singaporean government does not disclose how many people are held on death row, though campaigners believe there are likely more than 50 men awaiting execution, the majority of whom have been convicted of drug offences.

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‘A flashy theme park’: outcry over Modi’s plans for the Gandhi ashram

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The site Mahatma Gandhi lived at during 1917-30 is getting a very costly makeover many think is meant to distort his legacy

Like most things in Mahatma Gandhi’s life, his ashram in the Indian city of Ahmedabad was simple and austere. Yet between 1917 and 1930, these modest white bungalows, set on the bank of the Sabarmati river in the state of Gujarat, were the beating heart of Gandhi’s non-violent freedom struggle against British rule and his experiments in upending India’s oppressive caste system.

Gandhi – who would eventually lead India to independence and remains a global icon for peace – left the Sabarmati ashram in 1930, never to return, and in the years since, it has become one of India’s most sacrosanct sites. It is where Nelson Mandela, Bill Clinton, Xi Jinping, Benjamin Netanyahu and most recently Donald Trump all paid a visit to during their trips to India.

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Why Israel faces new dangers in shadow war against Iran if nuclear deal is agreed

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Analysis: a new pact will be worse for Israel than the old one and Iran’s influence in the region has grown in recent years

The US decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal was an immense personal achievement for former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In a leaked video, he boasted that he had personally convinced Donald Trump to scrap the 2015 accord between Tehran and world powers.

“I had to stand up against the whole world and come out against this agreement,” Netanyahu told members of his Likud party in the clip from 2018. “And we didn’t give up.”

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End New Zealand’s Covid mandates too quickly and the mistake could be measured in funerals | Andrew Geddis

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It’s appropriate to question restrictions, but those who want to lift them all immediately won’t be responsible for the consequences

If the protesters in front of New Zealand’s parliament have anything in common, it is a self-professed opposition to “Covid vaccination mandates”. These, they say, are an unacceptable burden on the individual rights of those who choose not to be vaccinated and so must be abolished immediately.

These protesters are correct about one thing. Although the various mandates, which mean around 40% of New Zealand’s workforce face losing their jobs if not vaccinated, are not strictly compulsory in the sense of making it an offence to not be jabbed, they do limit individual rights. Specifically, the right to refuse to undergo any medical treatment, as guaranteed by section 11 of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990.

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Ukrainian government calls on hackers to help defend against Russia

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Cybersecurity firm seeks volunteers to help nation’s military conduct espionage operations against Russian forces

The government of Ukraine is asking for volunteers from the country’s hacker underground to help protect critical infrastructure and conduct cyber spying missions against Russian troops, according two people involved in the project.

As Russian forces attacked cities across Ukraine, requests for volunteers began to appear on hacker forums on Thursday morning, as many residents fled the capital Kyiv.

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‘Her blood … his hands’: what the papers say about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

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Photograph of teacher bloodied by Russian attack on Ukraine dominates front pages as Putin sends his troops to war

The front pages in Britain and around the world are devoted to the shocking events in Ukraine, with graphic images of the destruction unleashed by Vladimir Putin.

A photograph of a woman with a bloodied and bandaged head in the wake of a Russian attack dominates the front of the Guardian with the headline “Putin invades”.

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Russia’s invasion of Ukraine: what we know so far

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Ukraine is expecting Putin’s tanks to attack Kyiv and citizens have been urged to resist Russian forces

Gunfire has been heard in central Kyiv and there are reports of heavy fighting in the city’s northern suburbs after Ukraine said it expected a Russian armoured attack on the capital and its outskirts on Friday.

Russian forces have taken control of Hostomel airfield near Kyiv, according to reports, and the capital’s mayor has said it has entered a “defensive phase”.

The defence ministry urged citizens to resist when Russian forces entered Kyiv, telling residents to inform authorities of all troop movements, and “make molotov cocktails and neutralise the enemy”.

Explosions rocked Kyiv in the early hours in preparations for the Russian advance, with Ukraine claiming it had shot down a Russian military aircraft over the capital. Officials said a tower block had been set on fire.

Russian forces have taken the city of Sumy in north-eastern Ukraine, according to a resident who said there were Russian military vehicles in the streets.

Russia is ready to send a delegation to the Belarusian capital, Minsk, for talks with Ukraine, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. Ukraine has said it is willing to discuss declaring itself a neutral county.

Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, insisted “no one is planning to occupy Ukraine”, also saying that Moscow was ready for talks if Ukrainian forces laid down their arms.

Russia banned UK flights from its airspace after the British government said Russia’s national carrier, Aeroflot, would be banned from British airspace as part of the UK’s package of sanctions.

The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, confirmed reports of Russian missile strikes in a national address early on Friday, also calling for Nato defence support and tougher sanctions against Russia.

Russian troops seized the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the north of Ukraine.

Ukraine decreed a full military mobilisation against the Russian invasion. Ukrainian men aged 18-60 are now forbidden to leave Ukraine. Zelenskiy has declared martial law.

The president said on Thursday night he would remain in Kyiv, despite saying he was Russia’s primary target. “We are not afraid. We are not afraid of anything,” he said.

The EU is preparing to freeze the assets of Putin and Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov as part of a third round of sanctions. Amid Ukrainian anger at the bloc’s reluctance to cut Russia out of the Swift international payments system, EU foreign ministers are set to approve more measures on Friday afternoon.

Thousands attempted to flee Kyiv, leading to large traffic queues. Pictures have emerged of Kyiv residents crowding into underground metro stations where they are taking shelter from further Russian attacks.

Anti-war protests attracted thousands of people in cities across Russia, with local authorities swiftly cracking down on the unsanctioned rallies. Police made at least 1,702 arrests in 53 Russian cities on Thursday night.

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Why has Putin’s Russia waged war on Ukraine? – video explainer

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Vladimir Putin has plunged Europe back into war and a conflict that ‘I think will reverberate far beyond Ukraine and have huge implications for Europe, for the rest of the world’, says Guardian foreign correspondent Luke Harding. Reporting from Kyiv, he examines why the Russian president launched a full-scale invasion of its neighbour, if Putin can be stopped, and what might come next

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Biden’s Russia warnings come to pass – what does the US president do now?

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Inflation is rising, Republicans are resurgent – and the increasingly embattled president now has a foreign policy crisis to deal with

For weeks, Joe Biden has issued urgent warnings that a Russian invasion of Ukraine could happen at any moment. The moment came overnight, when Russian troops began attacking Ukraine by land, air and sea.

For the US president – increasingly embattled at home by a resurgent Republican party – it was evidence that the White House had largely assessed the Ukraine crisis correctly, even though their preference would have been to be wrong about their predictions of a disastrous war in Europe.

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