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US President Joe Biden applauds as Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson speaks at an event celebrating her confirmation to the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC, on April 08, 2022 (Photo: AFP/Jim WATSON) - 

Ketanji Brown Jackson celebrated her rise "from segregation to the Supreme Court" at a White House event Friday (Apr 8) marking her confirmation as the first Black woman appointed to the nation's highest judicial bench.

In her first public remarks since the Senate endorsed her on Thursday, the 51-year-old judge said the appointment was the "honor of a lifetime."

"In my family, it took just one generation to go from segregation to the Supreme Court of the United States," she told around 150 guests invited to the South Lawn by President Joe Biden.

"And it is an honor, the honor of a lifetime, for me to have this chance to join the court."

Jackson came out of the White House with Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris to cheers from the new justice's family, current and former Supreme Court justices, administration officials and senators who voted for her.

Jackson thanked the "many, many people" who had helped her on her journey, from family, friends and the American public to the White House staff involved in the "Herculean effort" of making sure she got over the line.

"It has taken 232 years and 115 prior appointments for a Black woman to appointed to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States, but we have made it - all of us," she said.

"And our children are telling me that they see now more than ever that, here in America, anything is possible."

Jackson was green-lit by the Senate in a 53-47 vote that capped a bruising confirmation battle, with just three Republicans joining Democrats in advancing Biden's vision for a more diverse high court.

She was also with the president at the White House to watch the vote on Thursday, with the pair embracing as she was confirmed.

Introducing his first pick to the court, in front of a sun-drenched South Portico decked in US flags, Biden vowed future generations would be "proud of what we did" in choosing Jackson.

"This is going to let so much sunshine on so many young women, so many young Black men, so many minorities - it's real," the Democratic president said.

"We're going to look back and see this is a moment of real change in American history."

Harris, who presided over the confirmation hearing, has broken down barriers of her own as the first woman and first Black and Asian American to be vice president.

"President George Washington once referred to America as a great experiment, a nation founded on the previously untested belief that the people - we, the people - could form a more perfect union," Harris said.

"And that belief has pushed our nation forward for generations and it is that belief that we reaffirmed yesterday through the confirmation of the first Black woman to the United States Supreme Court."//CNA

FILE PHOTO: An activist from Amnesty International holds a sign during a protest outside the Russian Embassy as part of a Global Day of Action for Ukraine, following Russia's invasion in Mexico City, Mexico, March 24, 2022. REUTERS/Edgard Garrido - 

Russia's justice ministry said on Friday (Apr 8) it had revoked the registration of 15 foreign organisations, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch (HRW).

The Russian units of the organisations, which also included the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, "were excluded due to the discovery of violations of the current legislation of the Russian Federation," the ministry said in a statement.

The decision, which did not give details of any violations, was announced days after New York-based HRW said it had found "several cases of Russian military forces committing laws-of-war violations" in Ukraine.

Russia has repeatedly denied war crimes allegations by Ukraine and Western countries during its 6-week-long invasion of Ukraine and denies targeting civilians.

"There is little doubt the move was in response to our reporting on the war in Ukraine," HRW said.
 
"The Russian government had already made it abundantly clear that it has no use for any facts regarding the protection of civilians in Ukraine. This is just one small further proof of that," it said on Twitter.

Russia says it is conducting a "special military operation" to demilitarise and "denazify" Ukraine. The Kyiv government and its Western allies reject that as a false pretext for an unjustified invasion.

Other organisations whose registration was revoked on Friday included a branch of the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, the Aga Khan Foundation and the Institute of International Education.

Nine German organisations were included as well as three from the United States, one from Britain, one from Poland and one from Switzerland//CNA

FILE PHOTO: Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer attends a news conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz at the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany, March 31, 2022. Steffi Loos/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo - 

Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer has set off on a one-day trip to Ukraine during which he will meet President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Kyiv on Saturday morning, his office said in a statement on Friday (Apr 8).

Neutral Austria has been providing humanitarian aid to Ukraine as well as helmets and body armour for civilians rather than weapons. Nehammer, a conservative, has been visibly moved by telephone conversations with Zelenskiy and says he wants to show support.

His trip will include a visit to Bucha, a town just outside Kyiv where invading Russian forces are alleged to have executed civilians whose bodies were left strewn in the streets. Russia denies the allegations. European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen visited Bucha on Friday.

"It is important that within the framework of our neutrality we stand by Ukraine on a humanitarian level as well as politically," Nehammer said in the statement issued by his office. "My visit to Kyiv and Bucha ... serves to show our solidarity with the Ukrainian population."

Nehammer, a former soldier, will also meet Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal and the mayor of Kyiv, Vitaliy Klitschko, before leaving in the early evening, the statement said.

"The war crimes that have come to light must be fully investigated by independent international experts," the statement quoted Nehammer as saying, apparently referring to Bucha. "Those responsible for these crimes must and will be held accountable."//CNA

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan opening Ukrainian-Russian talks in Istanbul last week (Photo: TURKISH PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE/AFP/Murat CETIN MUHURDAR) - 

Turkey is pushing to revive talks between Russia and Ukraine stalled after atrocities were uncovered in Bucha and other regions near Kyiv, saying the two countries are still ready to meet on its soil.

The positive atmosphere that emerged after the Istanbul talks last week between Russian and Ukrainian negotiators were "overshadowed" by "shameful" images from Bucha, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Thursday.

Ankara assures that the two warring sides are still "willing to hold talks" in Turkey in a bid to move towards a solution to the six-weeks war.

"Both Russia and Ukraine are willing to hold the talks in Turkey but they are far away from agreeing on a common text," a high-ranking Turkish official told a small group of journalists on Friday.

There are "some issues pending" including the status of the Donbas and Crimea regions as well as security guarantees, according to the official, who added there was no date fixed for the next round of negotiations.

Turkey, which hosted talks last week between Russian and Ukrainian negotiators, has been mediating for an end to the conflict.

"We are the only country that can talk to both parties, the only country able to talk to Russia," the official stressed.

"We are not proposing anything but we are trying to facilitate what they are discussing."

Turkey has strong ties with both Russia and Ukraine. As a NATO member, it has supplied Kyiv with drones but has shied away from joining Western sanctions against Moscow.

"Imposing sanctions is not a good way to solve the issue," the Turkish official said, adding that Ankara would only join UN sanctions.

The official said the most delicate issues were discussed in Istanbul between the two countries' negotiators, without providing any details.

After the negotiators met in Istanbul on March 29, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan placed phone calls to Russian leader Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian counterpart Volodmyr Zelensky, renewing his invitation to host a leaders' summit.

A senior Western source referred to the existence of a "peace treaty" being negotiated between Moscow and Kyiv where the status of the Donbas and Crimea regions remain to be defined.

The Turkish official close to the talks said: "We have some ideas about the content but is it a peace treaty? We cannot qualify the document."

According to the Turkish official, the two countries have "agreed on some issues" including the so-called de-Nazification, Ukraine's neutrality and security guarantees.

But they have to define the security guarantees because some countries "are concerned this could lead to direct confrontation with Russia," the official said.

"There are some legal issues to be solved as part of guarantors."

At the earlier peace talks in Istanbul, Ukrainian negotiators said Kyiv was ready to accept neutrality in return for security guarantees to be provided by the five permanent members of the UN Security Council as well as some other countries including Turkey, Germany, Canada and Israel.

Ukrainian negotiators have compared the security guarantees they want to the NATO treaty's Article 5 where members agree to come to the defence of one another in case of military aggression.

For its part, Moscow has demanded "the unanimity of all guarantors" for any decision, according to the Western source, deeming it "unacceptable" for Kyiv because with Russia holding the veto-power the same as in the UN Security Council.

Turkey has stepped up diplomacy from the first days of the war - and even before, when the crisis was brewing, with Erdogan offering good offices without alienating Russia, according to the Turkish official.

Russian and Ukrainian foreign ministers also met in southern Turkish province of Antalya in March, ahead of the technical negotiations in Istanbul.

On Mar 31, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu had said the Russian and Ukrainian foreign ministers could meet within two weeks.

But while Russia had pledged in Istanbul to scale down its military activity on the ground, the images that emerged from Bucha last weekend and a fatal rocket attack on Friday on a train station in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk have cast a shadow on the peace talks, according to the Turkish government.

An official cited an ancient proverb, saying: "If you go to bed with a Russian, don't forget your knife."//CNA