Russian strikes kill 10, injure 50 Ukrainians, as new EU fails to pass new sanctions package
At least 10 Ukrainians were killed and 50 others wounded by Russian strikes over the past day, just after the EU stalled on a new sanctions package hoping to tighten the pressure on the Kremlin.
A drone blasted a residential tower block in the port city of Odesa overnight, causing damage to several floors and trapping residents, according to emergency service workers.
4 Two people were killed in 17 injured in the Odesa strike overnight.
via REUTERS
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A teacher and her husband died, their bodies found under the debris. Another 17 people were injured, including three children, according to Ukrainian officials.
The offensive in Odesa followed a Russian missile attack that killed at least five people and wounded 25 in the city of Samar in Ukraine's south-east on Friday – the second strike there in three days.
4 A Russian drone blasted a residential tower block in Odesa.
via REUTERS
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Another two civilians were also killed in their homes during Moscow's strikes on two villages in the Donetsk region Friday, and another man lost his life in a drone attack on the Kherson region.
The pummeling of Ukrainian cities and the climbing death toll in the three-year war comes as Kyiv marked Constitution Day on Saturday — with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky taking time to salute the war dead.
'We honored the memory of our defenders whose lives were taken by Russian aggression,' he posted to X.
4 Children were among the injured in the Odesa strike.
via REUTERS
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'We remember their sacrifice. Eternal gratitude and respect to the fallen heroes.'
Meanwhile, the European Union extended existing sanctions against Russia for another six months, but the body failed to adopt a new sanctions package due to Slovak opposition Thursday, sources told the Kyiv Independent.
A planned18th sanctions package, which would include new restrictions against the Kremlin's energy and banking sectors, is not expected to be approved until next week as negotiations continue.
4 A residential building was damaged after a Russian drone attack in Odesa in which a married couple was killed.
AFP via Getty Images
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Slovakia said it was willing to lift its veto once the EU promises to help mitigate the impact of weaning out Russian energy sources, which the country depends on.
Last week, the UK and Canada escalated sanctions against Russia's financial, military and energy sectors, following the G7 meeting.
'We are coordinating on sanctions with all G7 nations, as well as with other key global jurisdictions,' Zelensky posted on X Saturday.
'Russia's accountability for this war and our sanctions pressure must be operating at full capacity. They must leave no room for Russia or its cronies to adapt.'
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Hamilton Spectator
an hour ago
- Hamilton Spectator
For Mark Carney, every decision has trade-offs — but that's not slowing him down
OTTAWA—If there is a Carney 'doctrine' taking shape more than 100 days into the prime ministership of Mark Carney, maybe it is this: get it done, and damn the details. A few short months ago, Carney was blunt: 'I am a pragmatist above all. So when I see something that's not working, I will change it.' That's what the former central banker and UN climate finance envoy said when he captured the Liberal party leadership to replace Justin Trudeau. He went on to win the 2025 federal election on his outsider's pitch to rescue the economy from the threat of Donald Trump's tariff war. Pragmatism was how he justified abrupt domestic moves: ditching the consumer carbon tax, reversing capital gains tax hikes, and lowering income taxes while jamming 'nation-building' red-tape-cutting bills through Parliament to juice the economy. 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San Francisco Chronicle
an hour ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Immigration raid against California farmworkers found to reduce school attendance
An increase in recent immigration enforcement in California's Central Valley appears to have caused a drop in school attendance, a Stanford University researcher has found. After a January immigration raid that targeted Kern County farmworkers, local school districts saw a 22% increase in daily student absences compared with the monthly pattern within the past two years, Stanford education professor Thomas Dee wrote in a newly published paper. The Jan. 7 to 9 raid, called Operation Return to Sender, was conducted by U.S. Customs and Border Patrol's El Centro sector days before President Donald Trump's inauguration. The first major workplace immigration raid in California since Trump's presidential election victory, it resulted in at least 78 arrests, according to the El Centro sector of the U.S. Border Patrol. Border patrol agents said they were carrying out 'a 'targeted enforcement' action focused on those with criminal histories but United Farm Workers, a California-based union, said many people arrested had no criminal records, including a lawful permanent resident who was only released when she showed the agent a picture of her green card. A U.S. district judge later barred U.S. Border Patrol agents from using practices deployed in that raid. The ruling, part of a class action lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of farmworkers, stated border patrol agents in the raid 'more likely than not' stopped and detained people without reasonable suspicion to do so. The raid almost immediately fueled widespread fear among undocumented immigrant families, who said they were afraid to send their kids to school or leave home in case they were arrested. Since then, ICE expanded enforcement activity in Southern California's agricultural regions, including Tulare, Fresno and Ventura counties, the Los Angeles Times reported, as part of Trump's campaign promise for mass deportations of the country's estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants. The Stanford paper is the first research published about whether the Bakersfield raid impacted school attendance. Using three years of daily data on student absences in five Central Valley school districts where the raids took place, Dee measured whether student absences in January and February, after the raid occurred, differed from what would be expected based on seasonal trends in previous years. He also accounted for events and holidays that would have impacted attendance for other reasons, such as the first Monday in February, which was an annual public holiday in Mexico celebrating Constitution Day, and the Feb. 3 Day Without Immigrants protest, which saw at least 700 Kern County high schoolers walking out of class to protest Trump's policies. The results indicated a sharp increase of more than 20% in student absences in January and February, with absenteeism increasing particularly among younger students. 'Using unique data from school districts in California's Central Valley, this study presents leading evidence that the recent surge in interior immigration enforcement significantly increased student absences from school,' the report stated. 'The increased absences can also be understood as a leading indicator of broad and developmentally harmful stress these raids create for students and their families.' The harm to student learning is substantial, Dee said, compounding the post-pandemic spike in chronic absenteeism, making it hard for teachers to pace instruction when some students miss school, and potentially causing anxiety disorders in children and compromising long-term academic success. California is one of the few states that base state funding for schools on average daily attendance. Dee said that the raid-induced increases in absences will reduce state funds available to affected districts. Michele Copher, superintendent of schools in Fresno County, which has been impacted by immigration raids against farmworkers, said that in the late winter, Fresno County school districts reported a drop in attendance that coincided with reported Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity in the area. 'Attendance has since stabilized, and districts have worked hard to help families feel confident sending their children to school,' Copher said.
Newsweek
an hour ago
- Newsweek
NATO Scrambles Fighter Jets After Russia's Largest Air Assault on Ukraine
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. NATO countries scrambled fighter jets early on Sunday, according to the Polish military, after a Ukrainian official said Moscow had launched its largest-scale air attack on the country in more than three years. Poland's Operational Command said its fighter jets, along with other NATO aircraft, were scrambled with ground-based air defenses and reconnaissance systems put on the "highest state of readiness" after Russia launched overnight attacks on Ukrainian territory. Warsaw's military said in a later statement NATO aircraft had finished operations after the "level of threat from missile strikes by Russian aviation on Ukrainian territory" reduced. No Russian missiles or drones entered Polish airspace, the command said. Ukrainian authorities said Russia had launched 477 drones and decoys, as well as 60 missiles of various types, at Ukraine overnight. FILE - An F-16 fighter jet takes part in the NATO Air Shielding exercise near the air base in Lask, central Poland on October 12, 2022. FILE - An F-16 fighter jet takes part in the NATO Air Shielding exercise near the air base in Lask, central Poland on October 12, 2022. RADOSLAW JOZWIAK/AFP via Getty Images The attacks into Sunday were the largest airstrikes on Ukraine of more than three years of full-scale war in the country in terms of number of incoming threats, Colonel Yuriy Ignat, an official with Ukraine's air force, confirmed to Newsweek. Russian missile and drone attacks on Ukraine have occasionally spilled over into NATO nations like Poland and Romania, which border Ukraine. NATO members are collectively obliged to respond to attacks on alliance nations with full force. Drones and missiles entering NATO airspace have not been treated as attacks on the alliance so far, but Polish authorities have repeatedly scrambled aircraft because of Moscow's aerial attacks on Ukraine. Ukrainian authorities in the western Lviv and Volyn regions, bordering Poland, reported air alerts overnight, but no casualties. Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovyi said overnight "a massive attack on the western regions of Ukraine is underway," targeting critical infrastructure. Updates to follow.
