Author: News Desk

Civilians including women and children remain trapped inside Ukraine’s besieged city of Mariupol and a prolonged ceasefire is needed to ensure their evacuation as Russia presses its assault, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Thursday. After failing to capture the capital Kyiv in the early weeks of a war that has killed thousands and flattened cities, Russia has accelerated attacks on Ukraine’s east and south. Pavlo Kyrylenko, governor of the eastern region of Donetsk, said at least 25 civilians were wounded as Russian forces shelled Kramatorsk, and town some 180 kilometres (112 miles) west of Luhansk. Moscow declared victory over…

Sweden has received assurances from the United States that it would receive support during the period a potential application to join NATO is processed by the 30 nations in the alliance, Foreign Minister Ann Linde said in Washington on Wednesday. Sweden and neighbour Finland stayed out of NATO during the Cold War, but Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and its invasion of Ukraine have led the countries to rethink their security policies, with NATO membership looking increasingly likely. Both countries are concerned they would be vulnerable during an application process, which could take up to a year to be…

Bulgaria’s parliament voted on Wednesday to allow repairs of Ukrainian heavy military equipment and seek ways to help Ukrainian exports of grains and electricity, sidestepping proposals to provide direct military aid to Kyiv. European Union and NATO member state Bulgaria has condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine, supported sanctions against Moscow, refused to pay for Russian gas with roubles and hosted over 90,000 Ukrainian refugees. But the Black Sea country remains one of the few in the 27-member EU to have not sent arms and ammunitions to Kyiv as one of the four coalition partners, the Russia-friendly Socialists, opposed the…

Beijing shut scores of metro stations and bus routes and extended COVID-19 curbs on many public venues on Wednesday, focusing efforts to avoid the fate of Shanghai, where millions have been under strict lockdown for more than a month. The central city of Zhengzhou earlier also announced restrictions, joining dozens of big population centres under some form of lockdown as China seeks to eliminate a virus believed to have first emerged in Wuhan city in late 2019. But that uncompromising battle is undermining its growth and hurting international companies invested there, data shows, and has also fuelled rare public outbursts…

The Fak Kurba initiative, which seeks to free those jailed for insolvency in Oman, has so far managed to release more than 1,000 prisoners during the month of Ramadan. The highest number of released prisoners are from Muscat governorate at 196, 190 from North Al Batinah and 148 from South Al Sharqiyah.

Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) announced its entry into the metaverse with the establishment of its metaverse headquarters in the dynamic virtual world of ‘The Sandbox’. As the world’s first Regulator to make its debut in the metaverse, VARA seeks to ensure that the regulator is accessible to its industry in their environment, and facilitate collaborative engagement between global Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs), industry thought-leaders, and international regulatory authorities.

Authorities in Saudi Arabia have arrested more than 60 people for attempting to smuggle drugs into the Kingdom. The 61 suspects attempted to smuggle 760 kilograms of hashish and 45.6 tons of the narcotic plant khat in the regions of Jazan, Najran and Asir. Of the 61 suspects, 41 were Saudi citizens, 11 were Ethiopian, seven were Yemeni and two were Pakistani.

The European Union proposed its toughest sanctions yet against Russia on Wednesday, including a phased oil embargo, as Kyiv said Moscow was intensifying an offensive in eastern Ukraine and close Russian ally Belarus announced large-scale army drills. Nearly 10 weeks into a war that has killed thousands of people, uprooted millions and flattened Ukrainian cities, Russia was intensifying its assault, Ukraine’s defence ministry said, with nearly 50 air strikes carried out on Tuesday alone. Russia also stepped up strikes on targets in western Ukraine, saying it was disrupting Western arms deliveries. A new convoy of buses began evacuating more civilians…

Kyiv will be ready if Belarus’s armed forces join Russia’s war effort in Ukraine, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian State Border Service said on Wednesday. Belarus, a close ally of Russia, said its military had begun large-scale drills on Wednesday to test their combat readiness and that they posed no threat to its neighbours. “We do not rule out that the Russian Federation could at some point use the territory of Belarus, the Armed Forces of the Republic of Belarus, against Ukraine,” said Andriy Demchenko, spokesperson for Ukraine’s State Border Service. “Therefore, we are ready,” he said, adding that the…

The Kremlin on Wednesday dismissed speculation that President Vladimir Putin planned to declare war against Ukraine and declare a national mobilisation on May 9 when Russia commemorates the Soviet Union’s victory in World War Two. Putin has so far characterised Russia’s actions in Ukraine as a “special military operation”, not a war. But Western politicians and some Russia watchers have speculated that he could be preparing for a major announcement next Monday with a range of possible scenarios ranging from an outright declaration of war to a declaration of victory. Asked about speculation that Putin will declare war against Ukraine…