INDIA ABSTAINS IN U.N. VOTE UNDERSCORING NEED FOR JUST, LASTING PEACE IN UKRAINE

UNITED NATIONS:  India abstained in the UN General Assembly on a resolution that underscored the need to reach "comprehensive, just and lasting peace" in Ukraine, as New Delhi questioned whether the world was "anywhere near a possible solution" acceptable to both Moscow and Kyiv a year into the Ukrainian conflict.

India was among the 32 nations that abstained as the 193-member General Assembly adopted the resolution Principles of the Charter of the United Nations underlying a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in Ukraine' Thursday, put forward by Ukraine and its supporters.

The resolution, which received 141 votes in favour and seven against, underscored the "need to reach, as soon as possible, a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in Ukraine in line with the principles of the Charter of the United Nations."

In the Explanation of Vote after the resolution was adopted, India's Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Ruchira Kamboj said that as the General Assembly marks a year of the Ukrainian conflict, "it is important that we ask ourselves a few pertinent questions."

"Are we anywhere near a possible solution acceptable to both sides? Can any process that does not involve either of the two sides, ever lead to a credible and meaningful solution? Has the UN system, and particularly its principal organ, the UN Security Council, based on a 1945-world construct, not been rendered ineffective to address contemporary challenges to global peace and security?" Kamboj said.

She stressed that India continues to remain concerned over the situation in Ukraine, noting that the conflict has resulted in the loss of countless lives and misery, particularly for women, children, and the elderly, with millions becoming homeless and forced to seek shelter in neighbouring countries.

KYIV DEFENDS FRONT, PUTIN TALKS UP N-ARSENAL ON WAR ANNIV EVE

Ukraine said its forces had repelled Russian assaults along the length of the front line on Thursday on the eve of the war’s anniversary, as President Vladimir Putin, emptyhanded after a bloody winter offensive, talked up Russia’s nuclear arsenal.

After a series of strident speeches in the runup to the anniversary of his invasion, Putin announced plans on Thursday to deploy new Sarmat multiwarhead intercontinental ballistic missiles this year. Earlier this week he suspended Russia’s participation in the START nuclear arms control treaty. Russia would “pay increased attention to strengthening the nuclear triad,” Putin said in remarks released by the Kremlin, referring to nuclear missiles based on land, sea and in the air.

Ukrainian forces repelled 90 Russian attacks in the northeast and eastover the past 24 hours, the military said early on Thursday.

Ukraine has shut some schools for the war’s anniversary in anticipation that Moscow might launch long-range missile attacks to mark the date. But Kyiv officials said they believe Moscow no longer has the capability for a dramatic show of force. “Nothing unusual will happen. Usual (Russian) effort. . . A small missile strike is planned,” military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov told the Ukrainska Pravda news website. “Believe me, we have experienced this more than 20 times. ”

Ukraine’s central bank marked the invasion anniversary by issuing a new banknote commemorating resistance in the war. One side shows three soldiers hoisting the Ukrainian flag after recapturing the Black Sea outcrop of Snake Island, one of Kyiv’s biggest victories of the war. The other side shows hands bound together with tape, to depict war crime victims.

MOLDOVA WARNS OF RUSSIAN 'PSY-OPS' AS TENSIONS RISE

Moldova's pro-EU leaders have rejected Russian claims that Ukraine is planning to attack the country's breakaway pro-Russian territory, and called for calm.

Russia's defence ministry alleged, with no evidence, that Ukrainian saboteurs would stage an invasion of Transnistria dressed as Russian soldiers as a pretext for a Ukrainian invasion.

Moldova has warned for weeks that Russia is plotting to seize power.

And officials rejected Russia's claims as "psy-ops" as part of the war.

"The defence ministry believes it is an element of a psychological operation rather than a real plan," said state secretary Valeriu Mija.

Moldovan President Maia Sandu, on a visit to neighbouring Romania, spoke of unprecedented security challenges ahead.

"Some wanted our country to fall and to install in Chisinau a puppet government enslaved to the interests of the Kremlin," she said.

Moldova is not part of Nato but last June it was awarded EU candidate status on the same day as Ukraine. Earlier this week the Moldovan leader met US President Joe Biden, who promised to support her country's sovereignty.

BANGA’S INDIA PERSPECTIVE CAN HELP FIX DEVELOPING WORLD’S WOES: BIDEN

Washington : The World Bank, which will have PIO Ajay Banga as its chief, already has two Indians in top posts: Indermit Gill is its chief economist and former SBI MD Anshula Kant is its MD and Group CFO.

Noiminating Banga, Biden said, “Ajay is uniquely equipped to lead the World Bank at this critical moment in history. He has spent more than three decades building and managing successful, global companies that create jobs and bring investment to developing economies, and guiding organisations through periods of fundamental change. He has a proven track record managing people and systems, and partnering with global leaders around the world to deliver results. ” The role of World bank is proposed to be redefined to tackle 21st century issues such as climate change along with a greater say for developing countries such as India and China.

Banga, 63, also has critical experience mobilising publicprivate resources to tackle the most urgent challenges of our time, including climate change, Biden added, noting that he was raised in India and therefore “has a unique perspective on the opportunities and challenges facing develo-ping countries and how the World Bank can deliver on its ambitious agenda to reduce poverty and expand prosperity. ”

Banga, who was born to Harbhajan Singh Banga, now a retired lieutenant-general of the Indian Army, went to school in Hyderabad, India and graduated from St Stephen’s College in Delhi before earning a management degree from IIM, Ahmedabad. He began his professional career in Nestle, moved to Pepsico and later Citi, before topping a cor-porate career when he became CEO of Mastercard in 2010, holding the position till 2020. He is currently vice-chairman at General Atlantic.

Ajay Banga is known widely as an innovative thinker and a great motivational speaker. Among his oft-cited quote is one on the importance of diversity: In Nature, you get penalised for not being diverse enough. Being a panda and having bamboo as your only food source quite dramatically increases your chances of becoming extinct.

IRAN ACKNOWLEDGES CLAIMS IT ENRICHED URANIUM TO 84%

Dubai : Iran on Thursday directly acknowledged an accusation attributed to international inspectors that it enriched uranium to 84% purity for the first time, which would put the Islamic Republic closer than ever to weapons-grade material. The acknowledgement by a news website linked to the highest reaches of Iran’s theocracy renews pressure on the West to address Tehran’s programme, which had been contained by the 2015 nuclear deal that the US unilaterally withdrew from in2018.

Already Israeli PM Netanyahu is threatening to take military action similar to when Israel previously bombed nuclear programmes in Iraq and Syria. But while those attacks saw no war erupt, Iran has an arsenal of ballistic mi-ssilesand other weaponry it has used in theregion.

The acknowledgment came from Iran’s Nour News, a website linked to Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, overseen by Supreme leader Ayatollah AliKhamenei.

The comments follow days of muddled comments by Iran not directly acknowledging the accusation by inspectors from the IAEA that Iran had uranium to 84%.

US TO INCREASE TRAINING FORCES IN TAIWAN: REPORT

Washington : The US plans to significantly boost the number of American military personnel deployed in Taiwan to help train local forces, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday. The move comes at a time of heightened tensions between Washington and Beijing over an alleged Chinese surveillance balloon that was shot down by a US warplane earlier this month. The deployment of between 100 and 200 American troops to the island is to take place in the coming months, a major increase from the roughly 30 who were there a year ago, the newspaper said, citing unnamed US officials. The US troops will train Taiwanese forces on military maneuvers as well as on American weapons systems, the Journal said. Beijing claims the democratic island as part of its territory to be seized one day.

U.S. MASS KILLINGS LINKED TO EXTREMISM SPIKED OVER 10 YEARS

The number of U.S. mass killings linked to extremism over the past decade was at least three times higher than the total from any other 10-year period since the 1970s, according to a report by the Anti-Defamation League.

The report, provided ahead of its public release on Thursday, also found that all extremist killings identified in 2022 were linked to right-wing extremism, with an especially high number linked to white supremacy. They include a racist mass shooting at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, that left 10 Black shoppers dead and a mass shooting that killed five people at an LGBT nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

“It is not an exaggeration to say that we live in an age of extremist mass killings,” the report from the group’s Centre on Extremism says.

Between two and seven extremism-related mass killings occurred every decade from the 1970s to the 2000s, but in the 2010s that number skyrocketed to 21, the report found.

Steady increase

The trend has since continued with five extremist mass killings in 2021 and 2022, as many as there were during the first decade of the new millennium.

Extremist killings are those carried out by people with ties to extreme movements and ideologies.

With the waning of the Islamic State group, the main threat in the near future will likely be white supremacist shooters, the report found.

AFGHANISTAN’S TALIBAN REOPEN KEY BORDER TRADE ROUTE WITH PAKISTAN

Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers reopened a key border crossing with Pakistan on Thursday, allowing thousands of trucks carrying desperately needed food and other items to creep forward for the first time in days, officials said.

Taliban-appointed officials in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province confirmed the reopening of the Torkham border. The Afghan embassy in Pakistan also posted news of the reopening on Twitter.

The development comes a day after Pakistani Defence Minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif made a visit to Kabul, where he met with senior Taliban officials, including the Taliban-appointed Deputy Prime Minister for economic affairs.

AT LEAST 96 KILLED, 560 INJURED IN SOMALILAND CLASHES: HOSPITAL

MOGADISHU: At least 96 people have been killed in more than two weeks of clashes between security forces and clan members in the breakaway Somali region of Somaliland, a hospital director said on Thursday. “We have 96 dead and 560 wounded,” Ahmed Mohamed Hassan, director of the main hospital in Las Anod, said.

AFTER SAUDI ARABIA, OMAN TO ALLOW ISRAELI PLANES THROUGH ITS AIRSPACE

TEL AVIV: Israel’s Foreign Minister said on Thursday that the Gulf Arab state of Oman has decided to allow Israeli planes to fly through its airspace, a year after Saudi Arabia took a similar decision. The decision was another sign of closer ties between Israel and some Arab countries. It would shorten the flying distance between Israel and Asia.

EU COMMISSION TO BAN TIKTOK ON STAFF PHONES

Brussels : The European Commission is suspending Chinese short video-sharing app TikTok from its employees’ corporate phones, EU industry chief Thierry Breton said Thursday, citing a focus oncybersecurity. Breton however declined to give details on whether there were any incidents involving TikTok. “This measure aims to protect the Commission against cybersecurity threats and actions which may be exploited for cyberattacks against the corporate environment of the Commission,” it said. TikTok said the move was “misguided and based on fundamental misconceptions”.

JAPAN’S MYSTERY BALL REMOVED FROM THE BEACH

A metal sphere that washed up on a beach in Japan, perplexing locals and setting off widespread speculation, has been removed, according to local media.

Pictures showed a heavy lifting machine picking up the huge sphere.

Local officials in Hamamatsu said that it will be stored "for a certain period of time" then "disposed of".

But many have also questioned why Japanese officials have not come out and clearly said what it is.

Interest in the object - dubbed "Godzilla egg", "mooring buoy" and "from outer space" - started earlier this week after a local alerted police upon noticing the unusual object on the shore.

Police, and even a bomb squad, were sent to check out the object.

Authorities cordoned off the area and conducted X-ray exams which did not reveal much more - other than confirming the object was safe.

Now it has been removed.

"I think everyone in Hamamatsu City was worried and curious about what it was about, but I'm relieved that the work is over," a local official told Japanese media.

GOOGLE TO BLOCK NEWS CONTENT FOR SOME CANADIANS

Ottawa : Google is blocking some Canadian users from viewing news content in what the company has said is a test run of a potential response to a Canadian government’s online news bill. Bill C-18, the Online News Act, would require digital giants such as Google and Meta, to negotiate deals that would compensate Canadian media companies for republishing their content on their platforms. The company said Wednesday it is temporarily limiting access to news content for under 4% of its Canadian users. The change applies to its ubiquitous search engine as well as the Discover feature on Android devices. All types of news content are being affected by the test, which will run for about five weeks. A spokeswoman for Canadian heritage minister Pablo Rodriguez said Canadians will not be intimidated and called it disappointing that Google is borrowing from Meta’s playbook.