Live updates: follow the latest news on Russia-Ukraine
The atrocities committed by Russian forces in Ukraine appear close to “genocide”, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said, as Nato’s chief warned the war could drag on for years.
Days after the images of bodies dumped in a mass grave and human remains littering a street in Bucha shocked the world, western leaders ramped up sanctions against Moscow.
Six weeks on from Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Mr Putin does not appear to have dropped “his ambition to control the whole of Ukraine”, Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Wednesday as he warned the conflict could last for a long time.
“We have to be realistic and realise that this may last for a long time, for many months, for even years,” he said before a meeting of Nato foreign ministers. “And that's the reason why we need also to be prepared for the long haul, both when it comes to supporting Ukraine, sustaining sanctions and strengthening our defences.”
He said officials expect Russian troops to resupply and reposition with the aim of launching a renewed offensive in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine.
“They will be rearmed, because they've used a lot of ammunition and they will be resupplied with fuel and all the things they need, food and so on, to launch a new big offensive.”
Mr Johnson pledged Britain will be in the “front rank” of nations imposing a fresh set of sanctions on Moscow, in light of the grim discoveries made in Bucha, a commuter city 30 kilometres north-west of Kyiv.
Ukrainian officials have said the bodies of at least 410 civilians have been discovered in Bucha and other cities and towns around the capital recaptured from the Russians as their forces pull back.
Speaking during a visit to a hospital in Welwyn Garden City, Mr Johnson said the latest disclosures underline the need for the international community to tighten the economic pressure on the Kremlin.
“I'm afraid, when you look at what's happening in Bucha, the revelations that we are seeing from what Putin has done in Ukraine doesn't look far short of genocide to me,” he said.
Meanwhile, Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban said he had urged Mr Putin to impose an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine, and had invited the leaders of France, Germany and Ukraine to meet the Russian president in Budapest.
“I suggested to President Putin that he declare an immediate ceasefire,” Mr Orban told a press conference on Wednesday, following a phone conversation with the Russian leader.
Mr Orban said he had proposed a meeting in Budapest between Mr Putin, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
He said the Russian president's response to the idea of a meeting “was positive, but with conditions”. He did not elaborate on the details but said that Mr Putin had initiated Wednesday's phone call.
The Hungarian leader previously had the closest relationships to the Kremlin of any EU member state. On Wednesday he reiterated his opposition to Hungary sending weapons to arm the Ukrainians and to the EU imposing an embargo on Russian energy imports, on which Hungary is highly dependent.
Asked about civilians found dead in Bucha, Mr Orban replied: “With all atrocities, we have to examine them, even though we live in an era of massive manipulation where we can't be sure if we can trust our own eyes".
He called for civilians to be protected “at all costs”, adding: “We want an independent, fair investigation".
The UN General Assembly will vote on Thursday on a UK and US push to suspend Russia from the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council, diplomats said.
A two-thirds majority of voting General Assembly members in New York can suspend a country for committing gross and systematic violations of human rights. Russia is in its second year of a three-year term on the 47-member Human Rights Council.
The White House announced a new round of punitive measures against Russia, including sanctions targeting Maria Vorontsova and Katerina Tikhonova, Mr Putin's two adult daughters.
Also hit with new sanctions from the US were the wife and daughter of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and members of Russia's Security Council, including former President and prime minister of Russia Dmitry Medvedev and prime minister Mikhail Mishustin.
The European Commission has proposed a ban on coal imports, which could be adopted later on Wednesday if all 27 ambassadors agree to the plan. The EU depends on Russia for about 45 per cent of its coal imports, according to the Commission’s website, and payments to Moscow are used to finance Mr Putin’s war machine.
Britain announced new sanctions on Russia on Wednesday, including an asset freeze on Sberbank, the country's largest bank, and an end to all new UK outward investment in Russia.
The government also said it would end imports of Russian coal and oil by the end of 2022.
Asset freezes and travel bans on a further eight oligarchs linked to the Kremlin were also unveiled.
Britain's Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said the latest round of sanctions were part of the UK's “campaign to bring Putin's appalling war to an end".
“Our latest wave of measures will bring an end to the UK's imports of Russian energy and sanction yet more individuals and businesses, decimating Putin’s war machine,” she said. “Together with our allies, we are showing the Russian elite that they cannot wash their hands of the atrocities committed on Putin's orders. We will not rest until Ukraine prevails.”
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
New UK refugee system
- A new “core protection” for refugees moving from permanent to a more basic, temporary protection
- Shortened leave to remain - refugees will receive 30 months instead of five years
- A longer path to settlement with no indefinite settled status until a refugee has spent 20 years in Britain
- To encourage refugees to integrate the government will encourage them to out of the core protection route wherever possible.
- Under core protection there will be no automatic right to family reunion
- Refugees will have a reduced right to public funds
THE NEW BATCH'S FOCUS SECTORS
AiFlux – renewables, oil and gas
DevisionX – manufacturing
Event Gates – security and manufacturing
Farmdar – agriculture
Farmin – smart cities
Greener Crop – agriculture
Ipera.ai – space digitisation
Lune Technologies – fibre-optics
Monak – delivery
NutzenTech – environment
Nybl – machine learning
Occicor – shelf management
Olymon Solutions – smart automation
Pivony – user-generated data
PowerDev – energy big data
Sav – finance
Searover – renewables
Swftbox – delivery
Trade Capital Partners – FinTech
Valorafutbol – sports and entertainment
Workfam – employee engagement
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New process leads to panic among jobseekers
As a UAE-based travel agent who processes tourist visas from the Philippines, Jennifer Pacia Gado is fielding a lot of calls from concerned travellers just now. And they are all asking the same question.
“My clients are mostly Filipinos, and they [all want to know] about good conduct certificates,” says the 34-year-old Filipina, who has lived in the UAE for five years.
Ms Gado contacted the Philippines Embassy to get more information on the certificate so she can share it with her clients. She says many are worried about the process and associated costs – which could be as high as Dh500 to obtain and attest a good conduct certificate from the Philippines for jobseekers already living in the UAE.
“They are worried about this because when they arrive here without the NBI [National Bureau of Investigation] clearance, it is a hassle because it takes time,” she says.
“They need to go first to the embassy to apply for the application of the NBI clearance. After that they have go to the police station [in the UAE] for the fingerprints. And then they will apply for the special power of attorney so that someone can finish the process in the Philippines. So it is a long process and more expensive if you are doing it from here.”
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Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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United States
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China
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UAE
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Japan
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Norway
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Canada
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Singapore
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Australia
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Saudi Arabia
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Madrid Open schedule
Men's semi-finals
Novak Djokovic (1) v Dominic Thiem (5) from 6pm
Stefanos Tsitsipas (8) v Rafael Nadal (2) from 11pm
Women's final
Simona Halep (3) v Kiki Bertens (7) from 8.30pm
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Tamkeen's offering
- Option 1: 70% in year 1, 50% in year 2, 30% in year 3
- Option 2: 50% across three years
- Option 3: 30% across five years
How to apply for a drone permit
- Individuals must register on UAE Drone app or website using their UAE Pass
- Add all their personal details, including name, nationality, passport number, Emiratis ID, email and phone number
- Upload the training certificate from a centre accredited by the GCAA
- Submit their request
What are the regulations?
- Fly it within visual line of sight
- Never over populated areas
- Ensure maximum flying height of 400 feet (122 metres) above ground level is not crossed
- Users must avoid flying over restricted areas listed on the UAE Drone app
- Only fly the drone during the day, and never at night
- Should have a live feed of the drone flight
- Drones must weigh 5 kg or less
BMW M5 specs
Engine: 4.4-litre twin-turbo V-8 petrol enging with additional electric motor
Power: 727hp
Torque: 1,000Nm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 10.6L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh650,000
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Developer: Big Ape Productions
Publisher: LucasArts
Console: PlayStation 1 & 5, Sega Saturn
Rating: 4/5
Why it pays to compare
A comparison of sending Dh20,000 from the UAE using two different routes at the same time - the first direct from a UAE bank to a bank in Germany, and the second from the same UAE bank via an online platform to Germany - found key differences in cost and speed. The transfers were both initiated on January 30.
Route 1: bank transfer
The UAE bank charged Dh152.25 for the Dh20,000 transfer. On top of that, their exchange rate margin added a difference of around Dh415, compared with the mid-market rate.
Total cost: Dh567.25 - around 2.9 per cent of the total amount
Total received: €4,670.30
Route 2: online platform
The UAE bank’s charge for sending Dh20,000 to a UK dirham-denominated account was Dh2.10. The exchange rate margin cost was Dh60, plus a Dh12 fee.
Total cost: Dh74.10, around 0.4 per cent of the transaction
Total received: €4,756
The UAE bank transfer was far quicker – around two to three working days, while the online platform took around four to five days, but was considerably cheaper. In the online platform transfer, the funds were also exposed to currency risk during the period it took for them to arrive.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Pathaan
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The biog
Simon Nadim has completed 7,000 dives.
The hardest dive in the UAE is the German U-boat 110m down off the Fujairah coast.
As a child, he loved the documentaries of Jacques Cousteau
He also led a team that discovered the long-lost portion of the Ines oil tanker.
If you are interested in diving, he runs the XR Hub Dive Centre in Fujairah
