News Trending War

Russian authorities claim to have thwarted a Ukrainian attempt to attack a border city as the ongoing aerial conflict between the two nations escalates. They reported intercepting a dozen missiles targeting Belgorod, where 25 people lost their lives on Saturday. Ukraine has not provided a response.

This development follows Russia’s largest aerial bombardment on Ukraine, with President Volodymyr Zelensky stating that Russia deployed around 300 missiles and 200 drones over five days. The renewed attacks began last week, prompting a Ukrainian counterattack on Belgorod that resulted in over 100 injuries.

Zelensky revealed in a broadcast that Russia fired nearly 100 strategically chosen missiles on Tuesday, and Ukrainian forces successfully shot down 10 hypersonic ballistic missiles on that day alone. Ukrainian officials reported over 130 casualties from Tuesday’s attacks, including major cities like Kharkiv and Kyiv.

In response, Russia’s air defense system intercepted 12 missiles targeting Belgorod overnight, causing one fatality and five injuries in the region. Explosions were also heard in Sevastopol, the largest city in Russian-occupied Crimea, where a missile was shot down over the port with no reported casualties or damage.

Ukrainian Ambassador to the US, Oksana Markarova, expressed that Ukraine anticipated Russia’s recent bombardment but stressed the need for more weapons to effectively respond and send a clear message to Russia to halt its actions.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has pledged to increase strikes in retaliation for Ukraine’s recent attacks on Belgorod.

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News

A lawmaker has been officially censured by the Australian Senate for blaming the New Zealand mosque attacks on Muslim migration. Senator Fraser Anning had made his comments on the day of New Zealand mosque attacks which killed 50 people last month.

Lawmakers from across the political spectrum condemned the “inflammatory and divisive” remarks of Anning on Wednesday. Fraser Anning commented that the censure was “an attack on free speech”.

“The real cause of bloodshed on New Zealand streets today is the immigration program that allowed Muslim fanatics to migrate to New Zealand in the first place.” these words by Anning made him censured by the Senate.

His colleagues had labelled him “pathetic” and “shameful”. The government and opposition together have made the motion censuring Anning.

The reprimand to be passed by the Senate in the past decade states that Mr Anning’s remarks last month did not reflect the views of the parliament or the Australian people.

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News

As a support for the victims of New Zealand Mosque attacks, the women all over New Zealand are wearing Headscarves on Friday. The idea was put forward by Thaya Ashman, a doctor in Auckland. Latest news reports had reported that a Muslim women in New Zealand is feared to go out since she felt her headscarf would make her a target for terrorism. The movement will be a support for the Muslim community in New Zealand.

Ashman said, “I wanted to say: “I wanted to say: We are with you, we want you to feel at home on your own streets, we love, support and respect you”. The women in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch posted pictures of themselves in headscarves, some with children in headscarves, too, while Christchurch geared up for prayers at a park in front of the Al Noor mosque, where most of the victims were killed last week.


Jacinda Ardern

The New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern also showed her concern towards the victims by wearing a black headscarf when meeting members of the Muslim community after the shootings.

At the Christchurch cemetery, where shooting victims were buried, woman police officer kept guard with a scarf over her head and an automatic weapon in her hands.

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News

While speaking to the media during a Post Cabinet press conference at Parliament in Wellington, on March 18, 2019, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern praised the bravery and courage by worshipers as a lone gunman massacred their friends and family, saying the nation stood with its grieving Muslim community in this “darkest of days”.

The preparations for the first burials were underway for the 50 people killed in the attack. The PM had specially mentioned three worshippers, including one of the first killed in the attack.

She had mentioned about the first man who opened the door of the Al-Noor mosque mosque – Hati Mohemmed Daoud Nabi (71). He “uttered the words ‘Hello brother, welcome’. His final words”, said Ardern.

“Of course he had no idea of the hate that sat behind the door, but his welcome tells us so much – that he was a member of a faith that welcomed all its members, that showed openness, and care”, added the PM in an emotional address to a special meeting of parliament.

About the terrorist Brenton Tarrant, who was arrested by the police, PM said “He will face the full force of the law in New Zealand”.

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Games News Sports

New Zealand’s injured captain Kane Williamson may not be playing the third Test against Bangladesh, due to his injuries. The test is scheduled to begin on Saturday in Christchurch. Reports said that Kane Williamson is expected to delay his departure for the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Williamson suffered a shoulder injury during Bangladesh’s first innings of the second Test in Wellington. New Zealand had won the match on Tuesday by an innings and 12 runs.

The head coach of the New Zealand cricket team Gary Stead had said in a statement that Williamson’s scan reports had detected a tear to his left pectoral minor muscle in his shoulder. “There’s obviously irritation and a wee bit of bleeding, it’s not a major injury,” said Gary Stead. “We’re hopeful that he will recover quickly, and the thing for us is to make sure he doesn’t aggravate it any more. He will come to Christchurch and we will make an assessment there on whether he plays.” he added.

Williamson had scored 74 although he had suffered considerable discomfort in batting.

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News Politics

Senator Elizabeth Warren on Friday vowed to break up Amazon, Google and Facebook if elected US president to promote competition in the techn sector.

Warren, who is on a vie to be in the top positions in the presidential candidates said in a blog that on their way to the top, the big tech companies purchased a long list of potential competitors, like Facebook’s acquisition of Instagram.

She wrote: “They’ve bulldozed competition, used our private information for profit, and tilted the playing field against everyone else. And in the process, they have hurt small businesses and stifled innovation,”, said in reuters reports.

Amazon unexpectedly cancelled plans in February to build an important outpost in the neighborhood that might have created 25,000 jobs, blaming opposition from local leaders.

In an event held near the proposed Amazon site, Warren said that large tech companies come into towns, cities and states and “bully everyone into doing what they want” and “roll right over” small businesses and startups which are a threat.

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News

Foreign Minister Jeremy Hunt said that the UK decides to provide diplomatic protection to British-Iranian mother. This is to underline the government’s belief that Iran has made an unjust behavior in her treatment.

Hunt said that this move is unlikely to be a “magic wand”. He said that formally it recognizes that the U.K. government views her treatment as unjust and illegal.

In a video statement in Twitter, Hunt said that “This represents a formal recognition by the British Government that her treatment fails to meet Iran’s obligations under international law and elevates it to a formal state-to-state issue”.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who was a project manager in the Thomson Reuters Foundation, was arrested in April 2016 as she headed back to Britain with her daughter after a family visit.

She was convicted of plotting to overthrow Iran’s clerical establishment. The charge was denied by her family.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe had a hunger strike in protest at her treatment in jail. She had several health issues. She was undergoing tests for breast cancer and a series of panic attacks, and her emotional state had gone worse during her confinement.

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News

Russian Parliament has passed two bills on Thursday. The first bill bans any activities of ‘disrespect’ to the state, its officials and Russian society. The second one is against spreading of what the Kremlin perceives to be ‘fake news’. It is expected that the Russian President Vladimir Putin will be signing these bills into law soon.

Both these new crimes carries heavy fines. It is reported that oppositions came from journalists, human rights group and even government ministers. The body will consider both the bills on 13th March.

The punishments for the ‘disrespect’ to the state includes fines up to 100,000 roubles (£1,150; $1,500). Repeated violations of the law could double or even triple the amount in fines, or a 15-day jail sentence.

The punishments for spreading ‘fake news’ varies. Individuals, officials and businesses will be fined 300,000, 600,000 or 1 million roubles respectively if the news spread affects “functioning of critical infrastructure” like transport or communications. The articles that containing “blatant disrespect” for the government or “public morality” should be deleted within 24 hours.

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Crime News

American rock singer David Ryan Adams (44) cancels his tour to UK and Ireland which was scheduled to begin this month, following the allegations that he had an inappropriate relationship over the internet with a teen girl beginning in 2013.

Adams was due to play nine dates in Britain and Ireland in March and April. Ticketmaster, announced on Twitter that the tour got cancelled and refund will be provided to those who purchased the tickets.

“I am not a perfect man and I have made many mistakes. To anyone I have ever hurt, however unintentionally, I apologize deeply and unreservedly.” Adams wrote on Twitter.

Adams is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and poet. He is best known for his solo career, during which he has released sixteen albums, and as a former member of rock/alternative country band Whiskeytown, with whom he recorded three studio albums.

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News Politics

The U.S. Treasury Department announced new sanctions against six military leaders who played a role in blocking humanitarian aid to the embattled South American nation. The U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned the agency’s leader, Manuel Ricardo Cristopher Figuera, and its first commissioner, Hildemaro Jose Rodriguez Mucura.

The Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, in a statement said “We are sanctioning members of Maduro’s security forces in response to the reprehensible violence, tragic deaths, and unconscionable torching of food and medicine destined for sick and starving Venezuelans”.

Steven Mnuchin said that the blockades used to halt stop the aid from entering the country are the recent example of Maduro’s “illegitimate regime weaponizing the delivery of food and critically needed supplies in order to control vulnerable Venezuelans.”

Reuters reports that a representative the U.S. Transportation Department that oversees NHTSA said that “NHTSA’s Crash Investigation Division assigned a Special Crash Investigation team to investigate the crash”, while the NTSB said it is sending a team of three “to conduct a safety investigation”.

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