Live updates: follow the latest news on Russia-Ukraine
A British MP has launched an appeal for donations of body armour, helmets and medical supplies for Ukraine.
Penny Mordaunt, a former defence secretary, is urging people and businesses who may have kit lying around to donate it to protect soldiers and civilians fighting the Russian invaders.
The Conservative MP for Portsmouth North is also collecting ration packs, wound dressings, neck collars, oxygen cylinders and a wide range of medicines to ship to Ukraine.
She posted photos on social media showing donations of protective gear, boots, camouflage clothing and backpacks, but said more were needed.
“There is a constant need for tactical gear,” she said. “Given we have a lot of ex-service personnel in our patch there might be many people who will have old gear they are not using any more.”
Ms Mordaunt discouraged her constituents from going to Ukraine to fight if they do not have previous military experience.
“I am anticipating that some people from our city may wish to join the fight, especially those with a connection to Ukraine,” she said. “Only those with the specific skills required should consider going, and you need to be fully informed about all that will entail.”
Given Portsmouth’s history, she said locals know more than others “what it takes to fight tyranny”.
The bombing of Portsmouth during the Second World War left more than 3,000 people killed or injured.
During the Nazis’ four-year bombing campaign of 1940 to 1944, some 930 people were killed and thousands more were injured in Portsmouth, and one in 10 of the city’s homes were destroyed.
At least 227 civilians have been killed in Ukraine since Russian invaded last week and 525 have been wounded, the UN human rights office said.
Ukraine’s emergency services said more than 2,000 civilians have been killed.
Speaking on BBC's Question Time on Thursday evening, Ms Mordaunt said the UK should be investing more into defence.
“I've always argued for strong defence spending … and that we should recognise the return on that investment to the UK,” she said.
A disaster relief charity based in Cornwall, south-west England, is sending a team to Ukraine to ascertain exactly what the refugees need most.
The UN has said 1.2 million people fled Ukraine during the first week of the war with Russia.
“We are witnessing a vast humanitarian crisis unfold. With every hour that passes more and more people are fleeing Ukraine, desperately seeking safety and refuge,” ShelterBox chief executive Sanj Srikanthan said.
ShelterBox was established in 2000 and initially supplied stoves, tents and outdoor survival essentials to people suffering the after-effects of disasters.
Fourteen years later they expanded to provide shelter equipment and essential tools needed for people to rebuild their homes.
ShelterBox worked in Ukraine during the floods of 2003 and 2008.
Red flags
- Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
- Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
- Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
- Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
- Hard-selling tactics - creating urgency, offering 'exclusive' deals.
Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
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AI traffic lights to ease congestion at seven points to Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Street
The seven points are:
Shakhbout bin Sultan Street
Dhafeer Street
Hadbat Al Ghubainah Street (outbound)
Salama bint Butti Street
Al Dhafra Street
Rabdan Street
Umm Yifina Street exit (inbound)
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
Key findings of Jenkins report
- Founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan al Banna, "accepted the political utility of violence"
- Views of key Muslim Brotherhood ideologue, Sayyid Qutb, have “consistently been understood” as permitting “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” and “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
- Muslim Brotherhood at all levels has repeatedly defended Hamas attacks against Israel, including the use of suicide bombers and the killing of civilians.
- Laying out the report in the House of Commons, David Cameron told MPs: "The main findings of the review support the conclusion that membership of, association with, or influence by the Muslim Brotherhood should be considered as a possible indicator of extremism."
Six large-scale objects on show
- Concrete wall and windows from the now demolished Robin Hood Gardens housing estate in Poplar
- The 17th Century Agra Colonnade, from the bathhouse of the fort of Agra in India
- A stagecloth for The Ballet Russes that is 10m high – the largest Picasso in the world
- Frank Lloyd Wright’s 1930s Kaufmann Office
- A full-scale Frankfurt Kitchen designed by Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, which transformed kitchen design in the 20th century
- Torrijos Palace dome
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Sholto Byrnes on Myanmar politics
The biog
Nickname: Mama Nadia to children, staff and parents
Education: Bachelors degree in English Literature with Social work from UAE University
As a child: Kept sweets on the window sill for workers, set aside money to pay for education of needy families
Holidays: Spends most of her days off at Senses often with her family who describe the centre as part of their life too
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