Ukraine’s NE front may decide new battle lines

KUPIANSK/KYIV (UKRAINE), FEB 28 (AP): A tank carrying Ukrainian infantry speeds toward a target position marked with a metal sheet. The soldiers climb down, hurl grenades and unleash a crackle of machine-gun fire. Then they repeat the moves, getting faster with every iteration.

It’s only a drill. But with the sounds of the real war rumbling just seven kilometres (four miles) away, this daily training underscores the high stakes on Ukraine’s northeastern front, where military officials say a much-anticipated Russian offensive has already started, with fighting that could determine the next phase of the conflict.

Time is of the essence here, so speed and cohesion is the goal of the exercises that combine reserve tank and the infantry assault units.

“Synchronisation will be important to halt Russian offensives toward Ukrainian defensive lines,” said Col. Petro Skyba, commander of the 3rd Separate Tank Iron

FILE—Ukrainian servicemen take part in a drill in the Kharkiv area, Ukraine on Feb. 23, 2023.

Brigade.

Grueling artillery battles have stepped up in recent weeks in the vicinity of Kupiansk, a strategic town on the eastern edge of Kharkiv province by the banks of the Oskil River.

The Russian attacks are part of an intensifying push to capture the entire industrial heartland known as the Donbas, which includes the Donetsk and the Luhansk provinces.

It would be a badly needed victory for the Kremlin as the war enters its second year. Triumph in Kupiansk could decide future lines of attack for both sides: If Russia succeeds in pushing Ukrainian forces west of the river, it would clear the path for a significant offensive farther south where the administrative borders of Luhansk and Donestk meet. If the Ukrainian defence holds up, it could reveal Russian vulnerabilities and enable a counteroffensive.

The Associated Press spoke about the fighting with generals, commanders and soldiers from three brigades in the Kupiansk area, as well as civilians in the

China purging ‘Western erroneous views’ from legal education

BEIJING, FEB 28 (AP): China has ordered closer adherence to the dictates of the ruling Communist Party and leader Xi Jinping in legal education, demanding that schools “oppose and resist Western erroneous views” such as constitutional government, separation of powers, and judicial independence.

The order was dated Sunday, a week before China’s ceremonial parliament begins its annual session and reinforces the leading role on ideology assumed by Xi, who is named no less than 25 times in the document.

Already China’s most powerful leader in decades, Xi was granted a third five-year term as party leader last year and has removed term limits on the presidency, effectively

People stand near a wall displaying the words “Xi Jinping rule of law ideology learning ground” in Beijing . allowing him to rule for life.

Similar directives have been issued in past, with students encouraged to report on professors who speak positively about Western concepts of governance.

Despite the intertwining of the Chinese and global economies, Xi has sought to purge liberal Western concepts from the education system, ordered that foreign religions be “sinicized” in order to operate in China. He has also attempted, with limited success, to reorganize popular culture along more conservative lines, going so far as to ban “effeminate” men from the state broadcaster. town affected by the grinding battles.

“The enemy is constantly increasing its efforts, but our troops are also increasing their efforts there,

Kim calls for unity to boost grain production

making timely replacements and holding the defence,” said Brig. Gen. Dmytro Krasylnkov, head of the Kharkiv military administration.

FlurryofdronestrikeshitsRussia

Regional officials in southern and western Russia reported a string of drone attacks near the border with Ukraine and deep inside the country that resulted in no casualties, as the war with Kyiv trudged on Tuesday.

At the same time, the hacking of Russian TV channels and radio stations as well as the temporary closure of St. Petersburg’s airport fed suspicion that Kyiv could be behind the disruption.

A flurry of drone attacks on Monday night and Tuesday morning targeted regions inside Russia along the border with Ukraine and deeper into the country, with one drone crashing just 100 kilometers (60 miles) away from Moscow, according to local Russian authorities.

A drone fell near the village of Gubastovo, roughly 100 kilometres southeast of Moscow, Andrei Vorobyov, governor of the region surrounding the Russian capital, said in an online statement.

The drone didn’t inflict any damage, Vorobyov said. He didn’t specifically describe the drone as Ukrainian, but said that it likely targeted “a civilian infrastructure object.”

Russian forces early Tuesday shot down a Ukrainian drone over the Bryansk region, local Gov. Aleksandr Bogomaz said in a Telegram post. He said there were no casualties. Three drones also targeted Russia’s Belgorod region on Monday night, with one flying through an apartment window in its namesake capital, local authorities reported. Regional Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said the drones caused minor damage to buildings and cars but no casualties.

SEOUL, FEB 28 (AP):

North Korean ruler Kim Jong Un called for stronger public solidarity behind his leadership to increase the country’s grain production significantly, state media reported Tuesday, amid outside worries about the country’s worsened food insecurity.

Foreign experts say North Korea is experiencing a serious shortfall of food in the aftermath of COVID-19 border restrictions and a reported push for greater state control over grain supply. The experts say they’ve seen no signs of mass deaths or famine due to the shortfall.

During a ruling Workers’ Party meeting on Mon- day, Kim expressed his government’s determination “to bring about a revolutionary turn in the agricultural production without fail,” according to the official Korean Central News Agency.

“Nothing is impossible as long as the strong leadership system is established in the whole party and there is the united might of all the people,” Kim was quoted as saying. KCNA didn’t elaborate on whether Kim presented any specific steps to boost grain production. Many observers say meaningful steps to produce more grain would require more purchases of fertilizer, pesticides and agricultural machinery, as North Korea devotes much of its scarce resources to advance its nuclear weapons program. North Korea’s chronic food shortage has likely deteriorated due to COVID-19 restrictions that choked off its external trade, persistent U.S.-led sanctions and its own mismanagement.

Suspected poisoning attacks rattle a shaken Iran

DUBAI, FEB 28 (AP):

Over the past three months, hundreds of young girls attending different schools in Iran have become overpowered by what are believed to be noxious fumes wafting into their classrooms, with some ending up weakened on hospital beds. Officials in Iran’s theocracy initially dismissed these incidents, but now describe them as intentional attacks involving some 30 schools identified in local media reports, with some speculating they could be aimed at trying to close schools for girls in this country of over 80 million people. The reported attacks come at a sensitive time for Iran, which already has faced months of protests after the September death of Mahsa Amini following her arrest by the country’s morality police.

Philippine leader Marcos urges military to focus on SCS

MANILA, FEB 28 (AP):

The Philippine president said the main mission of his country’s military has changed to ensure the protection of its territory as disputes with China and US-China rivalry intensify.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. stressed the urgency of shifting the military’s focus to external defence in a speech before troops Monday afternoon.

He spoke two weeks after summoning China’s ambassador to protest the use of a military-grade laser by the Chinese coast guard that briefly blinded some of the crew of a Philippine patrol vessel in the South Chi- na Sea (SCS).

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr (L) during his visit to an airbase in Lapu-Lapu City, central Philippines, on Monday.

The Philippines condemned the February 6. incident in one of the more than 200 diplomatic protests it has filed against Beijing’s increasingly aggressive actions in the disputed water- way since last year.

China has accused the Philippines of intruding into its territory and said its coast guard used a harmless laser to track the Philippine vessel. China claims the South China Sea virtually in its entirety.

“I’m saying that your mission in the AFP has changed,” Marcos told the troops, referring to the Armed Forces of the Philippines. “For many, many years, we were able to maintain that peace and maintain that understanding with all of our neighbours. Now things have begun to change and we must adjust accordingly.”

The authorities have not named suspects, but the attacks have raised fears that other girls could be poisoned apparently just for seeking an education — something that’s never been challenged before in the over 40 years since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Iran itself also has been calling on the Taliban in neighbouring Afghanistan to have girls and women re- turn to school.

The first cases emerged in late November in Qom, some 125 kilometres (80 miles) southwest of Iran’s capital, Tehran.

There, in a heartland of Shiite theologians and pilgrims, students at the Noor Yazdanshahr Conservatory fell ill in November. They then fell ill again in December.

Other cases followed, with children complaining about headaches, heart palpitations, feeling lethargic or otherwise unable to move. Some described smelling tangerines, chlorine or cleaning agents.

At first, authorities didn’t link the cases. It’s winter in Iran, where temperatures often drop below freezing at night.

Many schools are heated by natural gas, leading to speculation it could be carbon monoxide poisoning affecting the girls. The country’s education minister initially dismissed the reports as “rumors.”

But the schools affected at first only taught young women, fuelling suspicion it wasn’t accidental. At least one case followed in Tehran, with others in Qom and Boroujerd. At least one boys’ school has been targeted as well.

China says it’s been ‘open and transparent’ on COVID origins

BEIJING, FEB 28 (AP):

China on Tuesday said it has been “open and transparent” in the search for the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic and dismissed U.S. criticism as politicising the issue.

China had “shared the most data and research results on virus tracing and made important contributions to global virus tracing research,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning Mao told reporters at a daily briefing. “Politicising the issue of virus tracing will not smear China but will only

Italy: Migrants paid 8,000 euros each for ‘voyage of death’

CROTONE, FEB 28 (AP):

Rescue teams pulled another body from the sea on Tuesday, bringing the death toll from Italy’s latest migration tragedy to 64, as prosecutors identified suspected smugglers who allegedly charged 8,000 euros (nearly $8,500) each for the “voyage of death” from Turkey to Italy.

Premier Giorgia Meloni sent a letter to European leaders demanding quick action to respond to the migration crisis, insisting that only way to deal with it seriously and humanely is to stop migrants from risking their lives on dangerous sea crossings.

“The point is, the more people who set off, the more people risk dying,” she told RAI state television late Monday.

At least 64 people, including eight children, died when their overcrowded damage the U.S.’s own credibility,” Mao said, in response to complaints from U.S. officials and members of Congress that China has not been entirely cooperative. Her comments came amid continuing questions about how the virus that has killed more than 6.8 million people worldwide first emerged.

Most recently, the U.S. Department of Energy assessed with “low confidence” that the pandemic that was first detected in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019 began with lies, as well as from Pakistan, Syria and Iraq. Rescue teams pulled one body from the sea on Tuesday morning, bringing the death toll to 64, said Andrea Mortato, of the firefighter divers unit.

Crotone prosecutor Giuseppe Capoccia confirmed investigators had identified three suspected smugglers, a Turk and two Pakistani nationals. A second Turk is believed to have escaped or died in the wreck.

Italy’s customs police said in a statement that crossing organizers charged 8,000 euros (around $8,500) each for the “voyage of death.” week from Izmir, Turkey. Aid groups at the scene have said many of the passengers hailed from Afghanistan, including entire fami- the leak of a virus from a lab. The report hasn’t been made public. Others in the U.S. intelligence community disagree, citing differing opinions within the government.

Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi pushed back strongly at suggestions that the rescue was delayed or affected by government policy discouraging aid groups from staying at sea to rescue migrants.

“There is just not an intelligence community consensus,” John Kirby, the spokesman for the National Security Council, said Monday. The U.S. Energy Department’s conclusion was first reported over the weekend in the Wall Street Journal, which said the classified report was based on new intelligence and noted in an update to a 2021 document.

Thanks to Everyone Who Helped Find Our Missing Son

We would like to express our sincere thanks to everyone who helped find our son Zhoyiu. We are very thankful that Zhoyiu is at home with us now. Words cannot describe the appreciation we have for all of you. There are so many individuals and organizations who were involved in the effort to find him that we know we will never be able to thank all of them enough. Best wishes to all and may God bless all abundantly.

A very big thank you to: