Joe Biden issues new sanctions against Russia in response to Alexei Navalny death - Financial Times

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1. Joe Biden issues new sanctions against Russia in response to Alexei Navalny death  Financial Times
2. US targets Russia with more than 500 new sanctions  BBC
3. Biden announces hundreds of new sanctions targeting Russia  The Guardian
4. Ukraine war: Hundreds of new sanctions placed on Russia by US and EU after Alexei Navalny's death  Sky News
5. Biden meets with family of late Russian dissident Alexei Navalny  The Independent

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2024-02-23 22:05:18Z
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Two years into Russia's invasion, exhausted Ukrainians refuse to give up - BBC

Getty Images

By James Waterhouse

BBC News, in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine

It translates as "crooked horn", but President Zelensky calls Kryvyi Rih his "big soul and heart".

He credits this gritty, industrial city with moulding his character. He grew up in a sprawling block of flats known as the Anthill.

When you stand in front of this towering structure, Volodymyr Zelensky's journey from this setting to wartime leader feels remarkable.

"I want the war to end soon," says Vita, who lived near Zelensky's parents. "He's a normal, good guy who fights for people. I just want this war and the sirens to end sooner."

But with minimal Ukrainian progress and growing Russian dominance, there is no end in sight, and that's both fuelling and being fuelled by influential pockets of Western doubters.

At the recent Munich Security Conference, President Zelensky told delegates not to ask Ukraine when the war would end, but instead to "ask why Putin is still able to continue it".

With blocked military aid now directly hampering his forces on the front line, it was a swipe at those delaying the ammunition and weapons his soldiers desperately need.

BBC

We must fight; we won't tolerate anything else.

Valeriy
Anthill resident

"I'm no politician," confesses Valeriy, a man in his 80s perched outside a grocery shop. "We can't ask when the war will stop again.

"We must fight; we won't tolerate anything else. People are so angry now."

That appetite to defend has remained mostly intact since that morning on 24 February 2022. Against a terrifying unknown, people volunteered in their thousands to join Ukraine's fight.

The world's gaze turned to Kyiv, from where I was reporting.

President Zelensky's profile and popularity went stratospheric as he turned down offers of evacuation and remained in Kyiv.

"I need ammunition, not a ride," he said in a now iconic quote.

His needs have not changed, but his pleas have lost their electrifying impact.

A failed counter-offensive in 2023 led to uncomfortable questions over whether Ukraine is capable of liberating its territory.

• Is Russia turning the tide in Ukraine?
• Frontline medics count cost of two years of Ukraine war

Republican doubters in the US are hindering Ukraine's ability to fight by blocking billions of dollars worth of military aid. Kyiv says more frontline troops are dying as a result of weapon shortages and dwindling ammunition.

All the while, Russia has remained on a war footing, and its allies North Korea and Iran are supplying more missiles to rain down on Ukrainian cities.

BBC/Scarlett Barter

Kryvyi Rih isn't immune to the fatigue most of the country feels. Some have had enough of this war, many men are fearful of being conscripted, and yet they say the conflict is still a fight for survival.

The idea of a compromise or concession to Russia is viewed as a defeat. It's existential.

In a symptom of the world Ukrainians live in, I now associate playgrounds with death.

The last time I saw children play in one was at a school next to my flat in Kyiv, before the invasion. Now they are the site of a devastating missile strike, lying abandoned on a front line, or in Brovary, near Kyiv, the scene of a helicopter crash.

Youthful innocence replaced with body bags and destruction.

In Kryvyi Rih, we meet a tearful Yuriy as he watches his flat get demolished after a missile strike last year. Exposed wallpaper patterns reveal the different lives destroyed.

"No one needs this war, what is it for anyway?" he asks. "So many people are being killed."

So, does he think Ukraine should swap territory for peace?

"Definitely not," he replies bluntly. "A lot of people died for those territories. There is no point in giving them up."

The lack of battlefield progress caused a corrosive rift between President Zelensky and the head of his armed forces Valerii Zaluzhnyi. Now sacked, General Zaluzhnyi is seen as a potential political rival to his old boss.

Around Kryvyi Rih, Ukrainians try to help where their country's allies increasingly will not. In one inconspicuous building, a growing army of volunteers stitch camouflage nettings for troops on the front line.

The men and women are kept separate because of "their different jokes," explains the organiser.

In another industrial wing of the city, a former bike club has swapped cycling for smoke. Teams mix chemicals into canisters which will become smoke grenades. A useful military tool if you are trying to attack, or evacuate the injured.

"It's impossible to stay at home with my thoughts when my husband is fighting," explains Ines, one of the volunteers. "Here I feel I can do something to make it easier for them."

Russia's decade of aggression towards Ukraine began with the annexation of Crimea in 2014 and then spilled into a draining war in the country's east. On the 731st day of the full-scale invasion, it's a different kind of war.

While extraordinary, Ukraine's successes in defence and degrading Russia's navy have not changed the tide in its favour.

The novelty of this war has gone. Ukraine, Kryvyi Rih and its famous son will need to find new reserves of strength and a clever playbook to keep the world engaged.

Additional reporting by Hanna Chornous, Scarlett Barter and Svitlana Libet.

Related Topics

• War in Ukraine
• Volodymyr Zelensky
• Russia
• Ukraine

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2024-02-24 06:00:14Z
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Trump demands 'immediate solution' to protect IVF in Alabama - The Independent

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Donald Trump is demanding Alabama lawmakers “act quickly to find an immediate solution” to protect in vitro fertilization in the wake of a shock state supreme court ruling that forced hospital systems and IVF clinics to halt treatments, while throwing doctors and families into legal chaos.

Republican officials have scrambled to respond to the ruling with a cohesive message, while Democratic rivals have linked the decision to a years-long campaign to undermine reproductive health care and restrict abortion rights.

On his Truth Social on Friday, the frontrunner for the Republican nomination for president vowed his support for “the creation of strong, thriving, healthy American families” and “fertility treatments like IVF in every State in America.”

“Like the OVERWHELMING MAJORITY of Americans, including the VAST MAJORITY of Republicans, Conservatives, Christians, and Pro-Life Americans, I strongly support the availability of IVF for couples who are trying to have a precious baby,” he added.

He called on Alabama’s Republican-controlled state legislature to “act quickly to find an immediate solution to preserve the availability of IVF in Alabama.”

“The Republican Party should always be on the side of the Miracle of Life – and the side of Mothers, Fathers, and their Beautiful Babies,” he added. “IVF is an important part of that, and our Great Republican Party will always be with you, in your quest, for the ULTIMATE JOY IN LIFE!”

Last week’s ruling from the state’s conservative Supreme Court – which defined frozen embryos as children, effectively expanding the scope of so-called “personhood” embraced by Christian fundamentalists and anti-abortion groups who believe life begins at conception – has drawn wide condemnation and alarm, with fertility clinics across the state fearing swift legal scrutiny while families were left in heartbreaking limbo.

At least three major fertility clinics halted IVF treatments in Alabama, and at least one major embryo shipping company announced it was “pausing” its business in the state.

Alabama State Senator Tim Melson is planning to introduce a state-level measure to ensure protections for IVF treatment, despite the ruling, while Republican Governor Kay Ivey has signalled her support for the measure.

In a statement on Friday, she announced that her support for “a culture of life” in the state included helping “couples hoping and praying to be parents who utilize IVF.”

On Thursday, President Joe Biden said that the “disregard for women’s ability to make these decisions for themselves and their families is outrageous and unacceptable.”

“Make no mistake: this is a direct result of the overturning of Roe v Wade,” he said in a statement, referencing the landmark US Supreme Court case that was reversed in 2022, revoking a constitutional right to abortion care and upending reproductive health rights and legal protections across the US.

That decision, possible only with Mr Trump’s appointment of three justices to build a conservative supermajority on the nation’s high court, has triggered sweeping anti-abortion laws in more than a dozen states.

“American women couldn’t care less what Donald Trump posts on Truth Social, they care that they can’t access fertility treatment because of him,” Mr Biden’s presidential campaign manager Julia Chavez Rodriguez said in a statement on Friday.

“He proudly overturned Roe. He brags about it on the campaign trail,” she said. “Trump cannot run from his record and neither can the millions of women who his actions have hurt.”

The Alabama Supreme Court ruling concerned a couple’s wrongful death lawsuit against a fertility clinic, and whether staff who allegedly breached the clinic’s cryogenic storage facility mistakenly destroyed embryos.

According to the court, under state law, “unborn children are ‘children’ ... without exception based on developmental stage, physical location, or any other ancillary characteristics.”

In a concurring opinion, the court’s anti-abortion Chief Justice Tom Parker – a proponent of Christian nationalist doctrine – stated that the court had adopted a “theologically based view of the sanctity of life,” and wrote that “human life cannot be wrongfully destroyed without incurring the wrath of a holy God.”

Mr Trump’s Truth Social post landed in the middle of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), where far-right influencers, members of Congress and other Trump allies have gathered for a four-day event to outline a 2024 agenda.

Republican US Senator Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, a staunch ally to the former president, told reporters at the event he was “all for” the decision, then said he supports fertility treatments like IVF.

Far-right influencer Michael Knowles, who addressed the conference on Thursday, announced on X that he believed Alabama doctors and IVF clinics should be criminally prosecuted.

Earlier this week, GOP presidential rival Nikki Haley called embryos “babies” and then later clarified that she doesn’t want to see clinics shutter, nor does she want to see doctors “stop doing artificial insemination”.

On Thursday, three Republican governors said they were generally supportive of IVF treatments but said they had not seen the ruling to stake out a position.

Meanwhile, on Fox News, the network spent fewer than six minutes of coverage on the ruling through Wednesday, even as clinics were drawing headlines for their suspension of IVF procedures.

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2024-02-23 22:24:29Z
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US pulls off first moon landing since 1972 with spacecraft Odysseus - Al Jazeera English

Odysseus is the first spacecraft built by a private company to land on the lunar surface.

The United States has pulled off its first lunar landing in more than half a century with a spacecraft built and operated by a Texas-based private company.

Odysseus, an uncrewed robot lander built by Houston-based Intuitive Machines with funding from NASA, touched down near the lunar south pole at around 23:23 GMT, the company announced in a webcast on Thursday.

The successful landing followed a tense final descent during which flight controllers had to switch to an untested landing system after a problem arose with the spacecraft’s autonomous navigation system.

NASA administrator Bill Nelson described the landing as a “triumph for humanity” and a “new adventure in science, innovation and American leadership in space”.

“Today, for the first time in half a century, the US has returned to the Moon,” Nelson said in a video posted on social media.

“Today for the first time in the history of humanity, a commercial company, an American company, launched and led the voyage up there. And today is a day that shows the power and promise of NASA’s commercial partnerships.”

Today, for the first time in half a century, America has returned to the Moon 🇺🇸.

On the eighth day of a quarter-million-mile voyage, @Int_Machines aced the landing of a lifetime.

What a feat for IM, @SpaceX & @NASA.

What a triumph for humanity.

Odysseus has taken the Moon. pic.twitter.com/JwtCQmMS2K

— Bill Nelson (@SenBillNelson) February 23, 2024

Intuitive Machines’ mission, the first successful lunar landing by a private firm, follows a failed bid by Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic Technology last month that ended with its lander crashing back to Earth.

The last time a US spacecraft landed on the moon was in 1972 when Apollo 17 brought astronauts Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt to the lunar surface.

Only four countries apart from the US have successfully landed on the moon.

Japan last month became the fifth country to achieve the feat when it landed its so-called “Moon Sniper” spacecraft on the lunar surface, following in the footsteps of the former Soviet Union, China and India.

Odysseus launched from Florida on February 15 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

The hexagon-shaped craft carried NASA’s scientific instruments, including cameras and a device to analyse clouds of charged dust particles, and cargo shipped on behalf of private clients, including the latest insulating jacket fabric produced by Columbia Sportswear.

Odysseus, which is solar-powered, is expected to operate for a week on the surface of the moon before the lunar night renders the lander inoperable.

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2024-02-23 04:15:55Z
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Spain tower block fire: Rescuers search for up to 15 missing people – Europe live - The Guardian

María José Catalá, the mayor of Valencia, has said that there are between 9 and 15 people who have yet to be located, Reuters reported.

At least 4 people died when a fire broke out in a 14-storey residential building.

A spokesperson for the Spanish government said the prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, will be visiting Valencia today to “learn first-hand the details of the tragic fire that affected two buildings in the Campanar neighbourhood.”

The prime minister will visit the area at 11:45am local time together with local officials and will later address the press.

Pedro Sánchez, the Spanish prime minister, is travelling to Valencia this morning, El País reports.

A large number of emergency crews are still working at the scene of the fire in Valencia.

Esther Punchades, from insurance inspection agency APCAS, told state broadcaster TVE a lack of firewalls and the use of the plastic material polyurethane on the facade of the building that caught fire would have contributed to the rapid spread of the blaze, Reuters reported.

Here are the latest images from Valencia, where at least 4 people died in a fire in an apartment building.

Here’s the latest update from local authorities:

• 4 people are confirmed dead.

• Between 9 and 15 people still not located.

• 15 people treated for injuries, 7 of them firefighters.

• 3 days of mourning declared in Valencia

María José Catalá, the mayor of Valencia, has said that there are between 9 and 15 people who have yet to be located, Reuters reported.

At least 4 people died when a fire broke out in a 14-storey residential building.

4 people have died in a fire in Valencia.

The fire began yesterday afternoon and spread in a 14-storey building, local media reported.

Good morning and welcome back to the Europe blog.

Today we will be looking at the latest news out of Spain.

Send tips and comments to lili.bayer@theguardian.com.

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2024-02-23 08:00:00Z
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Moscow hired gunmen to murder Russian defector, Spanish intel says - POLITICO Europe

According to the outlet’s sources, Spanish intelligence services did not know that Kuzminov was in Spain, as they were not informed of his arrival. Earlier this week, government spokesperson Pilar Alegría did not answer questions on whether Kuzminov was under Spanish police protection, saying the case was “under investigation.”

Kuzminov defected from Russia in August 2023, flying his Mi-8 helicopter into Ukraine from the front line and surrendering to authorities. Ukraine reportedly paid him the hryvnia equivalent of $500,000 as a reward for defecting.

Diplomatic sources told El País that Spain will deliver a “forceful response” if authorities confirm the Kremlin’s involvement.

Sergey Naryshkin, the head of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service, told Russian state-run news agency TASS that Kuzminov was a “traitor and criminal” who “became a moral corpse at the very moment when he was planning his dirty and terrible crime.”

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2024-02-22 10:04:00Z
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Bobi the Portuguese mastiff stripped of record as world’s oldest ever dog - The Guardian

Every dog has its day, they say, but Bobi the Portuguese mastiff’s reign as the “world’s oldest” hound has proven short-lived.

The once record-breaking dog has been stripped of his title by Guinness World Records (GWR) after officials declared there was no proof he was as long in the tooth as his owners claimed.

In a statement, GWR said it had concluded it “no longer has the evidence it needs to support Bobi’s claim as the record holder”.

It was claimed that Bobi was 31 and five months – a dog’s life spanning about 220 canine years – when he died in October, eight months after GWR declared him the world’s oldest living dog and the oldest dog ever.

The previous record-holder was Bluey, an Australian cattle dog who died in 1939 aged 29 years and five months.

However, no sooner was Bobi crowned than questions were raised by veterinary experts over whether it was biologically possible for a dog to live that long. Online photographs of Bobi in 1999 suggested he had different coloured paws to the dog that died in Portugal last year.

Sceptics pointed out that although his age had been registered on Portugal’s national pet database, this was based on the owners’ self-certification and chipping pets had only begun in 2008. Genetic testing established that Bobi was old but not exactly how old.

Just days after Bobi’s demise, Danny Chambers, a vet and council member of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, suggested that claims the dog had lived more than three decades were false.

Chambers said that, of the 18,000 members of the Veterinary Voices group he runs, “not a single one” of his colleagues believed Bobi was actually 31 years old.

“This is the equivalent of a human living to over 200 years old which, given our current medical capabilities, is completely implausible. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, and no concrete evidence has been provided to prove his age,” he said.

A then “totally serious” investigation by the technology magazine Wired discovered the Portuguese database had “no registration or data that can confirm or deny” the owners’ claims he was born in 1992. Bobi’s owner, Leonel Costa, did not respond to Wired’s questions.

Announcing that Bobi had been scratched from the records, Mark McKinley of GWR, who conducted the review into the entry, said: “We take tremendous pride in ensuring as best we can the accuracy and integrity of all our record titles. Following concerns raised by vets and other experts, both privately as well as within public commentary, and the findings of investigations conducted by some media outlets, we felt it important to open a review into Bobi’s record.”

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2024-02-22 12:40:00Z
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