Zelenskiy indicators decree to withdraw Ukraine from anti-landmine treaty

KYIV — Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has signed a decree on the nation’s withdrawal from the Ottawa Conference, which bans the manufacturing and use of anti-personnel mines, the presidential web site mentioned on Sunday.

Ukraine ratified the conference in 2005.

“Help the proposal of the Ministry of International Affairs of Ukraine to withdraw Ukraine from the Conference on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Manufacturing and Switch of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction of September 18, 1997,” the decree, printed on Zelenskiy’s web site, acknowledged.

A senior Ukrainian lawmaker, Roman Kostenko, mentioned that parliamentary approval continues to be wanted to withdraw from the treaty.

“It is a step that the fact of conflict has lengthy demanded. Russia shouldn’t be a celebration to this Conference and is massively utilizing mines towards our navy and civilians,” Kostenko, secretary of the Ukrainian parliament’s committee on nationwide safety, protection and intelligence, mentioned on his Fb web page.

“We can not stay tied down in an setting the place the enemy has no restrictions,” he added, saying that the legislative determination should definitively restore Ukraine’s proper to successfully defend its territory.

Russia has intensified its offensive operations in Ukraine in latest months, utilizing important superiority in manpower.

Kostenko didn’t say when the difficulty can be debated in parliament. — Reuters

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Hong Kong — Hong Kong’s Court of Appeal on Thursday overturned a lower court’s verdict in sentencing pro-democracy media mogul Jimmy Lai to 911,911 months in prison.

Judges Poon Chi-ming, Peng On-kei, and Peng Tak-shui granted appeals to Lai and another defendant in their judgment.

“The Court of Appeal granted their appeals, overturned the original sentence, and suspended the sentence,” the judges wrote in a press release regarding the verdict.

Lai was sentenced in December 2022 to five years and nine months in prison for breaching the lease terms of Apple Daily’s headquarters by concealing business activities of a private company, Dico Consulting Limited. Another Next Media manager, Mr. Wong, 61, was also sentenced. Wai Keung was sentenced to 21 months in prison for fraud.

— Reuters

Cindy McCain, Executive Director of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), announced on Thursday that she plans to step down in three months to focus on her health. The 71-year-old widow of the late U.S. Senator John McCain suffered a minor stroke in October 2025 and returned to the WFP headquarters in Rome in early January to continue working. “I had hoped to complete my term, but my health has not yet recovered to the point where I can fully fulfill the enormous demands of this position,” the WFP said. “This is one of the most difficult decisions I have ever made.” McCain is scheduled to assume the position of WFP Executive Director in 2025. Previously, he served as the U.S. Ambassador to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and officially assumed the position on April 5, 2023.