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March
S.Korea's Moon orders protection of nuclear power plant amid wildfire
Written by Nur Yasmin
South Korea President Moon Jae-in on Friday ordered an all-out efforts to be made to protect the Hanul Nuclear Power Plant from a wildfire that broke out in the eastern coastal county of Uljin, the presidential office said in a statement.
The government issued a natural disaster alert after a wildfire broke out in the county of Uljin on Friday, where the Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co. operates six nuclear pressurised water reactors.
Output for one of the six reactors was reduced on Friday afternoon due to unstable weather conditions, its website showed.
Of the total, five reactors are currently in operation while one was under maintenance.
The authorities have not said how far the fires are from the site of the plant.
The country's prime minister Kim Boo-kyum in a separate statement said local firefighters will cooperate with the defence ministry and the forestry agency to put out wildfires that are reportedly moving upwards along the country's east coast towards Gangwon province.
As of late Friday the fires have destroyed a total of 12 residential properties and three storage units, according to Yonhap. (Reuters)
March
Iran foreign minister says nuclear deal subject to Tehran's red lines
Written by Nur Yasmin
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said on Friday the West’s “haste” to reach a nuclear deal “cannot prevent the observance of Iran’s red lines,” including economic guarantees.
Negotiations on reviving a 2015 Iran nuclear accord appear near a climax, amid talk of an imminent ministerial meeting. Such a meeting, said Amirabdollahian, “requires full compliance with the red lines.”
Jalina Porter, a U.S. State Department spokesperson, said a possible deal was close, but cautioned that unsolved issues remained.
“Our delegation will continue to work hard to reach a final and good agreement,” Iranian media quoted Amirabdollahian as telling the EU’s top diplomat Joseph Borrell by telephone.
“We are ready to finalise a good and immediate agreement,” he said, adding: “Most of Iran's requests have been considered in the upcoming agreement.”
Among remaining issues is an effort by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to resolve questions about nuclear material that the Vienna-based agency suspects Iran failed to declare.
The IAEA has found particles of processed uranium at three apparently old sites that Iran never declared and has repeatedly said Tehran has not provided satisfactory answers.
Iran wants the IAEA investigation ended as part of an accord, but Western powers have argued that the issue is beyond the scope of the 2015 deal, to which the IAEA is not a party.
IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi is to travel to Tehran on Saturday hoping to agree on a process that would lead to the end of the investigation, potentially clearing a way for the wider agreement, diplomats said.
The 2015 agreement between Iran and world powers was designed to make it harder for Iran to accumulate the fissile material for a nuclear weapons, an ambition it has long denied.
Then-President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the deal in 2018, reimposing tough economic sanctions on Tehran. Iran responded by breaching many of the deal's restrictions. (Reuters)
March
Putin says Russia's neighbours should not escalate tensions
Written by Nur Yasmin
President Vladimir Putin urged Russia's neighbours on Friday not to escalate tensions, eight days after Moscow sent its forces into Ukraine.
"There are no bad intentions towards our neighbours. And I would also advise them not to escalate the situation, not to introduce any restrictions. We fulfil all our obligations and will continue to fulfil them," Putin said in televised remarks.
"We do not see any need here to aggravate or worsen our relations. And all our actions, if they arise, they always arise exclusively in response to some unfriendly actions, actions against the Russian Federation."
Putin was shown on TV taking part online, from his residence outside Moscow, in a flag-raising ceremony for a ferry in northern Russia.
March
Suicide bombing at Shi'ite mosque in Pakistan's Peshawar kills at least 30
Written by Nur Yasmin
A suicide bombing at a Shi'ite mosque during Friday prayers in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar has killed at least 30 people, police and hospital officials said.
The death toll is expected to rise substantially as many of the injured are in critical condition, police and hospital officials said.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, one of the deadliest in years on Pakistan's Shi'ite minority which has long been targeted by Sunni Muslim Islamist militants, including Islamic State and Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), also known as the Pakistani Taliban.
"We are in a state of emergency and the injured are being shifted to the hospital," police officer Mohammad Sajjad Khan told Reuters.
In recent years, Pakistan's military has reined in almost daily attacks by clamping down on militant groups.
Mohammad Aasim, spokesperson of the Lady Reading Hospital where victims have been brought, told Reuters they had received more than 30 bodies.
Senior police official Ijaz Khan confirmed that at least 30 had been killed and that it was a suicide bombing.
He told Reuters that two armed men arrived near the mosque on a motorcycle and were stopped for a search by police on duty outside.
"They opened fire on the police...and entered the mosque," he said.
Police are still determining if both had carried out suicide attacks inside the mosque.
Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan condemned the bombing, according to his office.
The attack comes as the Australian cricket team are touring Pakistan for the first time in over two decades and are staying in Islamabad, 140 kilometres (87 miles) from Peshawar.
Pakistan recently started hosting international teams again after security concerns forced them to shift many of their high profile international hosting to the UAE.
March
Berlin's main train station becomes Ukrainian refugee welcome center
Written by Nur Yasmin
Ukrainian refugee Anastasia said she has barely slept in the 90 hours it has taken her to flee to Berlin after Russian missiles started raining down on her hometown of Kharkiv, blowing out the windows of her flat.
Now the 31-year-old artist, who did not give her last name for fear of repercussions for her relatives left behind, is one of more than a thousand mainly women and children arriving each day in Germany via Poland to seek refuge.
"We left our home the moment the planes shot at our community and the glass in our windows broke," Anastasia said at Berlin's main train station, before taking the last train of her odyssey to stay with relatives in Munich.
"We have no stuff, we have no money, we have no anything now," she said, adding through sobs that she was afraid for the men of conscription age who were obliged to stay and help in the defense.
A million refugees have already crossed from Ukraine into the European Union in eastern Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary and northern Romania since the start of the Russian invasion, according to the United Nations.
And what started as a trickle in Germany has already grown into a steady flow of more than a thousand as railway operator Deutsche Bahn offers refugees free travel.
At the main train station, volunteers saying which languages they speak seek to orientate refugees upon arrival, recalling scenes from 2015, when more than a million people from the Middle East fled to Europe and Germany took in the bulk of newcomers.
One floor has transformed itself into a makeshift welcome center, with volunteers serving up hot food, handing out warm clothes and shoes and providing toys for children to play with.
GERMANS RALLY SUPPORT
Donation collection points for Ukrainians have sprung up around town in recent days as Berlin residents use messaging applications like Telegram to organize aid efforts.
In one corner of the station, some hold up signs offering accommodation in their homes as an alternative to state shelters.
"You feel sort of helpless, so I wanted to at least help someone to get a few nights good sleep," said Paulin Nusser, 26, a student living in a shared flat holding up a sign offering a couch for a few nights.
David Henning, 31, said he was giving over one floor of his hotel to refugees. So far, he had welcomed fleeing students who just needed one night's rest before continuing their trip as well as several mothers and children who needed a while to figure out their life.
Aid groups told Reuters the fact this war is within Europe means it has hit closer to home than those in the Middle East that sparked the 2015 crisis, fostering even greater willingness to help.
Meanwhile both they and the state are better organized to jump into action, thanks to that previous experience, while the bureaucracy is easier. EU interior ministers agreed on Thursday to grant temporary residency to Ukrainians sparing them from going through lengthy asylum procedures.
But that did not save them from trauma, said Ahmed Makhzomi, 31, who arrived from Iraq during the 2015 migrant wave and is now volunteering at Berlin's central station.
"I've lived through many wars, I know what it's like," he said. "So I wanted to help in what way I could." (Reuters)
March
Moscow awaits Ukraine's response after talks, Kremlin says
Written by Nur Yasmin
The Kremlin told Russians on Friday to rally around President Vladimir Putin and said that what happened next in the negotiations over Ukraine would depend on Kyiv's reaction to this week's talks between the two sides.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters on a conference call that no documents had been agreed yet with Ukraine at the talks, but that Moscow had told the Ukrainian side how it saw the solution to the war.
Russia invaded Ukraine last week in a move it describes as a "special military operation". (Reuters)
March
Foreign minister accuses Russian soldiers of rape in Ukrainian cities
Written by Nur Yasmin
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Friday that Russian soldiers had committed rape in Ukrainian cities.
Kuleba did not give any evidence for his claim. Reuters was unable to independently verify the claim.
"When bombs fall on your cities, when soldiers rape women in the occupied cities - and we have numerous cases of, unfortunately, when Russian soldiers rape women in Ukrainian cities - it's difficult, of course, to speak about the efficiency of international law," Kuleba told an event at Chatham House in London.
"But this is the only tool of civilization that is available to us to make sure that eventually all those who made this war possible will be brought to justice," said Kuleba, who was speaking in English. (Reuters)
March
No damage to reactors at Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant -IAEA chief
Written by Nur Yasmin
No damage was done to reactors at Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and there was no release of radioactive material after a military projectile hit a nearby building on the site, U.N. atomic chief Rafael Grossi said on Friday.
Two members of security staff were injured when the projectile hit overnight after the Ukrainian authorities reported a battle with Russian troops near Europe's biggest power plant, which is operating at just a small fraction of its capacity with one of its six units still running. read more
At a news conference called at short notice, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Grossi showed an overhead shot of the site and the building that was hit, a training centre close to but separate from the row of reactor units.
"What we understand is that this projectile is a projectile that is coming from the Russian forces. We do not have details about the kind of projectile," Grossi said, adding that the radiation monitoring system at the site was functioning normally.
"We of course are fortunate that there was no release of radiation and that the integrity of the reactors in themselves was not compromised," he added.
Russia's Defence Ministry on Friday blamed the attack on Ukrainian "saboteurs". Reuters could not independently verify what happened in the incident. read more
Russia's invasion of Ukraine is the first time war has broken out in a country with such an advanced and established nuclear power programme, the IAEA says. Zaporizhzhia is the biggest of the country's four operational nuclear power plants, together providing about half Ukraine's electricity.
Grossi suggested meeting Russian and Ukrainian officials at defunct power plant Chernobyl, where Russia has seized the radioactive waste facilities near the site of the world's worst nuclear accident in 1986, so that they could commit not to do anything to endanger nuclear security in Ukraine.
'NOT NORMAL'
Staff on duty at Chernobyl have not been rotated out since it was seized last week despite repeated appeals by Grossi. The situation at Zaporizhzhia was similar in that Russia controls it but Ukrainian staff continue to operate it.
"For the time being it is purely Ukrainian staff running the operations there. What we have in this case as we speak ... is in Chernobyl and in Zaporizhzhia we have effective control of the site in the hands of Russian military forces. I hope the distinction is clear," Grossi said.
Russia and Ukraine were considering his offer of a meeting at Chernobyl. Grossi appealed overnight on both sides not to clash near Zaporizhzhia.
"I'm extremely concerned. This is something which is very, very fragile, very unstable as a situation," he said on Friday.
"Right now we have this normal abnormality, if I can put it like that. The other day in my statement (to the IAEA Board of Governors) I was saying normal operations (at Zaporizhzhia) but in fact there is nothing normal about this." (Reuters)
March
EU eyes more Russia sanctions, NATO wary of Ukraine calls for no-fly zone
Written by Nur Yasmin
The European Union will step up sanctions against Russia, foreign ministers gathered in Brussels said on Friday, but they resisted Kyiv's calls for military action that would risk dragging the NATO military alliance into the war.
In Brussels for talks with NATO and EU peers, the bloc's top diplomat Josep Borrell said that all options remained on the table with regard to new sanctions against Russia for the invasion of its neighbor Ukraine.
"We will consider everything," Borrell told reporters when asked about the possible suspension of the EU's gas imports from Russia.
Ireland's Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said a fourth round of sanctions could affect more Russian banks' access to the SWIFT international transfer system, bar Russian ships from European ports and cut imports from Russia.
"I also suspect that we'll be banning other imports like steel, timber, aluminium and possibly coal as well," he said.
It was not immediately clear, however, when the 27-nation EU would be able to agree on exact measures given member states' divisions on doing business with Moscow and some countries' heavy reliance on Russian energy supplies.
"Each day the west is importing energy from Russia to the tune of $700m," Eurointelligence think-tank said in a note.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has called for Western allies to enforce a no-fly zone since Moscow's invasion started nine days ago, with Russia shelling cities and bringing fighting to Europe's largest nuclear plant.
Western powers have already punished Russia including with restrictions on central bank activities and by seizing assets from billionaire oligarchs.
NATO members have sent arms to Ukraine, but stopped short of military action that would put them in direct conflict with nuclear-armed Russia.
On Friday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the alliance would defend "every inch" of NATO territory from attack. Ukraine, a former Soviet republic and Moscow satellite that wants to join the European Union and the Western military club, is not a currently a member of either.
"Ours is a defensive alliance. We seek no conflict. But if conflict comes to us, we are ready for it," Blinken said.
While some NATO countries indicated a willingness to discuss a no-fly zone, they made clear their reservations.
Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said that NATO must avoid triggering a wider conflict. France's presidential office described the request for a no-fly zone as "very difficult to satisfy."
NUCLEAR SCARE
Putin launched his "special military operation" to get rid of what he said was Ukraine's fascist government and demilitarize the country. Zelenskiy says Moscow is trying to prevent a liberal democracy flourishing on Russia's border.
"The truth is: It is not NATO that is threatening Putin but the desire for freedom in Ukraine. He wants to break this urge for freedom - in Ukraine, and also in his own country," German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said.
In a sign of the escalating dangers of the war, a huge blaze at the site of Europe's biggest nuclear power station in Ukraine was extinguished on Friday after fighting that caused global alarm. Officials said the Zaporizhzhia plant was operating normally after it was seized by Russian forces.
Baerbock said nuclear infrastructure must stay out of the war. She added the 27-nation EU would give Ukraine humanitarian aid and shelter its refugees, as well as moving ahead with more sanctions against Russia.
On Thursday, Zelenskiy said that if allies wouldn't meet his request to protect Ukrainian air space, they should instead provide Kyiv with more war planes.
"We have 15 nuclear units so these units, two in the east are close to the front line of war. It's not just a Ukrainian question," Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko told Reuters. "We are fighting. We will fight to the end." (reuters)
March
Islamabad-based diplomats call on Pakistan to condemn Russia
Written by Nur Yasmin
The top diplomats of 22 countries, including European Union member states, on Tuesday jointly called on the government of Pakistan to support a resolution in the United Nations General Assembly condemning Russia's aggression against Ukraine.
Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan was in Moscow to meet President Vladimir Putin last week on the day Russian forces entered Ukraine. Pakistan has expressed concern about the fallout from the invasion but stopped short of condemning it.
"As heads of mission to the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, we urge Pakistan to join us in condemning Russia's actions," said a joint statement signed by envoys from 22 countries.
Signatories included EU member states Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Portugal, Poland, Romania, Spain, Sweden and the Netherlands, as well as Australia, Canada, Japan, Norway, Switzerland and Britain.
The 193-member UNGA will this week vote on a resolution condemning Moscow's actions, similar to one vetoed by Russia in the Security Council on Friday. The resolution needs two-thirds support to be adopted. read more
Before his Russia visit, Khan said the Ukraine crisis had nothing to do with Pakistan, which did not want to join any bloc.
While Pakistan has begun expanding ties with Russia on energy projects, the EU is its top export market along with the United States.
The EU has gives Pakistan special trade status, the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP+), which lowers entry tariffs.
Pakistan's Foreign Office spokesman told Reuters that Islamabad has been engaging with members of the international community to "exchange perspectives" on the situation.
"We have all along advocated dialogue and continued engagement to de-escalate and work for a diplomatic solution," he said.
The country's Human Rights Minister, Shireen Mazari, responded on Twitter, calling the joint statement "ironic."
She said Pakistan did not support military force, but the EU should not adhere to the U.N. Charter "selectively" as has been done "for decades." She called for the EU to condemn alleged violations by India and Israel. (Reuters)