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Russian missiles bombard cities across Ukraine | CNN

Published

2 years ago

October 31, 2022

Russian missiles bombard cities across Ukraine | CNN

Kyiv, Ukraine
CNN
—

Russia launched a barrage of missile strikes at Ukrainian cities on Monday because it ramped up its assaults on infrastructure services throughout the nation.

Explosions and air raid sirens have been heard in Kyiv early on Monday and 80% of residents have been left with out water – with many dropping electrical energy, too – following energy outages brought on by Russian strikes, the capital’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, mentioned on Telegram.

One of many strikes hit an power facility that powered 350,000 residences within the capital, Klitschko mentioned, including that emergency providers have been trying to revive energy and “stabilize the scenario as quickly as attainable.”

Assaults on essential infrastructure within the central areas of Cherkasy and Kirovohrad, the japanese area of Kharkiv, and the southern area of Zaphorizhzhia have been additionally reported.

The wave of strikes comes after Russia accused Ukraine of attacking town of Sevastopol in Crimea over the weekend. Russia illegally annexed the Ukrainian peninsula in 2014 and has managed the territory since then.

Klitschko urged residents of the capital to fill up on water from retailers and pumping stations after an assault on a close-by energy facility.

“At present, because of harm to the power facility close to Kyiv, 80% of the capital’s shoppers stay with out water provide,” he mentioned on Telegram. “Simply in case, we ask you to fill up on water from the closest pumps and factors of sale. Specialists are doing all the things attainable to return water to the residences of Kyiv residents.”

He later mentioned the availability can be returned to the east financial institution of the capital, and a part of the west financial institution, inside hours. He added that energy to the Desnianskyi district had been “partially restored.”

The water provide in Kharkiv – Ukraine’s second-largest metropolis – was additionally affected after an infrastructure facility was hit, whereas most subway prepare providers have been halted, mayor Ihor Terekhov mentioned on Telegram.

“The blow fell on a essential infrastructure facility, ensuing within the subway and floor electrical transport being de-energized,” he mentioned. “In the intervening time, we now have managed to launch the Kholodnohirsko-Zavodska (subway) line, and we now have changed trolleybuses and trams with buses.”

Terekhov mentioned engineers have been “doing all the things attainable to renew water provide to the houses of Kharkiv residents as quickly as attainable.”

Two missiles hit Kharkiv on Monday morning, the mayor had beforehand mentioned on Telegram.

And within the central metropolis of Kryvyi Rih, one missile hit an industrial enterprise, mayor Oleksandr Vilkul mentioned on Telegram.

“In the course of the morning missile assault, two missiles have been shot down (because of the Air Protection Forces), and one cruise missile hit an industrial enterprise,” he mentioned. There have been no casualties reported.

Monday’s strikes hit 10 areas and broken 18 services, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal mentioned on Telegram.

“Their goal was not army services, however civilian essential infrastructure,” Shmyhal mentioned. “Missiles and drones hit 10 areas, the place 18 services have been broken, most of them energy-related.”

He mentioned “a whole bunch of settlements in seven areas” had misplaced energy and engineers have been “working at full capability” to restore the harm.

Ukraine’s air drive mentioned Russia had launched greater than 50 cruise missiles into Ukraine on Monday, and mentioned it had intercepted 44 of them.

“At 7:00 a.m. on October 31, the Russian occupiers launched a number of waves of missile assaults on essential infrastructure services in Ukraine,” the Air Power Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine mentioned.

“Greater than 50 X-101/X-555 cruise missiles have been launched from the Tu-95/Tu-160 strategic aviation missile-carrying plane north of the Caspian Sea and the Volgodonsk area (Rostov area). 44 cruise missiles have been destroyed” by the Ukrainian army, the air drive assertion added.

A minimum of 10 Russian missiles have been shot down over Kyiv early on Monday, regional police chief Andrii Nebytov mentioned on Telegram.

“The police of the Kyiv area at the moment are discovering particles from downed rockets of the occupiers in varied areas of the area,” he mentioned. “Air protection forces shot down at the least 10 enemy missiles.”

Oleksii Kuleba, head of Kyiv area army administration, mentioned the strikes “hit essential infrastructure targets” and two individuals had been injured, one severely.

Moscow defended the assaults. The Russian Protection Ministry mentioned on Telegram Monday that it had focused Ukraine’s “army command and power programs.”

“The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation continued strikes with high-precision, long-range air and sea-based weapons towards Ukraine’s army command and power programs,” it mentioned. “All assigned objects have been hit.”

In current weeks, Russia has launched a barrage of assaults on Ukraine’s energy and heating infrastructure.

Even earlier than Monday’s strikes, the scenario was grave. On Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky mentioned that about 4 million Ukrainians had energy restrictions after assaults on power infrastructure that day.

The assault on infrastructure is all a part of a much bigger plan by President Vladimir Putin, Melinda Haring, deputy director of the Eurasia Heart on the Atlantic Council, instructed CNN final week.

“Putin’s sport plan is apparent: he desires to make this winter the coldest and darkest in Ukraine’s historical past,” she mentioned.

“He’ll proceed to strike infrastructure grids in order to knock out Ukraine’s energy and warmth. His kamikaze drone assaults are supposed to break the desire of the Ukrainian individuals and to spark panic.”

Monday’s assaults come after Russia suspended its participation in a United Nations-brokered grain deal seen as key to addressing the worldwide meals scarcity. Moscow introduced it was leaving the deal on Saturday, blaming Ukraine for a drone assault on Crimea. Kyiv accused Russia of inventing “fictitious terrorist assaults” and utilizing the deal as “blackmail.”

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The U.S. Is Trying to Deport Mahmoud Khalil, a Legal Resident. Here’s What to Know.

Published

36 minutes ago

March 11, 2025

Press Room

The U.S. Is Trying to Deport Mahmoud Khalil, a Legal Resident. Here’s What to Know.

The Trump administration invoked an obscure statute over the weekend in moving to deport Mahmoud Khalil, a permanent legal resident of the United States who recently graduated from Columbia University, where he helped lead campus protests against high civilian casualties in Gaza during Israel’s campaign against Hamas.

Mr. Khalil was arrested by immigration officers on Saturday and then sent to a detention center in Louisiana. On Monday, a federal judge in New York, Jesse M. Furman, ordered the federal government not to deport Mr. Khalil while he reviewed a petition challenging the legality of the detention.

Here’s what to know about the administration’s attempt to deport Mr. Khalil.

Who is the Columbia graduate?

Mr. Khalil, 30, earned a master’s degree from Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs in December. He has Palestinian heritage and is married to an American citizen who is eight months pregnant.

At Columbia last spring, Mr. Khali assumed a major role in student-led protests on campus against Israel’s war efforts in Gaza. He described his position as a negotiator and spokesman for Columbia University Apartheid Divest, a pro-Palestinian group.

What’s the legal basis for his arrest?

The Trump administration did not publicly lay out the legal authority for the arrest. But two people with knowledge of the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive internal deliberations, said Secretary of State Marco Rubio relied on a provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 that gives him sweeping power to expel foreigners.

The provision says that any “alien whose presence or activities in the United States the Secretary of State has reasonable ground to believe would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States is deportable.”

What is Mr. Khalil being accused of?

That is not very clear.

Mr. Rubio reposted a Homeland Security Department statement that accused Mr. Khalil of having “led activities aligned to Hamas.” But officials have not accused him of having any contact with the terrorist group, taking direction from it or providing material support to it.

Rather, the administration’s rationale is that the protests that Mr. Khalil played a key part in were antisemitic and created a hostile environment for Jewish students at Columbia, the people with knowledge of the matter said. Mr. Rubio’s argument, they said, is that the United States’ foreign policy includes combating antisemitism across the globe and that Mr. Khali’s residency in the nation undermines that policy objective.

Could this happen to more visa or green card holders?

President Trump said Mr. Khalil’s case was “the first arrest of many to come.”

But a lawful permanent resident, or green card holder, is protected by the Constitution, which includes First Amendment free-speech rights and Fifth Amendment due-process rights. The Trump administration’s efforts to deport Mr. Khalil under the I.N.A. provision are likely to face a constitutional challenge, several legal experts said.

What happens next?

There is little precedent for deporting a legal permanent resident based on the provision of the 1952 law that gives the State Secretary a broad power to do so on foreign-policy grounds.

A lawyer for Mr. Khalil, Amy Greer, said her client would “vigorously” challenge the Trump administration’s actions in court. On Monday, Judge Furman, of the Federal District Court in Manhattan, scheduled a hearing for two days later after barring the Trump administration from deporting Mr. Khalil “to preserve the court’s jurisdiction.”

What has President Trump said about pro-Palestinian protesters?

Since 2023, Mr. Trump has repeatedly vowed to revoke visas of international students who participate in pro-Palestinian protests and criticize Israel’s war efforts.

At a rally in Iowa on Oct. 16, 2023, Mr. Trump declared that “in the wake of the attacks on Israel, Americans have been disgusted to see the open support for terrorists among the legions of foreign nationals on college campuses. They’re teaching your children hate.”

He added: “Under the Trump administration, we will revoke the student visas of radical, anti-American and antisemitic foreigners at our colleges and universities, and we will send them straight back home.”

At a speech in Las Vegas on Oct. 28 of that year, Mr. Trump said that “we’ll terminate the visas of all of those Hamas sympathizers, and we’ll get them off our college campuses, out of our cities and get them the hell out of our country.” And at a Nov. 8, 2023, campaign stop in Florida, he said he would “quickly cancel the student visas of all Hamas sympathizers on college campuses, which have been infested with radicalism.”

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OpenAI strikes $12bn deal with CoreWeave

Published

2 hours ago

March 10, 2025

Press Room

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OpenAI has forged a near-$12bn contract with CoreWeave and will take a stake in the cloud computing provider, boosting the group ahead of its expected $35bn public listing.

The ChatGPT maker has signed a five-year deal in which CoreWeave will supply computing power to train and run OpenAI’s artificial intelligence models, said two people with knowledge of the deal. OpenAI is looking to expand beyond a reliance on Microsoft, its biggest partner, for its computing needs.

The Financial Times last week reported Microsoft had walked away from a planned deal with CoreWeave because of the cloud computing provider’s delivery issues. That decision was a blow to the New Jersey-based company, which this month filed for a New York initial public offering in which it will seek to raise about $4bn.

OpenAI’s new $11.9bn contract helps fill that void, and could lead to it outspending Microsoft, which accounted for 62 per cent of CoreWeave’s revenues last year, according to public disclosures. Microsoft has agreed to spend $10bn on CoreWeave’s services by 2030.

As part of OpenAI’s agreement with CoreWeave, the AI company will also get a $350mn equity stake in the group at the time of the IPO, said one person with knowledge of the plans.

CoreWeave, which was founded in 2017 as a cryptocurrency mining operation, pivoted to offering cloud services for technology companies to build and train AI models using Nvidia’s high-performing graphics processing units (GPUs). The group has amassed more than 250,000 of Nvidia’s AI GPUs, making it among the chipmaker’s biggest customers.

OpenAI’s deal with the company is its latest effort to boost and diversify the computing power it has available.

Sam Altman, the company’s co-founder and chief executive, has argued infrastructure will be vital in the race to build cutting-edge AI models. Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella, meanwhile, recently raised concerns about an “overbuild” of computing capacity as Big Tech giants pour hundreds of billions of dollars into data centres.

OpenAI has also partnered with SoftBank on a potential $500bn data centre effort dubbed ‘Stargate’ in recent months, and struck data centre agreements with Oracle.

OpenAI and CoreWeave declined to comment. Reuters first reported OpenAI had signed a contract with CoreWeave.