Khabarhub brings to you glimpses of major international developments of the day that you need to know from the world of politics, business/economy, sports, entertainment and more.
Ukrainian President Zelensky urges Pope Francis to mediate peace with Russia
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says he has spoken to Pope Francis about the Vatican’s possible role in mediating peace with Russia.
The president told Italian MPs that Ukraine is on the brink of surviving the war, as he warns Russian forces want to break in to Europe.
At least ten hospitals have been completely destroyed and fierce fighting continues around Kharkiv and Mariupol, Ukraine says.
China Eastern plane crash rescuers find no survivors
Rescuers have found no survivors so far from a jet carrying 132 people which crashed in hills in southern China on Monday.
Crash investigators also had no information on why China Eastern flight MU5735 plummeted out of the sky, BBC reports.
Recovery work at the site of the Boeing 737-800 crash in Guangxi province is being hampered by difficult terrain.
There has been an outpouring of grief in China, where families of passengers and crew are waiting for news.
Russia may use cyberattacks, chemical weapons: US Prez Biden
U.S. President Joe Biden has warned of the potential for Russia to carry out cyberattacks against U.S. interests or deploy biological or chemical weapons in Ukraine as Russia’s Ukrainian invasion nears the one-month point, VOA reported.
Biden told a group of U.S. business leaders that Russian President Vladimir Putin did not anticipate the extent of unity he would face in opposition to Russia’s actions and that “his back is against the wall.”
‘Clear Evidence’ of Russian war crimes in Ukraine: Pentagon
The Pentagon accused Russian forces of committing war crimes in Ukraine.
“We certainly see clear evidence that Russian forces are committing war crimes, and we are helping with the collecting of evidence of that,” Pentagon press secretary John Kirby told reporters in response to a question by VOA.
Kirby also accused Russian forces of carrying out “indiscriminate attacks on civilians” that were “intentional” in many cases.
“Chinese stocks are on a roller coaster”
US-listed Russian stocks have been in freefall following the invasion of Ukraine – but but it’s not the only nation whose stocks are getting whipsawed, CNN reports.
Shares of major Chinese firms have been up and down in 2022.
There’s plenty weighing on sentiment: worries about leading Chinese companies possibly getting delisted in the United States.
Ukraine retakes key Kyiv suburb
Ukraine said it retook a strategically important suburb of Kyiv, while its forces battled Russian attempts to occupy the encircled southern port city of Mariupol, abcnews.go.com reported.
Civilians fleeing Mariupol said the city was under relentless bombardment, with block after block of destroyed buildings and corpses in the streets, it said.
Power outage alert in Japan amid quake damage, cold weather
Japanese were urged Tuesday to conserve energy as the government warned of potential blackouts in the Tokyo region due to a shortfall in power generation after several coal-fired plants temporarily stopped generating electricity following an earthquake last week, abcnews.com reports.
The rare alert Tuesday came as people were using more heat than usual due to snow and unusually cold weather for the early spring, it added.
Two Pakistan Air Force pilots killed as training aircraft crashes near Peshawar
Two Pakistan Air Force pilots were killed after training aircraft crashed near Peshawar during a routine training mission, firstpost.com reported.
Meanwhile, Geo TV reported that no other loss of life or the property was reported on the ground so far.
UN General Assembly to vote again on Ukraine
The UN General Assembly (UNGA) will vote Wednesday on a draft resolution on Ukraine, the second such resolution since the start of Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine, a spokesperson said Monday.
The 11th Emergency Special Session of the General Assembly will be held after a letter requesting the resumption was received by UNGA President Abdulla Shahid, his spokesperson Paulina Kubiak told reporters in an email.
Pak’s reliance on China end up in debt-trap
Pakistan’s heavy reliance on China has resulted in massive debt and dwindling cash reserves. Perhaps, Pakistan might have never anticipated that its alliance with China would end up in massive debt, Khabarhub reports.
Russian journalist wants to sell Peace Prize medal to raise funds for refugees
Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov said he wants to auction off his 2021 Nobel Peace Prize medal to raise funds for Ukrainian refugees.
Muratov called on Tuesday in the independent Novaya Gazeta newspaper, which he edits, for people to “share with refugees, the wounded and children who need urgent treatment what is dear to you and has a value for others.”
Muratov is asking auction houses about the possibility of organising a sale.
Sri Lanka deploys troops to petrol stations as fuel shortage sparks protests
Sri Lanka ordered troops to petrol stations Tuesday as sporadic protests erupted among the thousands of motorists queueing up daily for scarce fuel, India Today reported.
The South Asian island nation is grappling with its worst economic meltdown in over seven decades, with rolling electricity blackouts and essential goods such as food and cooking gas also in short supply.
Soldiers were deployed after angry crowds blocked a main artery in Colombo and held up traffic for hours because they were unable to buy kerosene oil on Monday, government spokesman Ramesh Pathirana said.
One person killed in Palestinian attack in Israel
At least one person was killed by a Palestinian attacker in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba on Tuesday and the assailant was shot to death, police and emergency services said.
“It appeared to be a single terrorist who went on a stabbing spree,” police spokesman Eli Levy said on Channel 13 TV. “A civilian took the initiative and shot and killed him.”
Putin critic sentenced to 9 years in jail on charges of fraud
A Russian court sentenced jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny to nine years in prison on fraud charges, in a ruling that will keep President Vladimir Putin’s most prominent opponent out of active politics for years ahead, reports said.
Navalny, who was also found guilty of contempt of court, is already serving a two-and-a-half year sentence at a prison camp east of Moscow for parole violations related to charges he says were trumped up to thwart his political ambitions.
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