World
Your Monday Briefing: Russia’s Assault on Mariupol
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We’re masking Russia’s bombardment of Mariupol and China’s new technique to fight its current surge in coronavirus circumstances.
With battle at a stalemate, Russia retains bombing Mariupol
With Russia failing to grab main Ukrainian cities, showing to lose floor round Kyiv and beset by important losses, there’s an rising consensus within the West that the battle has reached a stalemate. Nonetheless, the fierce combating in Mariupol continued on Sunday from the land, air and sea.
Russian forces bombarded the coastal metropolis, together with a drama college the place 400 individuals have been hiding, and forcibly deported 1000’s of residents to Russia in opposition to their will, in response to metropolis officers and witnesses.
Satellite tv for pc photographs of Mariupol discovered proof of widespread harm throughout residential neighborhoods. Not less than 391 buildings have been noticed to have been broken or destroyed in part of town that’s dotted with faculties and well being amenities.
Diplomacy: Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s president, has repeatedly known as for direct negotiations with Vladimir Putin, the Russian chief. However Putin doesn’t suppose the time is correct, in response to a senior Turkish official who was on a current name between Putin and Turkey’s president.
China tweaks its Covid technique
Since early 2020, China has taken a zero-tolerance method to coronavirus prevention. However now, hoping to keep away from additional financial hurt, the nation’s chief, Xi Jinping, is altering his tone.
In an effort to gradual the nation’s largest Covid surge since its preliminary spike in circumstances greater than two years in the past, Xi continues to be ordering main lockdowns. However he’s additionally urging officers to hunt extra lenient interventions, like permitting using at-home check kits and sending individuals to centralized remoted amenities as a substitute of hospitals, even when they continue to be strict compared to most international locations.
In some methods, it’s a necessity. Whereas solely two deaths have been reported within the newest wave, lots of the greater than 32,000 circumstances in current weeks have been of the extremely transmissible BA.2 subvariant of Omicron. If the pattern have been to proceed, sending each particular person to the hospital would rapidly overwhelm the system, and lockdowns might wipe out the razor-thin income of many factories or result in layoffs of service employees.
In different pandemic developments:
Struggle worsens considerations of world starvation
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has trapped a crucial share of the world’s meals and fertilizer, sending costs hovering and foreshadowing an increase in world starvation.
Since final month, wheat costs have elevated by 21 p.c, barley by 33 p.c and a few fertilizers by 40 p.c. Compounded with the pandemic and China’s worst wheat crop in a long time, officers are warning that situations might deteriorate. Earlier this month, the U.N. stated that the battle’s influence on the worldwide meals market might trigger a further 7.6 million to 13.1 million individuals to go hungry.
Over the previous 5 years, Russia and Ukraine have accounted for practically a 3rd of the exports of the world’s wheat and barley, 17 p.c of its corn and 75 p.c of its sunflower seed oil, an essential cooking oil in some components of the world. Of specific concern is the opportunity of failing to plant subsequent yr’s harvest in Ukraine.
International influence: In February, U.S. grocery costs have been already up 8.6 p.c over a yr prior, the biggest improve in 40 years. Farmers from Brazil to Texas are reducing again on fertilizer, threatening the dimensions of harvests, as a result of excessive power costs have prompted crops to chop manufacturing.
THE LATEST NEWS
Asia and the Center East
Few issues are as wonderful as gliding on ice via miles of pristine forest, with birds within the bushes, paw prints of wildlife imprinted within the snow and a brand new discovery round each bend. That’s now a actuality in Ottawa, the place skating trails are multiplying in and across the metropolis. However some fear that local weather change threatens the nice occasions.
ARTS AND IDEAS
Ukraine in literature
Right here’s a collection of literature and nonfiction that may enable you higher perceive Ukraine, compiled by writers and editors at The Occasions’s E-book Overview.
“Your Advert May Go Right here,” by Oksana Zabuzhko. Brief tales about Ukrainians going through private and political inflection factors, written by a famed public mental, “veer into the surreal and supernatural,” Alexandra Alter writes.
“Phrases for Struggle: New Poems from Ukraine,” edited by Oksana Maksymchuk and Max Rosochinsky. The anthology, which facilities on combating in Crimea and the Donbas area, contains work from a number of Ukrainian poets. “Some have fought on the entrance traces, whereas others helped members of the family evacuate,” Alexandra writes.
“Absolute Zero,” by Artem Chekh. A memoir from a Ukrainian novelist who fought within the Donbas beginning in 2015, the e book “incorporates views of civilians and his fellow troopers,” Joumana Khatib writes.
“The Gates of Europe,” by Serhii Plokhy. This complete overview of Ukraine, written by the director of Harvard’s Ukrainian Analysis Institute, goes again centuries to discover the nation’s historical past below totally different empires and its battle for independence.
For extra, our colleagues put collectively two lists: one among largely nonfiction on Ukraine’s historical past and one among up to date fiction and memoir.
PLAY, WATCH, EAT
What to Prepare dinner
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World
Olympics: Errani and Paolini win historic gold in Paris
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Italian tennis players win doubles against Russians Andreeva and Shnaider in career highlight.
Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini won on a super tie-break against the Russian neutral team’s Mirra Andreeva and Diana Shnaider to win gold in doubles 2-6, 6-1, 10-7.
For Errani, 37, it was a victory that takes her to the Golden Slam of her doubles career. Novak Djokovic also reached the GoldenSlam of his career today by beating Spanish player Carlos Alcaraz.
The extraordinary victory brings Italy to 21 medals, with seven golds.
“This final is crazy because of how it went: we started very badly in the first set then we were there and somehow pulled it together. It was tough but we are really happy,” Sara Errani said.
She was echoed by Jasmine Paolini: ‘It was very difficult. I came in very tense and I was struggling, then little by little the tension went away and we started to play better. It was tough but we are very happy. Truly a unique emotion”.
World
Harris Campaign Staffs up in Battleground States, 'Sun Belt' in Play
World
Israel prepares for Iran attack amid warnings that regime is close to having nuclear weapon: 'Unnerving'
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JERUSALEM – As Iran ramps up its threats to launch a massive attack against U.S. ally Israel and possibly American assets in the region, the rogue regime in Tehran is on the cusp of producing a nuclear bomb.
Late last month, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said after having reviewed a Director of National Intelligence report on Iran’s atomic program, “I believe it is a certainty that if we do not change course, Iran will in the coming weeks or months possess a nuclear weapon.” He added, “Iran will keep going until someone tells them to stop. It is time to put red lines on their nuclear program. The idea of ambiguity is not working.”
Graham termed the findings in the DNI report “unnerving” and said Iran’s “ability to weaponize material has advanced” with respect to a nuclear weapons device.
Just weeks before Graham’s dramatic announcement about Iran being on the brink of nuclear-armed weapons status, he sent a strongly worded letter to DNI head Avril Haines, stating,”You are in violation of the law” over her vehement opposition to disclosing sensitive information to Congress on Iran’s nuclear progress. In 2022, Congress passed a law requiring the government to provide updates on Iran’s atomic program. Haines eventually complied after Graham went public in the media.
ISRAEL’S ‘SWORN ENEMY’ HEZBOLLAH TELLS IRAN IT WOULD FIGHT ALONE IF CONFLICT ESCALATES
This satellite image from Planet Labs PBC shows Iran’s nuclear site in Isfahan, Iran, April 4, 2024. (Planet Labs PBC via AP)
Graham told Fox News’ Sean Hannity on July 31 that there is no Hamas or Hezbollah without Iran’s regime. He urged Israel to launch attacks against Iran’s oil refineries, with the view toward stopping Iranian jingoism. In April, Iran launched over 300 missiles, drones and rockets into Israel.
A spokesperson for the U.S. State Department told Fox News Digital, “As the President and the Secretary have made clear, the United States will ensure one way or another that Iran will never have a nuclear weapon.
“We will continue working with Congress to use a variety of tools in pursuit of that goal and all options remain on the table.”
![Iranian reactor](https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2023/06/1200/675/GettyImages-1181344604.jpg?ve=1&tl=1)
Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant, on Nov. 10, 2019. (Atta Kenare/AFP via Getty Images)
The spokesperson added, “The intelligence community continues to assess that the Supreme Leader has not made any decision to restart the nuclear weapons program that Iran halted in 2003. That said, we remain deeply concerned with Iran’s continued expansion of nuclear activities in ways that have no credible civilian purpose and continue to vigilantly monitor them.”
However, Fox News Digital reported in July 2023 that intelligence reports from European states contradict the Biden administration’s assertion that Iran’s regime has not restarted its atomic weapons program. Netherlands General and Intelligence Security Service (AIVD) assessed Tehran’s development of weapons-grade uranium “brings the option of a possible [Iranian] first nuclear test closer.”
![Ali Khamenei speaking to reporters.](https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2024/05/1200/675/Iran-Nuclear-Photo-1.jpg?ve=1&tl=1)
Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei addresses the media during elections in Tehran, Iran, on May 10, 2024. (Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu via Getty Images)
When asked about critics who claim Biden has not enforced oil and gas sanctions against Iran’s regime, the State Department spokesman said, “The Biden Administration has not lifted a single sanction on Iran. Rather, we continue to increase pressure. Our extensive sanctions on Iran remain in place, and we continue to enforce them. Over the last three years, the United States has sanctioned over 700 individuals and entities connected to the full range of Iran’s reckless and destabilizing behaviors.”
Republican lawmakers and Iran experts have slammed the Biden administration for alleged appeasement toward the mullah regime with respect to unfreezing tens of billions of dollars in sanctions relief.
The State Department spokesperson said, “Since 2021, we have sanctioned dozens of individuals and entities across multiple jurisdictions, including the PRC, UAE, and Southeast Asia for roles in the production, sale, and shipment of hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of Iranian petrochemicals and petroleum products. And we have identified as blocked property numerous vessels involved in this trade. “
BIDEN ADMIN UNDER PRESSURE TO STOP BILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN SANCTIONS RELIEF TO IRAN
David Albright, physicist and founder and president of the Institute for Science and International Security in Washington, D.C., told Fox News Digital, “Sen. Graham’s statement of being unnerved is good to hear. The IC assessment has been flawed ever since its 2007 National Intelligence Estimate.”
Albright is widely considered one of the world’s leading experts on Iran’s nuclear program. He said, “Sen. Graham mentioned that some advances had occurred in Iran’s ability to make nuclear weapons, i.e. weaponize the weapon-grade uranium into a nuclear weapon, but his comment was sparse and devoid of substance. It is in this area, however, where new intelligence community assessments may or may not lurk. But I cannot weigh in on this based on what the senator said.”
![Parade in Iran](https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2024/08/1200/675/GettyImages-152450432.jpg?ve=1&tl=1)
A military truck carries a missile past a portrait of Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during an annual military parade. (Atta Kenare/AFP/GettyImages))
Albright worked closely with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Action Team from 1992 until 1997, focusing on Iraqi documents and past procurement activities. In 1996, he served as the first non-governmental inspector of the Iraqi nuclear program.
Albright said, “It is clear that the DNI report included a short timeframe for Iran to produce a significant quantity of weapon-grade uranium, but this is old news and well-established by the IAEA in its quarterly reports and some standard calculations. The new twist is Iran’s recent expansion at the deeply buried Fordow site, which gives Iran a new ability to produce significant quantities of weapon-grade uranium in days at this site. But again, we have reported on this.”
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in July about Iran’s quest to obtain a nuclear weapon, “Instead of being at least a year away from having the breakout capacity of producing fissile material for a nuclear weapon, (Iran) is now probably one or two weeks away from doing that.”
NETANYAHU REPORTEDLY UPSET WITH HARRIS OVER VP’S ISRAEL REMARKS AS WHITE HOUSE PUSHES BACK
![Iran revolutionary guard with missile display](https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2024/01/1200/675/GettyImages-1801111042.jpg?ve=1&tl=1)
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps personnel in Tehran for the unveiling of a missile during a military rally on Nov. 24, 2023. (Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
When asked about the breakout concept, Albright said, “Breakout is usually defined as the time for Iran to produce enough weapon-grade for a single nuclear weapon. It has been measured in days rather than months for many months, based on IAEA reporting in its quarterly reports and standard calculational methods, which we have regularly published and the studies are on our website.”
He continued, “A common assessment, which we share, is that Iran has not made a formal decision to build nuclear weapons, so it has also not made a decision to breakout and produce weapon-grade uranium.”
“Breakout is not typically used to discuss the entire time Iran would need to produce its first nuclear weapon,” Albright noted. “This timeframe depends on the breakout above but also on what type of weapon would Iran build. Our assessment is that Iran could build a crude nuclear explosive, deliverable by truck, or able to be exploded underground in six months. It would need longer, perhaps six more months in a crash program to be able to mount a reliable nuclear warhead on a ballistic missile.”
Gabriel Noronha, a former U.S. Department State adviser on Iran, told Fox News Digital, “Iran has been decreasing its nuclear enrichment breakout time over the past five years, but that’s different than them actually making the decision to go and rush toward a bomb. However, they love the flexibility and leverage that being this close brings them – especially now that they are under two weeks away from having enough enriched uranium, and haven’t suffered any significant consequences as a result.”
![Hezbollah arch in Beirut](https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2024/07/1200/675/GettyImages-108816104.jpg?ve=1&tl=1)
An arch glorifying Hezbollah shows pictures of its chief, Hassan Nasrallah, and Iran’s Ali Khamenei in a suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, on Jan. 16, 2011. (Anwar Amro/AFP via Getty Images)
He added, “However, it is much less clear how close Iran’s weaponization program has come to both building a weapon and being able to pair it on a missile that could reach Israel or other American allies. What’s clear from Sen. Graham’s press conference is that Iran keeps on getting closer and closer on this part of its nuclear program.”
Noronha, who is also a fellow at the Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA), urged “Biden to have a clear and credible red line that further progress toward a nuclear weapon would be met with a military response. But he should only make a threat like that if he is willing to back it up with action. If President Biden really wants to avoid military action, then he needs to roll out every possible diplomatic and economic consequence in the interim to punish and deter Iran from proceeding any further.”
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