WORLD BRIEFING: March 4, 2024

Rescue workers in Odesa pulled the bodies of a mother and baby from the rubble of an apartment building on Sunday, bringing the death toll in a Russian attack two days ago to 12. In all, fine children died and 20 were injured. It was the deadliest attack in the southern port city since the start of the war

President Volodymyr Zelensky said delays by the country’s allies in supplying air defenses had contributed to the deaths in Odesa. The denunciation by Mr. Zelensky appeared to reflect frustration that Ukraine’s capacity to resist Moscow’s military campaign and protect its own citizens has been undermined by the failure of the U.S. House of Representatives to pass a multibillion-dollar military aid package. The drone hit the building overnight on Friday and since then emergency workers have been picking through rubble. This weekend’s attack, however, has caused particular outrage among Ukrainians. Rescue workers said that the mother and baby were found together. “The mother tried to cover her 8-month-old child,” said a statement by the State Emergency Service posted on the Telegram social messaging service. “They were found in a tight embrace.” - NYT

Donald Trump won a string of Republican presidential contests on Saturday, edging closer to becoming the party's candidate in November's election as he attacked his likely opponent Joe Biden. The former president won the Missouri, Michigan and Idaho caucuses comprehensively, continuing his clean sweep of states so far. Mr Trump, 77, told supporters at a rally in Virginia that he was "on a rocket to the Republican nomination". He is on track to secure it next week - BBC

Eight people have been jailed for up to three years and nine months over rioting and breaching anti-mask laws at a lunchtime protest in Central Hong Kong during the anti-extradition unrest in 2019. At the time, the city was months into protests and unrest sparked by a controversial amendment to its extradition bill. The defendants were also accused of using facial coverings during an unlawful assembly, an offence under emergency laws that banned people from covering their faces at protests - HKFP

A cargo ship sank in the Red Sea after an attack by Houthi militants, taking some 21,000 metric tons of fertilizer down with it, posing a significant environmental risk to one of the world’s busiest waterways and the home of many coral reefs. The Rubymar was struck by an anti-ballistic missile fired by the Iranian-backed Houthis on Feb. 18 and sank early Saturday after “slowly taking on water” since the attack, U.S. Central Command said on social media early Sunday local time. “The approximately 21,000 metric tons of ammonium phosphate sulfate fertilizer that the vessel was carrying presents an environmental risk in the Red Sea,” Centcom said, adding that the ship “also presents a subsurface impact risk to other ships transiting the busy shipping lanes of the waterway.” The ship’s sinking “will cause an environmental disaster,” the Yemeni government said in a separate statement - Washington Post

The initial stage of a European Union and G7 ban on imports of Russia-origin diamonds via third countries came into effect on Friday, the Belgian government said in a statement. The 27-member EU agreed to ban non-industrial Russian diamonds in December last year when it passed its 12th package of sanctions on Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Belgium holds the EU's rotating presidency until the end of June. A ban on direct imports of Russian diamonds began on Jan. 1 while the indirect ban will be phased in over a period of six months from Friday. The EU ban is in conjunction with the Group of Seven (G7) countries. Rough and polished diamonds will have to enter the EU and G7 countries with documentary proof and declarations that the stones are not of Russian origin. From Sept. 1, a traceability mechanism will be added to the system - Reuters

A Toronto event where Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was scheduled to host his Italian counterpart was cancelled on Saturday evening due to security concerns as hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters gathered outside the venue, a spokesperson for the Prime Minister's Office said. Justin Trudeau's office says neither he nor Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni were able to enter the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO), which went into lockdown over the protests. Demonstrators criticized the federal government's handling of the Israel-Hamas war and chanted that Trudeau was funding a genocide in Gaza - CBC