- Several workers at the Galileo Galilei airport refused to load one of the cargo flights advertised as carrying humanitarian aid to Ukraine. The crates did not contain food and medication but weapons, ammunition and explosives instead, the Unione Sindacale di Base (USB) said in a statement on Monday evening. “We strongly denounce this outright falsification, which cynically uses ‘humanitarian’ aid as cover to fuel the war in Ukraine,” the USB said. Francesca Donato, an Italian member of the European Parliament, commented on the union’s statement by calling on the government in Rome to “clarify” what is happening.
- Argentine President Alberto Fernández has proposed the creation of an axis between Mexico, Brazil and Argentina should former Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva return to power. Argentina’s leader also said the election of Lula as president would benefit the “long-suffering people” of Brazil and allow the establishment of a Mexico-Brazil-Argentina, or MBA, axis, which could promote policies aimed at improving democracy in Latin America and distributing wealth in a more equitable way. “We must never forget that we live in the world’s most unequal continent,” Fernández wrote.
- 43-year-old Jonathan Toebbe and his wife Diana Toebbe both pleaded guilty last month after being caught in an FBI sting trying to sell “Restricted Data related to the design of nuclear-powered warships.” Until this week, however, the foreign power they tried to work with remained secret. On Tuesday, the New York Times revealed that Toebbe “approached Brazil nearly two years ago with an offer of thousands of pages of classified documents about nuclear reactors.” After Toebbe made the offer to Brazil’s military intelligence agency, it forwarded the information to the FBI, which then organized a sting to catch the US Navy engineer red-handed.
- Slack messenger began disconnecting Russian users from the platform on Tuesday, in compliance with international sanctions on Russia in the wake of the attack on Ukraine, as well as the policies of its parent company, Salesforce. “Slack is required to take action to comply with sanctions regulations in the U.S. and other countries where we operate, including in some circumstances suspending accounts without prior notice, as mandated by law,” the company said in a statement to Axios.
- The Russian government has prepared a list of measures aimed at tackling the impact of sanctions imposed by the US and its allies, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said on Tuesday. The proposal includes more than 100 initiatives and measures, with the total amount of funding for their implementation estimated at about 1 trillion rubles ($9 billion). “Under the instructions of [Russian President Vladimir Putin], a whole range of measures has been prepared, many of them are included in the draft priority action plan. This is a very flexible plan, and it will be constantly updated and issued in stages depending on the situation,” Mishustin stated. According to the official, the initiative includes state support for small and medium-sized businesses, as well as systemic and state procurement companies. Authorities plan to focus support for firms working in agriculture, tourism, culture, science, medicine, software development, catering, food production, furniture, clothing, and trade.
- While the Kremlin has yet to respond to Elon Musk’s “single combat” challenge to Russian President Vladimir Putin over Ukraine, the Tesla and SpaceX mogul has changed his name to “Elona” after getting training advice from Chechen head Ramzan Kadyrov. “Vladimir Vladimirovich will look unsportsmanlike when he beats a weaker opponent,” Kadyrov added, offering Musk to train at three famous Chechen venues under renowned champions, in order to transform “the gentle Elona into the brutal Elon.”
- JUK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set to travel to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to discuss how to boost Middle Eastern oil and gas exports and reduce purchases from Russia, denouncing Moscow’s military action in Ukraine while saying nothing of the seven-year conflict still raging in Yemen.
- Washington has urged India not to go through with a plan to purchase discounted Russian crude oil, saying the move would amount to supporting Moscow’s “leadership” after an official in New Delhi said his country would be “happy” to take the offer. Asked about recent reports that India may accept a Russian proposal for cheaper crude, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said nations should consider their role in history when dealing with Moscow during its attack on Ukraine, though noted the move would not run afoul of Western economic penalties.
- The World Health Organization has temporarily suspended evaluation of the Russian coronavirus vaccine Sputnik V due to technical difficulties caused by sanctions restrictions, a new date for a visit to Russia will be determined as soon as possible, WHO Assistant Director General Mariangela Simao said at a briefing on Wednesday.
- A powerful earthquake has rocked the northern coast of Japan, triggering a tsunami warning. According to local broadcaster NHK, the quake registered magnitude 7.3. The Japan Meteorological Agency said that the quake occurred about 60 kilometers below the sea.
- The French presidential candidate from the Republicans party, Valerie Pecresse, was doused with pink powder during a speech at the confederation of small and medium-sized enterprises, BFMTV reported on Wednesday. According to the report, the incident occurred when two young activists from what the French broadcaster described as the extreme left group Akita approached the platform where Pecresse stood, throwing pink powder into her face. Similar things regularly happen to politicians in France, including presidential candidates. Last summer incumbent President Emmanuel Macron was slapped in the face by a citizen in a crowd in the Drome department. The first round of the French presidential election will take place on 10 April and the second on April 24. A total of 12 candidates will run in the presidential race.
- In a speech before the Munich Security Conference on 19 February, just days before Russia and its Donbass allies began the military operation in Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky threatened to renounce Kiev’s non-nuclear status. “Statements were made by Kiev authorities about their intention to create nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them. This was a real threat. Already in the foreseeable future, with foreign technical assistance, the pro-Nazi regime in Kiev could get its hands on weapons of mass destruction. And the targets of such weapons would of course be Russia,” Putin said at a briefing devoted to the economy on Wednesday.
- Portugal will amend laws fast-tracking naturalization for Sephardic Jews following controversy around granting citizenship to Russian tycoon Roman Abramovich, the country’s foreign minister said on Wednesday. In December, the Portuguese Ministry of Justice confirmed that Abramovich had obtained citizenship under the law of return, which allows descendants of Sephardic Jews originating from Spain and Portugal, and Jews forcibly converted to Christianity, to obtain Portuguese citizenship. Abramovich provided a certificate from the Porto Jewish community as proof of his Sephardic descent. According to media reports, an investigation is underway to look into the legitimacy of the decision, which was taken in an unprecedentedly short time. “The decree introduces the requirement of the real ties with Portugal,” Foreign Minister Augusto Santos Silva said, as quoted by Portuguese news channel SIC Noticias.
- On Monday, a Russian military intelligence report that Ukrainian nationalist fighters transported 80 tonnes of ammonia to the settlement of Zolochev, Kharkov region. The envoy suggested these nationalist forces were preparing a provocation to accuse Russia of using chemical weapons. “I want to officially declare that the units of the Russian armed forces involved in the special operation do not have and cannot have chemical munitions,” Konashenkov stressed.
- European automobile manufacturers are suspending the operation of a number of plants due to a shortage of parts delivered from Ukraine, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday. Herbert Diess, the chairman of the Management Board of Volkswagen Group, said that 9 of its 11 suppliers were operating at lower capacity, according to the newspaper. “We are able to produce in most of our plants, but [at] a reduced rate of capacity,” Diess said, as quoted in the report.
News Burst 17 March 2022
Rose Rambles... 