US State Department denies deleting data on halted program tracking abducted Ukrainian children

US State Department denies deleting data on halted program tracking abducted Ukrainian children
In his call with Zelenskiy, Trump inquired about the children who had gone missing from Ukraine during the war. (AFP/File))
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Updated 20 March 2025
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US State Department denies deleting data on halted program tracking abducted Ukrainian children

US State Department denies deleting data on halted program tracking abducted Ukrainian children
  • Department denies deleting data, says it wasn’t holding it
  • Yale research report links Putin to adoption program for deported Ukrainian children

WASHINGTON: The US State Department on Wednesday denied that data collected in a government-funded program that helps track thousands of abducted Ukrainian children had been deleted, but acknowledged that the effort had been terminated as part of Washington’s sweeping freeze on almost all foreign aid.
In a letter addressed to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Democratic lawmakers sounded alarm that the data from the repository might have been permanently deleted.
Speaking at a daily press briefing, State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said suggestions that data was deleted were false.
“The data exists,” Bruce said. “It was not in the State Department’s control. It was the people running that framework, but we know who is running the data and the website, and we know fully that the data exists and it’s not been deleted and it’s not missing.”
Bruce also suggested that President Donald Trump by bringing up the issue in a call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky earlier on Wednesday may mean cooperation between the two countries on the topic could continue.
“The president of the most powerful country in the world, saying, I’m going to do something here... I think that’s a pretty good, clear indication that we can still work on issues that matter and make them happen without it being in a certain structure that has existed,” she said.
The research program conducted by Yale University’s Humanitarian Research Lab was part of an effort that began under President Joe Biden to document potential violations of international law and crimes against humanity by Russia and Russia-aligned forces in its invasion of Ukraine.
The Trump administration paused the program on January 25, the unnamed State Department spokesperson said in an email, as the Republican president ordered a broad review to prevent what he says is wasteful spending of US taxpayer dollars with causes that do not align with US interests.
“Following a review, the US Department of State decided to terminate the foreign assistance award supporting the Ukraine Conflict Observatory,” a different spokesperson said.
The spokesperson said the data resides on a platform owned by MITRE, a non-governmental organization that operates research and development centers, according to its website.
“To the best of MITRE’s knowledge and belief, the research data that was compiled has not been deleted and is currently maintained by a former partner on this contract,” it said in a statement.

Researches lose access
In his call with Zelensky, Trump inquired about the children who had gone missing from Ukraine during the war, including the ones that had been abducted, the White House said in a statement.
“President Trump promised to work closely with both parties to help make sure those children were returned home,” the White House said.
Ukraine has called the abductions of tens of thousands of its children taken to Russia or Russian-occupied territory without the consent of family or guardians a war crime that meets the UN treaty definition of genocide.
Russia has said it has been evacuating people voluntarily and to protect vulnerable children from the war zone.
The decision to stop the program means researchers will lose access to a trove of information, including satellite imagery and other data, about some 30,000 children taken from Ukraine, the lawmakers said in their letter.
Last December, a report produced as a result of the research said Russian presidential aircraft and funds were used in a program that took children from occupied Ukrainian territories, stripped them of Ukrainian identity and placed them with Russian families.
In March 2023, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and his children’s rights commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova for the alleged war crime of deportation of Ukrainian children.


Russia allows Taliban to have Moscow ambassador

Updated 19 sec ago
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Russia allows Taliban to have Moscow ambassador

Russia allows Taliban to have Moscow ambassador
The Russian side has decided to upgrade the diplomatic mission of Afghanistan in Moscow
The Afghan side “expressed their deep gratitude for this step“

MOSCOW: Russia said Wednesday it will allow the Taliban authorities in Afghanistan to have an ambassador in Moscow, in a symbolic move days after it lifted a “terrorist” designation for the militant group.
Moscow has taken steps to normalize relations with the Islamist Taliban administration since the group seized power in Afghanistan in 2021 after the withdrawal of US troops.
The Russian foreign ministry said Russian officials had held talks with Afghanistan’s foreign and internal ministers.
“The representatives of the Afghan leadership were informed that, following the decision announced by the Supreme Court of Russia to suspend the ban on the Taliban movement, the Russian side has decided to upgrade the diplomatic mission of Afghanistan in Moscow to the level of ambassador,” it said in a statement.
It added the Afghan side “expressed their deep gratitude for this step.”
Russia sees a potential economic partner in the Taliban authorities, who praised Moscow for scrapping the “terrorism” label last week.
Taliban officials have visited Russia for high-profile events in recent years.
Russia’s decision to suspend the ban on the group does not equal a formal recognition for the Taliban authorities, which are seeking international legitimacy.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Wednesday that “the new authorities in Kabul are a reality.”
“We need to take this into account in order to carry out pragmatic, not ideologized policy,” the minister told journalists.
The Afghan government is not officially recognized by any country or world body and the United Nations refers to the administration as the “Taliban de facto authorities”.

Ukrainian strike damages Russian drone production site in Tatarstan, Kyiv says

Ukrainian strike damages Russian drone production site in Tatarstan, Kyiv says
Updated 12 min 31 sec ago
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Ukrainian strike damages Russian drone production site in Tatarstan, Kyiv says

Ukrainian strike damages Russian drone production site in Tatarstan, Kyiv says
  • Russia has been extensively using Shahed and other types of attack drones
  • The general staff said the strike caused explosions near the facility

KYIV: Ukraine’s military said on Wednesday it had hit a Russian long-range drone production site in Tatarstan, damaging the final assembly line.
In the course of the three-year-old war, Russia has been extensively using Shahed and other types of attack drones for strikes across Ukraine. On Wednesday night, Ukraine said it had downed 134 Russian drones.
“As of now, it is known that damage was caused to the final assembly line of the UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles),” Ukraine’s general staff said on the Telegram app, adding that the plant’s production capacity is 300 drones per day.
Reuters could not independently verify the statement. Local authorities in Yelabuga reported a drone being shot down in the town. Mash, a Telegram channel close to Russia’s security services, said at least four drones had been downed close to a factory in the town.
The general staff said the strike, conducted by Ukraine’s drone forces and other units, caused explosions near the facility, 1,054 kilometers (654 miles) from the Ukrainian border. It added that the aftermath of the strike is being clarified and that explosions were confirmed in the target area.


Harvey Weinstein’s rape retrial opens at a different #MeToo moment

Harvey Weinstein’s rape retrial opens at a different #MeToo moment
Updated 23 April 2025
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Harvey Weinstein’s rape retrial opens at a different #MeToo moment

Harvey Weinstein’s rape retrial opens at a different #MeToo moment
  • It’s the first time Manhattan prosecutors have detailed Sokola’s allegations
  • Emphasizing Weinstein’s onetime influence in the movie industry, Lucey said the ex-studio boss used “dream opportunities as weapons” to prey on women

NEW YORK: Opening statements in Harvey Weinstein’s #MeToo rape retrial began Wednesday with a prosecutor telling jurors about the three allegations at issue in the case, including one involving a woman who wasn’t part of the original trial in 2020. Weinstein’s lawyer countered that the women and the one-time Hollywood powerbroker had consensual relationships.
Kaja Sokola, a former model from Poland, alleges that Weinstein pinned her to a bed and forcibly abused her in 2006 after luring her to his Manhattan hotel room with the promise of movie scripts. Four years earlier, Sokola alleges, he molested her at his apartment when she was just 16, Assistant District Attorney Shannon Lucey told jurors.
Weinstein, 73, is charged in connection with the 2006 allegation, but not the earlier one. Sokola previously sued and received $3.5 million in compensation, Lucey said.
It’s the first time Manhattan prosecutors have detailed Sokola’s allegations, which were added to the case after New York’s highest court overturned Weinstein’s conviction last year. The rest of the retrial involves allegations from two women who were part of the original trial — Miriam Haley and Jessica Mann.
The Associated Press does not generally identify people alleging sexual assault unless they consent to be named, as Haley, Mann and Sokola have done.
Emphasizing Weinstein’s onetime influence in the movie industry, Lucey said the ex-studio boss used “dream opportunities as weapons” to prey on women. He is charged with raping Mann and forcing himself on Haley and Sokola.
“The defendant wanted their bodies, and the more they resisted, the more forceful he got,” Lucey said.
Weinstein, she said, “held the golden ticket: a chance to make it, or not.”
The Oscar-winning producer, seated in the wheelchair he now uses because of health problems, whispered with one of his lawyers and appeared to take notes as Lucey described his alleged crimes, but he didn’t look at the jury.
Weinstein has pleaded not guilty and denies raping or sexually assaulting anyone.
His lawyer, Arthur Aidala, told jurors in his opening statement that Weinstein engaged in “mutually beneficial relationships” with women who wanted his help in the industry but that nothing he did was illegal.
“In this case, the casting couch is not a crime scene,” Aidala argued.
He implored jurors to view the case with an open mind and to wait until they’ve heard all of the evidence before reaching a conclusion. Acknowledging Weinstein’s former career, Aidala compared the opening stage of the trial to a movie trailer.
“How often is a preview great, but the movie falls flat on its face?” the defense lawyer said. “After you hear all of the evidence, their case is going to fall flat on its face.”
The audience in the packed courtroom included Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. He inherited the landmark #MeToo case, brought by his predecessor, when the Court of Appeals last year threw out the 2020 conviction and 23-year prison sentence because the judge allowed testimony about allegations Weinstein was not charged with. The reversal led to the retrial.
Weinstein’s retrial is playing out at a different cultural moment than the first. #MeToo, which exploded in 2017 with allegations against Weinstein, has evolved and ebbed.
The jury counts seven women and five men — unlike the seven-man, five-woman panel that convicted him in 2020 — and there’s a different judge.
At the start of Weinstein’s first trial, chants of “rapist” could be heard from protesters outside. This time, there was none of that.
Weinstein is being retried on a criminal sex act charge for allegedly forcibly abusing Haley, a movie and TV production assistant at the time, in 2006, and a third-degree rape charge for allegedly assaulting Mann, a then-aspiring actor, in a Manhattan hotel room in 2013.
Weinstein also faces a criminal sex act charge for allegedly abusing Sokola, also in 2006. Prosecutors said she came forward days before his first trial but wasn’t part of that case. They said they revisited her allegations when his conviction was thrown out.
Weinstein’s acquittals on the two most serious charges at his 2020 trial — predatory sexual assault and first-degree rape — still stand.
Sokola’s lawyer, Lindsay Goldbrum, said Weinstein’s retrial marks a “pivotal moment in the fight for accountability in sex abuse cases” and a “signal to other survivors that the system is catching up — and that it’s worth speaking out even when the odds seem insurmountable.”
During jury selection, a prosecutor asked prospective jurors whether they’d heard of the #MeToo movement. Most said they had, but that it wouldn’t affect them either way.
Those who indicated it might were excused.


Macron visits Madagascar in the first trip by a French leader to the former colony in 20 years

Macron visits Madagascar in the first trip by a French leader to the former colony in 20 years
Updated 23 April 2025
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Macron visits Madagascar in the first trip by a French leader to the former colony in 20 years

Macron visits Madagascar in the first trip by a French leader to the former colony in 20 years
  • France and Madagascar signed several agreements and memoranda of understanding, including in energy, agriculture and education
  • Macron announced funding from the French Development Agency and a loan from the French treasury for the construction of a hydroelectric dam

ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar: French President Emmanuel Macron began a two-day visit to the Indian Ocean island of Madagascar on Wednesday and spoke of the need for his country to find new markets and boost economic cooperation in the region.
Macron’s visit marked the first by a French leader to the former colony off the east coast of Africa since Jacques Chirac’s in 2005.
The trip also delved into disputes between the nations stemming from the colonial era, including Madagascar’s claims over a group of small islands that are French territory, and its demands that France return the remains of a local king who was killed by French colonial forces in the late 1800s.
Macron met with Madagascar President Andry Rajoelina in the capital, Antananarivo, and they signed several agreements and memoranda of understanding, including in energy, agriculture and education.
Macron also announced funding from the French Development Agency and a loan from the French treasury for the construction of a hydroelectric dam in Volobe in eastern Madagascar, which has been planned for nearly a decade.
Macron is due to attend Thursday a summit of the Indian Ocean Commission in Madagascar, a bloc made up of Madagascar, Mauritius, Comoros, Seychelles and Reunion — which is a territory of France. China, India and the European Union are among a group of countries and international bodies that have observer status at the commission.
“We need to conquer, at least, the market of the (Indian Ocean Commission),” Macron said Wednesday. “And then, more widely, East Africa and the Indian Ocean.”
On some of their disagreements, Rajoelina said there would be a new round of meetings on June 30 over the fate of the Scattered Islands, five small islands around Madagascar that fall under France’s overseas territories but are claimed by Madagascar.
France favors a system where the islands would be jointly managed by the two countries, but the UK’s decision last year to hand over control of the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean to Mauritius has spurred some in Madagascar to push for full control of the Scattered Islands — which are known as the Eparses Islands in France.
Madagascar and France “are determined to find a solution together,” Rajoelina said.
Macron said he would work with Madagascar over the agreed return of three skulls that were taken from Madagascar more than 125 years ago and displayed in a Paris museum. One of them is believed to be the skull of King Toera of the Sakalava people, who was beheaded by French troops in 1897.


Trump slams Zelensky over ‘inflammatory’ Crimea stance

Trump slams Zelensky over ‘inflammatory’ Crimea stance
Updated 23 April 2025
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Trump slams Zelensky over ‘inflammatory’ Crimea stance

Trump slams Zelensky over ‘inflammatory’ Crimea stance
  • “It’s inflammatory statements like Zelensky’s that makes it so difficult to settle this War,” Trump said
  • “Ukraine will not legally recognize the occupation of Crimea,” Zelensky was quoted as saying

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Wednesday said a deal on halting the Ukraine war was “very close,” but slammed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky over his refusal to formally cede Crimea to Russia.
“It’s inflammatory statements like Zelensky’s that makes it so difficult to settle this War,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
The outburst came after US media reports said Trump was ready to accept recognition of annexed Crimea as Russian territory, and after Vice President JD Vance said land swaps would be fundamental to any deal.
In his post, Trump was referring to Zelensky’s comments, published in the Wall Street Journal Wednesday, in which he said that ceding Crimea is against Ukraine’s constitution.
“Ukraine will not legally recognize the occupation of Crimea,” Zelensky was quoted as saying. “There is nothing to talk about here.”
Trump lambasted Zelensky over the remarks.
“This statement is very harmful to the Peace Negotiations with Russia,” Trump said, adding that if Ukraine “wants Crimea, why didn’t they fight for it eleven years ago when it was handed over to Russia without a shot being fired?“
He added: “The statement made by Zelensky today will do nothing but prolong the ‘killing field,’ and nobody wants that!“
“We are very close to a Deal, but the man with ‘no cards to play’ should now, finally, GET IT DONE.”