Russian missiles strike near Zelenskiy and Greek PM's visit | Ukraine

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Ukraine

Russian forces “do not care” whether the targets are military or civilian, says Zelenskiy; Greek PM describes experience as 'very intense'

AFP in Kyiv

A deadly Russian missile attack on the Ukrainian port city of Odessa appeared to land near President Volodymyr Zelensky and visiting Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who called the moment of the bombardment “fierce.”

According to the Ukrainian Navy, five people were killed and an unspecified number were injured in the attack on port infrastructure on Wednesday.

“We heard the sound of sirens and explosions taking place near us,” said Mitsotakis, who held talks with Zelensky. “We didn’t have time to get to a shelter. It is a very intense experience,” Mitsotakis added through an interpreter in Odessa.

Ukraine stepped up its own attacks behind Russian lines after a car bomb and a drone strike on a metal factory appeared to kill a Russian election official on Wednesday.

Russia and Ukraine have stepped up airstrikes as Moscow's troops advance to the front and Kiev faces a shortage of manpower and weapons.

Spokesman Dmytro Pletenchuk confirmed that the attack in Odessa came at a time when the Greek delegation with Zelensky was visiting the port.

Britain could lend Russian assets to Ukraine, says David Cameron – video

The Russian armed forces “do not care whether [targets] are military or civilian; Whoever they are, whether they are international guests, these people don’t care,” Zelenskiy said.

The White House spokesman in Washington said: “It looks like this [the rocket] landed near the convoy.”

However, the Russian Defense Ministry claimed that the attack took place on a “hangar in a commercial port area of ​​Odessa, where unmanned cutters are being prepared for combat use by the Ukrainian armed forces.”

The attack came just days after 12 people, including five children, were killed when a Russian drone hit an apartment block in the same Black Sea city. This was one of the deadliest attacks on civilians in weeks.

As the White House struggles to end Republican obstruction on new U.S. aid packages for Ukraine, a spokesman for President Joe Biden's National Security Council said the Odessa attack shows the “urgent need” for weapons. “This attack is another reminder of how Russia continues to ruthlessly attack Ukraine every day,” they said.

Deportation and Re-Education: Life in the Russian Occupied Territories of Ukraine

Authorities in the Russian-held city of Berdyansk in southern Ukraine blamed Kiev for a car bombing that reportedly killed a local election official. “A homemade explosive device was placed under the vehicle of a member of the district election commission,” the investigative committee said in a statement.

“The victim died from his injuries,” it said, posting a video of a small beige car that burst and was parked on a dirt road.

The attack came as early voting began in occupied Ukraine for this month's Russian presidential election.

Moscow-appointed head of the Zaporizhzhia region, Yevgeny Balitsky, blamed Ukrainian authorities for the attack, saying they had tried to “intimidate” residents ahead of the vote.

Since Moscow launched its large-scale military operation in Ukraine two years ago, several Russian-appointed officials have been targeted. Russia also said Ukraine had hit a fuel tank at a metal plant in Russia's Kursk region in an early morning drone strike.

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Google engineer indicted for allegedly stealing AI trade secrets for China

Business News / By

A federal grand jury has indicted a Google engineer, Linwei Ding, aka Leon Ding, for allegedly stealing trade secrets related to Google's AI chip software and hardware on March 5 before killing him on Wednesday morning in Newark, California , was arrested. Assistant Attorney General Lisa Monaco said in a statement that Ding “stole over 500 confidential files containing AI trade secrets from Google while secretly working for China-based companies seeking a leg up in the AI ​​technology race.”

A large part of the stolen data allegedly revolves around Google's Tensor Processing Unit (TPU) chips. Google's TPU chips support many of its AI workloads and, when paired with Nvidia GPUs, can train and run AI models like Gemini. The company has also offered access to the chips through partner platforms such as Hugging Face.

Image: Ministry of Justice

The files allegedly stolen include software designs for the v4 and v6 TPU chips, hardware and software specifications for GPUs used in Google's data center, and designs for Google's machine learning workloads in data centers.

The government accuses Ding of transferring these files to a personal Google Cloud account between May 2022 and May 2023.

He allegedly did this “by copying data from the Google source files into the Apple Notes application on his Google-issued MacBook laptop” and then converting them from Apple Notes to PDFs to avoid detection by Google's “systems to prevent “To avoid data loss”.

According to the government, a Chinese machine learning company called Rongshu offered to appoint him as CTO less than a month after he began stealing files. He flew to China for five months to raise money for the company and then founded and ran a machine learning startup called Zhisuan while still working for Google. He resigned from Google in December 2023 – and reportedly booked a one-way ticket to Beijing, departing two days after his end date – after the company began questioning him about his uploads.

The DOJ also alleges that in December 2023, he allegedly faked his presence at Google's US office by having another employee scan his ID at the door while he was actually in China. Ding has been charged with four counts of theft of trade secrets, so if convicted he faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine on each count.

Google engineer indicted for allegedly stealing AI trade secrets for China Read More »

“Love Lies Bleeding” is Kristen Stewart’s highlight

Entertainment News / By

Muscles ripple, veins burst, and electronic music throbs in “Love Lies Bleeding,” a billowing, hyper-sexy neo-noir drenched in sweat, blood, and insect guts.

If the latter seems a little less expected, thanks to the bug-eating Ed Harris, this moment is far from the only unconventional provocation in Rose Glass' film, a pulpy, fairytale lesbian crime thriller in which bodies, large and small, are ravaged under the starry desert sky .

Not everything works. Heavy doses of melodrama and eye-popping surrealism blunt the lurid magic of “Love Lies Bleeding.” But this comes tantalizingly close to the idealized version of a Kristen Stewart film. Stewart has been one of the most electrifying stars in years. But “Love Lies Bleeding,” in which she plays a cynical gym worker named Lou who falls in love with a bodybuilding drifter, Jackie (Katy O'Brian), offers Stewart a vivid noir sandbox in which to showcase all her talent to obsession, desire and anger find their worst expression yet.

Glass, the British filmmaker whose 2019 horror film “Saint Maud” was an exciting debut, opens “Love Lies Bleeding” on a slightly magical note, gazing at the stars. The camera slowly pans to a warehouse in New Mexico, where music is blaring and people are streaming in. What kind of spooky night cave could this be? For a moment, it's disappointing to learn that it's just a gym full of men and women pushing themselves to exhaustion with machines and dumbbells. There are signs around them with slogans like “Only losers give up.”

The urge to make yourself bigger – with weights, drugs, guns, power or perhaps love – resonates throughout “Love Lies Bleeding.” More than once, Glass will linger on swelling muscles, almost Hulk-like, although these expansions have nothing to do with the immensity that Lou and Jackie ultimately find together.

Poisons are also lurking everywhere. For the trainees, weakness is one of them. Lou is a smoker but is trying to quit. Jackie is addicted to a bodybuilder fantasy and a self-realization craze. And then there's the nastiness of the local shooting range, where Lou Sr. (Harris) presides over a corrupt arms trafficking empire from behind a desk surrounded by creepy crawlies. The satire of “Love Lies Bleeding” isn’t shy. A billboard reads: “Dream, next exit.”

At the shooting range, Jackie gets a job after meeting a sleazy, mullet-wearing lackey named JJ (Dave Franco) in his car. “That was magical,” he says after something that clearly wasn’t. The real magic will come later in “Love Lies Bleeding,” but not for JJ, whose abuse toward his wife and Lou's sister Beth (Jena Malone) leads to a bloody series of events that reluctantly brings Lou into an ever closer relationship with the estranged Father brings them upset, Lou Sr.

In a sense, all of this springs from the love that blossoms between Lou and Jackie. It starts with a steroid injection and a kiss and quickly becomes passionate and protective. Their increasingly close bond drives them to violent extremes. Being in love means being ruthless – towards former lovers (Anna Baryshnikov plays one of Lou's abandoned mistresses) and family alike.

Jackie's roid-charged disorder also plays a role, making “Love Lies Bleeding” an interesting addition to Jonathan Majors' unreleased bodybuilder film “Magazine Dreams,” not to mention “The Iron Claw,” another beefy A24 film about family decay and Muscle building.

Like that film, “Love Lies Bleeding” is set in the 1980s, although it seems rather dated. As things spin in Glass and Weronika Tofilska's script, the film keeps the grisly events in perspective, at times taking the perspective of Jackie's drug delirium, such as when she flees to Las Vegas to compete in a bodybuilding competition, or slips closer approaches Lou Sr. as he coolly pulls the strings.

But it will be dangerous to break away from Stewart. Love Lies Bleeding loses some of its momentum every time she's not on screen. However, no one would want anything less from Harris after “Love Lies Bleeding.” As he gets older he seems to be getting better and better, his voice sounds more and more sonorous. As clownish as he is portrayed in the film – with a bald head and long hair down to his shoulders – he firmly justifies a film that resorts to some unnecessary, outrageous flourishes. (I fear this is an increasingly common effect of today's struggling film world – the urge to overcompensate with a hopeful quirk.)

But neo-noirs made with this level of style deserve some leeway to go all out. As the sign says, “Only losers give up.”

“Loves Lies Bleeding,” an A24 release, is rated R by the Motion Picture Association for violence and graphic images, sexual content, nudity, language throughout and drug use. Running time: 104 minutes. Three out of four stars.

“Love Lies Bleeding” is Kristen Stewart’s highlight Read More »

Eagles release cornerback Avonte Maddox after six seasons – NBC Sports Philadelphia

Sports News / By

Cornerback Avonte Maddox, who has missed 29 games over the last four years, has been released by the Eagles, a league source said, confirming a report from ESPN's Adam Schefter.

The move was no surprise.

Maddox, 27, was a very good slot machine when healthy, but those healthy plays are becoming increasingly rare.

He missed six games in 2020 with an ankle injury, played in just nine games in 2022 due to ankle, knee and toe injuries and was limited to four games last year after undergoing surgery to repair a torn pectoral muscle in September . He returned in the final games of the season, but was nowhere near 100 percent.

With Maddox out for most of the year, the Eagles found themselves in deep trouble trying to commit to an inside cornerback, but never succeeded.

Maddox signed a three-year, $22.5 million extension with $13.3 million guaranteed in November 2021. According to OverTheCap, he had one year left on that contract with a base salary of $6.85 million and a cap hit of $9.676913 million.

If the Eagles were to release Maddox with a designation after June 1 — and it's not yet clear if they have done so — he would add about $1.96 million to their 2024 cap hit and then about $5.76 million US dollars count towards their cap for 2025. If they didn't appoint him after June 1, he would be looking at about $7.72 million in dead money this year. That would equate to about $2 million in savings with no money left over beyond this season.

Maddox was a fourth-round pick in the Eagles' outstanding 2018 draft class, which also gave them Dallas Goedert, Maddox, Josh Sweat and Jordan Mailata without any first-, third-, or fifth-round picks.

He made an immediate contribution as a rookie, starting nine games and picking off two passes. There were only two more interceptions over the next five years. He played 64 games in the Eagles jersey, including 38 as a starter. Maddox and Jalen Mills are the only cornerbacks the Eagles have drafted in the last 20 years who have started at least 30 games as Eagles.

But while the Eagles still had doubts about the position during the offseason, his high salary and frequent injuries made it likely that he would be left off the roster.

With Jason Kelce retiring, Maddox being released, Fletcher Cox and Brandon Graham no longer under contract and their futures uncertain, and Boston Scott also no longer under contract, the only players under contract in 2018 are Lane Johnson , Jake Elliott, Rick Lovato, Goedert and Sweat , Mailata and Greg Ward.

What's the plan in the slot?

Eli Ricks played 144 of his 301 defensive snaps in the slot last year and showed promise for an undrafted rookie. Zech McPhearson, who began the summer as Maddox's backup, will be healthy after missing all of last year with a torn Achilles tendon. Sydney Brown played 141 of his 335 defensive snaps in the slot, but could miss several weeks into the regular season after suffering a torn ACL on the final day of the regular season.

Mid-year acquisition Bradley Roby played 316 slot snaps but didn't play much at the end of the season and is about to become a free agent. Mario Goodrich had a run in the slot early, but it didn't go particularly well.

“We gave some guys a chance to do that,” Howie Roseman said at the combine. “I have to do a better job of getting more people to play that position.”

And that's likely the plan to target an inside corner either in the draft or free agency, although it's possible the Eagles would re-sign Maddox to a significantly smaller contract that comes with playing time incentives if he gets injured again. Schefter tweeted that both sides will continue negotiations.

But even if they bring him back, the Eagles will still need to dedicate some resources to what has essentially become a starting position because of Maddox's injury history.

Maddox is the second defensive back the Eagles have lost contact with in the past week. They released starting safety Kevin Byard on Friday.

Eagles release cornerback Avonte Maddox after six seasons – NBC Sports Philadelphia Read More »

Nikki Haley ends her campaign, Joe Biden praises her “courage”

Latest News / By

03/06 at 11:44 p.m

Nikki Haley pauses her campaign, Trump and Biden call on their Haley voters to join them

Nikki Haley announced today that she is ending her campaign for the Republican nomination for the US presidential election, asserting that Donald Trump, who is now running alone for the right-wing party, should “deserve the votes” of voters who do not voted for him.

Donald Trump and Joe Biden, after clearing the air around them on Super Tuesday, will appeal to independent voters ahead of the November presidential election, which, barring any major surprises, is expected to be a repeat of the duel can win from 2020.

This life is over. Thank you for following us on BFMTV.com. On our website you will find news about the American presidential elections.

03.06. at 8:33 p.m

The Supreme Court will debate Trump's claim of criminal immunity on April 25

The United States Supreme Court has scheduled April 25 for debates on the issue of criminal immunity invoked by Donald Trump as a former president, according to the court's April calendar released Wednesday.

The country's highest court decided on February 28 to hear the matter, further delaying the federal trial of the ex-president for attempting to illegally overturn the results of the 2020 election.

The presumptive Republican nominee for the November presidential election, the subject of four separate criminal cases, is trying with his multiple appeals to be tried as late as possible, in any case after the vote.

06.03. at 7:30 p.m

Dean Philipps withdraws from the Democratic primary

Minnesota elect Dean Philipps is withdrawing from the race for the Democratic nomination in favor of ultra-favorite Joe Biden.

The author Marianne Williamson is the youngest opponent of the American president.

03.06. at 7:22 p.m

11 “non-binding” delegates elected in Minnesota, a warning sign for Joe Biden

According to Axios, 11 “unpledged” delegates were elected in Minnesota during the Democratic primary, meaning they are not supporting Joe Biden as the presidential candidate.

If there is no serious opposition to the Democratic president, he will face internal mobilization that will result in “non-binding” votes. This equivalent of the blank vote exceeded 19% of the vote in Minnesota.

03.06. at 6:58 p.m

Mitch McConnell, leader of the Republican senators, “supports” Donald Trump’s candidacy

Republican Senatorial leader Mitch McConnell “supports” Donald Trump’s candidacy in the presidential election following Nikki Haley’s withdrawal.

“It is abundantly clear that former President Trump received the necessary support from Republican voters to become our nominee for President of the United States,” Mitch McConnell said in a statement quoted by AP.

“It goes without saying that he has my support as a candidate,” added the Republican, who is nevertheless critical of the former president.

03.06. at 6:45 p.m

Republican House Speaker “very pleased” with Super Tuesday results

Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson says he is “very happy” about Super Tuesday, which saw Donald Trump win 14 of 15 states in the Republican primaries.

“The race is now on. It will be a rematch and we love that rematch,” he told reporters after Nikki Haley pulled out, according to The Hill.

03.06. at 5:39 p.m

Elon Musk says he won't give money to any candidate

“Let me be clear: I am not giving money to any of the candidates for President of the United States,” Elon Musk wrote on his X Network while The New York Times reported on a meeting between the billionaire and Donald Trump.

06.03. at 5:15 p.m

The President of the Republican Party “congratulates” Donald Trump

“Congratulations to President Trump on becoming the likely Republican nominee! “We must come together to defeat Joe Biden, and it is clear that Republican voters are ready to rally around President Trump to make it happen,” said Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel.

03.06. at 4:36 p.m

Joe Biden praises Nikki Haley's 'courage'

“It takes a lot of courage to run for president – especially in today's Republican Party, where so few dare to tell the truth about Donald Trump,” President Joe Biden said in a press release carried by American media after the Official announcement quoted by Nikki Haley is suspending her campaign.

06.03. at 4:24 p.m

Donald Trump and Joe Biden are calling on Nikki Haley's voters to join them

Donald Trump and Joe Biden are calling on Nikki Haley's voters to join them.

“You don’t have to agree with me on everything to know that MAGA extremism (“Make America great again,” Donald Trump’s slogan, editor’s note) is a threat to our country. We need everyone on board – join our campaign,” calls Joe Biden on X.

Even before Nikki Haley spoke, Donald Trump had invited “all Haley supporters to join the greatest movement in our nation’s history” on his Truth Social network.

06.03. at 4:16 p.m

Nikki Haley doesn't support Donald Trump

“It is now up to Donald Trump to win the votes of those within our party and beyond who did not support him,” says Nikki Haley.

“I have always been a conservative Republican and have always supported the Republican candidate (…) But Margaret Thatcher gave good advice when she said never to follow the crowd, but always to form your own opinion,” she reasons .

“Politics is about rallying people to your cause, not distracting them,” she adds.

06.03. at 4:05 p.m

Nikki Haley withdraws from the Republican primaries, Donald Trump is alone in the race

Nikki Haley announces she is “suspending” her campaign and withdrawing from the Republican primary, leaving Donald Trump alone in the race.

“It is time to pause my campaign. I said I wanted Americans to speak out. I did this. I don’t regret anything,” she said.

“And although I am no longer a candidate, I will not stop using my voice to stand up for the things I believe in,” she added.

03.06. at 3:49 p.m

Empty voices embarrassing Joe Biden

If Joe Biden overwhelmingly won all the states that voted in the primaries, part of the Democratic electorate chose to vote blank to sanction the American president's support for Israel.

In Minnesota, more than 19% of voters cast a “non-binding” ballot.

03.06. at 3:38 p.m

Where is Donald Trump after Super Tuesday?

Donald Trump won almost every state that voted for the Republican primary. Super Tuesday confirmed his control over the party.

You can find our results card here.

03.06. at 3:29 p.m

Joe Biden wins the 15 states on Super Tuesday

Without serious opposition in his camp, Joe Biden won all 15 states at stake in the Super Tuesday Democratic primaries on Tuesday.

Only American Samoa resisted. This Pacific archipelago was won by a famous unknown, Jason Palmer. However, due to Samoa's status as a territory and not a state, its approximately 40,000 residents cannot take part in the presidential election.

03.06. at 3:13 p.m

Donald Trump is far ahead of Nikki Haley in the delegate race

The Republican primary will be used to elect delegates who will then go to the party's national convention, which will be held July 15-18 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It is then these delegates who nominate the official candidate.

With 2,429 delegates for the Republican Party, Donald Trump needs to win 1,215 to secure the nomination. He has already collected almost 1,000. Nikki Haley is far from the goal.

03.06. at 3:05 p.m

Nikki Haley about to give up?

Nikki Haley is preparing to end her campaign for the Republican nomination, leaving former President Donald Trump alone in the race, the Wall Street Journal and CNN said today.

According to the major American business newspaper, she is expected to announce her decision on Wednesday around 4 p.m. Paris time in a speech in Charleston, the capital of the state of South Carolina, of which she was governor.

06.03. at 3:00 p.m

Donald Trump clear winner of “Super Tuesday”

Hello everyone and welcome to this live broadcast dedicated to the aftermath of Super Tuesday, that big election day in which Donald Trump dominated the Republican primaries. The former president won in 14 of the 15 states where a vote was held.

He never once mentioned Nikki Haley, the most recent Republican to stand in his way for his party's nomination. However, the latter, a former UN ambassador, is likely to end her election campaign this Wednesday, March 6, several American media outlets point out.

Nikki Haley ends her campaign, Joe Biden praises her “courage” Read More »

Mariela Sánchez admits that her relationship with Cristian Castro ended due to a misunderstanding

Entertainment News / By

Mexico City — A misunderstanding after one of the presentations that Cristian Castro gave in Mexico City led to his separation from the Argentine Mariela Sánchez.

Also read: Cristian Castro visits the Virgin of Guadalupe accompanied by his mother and his new girlfriend

In an interview for the Intrusos program, Sánchez said that the interpreter saw a photo of him and an old friend, which led to an argument between them.

“There was an argument and I made the decision to turn back. I think Cristian is telling the truth, the artist's life is complicated, I tried to accompany him,” said Sánchez.

The conflict occurred as Castro's second concert with Yuri was taking place at the National Auditorium in Mexico City. Meanwhile, the budding relationship only became known in January this year when the couple posted photos of them together.

“I never had anything bad about him, I recently had a big argument because he saw something that wasn't right,” explained the Argentine, adding that in the photo in question she is seen with Enrico, a lifelong friend , with whom she dated from 2022. For the same reason, she decided to put an end to the “Lucky Rooster” because she did not let him envy her because of a picture in which she posed years ago.

“Given the reaction of a person who sees a photo from 2022, I can't say they think I'm in a relationship with someone who doesn't see that,” he said.

In an interview with Ana María Alvarado, Sánchez thanked for the attention that Cristian's family showed her.

“I had nothing bad with Verónica Castro, I met her family and found it excellent and I appreciate the whole family, they all treated me very well. It was a pleasure to meet Verónica and I thank her for everything she did by taking me to the Basilica of Guadalupe,” he concluded.

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Mariela Sánchez admits that her relationship with Cristian Castro ended due to a misunderstanding Read More »

Chinese heads of state and government take part in deliberations and debates together with NPC deputies and political advisers

Latest News / By

BEIJING, March 6 (Xinhua) — Senior Chinese leaders Li Qiang, Zhao Leji, Wang Huning, Cai Qi, Ding Xuexiang and Li Xi attended the deliberations of the second session of the 14th National People's Congress (NPC) on Wednesday. Group discussions at the second session of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).

Li Qiang, a member of the Standing Committee of the Politburo of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and Premier of the State Council, called on Guangdong Province to take the lead in promoting China's modernization and participate in deliberations with the APN deputies the province.

Li called on the province to push forward reform and opening-up with greater determination and efforts, promote coordinated development between regions and between urban and rural areas, improve people's living conditions and promote high-quality development.

Along with economic and agricultural policy advisers, Li said China will continue to implement proactive fiscal policies and prudent monetary policies this year.

Efforts will be made to promote innovation of policy instruments and coordination of various policies, promote domestic demand, promote new growth drivers and advantages, pursue innovation-driven growth, and improve the resilience and competitiveness of industrial and supply chains, Li added added.

Zhao Leji, member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Chairman of the NPC Standing Committee, attended the debates of the political advisers of the Democratic League of China and the Peasants' and Workers' Democratic Party of China and expressed his hope that they would find their rightful place and maintain a clear orientation in the Chinese modernization process.

Zhao urged them to strengthen confidence in development, actively participate in state affairs and fulfill their duties, unite the people's will and combine their forces as much as possible, and make full use of the unique characteristics and advantages of their sectors .

Wang Huning, member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Chairman of the CPPCC National Committee, joined ethnic minority political advisers and called on them to actively fulfill their duties and responsibilities and intensify consultation efforts and deliberations.

Wang stressed the need for political advisers to help create a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation and promote ethnic unity and progress.

Cai Qi, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and a member of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee, attended a group meeting of political advisers from the fields of literature, art and sports. He urged them to contribute wisdom and effort to advance China's modernization and help make China a leading country in culture and sports.

Cai also called for efforts to promote deeper integration of culture and tourism and widely introduce public fitness activities.

Ding Xuexiang, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Chinese Vice Premier, attended a meeting of political advisory groups of the Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Regions.

Ding underscored his support for Hong Kong to complete the legislative process of Article 23 of the Basic Law of the HKSAR as soon as possible, stressing the need to refine systems and mechanisms to protect national security in Macau and ensure firm and sustained implementation of the “One -State “ensure “two systems”.

Li Xi, a member of the Standing Committee of the Politburo of the CPC Central Committee and Secretary of the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, attended a group meeting attended by political advisers from the Jiu San Society and the Group of Independent Figures of the Party affiliation.

He emphasized that he had won the tough and protracted battle against corruption. End

Chinese heads of state and government take part in deliberations and debates together with NPC deputies and political advisers Read More »

First deaths in Houthi attack on ship off Yemen

Latest News / By

According to British sources, at least three people were killed in an attack today by Houthi rebels on a cargo ship off the coast of Yemen. These are the first reports of deaths since Iranian-backed extremists began their attacks on commercial ships in mid-November.

The operator of the Greek ship said the cargo ship “True Confidence” was hit by a missile. There were 20 sailors and three armed security guards on board. The burning freighter is floating in the sea.

Yemen's Houthi rebels claimed responsibility for the attack. The extremists have repeatedly attacked merchant ships in recent months – they say in solidarity with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, against which the Israeli military has been operating since the extremists attacked Israel in early October.

Both the Houthis and Hamas are supported by Israel's archenemy, Iran. The Houthis have said they would attack ships linked to Israel, the US and Britain. The British freighter “Rubymar”, which was seriously damaged in a Houthi attack, sank recently.

Industry in fear

In general, however, freighters from all nations are considered at risk when traveling through the Middle East maritime area. Houthi attacks have caused major shipping companies such as Denmark's Maersk and Germany's Hapag-Lloyd to avoid the Red Sea. Instead of taking the shortest route from Asia to Europe through the Suez Canal, many ships take a detour around the southern tip of Africa.

First deaths in Houthi attack on ship off Yemen Read More »