Photo taken yesterday shows ambulances on the road in Paktika province, Afghanistan. The death toll from an earthquake that struck eastern Afghanistan early yesterday has reached 920, while more than 600 people were injured, a disaster official said, adding the number of casualties might rise further. — XINHUA/VNA Photo

 KABUL — A powerful earthquake struck a remote border region of Afghanistan overnight killing at least 1,000 people and injuring hundreds more, officials said yesterday, with the toll expected to rise as desperate rescuers dig through collapsed dwellings.

The 5.9 magnitude quake struck hardest in the rugged east, where people already lead hardscrabble lives in a country in the grip of a humanitarian disaster made worse by the Taliban takeover in August.

“People are digging grave after grave,” said Mohammad Amin Huzaifa, head of the Information and Culture Department in hard-hit Paktika, adding that at least 1,000 people had died in that province alone.

“It is raining also, and all houses are destroyed. People are still trapped under the rubble,” he told journalists.

The death toll climbed steadily all day as news of casualties filtered in from hard-to-reach areas in the mountains, and the country’s supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, warned it would likely rise further.

Earlier, a tribal leader from Paktika said survivors and rescuers were scrambling to help those affected.

“The local markets are closed and all the people have rushed to the affected areas,” Yaqub Manzor said by telephone.

Photographs and video clips posted on social media showed scores of badly damaged mud houses in remote rural areas.

Some footage showed local residents loading victims into a military helicopter.

Offers of help

Even before the Taliban takeover, Afghanistan’s emergency response teams were stretched to deal with the natural disasters that frequently struck the country.

But with only a handful of airworthy planes and helicopters left since the hardline Islamists returned to power, any immediate response to the latest catastrophe is further limited.

“The government is working within its capabilities,” tweeted Anas Haqqani, a senior Taliban official.

“We hope that the International Community & aid agencies will also help our people in this dire situation.”

The United Nations and European Union were quick to offer assistance.

“Inter-agency assessment teams have already been deployed to a number of affected areas,” the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) in Afghanistan tweeted.

Tomas Niklasson, EU special envoy for Afghanistan, tweeted: “The EU is monitoring the situation and stands ready to coordinate and provide EU emergency assistance to people and communities affected.”

Afghanistan is frequently hit by earthquakes – especially in the Hindu Kush mountain range, which lies near the junction of the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates.

Scores of people were killed and injured in January when two quakes struck rural areas in the western province of Badghis, damaging hundreds of buildings.

In 2015, more than 380 people were killed in Pakistan and Afghanistan when a 7.5-magnitude earthquake ripped across the two countries, with the bulk of the deaths in Pakistan.

From the Vatican City, Pope Francis offered prayers for the victims of the latest quake.

“I express my closeness with the injured and those who were affected,” the 85-year-old pontiff said at the end of his weekly audience.

Aid agencies and the United Nations say Afghanistan needs billions of dollars this year to tackle its ongoing humanitarian crisis.

Aid agencies have particularly stressed the need for greater disaster preparedness in Afghanistan, which remains extremely susceptible to recurring earthquakes, floods and landslides.

The quake was felt as far away as Lahore in Pakistan, 480km from the epicentre, according to responses posted on the USGS and European Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) websites.  ؅AFP

Source: Vietnam News/ Vietnam Insider

Afghanistan earthquake.— AFP/VNA Photo

KABUL — A powerful earthquake in Afghanistan killed at least 100 people and injured dozens more, officials said on Wednesday, with the toll expected to rise as rescuers reach remote areas.

The 5.9 magnitude quake struck hardest in the east, bordering Pakistan, where people already live hardscrabble lives in a country in the grip of a humanitarian disaster made worse by the Taliban takeover in August.

“The number of those martyred in the earthquake is more than 100,” government spokesman Bilal Karimi said.

“Many houses were damaged and people trapped inside,” he said.

Yaqub Manzor, a tribal leader from Paktika province, said survivors were mobilising to help those affected.

“The local markets are closed and all the people have rushed to the affected areas,” he said by telephone.

Photographs and video clips posted on social media showed badly damaged mud houses in remote rural areas.

Some footage showed local residents loading victims into a helicopter.

Afghanistan is frequently hit by earthquakes – especially in the Hindu Kush mountain range, which lies near the junction of the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates.

Scores of people were killed and injured in January when two quakes struck rural areas in the western province of Badghis, damaging hundreds of buildings.

In 2015, more than 380 people were killed in Pakistan and Afghanistan when a 7.5-magnitude earthquake ripped across the two countries, with the bulk of the deaths in Pakistan.

The latest earthquake came at a time when Afghanistan is battling a severe humanitarian disaster, worsened by the Taliban takeover of the country.

Aid agencies and the United Nations say Afghanistan needs billions of dollars this year to tackle the crisis.

Aid agencies have particularly stressed the need for greater disaster preparedness in Afghanistan, which remains extremely susceptible to recurring earthquakes, floods and landslides. — AFP

Source: Vietnam News/ Vietnam Insider

An 18-year-old gunman killed 14 children and a teacher at the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. — AFP/VNA Photo

UVALDE — A teenage gunman killed 18 young children at an elementary school in Texas on Tuesday (local time), prompting a furious President Joe Biden to denounce the US gun lobby and vow to end the nation’s cycle of mass shootings.

The attack in Uvalde – a small community about an hour from the Mexican border – was the deadliest US school shooting in years, and the latest in a spree of bloody gun violence across America.

“It’s time to turn this pain into action for every parent, for every citizen of this country,” Biden said, his voice heavy with emotion.

“It’s time for those who obstruct or delay or block commonsense gun laws – we need to let you know that we will not forget,” he said.

“As a nation, we have to ask when in God’s name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby? When in God’s name will we do what we all know in our gut needs to be done?”

Texas Governor Greg Abbott, addressing an earlier news conference, named the suspect as Salvador Ramos, an 18-year-old local resident and a US citizen.

“He shot and killed, horrifically and incomprehensibly,” Abbott said.

Texas Department of Public Safety officials told CNN the gunman had shot his grandmother before heading to Robb Elementary School around noon where he abandoned his vehicle and entered with a handgun and a rifle, wearing body armor.

The gunman was killed by responding officers, the officials said, adding one adult had also been killed in the attack.

Footage showed small groups of children weaving through parked cars and yellow buses, some holding hands as they fled under police escort from the school, which teaches students aged around seven to 10 years old.

It was the deadliest such incident since the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting in Connecticut, in which 20 children and six staff were killed.

The White House ordered flags to be flown at half-staff in mourning for the victims – whose deaths sent a wave of shock through a country still scarred by the horror of Sandy Hook.

In the immediate aftermath of the attack, Robb Elementary – which teaches more than 500, mostly Hispanic and economically disadvantaged students – called on parents not to rush in to get their children.

“You will be notified to pick up students once all are accounted for,” the school said on its website soon after the attack.

‘Happens nowhere else’ 

Ted Cruz, a pro-gun rights Republican senator from Texas, tweeted that he and his wife were “lifting up in prayer the children and families in the horrific shooting in Uvalde.”

But Senator Chris Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut, where the Sandy Hook shooting took place, made an impassioned appeal for concrete action to prevent further violence.

“This isn’t inevitable, these kids weren’t unlucky. This only happens in this country and nowhere else. Nowhere else do little kids go to school thinking that they might be shot that day,” Murphy said on the Senate floor in Washington.

“I’m here on this floor to beg, to literally get down on my hands and knees and beg my colleagues: Find a path forward here. Work with us to find a way to pass laws that make this less likely.”

The deadly assault in Texas follows a series of mass shootings in the United States this month.

On May 14, an 18-year-old man shot 10 people dead at a Buffalo, New York grocery store.

Wearing heavy body armor and wielding an AR-15 rifle, the self-declared white supremacist livestreamed his attack, having reportedly targeted the store because of the large surrounding African American population.

The following day, a man blocked the door of a church in Laguna Woods, California and opened fire on its Taiwanese-American congregation, killing one person and injuring five.

Despite recurring mass-casualty shootings, multiple initiatives to reform gun regulations have failed in the US Congress, leaving states and local councils to strengthen – or weaken – their own restrictions.

The National Rifle Association has been instrumental in fighting against stricter US gun laws. Abbott and Cruz are listed as speakers at a forum that is being held by the powerful lobby in Houston, Texas later this week.

The United States suffered 19,350 firearm homicides in 2020, up nearly 35 per cent compared to 2019, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in its latest data. — AFP

Source: Vietnam News/ Vietnam Insider

Emmanuel Macron is the first French president to win a second term for two decades. AFP Photo

PARIS – French President Emmanuel Macron won re-election on Sunday, convincingly defeating his rival Marine Le Pen and prompting a wave of relief in Europe that the far-right had been kept out of power.

Centrist Macron was set to win around 58 percent of the vote in the second-round run-off compared with Le Pen on 42 percent, according to projections by polling firms for French television channels based on a sample of the vote count.

Macron is the first French president to win a second term for two decades, but Le Pen’s result also marks the closest the far-right has ever come to taking power in France and has revealed a deeply divided nation.

The 44-year-old president faces a litany of challenges in his second term, starting with parliamentary elections in June, where keeping a majority will be critical to ensuring he can realise his ambitions to reform France.

The outcome was expected to be confirmed by official results overnight with the final figures due on Monday.

“New era”

In a victory speech on the Champ de Mars in central Paris at the foot of the Eiffel Tower, Macron vowed to respond to the anger of voters who backed his far-right rival, saying his new term would not continue unchanged from the last five years.

“An answer must be found to the anger and disagreements that led many of our compatriots to vote for the extreme right. It will be my responsibility and that of those around me,” he told thousands of cheering supporters.

He also pledged a “renewed method” to govern France, adding that this “new era” would not be one of “continuity with the last term which is now ending”.

In a combative speech to supporters in Paris in which she accepted the result but showed no sign of quitting politics, Le Pen, 53, said she would “never abandon” the French and was already preparing for the June legislative elections.

“The result represents a brilliant victory,” she said to cheers.

“This evening, we launch the great battle for the legislative elections,” Le Pen said, adding that she felt “hope” and calling on opponents of the president to join with her National Rally (RN) party.

“Count on France”

The result is narrower than the second-round clash in 2017, when the same two candidates met in the run-off and Macron polled over 66 percent of the vote.

For Le Pen, her third defeat in presidential polls will be a bitter pill to swallow after she ploughed years of effort into making herself electable and distancing her party from the legacy of its founder, her father Jean-Marie Le Pen.

Critics insisted her party never stopped being extreme-right and racist while Macron repeatedly pointed to her plan to ban the wearing of the Muslim headscarf in public if elected.

The projections caused immense relief in Europe after fears a Le Pen presidency would leave the continent rudderless following Brexit and the departure from politics of German chancellor Angela Merkel.

Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi called Macron’s victory “great news for all of Europe” while German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said French voters “sent a strong vote of confidence in Europe today.”

EU president Charles Michel said the bloc can now “count on France for five more years” while commission chief Ursula von der Leyen rapidly congratulated him, saying she was “delighted to be able to continue our excellent cooperation”.

“Ocean of abstention”

Macron will be hoping for a less complicated second term that will allow him to implement his vision of more pro-business reform and tighter EU integration, after a first term shadowed by protests, then the pandemic and finally Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

But he will have to win over those who backed his opponents and the millions of French who did not bother to vote.

On the basis of the official figures, polling organisations estimated that the abstention rate was on course for 28 percent, which would be the highest in any presidential election second-round run-off since 1969.

High on his to-do-list is pension reform, including a raising of the French retirement age which Macron has argued is essential for the budget but is likely to run into strong opposition and protests.

The hard-left third-placed candidate in the first round, Jean-Luc Melenchon, had refused to endorse Macron and now has his eyes firmly set on the July elections.

Melenchon welcomed Le Pen’s defeat as “very good news for the unity of our people”.

Nevertheless, “Mrs Le Pen and Mr Macron have barely a third of the registered voters,” he said. Macron “is submerged in an ocean of abstention and spoilt ballots”. AFP

Source: Vietnam News/ Vietnam Insider

Reporters surround Shiretoko Pleasure Cruiser’s headquarters, the company in charge of the missing Kazu 1 tourist boat in Hokkaido, Japan on April 23, 2022. — AFP/VNA Photo

 TOKYO — Japanese rescuers said Sunday they had found four people from a sightseeing boat that went missing a day earlier with 26 on board after warning it was sinking in frigid northern waters.

They were found shortly after 5 am (2000 GMT) off the Shiretoko Peninsula in northern Hokkaido prefecture, a coastguard spokesman told AFP, but no immediate information was available on their condition.

“They are being transported to seek medical attention,” the spokesman said. “Other details are not yet clear.”

The “Kazu 1” was sailing in the icy waters off the peninsula, a world heritage site recognised for its pristine nature, when it sent a distress signal at 1:13 pm (0413 GMT) on Saturday, saying its bow was flooded and that the vessel was sinking.

The coastguard sent seven vessels and five aircraft for the search and rescue mission Sunday, joined by police and military helicopters as well as other local fishing boats.

National broadcaster NHK showed footage of a helicopter landing in a field and at least one person being brought out on a stretcher to a waiting ambulance.

Three of those found were in waters near the northern tip of the peninsula, while the fourth was in a rocky area on the coast, NHK said.

The boat was carrying 24 passengers, including two children, and two crew, and encountered high waves and strong winds on Saturday, according to officials.

The daytime water temperature in the area was around two to three degrees Celsius, and some local fishing boats returned to port early because of poor weather, local reports said.

The Kazu 1 ran aground in shallow water in June last year, becoming stranded with 21 passengers and two crew members on board, according to Japanese media.

The boat was able to leave the shallows on its own and returned to the port, but police investigated its captain for endangering traffic by negligence in the conduct of business.

The Shiretoko Peninsula was designated a UNESCO world heritage site in 2005. It is well known for its unique wildlife, including the endangered Steller sea lion, as well as migratory birds and brown bears.

Sightseeing boat trips in the area are popular for visitors hoping to spot whales, birds and other wildlife, as well as drift ice in the winter.

Japan’s borders remain closed to tourists because of COVI-19 rules, so sightseeing in the country is effectively limited to residents and Japanese citizens.

Japan’s coastguard has been involved in a variety of search and rescue missions around the archipelago, including the successful discovery last November of a 69-year-old man who spent 22 hours drifting in open water off southwestern Kagoshima.

In September 2020, a cargo ship with 43 crew onboard sunk after being caught in a typhoon off Japan’s southwest coast.

Two survivors were rescued, while a third crew member was found unresponsive and declared dead. The search operation was called off a week later. — AFP

Source: Vietnam News/ Vietnam Insider

Rescue workers at the site of the plane crash on March 24, 2022. — AFP/VNA Photo

NANNING — All 132 people on board China Eastern Airlines’ plane that crashed Monday in south China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region were dead, an official announced Saturday.

The national emergency response headquarters for the China Eastern Airlines Flight MU5735 aircraft accident on March 21 made the announcement at a press conference late night on Saturday after six days of all-out search and rescue efforts.

“It is with great sadness that we here announce that the 123 passengers and nine crew members on board China Eastern Airlines Flight MU5735 on March 21 have all died,” Hu Zhenjiang, deputy commander of the headquarters and deputy head of the Civil Aviation Administration of China.

According to the requirements made by the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council, the headquarters has organised personnel from multiple departments, including fire fighters, soldiers, armed police, public security, health and quarantine, to carry out massive research at the crash site for the past six consecutive days, he said.

Together with experts’ analysis of video contents in various monitoring and recording equipments, the key data recorded by facilities such as the air traffic control radar, and particularly the wreckage distribution at the crash site, it can be determined that there have been no signs of life at the crash site, Hu said.

So far, identities of 120 victims of the plane crash have been confirmed through DNA testing.

The China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737 aircraft, which departed from Kunming, capital of southwest China’s Yunnan Province and was bound for Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong Province, crashed into a mountainous area in Tengxian County, Guangxi at around 2:38pm Monday.

In the next step, more efforts will be made to search for the remains of the victims and the wreckage of the plane to provide strong support for the following investigation and evidence collection, Hu said.

The official also pledged efforts to properly handle the aftermath. “We are deeply saddened by the accident. We mourn the loss of 132 lives and express our deep sympathy to the bereaved families.”

All attendees of the press conference stood in silent tribute to the dead in the plane accident.

“Our hearts are heavy. We have been searching the place where the plane crashed and the surrounding hilly areas for days, expecting a miracle,” Li Shaolin, head of a firefighting team in Guilin City.

Besides a number of wreckage pieces, rescuers have recovered one black box – believed to be the cockpit voice recorder – and are still searching for the second black box, or the flight-data recorder. The data downloading and analysis work of the recovered black box is underway.

A physics and chemistry laboratory of the public security authorities has tested 41 samples out of 66 from the crash site and found no major ion components of common inorganic or organic explosives, said Zheng Xi, head of the fire brigade of the Guangxi region at a press briefing on Saturday afternoon.

Several thousand people have joined the search and rescue efforts. Drones and other equipments were also used in the operation. XINHUA

Source: Vietnam News/ Vietnam Insider

Policemen cordon off a street leading to a mosque after a bomb blast in Peshawar on March 4, 2022. At least 30 people were killed and 56 wounded in a huge blast at a mosque in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar, a hospital official said. — AFP/VNA Photo

 PESHAWAR, Pakistan – At least 30 people were killed and 56 wounded in a huge blast at a Shiite mosque in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar, a hospital official said on Friday.

The blast in the Kocha Risaldar area of Peshawar — around 190km (120 miles) west of the capital Islamabad — happened moments before Friday prayers, witnesses said.

“I saw a man firing at two policemen before he entered the mosque. Seconds later I heard a big bang,” said Zahid Khan.

It comes on the first day of a cricket Test match in Rawalpindi between Pakistan and Australia, who haven’t toured the country in nearly a quarter of a century because of security concerns.

Muhammad Asim Khan, a spokesman for Peshawar’s Lady Reading Hospital, confirmed the death toll of 30 and said hospitals have declared an emergency.

The explosion blew out the windows of nearby buildings, and frantic rescuers were seen ferrying the dead and wounded from the scene. AFP

Source: Vietnam News/ Vietnam Insider

A Ukrainian man stands in the rubble in Zhytomyr following a Russian missile strike. —AFP/VNA Photo

BORODYANKA/LVIV — The largest nuclear power plant in Europe is on fire following a Russian attack, Ukraine’s foreign minister said on Friday, as he called for a security zone and firefighters to be allowed to tackle the incident.

A generating unit at the plant has been hit during an attack by Russian troops and part of the station is on fire, RIA news agency cited the Ukrainian atomic energy ministry as saying on Friday.

A plant spokesperson told RIA that background levels of radiation had not changed.

“Russian army is firing from all sides upon Zaporizhzhia NPP, the largest nuclear power plant in Europe,” Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba wrote on Twitter.

“Fire has already broke out … Russians must IMMEDIATELY cease the fire, allow firefighters, establish a security zone!”

There has been fierce fighting in the area about 550 kilometers (342 miles) southeast of Kyiv, the mayor of the nearby town of Energodar said in an online post. He said there had been casualties, without giving details.

Russia has already captured the defunct Chernobyl plant, some 100 km north of Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said in a tweet that it was “aware of reports of shelling” at the power plant and was in contact with Ukrainian authorities about situation.

Earlier, Ukrainian authorities reported Russian troops were stepping up efforts to seize the plant and had entered the town with tanks.

“As a result of continuous enemy shelling of buildings and units of the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is on fire,” Orlov said on his Telegram channel, citing what he called a threat to world security. He did not give details.

Reuters could not immediately verify the information, including the potential seriousness of any fire.

As the biggest attack on a European state since World War Two enters its ninth day, thousands are thought to have died or been wounded, 1 million refugees have fled Ukraine and Russia’s economy has been rocked by international sanctions.

On Thursday, the United States and Britain announced sanctions on more Russian oligarchs, following on from EU measures, as they ratcheted up the pressure on the Kremlin.

Sanctions have “had a profound impact already,” said US President Joe Biden.

Russia calls its actions in Ukraine a “special operation” that is not designed to occupy territory but to destroy its neighbour’s military capabilities and capture what it regards as dangerous nationalists. It denies targeting civilians.

On Thursday, head of State Duma Committee on international affairs Leonid Slutsky said the new round of talks with Ukraine will take place “in the upcoming days.”

The achieved agreements will be cemented on the highest level, and will have to be ratified by parliaments, he said

“The third, no less important round of talks will take place in the upcoming days. Parliamentary efforts will be needed, some agreements will have to be cemented and taken through a national ratification procedure,” the lawmaker said.

He noted that “this issue may be not so fast.” Meanwhile, he noted, the implementation of the agreements that will be achieved during the next round of talks must not be delayed.

He noted that the delegation may hold several more rounds of talks.

“As for the political part of the spectrum of issues that were discussed during the second round, it may probably take one or several more rounds. The third round will take place in the nearest future. I believe that the next rounds will also take place in Belarus,” Slutsky said.

Reuters has reported that Russia and Ukraine agreed in the second round on the need for humanitarian corridors and a possible ceasefire around them for fleeing civilians, their first sign of agreement on any issue since the war began eight days ago. REUTERS/TASS

Source: Vietnam News/ Vietnam Insider

Smoke from an artillery explosion in Donetsk on February 19. VNA photo

MOSCOW — Russia has begun a military operation in Ukraine following a request from the authorities of the Donetsk and Lugansk republics for assistance in repelling Kiev’s military aggression, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an urgent address on Thursday.

He said that Moscow would seek the “demilitarization and denazification” of Ukraine, called upon the Ukrainian army to lay down weapons and warned there would follow a prompt response to attempts at foreign intervention from outside.

After that there followed reports of sounds of explosions in a number of Ukrainian cities, including Kiev and Kharkov.

Military operation

TASS said after a message from the Donbass republics Putin made a decision to conduct a “special military operation”.

“Its purpose is to protect the people who have for eight years been exposed to humiliation and genocide by the regime in Kiev. For this we will seek demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine, and also press for bringing to justice those who have committed numerous bloody crimes against peaceful civilians, including Russian citizens.”

Moscow’s plans do not include an occupation of Ukraine, according to the report. It is for the right of the Ukrainian people to self-determination. Also, Putin said that Russia could not let Kiev obtain nuclear weapons and recalled NATO’s illegitimate expansion to the east.

Address to Ukrainians

Putin urged the Ukrainian military to “lay down arms at once and leave for home.”

“Those servicemen of the Ukrainian army who will meet this demand will be free to leave the zone of combat operations and return to their families.” All responsibility for possible bloodshed “will rest upon entirely on Ukraine’s ruling regime.”

In his address to the Ukrainian people, he explained that Russia’s actions were taken in self-defence from threats and from a “still greater misfortune than the one happening today”.

“However difficult it may be to do this, I am asking you to understand this and calling for cooperation in order to turn this tragic page as soon as possible and to move forward together.”

Warning to others

Putin warned against attempts at foreign intervention in the current developments, let alone foreign intervention.

“Nobody should feel any doubts that a direct attack on Russia would end with the potential aggressor’s defeat and terrible consequences for the attacker,” he warned.

“Whoever may try to create obstructions to us, let alone pose threats to our country and our people, they should know that Russia’s response will follow without delay and entail consequences that you have never encountered in your history. We are prepared for any march of events. All necessary decisions in this connection will be made. I hope that I will be heard,” Putin said.

First western reaction

Immediately after that US President Joseph Biden made a written statement, in which he blamed Russia for what he described as “a premeditated war that will bring a catastrophic loss of life and human suffering,” and warned that “the United States and its Allies and partners will respond in a united and decisive way.”

Biden said that later on Thursday he would make a special address to announce further measures against Russia Washington and its allies would take.

NATO’s Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has said that a meeting of the alliance’s member-countries will consider the effects of Russia’s actions towards Ukraine.

Biden also held a phone call with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky soon after explosions were heard in multiple parts of the country, which is sandwiched between Russia and NATO member Poland.

“We will continue to provide support and assistance to Ukraine and the Ukrainian people,” Biden said in a statement after the call, adding that Zelensky had requested him to “call on the leaders of the world to speak out clearly” against Putin’s “flagrant aggression”.

The US Secretaries of State and Defense also spoke with NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg to condemn the “unprovoked, and unjustified attack on Ukraine”, the State Department said.

President Biden was due to join a virtual, closed-door meeting of G7 leaders – Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States – at 9am (1400 GMT) on Thursday. The White House said his remarks to the nation would come in the early afternoon in Washington. The G7 meeting is likely to result in more sanctions against Russia.

On Tuesday, the US government joined European allies in imposing sanctions on two Russian banks, Moscow’s sovereign debt, several oligarchs and other measures.

And on Wednesday, Biden announced he was imposing sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline from Russia to Germany – one of energy-rich Moscow’s highest-profile energy and geopolitical projects. Germany had earlier announced it would block the pipeline from opening for deliveries.

The United States and other United Nations Security Council members slammed Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday for attacking Ukraine as the 15-member body met in New York to try and defuse weeks of mounting tensions.

“At the exact time as we are gathered in the council seeking peace, Putin delivered a message of war in total disdain for the responsibility of this Council. This is a grave emergency,” US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the council.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told reporters after the council meeting it was “the saddest moment” in his more than five years in the job, appealing: “President Putin, in the name of humanity bring your troops back to Russia.”

“This conflict must stop now,” he said.

Russia’s UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia notified the council of Moscow’s move during the meeting, justifying it under Article 51 of the U.N. Charter, which covers individual or collective self-defence by states against armed attack.

Britain’s UN Ambassador Barbara Woodward described Russia’s move on Ukraine as “unprovoked and unjustified”.

“We believe that the door to a peaceful solution to the Ukraine issue is not fully shut, nor should it be,” China’s UN Ambassador Zhang Jun told the Security Council as the violence escalated in Ukraine.

Ukraine’s UN Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya said Russia had just declared a war on his country and told Nebenzia at the end of the council meeting: “There is no purgatory for war criminals. They go straight to hell.”

Nebenzia responded: “We aren’t being aggressive against the Ukrainian people, but against the junta that is in power in Kyiv.” — TASS/AFP/REUTERS

Source: Vietnam News/ Vietnam Insider

Aerial view of mud after a flood in La Gasca neighborhood, northern Quito, on February 1, 2022. The heaviest flooding to hit Ecuador in two decades has killed at least 18 people in Quito, washing away cars, damaging homes and sweeping away volleyball players and spectators on a sports field, officials said Tuesday. Picture: Rodrigo Buendia  AFP/VNA Photo

QUITO – The heaviest flooding to hit Ecuador in two decades has killed at least 24 people in Quito, inundating homes, swamping cars and sweeping away athletes and spectators on a sports field, officials said Tuesday.

A dozen people are missing and 48 injured, Ecuador’s SNGRE emergency service said on Twitter.

Video footage showed torrents of water carrying stones, mud and debris down streets in the Ecuadoran capital, as rescuers helped inhabitants wade through the fast-running currents to safety.

Many in the city of 2.7 million people were taken to shelters, as authorities declared three days of mourning starting Tuesday.

Rain that drenched Quito for 17 straight hours caused a deluge that damaged roads, agricultural areas, clinics, schools, a police station and an electric power substation.

Quito mayor Santiago Guarderas said a downpour had overwhelmed a hillside water catchment structure that had a capacity of 4,500 cubic meters but was inundated with more than four times that volume.

The resultant failure sent a kilometer-long (half-mile-long) deluge through a sports field where volleyball players were practicing with spectators on the sidelines.

“People who were playing couldn’t get away. It grabbed them suddenly,” witness Freddy Barrios Gonzalez said.

“Those who managed to run were saved (but) a family got buried” under a river of mud, added Gonzalez, his own clothes still muddy from the ordeal.

“There they died.”

It was not immediately known how many of the players or spectators were among the total number of dead and injured.

Soldiers with rescue dogs were scouring the area around the field for survivors.

Quito police chief Cesar Zapata did not rule out finding more bodies under thousands of cubic meters (cubic feet) of mud and debris left behind by the flood.

‘Rivers of mud’ 

Rescuer Cristian Rivera said many people in Quito had to be treated for hypothermia.

The municipality has mobilized heavy machinery to clear roads and fix the failed water catchment system.

Resident Mauro Pinas said he heard “an explosion” when the structure burst, after which “rivers of mud” descended on the city — mainly in the northwest.

Power was lost in some parts after electrical poles were brought down.

Dozens of soldiers were deployed to assist in search and rescue efforts of the police and fire brigades.

The flooding began on the slopes of the Pichincha volcano, which overlooks the nation’s capital.

Guarderas said Monday’s rainfall brought down 75 liters (20 gallons) per square meter (square foot) following 3.5 liters on Saturday.

This is “a record figure, which we have not had since 2003,” he added.

President Guillermo Lasso, who traveled to China on Monday, offered his condolences on Twitter to those affected.

“We continue to work in search and rescue, containment actions, psychological care and the transfer of injured people to hospital,” he said.

Heavy rains have hit 22 of Ecuador’s 24 provinces since October, leaving at least 18 dead and 24 injured as of Sunday, according to the National Risk Management Service.

Scientists say climate change is intensifying the risk of heavy rain around the world because a warmer atmosphere holds more water. AFP

Source: Vietnam News/ Vietnam Insider