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World Monthly Headline News April 2022 - Page 2
The crypto is currently being laundered through an Ethereum mixer called Tornado Cash.
By Matt Novak

The hackers behind the March 23 theft of roughly $625 million worth of cryptocurrency from the Ronin blockchain are based in North Korea, according to a new announcement from the FBI. The federal law enforcement agency claims the Lazarus Group, North Korea’s most notorious hacker gang, is laundering the money for Kim Jong Un’s regime and the U.S. Treasury is working to stop the flow of funds however it can. “The FBI continues to combat malicious cyber activity including the threat posed by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to the U.S. and our private sector partners. Through our investigation we were able to confirm Lazarus Group and APT38, cyber actors associated with the DPRK, are responsible for the theft of $620 million in Ethereum reported on March 29th,” the FBI said in a statement late Thursday.
The war in Ukraine has prompted an exodus of Russian ‘diplomats’. Does it mark the end of an era?
by Patrick Wintour Diplomatic editor

The unprecedented wave of expulsions of Russian diplomats from European capitals – now close to 400 – is not just a symbolic, if reversible, act of revulsion at the war crimes for which Russia stands accused. It is part of a decades long battle to police the dividing line between espionage and diplomacy, one in which the west of late has been accused of too often ignoring a resurgence in Russia’s clandestine activities, either because of an excessive focus on domestic terrorism, or excessive reliance on intercepts. Sir John Sawers, the former head of M16, last year said he suspected the west was picking up only 10% of Russia’s espionage. The current scale of the exodus of alleged Russian spies – probably the largest single set of such expulsions in history according to the distinguished former French diplomat François Heisbourg – may also raise questions about why the west came to indulge so many Russian “diplomats” working on European soil. By Friday, among the EU member states, only Malta, Cyprus and Hungary had so far declined to send any Russian “diplomats” packing.
sbaker@businessinsider.com (Sinéad Baker)

Finland's former prime minister said he was giving up on his hope that Finland would join NATO, but Russian President Vladimir Putin achieved it by invading Ukraine. Alexander Stubb, who was prime minister between 2014 and 2015, told Insider in a phone interview on Thursday that he had been an "advocate of Finnish NATO membership for the better part of 30 years." But his views did not get majority support due to reasons like Finland's history with neutrality and the fear of retaliation from Russian. That changed when Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24.
Moldova says reports that the Russian military’s attempt to recruit its own citizens is dangerous
Alice Vargas

Moldova said on Wednesday that reports that the Russian military is trying to recruit Moldovan citizens are serious and that it regularly discusses all matters of concern with Russian officials, in response to a question about the war in Ukraine. The comments came days after British military intelligence said Moscow was trying to replenish its forces in Ukraine by recruiting in the breakaway region of Transdniestria.
Russian submarines test-fire cruise missiles in Sea of Japan
Simon Druker

April 14 (UPI) -- Two Russian Navy submarines test-fired cruise missiles in the Sea of Japan on Thursday, the Japanese government confirmed. "The Pacific Fleet's two latest diesel-electric submarines Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky and Volkhov conducted launches of Kalibr cruise missiles from the submerged position against the naval target," Russian news agency TASS reported.
By LAURIE KELLMAN

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israel’s new laser missile-defense system has successfully intercepted mortars, rockets and anti-tank missiles in recent tests, Israeli leaders said Thursday. The Israeli-made laser system, known as the “Iron Beam,” is designed to complement a series of aerial defense systems, including the more costly rocket-intercepting Iron Dome. “This may sound like science-fiction, but it’s real,” said Prime Minister Naftali Bennett. ”The Iron Beam’s interceptions are silent, they’re invisible and they only cost around $3.50” apiece, he added. Little is known about the laser system’s effectiveness, but it is expected to be deployed on land, in the air and at sea. The goal is to deploy the laser systems around Israel’s borders over the next decade to protect the country against attacks.
Officials hail Iron Beam system after successful interceptions of guided and unguided projectiles; Gantz says all efforts being made for early deployment
By Emanuel Fabian

The Defense Ministry revealed Thursday that a laser air defense system it is developing successfully shot down drones, rockets, mortars, and anti-tank missiles in a first series of tests last month. According to the head of the ministry’s research and development team, Brig. Gen. (res.) Yaniv Rotem, the tests were conducted at “challenging” ranges and timings. “The use of a laser is a ‘game changer’ and the technology is simple to operate and proves to be economically viable,” he said.
Reuters

April 14 (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Moscow would work to redirect its energy exports eastward as Europe tries to reduce its reliance on them, adding that European nations would not be able to ditch Russian gas immediately. Russia supplies around 40% of the EU's natural gas, and western sanctions over what Moscow calls its "special military operation" in Ukraine have hit its energy exports by complicating the financing and logistics of existing deals.
insider@insider.com (John Haltiwanger)

Russia on Thursday threatened to deploy nuclear weapons to the Baltics if Finland and Sweden join NATO, despite the fact it's already assessed to have such assets in the region. "If Sweden and Finland join NATO, the length of the land borders of the alliance with the Russian Federation will more than double. Naturally, these boundaries will have to be strengthened," Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, said on Telegram. "There can be no more talk of any nuclear-free status for the Baltic — the balance must be restored," Medvedev, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, said. Lithuanian Defence Minister Arvydas Anusauskas responded by saying the Russian threat is "quite strange" given Russia currently has nuclear weapons in Kaliningrad, a Russian exclave on the Baltic sea, per Reuters. Kaliningrad is located between Lithuania and Poland, both NATO members.
Marc Champion

How the Moskva caught fire late on Wednesday remains disputed. Russia’s defense ministry said the warship’s ammunition store detonated. The governor of Ukraine’s Odesa region, Maksym Marchenko, backed up by the defense ministry, said it was struck by two Neptune missiles, a new Ukrainian anti-ship system of which just one battery exists. In either case the missile cruiser’s loss is an embarrassment for Russia and a win for Ukraine. The ship gained notoriety at the start of the war for a confrontation with a small contingent of Ukrainian guards on Snake Island in the Black Sea who, in colorful terms, reportedly told the Moskva to get lost.  It will also cost Russia militarily. While old –- it was commissioned in 1982 -- the Slava (Glory) class Moskva was refitted in 2010. It provides a mobile bubble of long-range air defense for the rest of the fleet, as well as command and control systems. Those abilities cannot be easily substituted.
By Guy Faulconbridge

LONDON, April 14 (Reuters) - One of Russian President Vladimir Putin's closest allies warned NATO on Thursday that if Sweden and Finland joined the U.S.-led military alliance then Russia would deploy nuclear weapons and hypersonic missiles in an exclave in the heart of Europe. Finland, which shares a 1,300-km (810-mile) border with Russia, and Sweden are considering joining the NATO alliance. Finland will decide in the next few weeks, Prime Minister Sanna Marin said on Wednesday. Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, said that should Sweden and Finland join NATO then Russia would have to strengthen its land, naval and air forces in the Baltic Sea. Medvedev also explicitly raised the nuclear threat by saying that there could be no more talk of a "nuclear free" Baltic - where Russia has its Kaliningrad exclave sandwiched between Poland and Lithuania. "There can be no more talk of any nuclear–free status for the Baltic - the balance must be restored," said Medvedev, who was Russian president from 2008 to 2012.
Authorities say they’ve arrested four people who were part of an elaborate scheme to kidnap a top health official and spike a national power grid to “take back the country.”
Barbie Latza Nadeau

German police are searching for a fifth suspect after four people were arrested for what’s described as an elaborate plot to cripple the country and spark a civil war over COVID restrictions. The alleged scheme is said to have included a plan to kidnap Health Minister Karl Lauterbach and sabotage utility facilities to cause a nationwide power outage. Police on Thursday searched 20 residential properties and confiscated dozens of weapons, including a Kalashnikov assault rifle and weapons. They said they also found foreign currency, gold bars, and silver coins to be used to fund the foiled plan that was “intended to cause civil war-like conditions and ultimately overthrow the democratic system in Germany,” the state prosecutor said in announcing the arrests.
The Associated Press

JOHANNESBURG — Flooding in South Africa's Durban area has taken at least 259 lives and is a "catastrophe of enormous proportions," President Cyril Ramaphosa said Wednesday. "This disaster is part of climate change. It is telling us that climate change is serious, it is here," said Ramaphosa, visiting flooded areas of Durban and the surrounding eThekwini metropolitan area. "We no longer can postpone what we need to do, and the measures we need to take to deal with climate change," he said.
By Irina Slav

Russia is ready to sell crude oil at pretty much any price, but only to friendly countries, Energy Minister Nikolay Shulginov told Russian news agency Interfax. Commenting on oil price forecasts, Shulginov said that these will need to be revised soon in light of the changes in the geopolitical and economic situation. He added that while a price range of between $80 and $150 per barrel of crude was possible, Russia was ready to sell its oil at any price range because its priority was to keep its oil industry going. "A price range of $80 to $150 per barrel is generally possible," Shulginov told Interfax, "but it is not our job to play guesswork with prices. Our job is to ensure the continue operation of the oil industry. We are ready to sell friendly countries oil and oil products at any price range." Separately, commenting on news about foreign companies' exit from the Russian energy industry, Shulginov said this exit is, for now, hypothetical. These companies, he said, would first need to find a buyer for their Russian business.
PARIS (AP) — French far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen warned Wednesday against sending any more weapons to Ukraine, and called for a rapprochement between NATO and Russia once Moscow’s war in Ukraine winds down. Le Pen, an outspoken nationalist who has long ties to Russia, also confirmed that if she unseats President Emmanuel Macron in France’s April 24 presidential runoff, she will pull France out of NATO’s military command and dial back French support for the whole European Union. Macron, a pro-EU centrist, is facing a harder-than-expected fight to stay in power, in part because the economic impact of the war is hitting poor households the hardest. France’s European partners are worried that a possible Le Pen presidency could undermine Western unity as the U.S. and Europe seek to support Ukraine and end Russia’s ruinous war on its neighbor.
By Uditha Jayasinghe and Jorgelina Do Rosario

COLOMBO/LONDON, April 12 (Reuters) - Sri Lanka's central bank said on Tuesday it had become "challenging and impossible" to repay external debt, as it tries to use its dwindling foreign exchange reserves to import essentials like fuel.
By Anna Cooban, CNN Business

London (CNN Business) Germany would plunge into a deep recession if its supply of Russian natural gas was suddenly shut off, the country's top forecasters warned on Wednesday. The country would lose 220 billion euros ($238 billion) in economic output over the next two years in the event of such a shock, according to a report by five German economic institutes. German GDP would rise by just 1.9% in 2022, and contract by 2.2% in 2023. Growth would be 2.7% this year if the gas keeps flowing. Cutting Russian gas would push Europe's largest economy into a "sharp recession," said Stefan Kooths, research director at the Kiel Institute for the World Economy and one of the report's authors.
Lori Ann LaRocco

Two Chinese carriers are shipping more empty export containers than loaded exports out of the two biggest ports in the United States, according to CNBC analysis of exclusive trade data. CNBC analyzed the container data for 2020 and 2021 from the Port of Los Angeles, Port of Long Beach, U.S. customs and IHS Markit PIERS import export data. PIERS tracks U.S. Customs cargo shipping records. The top two carriers that transported more empty containers than loaded U.S. exports out of the Port of Los Angeles were OOCL, headquartered in Hong Kong, and its parent company, COSCO, which is headquartered in Shanghai. OOCL recorded a 35.1% decrease in loaded exports and a 104.1% increase in empty containers. COSCO transported an increase of 4% in loaded containers versus a 104.6%  increase in empties.
By DARKO BANDIC

ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) — A military drone that apparently flew all the way from the Ukrainian war zone over three European NATO member states before crashing in the Croatian capital was armed with an explosive device, Croatian crash investigators said Wednesday. The 6-ton Soviet-era aircraft apparently drifted uncontrolled out of Ukraine, crossed into Romania and Hungary before entering Croatia, slamming into a field near a student dormitory early morning on March 10 in Zagreb. About 40 parked cars were damaged in the large explosion, but no one was injured. Members of the Croatian investigative team told reporters Wednesday that fragments of the drone found at the crash site showed that the device carried an “improvised aircraft bomb” that was filled with unknown type of explosives.
bailiwickexpress.com

Yesterday, officers executed search warrants at an unnamed address. The Royal Court also imposed a formal freezing order, known as a saisie judiciaire, "over assets understood to be valued in excess of US$7 billion which are suspected to be connected to Mr Abramovich and which are either located in Jersey or owned by Jersey incorporated entities." The raid and freezing order were confirmed by the Law Officers' Department this morning. They said that "no further comment will be made at this stage". The States of Jersey Police also declined to comment further.
Paul Mozur, Steven Lee Myers and John Liu

When Twitter put up a warning message atop a Russian government post denying civilian killings in Bucha, Ukraine, last week, China’s state media rushed to its defense. “On Twitter @mfa_russia’s statement on #Bucha got censored,” wrote Frontline, a Twitter account associated with China’s official English-language broadcaster, CGTN. In a Chinese Communist Party newspaper, an article declared that Russians had offered definitive evidence to prove that the lurid photos of bodies in the streets of Bucha, a suburb of Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, were a hoax. A party television station in Shanghai said Ukraine’s government had created the grisly tableaux to win sympathy in the West. “Obviously, such evidence would not be admissible in court,” the report said. Only a month ago, the White House warned China not to amplify Russia’s campaign to sow disinformation about the war in Ukraine. The Chinese efforts have intensified anyway, contradicting and disputing the policies of NATO capitals, even as Russia faced renewed condemnation for the killings in Bucha and other atrocities in recent days.
Sam Meredith

LONDON — Finland and Sweden could both seek to join NATO in the coming weeks, warning Europe’s security landscape has “completely changed” in the aftermath of Russia’s onslaught in Ukraine. Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin said Wednesday that the Nordic country, which shares a 1,300-kilometer border with Russia, would decide on whether to join the U.S.-led military alliance “within weeks.” Finnish lawmakers are expected to debate the pros and cons of joining the 30-member alliance upon returning from their Easter break.
Reuters

BERLIN, April 13 (Reuters) - The European Union should impose an embargo on Russian oil as soon as possible, the chairmen of three German parliamentarian committees said on Tuesday after a visit to Ukraine. German Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael Roth said cutting Russian oil would be a very important signal because it would affect Russia's main source of income. With mounting civilian deaths in Ukraine amid Russia's invasion, Germany, Europe's largest economy, is under pressure to wean itself off Russian gas and oil, as critics say the revenue provides Moscow with vital funds to wage war.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy rejects request by Frank-Walter Steinmeier for meeting in Kyiv, Bild reports
Philip Oltermann

Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has rejected a request by the German president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, to visit Kyiv along with other European politicians on Wednesday. Steinmeier, a former foreign minister and erstwhile ally of the ex-chancellor Gerhard Schröder, is on a state visit in Poland, where he is discussing the implications of the Russian war in Ukraine with his Polish counterpart, Andrzej Duda. According a report in the German newspaper Bild, Steinmeier had planned to travel to Kyiv with the presidents of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland on Wednesday. However, his request for a meeting was rejected by Zelenskiy, with Bild citing the reason as the German Social Democrat’s previously close ties to the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, and his history as an advocate of close Russian-German economic ties.
Giulia Carbonaro

Steven Seagal has expressed his unwavering support for Vladimir Putin and his allies, even as most of the Western world turns its back on the Russian president following the invasion of Ukraine. The Hollywood star is a vocal supporter of Putin, who he considers a friend. At a restaurant in Moscow on Sunday, where the actor was attending celebrations for his 70th birthday, Seagal called Putin's allies his "family" and "friends," as reported by The Times. According to The Times, the party was attended by Putin allies including Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of RT, the state-funded Russian broadcaster, and television presenter Vladimir Solovyev—both of whom have been targeted with Western sanctions because of their close ties with Putin.
By Simone McCarthy

Hong Kong (CNN) Anonymous Twitter users are exposing the extreme nationalism and pro-Russian sentiment circulating online in China -- and Beijing is not happy about it. Scores of screen-grabbed posts from China's most popular social media platforms have been translated and shared on Twitter in recent weeks, offering Western audiences a rare glimpse into the Chinese internet. Among those posts: a prominent military blog falsely claiming a Russian attack on a train station in Kramatorsk was actually carried out by Ukraine, a well known media commentator dismissing the atrocities in Bucha, and a vlogger with hundreds of thousands of followers using a misogynistic term for Ukraine. The posts appear courtesy of anonymous Twitter users who say their aim is to expose Western audiences to the true extent of pro-Russian or nationalistic content on China's heavily censored platforms.
Tony Capaccio

(Bloomberg) -- China and Russia continue to develop and deploy weapons that can attack U.S. satellites even as they increase their own fleets of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance space vehicles, according to the Pentagon’s intelligence agency. Although the updated report issued Tuesday by the Defense Intelligence Agency is based mostly on news accounts and declarations from Chinese and Russian officials, it’s a useful summary of the threats that the U.S. says are driving major investments in the Pentagon’s proposed fiscal 2023 defense budget, specifically for the U.S. Space Force and Space Command.
Celina Tebor and John Bacon, USA TODAY

The United States and its allies’ newest round of sanctions against Russian President Putin will force him to focus on holding together the Russian economy, taking his focus away from the war, Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo, one of the main U.S. coordinators on the Russian sanctions strategy, said Tuesday. The sanctions will target Russian supply chains that contribute to fueling the war, including “everything from looking at ways to go after the military devices that have been built to use not only in Ukraine but to project power elsewhere,” Adeyemo told the Associated Press. The U.S. and European Union have levied rounds of punishing sanctions against Russia, from targeting Putin’s adult daughters to agriculture and oil.
Bloomberg News

The U.S. ordered all non-emergency staff at its Shanghai consulate to leave China, drawing a rebuke from Beijing and generating criticism even from Americans in the locked-down financial hub. The State Department ordered the departures Monday, according to a post on its website, as most of Shanghai’s 25 million residents were restricted to their homes for at least two weeks. Anger has risen over food shortages, the inability to access medical care and even pet killings.
Does China believe Russia’s unprovoked attack on Ukraine is not confrontational? China should stop blaming NATO for Russia’s unprovoked attack on Ukraine that is scaring counties into NATO.

By John Feng

NATO's attempt to draw China away from Russia's orbit has failed. The West's warnings against siding with Moscow have not only fallen on deaf ears, they have also led to an almighty backlash out of Beijing. When Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg recently expressed his dismay at China's unwillingness to condemn Russia's war against Ukraine, he described Beijing's posture as a "serious challenge" to the North Atlantic Alliance, which would have to "take account of how China's growing influence and coercive policies affect our security." Chinese diplomats immediately fired back. On Monday, Zhao Lijian, a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, offered a lengthy retort to Stoltenberg, which again framed NATO as outdated and accused it of damaging the post-Cold War security order in Europe. The bloc was now attempting to destabilize China's immediate neighborhood, too, said Zhao.
By Pinar Sevinclidir

Istanbul, Turkey — A large, mostly Russian crowd pulsed to music from a stage in Turkey recently. The message blaring from the speakers was for the whole world to hear. "No to war!" shouted prominent Russian rapper Oxxxymiron from the front of the crowd. He was giving a voice to the many Russians who do not back their president's war in Ukraine. Oxxxymiron's March concert in Istanbyl, the proceeds from which went to help displaced Ukrainians, drew a large crowd of like-minded Russians. Many had only recently left their country in protest of Vladimir Putin's invasion of Russia's neighbor to the west.
Analysis by Luke McGee, CNN

(CNN) When Vladimir Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine, his goals were clear. He wanted to bring his neighbor to heel, assert Russian authority in Eastern Europe and make the West think twice about expanding militarily and politically toward Russia's borders. But in one important respect, Putin's plan appears to have failed: The war has united the West against Moscow in ways that seemed unimaginable in January. Now, Finland and Sweden -- nations that are officially non-aligned -- are edging ever closer toward joining NATO, the US-led military alliance. Finland is expected to produce a report on the country's security policy this week, a key step on the road to the nation potentially applying for NATO. That report is expected to start discussions in Finland's parliament about whether to pursue membership in the alliance -- discussions which Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin said she hoped would wrap up "before mid-summer."
Hundreds of foreign companies from Pepsi to Apple to IKEA have pulled back operations in Russia as the West has hit the country with sweeping sanctions. Here’s how Russians are living with the economic fallout from Moscow’s decision to invade Ukraine.
Ravi Buddhavarapu

Pakistan has a new prime minister — and this could augur well for the South Asian country’s return to a healthier economy and its relations with its traditional supporter, the U.S., as well as its rival, India. On Monday, Pakistan’s parliament picked Shehbaz Sharif as the country’s new prime minister, just days after his predecessor Imran Khan was ousted in a no-confidence vote. In what one observer called the “affirmation of democracy,” the move was by no means inevitable in a country where no prime minister has served a full term in office. Surprising observers, the all-powerful Pakistan army, which has ruled the country for decades by staging coups, stayed in the barracks.
John Bacon, Tom Vanden Brook, Jorge L. Ortiz, Ella Lee, Celina Tebor | USA TODAY

Russia's audacious invasion of Ukraine is proceeding as planned and peace talks have reached a "dead end," Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday. Putin, speaking at a joint press conference with ally Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, accused Ukraine of violating agreements made during talks in Istanbul. He once again dismissed images of bodies strewn in Bucha and other cities as staged by Ukraine and said Russia's total focus is on supporting separatists in the eastern Donbas region. The war will “continue until its full completion and the fulfillment of the tasks that have been set," Putin said. He said Russia was forced to invade Ukraine to protect ethnic Russians in the separatists territories of the Donbas region, where Russia is expected to launch a major offensive in the coming days or weeks.
Is this the new Russia and China democratic world order, we tell you what you can and cannot do but you do not dare tell us what we can and cannot do or we will destroy you.
BBC News

Russia has warned Finland and Sweden against joining Nato, arguing the move would not bring stability to Europe. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that "the alliance remains a tool geared towards confrontation". It comes as US defence officials said Moscow's invasion of Ukraine has been a "massive strategic blunder" which will likely bring Nato enlargement. US officials expect the Nordic neighbours to bid for membership of the alliance, potentially as early as June. Washington is believed to support the move which would see the Western alliance grow to 32 members. US State Department officials said last week that discussions had taken place between Nato leaders and foreign ministers from Helsinki and Stockholm.
By Nadine Schmidt, Nic Robertson and Rob Picheta, CNN

Austria's Chancellor Karl Nehammer said he raised alleged Russian atrocities in Ukraine during a "tough" and unfriendly meeting Monday with Vladimir Putin -- the first Western sit-down with the Russian President since he launched his invasion in February. "This is not a friendly visit. I have just come from Ukraine and have seen with my own eyes the immeasurable suffering caused by the Russian war of aggression," Nehammer was quoted as saying in a statement issued by his office after the meeting outside Moscow. Nehammer is the first European leader to meet Putin face-to-face since his invasion of Ukraine. His visit divided opinion among EU leaders, with some expressing skepticism about engaging with the Russian leader.The pair spoke for about 75 minutes at Putin's Novo-Ogaryovo residence near Moscow, Nehammer's spokesperson said, in talks the Austrian leader described as "very direct, open and tough."
By Anna Cooban, CNN Business

London (CNN Business) Russia has defaulted on its foreign debt because it offered bondholders payments in rubles, not dollars, credit ratings agency S&P has said.Russia attempted to pay in rubles for two dollar-denominated bonds that matured on April 4, S&P said in a note on Friday. The agency said this amounted to a "selective default" because investors are unlikely to be able to convert the rubles into "dollars equivalent to the originally due amounts." According to S&P, a selective default is declared when an entity has defaulted on a specific obligation but not its entire debt.Moscow has a grace period of 30 days from April 4 to make the payments of capital and interest, but S&P said it does not expect it will convert them into dollars given Western sanctions that undermine its "willingness and technical abilities to honor the terms and conditions" of its obligations.
Scilla Alecci

After Western nations blacklisted Russia’s biggest banks in response to the invasion of Ukraine, many Russians rushed to ATMs, grimly standing in long lines to try to withdraw their savings. Some of the banks’ top executives had less reason to worry. They had already taken steps that may help blunt the impact of sanctions on their personal wealth, according to secret documents examined by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists as part of the Pandora Papers investigation. Over the last decade, eight executives at five of Russia’s biggest financial institutions – Sberbank, Alfa Bank, VTB, Gazprombank and VEB – exploited the secrecy of the offshore financial system to stash wealth in faraway jurisdictions, the Pandora Papers reveal. All eight of the bankers were involved in a variety of offshore maneuvers in recent years as Russia’s relationship with the rest of the world became increasingly fraught, the records show.
By Brandon Specktor published about 9 hours ago

Classified data prevented scientists from verifying their discovery for 3 years. A fireball that blazed through the skies over Papua New Guinea in 2014 was actually a fast-moving object from another star system, according to a recent memo (opens in new tab) released by the U.S. Space Command (USSC). The object, a small meteorite measuring just 1.5 feet (0.45 meter) across, slammed into Earth's atmosphere on Jan. 8, 2014, after traveling through space at more than 130,000 mph (210,000 km/h) — a speed that far exceeds the average velocity of meteors that orbit within the solar system, according to a 2019 study of the object published in the preprint database arXiv.
By Sophia Saifi, Rhea Mogul and Aliza Kassim CNN

Islamabad, Pakistan (CNN) Pakistan's lawmakers voted in opposition leader Shehbaz Sharif as the country's new prime minister on Monday, after Imran Khan was ousted at the weekend in a no-confidence vote over allegations of poor governance. Sharif, the leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-N party and younger brother of three-time prime minister Nawaz Sharif, received 174 out of 342 votes in Monday's vote in parliament and is set to serve as prime minister until the next general election, which is expected to take place in 2023. All of Khan's lawmakers from the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party resigned en masse in protest ahead of Monday's vote, and there will now have to be urgent elections to replace them. Following the vote, Khan called on his supporters to take to the streets. His next rally is scheduled for April 16 in Karachi, the largest city in Pakistan.
Amanda Macias

WASHINGTON – A Ukrainian delegation warned U.S. officials in Washington this week that security assistance packages are not arriving quick enough in the besieged country, a plea that comes amid Western security claims that the Kremlin will soon intensify its military campaign. Over the past week, the delegation of Ukrainian civil society advocates, military veterans and former government officials met with 45 lawmakers, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, officials at the departments of State and Defense and the National Security Council at the White House. “It’s the 44th day of the war that we were supposed to lose on the third day,” began Daria Kaleniuk, who runs Ukraine’s Anti-Corruption Action Center, a national organization that assists Ukraine’s parliament and prosecutor’s office. “What we need now is to arm our military and our territorial defense units to be able to prevent more graves in the backyards of innocent people,” she said on Friday.
By Tassilo Hummel and Benoit Van Overstraeten

PARIS, April 10 (Reuters) - France's incumbent leader Emmanuel Macron and far-right challenger Marine Le Pen will qualify for an April 24 presidential election runoff, initial projections by four pollsters showed after voting closed on Sunday. Macron led Le Pen in the first round, the separate estimates by Ifop, OpinionWay,Elabe and Ipsos showed. Macron won 28.1-29.5% of votes while Le Pen won 23.3-24.4% of voter support, they projected. That outcome would set up a duel between an economic liberal with a globalist outlook in Macron and a deeply eurosceptic economic nationalist who, until the Ukraine war, was an open admirer of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Not for two decades has a French president won a second term.
Reuters

HANOVER/FRANKFURT, April 10 (Reuters) - Around 600 pro-Russian protesters in a 350-car motorcade set off on a demonstration in Hanover in the north of Germany on Sunday, where there was also a counter-demonstration of around 700 people supporting Ukraine in the city centre, local police said. The motorcade, flying Russian and also a few German flags, is protesting against discrimination in Germany towards Russians following the Ukraine invasion. Police said fences had been put up to separate the pro-Russian protesters from the counter-demonstration and they added that the protests had been peaceful so far.
by Tafi Mhaka

On March 30, just a day after a Russian missile hit an administrative building in the port city of Mykolaiv in southern Ukraine, killing at least 12 people, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov made the case for the establishment of new world order. In a videotaped message to his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, Lavrov claimed the world is “living through a very serious stage in the history of international relations”. He added, “We, together with you, and with our sympathisers will move towards a multipolar, just, democratic world order”. Lavrov’s sentiments echoed Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping’s February 4 joint statement announcing the beginning of a new era in international relations. In that statement, the two leaders not only called for a new, multipolar order but lamented the West’s “unilateral approaches to addressing international issues”, claiming such attitudes “incite contradictions, differences and confrontation” and hamper “the development and progress of mankind”.
By DUSAN STOJANOVIC, Associated Press

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Russian ally Serbia took the delivery of a sophisticated Chinese anti-aircraft system in a veiled operation this weekend, amid Western concerns that an arms buildup in the Balkans at the time of the war in Ukraine could threaten the fragile peace in the region. Media and military experts said Sunday that six Chinese Air Force Y-20 transport planes landed at Belgrade's civilian airport early Saturday, reportedly carrying HQ-22 surface-to-air missile systems for the Serbian military.
Reuters

MEXICO CITY, April 9 (Reuters) - Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Saturday that Mexico does not accept the Russian invasion of Ukraine in a video message released to coincide with a global event in support of Ukrainian victims of the conflict. "We do not accept Russia's invasion of Ukraine, because we have suffered from invasions," said Lopez Obrador, referencing the Spanish, French, and American invasions of the Latin American nation.
BBC

Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan has been ousted from power after losing a no-confidence vote in his leadership. The vote was held past midnight after opposition parties brought a motion against him, which was upheld by the Supreme Court. Mr Khan had said he would not recognise an opposition government, claiming - without evidence - that there was a US-led conspiracy to remove him. The assembly will now appoint a new prime minister. That person will be able to hold power until October 2023 when the next election is due to be held. Mr Khan becomes the first Pakistani prime minister to be ousted by a no-confidence vote.
President Emmanuel Macron is ahead in the polls, but Marine Le Pen has closed the gap heading into the first round of voting on Sunday.
By Nancy Ing and Patrick Smith

PARIS — President Emmanuel Macron looks set to face off against the far-right nationalist Marine Le Pen in an increasingly narrow fight for re-election, opinion polls suggest before the first round of voting on Sunday. French voters will choose among 12 candidates, and the two with the most votes will face each other in a second round two weeks later, on April 24. Polls suggest that the most likely outcome will be a rerun of the 2017 election, when Macron beat Le Pen, 66 percent to 33 percent, in the second round. Macron is ahead in opinion polls of both rounds of voting. The polling companies Ipsos and Sopra Steria on Thursday put Macron firmly in the lead with 26.5 percent of the vote — but Le Pen is close behind, at 23 percent, and closing the gap. He was 16 percentage points behind Macron at the start of March.
Sarah Al-Arshani

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the worst conversation he's had since the war in Ukraine started was with a European Union politician that asked him if the war was staged. "There was a bad situation with a leading EU politician. I don't want to talk about it. He basically said: Show us proof that all this was not staged. That your people really died," Zelenskyy said in an interview with BILD reporter Paul Ronzheimer on Friday. Zelenskyy refused to name the politician or when exactly this conversation happened, but his remarks come after a number of atrocities across Ukraine.
Chelsea Ong

Russian President Vladimir Putin might resort to weapons of mass destruction, like chemical and tactical nuclear weapons, if he fails to achieve a “conventional forces victory” in eastern Ukraine, says Niall Ferguson, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. “Those are very serious risks the Biden administration seems to be discounting rather too casually,” Ferguson, who was also a history professor at Harvard University, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” on Thursday. The U.S. strategy seems to be to let the war go on to “bleed Russia dry” and hope for a regime change in Moscow, but Ferguson said this is a “very hazardous” strategy.
Megan Sauer

Elon Musk says a lot of seemingly fantastical things. For example: The billionaire Tesla and SpaceX CEO seems to believe that humans will eventually be able to live forever, by downloading their brains into robots. “I think it is possible,” Musk, 50, recently told Insider. “Yes, we could download the things that we believe make ourselves so unique. Now, of course, if you’re not in that body anymore, that is definitely going to be a difference, but as far as preserving our memories, our personality, I think we could do that.” By Musk’s account, such technology will be a gradual evolution from today’s forms of computer memory. “Our memories are stored in our phones and computers with pictures and video,” he said. “Computers and phones amplify our ability to communicate, enabling us to do things that would have been considered magical ... We’ve already amplified our human brains massively with computers.”
By NOMAAN MERCHANT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin may use the Biden administration’s support for Ukraine as a pretext to order a new campaign to interfere in American politics, U.S. intelligence officials have assessed. Intelligence agencies have so far not found any evidence that Putin has authorized measures like the ones Russia is believed to have undertaken in the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections in support of former President Donald Trump, according to several people familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive findings. But given Putin’s antipathy toward the West and his repeated denunciations of Ukraine, officials believe he may see the U.S. backing of Ukraine’s resistance as a direct affront to him, giving him further incentive to target another U.S. election, the people said. It is not yet clear which candidates Russia might try to promote or what methods it might use.
Yahoo News

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - The leader of Sweden's second-biggest opposition party will, should neighbour Finland apply to join NATO, suggest that his party change its stance towards favouring a Swedish membership, he told daily Svenska Dagbladet. A change of stance by the Sweden Democrats party would mean a swing to a parliamentary majority in favour of long-neutral Sweden joining the alliance. Russia's invasion of Ukraine has prompted the two countries to consider joining, although Sweden is more hesitant than Finland which has a 1,300 km border with Russia.
By Haley Ott

At least 50 people were killed and around 100 injured Friday in a Russian rocket attack on the Kramatorsk train station, one of the easternmost stations still operating in Ukraine, Ukrainian officials said. The station was being used to evacuate civilians from eastern Ukraine's Donbas region. At least five children were killed in the attack, according to the local governor. "Lacking the strength and courage to stand up to us on the battlefield, [the Russians] are cynically destroying the civilian population," Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said. "This is an evil that has no limits. And if it is not punished, it will never stop."
by Lexi Lonas

Finland was hit with cyberattacks and an airspace breach on Friday while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was speaking to the Finnish Parliament. The country’s Ministry of Defense tweeted earlier Friday its website was under attack and it would shutter until further notice. A few hours later, after resolving the issue, the department clarified that the cyberattack was a denial-of-service attack, which aims to shut down a website so users are unable to access its information.
Tobi Thomas

A security guard at the British embassy in Berlin accused of spying for Russia allegedly passed “secret” information about the government to a Russian military attache, a court heard. David Smith, 57, denied nine offences under the Official Secrets Act when he appeared at Westminster magistrates court on Thursday. The Briton, who was living in Potsdam in the German capital, is accused of gathering information from the embassy and passing it to someone he believed was a representative of the Russian state, as well as other alleged offences, between October 2020 and August last year.
By Janis Laizans

KYIV, April 8 (Reuters) - European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said the civilian deaths in the Ukrainian town of Bucha showed the "cruel face" of Russia's army and pledged to try to speed Ukraine's bid to become a member of the European Union.
Elizabeth Dwoskin

Russian propaganda about the war in Ukraine cratered last month after Russian state news channels were blocked in Europe and restricted globally. But in recent weeks, China has emerged as a potent outlet for Kremlin disinformation, researchers say, portraying Ukraine and NATO as the aggressors and sharing false claims about neo-Nazi control of the Ukrainian government. With over a billion followers on Facebook alone, China’s state-controlled channels offer Russian President Vladimir Putin a powerful megaphone for shaping global understanding of the war — often called a “special operation” in line with Kremlin rhetoric. Since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, researchers say, Chinese channels have touted the false claim that the United States runs bioweapons labs in Ukraine, have asserted that Ukrainian neo-Nazis bombed a children’s hospital which was in fact bombed by Russian troops, and have suggested that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was being manipulated by U.S. billionaire George Soros.
By David Brennan

China's mission to the European Union has hit out at NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg after the alliance chief accused Beijing of undermining global security by refusing to condemn Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine. Following a meeting of NATO foreign ministers on Thursday, Stoltenberg told reporters in Brussels that China's failure to stand against Russian aggression represents "a serious challenge to us all." China's mission to the EU told Newsweek in a statement that it is the North Atlantic alliance, not Beijing, that is destabilizing international security.
World wheat prices soared by 19.7% in March as war in Ukraine disrupted Black Sea exports, FAO price index reveals
Kaamil Ahmed

Global food prices rose to their highest ever levels in March as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the UN has reported. Cooking oils, cereals and meats hit all-time highs and meant food commodities cost a third more than the same time last year, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization’s monthly food price index published on Friday. The Russia-Ukraine war has disrupted Black Sea exports of crucial commodities from a region that had been producing more than a quarter of the world’s wheat exports. The war has helped push cereal prices up 17% over the past month with the closure of ports throttling wheat and maize exports from Ukraine. Russian exports have also been slowed by financial and shipping problems.
Jennifer Hassan

Russian influencers are cutting up their Chanel handbags on social media in angry protest over restrictions imposed by the luxury French fashion label that mean they can no longer buy its products abroad. Chanel confirmed to the BBC this week that it was halting sales of its clothes, perfume, accessories and other items to customers who were intending to use the products in Russia, as a response to President Vladimir Putin's brutal invasion of Ukraine. Chanel has already shut its stores within Russia, as have countless other brands.
By Gordon Corera Security correspondent, BBC News

Allegations of Chinese cyber activity as the recent conflict broke out in Ukraine have been emerging. The details appear unusually murky but one western intelligence official believes the aim was espionage -and the cyber-attack may have been broader than previously reported. The Times first reported that hackers, alleged to be based in China, began targeting Ukrainian websites on 23 February, the day before the invasion. That led to questions as to whether they had advance notice of Moscow's plans and if their intention was somehow to support Russia. A broad set of Ukrainian government and commercial organisations were said to have been targeted by hackers, including organisations linked to nuclear power.
MSN

(Reuters) - Russia will do everything to make sure its creditors receive their money, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said on Thursday, a day after the country edged closer to a potential default on its international debt. Having managed to service its debt in foreign currency since the beginning of what Moscow calls "a special military operation" in Ukraine on Feb. 24, Russia has encountered difficulties with foreign exchange payments on its Eurobonds. On Wednesday, Russia said it had to pay roubles to holders of its dollar-denominated Eurobonds maturing in 2022 and 2042 as a foreign bank had refused to process an order to pay $649 million to holders of its sovereign debt. "We will do everything so creditors receive their invested money from the Russian Federation," TASS news agency quoted Siluanov as saying. Siluanov said state-run monopoly Russian Railways (RZhD) was not allowed to pay dollars on its Eurobonds and the company will pay roubles instead, according to Interfax news agency.
By Jessie Yeung and CNN's Beijing bureau

Hong Kong (CNN) Millions of people across China's locked-down financial hub of Shanghai have been desperately seeking medical care and basic supplies like food. Parents have been forcibly separated from young children infected with Covid-19. And public anger is mounting, with no end in sight as China clamps down. Since March, China has battled its biggest Covid wave yet, with Shanghai now the largest hotspot. All 25 million residents are under lockdown, with national health care workers and the Chinese military dispatched to boost the city's response. On Wednesday, the country recorded close to 20,000 new cases -- far past the peak of Wuhan in 2020, at the onset of the pandemic.
Yahoo News

LONDON (Reuters) - Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday that if Finland and Sweden joined NATO then Russia would have to "rebalance the situation" with its own measures. Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, which it says aims among other things to degrade Ukraine's military potential and prevent it becoming a bridgehead for a NATO attack, has prompted the two Nordic countries to consider joining the U.S.-led alliance. If the two countries join, "we'll have to make our western flank more sophisticated in terms of ensuring our security," Peskov told Britain's Sky News. However, he said Russia would not see such a move as an existential threat, of the kind that might prompt it to consider using nuclear weapons.
Reuters

BUDAPEST, April 7 (Reuters) - Hungary received the first shipment of nuclear fuel for its Paks nuclear plant from Russia by air on Wednesday, after the war in Ukraine made shipping by rail impossible, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on Thursday.
by Ines Kagubare

A new Facebook report found that government-affiliated hackers from Russia and Belarus attempted to use the social media platform for cyber espionage and disinformation campaigns targeting Ukrainians. The report, released on Thursday, said the hackers targeted the Ukrainian telecom industry, defense and energy sectors, tech platforms, journalists, and activists. Facebook said it disrupted a disinformation campaign linked to the Belarusian KGB, which posted that Ukrainian troops were surrendering, and that nation’s leaders were fleeing the country the day Russia invaded. The tech company said it disabled the account and stopped the campaign that same day.
Prime Minister Khan’s opponents had the votes needed to remove him in parliament after members of his own party and a key coalition partner defected.

Pakistan’s Supreme Court says Prime Minister Imran Khan’s move to dissolve parliament was illegal and ordered the house be restored. The decision on Thursday came after four days of hearings by the top court. Khan will now face a no-confidence vote by lawmakers that he had tried to sidestep. The assembly will likely convene to vote on Saturday. A major political crisis was triggered when Khan and his allies thwarted the motion by opposition lawmakers that seemed certain to unseat him. The move “is declared to be contrary to the constitution and of no legal effect and is set aside”, the court ruled.
By Mohamed Ghobari and Ahmed Tolba

ADEN (Reuters) -Yemen's president delegated power to a presidential council and dismissed his deputy on Thursday as Saudi Arabia moved to strengthen an anti-Houthi alliance amid U.N.-led efforts to revive negotiations to end a bitter seven-year war. Riyadh announced $3 billion in financial aid to the Saudi-backed government after the announcement by President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. It called for talks with the Houthi group that controls the north and has been battling the Saudi-led coalition. Yemen's warring sides, in a major breakthrough, agreed last week on a two-month truce that began on Saturday, the first since 2016. The deal eased a coalition blockade on areas held by the Houthis, who ousted Hadi's government from the capital, Sanaa, in late 2014.
Niamh Cavanagh

Despite having only the fourth-largest military in the world, Russia is the superpower when it comes to its supply of tanks, with 12,950 in 2020 — more than double the number of the U.S., which came in second with 6,333 vehicles. As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues into its seventh week, it appears that President Vladimir Putin’s military forces might be taking a toll. Pictures of destroyed Russian tanks have been posted and shared across social media since the beginning of the war. As of March 24, the Kremlin had lost hundreds of tanks since the war began in February, Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry stated. Russian vehicles have suffered heavy losses thanks to Ukrainian troops armed with antitank missiles, including the U.K.’s Next Generation Light Antitank Weapon, or NLAW, and the American Javelin antitank missile.
Danielle Wallace

As Ukrainian and Western officials have decried the atrocities witnessed in the Bucha massacre and around Kyiv, a hardened Chechen fighter and close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin has been posting videos to his Telegram channel saying his men stand ready to finish the job in Ukraine. Ramzan Kadyrov, leader of the majority Muslim Chechen Republic, has reportedly visited the badly bombarded port city of Mariupol on the Black Sea as Russian troops have pulled back from the capital region around Kyiv and are regrouping to focus their offensive on southeastern Ukraine. Western countries upped their sanctions against Moscow Wednesday in an effort to cripple the Russian war machine after photos surfaced showing corpses in civilian clothing lining the streets of Bucha, some with their hands behind their backs and showing signs of rape and torture.
John Bacon, Ella Lee, Celina Tebor, Joey Garrison | USA TODAY

The UN General Assembly on Thursday approved a U.S.-initiated resolution to suspend Russia from the world organization’s Human Rights Council amid mounting evidence of atrocities by the Russian military in Ukraine. The vote was 93-24 with 58 abstentions. U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield launched the campaign to suspend Russia from the 47-member Human Rights Council after videos and photos from the Kyiv-area town of Bucha emerged, revealing streets strewn with corpses of civilians, apparently after Russian soldiers retreated. Russia becomes the first permanent member of the U.N. Security Council to have its membership revoked from any U.N. body. Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy earlier this week also called for Russia's removal from the Security Council so it can't use its veto power to "block decisions about its own aggression."
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