Patrickker: Russia are busy warring. Teams you see up there are there to play not to fight.
naptu2: (To be decided = Russia, which had already qualified for the World Cup, was expelled from the competition because of events in Ukraine, so a new team will be selected to take their place).
It seems like some people are trying to take down the RT website, but they haven't been successful because RT is vigorously defending itself. This means that you might occasionally experience blips when you try to access the site.
If you can’t get news from RT due to government restrictions, here are some alternative ways to access our content
Serious attempts have been made in Western nations to silence RT, following Russia’s military offensive in Ukraine. The EU Commission has given regulators in the bloc’s nations powers to ban the media outlet. If you’ve faced difficulties accessing RT’s content due to those restrictions, here are some steps you can take to bypass them.
1. If you’re reading RT on your smartphone, you can use our Android app, which can be downloaded via this link.
2. On your PC, you can use the Tor browser, which can be downloaded here. RT’s website address in Tor remains the same: www.rt.com. If Tor doesn’t work for you, or is unavailable via regular means, you can resolve this issue by sending an empty email to gettor@torproject.com and you will be sent the necessary link.
3. Another way of circumventing restrictions is to use the Psiphon censorship-bypass tool, which can be downloaded for Windows, Android, and other systems. Alternatively, you can use a VPN service of your choice. (Windows download here, direct Android download here, and other options here).
4. You can also stay in touch with RT through Telegram by subscribing to RT’s soon-to-be-reborn channel there.
Russian-backed news channel RT has disappeared from all broadcast platforms in the UK.
UK access to the TV network, formerly called Russia Today, has been affected by a ban imposed by the European Union.
Although the UK is no longer in the EU, the bloc applied sanctions to satellite companies in Luxembourg and France, which provided the RT feed to Sky, Freesat and Freeview.
RT said "the façade of free press in Europe has finally crumbled".
UK Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries, who has described the channel as "Putin's polluting propaganda machine", said she hoped it would not return to UK screens.
"As part of a concerted effort and discussions, Russia Today is no longer streamed into British homes, either by TV, Sky, Freesat or Freeview," she told the House of Commons on Thursday.
"And we have contacted both [Facebook owner] Meta and TikTok to implore them to stop streaming Russia Today via their own online platforms.
"It is my absolute position that we will not stop until we have persuaded every organisation, based in the UK or not, that is the wrong thing to do to stream Russian propaganda into British homes."
UK media regulator Ofcom is currently investigating RT for 27 potential breaches of its broadcasting code. The watchdog has the power to revoke a broadcast licence, but any action is likely to take weeks.
Ms Dorries added: "I am hoping that they expedite those investigations and that those investigations result in the removal of Russia Today's licence so that they're never again able or have the platform to broadcast their propaganda into the UK."
She also said: "Of course, politicians have absolutely no influence over the free press and nor should they. That is the responsibility of the regulator Ofcom. And the very first thing I did was wrote to Ofcom to urge them to review the output of Russia Today."
The culture secretary became emotional as she offered her "heartfelt thanks and admiration" to journalists working for the BBC, ITV and other news outlets "who are risking their lives to bring us unbiased and accurate news from a live war zone".
The EU said it was preventing RT and Sputnik, both state-owned broadcasters, from being received across Europe until the aggression towards Ukraine ends.
In a statement, the EU said RT and Sputnik promoted "systematic information manipulation and disinformation by the Kremlin".
In response to the channel's removal, RT deputy editor-in-chief Anna Belkina said: "Media regulation should be divorced from geopolitics, led by independent bodies and expert regulators, ensuring diversity in news and information sources is protected.
"Today, politicians in the EU have demonstrated their willingness to delegitimise independent regulators."
RT says it is an "autonomous" operation financed by the Russian Federation.
The removal of RT from the airwaves comes after YouTube blocked channels linked to RT and Sputnik across Europe.
"Due to the ongoing war in Ukraine, we're blocking YouTube channels connected to RT and Sputnik across Europe, effective immediately," a statement from Google Europe said earlier this week.
Facebook has also blocked access to RT and Sputnik in Europe.
Sir Nick Clegg, the former UK deputy prime minister, is now vice president of global affairs at Facebook's parent company, Meta. He tweeted on Monday: "We have received requests from a number of governments and the EU to take further steps in relation to Russian state-controlled media.
"Given the exceptional nature of the current situation, we will be restricting access to RT and Sputnik across the EU at this time."
Meanwhile, the BBC has halted all content licensing with its Russian customers. The corporation's commercial arm BBC Studios said: "In common with other media organisations, we have been monitoring events closely.
"The BBC's executive team were meeting [on Wednesday] and they have decided to stop all content licensing to Russian customers."
That means Russian viewers will be prevented from watching shows including Dancing With The Stars and The Green Planet.
The BBC has also confirmed it has launched two new shortwave radio frequencies to make sure its news was available in parts of Ukraine and Russia after a TV tower in Kyiv was bombed and internet services restricted.
The shortwave services are broadcasting four hours of World Service English news per day.
Access to the BBC's Russian language services has been restricted in Russia.
Other news outlets, including Deutsche Welle, Meduza and Radio Liberty, have also had access to their services limited, Russia's state-owned news agency RIA says.
Russia's parliament has passed a law making it an offence to spread "fake" information about the armed forces.
The Kremlin objects to the conflict being called a war, instead calling it a "special military operation".
A BBC spokesperson said: "Access to accurate, independent information is a fundamental human right which should not be denied to the people of Russia, millions of whom rely on BBC News every week.
"We will continue our efforts to make BBC News available in Russia, and across the rest of the world."
Record numbers of people have read the BBC's Russian language news website since the invasion, seeking up-to-date information on the conflict.
On Thursday, one of Russia's last independent news outlets, TV Rain, stopped broadcasting after coming under pressure for its coverage of the invasion.
The channel ended its final broadcast by showing staff walking off set.
Russia's telecommunications regulator had accused the channel of "inciting extremism, abusing Russian citizens, causing mass disruption of public calm and safety, and encouraging protests".
"No to war," said Natalia Sindeyeva, one of the channel's founders, as employees walked out of the studio.
The channel then began playing footage of a performance of Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake.
The ballet was used in Soviet-era broadcasts to mark the death of leaders, and was also played during the 1991 coup that contributed to the end of the Soviet Union.
The station's editor in chief, Tikhon Dzyadko, left Russia on Wednesday, saying it was due to concerns for his safety.
"The main problem is that we were covering Ukraine objectively, as professional journalists and covering from different sides. We had journalists going live and covering the situation," Ekaterina Kotrik, TV Rain presenter and former head of news, told the BBC.
She had to leave Russia due to the new law which could lead to prison terms of up to 15 years for people who intentionally spread what the Kremlin termed "fake" information about Russia's armed forces.
"Fifteen years in jail for just doing your job," Ms Kotrik said. "It's the end of democracy in Russia. Any freedom is lost."
Radio station Echo of Moscow was taken off air on Tuesday. On Thursday it was shut entirely by its board of directors. It had featured interviews from Ukraine describing the invasion.
Ekaterina Schulman is a political scientist who was presenting a programme on the station when it was taken off air.
"People like me might find ourselves with nowhere to work. Very soon there won't be media outlets, or lecture halls or other platforms where we can talk to the public" she told the BBC.
Russia's state-controlled TV has depicted the war in a very different way to broadcasts seen around the rest of the world.
The crackdown on independent journalists comes as Russia's economy has been hit by sanctions. Its currency, the rouble, has plunged in value, hitting the savings of citizens.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Russia of "nuclear terror" after it reportedly bombarded a large nuclear power station, causing a fire in a nearby building.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has insisted the war in Ukraine is "going to plan".
(To be decided = Russia, which had already qualified for the World Cup, was expelled from the competition because of events in Ukraine, so a new team will be selected to take their place).
The 2022 FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup, the 19th edition of FIBA's premier international tournament for women's national basketball teams, will be held in Sydney, Australia between 22 September and 1 October 2022.
pacespot: Every country's prayer should be not to have a neighbor like Russia. Agreed, USA has invaded many countries, but it has never invaded the countries along its shores considering the massive refugees that will be moving across the borders. That is USA has been staging its invasion at far far away destinations like Middle East, Africa and Asia.
But the fact that Russia could invade its neighbor, this shows that this is not an ordinary invasion like the USA, but a total annexation of Ukraine.
President Macron spoke to President Putin on the phone.
Ukraine invasion: Putin wants all of Ukraine and 'worse is to come' in conflict, warns Macron
Thursday 3 March 2022 15:42, UK
Vladimir Putin wants to seize all of Ukraine and "worse is to come" during the conflict, the French president has warned.
Emmanuel Macron held talks with Mr Putin over the phone this afternoon in a bid to ease tensions between Russia and the West.
The pair spoke for 90 minutes, with Mr Putin telling Mr Macron the war in Ukraine is "going according to plan", a French official said.
According to French officials, Mr Macron told the Russian leader that he was making a "major mistake" in Ukraine, adding: "You are lying to yourself".
The official at the French Elysee presidential palace said Mr Putin told Mr Macron the invasion will continue "until the end" unless negotiations meet his terms.
These, Mr Putin said, must centre on the "neutralisation and disarmament of Ukraine" - with the president saying he would attain the goal by military means, if not by political and diplomatic means.
Following the call, Mr Macron believes "worse is to come" in the unfolding humanitarian crisis and that Mr Putin wants to seize the entire country, according to an aide.
Ukraine crisis: Crypto exchange boss rejects Russian user ban
The boss of one of the world's biggest crypto-currency exchanges has ruled out restricting ordinary Russians from using the service.
Binance founder and chief executive Changpeng Zhao, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "Many normal Russians do not agree with war."
Major cryptocurrency exchanges have been asked by Ukraine to block Russian users.
One financial expert warned the war could become a "crypto conflict".
In a tweet sent on Sunday Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minster Mykhailo Fedorov asked major crypto-currency exchanges to block the addresses of ordinary Russian users, not just politicians.
The value of Bitcoin has risen 13% since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, according to the Reuters news agency.
There has been speculation Russian oligarchs may pour their money into cryptocurrencies to avoid sanctions and other restrictions.
And the Telegraph newspaper called cryptocurrency "Putin's sanctions-busting super-weapon".
But Mr Zhao said: "We're not against any people.
"We differentiate between the Russian politicians who start wars and the normal people.
"Many normal Russians do not agree with war."
"We don't control the industry.
"I can publish my sanction list, you can publish yours... Guess what? No-one else is going to follow.
"It just moves Russian users to other smaller platforms," he said.
'Financial freedom'
In a statement published earlier, Binance said it would not unilaterally freeze millions of "innocent users'" accounts.
"Crypto is meant to provide greater financial freedom for people across the globe," the company told BBC News.
Any unilateral ban would "fly in the face" of the reason crypto existed.
But "while minimising the impact to innocent users", it was taking the steps necessary to enforce sanctions.
'Libertarian values'
Mr Zhao said: "There are, I think, a few hundred individuals that are on the international sanction list in Russia - those are mostly politicians, et cetera.
"We follow that very, very strictly.
"And we are not in a position to sanction populations of people.
"We are not political - we are against war but we are here to help the people."
Several other cryptocurrency exchanges have also ruled out freezing all Russian accounts, according to a Vice News investigation.
Kraken's chief executive Jesse Powell, for example, said its platform would not freeze Russian accounts, which would go against Bitcoin's "libertarian values".
But Tom Keatinge, director of the Centre for Financial Crime and Security Studies (CFCS), at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) think tank, warned exchanges that failed to follow the rules might find themselves cut off from financial services.
"Those banks that provide services to crypto exchanges will be watching their clients' activities very carefully to ensure that they are diligently applying the checks required by the expanding sanctions regimes against Russia," he said.
The war in Ukraine could become the first meaningful "crypto conflict", Mr Keatinge told BBC News, as those seeking to "evade sanctions, protect their savings or avoid a collapsing banking system turn to cryptocurrencies for solutions".
Criminals laundered $8.6bn (£6.4bn) of crypto-currency in 2021, up 30% on the previous year, according to a report by blockchain data company Chainalysis published prior to the invasion.
And the Financial Times revealed: "Trading between the Russian rouble and crypto assets such as Bitcoin and Tether had doubled since the assault on Ukraine began, reaching $60m a day."
Crackdown
The increase comes as governments have sought to cut Russia out of the financial system.
On Wednesday, French Finance Minister Bruno le Maire said that the European Union will include crypto currencies in its sanctions against Russia, aimed at making Moscow's aggression against Ukraine as costly as possible.
He told journalists during a news conference that the sanctions against Russia were very effective and have "disorganised" the Russian financial system.
The British government has alsoannounced measures to crack down on money laundering by Russian "oligarchs and kleptocrats", including new powers to seize crypto assets.
Chainalysis's Caroline Malcolm told BBC News: "As with the traditional financial system, Russian oligarchs could leverage crypto-currency to evade the sanctions."
But it was unlikely designated persons under sanctions would move around large quantities of cryptocurrency now.
"Russia's elite and financial authorities have been preparing for sanctions for some time," she said.
"To the extent that cryptocurrency may be used to evade sanctions related to this crisis, it likely would have happened slowly over the past several months."
And analytics tools used for following money were more effective than those "capable of disrupting Russia's use of a network of traditional bank wires or physical cash to evade sanctions".
Tom Robinson, of blockchain analysis company Elliptic, said crypto-currency could be an attractive haven for the wealth of oligarchs as it could not be seized and no-one could prevent it being moved.
But it was "highly traceable, which means that they would find it difficult to spend anywhere that sanctions are enforced".
Modele Sarafa Yusuf was a sports correspondent on the NTA in the 1990s. The first time that I saw her was when she co-hosted the NTA's coverage of the 1990 Commonwealth Games in Auckland, New Zealand with Mainasara Ilo (she was then known as Modele Osinaike).
In the 2000s she worked with Globacom as Senior Manager Sponsorships and in the 2010s she presented an interview programme From The Top on Channels Television. She has also worked with the American University of Nigeria.
In 2018 she became the Director of Media and Publicity in the campaign team of Prince Dapo Abiodun and in 2019 Governor Abiodun appointed her as his Special Adviser on Information and Strategy.
Modele Sarafa-Yusuf @modelesy
Dear Friends,
Today, I threw my hat into the ring and formally declared my intention to run for the office of Governor of Ogun State on the platform of our great party, the All Progressives Congress.
I made the declaration at a small gathering of market women and men in the Adire/Kampala market, Asero, Abeokuta.
I took the opportunity to listen to them as they talked about their needs and their expectations of the government.
I look forward to engaging more with the people as the days go by even as I look forward to the opportunity of serving them as governor.
We also look forward to working with all our party leaders across the divides as we prepare for the elections.
I implore you to send positive thoughts and prayers as we embark on this journey to a more prosperous Ogun State.
Family › Re: Lady Taken To Osun To Take An Oath Before Traveling Out - Brother Cries Out by naptu2: 12:30pm On Mar 05, 2022
