Two superyachts linked to Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich have docked in Turkey, beyond the reach of UK and EU sanctions.

Each of the vessels cost more than $500m and are among a number tracked by Lloyd's List Intelligence. The shipping data experts have been monitoring on-board tracking devices and have shared this information exclusively with the BBC, enabling the journeys of these and other vessels linked to sanctioned Russians to be plotted.

A boatload of young Ukrainians tried to stop the superyacht MY Solaris docking in Bodrum in Turkey. The other Abramovich-linked yacht Eclipse sailed to Marmaris.

The UK, US and EU have said they will target superyachts, and at least eight have been seized so far. More remain at large - some are on the move, others are moored in places that are currently safe from sanctions, including the Maldives.

Many superyachts are linked to Russian billionaires but ownership is shrouded in secrecy - boats are often registered through a series of offshore companies.

The team at Lloyd's List sifted through registration papers, credit reports and other records to determine who they believe is linked to each superyacht.

Linking to a Sesame Street celebration of “Latinx culture,” Antonio García Martínez, sharpest wit on Twitter, wrote last fall: “One of the great mysteries is how every elite institution, from universities to corporations to media to even Sesame Street, all spontaneously coalesced on the same narrow set of values all of a sudden.”

The set of values in question belongs to the cult of identity—a ramshackle creed that maintains, for example, that the term “Latinx” signifies an actual human group. Once the province of pretentious professors and their captive students, the cult has leaked out of the cannabis-scented halls of academia to infect an astonishing number of people in power. García Martínez is right. In the scope and rapidity of institutional embrace, nothing like it has transpired since the conversion of Constantine.

By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA @ AP.com, 52 minutes ago

BAGHDAD — As many as 12 missiles were fired Sunday toward the U.S. consulate in Iraq’s northern city of Irbil, Iraqi security officials said. A U.S. defense official said missiles had been launched at the city from neighboring Iran.

Officials in Iraq and the U.S. gave different accounts of damage. A second U.S. official said there was no damage and no casualties at any U.S. government facility, but Iraqi officials said several missiles had hit the U.S. consulate. The consulate building is new and currently unoccupied.

The U.S. defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because information was still coming in, said it was still not certain exactly how many missiles were fired and exactly where they landed.

The Iraqi security officials said there were no immediate report of casualties from the attack, which occurred shortly after midnight and caused material damage in the area. They spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.One of the Iraqi officials said the ballistic missiles were fired from Iran, without elaborating. The U.S. officials could not confirm the type of missile.

The second U.S. official said the incident was being investigated by the government of Iraq and the Kurdish Regional Government. The U.S. condemned what it called an “outrageous attack against Iraqi sovereignty and display of violence,” the official said in a statement [....]

AP (via ArabNews.com) March 11, 2022, updated 1 min. ago

UNITED NATIONS: The UN Security Council scheduled a meeting Friday at Russia’s request to discuss what Moscow claims are “the military biological activities of the US on the territory of Ukraine,” allegations vehemently denied by the Biden administration. “This is exactly the kind of false flag effort we have warned Russia might initiate to justify a biological or chemical weapons attack,” Olivia Dalton, spokesperson for the US Mission to the United Nations said late Thursday. “We’re not going to let Russia gaslight the world or use the UN Security Council as a venue for promoting their disinformation.”

The Russian request, announced in a tweet Thursday afternoon from its first deputy UN ambassador, Dmitry Polyansky, follows the US rejection of Russian accusations that Ukraine is running chemical and biological labs with US support.
In response to this week’s accusations by Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova — without evidence — White House press secretary Jen Psaki issued a public warning Wednesday that Russia might use chemical or biological weapons against Ukraine, the neighbor it has invaded.
Psaki called Russia’s claim “preposterous” and tweeted: “This is all an obvious ploy by Russia to try to justify its further premeditated, unprovoked, and unjustified attack on Ukraine.”
Pentagon press secretary John Kirby on Wednesday called the Russian claim “a bunch of malarkey.”
Dalton said “Russia has a well-documented history of using chemical weapons and has long maintained a biological weapons program in violation of international law” as well as “a track record of falsely accusing the West of the very violations that Russia itself is perpetrating.”
Dmitry Chumakov, another Russian deputy UN ambassador, repeated the accusation Wednesday [....]

Voters have called the race “an election of “unlikeables,” as the front-runners have led campaigns dogged by accusations of corruption and nepotism. Voters will head to the polls with a deep sense of disillusionment

By Choe Sang-Hun @ NYTimes.com, March 9 WITH LIVE UPDATES HERE

SEOUL — South Koreans head to the polls Wednesday to vote in one of the most tightly fought presidential elections in recent memory, with several policy issues — North Korea and sky-high home prices; gender inequality and a decaying job market — roiling voters.

According to pre-election surveys, the race is a close contest between Lee Jae-myung, of President Moon Jae-in’s Democratic Party, and Yoon Suk-yeol, a former prosecutor representing the conservative opposition, the People Power Party.

The election comes as South Korea is projecting influence around the world like never before. The small nation of just over 50 million people has long punched above its weight in manufacturing and technology, but more recently has added film, television and music to its list of successful global exports [....]