Six Nigerian nationals have been placed under US sanctions due to their alleged support for Boko Haram, the State and Treasury Departments announced on Friday. 

All six, identified as Abdurrahman Ado Musa, Salihu Yusuf Adamu, Bashir Ali Yusuf, Muhammed Ibrahim Isa, Ibrahim Ali Alhassan and Surajo Abubakar Muhammad, were convicted of attempting to set up a Boko Haram cell in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the Treasury said in a statement.

“With this action, the United States joins the UAE in targeting terrorist financing networks of mutual concern,” Under Secretary of the Treasury Brian Nelson said.

“Treasury continues to target financial facilitators of terrorist activity worldwide. We welcome multilateral action on this Boko Haram network to ensure that it is not able to move any further funds through the international financial system,” he added.

The men were convicted in the UAE of attempting to send $782,000 from Dubai to Boko Haram in Nigeria.

Adamu and Muhammad were sentenced to life in prison for violating the emirates' anti-terrorism laws, while Musa, Yusuf, Isa and Alhassan received sentences of 10 years in prison followed by deportation./aa

The plane carrying Polish President Andrzej Duda made an emergency landing on Friday, according to local media reports.

When Duda was on his way to Poland's Rzeszow city to meet US President Joe Biden, the plane, belonging to the Polish Air Force, made an emergency landing in Warsaw.

The incident took place at 1.40 p.m. local time (1240GMT), while Biden was welcomed by Polish National Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak.

During his visit to Poland, Biden is expected to deliver a speech in the courtyard of the Royal Castle on Saturday./aa

An increasing number of videos are circulating on social media appearing to depict American volunteers fighting alongside Ukraine as it defends against Russia's assault. 

A series of videos were posted to Twitter beginning on Thursday by a man who identifies himself as James Vasquez that appear to depict him alongside Ukrainian troops. In one, he poses in front of what appears to be a Russian BMP-2 infantry fighting vehicle, as someone shouts "welcome to America!" in the background.

In a second video posted on Friday, Vazquez says the group he is fighting with destroyed seven Russian tanks "after a long firefight." Another video shows four destroyed Russian armored vehicles, including at least one tank. Men can be heard in the background yelling "Slava Ukraini!" or "Glory to Ukraine" in Ukrainian.

"Call that a good day," said Vazquez, whom multiple news outlets identified as a US Army veteran.

Another video posted by the Belarusian news outlet Nexta purportedly shows American volunteers and other fighters near Kyiv. In the footage, they take cover behind a wall as a building burns in the background.

"Another day in paradise," a narrator says. "Got my man right there, my commander, got the USA patch on his shoulder."

"We got mortars. We got rockets. We got all the fun stuff to make it a beautiful day," he adds.

It is unclear if the narrator in that video is the same person as Vasquez, though their voices are similar.

Russia began its war on Feb. 24. It has been met with international outrage, with the EU, US, and UK, among others, implementing tough financial sanctions on Moscow.

At least 1,081 civilians have been killed in Ukraine and 1,707 injured, according to UN estimates, while cautioning that the true figure is likely far higher.

More than 3.7 million Ukrainians have also fled to neighboring countries, with over 6.5 million more displaced inside the country, according to the UN refugee agency./aa

The G7 group of the world's major economic powers on Thursday warned Russia against the use of weapons of mass destruction in Ukraine.

"We warn against any threat of the use of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons or related materials," the leaders of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK, and the US said in a joint statement following a meeting in Brussels.

"We recall Russia's obligations under the international treaties to which it is a signatory," they stressed.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, the current chair of the G7 group, told reporters after the meeting that Western nations are concerned that Russia could stage "false flag" operations using such weapons.

"Russia is repeatedly claiming that Ukraine is developing biological and chemical weapons, or saying others are doing it there. None of these are true," he said.

"But, one has to take them into consideration, make preparations against potential false flag operations," he added.

In their joint statement, the leaders of the G7 countries called on Russia to suspend military operations without any further delay and withdraw its forces from the entire territory of Ukraine.

The leaders vowed to fully implement the economic and financial measures already imposed on Moscow, but did not announce new sanctions on Russian oil and gas./agencies

US stocks ended higher Thursday on positive economic figures, including jobless claims and PMI.

The number of Americans filing first-time unemployment claims last week declined by 28,000 to 187,000 -- the lowest level for initial claims since September 1969.

Manufacturing industry PMI data hit a six-month high in March, reaching 58.5.

Meanwhile, durable goods orders declined 2.2% in February, worse than expectations.

The blue chip Dow Jones Industrial Average ended up 1.02%, or 349.44 points, at 34,707.

The S&P 500 rose 63.92 points, or 1.4%, to close at 4,520.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq climbed 269.23 points, or 1.9%, to 14,191./aa

The World Health Organization chief said Thursday that the world has lost ground in diagnosing and treating tuberculosis (TB).

The remarks from Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus come as the UN health agency reported an increase in deaths from the disease for the first time in more than a decade.

Speaking on World Tuberculosis Day, Tedros said the world needs to urgently reverse the trends and end preventable deaths and suffering by investing in the fight against the disease.

"Tuberculosis kills more than 1.5 million people each year and affects millions more, with enormous impacts on families and communities," he said. "Ending this debilitating disease remains a priority for the WHO, and in recent years, we have made encouraging progress globally. More than 66 million people received access to TB services since 2000.”

He said there is an urgent need to invest in the fight to achieve commitments made by global leaders.

"This is especially critical in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, coupled with conflicts across Europe, Africa and the Middle East, which are disrupting services for TB and putting an even heavier burden on those affected," said the WHO chief.

Investments fall to less than half of global target from 2022

Tedros urged high-burden countries and the international community to urgently step up domestic and international investments to expand access to tools the world has and develop new ones.

Global spending on TB diagnostic, treatment and prevention services fell from $5.8 billion in 2019 to $5.3 billion last year -- less than half the global target of $13 billion annually by 2022.

"We need to more than double investments in research and development to drive discovery of new tools, including vaccines, and to scale up life-saving innovations," he said.

The WHO plans to convene a high-level summit later this year to intensify vaccine development and build on lessons from the coronavirus pandemic.

Like all investments in health, the WHO chief said investments will yield significant benefits through lives saved, health care costs averted and increased productivity.

He also urged all countries to restore and maintain essential TB services, even in the face of COVID-19 and other emergencies.

Such services should be delivered alongside services for COVID-19 and integrated into national pandemic preparedness plans, he said.

"We are especially concerned for the health of people with TB in Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Syria, Ukraine, and Yemen, where conflict is jeopardizing their access to services, and their very lives," said Tedros.

Given that Ukraine has a high burden of drug-resistant TB, the WHO is working to support access to care services, including refugees and displaced populations.​​​​​​​/aa

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pledged Thursday to stand "steadfast" with allied countries and he introduced another 160 sanctions against individual members of the Russian Federation Council. 

It brings the total number of "catastrophic sanctions" applied by Canada to 964 since the war began, said the prime minister. 

Trudeau made the announcement in Brussels where he was to address the European Parliament, a NATO summit and attended a G7 meeting. In all three gatherings, member countries discussed how to put an end to the Russian military operation in Ukraine as the war enters its second month with no end in sight.

"We need to make sure Ukraine has lethal and non-lethal aid," Trude 

au told the assembled leaders. But whether the weapons will include those on Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's list is still up in the air.

He said Canada will impose an export ban on technologies that could be used by Russia in the war.

Before Trudeau spoke, Zelenskyy virtually delivered yet another impassioned plea for help in the battle against Russia, including his repeated request for establishment of a no-fly zone over Ukraine to protect the Ukrainians from Russian bombs.

Trudeau told Zelenskyy in a telephone call last week that a NATO-enforced no-fly zone was not in the cards because he feared it would cause an escalation in hostilities with Russian forces and draw other countries into the war. Trudeau's refusal, which he called "heartbreaking," was backed by NATO's secretary general.

Zelenskyy said allies have not done enough to help Ukraine as hundreds have been killed and about 10 million Ukrainians displaced due to the Russian aggression. As well as the no-fly zone, he wants more weapons and airplanes from NATO.

"Ukraine is very much waiting, awaiting real action, real security guarantees, from those whose word is trustworthy, and whose actions can keep the peace," Zelenskyy said in remarks on his official website. He said it is a "life or death" matter and called for airplanes and tanks.

Trudeau called out Russian President Vladimir Putin for committing "war crimes" in Ukraine. The prime minister also said Putin made two crucial mistakes in forcing war onto Ukraine - that NATO countries would be divided in their response and he underestimated the valor of the Ukrainian resistance.

"NATO remains united and it will remain so," he said, adding that the "Ukraine military is standing strong." 

Russia began its war Feb. 24. It has been met with international outrage, with the EU, US, and UK, among others, implementing tough financial sanctions on Moscow.

At least 1,035 civilians have been killed in Ukraine and 1,650 injured, according to UN estimates, while cautioning that the true figure is likely far higher.

More than 3.6 million Ukrainians have also fled to neighboring countries, with millions more displaced inside the country, according to the UN refugee agency./aa

At least 1,035 civilians have been killed and 1,650 wounded since Russia launched a war on Ukraine, the UN said Thursday. 

The number of fleeing Ukrainians exceeds 3.6 million.

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said 48 children were among the dead in Ukraine but it referenced a report by the country’s Prosecutor General's Office that said 128 children had been killed and at least 172 injured.

Most of the civilian casualties recorded were caused by explosive weapons with a wide impact area. Others by shelling from heavy artillery and multiple-launch rocket systems and missile and airstrikes.

"(The) OHCHR believes that the actual figures are considerably higher, as the receipt of information from some locations where intense hostilities have been going on," it said.

The UN refugee agency said the number fleeing since the Russian military operation began Feb. 24 is 3,674,952, of which, more than 2.17 million have gone to neighboring Poland, a former Soviet bloc country.

Almost 564,000 have fled to Romania, more than 374,000 to Moldova, which was once part of the Soviet Union, over 330,000 to Hungary and the number in Slovakia exceeds 260,000.

Russia has also received more than 271,000 refugees.

The United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) said earlier that one month of war has led to the displacement of 4.3 million children -- more than half of the estimated 7.5 million children in Ukraine.

Among the displaced children are more than 1.8 million who have crossed into neighboring countries as refugees and 2.5 million who are internally displaced inside Ukraine, it said.

"The war has caused one of the fastest large-scale displacements of children since World War II," said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​/aa