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Russia and Ukraine accuse each other of breaching Easter truce | – The Times of India

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Russia and Ukraine accuse each other of breaching Easter truce | – The Times of India


KYIV: Russia and Ukraine on Sunday accused each other of violating an Easter truce announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russian forces were continuing their shelling and assaults along the front line despite Putin announcing the surprise truce.
The 30-hour truce starting Saturday evening to mark the religious holiday would be the most significant pause in the fighting throughout the three-year conflict.
But Zelensky accused Russia of having maintained its attacks on the front line after the truce started.
Russia’s defence ministry in turn said it had “repelled” attempted assaults by Ukraine and accused Kyiv of launching drones and shells, causing civilian casualties.
Zelensky said Sunday, citing Ukrainian commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrsky, that “an increase in Russian shelling and the use of kamikaze drones has been observed since 10:00 am (0700 GMT)”.
Earlier he said that the first six hours of the ceasefire saw “387 instances of shelling and 19 assaults by Russian forces,” with drones “used by Russians 290 times”.
Ukraine’s air force on Sunday morning had not reported any drone or missile attacks, however.
AFP journalists heard explosions on Sunday morning around a dozen kilometres (seven miles) from the front line in east Ukraine.
Ukraine will respond “symmetrically” to any attacks, Zelensky said, accusing Russia of “attempting to create the general impression of a ceasefire” while continuing isolated attacks.
Russia’s defence ministry said that “despite the announcement of the Easter truce, Ukrainian units at night made attempts to attack” its positions in the Donetsk region, “which were repelled”.
Overnight, it said, Ukraine “444 times shelled… the positions of our troops and carried out 900 strikes with drones”.
These attacks left civilians “dead and wounded”, the ministry said, without giving details.
It insisted its troops had “strictly observed the ceasefire and stayed at the front lines and positions they previously occupied”.
Putin’s order to halt all combat over the Easter weekend came after months of efforts by US President Donald Trump to get Moscow and Kyiv to agree to a ceasefire.
On Friday, Washington even threatened to withdraw from talks if no progress was made.
‘Give peace a chance’
Putin announced the truce from 1800 (1500 GMT) Saturday to midnight Sunday (2100 GMT Sunday) in televised comments, saying it was motivated by “humanitarian reasons”.
While he expected Ukraine to comply, Putin said that Russian troops “must be ready to resist possible breaches of the truce and provocations by the enemy”.
Zelensky said Ukraine would follow suit, and proposed extending the truce beyond Sunday.
“Russia must fully comply with the conditions of the ceasefire. Ukraine’s proposal to implement and extend the ceasefire for 30 days after midnight tonight remains on the table,” Zelensky’s post said Sunday.
Earlier he suggested that “30 days could give peace a chance” — while pointing out that Putin had already rejected a proposed 30-day full and unconditional ceasefire.
‘Can’t trust Russia’
Russia launched its full-scale invasion of neighbouring Ukraine in February 2022.
Previous attempts at holding ceasefires for Easter in April 2022 and Orthodox Christmas in January 2023 were not implemented after both sides failed to agree on them.
In Kyiv on Sunday, as Easter bells rang out, people expressed doubts over whether Russia would observe a truce while welcoming Zelensky’s proposal to extend it.
“They’ve already broken their promise. Unfortunately, we cannot trust Russia today,” said 38-year-old Olga Grachova, who works in marketing.
“Our president has clearly said that if they announce a 30-hour ceasefire, we will announce a 30-day ceasefire. So let them go for it… so that this terrible war ends, so that our people, our soldiers, and children stop dying,” said Sergiy Klochko, 30, a railway worker.
But Natalia, a 41-year-old medic, said of Zelensky’s 30-day proposal: “Everything we offer, unfortunately, remains only our offers. Nobody responds to them.”
On the streets of Moscow, Yevgeny Pavlov, 58, did not think Russia should give Ukraine a breather.
“There is no need to give them respite. If we press, it means we should press to the end,” he told AFP.





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US asks for home addresses, biometrics of H-1B applicants first time ever: ‘Highly unusual’ – The Times of India

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USCIS is seeking home address and biometrics as additional data from H-1B applicants, if there is any ‘adverse information’ about the applicant.

In a fresh trouble for H-1B applicants, federal immigrant authorities are asking for home addresses and biometrics for H-1B and employment-based immigrant petitions, which immigrant lawyers think is highly unusual, as biometrics are not generally required. Immigrant authorities are issuing Requests for Evidence (RFE) for this data.
A Request for Evidence is a formal notice issued by the USCIS when additional documents are required for evaluating a petition. It can not be seen as a denial but a standard part of the process if there is any gap in the applications. According to USCIS guidelines, an RFE should clearly outline which eligibility criteria have not been met, explain why existing materials are insufficient, and suggest what additional evidence could help meet the requirements.
These requests are quite common if there is a missing documentation, inconsistencies in project details or a lack of supporting evidence.

Is it targeting H-1Bs amid crackdown on immigrants?

Immigration law firm Goel & Anderson’s Vic Goel told Forbes this is highly unusual because biometrics are not typically required for these case types.”The RFEs also fail to explain the nature of the adverse information, leaving employers and attorneys in the dark. It appears that DHS [Department of Homeland Security] may be using AI tools to flag individuals based on undisclosed data, possibly from social media or other government databases.”
“We have encountered potentially adverse information related to the beneficiary. To continue processing your application or petition, we required an updated address for the beneficiary so that we may collect biometric data,” a USCIS adjudicator wrote in a Request for Evidence, according to Forbes.
The “adverse information” part goes along with the crackdown on immigrants by the Trump administration. Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently said making America safe means revoking visas when threats arise. “US visa holders should know in no uncertain terms that the US government’s rigorous security vetting does not end once a visa is granted,” Rubio said.





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Israeli airstrike kills at least 44 people in Gaza, hits a police station

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A view of destroyed machinery at the site of an Israeli strike, in Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, April 22, 2025.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

An Israeli airstrike hit a police station in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on Thursday (April 24, 2025), killing at least 10 people, local health authorities said, and Israel’s military said it had struck a command centre of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad groups.

Medics said two Israeli missiles hit the police station, located near a market, which led to the wounding of dozens of people in addition to the 10 deaths. The identities of those killed were not immediately clear.

The Israeli military said in a statement apparently referring to the same incident, that it attacked a command and control centre operated by Hamas and the allied Islamic Jihad groups in Jabalia, which militants used to plan and execute attacks against Israeli forces.

It accused Palestinian militant groups of exploiting civilians and civil properties for military purposes, an allegation Hamas and other factions deny.

Local health authorities said Israeli strikes have killed at least 34 other people in separate airstrikes across the enclave, bringing Thursday’s death toll to 44.

The Gaza Health Ministry said the Durra Children’s Hospital in Gaza City had become non-operational, a day after an Israeli strike hit the upper part of the building, damaging the intensive care unit and destroying the facility’s solar power panel system.

No one was killed. There was no Israeli comment on the incident.

Gaza’s health system has been devastated by Israel’s 18-month-old military campaign, launched in response to the October 7 attack by Hamas in 2023, putting many of the territory’s hospitals out of action, killing medics, and reducing crucial supplies.

Since a January ceasefire collapsed on March 18, Israeli attacks have killed more than 1,900 Palestinians, many of them civilians, according to the Gaza health authorities, and hundreds of thousands have been displaced as Israel seized what it calls a buffer zone of Gaza’s land.

Efforts by Arab mediators Qatar and Egypt, backed by the United States, have so far failed to reconcile disputes between the two warring parties, Israel and Hamas.

The attack on Israel by Hamas in October 2023 killed 1,200 people, and 251 hostages were taken to Gaza. Since then, more than 51,300 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli offensive in Gaza, according to health officials.



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133 students, majority Indians, get their SEVIS records restored: What is this record? Why is this crucial to stay in US? – The Times of India

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A Georgia court reinstated the SEVIS records of 133 students, majority Indians.

Amid the Donald Trump administration’s massive crackdown on international students, a court in Georgia has ruled in favor of 133 students, reinstating their SEVIS records. A majority of these 133 students are Indians. They filed a lawsuit against the ICE after their SEVIS records were terminated.

What is SEVIS record?

SEVIS is the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System — an online database that the US Department of Homeland Security uses to maintain information regarding schools which have exchange programs, F-1 and M1 students studying in the US, J-1 visa exchange visitor program participants.

When is a SEVIS record terminated?

A SEVIS record is terminated if a student does something violating the terms of their visa status.

How to check SEVIS record

If you want to verify your valid SEVIS status, you can log into M-Passport and check your SEVIS Status. If your SEVIS Status is Active or Initial, then your SEVIS record is valid.

What happens if a SEVIS record is terminated?

If your SEVIS record is terminated, you have two options: travel outside the US with a new I-20 or submit a Reinstatement application to regain your status.
A terminated SEVIS record strips a student of their lawful status, leading to invalidation of their F-1 work authorization (including OPT and STEM OPT). OPT stands for Optional Practical Training which is related to an F-1 student’s major area of study.

What was the case of these 133 students?

The lawsuit was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups in the Northern District of Georgia. The students claimed that ICE terminated their SEVIS records “abruptly and unlawfully”. The lawsuit claimed that by terminating these records, ICE is ending a student’s status and making them deportable.
“DHS’s act of unlawfully terminating SEVIS records appears to be designed to coerce students, including each Plaintiff, into abandoning their studies and ‘self-deporting’ despite not violating their status,” the lawsuit said.
Some of the students are nearing graduation and are enrolled in work programs. Reasons for their record revocation were cited as traffic violations, minor misdemeanors etc. Government lawyers had argued that granting any relief to the students would affect the executive branch’s “control over immigration.”





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