• Ukraine replace: Russia battered Ukraine with multiple missile strikes as troops search to advance to the east. Kyiv mentioned it shot down 16 of 32 Russian missiles. Meanwhile, the BBC was given access to a prisoner-of-war facility housing tons of of captured Russian troopers, conscripts, and mercenaries in western Ukraine which are doubtless for use in prisoner exchanges. Last November, a UN human rights report documented abuses by each side, primarily based on interviews with prisoners who spoke of circumstances of torture and ill-treatment.

• Aleppo hospitals overwhelmed by quake victims: Hospitals in Aleppo do not have sufficient room for brand new sufferers within the wake of final week’s devastating earthquake. At the Al-Razi Hospital there are too many beds to suit into the wards, reaching end-to-end by way of corridors and into the chilly courtyard. More than 4,400 deaths and seven,600 accidents have been reported in north-western Syria since a 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck neighboring southern Turkey on Feb. 6.

• China and Iran name for Iran sanctions to be lifted: China’s President Xi Jinping and his Iranian counterpart, Ebrahim Raisi, called on Thursday for the lifting of sanctions on Iran as an integral a part of the stalled worldwide Iran nuclear settlement. Xi additionally accepted an invite from Raisi to go to Iran and would accomplish that at his comfort, the 2 leaders mentioned in a joint assertion on the final day of a three-day state go to to China by Raisi.

• Shooting at El Paso shopping center: One particular person died and three extra had been injured in a taking pictures at a shopping center in El Paso, Texas. Two males have been taken into custody. Police haven’t commented on doable motives. So far this 12 months, there have been more than 70 mass shootings throughout the United States, in keeping with the Gun Violence Archive.

• Rail agency pulls out of assembly with residents after Ohio prepare derailment: Representatives of the Norfolk Southern railway firm failed to indicate up at a public assembly meant to ease fears a couple of poisonous chemical spill in an Ohio city after one in all their trains carrying the chemical compounds derailed 13 days in the past inflicting an enormous hearth. The railway firm cited safety issues because the motive to not attend. Despite assurances from officers, many residents proceed to be scared of the potential injury, saying the spill has impacted people and wildlife alike.

• Retirees protest in China: Crowds of retirees in China have once more taken to the streets to protest in opposition to cuts to their medical advantages, placing strain on President Xi Jinping’s administration simply weeks earlier than the annual National People’s Congress. Protests first passed off in Wuhan on Feb. 8 after provincial authorities mentioned they had been slicing the extent of medical bills which retirees can declare again from the federal government. Although such medical insurance issues are dealt with at a provincial degree, protests have unfold to completely different components of the nation.

• World’s largest ice rink lacks only one tiny little factor: Ottawa’s Rideau Canal Skateway, the world’s largest naturally frozen ice rink, is but to open this year. As Canada experiences one in all its warmest winters thus far, there simply isn’t sufficient ice within the rink.

Edinburgh-based each day The Scotsman devotes its entrance web page to the shock announcement of the resignation of Scotland’s first minister Nicola Sturgeon, after greater than eight years within the position. The figurehead of the Scottish independence motion and Scotland’s longest-serving first minister mentioned she would stay in workplace till her successor was elected. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak paid tribute to Sturgeon’s “long-standing public service.”

37 million

A brand new investigation by Clean Up Kenya and investigative NGO Wildlight has simply revealed that European international locations dump as much as 37 million objects of plastic clothes in Kenya yearly. The items of clothes are too soiled and broken to be reused, and now present a serious pollution and health threat to the area.

Lost in France’s retirement age battle: Making house for older staff

As debates and protests proceed in France over growing the pension age, many seniors are already voluntarily returning to work. Some accomplish that to maintain busy, however many are compelled to by the cost-of-living disaster, reviews Sarah Dumeau in French enterprise each day Les Echos.

🧓 France has plans to require firms with greater than 300 workers to make public the proportion of seniors of their workforce, with doable monetary penalties. But some firms, such because the Elior group that manages the Bercy Lumière restaurant, have already made their numbers public. In 2022, of the two,500 individuals they recruited on common on everlasting contracts, 18% are over 50 and 30% are over 45. And they’re removed from being remoted circumstances.

💼 The first purpose given by employers is the shortage of labor. “We have great difficulties recruiting drivers for school transport,” says Jean-Sébastien Barrault, president of the Fédération Nationale du Transport de Voyageurs (National Federation of Passenger Transport). To fill this hole, these firms massively make use of seniors on the finish of their careers or retirees.

🧑🍳 The Elior group ensures that older workers are recruited for his or her expertise. “To fill certain gaps, we really need seniors,” says Olga Boulay, director of the Bercy Lumière restaurant. The extra skilled cooks assist the youngest to remain calm, like “Chef David”, 64 years previous. He would not wish to cease, nonetheless: “I’m less tired than the young people,” he laughs.

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“I’m afraid we’re going to see this war going on for another year.”

— In an interview with Euronews, the European Union’s Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell shared his ideas on the unprecedented sanctions the bloc has taken over the previous 12 months in opposition to Russia, as a tenth bundle of retaliatory measures is being mentioned. Borrell admitted that though it “has not always been easy” to take care of political unity among the many 27 members of the EU, because the struggle is prone to proceed, “we, Europeans, have to keep doing more of the same thing.”