Page 88 - Russia

West teetering on brink of conflict between nuclear powers. says Russia

'United States and NATO were obsessed with the idea of inflicting "strategic defeat" on Russia,' says Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov

Indian refiners may need a rethink amid shrinking Russian crude discounts

Even after reduction, discounts on Russian crude oil may be contributing $1.5 to $2.5 a barrel to refiners' gross refining margins

Russia warns Pakistan it might ban rice imports over food safety concerns

The notification, numbered FS-SA-3/6592 and dated April 2, 2024, highlights the presence of a quarantine organism, "Megaselia scalaris (Loew)," in the rice consignment, Dawn reported

Russia says 50 Ukrainian drones targeted at energy infrastructure shot down

Ukraine launched a barrage of drones across Russia overnight, the Defence Ministry in Moscow said Saturday, in attacks that appeared to target the country's energy infrastructure. Fifty drones were shot down by air defences over eight Russian regions, including 26 over the country's western Belgorod region close to the Ukrainian border. Two people a woman with a broken leg and the man caring for her died during the barrage, after explosions sparked a blaze that set their home alight, Belgorod Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov wrote on social media. Drones were also reportedly destroyed over the Bryansk, Kursk, Tula, Smolensk, Ryazan, Kaluga regions across Russia's west and south, as well as in the Moscow region. Ukrainian officials normally decline comment about attacks on Russian soil. However, many of the drone strikes appeared to be directed toward Russia's energy infrastructure. The head of the Kaluga region, Vladislav Shapsha, said Saturday that a drone strike had sparked a blaze at

Ukraine claims it shot down a Russian bomber; Moscow says its plane crashed

Ukraine's air force claimed on Friday it shot down a Russian strategic bomber, but Moscow officials said the plane crashed in a sparsely populated area due to a malfunction after a combat mission. Neither claim could be independently verified. Previous Ukrainian claims of shooting down Russian warplanes during their more than two-year war have met with silence or denials from Moscow. Russia's air force is vastly more powerful than Ukraine's, but sophisticated missile systems provided by Kyiv's Western partners are a major threat to Russian aviation as the Kremlin's forces slowly push forward along the around 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line in what has become a grinding war of attrition. The Ukrainian report said the air force and military intelligence cooperated to bring down the Tu-22M3 bomber with anti-aircraft missiles. Russia commonly uses the bomber to fire Kh-22 cruise missiles at Ukrainian targets from inside its own airspace. The plane can also carry nuclear ...

Climate change, war, poverty biggest challenges: World Bank's Ajay Banga

There was no shortage of stressors to the global economy when Ajay Banga took charge at the World Bank almost a year ago: inflation eating at nations drowning in debt, a once-in-a-generation pandemic, climate disasters and Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Factor in the Israel-Hamas war and rising tensions between powerful nations, and today's agenda is even fuller as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund hold their spring meetings in Washington this week. The world's intertwined challenges of poverty which clearly we have seen great setbacks over the past few years combined with fragility and conflict and violence, combined with climate change, is coming into a perfect storm, Banga said in an interview with The Associated Press. "We need to put all of our efforts into this. Banga highlighted new initiatives being announced at the meetings, including plans to provide 300 million people in Africa with electricity by 2030 and 1.5 billion people worldwide with health care .

Highlights of the day: AAP MLA Amanatullah arrested in Delhi Waqf Board-linked money laundering case

Latest news updates: Catch all the news updates from around the world here

G7 foreign ministers seek urgent defence support for desperate Ukraine

G7 ministers kicked off a second day of talks on the Italian island of Capri by discussing the Middle East crisis and will turn their attention to Ukraine in the afternoon

Germany nabs 2 for spying for Russia, planning sabotage against Ukraine aid

Two German-Russian men have been arrested in Germany on suspicion of espionage, one of them accused of agreeing to carry out attacks on potential targets including US military facilities in hopes of sabotaging aid for Ukraine, prosecutors said Thursday. The two, identified only as Dieter S. and Alexander J. in line with German privacy rules, were arrested Wednesday in the Bavarian city of Bayreuth, federal prosecutors said. They said Dieter S. had been discussing possible acts of sabotage in Germany with a person linked to Russian intelligence since October, and that the main aim was to undermine military support given by Germany to Ukraine. The suspect declared himself willing to carry out bombing and arson attacks on infrastructure used by the military and industrial sites in Germany, prosecutors said in a statement. He gathered information on potential targets, including US military facilities, they added. Alexander J. allegedly helped him to do so starting in March at the latest

Russian influence operations targeting US election have begun: Microsoft

While the Russian activity Microsoft observed is not as intense as around the previous elections, it could increase in the coming months, the researchers said

Highlights of the day: Magnitude 6.3 earthquake hits western Japan

Latest news updates: Catch all the news updates from around the world here

Russia reduces railway exports of gasoline by 26.5% in April so far

Russia banned gasoline exports for six months from March 1 except to a Moscow-led economic union and some countries, with which it has direct inter-government agreements on fuel supplies

Russian missiles kill 13 people in Ukraine as war reaches critical stage

Three Russian missiles slammed into a downtown area of the northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv on Wednesday, hitting an eight-floor apartment building and killing at least 13 people, authorities said. At least 61 people, including two children, were wounded in the morning attack, Ukrainian emergency services said. Chernihiv lies about 150 kilometers (90 miles) north of the capital, Kyiv, near the border with Russia and Belarus, and has a population of around 250,000 people. The latest Russian bombardment came as the war stretched into its third year and approached what could be a critical juncture as a lack of further military support from Ukraine's Western partners increasingly leaves it at the mercy of the Kremlin's bigger forces. Through the winter months, Russia made no dramatic advance along the 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line, focusing instead on attritional warfare. However, Ukraine's shortage of artillery ammunition, troops and armoured vehicles has allowed the Russia

Olympics 2024: Uncertainty stares Russian athletes despite qualifying

With 100 days to go until the Paris Olympics, it's still not clear whether any athletes from Russia who are expected to qualify will actually go. The question is whether Moscow will accept the conditions that the International Olympic Committee set for Russia in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine. Ultimately, it could be up to individual athletes to decide whether to participate. The IOC expects that 36 Russian athletes and possibly as many as 54 will do well enough at qualifying events to compete in Paris. The IOC will let them compete as neutral athletes, meaning they can't use their country's flag or anthem or participate in team sports such as soccer and basketball. Athletes with links to the military or who have expressed support for the war will be banned. The same restrictions apply to Russian ally Belarus. Athletes from Russia and Belarus also aren't allowed to take part in the opening ceremony on July 26. Russian President Vladimir Putin has questioned the rules and as

Water level in Russia's Kurgan region crosses 'dangerous level' mark

More than 660 residential houses were flooded in the region by Wednesday morning, RIA cited emergency ministry as saying

Highlights of the day: AAP created myth of free water, says Lt Governor in letter to Arvind Kejriwal

Latest news updates: Catch all the news updates from around the world here

Russian invasion of Ukraine threatens global security: Olaf Scholz in China

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told Chinese leader Xi Jinping who hosted him in Beijing on Tuesday that Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine threatens global security, in an apparent call for China to apply greater pressure on its neighbor and close strategic partner to resolve the conflict. Scholz also told Xi at their meeting that the use of nuclear weapons in the 2-year-old war should not even be threatened, German media reported. Russian President Vladimir Putin warned last month that Russia is ready to use nuclear weapons if its sovereignty or independence is threatened, his latest such threat since invading Ukraine. Scholz told Xi that Germany's core interests were impacted by the war against Ukraine, which has threatened to spread into a regional conflict and has disrupted energy and global food supplies and other trade. Russia's actions "violate a principle of the United Nations Charter and the principle of the inviolability of national borders, Scholz was quoted as saying

Russia trying to force Ukrainians to abandon their 2nd-biggest city Kharkiv

Russia has set its sights on Kharkiv since the invasion began - and Putin's aim of subjugating Ukraine in its entirety has unlikely changed since then, western officials believe

Reliance Industries tries to sell US crude oil as Russian flows gain

Reliance also attempted to sell cargoes of Murban crude for April-May loading before offering the American oil, the traders said

Hundreds of houses, plots flooded in Russia's Kurgan: Emergency ministry

In the city of Kurgan, the region's administrative centre, power was cut off, affecting about 1,500 residents, local officials said late on Monday