Live updates: follow the latest news on Russia-Ukraine
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that peace talks with Ukraine had hit a dead end, pledging that his troops would win and goading the West for failing to bring Moscow to heel.
Addressing the war in public for the first time since Russian forces retreated from northern Ukraine after they were halted at the gates of Kyiv, Mr Putin promised that Russia would achieve all of its "noble" aims.
In the strongest signal to date that the war will grind on, he said Kyiv had derailed peace talks by staging fake claims of Russian war crimes and by demanding security guarantees to cover the whole of Ukraine.
"We have again returned to a dead-end situation for us," Mr Putin, Russia's leader since 1999, said during a visit to the Vostochny Cosmodrome 5,550 kilometres east of Moscow.
Asked by Russian space agency workers if the operation in Ukraine would achieve its goals, he said: "Absolutely. I don't have any doubt at all."
Russia will "rhythmically and calmly" continue its operation but the most important strategic conclusion was that the unipolar international order that the US had built after the Cold War was breaking up, Mr Putin said.
He said Russia had no choice but to fight because it had to defend the Russian speakers of eastern Ukraine and prevent its former Soviet neighbour from becoming an anti-Moscow springboard for enemies.
The West has condemned the war as a brutal, imperial-style land grab in a sovereign country.
Ukraine says it has been fighting for its survival since Mr Putin annexed Crimea in 2014 and on February 21 recognised two of its rebel regions as sovereign.
He dismissed the West's sanctions, which have tipped Russia towards its worst recession since the years after the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union, as a failure.
"That Blitzkrieg on which our foes were counting did not work," Mr Putin said. "The United States is ready to fight with Russia until the last Ukrainian. That is the way it is."
Mr Putin, who had been all over Russian TV in the early days of the war, largely retreated from public view since Moscow's withdrawal from northern Ukraine two weeks ago.
His only public appearance in the past week was at the funeral of a nationalist politician, where he did not directly address the war.
On Monday he met the visiting Austrian Chancellor, Karl Nehammer, at a country residence outside Moscow but no images of that meeting were released.
Mr Putin dismissed Ukrainian and western claims that Russia had committed war crimes as fakes.
Since Russian troops withdrew from towns and villages around the capital Kyiv, Ukrainian troops have been showing what they say were corpses of civilians killed by Russian forces, as well as destroyed houses and burnt-out cars.
Ukraine says Russia is guilty of genocide and US President Joe Biden has accused Putin of war crimes and called for a trial.
Mr Putin said he had told western leaders to think about the destruction by the US of the Syrian city of Raqqa, the former de facto capital of ISIS, and in Afghanistan.
"Have you seen how this Syrian city was turned to rubble by American aircraft? Corpses lay in the ruins for months decomposing," he said. "Nobody cared. No one even noticed."
"There was no such silence when provocations were staged in Syria, when they portrayed the use of chemical weapons by the Assad government. Then it turned out that it was fake. It's the same kind of fake in Bucha."
The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons has found that poison gas was used repeatedly in Syria, including in Ghouta, an opposition-held suburb of Damascus.
Russia has objected to those findings, which implicated its ally, Syrian president Bashar Al Assad.
Washington and its allies have denied targeting civilians in the 2017 air strikes on Raqqa, a Syrian city that had become the headquarters of ISIS, which the US-led coalition was fighting.
Mr Putin, who says Ukraine and Russia are essentially one people, describes the war as an inevitable confrontation with the US, which he accuses of threatening Russia by meddling in its backyard.
Sixty-one years to the day since the Soviet Union's Yuri Gagarin blasted off to become the first man in space, Mr Putin drew an analogy between Soviet space successes and Russia's defiance today.
"The sanctions were total, the isolation was complete, but the Soviet Union was still first in space," he said.
"We don't intend to be isolated. It is impossible to severely isolate anyone in the modern world, especially such a vast country as Russia."
The Breadwinner
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Starring: Saara Chaudry, Soma Chhaya, Laara Sadiq
Three stars
The National in Davos
We are bringing you the inside story from the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting in Davos, a gathering of hundreds of world leaders, top executives and billionaires.
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Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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China
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UAE
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Japan
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Norway
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
LIVING IN...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
RESULTS
5pm: Handicap (PA) Dh70,000 1,400m
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Winner: ES Nahawand, Fernando Jara, Mohammed Daggash
7pm: Maiden (PA) Dh70,000 1,600m
Winner: Winked, Connor Beasley, Abdallah Al Hammadi
7.30pm: Al Ain Mile Group 3 (PA) Dh350,000 1,600m
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Winner: Al Jazi, Fabrice Veron, Eric Lemartinel
Fringe@Four Line-up
October 1 - Phil Nichol (stand-up comedy)
October 29 - Mandy Knight (stand-up comedy)
November 5 - Sinatra Raw (Fringe theatre)
November 8 - Imah Dumagay & Sundeep Fernandes (stand-up comedy)
November 13 - Gordon Southern (stand-up comedy)
November 22 - In Loyal Company (Fringe theatre)
November 29 - Peter Searles (comedy / theatre)
December 5 - Sinatra’s Christmas Under The Stars (music / dinner show)
The Ashes
Results
First Test, Brisbane: Australia won by 10 wickets
Second Test, Adelaide: Australia won by 120 runs
Third Test, Perth: Australia won by an innings and 41 runs
Fourth Test: Melbourne: Drawn
Fifth Test: Australia won by an innings and 123 runs
Know before you go
- Jebel Akhdar is a two-hour drive from Muscat airport or a six-hour drive from Dubai. It’s impossible to visit by car unless you have a 4x4. Phone ahead to the hotel to arrange a transfer.
- If you’re driving, make sure your insurance covers Oman.
- By air: Budget airlines Air Arabia, Flydubai and SalamAir offer direct routes to Muscat from the UAE.
- Tourists from the Emirates (UAE nationals not included) must apply for an Omani visa online before arrival at evisa.rop.gov.om. The process typically takes several days.
- Flash floods are probable due to the terrain and a lack of drainage. Always check the weather before venturing into any canyons or other remote areas and identify a plan of escape that includes high ground, shelter and parking where your car won’t be overtaken by sudden downpours.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Pharaoh's curse
British aristocrat Lord Carnarvon, who funded the expedition to find the Tutankhamun tomb, died in a Cairo hotel four months after the crypt was opened.
He had been in poor health for many years after a car crash, and a mosquito bite made worse by a shaving cut led to blood poisoning and pneumonia.
Reports at the time said Lord Carnarvon suffered from “pain as the inflammation affected the nasal passages and eyes”.
Decades later, scientists contended he had died of aspergillosis after inhaling spores of the fungus aspergillus in the tomb, which can lie dormant for months. The fact several others who entered were also found dead withiin a short time led to the myth of the curse.
About Okadoc
Date started: Okadoc, 2018
Founder/CEO: Fodhil Benturquia
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Healthcare
Size: (employees/revenue) 40 staff; undisclosed revenues recording “double-digit” monthly growth
Funding stage: Series B fundraising round to conclude in February
Investors: Undisclosed
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Learn more about Qasr Al Hosn
In 2013, The National's History Project went beyond the walls to see what life was like living in Abu Dhabi's fabled fort:
Where to buy art books in the UAE
There are a number of speciality art bookshops in the UAE.
In Dubai, The Lighthouse at Dubai Design District has a wonderfully curated selection of art and design books. Alserkal Avenue runs a pop-up shop at their A4 space, and host the art-book fair Fully Booked during Art Week in March. The Third Line, also in Alserkal Avenue, has a strong book-publishing arm and sells copies at its gallery. Kinokuniya, at Dubai Mall, has some good offerings within its broad selection, and you never know what you will find at the House of Prose in Jumeirah. Finally, all of Gulf Photo Plus’s photo books are available for sale at their show.
In Abu Dhabi, Louvre Abu Dhabi has a beautiful selection of catalogues and art books, and Magrudy’s – across the Emirates, but particularly at their NYU Abu Dhabi site – has a great selection in art, fiction and cultural theory.
In Sharjah, the Sharjah Art Museum sells catalogues and art books at its museum shop, and the Sharjah Art Foundation has a bookshop that offers reads on art, theory and cultural history.
Blackpink World Tour [Born Pink] In Cinemas
Starring: Rose, Jisoo, Jennie, Lisa
Directors: Min Geun, Oh Yoon-Dong
Rating: 3/5
BUNDESLIGA FIXTURES
Friday (all kick-offs UAE time)
Hertha Berlin v Union Berlin (10.30pm)
Saturday
Freiburg v Werder Bremen (5.30pm)
Paderborn v Hoffenheim (5.30pm)
Wolfsburg v Borussia Dortmund (5.30pm)
Borussia Monchengladbach v Bayer Leverkusen (5.30pm)
Bayern Munich v Eintracht Frankfurt (5.30pm)
Sunday
Schalke v Augsburg (3.30pm)
Mainz v RB Leipzig (5.30pm)
Cologne v Fortuna Dusseldorf (8pm)
Read more from Aya Iskandarani
Ticket prices
General admission Dh295 (under-three free)
Buy a four-person Family & Friends ticket and pay for only three tickets, so the fourth family member is free
Buy tickets at: wbworldabudhabi.com/en/tickets
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