President Biden will attend a small, high-dollar fundraiser Monday night to support the Democratic Party, marking the president’s first in-person fundraiser since taking office, according to two people with knowledge of the plans.

The event, which has already raised more than $3 million for the Democratic National Committee, comes as the president ramps up fundraising efforts ahead of the midterms and amid frustration among Democratic donors with Biden’s limited number of fundraising events.

The event, which will take place in Washington but not at the White House, is expected to draw Democrats focused on climate and environmental issues, the people said. They spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe an event that has not been announced.

The White House and the Democratic National Committee declined to comment.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/03/12/biden-attend-first-in-person-fundraiser-he-ramps-up-political-activity/

>>15852488

I really thought they’d get off that island sooner.

Russian forces have shelled a mosque in the southern Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, where more than 80 adults and children have taken refuge, Ukraine’s foreign ministry said on Saturday.

The ministry said in a tweet that Turkish citizens were among those who were seeking refuge in the mosque when it was bombarded.

“The mosque of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent and his wife Roxolana (Hurrem Sultan) in Mariupol was shelled by Russian invaders,” the foreign ministry said. “More than 80 adults and children are hiding there from the shelling, including citizens of Turkey.”

It did not say if there were any people killed or wounded.

Moscow has denied targeting civilian areas in what it calls a special military operation in Ukraine.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/3/12/ukraine-says-russia-shelled-mosque-in-besieged-city-of-mariupol

Russia has said its troops could target supplies of Western weapons in Ukraine, where the Russian army has been advancing since late February.

“We warned the United States that the orchestrated pumping of weapons from a number of countries is not just a dangerous move, it is a move that turns these convoys into legitimate targets,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told state television on Saturday.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/3/12/russia-says-it-could-target-western-arms-supplies-to-ukraine

A dozen ballistic missiles launched from outside Iraq have struck the country’s northern Kurdish regional capital Erbil, Kurdish officials say, adding there are no casualties.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility or further details available.

A US State Department spokesperson on Sunday called it an “outrageous attack” but said no Americans were hurt and there was no damage to US government facilities in Erbil.

Iraqi state TV quoted the semi-autonomous Kurdish region’s counterterrorism force as saying 12 missiles launched from outside Iraq hit Erbil. It was not immediately clear where they landed.

The US forces stationed at Erbil’s international airport complex have in the past come under fire from rocket and drone attacks that US officials blame on Iran-aligned armed groups, but no such attacks have occurred for several months.

The last time ballistic missiles were directed at US forces was in January 2020 – an Iranian retaliation for the US killing earlier that month of its military commander Qassem Soleimani at Baghdad airport.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/3/13/missiles-hit-iraqs-kurdish-capital-no-casualties-officials

The United States and NATO are shipping weapons into Ukraine at breakneck speed, including highly sensitive items such as shoulder-fired missiles called man-portable air defence systems (MANPADS) that can take down aircraft.

The Western arms deliveries, another of which is expected to arrive in the coming hours, have been vital to enabling Ukrainians to fight the invading Russian forces far more effectively and fiercely than US intelligence expected.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/3/12/us-nato-allies-rush-weapons-shipment-to-ukraine

Saudi Arabia has executed 81 men over the past 24 hours, including seven Yemenis and one Syrian national, on charges including “allegiance to foreign terrorist organisations” and holding “deviant beliefs”, state news agency Saudi Press Agency said, in the largest known mass execution carried out in the kingdom in its modern history.

The number dwarfed the 67 executions reported in the kingdom in 2021 and the 27 in 2020.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/3/12/saudi-arabia-executes-81-people-in-a-single-day

Russia’s claims about secret American biological warfare labs in Ukraine are taking root in the United States too, uniting COVID-19 conspiracy theorists, QAnon adherents and some supporters of ex-President Donald Trump.

Despite rebuttals from independent scientists, Ukrainian leaders, and officials at the White House and Pentagon, the online popularity of the claims suggests some Americans are willing to trust Kremlin propaganda over the US media and government.

Like any effective conspiracy theory, the Russian claim relies on some truths: Ukraine does maintain a network of biological labs dedicated to research into pathogens, and those labs have received funding and research support from the US.

But the labs are owned and operated by Ukraine, and the work is not secret. It is part of an initiative called the Biological Threat Reduction Program, which aims to reduce the likelihood of deadly outbreaks, whether natural or man made.

The US efforts date back to work in the 1990s to dismantle the former Soviet Union’s programme for weapons of mass destruction.

“The labs are not secret,” said Filippa Lentzos, a senior lecturer in science and international security at King’s College London. “They are not being used in relation to bioweapons. This is all disinformation.”

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/3/12/russias-bioweapon-conspiracy-theory-finds-support-in-us