Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said on Thursday that Russian President Vladimir Putin had apologised for his foreign minister’s comments claiming Adolf Hitler had Jewish origins.
Bennett, after a call with the Russian leader, said he accepted the apology and thanked Putin for clarifying his position.
Bennett also said he asked Putin to consider allowing the evacuation of the besieged Azovstal steel works in the Ukrainian port of Mariupol. Bennett said he made that request following an earlier conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and that Putin promised to set up a corridor for civilian evacuation.
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Former WhatsApp executive says he regrets Facebook’s $22 bn acquisition deal
Former business officer of WhatsApp Neeraj Arora has expressed regret over the mammoth deal negotiated between the instant messaging platform and the social media giant Meta, then known as Facebook, in 2014. Facebook’s acquisition of WhatsApp in 2014 was one of the biggest deals in the technology industry – larger than any of Meta’s peers like Google, Microsoft or Apple ever did.
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Covid: Millions stay home in Beijing as Xi vows to continue dynamic zero policy
Millions of Beijing residents worked and studied from home on Thursday at the end of a five-day Labour Day holiday as Covid-19-related restrictions continued in the city and the government warned that “hidden” sources of the infection were lurking within communities. If the holidays were subdued because of Covid-containing protocols, the resumption was equally so. Dining in restaurants continues to be banned as well until further notice.
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Almost 3 times as many died as a result of Covid globally than reported: WHO
Almost three times as many people have died as a result of Covid-19 as the official data show, according to a new World Health Organization report, the most comprehensive look at the true global toll of the pandemic so far. The official count of deaths directly attributable to COVID-19 and reported to WHO in that period, from January 2020 to the end of December 2021, is slightly more than 5.4 million.
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Belarus Prez Lukashenko says doing ‘everything’ to stop Ukraine war
Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko’s statement comes two days after his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin accused Ukraine of not taking peace talks seriously in order to end the conflict. In a conversation with French President Emmanuel Macron, Putin also said the West must stop supplying weapons to Ukraine.
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Russia ‘trying to destroy’ last Ukrainian units in Azovstal: Kyiv
Ukraine said Thursday Russia was “trying to destroy” its remaining soldiers holed up in Mariupol’s Azovstal steel plant, with Kyiv’s last defenders in the battered city saying Moscow forces have broken into the giant factory. “Russian occupiers are focusing on blocking and trying to destroy Ukrainian units in the Azovstal area,” Kyiv’s army said in a statement. “With the support of aircraft, Russia resumed the offensive in order to take control of the plant.”