Death toll from missiles on Ukraine town rises to 17

ZAPORIZHZHIA, Ukraine - At least 17 people including a child died when seven Russian missiles struck the industrial town of Zaporizhzhia in southern Ukraine, the Ukrainian authorities said Saturday.

The missiles struck before dawn on Thursday, with three landing in the town center, just 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the artillery battles of the southern front.

"In total, 17 people were killed," Ukraine's State Emergency Service said on Telegram, adding that one of them was a child.

The toll has repeatedly risen since an initial tally of one dead. Earlier on Saturday, it had stood at 14.

A five-storey residential building on the main street was almost razed to the ground.

President Volodymyr Zelensky lashed out on Telegram saying Zaporizhzhia "is subjected to massive rocket attacks every day... (it's a) deliberate crime".

The Ukrainian-controlled city is located in the eponymous Zaporizhzhia region, also home to the Russian-occupied nuclear plant that has been the site of heavy shelling.

Moscow claims to have annexed the region even though its forces do not control all of it.

Ukraine said at least 30 people were killed last week when a convoy of civilian cars in the Zaporizhzhia region was shelled in an attack Kyiv blamed on Moscow.

Agence France-Presse

U2’s Bono gives ‘freedom’ concert in Kyiv metro

KYIV — Irish rock group U2’s frontman Bono and his bandmate The Edge performed a 40-minute concert in a metro station in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv on Sunday and praised Ukrainians fighting for their freedom from Russia.

“Your president leads the world in the cause of freedom right now… The people of Ukraine are not just fighting for your own freedom, you’re fighting for all of us who love freedom,” Bono told a crowd of up to 100 gathered inside the Khreshchatyk metro station. He was referring to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, pressing towards Kyiv before withdrawing its forces from near the capital at the end of March to concentrate its firepower on eastern Ukraine.

“I am grateful to [Bono, U2] for supporting our people and drawing even more attention to the need to help our people,” Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address.

Russia, which calls its action in Ukraine a “special military operation,” continues to carry out missile strikes across Ukraine. However, some life has returned to Kyiv even though air raid sirens sound regularly.

Bono rallied the crowd between songs during his performance.

“This evening, 8th of May, shots will ring out in the Ukraine sky, but you’ll be free at last,” he said. “They can take your lives, but they can never take your pride.”

-reuters

Asia facing 'stagflationary outlook' amid Ukraine war: IMF

WASHINGTON - Asian nations, like the rest of the world, are being battered by countervailing forces such as the war in Ukraine that are raising prices while holding back growth, the IMF said.

"The region faces a stagflationary outlook, with growth being lower than previously expected, and inflation being higher," said Anne-Marie Gulde-Wolf, acting director of the IMF's Asia and Pacific Department.

The regional outlook, which follows the World Economic Outlook released last week, shows the growth forecast for Asia was cut to 4.9 percent, impacted by the slowdown in China, which is having ripple effects on other closely-linked economies.

Inflation is now expected to rise 3.2 percent this year, a full point higher than expected in January, she said.

"Despite the downgrade, Asia remains the world's most dynamic region, and an important source of global growth," Gulde-Wolf said in remarks prepared for delivery to a press briefing.

But the Russian invasion of Ukraine and Western sanctions on Moscow have driven up food and fuel prices worldwide, while major central banks are raising interest rates to combat inflation, which will pressure countries with high debt loads.

A larger-than-expected slowdown in China due to prolonged or more widespread Covid-19 lockdowns or a longer-than-expected slump in the property market presents "a significant risk for the region."

"This a challenging time for policymakers as they try to address pressures on growth and tackle rising inflation," the IMF official said, noting that the headwinds will exacerbate the damage from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Outlooks vary within the region, depending on countries' reliance on imported energy and links to China, with growth in Pacific island nations slowing sharply, while Australia saw a slight upgrade, she said.

Governments will need strong responses, starting with targeted aid to poor families most harmed by higher prices, the IMF said.

Many will need to tighten monetary policy amid rising inflation, while those with high debt loads may have to cut spending and even seek debt relief, the fund economists said in a blog post.

"Slower growth and rising prices, coupled with the challenges of war, infection and tightening financial conditions, will exacerbate the difficult policy trade-off between supporting recovery and containing inflation and debt," the blog said.

Agence France-Presse

CIA warns desperate Putin poses nuclear threat

WASHINGTON — Russia's setbacks in its invasion of Ukraine could lead President Vladimir Putin to resort to using a tactical or low-yield nuclear weapon, CIA director William Burns said Friday.

"Given the potential desperation of President Putin and the Russian leadership, given the setbacks that they've faced so far, militarily, none of us can take lightly the threat posed by a potential resort to tactical nuclear weapons or low-yield nuclear weapons," Burns said during a speech in Atlanta.

The Kremlin said it placed Russian nuclear forces on high alert shortly after the assault began Feb. 24, but the United States has not seen "a lot of practical evidence" of actual deployments that would cause more worry, Burns added, speaking to students at Georgia Tech university.

"We're obviously very concerned. I know President Biden is deeply concerned about avoiding a third world war, about avoiding a threshold in which, you know, nuclear conflict becomes possible," said Burns.

Russia has many tactical nuclear weapons, which are less powerful than the bomb the United States dropped on Hiroshima during World War II.

Russian military doctrine features a principle called escalate to de-escalate, which would involve launching a first strike nuclear weapon of low yield to regain the initiative if things go badly in a conventional conflict with the West.

But under this hypothesis, "NATO would intervene militarily on the ground in Ukraine in the course of this conflict, and that's not something, as President Biden has made very clear, that's in the cards."

Recalling that he once served as US ambassador to Russia, Burns had very harsh words for Putin, calling him an "apostle of payback" who over the years "has stood in a combustible combination of grievance and ambition and insecurity."

"Every day, Putin demonstrates that declining powers can be at least as disruptive as rising ones," Burns said.

Agence France-Presse

Oil stays above $120 per barrel ahead of NATO Russia-Ukraine summit

LONDON - World share markets were choppy on Thursday as the Russia-Ukraine war kept oil above $120 a barrel, while "stagflation" worries rose on renewed talk of aggressive US interest rates hikes and slowing growth.

Europe's main stock indexes barely budged and government bond yields edged up toward multi-year highs hit earlier in the week as March PMI data came in reassuringly robust. 

Focus was otherwise on a Thursday special NATO summit in Brussels, which US President Joe Biden will attend, to discuss further responses to Russia's month-old invasion of Ukraine, which Moscow calls a "special military operation". 

Rabobank's head of macro strategy, Elwin de Groot, said markets would be watching what emerges closely, especially how unified NATO members remain and what Biden can offer European countries to help wean themselves off Russian gas.

"The NATO meeting is certainly important," de Groot said. "At the minimum you would expect the members to come up with preparations for a possible further escalation in the Ukraine war."

Wall Street futures were up a solid 0.6 percent ahead of trading there, but the mood seemed changeable.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan recouped some of its early losses overnight but ended down 0.6 percent after more falls in China and Hong Kong.

Japan's Nikkei bucked the trend, rising 0.25 percent to a nine-week high as its exporters cheered the yen falling to its lowest against the dollar since 2015. 

At 1000 GMT, the dollar was up 0.4 percent versus the yen, at 121.65, with expectations that the Bank of Japan will be far behind other top central banks in raising interest rates.

HAWKISH

Driving some of the volatility, Federal Reserve policymakers on Wednesday signaled they stood ready to take more aggressive action to bring down decades-high inflation, including a possible half-percentage-point rate hike at the next policy meeting in May. 

Those signals pushed all three main US share benchmarks 1 percent lower overnight. 

"The sharp hawkish repricing of Fed rate hike expectations has mainly benefited the US dollar against low yielding currencies whose own domestic central banks are expected to lag well behind the Fed in tightening policy," MUFG currency analyst Lee Hardman wrote in a note to clients.

Oil and gas markets also remained hot amid the geopolitical uncertainty.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that Moscow would seek payment in roubles for gas sold to "unfriendly" countries, jolting energy markets, although Italy's President Mario Draghi said it planned to keep paying in euros. 

Brent futures were little changed at $121.67 a barrel and US West Texas Intermediate futures fell 41 cents, or 0.35 percent, to $114.5 a barrel

The bond market was starting to shift again with the yield on benchmark 10-year Treasury notes up at 2.37 percent and German bunds creeping over 0.52 percent.

"Inflation is really the big driver," Rabobank's de Groot said, adding that it was also behind falling consumer confidence.

EU leaders are expected to agree at a two-day summit starting on Thursday to jointly buy gas, as they seek to cut reliance on Russian fuels and build a buffer against supply shocks. But the bloc remains unlikely to sanction Russian oil and gas. 

Gold was slightly lower at $1,942.9 per ounce.

(Reporting by Marc Jones; Editing by William Mallard)

-reuters-

Meta narrows guidance to prohibit calls for death of a head of state

Facebook owner Meta Platforms said on Sunday that it is further narrowing its content moderation policy for Ukraine to prohibit calls for the death of a head of state, according to an internal company post seen by Reuters.

The move came after Reuters reported last week that Meta was temporarily allowing some posts on Facebook and Instagram calling for the death of Russian President Vladimir Putin or Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. 

After the Reuters report, Meta said on Friday that a temporary change in its content policy, only applicable for Ukraine, was needed to let users voice opposition to Russia's attack. On the same day, Russia opened a criminal case against the social media firm. 

"We are now narrowing the focus to make it explicitly clear in the guidance that it is never to be interpreted as condoning violence against Russians in general," Meta global affairs President Nick Clegg wrote in a post on the company's internal platform on Sunday that was seen by Reuters.

"We also do not permit calls to assassinate a head of state...So, in order to remove any ambiguity about our stance, we are further narrowing our guidance to make explicit that we are not allowing calls for the death of a head of state on our platforms," Clegg said.

Meta did not immediately respond to a request for comment, outside regular business hours.

"These are difficult decisions. Circumstances in Ukraine are fast moving. We try to think through all the consequences, and we keep our guidance under constant review because the context is always evolving," Clegg said.

There would be no change to policies on hate speech as far as the Russian people are concerned, he said.

"Meta stands against Russophobia. We have no tolerance for calls for genocide, ethnic cleansing, or any kind of discrimination, harassment, or violence towards Russians on our platform," he added.

Clegg wrote that Meta plans to refer the way in which it adapted the guidance it provides to content moderators to the independent oversight board, which was set up to help the platform answer some of the most difficult questions around freedom of expression.

Russia's communications regulator has imposed restrictions on Meta's Instagram, effective Monday. Meta had previously restricted access to Russian state media outlets RT and Sputnik on its platforms across the European Union.

(Reporting by Munsif Vengattil in New Delhi and Maria Ponnezhath in BengaluruEditing by Shri Navaratnam)

-reuters

Moscow warns: Ban on Russian oil will have ‘catastrophic consequences’

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak warned Monday that a ban on Russian oil imports would have "catastrophic" consequences, as Western allies considered further sanctions on Moscow over Ukraine.

"A ban on Russian oil will lead to catastrophic consequences for the global market. The surge in prices will be unpredictable — more than $300 per barrel, if not more," Novak said in remarks carried by Russian news agencies. 

Novak added that it would be "impossible" to quickly replace Russian oil on the European market. 

"It will take more than one year and it will be much more expensive for European consumers," he said. 

"European politicians should then honestly warn their citizens, consumers what awaits them and that prices at gas stations, for electricity, for heating will skyrocket," he said. 

Novak said talks of an embargo on Russian oil creates "instability and leads to significant harm for consumers". 

He added that in retaliation for the halt on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project, Russia could stop supplies via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline. 

"So far we have not made this decision. Nobody will benefit from this," Novak said. 

"Although European politicians are pushing us to this with their statements and accusations against Russia," he added. 

Agence France-Presse

Oil price spikes to $139 on talks about Russia oil ban, Iran deal delay

LONDON - Oil prices spiked to their highest levels since 2008 on Monday amid market supply fears as the United States and European allies considered banning Russian oil imports and prospects for a swift return of Iranian crude to global markets receded.

In the first few minutes of trade Brent crude reached $139.13 a barrel and US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) hit $130.50, both benchmarks striking their highest since July 2008.

By 1204 GMT, prices had eased back, with Brent up 6.3 percent at $125.55 per and WTI up 6.7 percent at $123.37.

Global oil prices have spiked more than 60 percent since the start of 2022, along with other commodities, raising concerns about world economic growth and stagflation. China, the world's No. 2 economy, is already targeting slower growth of 5.5 percent this year. 

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Sunday said the United States and European allies were exploring banning imports of Russian oil, while the White House was coordinating with Congressional committees to move forward with a US ban. 

"We consider $125 per barrel, our near-term forecast for Brent crude oil, as a soft cap for prices, although prices could rise even higher should disruptions worsen or continue for a longer period," UBS commodity analyst Giovanni Staunovo said.

A prolonged war could see Brent moving above the $150 per barrel mark, he said.

Analysts at Bank of America said if most of Russia's oil exports were cut off, there could be a 5 million barrel per day (bpd) or larger shortfall, pushing prices as high as $200.

JP Morgan analysts said oil could soar to $185 this year, and analysts at Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc (MUFG) said oil may rise to $180 and cause a global recession.

Russia is the world's top exporter of crude and oil products combined, with exports at around 7 million bpd, or 7 percent of global supply. Some volumes of Kazakhstan's oil exports from Russian ports have also faced complications.

The head of Japan's largest business lobby said the country's imports of Russian crude could not be replaced immediately. Russia is Japan's fifth-biggest supplier of crude oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG).

Meanwhile, talks to revive Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers were mired in uncertainty after Russia demanded a US guarantee that sanctions it faces over the Ukraine conflict would not hurt its trade with Tehran. China also raised new demands, sources said. 

France told Russia on Monday not to resort to blackmail over efforts to revive the nuclear deal, while Iran's top security official said the outlook for the talks "remains unclear". 

"Iran was the only real bearish factor hanging over the market but if now the Iranian deal gets delayed, we could get to tank bottoms a lot quicker especially if Russian barrels remain off the market for long," said Amrita Sen, co-founder of Energy Aspects, a think tank.

Iran will take several months to restore oil flows even if it reaches a nuclear deal, analysts said. 

Separately, US and Venezuelan officials discussed the possibility of easing oil sanctions on Venezuela but made scant progress toward a deal in their first high-level bilateral talks in years, five sources familiar with the matter said, as Washington seeks to separate Russia from one of its key allies. 

(Reporting by Bozorgmehr Sharafedin in London and and Scott DiSavino in New York, additional reporting by Florence Tan in Singapore; Editing by Jason Neely and Edmund Blair)

-reuters

Oil, wheat and aluminum jump as sanctions on Russia bite

LONDON - Brent crude jumped to near eight-year highs, wheat to 14-year peaks and aluminum hit a record as the Russian attack on Ukraine intensified and Western sanctions disrupted air and sea transport of commodities exported by Russia.

Russian forces were attempting to subdue Ukrainian cities, seven days into an invasion that has sparked massive sanctions, pushing international companies to halt sales, cut ties and dump billions of dollars' worth of investments. 

Brent climbed above $113 a barrel to its highest since June 2014, a gain of more than 40 percent so far this year. 

"Oil has been pushing higher on growing perceptions that Russian oil is unable to be "transacted"," ED&F Man Capital Markets analyst Edward Meir.

"Although oil is not technically under sanction, traders are understandably nervous about taking delivery of Russian crude, let alone storing, shipping and ultimately selling it."

Russia accounts for about 10 percent of global oil supplies. Russia and Ukraine account for about 29 percent of wheat exports. Wheat prices hit $10.59 a bushel, the highest since March 2008.

Corn prices rose to $7.47-3/4 a bushel, the highest since Dec. 2012. 

"Global buyers of grains have been increasingly turning to the US, Europe or South America to secure supplies in the immediate term, given the ongoing conflict," ING said in a note.

"Moreover, demand for stockpiling has also increased due to current uncertainty."

Dutch gas prices hit an all-time high of 185 euros a MWh after the UK ordered its ports to deny entry to Russian-owned ships and European Union countries considered a similar ban after a halt on air traffic. 

Russia supplies the European Union with 40 percent of its gas needs. It accounts for 40 percent of global mined palladium output, 10 percent of nickel supplies and 6 percent of global aluminum production. 

Palladium prices around $2,610 an ounce were trading near the seven month peak hit on Tuesday, aluminum hit a record high at $3,552 a tonne and nickel at $25,530 a tonne, close to the 11-year high hit last week.

"Supply outages from Russia are now but a question of time," Commerzbank analysts said in a note.

"Depending on how long they last, they could cause turmoil – in which case prices would rise significantly further."

Malaysian palm oil futures rose past 7,000 ringgit a tonne to hit a record high, on the prospect of rising demand as the closure of Ukrainian ports hits supplies of sunoil from the Black Sea region. 

Newcastle coal futures jumped to records above $300 a tonne as buyers scrambled to find alternatives to supplies from Russia, the third largest exporter after Indonesia and Australia.

(Reporting by Pratima Desai; additional reporting by Nigel Hunt, Susanna Twidale and Gavin Maguire; editing by Jon Boyle)

-reuters

Downing of Ukraine jet 'unforgivable mistake' — Iran president

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran on Saturday said it unintentionally shot down the Ukrainian airliner that crashed this week killing 176 people, calling it an "unforgivable mistake".

The Ukraine International Airlines plane came down on Wednesday shortly after Iran launched missiles at bases hosting American forces in Iraq in response to the killing of Qasem Soleimani, one of Iran's top generals, in a US drone strike.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran deeply regrets this disastrous mistake," Iranian President Hassan Rouhani tweeted.

"Armed Forces' internal investigation has concluded that regrettably missiles fired due to human error caused the horrific crash of the Ukrainian plane & death of 176 innocent people," he added.

"Investigations continue to identify & prosecute this great tragedy & unforgivable mistake."


Earlier, Iran's official IRNA news agency had published a statement from the military saying the Boeing 737 was mistaken for a "hostile plane" at a time when enemy threats were at the highest level.

The admission came a day after Iran's civil aviation chief denied claims that the plane had been shot down, as international pressure mounted on Tehran to conduct a credible investigation after several Western governments blamed a missile strike.

The disaster came as tensions soared in the region after the Soleimani killing, and fears grew of an all-out war between the United States and Iran.


Washington has said the Soleimani strike was carried out to prevent "imminent", large-scale attacks on US embassies. Iran had vowed "severe revenge" for Soleimani before launching missiles at the bases in Iraq.

"Human error at time of crisis caused by US adventurism led to disaster," Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif tweeted.

"Our profound regrets, apologies and condolences to our people, to the families of all victims, and to other affected nations."

Iran has invited the United States, Ukraine, Canada and others to join the crash investigation.

The majority of passengers on UIA Flight PS752 which had just taken off from Tehran were Iranian-Canadian dual nationals but also included Ukrainians, Afghans, Britons and Swedes.

It was Iran's worst civil aviation disaster since the US military shot down an Iran Air plane over the Gulf by mistake in July 1988, killing all 290 people on board.

Video footage of the UIA 737, which the New York Times said it had verified, emerged and appeared to show the moment the airliner was hit.

A fast-moving object is seen rising at an angle into the sky before a bright flash appears, which dims and then continues moving forward. Several seconds later, an explosion is heard and the sky lights up.

Many airlines from around the world cancelled flights to and Iran in the wake of the crash, or rerouted flights away from Iranian airspace.

Nations around the world have called for restraint and de-escalation, and fears of a full-blown conflict have subsided after US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that Iran appeared to be standing down after targeting the US bases in Iraq.

source: philstar.com

As feud heats up, Trump says Biden was subject of Ukraine call

WASHINGTON, United States — US President Donald Trump confirmed Sunday that he discussed former vice president Joe Biden and corruption allegations in a phone call with Ukraine's leader, adding to calls by Trump's opponents for his impeachment.

A whistleblower's complaint sparked off accusations that Trump had sought to persuade President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate a son of Biden, Trump's possible 2020 election challenger -- raising concerns of dangerous foreign meddling in the US election similar to the interference blamed on Russia in 2016.

Trump said that the conversation, held in July, addressed alleged corruption involving Biden and his son Hunter, and he floated the possibility that a transcript could be released.


"We had a very great conversation, very straight, very honest conversation. I hope they can put it out," Trump said, repeating that he had done nothing wrong in the latest scandal to shake his presidency.

"The conversation I had was largely congratulatory, was largely corruption... and largely the fact that we don't want our people, like vice president Biden and his son, creating... the corruption already in the Ukraine."


Trump reportedly pressed Zelensky about eight times on the call to investigate possible corruption involving Hunter Biden, who worked with a Ukrainian natural gas company while his father was vice president.

Biden told reporters on Saturday that Trump's actions appeared "to be an overwhelming abuse of power."

"I know what I'm up against, a serial abuser. That's what this guy is," Biden said.

Impeachment calls return

The Democratic Party has been split on whether to push for impeachment proceedings against Trump since he came to power in 2017.

But influential congressman Adam Schiff, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, on Sunday said that his own reservations about impeachment were fading over Trump's Ukraine call.

"We're talking about serious or flagrant abuse and potential violation of law," Schiff told CNN.

"I have been very reluctant to go down the path of impeachment (but) the president is pushing us down this road.

"This seems different in kind, and we may very well have crossed the Rubicon here."

The Ukraine scandal mushroomed last week when Schiff revealed the acting Director of National Intelligence, Joseph Maguire, had refused to hand over the whistleblower complaint to Congress -- the latest administration rebuff to Congressional oversight efforts.

Maguire is scheduled to publicly testify before Schiff's committee on Thursday.

Nancy Pelosi, the top Democrat in Congress, said Sunday that if Trump's administration continued to block the complaint being released "they will be entering a grave new chapter of lawlessness which will take us into a whole new stage of investigation."

The phone call, reportedly on July 25, came the day after former special counsel Robert Mueller testified before Congress about his report that catalogued extensive contacts between the Trump 2016 campaign and Russians, including attempts to cooperate or collude -- neither of which is a specific crime.

It also laid out in detail 10 instances when Trump allegedly tried to obstruct the investigation, which Trump dismissed as a "big hoax".

Trump's senior staff swung behind him on Sunday. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told CNN that "I don't have any reason to believe that the president pressured" President Zelensky.

"People know there were issues that Biden's son did business in Ukraine. I, for one, have concerns about that," Mnuchin said.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told ABC that "if vice president Biden behaved inappropriately, if he was protecting his son and intervened in a way that was corrupt, I think we need to get to the bottom of it."

But Republican Senator Mitt Romney, a regular critic of Trump, said that any evidence of Trump asking Ukraine's president to investigate Biden "would be troubling in the extreme."

Trump and Zelensky will meet for the first time Wednesday at the UN General Assembly in New York.

source: philstar.com

Last laugh: Meet the Ukraine comedian who became president

MANILA, Philippines — Comedian Volodymyr Zelensky had already been inaugurated as president of Ukraine -- as a character in the popular TV show "Servant of the People.”

The 41-year-old performer has now taken on the role for real, following a long-shot campaign that sent establishment candidates tumbling amid popular discontent with the political class amid poverty and corruption.

Supporters see the political novice as a breath of fresh air but critics say he is a puppet of powerful rivals to outgoing leader Petro Poroshenko.

"I'm not a politician, I'm just an ordinary guy come to break the system," he said before the second round of voting in April.

In his inauguration speech on Monday, he took a tough line, immediately calling the dissolution of a hostile parliament and declaring his top priority is a ceasefire in Ukraine's conflict with Moscow-armed separatists in the east.

"I think we will see a new, unusual president," political analyst Volodymyr Fesenko said.

"We saw he is quite decisive and I think that will be Zelensky's style."

'So Ukrainians don't cry' 

The comedian brought his stand-up experience into his speech, saying he had "tried to do all I could to make Ukrainians smile" and now wanted to "do all I can so that Ukrainians don't cry".

His approach was deliberately informal: he walked to the inauguration from his home and exchanged high-fives with supporters on the way. In his speech, he urged officials to hang pictures of their children in their offices -- and not his photograph.

"A president is not an idol," he said.

'No promises, no apologies' 

On the campaign trail, Zelensky blurred the line between politics and entertainment.

He eschewed media interviews and traditional rallies, preferring to address voters via social networks and perform at gigs with his sketch troupe right up to the first stage of the vote.

The father-of-two has embraced the fact his campaign has been light on solid pledges. One of the posters for his candidacy declared: "No promises -- no apologies!"

The entertainer has been compared to US actor-turned-president Ronald Reagan, Italian populist and comic Beppe Grillo and current US leader Donald Trump. 

The story of his rise mirrored that of his character in the hit sitcom, which returned for its third season days before Ukrainians went to the polls in March.

In the show, a school history teacher is elected leader after his video rant against corruption goes viral.

Zelensky has been accused of being a front for the controversial Ukrainian oligarch Igor Kolomoysky, who owns the channel which broadcasts the shows.

Kolomoysky, one of Ukraine's richest men, became a regional governor at the start of Poroshenko's term but was forced to resign following a row over a state oil firm.

He moved to Israel but reportedly returned to Ukraine shortly ahead of Zelensky's inauguration.

The actor has denied any political connection and ahead of the vote said the oligarch would be jailed if he was found to have violated any laws.

An investigative television report at the start of the year accused Zelensky of having commercial relations with Russia.

This is a highly sensitive issue following Moscow's annexation of Crimea and its backing of separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine, in a conflict that has cost some 13,000 lives since 2014.

Following the broadcast, Zelensky confirmed he had shares in a Cypriot company that owns a Russian group and promised to sell them.

Standing up to Putin 

On the campaign trail, Poroshenko mocked the Ukrainian-language skills of his Russian-speaking rival and said he lacked the political chops to stand up to Putin.

Zelensky has insisted that as leader he will demand Putin end Moscow's occupation of Ukrainian territory and pay compensation for the conflict.

He has also pledged to keep Kiev on the pro-Western course it charted under Poroshenko.

The diminutive performer, from the industrial city of Krivy Rig in central Ukraine, is a dollar millionaire.

He declared income of 9.7 million hryvnias ($368,000)in 2018 on Monday as well as a collection of luxury watches and property in Italy, Britain and Georgia.

He has a law degree but made his career in entertainment, turning his Kvartal 95 comedy troupe into big business. The group has toured in Russia and he has performed in Russian films.

Zelensky is of Jewish descent but has said that religion is a personal matter and it played no part in his campaign. He swore his inauguration oath on the Bible.

source: philstar.com

Abbott to Putin: back up MH17 assurances with action

SYDNEY - Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott Monday hit out at the "shambolic" situation at the MH17 crash site as he demanded Russian President Vladimir Putin back up assurances with action.

"As anyone who has been watching the footage will know, this is still an absolutely shambolic situation," he said.

"The site is being treated more like a garden clean-up than a forensic investigation."

Abbott and Putin spoke by telephone overnight in their first conversation since the Malaysia Airlines plane, carrying 298 people, crashed in eastern Ukraine on Thursday, apparently shot down by pro-Russian rebels with a surface-to-air missile.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, British counterpart David Cameron and French President Francois Hollande also piled pressure on Putin over the weekend in phone calls.

While Abbott would not divulge details of what was discussed, he said the onus was now on Moscow to act, using its influence with pro-Russian separatists to ensure experts can access the site of the crash.

"To President Putin's credit he did say all the right things. I want to stress what he said was fine," Abbott told a press conference.

"The challenge now is to hold the president to his word. That is certainly my intention, and it should be the intention of the family of nations to hold the president to his word."

Rutte talked with Putin on Sunday, with the Russian leader promising to help retrieve bodies and black boxes, a spokeswoman for Dutch government press service RVD told AFP.

Abbott has been particularly vocal among world leaders in his outrage at Russia's perceived lack of cooperation in the investigation into the disaster.

He has branded the plane's downing "a crime", and accused Moscow of trying to wash its hands of the tragedy while failing to properly secure the crash site.

Moscow denies any involvement in the disaster.

Twenty-eight Australian nationals and nine residents were among the 298 people from a dozen countries on board who died.

Abbott said every day that went by the bodies were deteriorating and the crash site was being further contaminated.

He added that his key goals were "to retrieve the bodies, we want to investigate the site, and we want to punish the guilty. That's what we want to do".

source: interaksyon.com

MH17 downing a 'wake-up call' for Europe over Ukraine conflict - Obama

HRABOVE, Ukraine/WASHINGTON - U.S. President Barack Obama  said the downing of a Malaysian jetliner in a Ukrainian region controlled by Russian-backed separatists should be a "wake-up call for Europe and the world" in a crisis that appears to be at a turning point and warned Russia of possible tightening of sanctions.

While stopping short of blaming Russia for Thursday's crash of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, in which 298 people died, Obama accused Moscow of failing to stop the violence that made it possible to shoot down the plane.

The United States has said the jetliner was hit by a surface-to-air missile fired from rebel territory.

A senior U.S. official said there was increasing confidence that the missile was fired by separatists and that there was no reason to doubt the validity of a widely circulated audiotape in which voices identified as separatists discussed the downing of the plane.

"This certainly will be a wake-up call for Europe and the world that there are consequences to an escalating conflict in eastern Ukraine; that it is not going to be localized, it is not going to be contained," Obama told reporters on Friday.

Obama spoke by phone later with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, British Prime Minister David Cameron and Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott. The White House said they discussed Ukraine and the downed jet and the need for an unimpeded international investigation into what happened.

Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai said on Saturday he would fly to the Ukraine capital of Kiev to ensure an investigating team gets safe access to the site.

Defense Minister and former transport minister Hishammuddin Hussein said a main priority was to ensure debris was not tampered with. "We want to get to the bottom of this," he added, saying that Malaysia had been in touch with officials in Russia, Ukraine, the United States, Britain and China.

"We do not have a position until the facts have been verified, whether the plane was really brought down, how it was brought down, who brought it down," he said.

Chinese President Xi Jinping called for a fair and objective investigation as soon as possible.

International observers said gunmen stopped them examining the site properly when they got there on Friday. More than half of the victims were Dutch in what has become a pivotal incident in deteriorating relations between Russia and the West.

Obama ruled out military intervention but said he was prepared to tighten sanctions.

Russia, which Obama said was letting the rebels bring in weapons, has expressed anger at implications it was to blame, saying people should not prejudge the outcome of an inquiry.

There were no survivors from Flight MH17 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, a Boeing a 777. The  United Nations said 80 of the 298 aboard were children. The deadliest attack on a commercial airliner, it scattered bodies over miles of rebel-held territory near the border with Russia.

The loss was the second devastating blow for Malaysia Airlines the country this year, following the disappearance of Flight MH370 in March with 239 passengers and crew on board on its way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

Makeshift white flags marked where bodies lay in corn fields and among the debris. Others, stripped bare by the force of the crash, had been covered by polythene sheeting weighed down by stones, one marked with a flower in remembrance.

One pensioner told how a woman smashed though her roof. "There was a howling noise and everything started to rattle. Then objects started falling out of the sky," said Irina Tipunova, 65. "And then I heard a roar and she landed in the kitchen."

Investigation hampered

As U.S. investigators prepared to head to Ukraine to assist in the investigation, staff from Europe's OSCE security body visited the site but complained that they did not get the full access they wanted.

"We encountered armed personnel who acted in a very impolite and unprofessional manner. Some of them even looked slightly intoxicated," an OSCE spokesman said.

The scale of the disaster could prove a turning point for international pressure to resolve the crisis in Ukraine, which has killed hundreds since pro-Western protests toppled the Moscow-backed president in Kiev in February and Russia annexed the Crimea peninsula a month later.

"This outrageous event underscores that it is time for peace and security to be restored in Ukraine," Obama said, adding that Russia had failed to use its influence to curb rebel violence.

While the West has imposed sanctions on Russia over Ukraine, the United States has been more aggressive than the European Union. Analysts say the response od Germany and other EU powers to the incident - possibly imposing more sanctions - could be crucial in deciding the next phase of the standoff with Moscow.

Some commentators even recalled Germany's sinking of the Atlantic liner Lusitania in 1915, which helped push the United States into World War One, but outrage in the West at Thursday's carnage is not seen as leading to military intervention.

The U.N. Security Council called for a "full, thorough and independent international investigation" into the downing of the plane and "appropriate accountability" for those responsible.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said it was too early to decide on further sanctions before it was known exactly what had happened to the plane. Britain took a similar line but later echoed Obama in pointing the finger at the separatists.

Kiev and Moscow immediately blamed each other for the disaster, triggering a new phase in their propaganda war.

Crash site in rebel stronghold

The plane crashed about 40 km (25 miles) from the border with Russia near the regional capital of Donetsk, an area that is a stronghold of rebels who have been fighting Ukrainian government forces and have brought down military aircraft.

Leaders of the rebels' self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic denied any involvement and said a Ukrainian air force jet had brought down the plane.

Russia's Defense Ministry later laid the blame with Ukrainian ground forces, saying it had picked up radar activity from a Ukrainian missile system south of Donetsk when the airliner was brought down, Russian media reported.

The Ukrainian security council said no missiles had been fired from its armories. Officials also accused separatists of moving unused missiles into Russia after the incident.

The Ukrainian government released recordings it said were of Russian intelligence officers discussing the shooting down of a civilian airliner by rebels who may have mistaken it for a Ukrainian military plane.

After the downing of several Ukrainian military aircraft in the area in recent months, including two earlier this week, Kiev had accused Russian forces of playing a direct role.

Separatists were quoted in Russian media last month saying they had acquired a long-range SA-11 anti-aircraft system.

OSCE monitors’ work hampered

The OSCE monitors said they could not find anyone to talk to about the plane's two black boxes - voice and data recorders - and villagers were seen removing pieces of wreckage.

Reuters journalists saw burning and charred wreckage bearing the red and blue Malaysia Airlines insignia and dozens of bodies in fields near the village of Hrabove, known in Russian as Grabovo.

Ukraine said on Friday that up to 181 bodies had been found. The airline said it was carrying 283 passengers and 15 crew.

Ukraine has closed air space over the east of the country as Malaysia Airlines defended its use of a route that some other carriers had been avoiding.

The Malaysian government is likely to come under further pressure after saying on Friday that the flight path over Ukraine had been declared safe by the U.N. International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) which, it said, had since closed the route.

The ICAO later said it did not have the power to open or close routes and that individual nations were responsible for advising on potential hazards.

International air lanes had been open in the area, although only above 32,000 feet. The Malaysia plane was flying 1,000 feet higher, at the instruction of Ukrainian air traffic control, although the airline had asked to fly at 35,000 feet.

More than half of the dead passengers, 189 people, were Dutch. Twenty-nine were Malaysian, 27 Australian, 12 Indonesian, 10 British, four German, four Belgian, three Filipino, one American, one Canadian, and one from New Zealand. Several were unidentified and some may have had dual citizenship. The 15 crew were Malaysian.

source: interaksyon.com

MH17 disaster wipes out entire family of six

KUALA LUMPUR - An entire family of six that had been returning home after three years living abroad was among the 44 Malaysians killed in the MH17 disaster, media reports said Saturday.

Tambi Jiee, 49, and his wife Ariza Ghazalee, 46, perished along with their four children when the Malaysia Airlines flight went down in eastern Ukraine.

They were reportedly returning to Malaysia after her husband's three-year posting in Kazakhstan for energy giant Shell, first taking a short European holiday.

Images of a wailing Jamilah Noriah Abang Anuar, 72 - Ariza's mother - dominated front pages of Malaysian dailies on Saturday.

"I lost my daughter and her family in a blink of an eye," the New Straits Times quoted her as saying from her home in the eastern Malaysian state of Sarawak on Borneo island.

Ariza had posted a photo on Facebook showing the family's luggage as they prepared to embark from Amsterdam's Schiphol airport for the flight to Kuala Lumpur.

"17 July 2014, starting our new hijrah (journey), Alhamdulillah (praise God)," read the accompanying message.

Her son Afzal Tambi also posted his thanks and farewells to friends from Kazakhstan on Thursday.

"Before it gets too cheesy, I just want to thank everyone who made it bearable for me to live here and for sharing with me amazing memories to reminisce on."

The Boeing 777 came down with 298 onboard in a separatist-held region of Ukraine, with the United States claiming it was shot down in a missile attack, a possible casualty of the Kiev government's battle with pro-Russia rebels.

source: interaksyon.com