Author: News Desk

Russian forces pounded Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region on Saturday but failed to capture three target areas, Ukraine’s military said, while Moscow said Western sanctions on Russia and arms shipments to Ukraine were impeding peace negotiations. The Russians were trying to capture the areas of Lyman in Donetsk and Sievierodonetsk and Popasna in Luhansk, the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces said in a daily update. “Not succeeding – the fighting continues,” it said. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, in remarks published early on Saturday, said lifting Western sanctions on Russia was part of the peace talks, which he said were…

India said on Saturday it had seized $725 million from the local bank accounts of China’s Xiaomi Corp after a probe found the smartphone maker had made illegal remittances to foreign entities by passing them off as royalty payments. India’s financial crime fighting agency, the Enforcement Directorate, had been investigating the Chinese company’s business practices over suspected violations of Indian foreign exchange laws. The agency said on Saturday it had seized the bank account assets from Xiaomi Technology India Private Limited after finding the firm had remitted the foreign currency equivalent of 55.5 billion rupees to three foreign-based entities, including one…

Twitter Chief Executive Parag Agrawal sought to quell employee anger on Friday during a company-wide meeting where employees demanded answers to how managers planned to handle an anticipated mass exodus prompted by Elon Musk. The meeting comes after Musk, the Tesla chief executive who sealed a $44 billion deal to buy the social media company, repeatedly criticized Twitter’s content moderation practices and a top executive responsible for setting speech and safety policies. At the internal town hall meeting, which was heard by Reuters, executives said the company would monitor staff attrition daily, but it was too soon to tell how the…

The United States does not believe that there is a threat of Russia using nuclear weapons despite a recent escalation in Moscow’s rhetoric, a senior U.S. defense official said on Friday. “We continue to monitor their nuclear capabilities every day the best we can and we do not assess that there is a threat of the use of nuclear weapons and no threat to NATO territory,” the official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told reporters. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday the West should not underestimate the elevated risks of nuclear conflict over Ukraine. Russia said earlier…

A Russian law firm on Friday said it had filed a lawsuit against U.S. tech giant Apple seeking 90 million roubles ($1.28 million) in damages for consumers affected by Apple withdrawing its payment service from Russia. Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Law firm Chernyshov, Lukoyanov & Partners said Apple had violated Russian consumers’ rights after the company restricted the use of its built-in Apple Pay service on March 1 in response to Moscow sending troops into Ukraine. The lawsuit, which it said had been filed with a Moscow court, is seeking 90 million roubles in damages,…

Russia’s foreign ministry on Saturday said it expected commodity flows with China to grow and trade with Beijing to reach $200 billion by 2024, the Interfax news agency reported, as Moscow looks east in the face of growing western isolation. The ministry said Chinese companies must be wary of the risk secondary sanctions pose, but said Beijing was ready to expand its cooperation with Moscow, Interfax reported.

China will take steps to support its economy, including embattled internet platforms, as risks grow from its COVID-19 outbreaks and conflict in Ukraine, a top decision-making body of the ruling Communist Party said on Friday, lifting markets. The coronavirus and conflict in Ukraine have contributed to economic headwinds in a crucial year for China and President Xi Jinping, who is expected to secure a precedent-breaking third leadership term in the autumn. Private economists have said Beijing’s target for economic growth of about 5.5% this year will be hard to achieve without significant stimulus, as lockdowns and other tough curbs to…

Russia’s most senior lawmaker said on Friday that Ukraine was effectively mortgaging itself to the United States by seeking to tap billions of dollars of weapons loans proposed by U.S. President Joe Biden. Biden on Thursday asked Congress for $33 billion to support Ukraine – a dramatic escalation of U.S. funding for the war with Russia – and the Ukrainian president pleaded with lawmakers to give the request a swift approval. Vyacheslav Volodin, who as the speaker of the lower house of the Russian parliament often voices the Kremlin’s views, accused the United States of seeking to profit from the…

Britain will send investigators to Ukraine to help gather evidence of war crimes, including sexual violence, its foreign minister said on Friday. Both Ukrainian prosecutors and the International Criminal Court (ICC) are investigating potential war crimes in Ukraine since Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion, which the Kremlin calls a “special military operation” to demilitarise its neighbour. Moscow denies committing war crimes in Ukraine or targeting civilians during a war that has killed thousands, devastated many cities and towns and forced five million people, mostly women and children, to flee abroad. Speaking after meeting with ICC officials, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said…

A cargo carrying over 71,000 tonnes of Ukrainian corn finished loading in the Romanian Black Sea port of Constanta on Thursday, the first since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, the manager of port operator Comvex said. With Ukraine’s sea ports blocked since the war started more than two months ago, the world’s fourth-largest grain exporter has been forced to send shipments by train via its western border or through its small Danube river ports into Romania. “This is the first panamax vessel with Ukrainian corn to leave the port,” Comvex President Viorel Panait told Reuters. The ship taking the…