Russia-Ukraine war: Putin blocks Facebook & restricts Twitter, signs law introducing jail terms for 'fake news' on army

Intel and Airbnb announced they were pausing business in Russia and Belarus on Thursday, joining a US tech freeze-out of Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.The United States and European allies have imposed tough sanctions on Russia over the attack, with major corporations across a range of industries following suit by freezing business in the country.Apple has halted all product sales in Russia and limited the use of Apple Pay, while Facebook, YouTube and Microsoft have moved to curb the reach of Russian state-linked news outlets.

Korean Air Lines Co Ltd on Friday said it plans to cancel passenger flights to and from Moscow for the next two weeks, adding that the airline could not refuel its planes in Moscow following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.The South Korean carrier said it also plans to reroute cargo flights that originally passed through Moscow, sending them instead directly from Incheon, South Korea, to destinations in Europe until March 18.

Any calls for Nato to enforce a no-fly zone in Ukraine would be irresponsible and could drag the military alliance into direct conflict with Russia, Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte said on Friday."I believe that all encouragements for Nato to get involved into the military conflict now are irresponsible," Simonyte told a news conference in Vilnius.

Russian lawmakers on Friday approved legislation providing up to 15 years in jail for any publication of fake news about the Russian armed forces, one week after Moscow invaded Ukraine.The bill, adopted after a third reading, sets out jail terms of varying lengths and fines against people who publish "knowingly false information" about the military, with harsher penalties to hit when dissemination is deemed to have serious consequences.

Australia's foreign minister says 45 million Australian dollars ($33 million) have been frozen in an Australian financial institution under new sanctions in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.Foreign Minister Marise Payne on Friday declined to identify the institution or who owned the money.Australia has imposed sanctions against more than 350 Russian individuals including President Vladimir Putin. Australia has also targeted with sanctions 13 Belarus entities and individuals including Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin.

While many Ukrainians in Germany - a lot of them from Jewish communities - arrived after the Soviet Union collapsed 30 years ago, those in Poland came more recently, often after 2014, when Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimea Peninsula, looking for work or for higher education at Polish universities. Ukrainians have been coming to Italy mostly as labor migrants for about 25 years. The women work as maids, cleaners, nannies or caretakers, the men mostly in transport or construction.Some have returned to Ukraine to fight the Russian army, others are collecting medicine, food and clothes which they pass to relief groups at the Ukrainian border, and many are trying to organize their families' and friends' escape out of Ukraine.

The southeastern port city of Mariupol remains under Ukrainian control but it has been encircled by Russian forces and subjected to intense strikes, Britain said in an intelligence update on Friday."Mariupol remains under Ukrainian control but has likely been encircled by Russian forces," the Ministry of Defence said. "The city's civilian infrastructure has been subjected to intense Russian strikes."

Since the start of the invasion large numbers of Russians are reported to be looking to leave the country, worried that the borders will close imminently and about the impact of Western sanctions. While trains out of Russia have been sold out, the return service from Helsinki to St Petersburg has only been 30 percent full.

Russian military forces have seized the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine's southeast, a local authority said on Friday."Operational personnel are monitoring the condition of power units," it said on social media, adding that the efforts sought to ensure the operations were in line with safety requirements.Ukraine has said Russian forces attacked the plant in the early hours of Friday, setting an adjacent five-story training facility on fire.

More than 167,600 Ukrainians have fled to Romania in the first eight days since Russia invaded Ukraine, border police data showed on Friday.They have entered Romania through its four land border checkpoints with Ukraine, but also through its checkpoints with Moldova, data showed. Of them, 109,687 have already driven or flown out of Romania.Romanian authorities said on Friday they would grant aid in the form of ambulances to Ukraine.

SC said it appreciated efforts of government vis-a-vis evacuation but shares concerns of parents about safe evacuation of their children studying in Ukraine. SC also said the government could maintain a website for updating information about how many Indians have been brought back from Ukraine and how many are yet to be brought along with their identities to relieve the parents of anxiety. AG said he would convey it to the government.

Six lions and six tigers evacuated from near Kyiv arrived at a zoo in Poland on Thursday following a two-day odyssey skirting battle frontlines and coming face to face with Russian tanks, a zoo spokesman said.A Ukrainian truck drove the animals, along with two wild cats and a wild dog, nearly 1,000 kilometres (600 miles) to the Polish border while avoiding the Zhytomyr region, which the invading Russian forces have bombarded.