World
Russia says it has used hypersonic missiles in strike on Ukraine arms depot
Russia said on Saturday (March 19) that it had used hypersonic Kinzhal (Dagger) missiles to destroy a large weapons depot in Ukraine’s western Ivano-Frankivsk region.
Russia’s Interfax news agency said it was the first time Russia had deployed the hypersonic Kinzhal system since it sent its troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24.
Defence ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov told a briefing that the underground depot hit by the Kinzhal system on Friday housed Ukrainian missiles and aircraft ammunition, according to a recording of the briefing shared by Russian news agencies.
Reuters was not able to independently verify Konashenkov’s statements.
The office of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Russia prides itself on its advanced weaponry, and President Vladimir Putin said in December that Russia was the global leader in hypersonic missiles, whose speed, maneuverability and altitude make them difficult to track and intercept.
The Kinzhal missiles are part of an array of weapons unveiled in 2018.
Konashenkov added on Saturday that Russian forces had also destroyed military radio and reconnaissance centers near the Ukrainian port city of Odessa using the Bastion coastal missile system.
Moscow refers to its actions in Ukraine as a “special operation” to weaken its southern neighbor’s military capabilities and root out people it calls dangerous nationalists.
Ukrainian forces have mounted stiff resistance and Western countries have imposed sweeping sanctions on Russia in an effort to force it to withdraw its forces.
World
Rescuers search for missing after deadly North Cyprus ferry accident
Rescuers were searching on Monday for survivors a day after a ferry capsized off Northern Cyprus, leaving eight people dead and 18 missing, authorities said.
The ferry departed from the northern port of Girne around midday on Sunday bound for the Turkish mainland but capsized shortly afterwards, triggering a major rescue operation. There were 267 people on board, of whom 241 were rescued, while eight died and 18 remained missing, according to local authorities. Their nationalities were not immediately disclosed.
Several survivors told local media they heard a blast shortly before the vessel overturned, while others said the ferry had begun taking on water before the accident, about four nautical miles into the journey.
Police detained the captain and more than a dozen others following the incident. The captain and eight others were brought before a judge early Monday and formally arrested, according to the official Cypriot news agency TAK.
Northern Cyprus has declared three days of national mourning for the victims.
Footage broadcast by Turkish television showed passengers wearing life jackets clinging to the overturned ferry’s orange hull. The vessel later sank completely and is now lying at a depth of 514 metres, Northern Cyprus Transport Minister Erhan Arikli said.
Arikli said recovering the ferry’s “black box” could help investigators determine the cause of the disaster. Survivors gave differing accounts of the incident, with some reporting an explosion at the front of the vessel and others saying there had not been enough safety equipment on board.
World
Trump floats idea of renaming Atlantic or Pacific Ocean
US President Donald Trump has suggested that the Atlantic or Pacific Ocean could be next for a name change, shortly after signing an executive order renaming Lake Ontario as “Lake America.”
Speaking in the Oval Office on Thursday, Trump joked that after renaming a gulf and a lake, the next step could be an ocean.
“We have a gulf and we have a lake,” Trump said. “Now all we need is an ocean. Maybe we’ll have to change the name of the Atlantic and/or the Pacific. Maybe we’ll change them both.”
The remarks came as Trump signed the order changing the name of Lake Ontario on U.S. government maps, following his earlier move to rename the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America.”
Trump has also restored the former name “Mount McKinley” for Alaska’s highest peak, reversing the official use of Denali adopted during the Obama administration.
The latest proposal comes amid increasingly strained relations between Washington and Ottawa. Trump has repeatedly criticised Canada over trade and has previously suggested that the country should be treated as a U.S. state.
While the U.S. government can determine the names used on its own official maps, it cannot compel Canada, other countries or international organisations to adopt the changes.
For now, the Atlantic and Pacific oceans remain firmly on the map under their familiar names — but Trump has made clear he is not ruling out another change.
World
US hits Egyptian bank branches with Iran sanctions as war marks six months
The U.S. Treasury said it views Banque Misr’s six UAE branches as a “critical node” for the Iranian government’s access to U.S. dollars.
The U.S. imposed Iran-related sanctions on an Egyptian bank on Friday, part of Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s campaign to increase economic pressure to try to break a stalemate six months into Washington’s war with Iran, Reuters reported.
Treasury said it moved to cut off Banque Misr’s branches in the United Arab Emirates from dollar transactions for its dealings with Iran. In a statement, it said its Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) proposed a rule that would revoke Banque Misr UAE’s correspondent banking access to U.S. financial institutions.
The action, teased by Bessent on Monday as a “major announcement” of a secondary sanction on an international bank, was first reported by the Financial Times.
“Treasury promised to sever every economic lifeline Tehran has left and finally end the threat of the Iranian regime,” Bessent said in a statement. “We also warned that Iran’s enablers cannot continue to enjoy access to the U.S. dollar and the global financial system. Banque Misr UAE decided to find out the hard way, and today, we are taking the first step in holding it accountable for its continued, egregious support of the Iranian regime.”
Egypt’s central bank said on Friday that the U.S. action only affected Banque Misr’s UAE branches and did not extend to any other Egyptian banks. The Central Bank of Egypt said in a statement that it and Egypt’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs were in contact with the U.S. authorities about the measures.
A Treasury official also said the action only applies to Banque Misr’s UAE branches, allowing the bank to continue dollar transactions through its head office in Cairo and other foreign branches. These include Paris, Frankfurt, Riyadh, Beirut and Djibouti, according to Banque Misr’s website.
Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control separately issued sanctions targeting the manager of Iran’s Bank Melli branch in the UAE as well as a Hong Kong entity that it said helped launder money for a sanctioned Iranian exchange house.
Banque Misr UAE did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on a public holiday. The sanctioned Bank Melli branch manager, Reza Mohammad Taeedi, also did not immediately respond to a Reuters email requesting comment.
The U.S. Treasury said it views Banque Misr’s six UAE branches as a “critical node” for the Iranian government’s access to U.S. dollars.
The department said it estimates that between January 2024 and June 2026, Banque Misr UAE processed approximately $1.8 billion in transactions for 103 companies that are potentially part of Iranian shadow banking networks.
U.S. State Department spokesperson Tommy Piggott said in a statement that Bank Melli has served as a critical financial hub for Iran’s armed forces, including the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force and the Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics, both entities under U.S. sanctions.
Iran has urged other nations not to join new U.S. sanctions.
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