Daily: 02/20/2022

Букінгемський палац: королева Єлизавета має легкі симптоми COVID-19

Упродовж наступного тижня королева продовжить виконувати «легкі» обовʼязки в резиденції у Віндзорському замку

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Посольство США в Москві попередило американців про небезпеку терактів у Росії

Також посольство США радить американським громадянам подумати про план виїзду із Росії

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Survivor and Body Found on Burning Ferry off Greek Island 

Greek emergency workers rescued a Belarussian truck driver Sunday from a burning ferry off the island of Corfu and found the body of another man as they combed the wreckage for missing passengers. The discoveries left 10 people still unaccounted for. 

The truck driver, in his 20s, was able to make his way up to the left rear deck on his own, and told rescue workers he heard other voices below. There were no further details identifying the victim, the first body recovered from the ship.  

“The fact that this man succeeded, despite adverse conditions, to exit into the deck and alert the coast guard … gives us hope that there may be other [survivors],” coast guard spokesman Nikos Alexiou told state broadcaster ERT. 

The Italian-owned Euroferry Olympia, which was carrying more than 290 passengers and crew as well as 153 trucks and 32 cars, caught fire Friday, three hours after it left the northwestern Greek port of Igoumenitsa bound for the Italian city of Brindisi. The Greek coast guard and other boats evacuated about 280 people to the nearby island of Corfu.  

The ferry has been towed to the port of Kassiopi, in northeastern Corfu. Firefighters were still battling the blaze in spots Sunday and a thick smoke still blanketed the ship. 

Alexiou said his understanding was that the truck driver hadn’t heard any voices just before making his way onto the deck but added “the situation is evolving.” The survivor was taken to a hospital for a medical exam. 

The extreme temperatures in some parts of the ship have impeded the Greek fire service’s Disaster Management Unit and a team of private rescuers from searching the whole ship. The ferry is slightly listing from the tons of water poured into it to douse the fire but authorities say it’s not in danger of capsizing. 

Two passengers were rescued Saturday. One wasn’t on the ship’s manifest and was presumably a migrant. The other person, a 65-year-old Bulgarian truck driver, had respiratory problems and is on a ventilator in a Corfu hospital’s intensive care unit. 

A Greek prosecutor on Corfu has ordered an investigation into the cause of the fire. The Italy-based company that operates the ferry said the fire started in a hold where vehicles were parked. 

The ship’s captain and two engineers were arrested Friday but were released the same day, authorities said. 

Passengers described the initial evacuation as dramatic. 

“We heard the alarm. We thought it was some kind of drill. But we saw through the portholes that people were running,” truck driver Dimitris Karaolanidis told The Associated Press. “You can’t think something at the time [other than] your family … When I hit the deck, I saw smoke and children. Fortunately, they [the crew] acted quickly.” 

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В Одесі пройшов марш єдності

Поліція нарахувала близько двох тисяч учасників маршу

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У Москві поліція затримала двох правозахисників за пікети проти війни з Україною

З осені минулого року США заявляють про концентрацію російських військових біля кордонів України

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Загострення довкола України: Макрон поговорив з Путіним по телефону

Єлисейський палац називає цей дзвінок останніми зусиллями для уникнення російського вторгнення

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Firefighters Struggle to Douse Fire on Luxury Cars Vessel 

Firefighters are struggling to put out a fire that broke out on Wednesday on a vessel carrying thousands of luxury cars, which is adrift off the coast of Portugal’s Azores islands, a port official said, adding it was unclear when they would succeed.

The Felicity Ace ship, carrying around 4,000 vehicles including Porsches, Audis and Bentleys, some electric with lithium-ion batteries, caught fire in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean on Wednesday. The 22 crew members on board were evacuated on the same day.

“The intervention [to put out the blaze] has to be done very slowly,” João Mendes Cabañas, captain of the nearest port in the Azorean island of Faial, told Reuters late on Saturday. “It will take a while.”

Lithium-ion batteries in the electric vehicles on board are “keeping the fire alive,” Cabañas said, adding that specialist equipment to extinguish it was on the way.

It was not clear whether the batteries sparked the fire.

Volkswagen, which owns the brands, did not confirm the total number of cars on board and said on Friday it was awaiting further information. Ship manager Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Cabañas previously said that “everything was on fire about five meters above the water line” and the blaze was still far from the ship’s fuel tanks. It is getting closer, he said.

“The fire spread further down,” he said, explaining that teams could only tackle the fire from outside by cooling down the ship’s structure as it was too dangerous to go on board.

They also cannot use water because adding weight to the ship could make it more unstable, and traditional water extinguishers do not stop lithium-ion batteries from burning, Cabañas said.

The Panama-flagged ship will be towed to a country in Europe or to the Bahamas but it is unclear when that will happen.

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Britain’s Queen Elizabeth Catches COVID

Queen Elizabeth, 95, has tested positive for COVID and is experiencing mild symptoms but expects to continue light duties this week, Buckingham Palace said on Sunday.

“The queen has today tested positive for COVID,” the Palace said. “Her Majesty is experiencing mild cold like symptoms but expects to continue light duties at Windsor over the coming week.”

“She will continue to receive medical attention and will follow all appropriate guidelines,” the Palace said.

Charles, 73, the heir to the throne, earlier this month pulled out of an event after contracting coronavirus for a second time. A palace source said he had met the queen just days before.

The health of the queen, the world’s oldest and longest-reigning monarch, has been in the spotlight since she spent a night in hospital last October for an unspecified ailment and then was advised by her doctors to rest.

Elizabeth on Wednesday quipped to members of the royal household that she could not move much as she carried out her first in-person engagement since Charles tested positive.

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Байден у неділю скликає засідання Ради національної безпеки США через ситуацію в Україні – Білий дім

Росія може почати атаку проти України в будь-який момент, повідомили президенту США Джо Байдену представники його команди з національної безпеки

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Начальник штабу Сил тероборони пояснив, чому на тренуваннях використовували дерев’яні автомати

За словами Сергія Собка, використання дерев’яних автоматів дозволяє тренуватися, як тримати зброю і яке положення приймати під час стрільби

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Germany’s Scholz Says Now is ‘Moment of Truth’ for Iran Deal

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Saturday that “now is the moment of truth” to determine whether Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers can be salvaged, and the Iranian leadership needs to make a choice.

Iran’s foreign minister, though, said that it’s up to Western countries to show flexibility and “the ball is now in their court.”

Negotiators from Iran and the remaining parties to the agreement — Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China — are working in Vienna to restore life to the accord, which granted Iran sanctions relief in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program.

The United States has participated indirectly in the talks because it withdrew from the deal in 2018 under then-President Donald Trump. President Joe Biden has signaled that he wants to rejoin the deal.

Under Trump, the U.S. reimposed heavy sanctions on Iran. Tehran has responded by increasing the purity and amounts of uranium it enriches and stockpiles, in breach of the accord — formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA.

Scholz told participants at the annual Munich Security Conference on Saturday that Iran nuclear talks have come a long way over the past 10 months and “all elements for a conclusion of the negotiations are on the table.” But he also criticized Iran for stepping up its enrichment and restricting inspections by monitors from the U.N. nuclear agency.

“We now have the opportunity to reach an agreement that makes it possible for sanctions to be lifted,” Scholz said. “At the same time, it’s the case that if we don’t succeed very quickly in this, the negotiations threaten to fail.”

“The Iranian leadership now has a choice,” the chancellor said. “Now is the moment of truth.”

Speaking a few hours later at the same Munich conference, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said that “we are ready to achieve a good deal at the earliest possible time — if the other side makes the needed political decision.”

Amirabdollahian insisted that “we are in a hurry” to reach a deal. But he made clear that the issue of guarantees from the U.S. about a restored deal’s future remains a sticking point.

“We have never been this close to a deal,” he said. “It is the Western side that has to present its initiatives and show flexibility … they have not shown any flexibility so far.”

Iran so far has declined to talk directly to the United States. The foreign minister suggested that direct talks would only make sense if the U.S. lifts some sanctions or releases some Iranian assets frozen in foreign banks.

Iran long has insisted its nuclear program is peaceful. But the country’s steps away from its obligations under the 2015 accord have alarmed its archenemy Israel and world powers.

Tehran has since started enriching uranium up to 60% purity — a short technical step from the 90% needed to make an atomic bomb, and spinning far more advanced centrifuges than those permitted under the deal. 

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Reporter’s Notebook: On Tour with the Ukrainian Military

Many buildings in the town of Novoluganske, in eastern Ukraine, have been abandoned for years. The wooden boards on the doors and windows are rotted by weather, and nearby factories are rusted and shuttered.

You would never know that violent incidents in the region have increased by more than 1,000% in the past three days.

But we weren’t there long on Saturday before heavy fire crashed into town and the soldiers hosting our tour of the war zone swiftly herded our group of more than a dozen journalists back onto a bus. Some colleagues in another part of town ducked into the inner rooms of a military warehouse while our bus sped away.

Just outside of town, Mariana Bezugla, a Ministry of Defense staffer and member of parliament, said it was artillery fire, a type forbidden by international agreements.

“We want diplomacy,” she said from the front passenger seat. “Ukraine wants a diplomatic solution.”

After some time, we parked the bus behind a wall. Soldiers told us to stay inside even though we were wearing heavy security gear. The bombing continued but further away.

The trip we were on with the Ukrainian military had been planned only the night before, but it was clear from behind the wall that this part of the journey was coming to a halt.

It was also clear why the authorities took such pains to bring us to the region. They wanted to show the swelling population of international journalists in Ukraine what was happening on the ground and make sure we all knew how they felt about it.

“Ukraine is ready to fight until the last soldiers,” said David Arakhamia, a leader of the party of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. “Our intention is only … to protect our army and our civilians in our country, of course.”

Contact line

As we trudged across the tarmac later that evening to board a military flight out of the war zone, a journalist repeatedly asked a slightly confused soldier to tell us how close we were to the “contact line” in Novoluganske.

Eventually, we understood why he was confused by the question.

“That village is on the contact line,” he said.

The contact line separates land controlled by the Ukrainian government and land technically in Ukraine that is controlled by groups usually referred to as “Russian-backed separatists.” These separatists are the forces who have openly and directly engaged in combat with Ukraine since 2014, not Russia.

The separatists refer to themselves as defenders of independent, if unrecognized, countries, and they are often also called “rebels” by supporters and “terrorists” by their enemies.

In the past three days, there have been attacks along all of the roughly 400-kilometer contact line, according to Ukrainian Joint Forces Commander Oleksandr Pavliuk, with 98 incidents of “cease-fire violations” on Saturday alone that left two dead, many injured and homes, water systems and other infrastructure damaged.

But, Pavliuk insisted, Ukraine has maintained its territorial integrity and its will to fight.

“The armed forces of Ukraine are in full control of (the) situation,” he said. “And we will defend the independence of our country until the very end.”

NATO in the news

This uptick in violence may come as no surprise to the average news reader, who has been seeing warnings of escalating tensions between Russia and Ukraine for months, including the buildup of Russian troops and military equipment along its border with Ukraine.

Russia has repeatedly demanded a guarantee that Ukraine would never be permitted to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, a military alliance originally designed to foil Soviet expansion. NATO has repeatedly denied this demand, while at the same time refusing Ukraine’s entrance into the alliance.

As Russian troops moved to the border over the past few months, diplomats have tried and, so far, failed to untangle this mess. Russia says it has removed some of what the U.S. says are 150,000 troops from the border and will continue to do so, but many other leaders, including Pavliuk, say this is not true.

“As of today,” he said, about an hour before we headed back to the relative safety of Kyiv, “the overall number of Russian troops surrounding the Ukrainian border has not changed.”

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Блінкен розповів, що планує запропонувати Лаврову на зустрічі 24 лютого

«У нас запланована зустріч 24-го числа, наприкінці наступного тижня у Європі. Але… це передбачає, що за цей час Росія не нападе на Україну»

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Канада доправила зброю для ЗСУ – Міноборони

Очікується, що найближчим часом буде виконано ще декілька рейсів, додали у МОУ

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Зеленський: заяви про обстріли з боку України – це провокація і «чиста брехня»

«Це просто цинізм такого рівня, що вони самі у себе щось підривають. Не вперше стріляють самі на тимчасово окуповану територію, яку вони контролюють»

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