World

On CNN Tuesday, reporter Tom Foreman profiled many of the Russian oligarchs — the country's wealthy elites, whose support keeps Vladimir Putin in power — who are being targeted by U.S. and NATO sanctions in the effort to punish the Kremlin for the invasion of Ukraine.

"Many Russian oligarchs who often spend a lot of time outside Russia at their foreign properties have deep ties to Putin," said Foreman. "Newly named to the U.S. sanctions list: Dennis Bortnikov, an official at a Russian bank and son of the director of the Federal Security Service, the modern KGB; Peter Fradkov, with ties to the defense industry; Vladimir Kiriyenko, who has also been sanctioned; and the list could grow."

Ninety-year-old Raisa Simanovna still sleeps in her flat on the frontline in eastern Ukraine but goes down into the cellar in the daytime to shelter from the ever more intense shelling and mortar fire.

Located in territory held by Ukrainian forces on the border with the separatist Lugansk republic backed by Russia, the town of Schastya -- which means "happiness" -- has been a symbol of promise in a conflict which began in 2014.

CNN fact-checker Daniel Dale has debunked some of the most detailed conspiracy theories for the past few years, but his latest appears to find one of the latest to be among the most absurd.

Writing Tuesday, Dale explained that it isn't true that the United Nations has sent troops into Canada to deal with the truckers protesting the vaccine.

Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday called Vladimir Putin a "genius" after the Russian president made moves to take over parts of Ukraine.

Trump made the remarks during an interview with conservative podcaster Buck Sexton.

Fiona Hill, former Senior Director for Europe and Russia at the United States National Security Council, believes former President Donald Trump's foreign policy has played an intricate role in Russia's bold invasion of Ukraine.

On Monday, February 21, Hill — who worked as a Russian advisor for Trump — appeared on CNN where she weighed on the distinct differences between Trump's approach compared to President Joe Biden's. According to Hill, Trump's policy was more about concern for his own personal agenda as opposed to the United States' national interest.

Dubai opened its Museum of the Future on Tuesday, a spectacular structure it is touting as the world's most beautiful building.

The museum, a seven-story hollow silver ellipse decorated with Arabic calligraphy of quotes from Dubai's ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, and thousands of meters (yards) of LED lights, takes pride of place on Sheikh Zayed Road, the city's main highway.

Fox News correspondent Greg Palkot asked NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg on Tuesday to prove Russians troops had entered Ukraine.

During a press conference in Brussels, Palkot seemed to doubt Stoltenberg's claim that Russia has effectively invaded Ukraine after Russian President Vladimir Putin declared independence for eastern regions of the country.

Matadors in the Mexican capital, home to the largest bullring on the planet, are fighting to prevent a ban on a practice brought by the Spanish conquistadors five centuries ago.

Although the debate is not new, in December, an animal welfare commission in Mexico City's legislature approved a proposal to prohibit the tradition in the city of around nine million people.

One after the other, six French presidential candidates laid out their economic platforms on Monday to business leaders, just as the French economy emerges from the Covid-19 crisis saddled with rising inflation and labour shortages. The scholastic ritual for Elysée Palace hopefuls is viewed by some as a campaign prerequisite.

With fewer than 50 days to go before French voters head to the ballot box for the first round on April 10, Communist candidate Fabien Roussel, Socialist Anne Hidalgo, the Greens' Yannick Jadot, conservative Valérie Pécresse and far-right rivals Marine Le Pen and Éric Zemmour submitted to the exercise before an audience of 200 entrepreneurs at the Station F start-up incubator in Paris.

A British trucking company is thinking about suing Donald Trump's new social media venture after it appears they appeared to use the company's logo as their own. Truth Social launched in the app store on Monday, but quickly crashed, despite only a few hundred downloads over 12 hours.

BusinessInsider reported Tuesday that the logo used in the Apple App Store looks nearly identical to the logo for British "Fleet Telematics & Fuel Efficiency" company named Trailar, which has been using it as part of their own branding since 2019.

On Tuesday, POLITICO reported that a key Biden administration official is explicitly calling Russia's actions in Ukraine an "invasion" — a step-up of rhetoric that presages greater confrontation by NATO.

"The remarks by deputy national security adviser Jon Finer represent a rhetorical shift by the Biden administration, which on Monday resisted calling Russia’s latest moves into Ukraine an invasion after warning for months about Russia’s military buildup along Ukraine’s border and increasing aggression in the region," reported Quint Forgey. "'We think this is, yes, the beginning of an invasion, Russia’s latest invasion into Ukraine,' Finer told CNN in an interview, referring to Russian troops moving into the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republic — both of which are controlled by Russia-backed forces."

On Tuesday, following the decision by Germany to revoke certification for the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, Dmitry Medvedev, the former Russian president and prime minister who currently serves as deputy chair of the Russian Security Council, took to Twitter to blast the decision, and warn the European Union that they will soon face an energy crisis where a thousand cubic meters of natural gas costs 2,000 Euros.

The Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which would deliver gas from Siberia to Germany, has been controversial from the start, with experts fearing it would increase European reliance on Russia for its energy and give Russia a way of bypassing the gas infrastructure in Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is facing a wave of sanctions from the United States and other countries after making the case for annexing parts of Ukraine.

Late Monday night, the United Kingdom and the United States both announced sanctions, according to AFP and CNN. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) also suggested the U.S. should stop exports to Russia, specifically semi-conductors. The European Union also announced "robust" sanctions that will target Russian officials and banks. Perhaps the most significant is that Germany stopped the approval process for the Nord 2 pipeline, which would have sent more Russian gas to Europe.