MOSCOW PLAYS DOWN HOPES FOR 'BREAKTHROUGH' IN PEACE TALKS

Russia on Wednesday played down hopes of a breakthrough in peace with Ukraine, a day after delegations from both sides held talks over the ongoing invasion. Speaking to reporters, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia had "not noticed anything too promising or that looked like a breakthrough" during the Istanbul talks. Welcoming the proposal of listing out demands by Ukraine, Peskov said, "Moscow considered it "positive" that Kyiv had started outlining its demands in writing." "There is still a lot of work remains before a deal is possible," he added.

After several rounds of failed negotiations, the peace talks made little progress on Tuesday after Russia promised it would scale back its military operations near Kyiv and Chernihiv. However, on Wednesday, the shelling by Russian forces continued in the north and west of Kyiv, despite Russia’s declaration.

In the proposal submitted by Ukraine, Kyiv hinted at dropping NATO aspirations in exchange for legally binding security guarantees from western countries. "We want an international mechanism of security guarantees where guarantor countries will act in a similar way to NATO's article number five -- and even more firmly," said David Arakhamia, a Ukrainian negotiator, on Tuesday after Istanbul talks.

With this, Ukraine also offered to accept neutral status "if the security guarantees work." Ukraine also promised Russia that it "won't host on its territory any foreign military base", another Ukrainian negotiator at the talks, Oleksandr Chaly said.

Kyiv has also proposed to sidestep the question of Crimea, which Russia invaded and then annexed in 2014, and the breakaway territories in the eastern Donbas region.

DESPITE VOW, RUSSIA KEEPS UP SHELLING

Russian forces pounded areas around Ukraine’s capital and another city overnight, regional leaders said on Wednesday, just hours after Moscow pledged to scale back military operations in those places. The shelling further tempered optimism about any progress in talks aimed at ending the punishing war.

Russia did not spell out what exactly it planned to do differently, and while the promise initially raised hopes that a path toward peace was coming into view, Ukraine’s President and others cautioned that the remarks could merely be bluster and the Kremlin’s spokesman said he saw no breakthrough in the talks.

Ukrainian officials said Russian shelling hit homes, shops, libraries and other “civilian infrastructure” in the northern city of Chernihiv and on the outskirts of the capital, Kyiv.

The Ukrainian military, meanwhile, said Russian troops were intensifying their attacks around the eastern city of Izyum and the eastern Donetsk region, after redeploying some units from other areas.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reacted with skepticism to Russia’s announcement amid talks in Istanbul on Tuesday that it would reduce military activity near the capital and Chernihiv.

“We can call those signals that we hear at the negotiations positive,” he said in his nightly video address to the Ukrainian people. “But those signals don’t silence the explosions of Russian shells.”

The United Nations said the number of refugees fleeing the country has now surpassed a staggering 4 million.

UKRAINE WAR: PUTIN BEING MISLED BY FEARFUL ADVISERS, US SAYS

Russian President Vladimir Putin is being misled by advisers who are too scared to tell him how badly the war in Ukraine is going, the White House says.

Meanwhile British intelligence says Russian troops in Ukraine are demoralised, short of equipment and refusing to carry out orders.

Mr Putin is also not being told about the full impact of sanctions on the Russian economy, the White House said.

The Kremlin has not yet commented on the assessments.

White House spokesperson Kate Bedingfield said the US had information that Mr Putin "felt misled by the Russian military" and this had resulted in "persistent tension between Putin and his military leadership".

"Putin's war has been a strategic blunder that has left Russia weaker over the long term and increasingly isolated on the world stage," she said.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby called the assessments "discomforting" because an uninformed Putin could result in a "less than faithful" effort at ending the conflict through peace negotiations.

"The other thing is, you don't know how a leader like that is going to react to getting bad news," he said.

Jeremy Fleming, the head of the UK's cyber-intelligence agency GCHQ, said the move added to indications Russia had "massively misjudged the situation" and had been forced to "significantly rethink".

And he warned China not to become "too closely aligned" with Russia following its invasion of Ukraine, saying that such an alliance would not serve Beijing's long-term interests.

ZELENSKY AND BIDEN DISCUSS SANCTIONS, AID, TALKS WITH RUSSIA

Washington : US President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday discussed additional US aid, sanctions and Kyiv’s peace talks with Russia in an hourlong call, the two sides said. The US inten ds to give Ukraine $500 million in direct budgetary aid, Biden told his Ukrainian counterpart, according to a White House statement. Biden also reviewed sanctions and humanitarian assistance that were announced last week, while Zelensky updated Biden on the status of negotiations with Russia, the White House said in a statement following the call. “Shared assessment of the situation on the ba ttlefield and at the negotiating table. Talked about specific defensive support, a new package of enhanced sanctions, macro-financial and humanitarian aid,” Zelenskiy wrote in a post on Twitter. The White House separately said the two discussed Washington’s efforts “to fulfill the main security assistance requests by Ukraine, the critical effects those weapons have had on the conflict, and continued efforts b y the US with allies and partners to identify additional capabilities to help the Ukrainian military defend its country. ”

PUTIN TELLS SCHOLZ GAS PAYMENTS CAN CONTINUE IN EUROS: BERLIN

Berlin : The German government said that Russian President Vladimir Putin told Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Wednesday that Europe could continue paying for Russian gas in euros and not roubles as previousl y announced. German government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said Putin had told Scholz that payments from Europe next month “would continue to be in euros and transferred as usual to the G azprom Bank which is not hit by sanctions”.

Hebestreit said that Putin had stressed in the phone call with Scholz “which took place at his (Putin’s) request” that “nothing would change for Europ ean contract partners” when the new system takes effect on April 1. “Chancellor Scholz did NOT agree to this procedure but asked for information in writing to better understand this procedure,” he stressed. “What G7 agreed stands: energy deliveries will be exclusively paid for in euros or dollars as it states in the contracts. ”

The Kremlin released its own readout saying Putin had told Scholz that Moscow’s demand that Europe switch to paying for gas in roubles should not “lead to worsening of contractual terms for European importer companies”. Russia earlier indicated tha t all of its energy and commodity exports could be priced in rouble.

IMRAN LOSES MAJORITY, SET TO BE BOWLED OUT

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan appeared to be on his way out after his ruling coalition lost its majority in parliament on Wednesday, with a key ally switching allegiance to the opposition ahead of a vote of no-confidence this weekend.

The Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), part of the government led by Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), announced at a joint news conference by opposition parties in Islamabad that it had parted ways with the coalition. MQM-P has seven lawmakers and their votes are set to give the opposition a distinct advantage.

The cricketer-turned-politician needs 172 votes in the 342-member National Assembly or lower house to survive the opposition’s bid to topple him. According to an estimate, the combined opposition has the backing of 177 lawmakers even without the support of some two dozen PTI dissidents, while the ruling party has 164 MPs in its camp.

Maulana Fazlur Rehman, chief of the opposition Jamiat Ulema-i-Islama-Fazl (JUI-F), said Khan should resign. The combined opposition named Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) president and leader of opposition Shehbaz Sharif as its prime ministerial candidate to replace the 69-year-old Khan.

Another member of the ruling coalition, Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) with five lawmakers, announced on Monday it would join the opposition to vote against Khan.

Meanwhile, Khan’s close aides maintained he would not step down and that he faced serious threats to his life. “He will fight until the last over and the last ball,” interior minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said, referring to Khan’s status as one of the all-time greats of cricket before he entered politics.

Another aide, former minister Faisal Vawda, claimed Khan’s life was in danger as a conspiracy was hatched to “assassinate” him.

The combined opposition’s motion for the vote of no confidence is expected to be taken up during the weekend. The Pakistani parliament will convene on Thursday to debate the motion. On Tuesday, Khan directed his party lawmakers to either abstain or not attend the National Assembly session on the day of the vote, which is likely to be on April 3.

AHEAD OF NO TRUST VOTE, IMRAN KHAN SHARES 'FOREIGN CONSPIRACY LETTER' WITH CABINET

After Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan effectively lost the majority in Parliament on Wednesday when a key partner of the ruling coalition joined the ranks of the Opposition, he shared some details from what he called a "foreign conspiracy letter" with senior journalists and cabinet members stating that various countries had hatched a plan to remove him from power.

The Pakistani parliament will begin the debate on Khan's resignation on March 31.

Claiming the document was authentic, Khan waved a purported letter at a public rally on March 27 declaring that a foreign conspiracy was afoot to remove him from power, touting the Opposition's no-confidence motion against him as a testimony of foreign-funded move to topple his government.

However, Khan discussed about the letter with the cabinet and took them in confidence while Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi briefed the participants about it, mentioned a PTI report.

After speaking to the ministers, Khan held a meeting with a group of journalists who were also briefed about it.

ARY News channel said that the letter was based on the minutes of a meeting of a Pakistan embassy official with officials of the host country. Without revealing the name of the country, Khan said that  the details of the meeting were sent by the Pakistan ambassador in that country to the Foreign Office as part of internal diplomatic communication, which showed that the host country was not happy with the policy of the Pakistan government on Ukraine and its ties with Russia.

"It reads that relations with Pakistan will be affected if PM Khan remains in power," the channel quoted the Prime Minister as telling the journalists, reported PTI.

He also said that the contents had been shared with the powerful military establishment.

Addressing a ceremony in Islamabad earlier, Khan reiterated that his government was being penalised for following an independent foreign policy.

COVID DEATHS UP BY 40%: WHO

The number of people killed by the coronavirus surged by more than 40% last week, likely due to changes in how COVID-19 deaths were reported across the Americas and by newly adjusted figures from India, according to the World Health Organization’s latest weekly report released on Wednesday.

In its report, the UN health agency said the number of new coronavirus cases fell everywhere, including in WHO’s Western Pacific region.

About 10 million new COVID-19 infections and more than 45,000 deaths were reported worldwide over the past week, following a 23% drop in fatalities the week before.

The jump in reported deaths, up from 33,000 last week, was due mainly to an accounting change.

More than 4,000 deaths from Maharashtra in India that initially weren’t included among the COVID death toll were added last week, according to WHO.

US & RUSSIAN ASTRONAUTS LAND ON EARTH TOGETHER

A record-breaking U.S. astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts returned to Earth from the International Space Station on Wednesday, with tensions between Moscow and the West soaring over Ukraine.

“The crew of Roscosmos cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov, as well as NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei, has returned to Earth,” Russia’s space agency Roscosmos said in a statement.

NASA’s Mark Vande Hei emerged from the vehicle last, after setting a new record for the single longest spaceflight by a NASA astronaut, clocking 355 days aboard the International Space Station.

HACKERS STEAL OVER $600M IN ONE OF BIGGEST CRYPTO HEISTS

San Francisco : Hackers stole cryptocurrency worth over $600 million from a digital ledger used by players of the p opular online game Axie Infinity, in a major digital cash heist reve aled Tuesday. Interest in cyptocurrency has boomed, along with its values, but the money has also become an attractive target for tech savvy thieves.

Ronin Network said the attack targeting its blockchain netted 173,600 ether and $25. 5 million worth of stablecoin, a digital asset pegged to the US dollar. The haul was valued at $545 million when it was stolen on March 23, but was worth about $615 million based on prices on Tuesday, making it one of largest thefts ever in the crypto world. “Most of the hacked funds are still in the hacker’s wallet,” Ronin said in a post.

Sky Mavis, maker of battle and trading game Axie Infinity, discovered the breach on Tuesday after a user was unable to withdraw ether, according to the firm. Ronin was still probing the hack, but s aid that hackers got hold of private “keys” to withdraw digital funds.

10-HR BLACKOUTS FORCE HOSPS TO STOP ROUTINE SURGERIES AS SRI LANKA CRISIS WORSENS

Colombo : Sri Lanka on Wednesday began imposing record nationwide 10-hour daily power cuts as more hospitals announced the suspension of routine surgeries in response to severe shortages of fuel and life-saving medicines. The nation of 22 million people is in its worst economic crisis since independence in 1948, sparked by acute lack of foreign currency to pay for imports. The state electricity monopoly said it was imposing the 10-hour power cut, up from a 7-hour outage since start of the month, because there was no oil to power thermal generators. Most electricity production is from coal and oil. Both are in short supply, as the country does not have enough foreign exchange to pay for supplies.

At least two hospitals reported suspen ding routine surgeries because they were dangerously low on vital medical supplies and anaesthetics to carry out diagnostic tests, and wanted to save them for emergency cases. The biggest medical facility , the National Hospital of Sri Lanka, said it had also stopped routine diagnostic tests.

Sri Lanka’s main fuel retailer, meanwhile, said there will be no diesel for vehicles in the country fo r at least two days. State-owned Ceylon Petroleum Corporation told motorists waiting in long queues at petrol stations to return only after imported diesel is unloaded and distributed. Many left their vehicles parked in line. Fuel prices have been repeatedly raised, with petrol costs nearly doubling and diesel up by 76% since the beginning of the year.

TEACHER AT PAK SCHOOL KILLED FOR ‘BLASPHEMY’ BY COLLEAGUE, PUPILS

Peshawar : A teacher at an allgirls religious school was killed by a woman colleague and two students who accused her of blasphemy, Pakistan police said on Wednesday, the latest murder in the country related to the hugely sensitive issue. Few issues in Pakistan are as galvanising as blasphemy, and even the slightest suggestion of an insult to Islam can supercharge protests and incite lynchings. The latest incident

took place Tuesday in Dera Ismail Khan in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa that borders Afghanistan.

Police said two students and ateacher ambushed Safoora Bibi at the main gate of the school and attacked her with a knife and stick. “She died after her throat was slit,” a police official said. The main suspect is a colleague who planned the crime with two nieces studying at the Jamia Islamia Falahul Binaat school. The girls told police a relative had dreamt the dead woman “had committed blasphemy” against the Prophet, p olice said, adding they were probing if the main suspect, Umra Aman, had a personal grudge.

ISLAND NAMED AFTER BITCOIN DEVELOPER

In the ‘tropical paradise’ of the continent Oceania’s nation of Vanuatu, there’s a private island named after Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous developer of bitcoin. Agroup of blockchain enthusiasts are turning a 32-million square foot island into what they hope will soon be considered the “crypto capital of the world”, according to a report in NewYorkPost. All exchanges made on the Island will reportedly be done in bitcoin. A website for the island details its futuristic housing stock and how it is being developed to become a sustainable, smart city built with the crypto community in mind. All commerce will be cryptocurrency-based, and all assets and rights will be made possible through NFT ownership. As per Sun, it will have some 21,000 permanent residents. It may open later this year.