Foreign News
UK Targets Theft of Ukrainian Grain as Part of New Russia Sanctions
Britain says it will target companies connected to the theft of Ukrainian grain and the shipment of Russian energy in a new wave of sanctions against the Kremlin.
The UK said it would continue increasing the economic pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin until peace in Ukraine is restored.
The government would sanction 86 individuals and entities, freezing the assets of those involved in key streams of revenue.
The designations covered companies connected to Russia’s nuclear state company Rosatom, as well as organisations linked to the country’s wider defence, energy, metals, transport and financial sectors.
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said the new sanctions were part of a crackdown on what it described as shady individuals and entities connected to the theft and resale of Ukrainian grain.
Russia’s sovereign assets would also remain immobilised until it agreed to pay for the damage it has caused in Ukraine, Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said.
The latest announcement widened a package, in which Britain promised to ban Russian diamonds and metals, announced earlier on Friday at the G-7 summit in Japan.
“Putin and his supporters must and will pay the price for their illegal invasion of Ukraine.
“That’s why through today’s new sanctions we are increasing the economic pressure on Putin, making it harder for him to wage his illegal war and inflict untold suffering on innocent Ukrainians.
“We will continue to increase this pressure and crack down on all emerging forms of circumvention until Ukraine prevails and peace is secured.
“Our support for Ukraine is, and will remain, resolute for as long as it takes.’’
Companies targeted in the latest wave of sanctions included Umatex, which produced composite materials based on carbon fibre for Rosatom that could be used for military purposes, and Triniti.
It had its research and development into laser physics directly funded by the Russian Federation’s State Defence Order.
Triniti’s lasers had been installed on tank chassis to dazzle the optics of aircraft and disrupt precision weapons, the FCDO said.
Oleg Romanenko, a lead official at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station who had allegedly colluded with the Russian government, along with 13 members of the Gazprom-Neft board of directors.
And also five involved in Transneft, had also been designated.
Igor Altushkin, the billionaire oligarch who owned the Russian Copper Company, had also been sanctioned.
As the third largest producer of copper in Russia, Altushkin and his business had allegedly continued to play a key role in a sector of strategic significance for Mr Putin’s military machine.
The UK had also banned Russian metals including aluminium, nickel and copper.
Individuals linked to the systematic theft of Ukrainian grain, which was widely reported to be shipped out of occupied territories packaged as Russian goods, had also been sanctioned.
This included State Grain Corporation and its director Nikita Busel.
As part of Friday’s wave of sanctions, some 20 defence executives and companies equipping both the Russian armed forces and Wagner group had been designated.
These included: Alan Valerievich Lushinkov and Vladimir Nikolaevich Lepin, directors of JSC Concern Kalashnikov, which produced an estimated 95 per cent of all firearms in Russia.
JSC BMZ, which had produced anti-personnel and anti-tank mines used by the Russian armed forces in Ukraine
JSC Motovilikhinskiye, a minority subsidiary of Russian defence conglomerate Rostec which manufactured howitzers used by Russian forces in Ukraine.
As part of the bid to isolate Russia from the global finance system and thwart its military capability, five banks had also been sanctioned, including JSC Dom RF and Metallurgical Investment Bank. (NAN)
Foreign News
Russian Army Fires Ballistic Missiles at Kiev from Crimean Peninsula
The Russian Army has hit the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, with ballistic missiles, injuring four people and damaging an uninhabited three-storey building, according to officials.
Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that two of the injured people were in a central neighbourhood and had been taken to hospital.
Rocket debris also fell in two other neighbourhoods.
According to the Ukrainian air force, two ballistic missiles were fired at the city of millions, from the Russian-controlled Crimea Peninsula.
Both were shot down.Half a dozen explosions from anti-aircraft missiles had previously been heard in the city centre.
The air raid warning was only triggered a few seconds beforehand, it said.
Ukraine has been facing Russian invasion for over two years.
Since then, the Ukrainian air defence system has been massively reinforced with Western systems. (dpa/NAN)
Foreign News
Cambodia Arrests 2 Foreigners for Smuggling 2.27 kg Narcotics
Cambodian customs police at the Phnom Penh International Airport said they have arrested two South Korean nationals for an attempt to smuggle 2.27 kg narcotics to South Korea.
The duo, a man and woman, were caught Sunday night while they checked in for a ZA215 flight bound for Seoul.
The General Department of Customs and Excise of Cambodia said in a news release on Monday.
In their body searches, our customs officials found many packs of drugs wrapped around their waists, the news release said.
“As a result, some 1.29 kg of crystal methamphetamine and 0.98 kg of ketamine were seized from the two suspects’ possession.’’
The Southeast Asian country has no death sentence for a drug trafficker.
Under its law, someone found guilty of trafficking more than 80 grammes of illicit drugs could be jailed for life.
According to the country’s Anti-Drug Department (ADP), Cambodia nabbed 3,899 drug-related suspects, including 106 foreigners, in 1,659 cases from Jan. 1 to March 3, 2024.
According to the report they confiscated a total of 2.79 tonnes of narcotics.
Most of the seized drugs were ketamine, crystal methamphetamine, methamphetamine tablets, heroin, ecstasy, and cocaine. (Xinhua/NAN)
Foreign News
February Ends with Extreme Heat – WMO
The UN weather agency, the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), says February saw more extreme heat and unusually high temperatures in both hemispheres.
Summarising the state of the climate, it said the month ended with extreme heat in the southern hemisphere where it is summer, while high temperatures atypical of the northern hemisphere winter prevailed.
Parts of North and South America, northwest and southeast Africa, southeast and far eastern Asia, western Australia and Europe all saw record-breaking temperatures, either on a daily basis or for all of February.
“The anomalous heat is consistent with the persisting warming observed since June 2023, with seven consecutive new global monthly temperature records, including January 2024,” Alvaro Silva, a climatologist working with the WMO, said in a statement.
Global sea surface temperatures were record high. While the El Niño weather pattern “has stoked temperatures in some parts of the world, human induced climate change is the long-term major contributing factor,” he added.
Conversely, a large part of northwestern Canada, central Asia – and from southern central Siberia to southeastern China – witnessed exceptional cold during the last week of the month.
The meteorological winter in the northern hemisphere and summer in the southern hemisphere finished officially at the end of February.
Meanwhile, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) raised increasing concern on Friday that more refugees would cross into Chad from Darfur in the coming weeks amid a worrying lack of food and other essentials.
Almost a year since the start of the civil war between rival militaries in Sudan, neighbouring Chad urgently needs more humanitarian aid and significant development investment, the agency reported, especially in its eastern areas which are hosting the refugee influx.
This investment will allow the country to continue its generous open-door stance towards refugees.
“Chadian officials are concerned that many more hungry Sudanese families will come in the next weeks,” said Kelly Clements, UNHCR’s Deputy High Commissioner, who is in the country to review the relief operation.
“The country is committed to keeping its borders open, despite the fragility of this region.
“But, doing so will put even more strain on Chad, which has so graciously been hosting refugees from Sudan’s war – now raging almost a year – and other refugees still here from earlier emergencies.” (NAN)