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Food is running short in the besieged southern Ukrainian city of Mariupol, the local Red Cross has warned.
The International Committee of the Red Cross team said there was no heating and food supplies were running low as temperatures are set to hit minus 5°C.
“No electricity, water and gas supply, meaning no means for heating,” said Sasha Volkov, deputy head of the Red Cross delegation in the city.
Russian forces intensified their bombardment of Mariupol and other cities on Thursday, trapping hundreds of thousands of people.
“All the shops and pharmacies were looted four to five days ago,” Mr Volkov said, between coughs.
“Some people still have food but I’m not sure for how long it will last. Many people report having no food for children.
“People started to attack each other for food. People started to ruin someone’s car to take the gasoline out.”
He said medicine was running low and water had to be fetched from a local stream.
“We still have some storage of potable water,” Mr Volkov said. “When we run out of the stock, we will boil water from the stream. So we are comparatively good compared to others.
“It's really cold. We still have some fuel for generators so we have electricity for three to four hours a day.
“We have started to get sick, many of us, because of the humidity and cold that we have. We tried to achieve hygiene standards as much as possible but it is not always actually possible.”
The heavy bombardment of the southern port city kept most residents off the streets and in shelters on Thursday.
Fire crews rescued a woman from a destroyed building, and tried to rescue a seriously injured boy from the rubble.
An air strike on a city maternity hospital on Wednesday has sparked international outcry.
The Russian Defence Ministry on Thursday denied it was responsible and claimed the explosions that hit the building were staged to smear Russia.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the attack a war crime.
French President Emmanuel Macron said he was deeply upset by images showing the use of “lethal weapons … in an indiscriminate manner in the city centre”.
“Nothing justifies” what happened in Mariupol, Mr Macron said.
MATCH INFO
Alaves 1 (Perez 65' pen)
Real Madrid 2 (Ramos 52', Carvajal 69')
Islamophobia definition
A widely accepted definition was made by the All Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims in 2019: “Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.” It further defines it as “inciting hatred or violence against Muslims”.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
How tumultuous protests grew
- A fuel tax protest by French drivers appealed to wider anti-government sentiment
- Unlike previous French demonstrations there was no trade union or organised movement involved
- Demonstrators responded to online petitions and flooded squares to block traffic
- At its height there were almost 300,000 on the streets in support
- Named after the high visibility jackets that drivers must keep in cars
- Clashes soon turned violent as thousands fought with police at cordons
- An estimated two dozen people lost eyes and many others were admitted to hospital
Earth under attack: Cosmic impacts throughout history
- 4.5 billion years ago: Mars-sized object smashes into the newly-formed Earth, creating debris that coalesces to form the Moon
- 66 million years ago: 10km-wide asteroid crashes into the Gulf of Mexico, wiping out over 70 per cent of living species – including the dinosaurs.
- 50,000 years ago: 50m-wide iron meteor crashes in Arizona with the violence of 10 megatonne hydrogen bomb, creating the famous 1.2km-wide Barringer Crater
- 1490: Meteor storm over Shansi Province, north-east China when large stones “fell like rain”, reportedly leading to thousands of deaths.
- 1908: 100-metre meteor from the Taurid Complex explodes near the Tunguska river in Siberia with the force of 1,000 Hiroshima-type bombs, devastating 2,000 square kilometres of forest.
- 1998: Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 breaks apart and crashes into Jupiter in series of impacts that would have annihilated life on Earth.
-2013: 10,000-tonne meteor burns up over the southern Urals region of Russia, releasing a pressure blast and flash that left over 1600 people injured.
The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
Stormy seas
Weather warnings show that Storm Eunice is soon to make landfall. The videographer and I are scrambling to return to the other side of the Channel before it does. As we race to the port of Calais, I see miles of wire fencing topped with barbed wire all around it, a silent ‘Keep Out’ sign for those who, unlike us, aren’t lucky enough to have the right to move freely and safely across borders.
We set sail on a giant ferry whose length dwarfs the dinghies migrants use by nearly a 100 times. Despite the windy rain lashing at the portholes, we arrive safely in Dover; grateful but acutely aware of the miserable conditions the people we’ve left behind are in and of the privilege of choice.
GIANT REVIEW
Starring: Amir El-Masry, Pierce Brosnan
Director: Athale
Rating: 4/5
Key recommendations
- Fewer criminals put behind bars and more to serve sentences in the community, with short sentences scrapped and many inmates released earlier.
- Greater use of curfews and exclusion zones to deliver tougher supervision than ever on criminals.
- Explore wider powers for judges to punish offenders by blocking them from attending football matches, banning them from driving or travelling abroad through an expansion of ‘ancillary orders’.
- More Intensive Supervision Courts to tackle the root causes of crime such as alcohol and drug abuse – forcing repeat offenders to take part in tough treatment programmes or face prison.
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The Al Barzakh Festival takes place on Wednesday and Thursday at 7.30pm in the Red Theatre, NYUAD, Saadiyat Island. Tickets cost Dh105 for adults from platinumlist.net
