UNITED NATIONS, United States: The UN General Assembly on Wednesday called for the immediate and unconditional return of Ukrainian children “forcibly transferred” to Russia — a delicate issue as Kyiv and Moscow try to negotiate an end to the fighting.
The assembly adopted the non-binding resolution by a vote of 91-12, with 57 abstentions. Russia was among the states rejecting the measure.
The resolution “demands that the Russian Federation ensure the immediate, safe and unconditional return of all Ukrainian children who have been forcibly transferred or deported.”
It also calls on Moscow to “cease, without delay, any further practice of forcible transfer, deportation, separation from families and legal guardians, change of personal status, including through citizenship, adoption or placement in foster families, and indoctrination of Ukrainian children.”
Ukraine has accused Russia of abducting at least 20,000 Ukrainian children since the start of the conflict in February 2022.
Mariana Betsa, Ukraine’s deputy foreign minister, said Russia was responsible for “the largest state abduction operation in history.” So far, more than 1,850 children have been found and returned home.
“There will be no just peace in Ukraine without the immediate unconditional return of our children back home,” Betsa said from the podium before the vote.
While Russia admits that some children were taken from combat zones for their own protection, Moscow’s deputy UN envoy Maria Zabolotskaya slammed the resolution as “full of mendacious accusations.”
“Each vote for the resolution is a support for lies, war, and confrontation. Every voice against is a vote for peace,” she said.
The vote in the UN General Assembly came as the United States — which voted for the resolution — tries to get both Russia and Ukraine to agree to its plan to end the war.
But efforts to find a compromise have repeatedly stalled, while on the front lines, the Russian military continues to slowly advance — albeit with significant losses.
US President Donald Trump initially gave Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky until November 27 to respond to his latest plan, which would have included the ceding of Ukrainian territory to Moscow — a non-starter for Kyiv.
But discussions are still ongoing.
Late last month, after talks in Geneva, Zelensky hailed the progress made with US negotiators, notably the inclusion of “extremely sensitive points” such as the return of Ukrainian children he said were abducted by Russia.
For the European Union’s UN envoy, Stavros Lambrinidis, “the abducted children of Ukraine cannot wait for the final outcome, for the Russian decision to stop the war or not.”
Since 2023, the Russian army has been on a UN blacklist that names countries responsible for violating the rights of children in conflict areas, notably because of the apparent abduction of Ukrainian children.
That same year, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying there were “reasonable grounds to believe” that he “bears responsibility for the war crime of unlawful deportation” of Ukrainian children to Russia.
UN Assembly tells Russia to return captive Ukrainian kids
https://arab.news/zvqqr
UN Assembly tells Russia to return captive Ukrainian kids
- The resolution “demands that the Russian Federation ensure the immediate, safe and unconditional return of all Ukrainian children who have been forcibly transferred or deported”
SpaceX acquires xAI in record-setting deal as Musk looks to unify AI and space ambitions
- The deal is the biggest M&A transaction of all time
- Deal values xAI at $250 billion, SpaceX at $1 trillion
Elon Musk said on Monday that SpaceX has acquired his artificial-intelligence startup xAI in a record-setting deal that unifies Musk’s AI and space ambitions by combining the rocket-and-satellite company with the maker of the Grok chatbot. The deal, first reported by Reuters last week, represents one of the most ambitious tie-ups in the technology sector yet, combining a space-and-defense contractor with a fast-growing AI developer whose costs are largely driven by chips, data centers and energy. It could also bolster SpaceX’s data-center ambitions as Musk competes with rivals like Alphabet’s Google, Meta, Amazon-backed Anthropic and OpenAI in the AI sector.
The transaction values SpaceX at $1 trillion, and xAI at $250 billion, according to a person familiar with the matter.
“This marks not just the next chapter, but the next book in SpaceX and xAI’s mission: scaling to make a sentient sun to understand the Universe and extend the light of consciousness to the stars!” Musk said. The purchase of xAI sets a new record for the world’s largest M&A deal, a distinction held for more than 25 years when Vodafone bought Germany’s Mannesmann in a hostile takeover valued at $203 billion in 2000, according to data compiled by LSEG. The combined company of SpaceX and xAI is expected to price shares at about $527 each, another person familiar with the matter said. SpaceX was already the world’s most valuable privately held company, last valued at $800 billion in a recent insider share sale. XAI was last valued at $230 billion in November, according to the Wall Street Journal. The merger comes as the space company plans a blockbuster public offering this year that could value it at over $1.5 trillion, two people familiar with the matter said.
SpaceX, xAI and Musk did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The deal further consolidates Musk’s far-flung business empire and fortunes into a tighter, mutually reinforcing ecosystem – what some investors and analysts informally call the “Muskonomy” – which already includes Tesla, brain-chip maker Neuralink and tunnel firm the Boring Company. The world’s richest man has a history of merging his ventures together. Musk folded social media platform X into xAI through a share swap last year, giving the AI startup access to the platform’s data and distribution. In 2016, he used Tesla’s stock to buy his solar-energy company SolarCity.
The agreement could draw scrutiny from regulators and investors over governance, valuation and conflicts of interest given Musk’s overlapping leadership roles across multiple firms, as well as the potential movement of engineers, proprietary technology and contracts between entities.
SpaceX also holds billions of dollars in federal contracts with NASA, the Department of Defense and intelligence agencies, which all have some authority to review M&A transactions for national security and other risks.
