Former Richmond MP concerned local Chinese radio show offering distorted view of Ukraine war.

Avi Schiffmann (Left) and Marco Burstein (Right) (Credit; Avi Schiffmann) CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Harvard student Avi Schiffmann was attending a pro-Ukraine demonstration while visiting San Diego last month when he came up with an idea to create a website connecting Ukrainian refugees to hosts around the world, so they could easily find housing. "I felt like I had the skills to really make something here with technology to help the few hundred million people in Ukraine and all around Eastern Europe," Schiffmann told FOX Television Stations Group Wednesday. Through his research, he found websites currently offering to house refugees were cumbersome and "not up to par at all." That’s when the 19-year-old reached out to fellow classmate Marco Burstein, 18, for help developing the idea. Burstein, who is currently studying computer science at Harvard, agreed to help Schiffmann, and within just three days, the platform Ukraine Take Shelter was completed.RELATED: US to accept up to 100,000 Ukrainian refugees, expand Russia sanctions"I really felt like I just needed to get this out at soon as possible," Schiffman continued, noting his desire to create a site that "really puts the power back in the hands of the refugee", while also being user-friendly."These people are running away from live gunfire, explosives, lost and confused or in a foreign country in a language they don’t speak," Schiffmann said, adding, "They just need to be able to use this website and get the information they need as fast as possible."Since launching Ukraine Take Shelter on March 3, he said the response has been "incredible," citing one story that sticks out in his mind.Homepage and search page for Ukraine Take Shelter website.

NATO has activated its “chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear defence elements” amid fears Russia could launch a biological strike in Ukraine.Following an emergency summit of the military alliance on Thursday, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters in Brussels the decision comes as the allies move to equip Ukraine with its own biological defences.“Our top military commander … has activated NATO’s chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear defence elements,” he said.“And allies are deploying additional chemical and biological and nuclear defences to reinforce our existing and new battlegroups, so we are taking measures both to support Ukraine and also to defend ourselves.” How the war in Ukraine stands a month after Russia’s invasion — and what may be next Stoltenberg made the announcement as part of a slew of new measures taken by the military alliance to boost its presence in eastern Europe amid a growing Russian threat, he said.NATO is sending four new battlegroups to Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia, Stoltenberg announced, while promising the allies will further support Ukraine in its fight against Russia as the invasion hit the one-month mark Thursday.However, the West fears Russia, which has yet to make significant ground in Ukraine, could escalate the conflict by using biological weapons. Leaders have expressed their fears over such an attack, but have not provided evidence one is looming.

Astronaut Mark Vande Hei (CREDIT: NASA) U.S. astronaut and Fairfax County native Mark Vande Hei has made it through nearly a year in space, but faces what could be his trickiest assignment yet: riding a Russian capsule back to Earth in the midst of deepening tensions between the countries.Download the FOX 5 DC News App for Local Breaking News and WeatherNASA insists Vande Hei’s homecoming plans at the end of the month remain unchanged, even as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has resulted in canceled launches, broken contracts and an escalating war of words by the Russian Space Agency’s hardline leader.

FILE - Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, walks to the Senate Chambers at the U.S. Capitol on Sept.

NATO Secretary-General Jen Stoltenberg said Thursday that the military alliance would provide Ukraine with equipment and training to protect against chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threats.

WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 23: U.S. President Joe Biden walks towards members of the press prior to a Marine One departure from the White House on March 23, 2022, in Washington, D.C.

Ukrainian servicemen carry a fragment of a rocket outside a building in Kyiv after it was destroyed by Russian shelling. (SERGEI SUPINSKY/AFP via Getty Images) KYIV, Ukraine - Ukraine’s cities stood under relentless Russian fire as NATO leaders huddled in Brussels Thursday and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged them to provide "effective and unrestricted" support to his country.Four weeks into the deadly Russian onslaught, its forces appear to have stalled in many places in the face of fiercer-than-expected Ukrainian resistance.

Kyiv mere minutes after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a “special military operation” in Ukraine exactly one month ago.The attacks from Russian forces — by air, by sea and on the ground — have barely stopped since Feb. 24, becoming more intense and brutal by the day.

File image - Women with children are seen outside the main railway station in Przemysl, southeastern Poland, near the Polish-Ukrainian border, as refugees from Ukraine wait to get on buses to other destinations in Poland, on March 24, 2022, following WASHINGTON - The United States will expand its sanctions on Russia in response to the invasion of Ukraine, targeting members of the country’s parliament and the central bank’s gold reserves, the White House announced Thursday. At the same time, Washington will increase its humanitarian assistance by welcoming 100,000 Ukrainian refugees and providing an additional $1 billion in food, medicine, water and other supplies.The White House announced the initiatives as U.S. President Joe Biden and world leaders gathered in Brussels for a trio of summits in response to the Russian invasion, seeking new ways to limit the economic and security fallout from the conflict.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed the day's first meeting, an emergency NATO summit, where he called for "military assistance without limitations." He pleaded for anti-air and anti-ship weapons, asking "is it possible to survive in such a war without this?""It feels like we’re in a gray area, between the West and Russia, defending our common values," Zelenskyy said during the video address.

Despite previous deals falling apart almost immediately, Ukraine and Russia have reached another agreement for humanitarian corridors, to allow more people to flee the war.

NEW DELHI :

WASHINGTON - Legal experts and interest groups will weigh in on Ketanji Brown Jackson as the Senate Judiciary Committee wraps up four days of hearings on her historic nomination to become the first Black woman on the Supreme Court.Jackson faced down a barrage of Republican questioning over two days about her sentencing of criminal defendants, her bid to join the Supreme Court veering from lofty constitutional questions to attacks on her motivations on the bench.On Thursday, the last day of hearings, interest groups including the American Bar Association and civil rights organizations will testify about Jackson's suitability for the court. Witnesses chosen by Republican senators will also speak.The American Bar Association, which evaluates judicial nominees, last week gave Jackson its highest rating, unanimously "well qualified."On Wednesday, her final day of Senate questioning, Jackson declared she would rule "without any agendas" as the high court's first Black female justice and rejected Republican efforts to paint her as soft on crime in her decade on the federal bench.Ketanji Brown Jackson, associate justice of the U.S.

U.S. President Joe Biden and Western allies opened the first of three summits Thursday focused on increasing pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin over his war in Ukraine while tending to the economic and security fallout spreading across Europe and the world.Biden and the leaders of other NATO countries met at the alliance's headquarters where they posed for a group photo memorializing the urgent gathering before retreating behind closed doors for their summit, which was expected to last several hours.Over the course of Thursday, the European diplomatic capital is hosting an emergency NATO summit as well as a gathering of the Group of Seven industrialized nations and a summit of the 27 members of the European Union.

Despite surviving the Holocaust, 96-year-old Boris Romanchenko was killed in Russia’s assault on Kharkiv, Ukraine. Mike Armstrong looks at Romanchenko’s remarkable life, and the tributes pouring in.

PHILADELPHIA - Motorists have found some relief at the pump in recent weeks - albeit pennies worth - but experts believe gas prices will worsen in the coming months as pandemic-weary travelers plan to hit the road again. According to AAA, the national average for a gallon of regular gasoline has fluttered down to $4.23. Pennsylvania's average price sits a few cents above that at $4.31, and in neighboring New Jersey and Delaware drivers are paying around $4.Experts say the ongoing war in Ukraine is partly to blame for the high prices at the pump, but it's not the only reason driver's wallets will continue to get hammered.

Russia’s post-Soviet economic reforms, has quit his post as a Kremlin special envoy and left the country due to the war in Ukraine, two sources told Reuters, the highest profile protest by a Russian figure against the invasion.Chubais, who once served as former President Boris Yeltsin’s chief of staff, left his post as Vladimir Putin’s special representative for ties with international organizations, one of the sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. Top ex-Kremlin official accused of ‘national betrayal’ quits post at foundation He was appointed to the post, which was charged with “achieving goals of sustainable development,” in 2020, days after resigning as the head of state technology firm RUSNANO, which he had run since 2008.The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Chubais left due to the conflict in Ukraine.

LOS ANGELES - Having a "pawsome" day? It’s about to get better, because March 23 is National Puppy Day, and to celebrate, the company Top Data has revealed some doggone fantastic facts you may not know. According to the consumer insights company, the team collected data from 500,000 adopted dogs, utilized Google Search traffic volume and surveyed 1,000 dog owners across the U.S. to figure out the top dog names and adopted breeds by state.

following news about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and want to help.  By a 63-32% margin, voters think the U.S. should be doing more for Ukrainians in their fight against Russia.  Fully 82% are concerned about the invasion and 76% approve of how Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is responding to it.  The new Fox News national survey also finds a growing portion say the Russia-Ukraine conflict matters to life in the United States: 85% feel that way, up from 76% last month.RELATED: Russia-Ukraine war: Kyiv remains under fire as Biden arrives in EuropeIt’s an issue Democrats and Republicans largely agree on: 90% of Democrats and 85% of Republicans think what happens in Ukraine makes a difference here at home, about 8 in 10 Democrats and Republicans approve of Zelenskyy, and two-thirds in each party want to do more for Ukraine. Journalist Mark Savchuk joins LiveNOW from FOX from Kyiv, Ukraine to share the latest on the invasion.What do voters mean when they say the U.S.

COVID-19 Omicron wave is set to resume normal operations on Thursday.Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS) says the West End Urgent Care Clinic on Main Street East at Macklin Street South will go back to offering seven-day a week care again on March 24.“If you’re experiencing an illness or injury that isn’t an emergency but can’t wait for an appointment with a family doctor, an urgent care centre is a good option for you,” emergency medicine chief Dr. Kuldeep Sidhu said in a statement.The clinic had been shuttered for close to ten weeks after five emergency-trained physicians, 10 nurses and other staff (clerks, environmental aides, etc.) were moved to other emergency departments (EDs) and other high priority facilities in the network.

PHILADELPHIA - When you walk cross into a septa transit subway station, do you feel safe? For many riding the Septa lines, that answer is no."During the day time, up until like 3:30, 4:00, not bad. After that I do not get on the train," Septa rider Jeffrey Brown told FOX 29.

The threat posed by COVID-19 may be lessening, but the toll it has taken on the mental health of physicians in Canada is severe. Caryn Lieberman reports.

An investigation has revealed that the former Unifor National President, Jerry Dias, breached Unifor’s Code of Ethics and Democratic Practices after he accepted a large sum of money from a supplier of COVID-19 rapid test kits and then, in turn, encouraged employers of union members to purchase the kits.

NATO leaders are expected to agree at an emergency summit on Thursday to boost the alliance’s military presence in eastern Europe due to Russia’s war on Ukraine, Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg says.Ahead of the meeting, Stoltenberg told reporters at a news conference in Brussels on Wednesday that he expects the allies to sign off on the deployment of four new battlegroups in Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia.“I expect leaders will agree to strengthen NATO’s posture in all domains, with major increases in the eastern part of the alliance on land, in the air and at sea,” he said. NATO summit a chance to bolster Ukraine response, experts say.

who remains detained near Moscow, to check on her condition.State Department spokesperson Ned Price told CNN the official found Griner "to be in good condition." Price did not identify the official who had been granted consular access to Griner, something the United States had been demanding.Griner was detained after arriving at a Moscow airport, reportedly in mid-February, after Russian authorities said a search of her luggage revealed vape cartridges that allegedly contained oil derived from cannabis, which could carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.Brittney Griner #42 of the Phoenix Mercury durring pregame warmups at Footprint Center on October 10, 2021 in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Mike Mattina/Getty Images) RELATED: Brittney Griner arrest in midst of Russia-Ukraine war 'kind of a perfect storm,' sports attorney saysRussian state news agency Tass reported last week that a court had extended Griner’s pretrial detention to May 19.Price says the U.S.

Grubhub is offering special meal deals at some of your favorite restaurants during the NCAA Tournament. (Photo courtesy of Grubhub) WASHINGTON - As the NCAA Tournament heats up for the upcoming Sweet 16 matchups, fans are likely thinking about what to eat during the games.

Russia on Wednesday condemned what it called a “reckless” Polish proposal to send international peacekeepers into Ukraine and warned that it could lead to a direct clash between Russian and NATO forces.Poland said last Friday it would formally submit a proposal for a peacekeeping mission in Ukraine at the next NATO summit. NATO summit a chance to bolster Ukraine response, experts say.

KYIV, Ukraine - Nearly one month has passed since the biggest land invasion in Europe since World War II, and there have been no major breakthroughs on the battlefield or the negotiating table.Russian forces appeared bogged down outside major cities in the face of fierce Ukrainian resistance. Strikes on cities continued to wreak destruction across the country.Ukraine's capital Kyiv shook early Wednesday with Russian shelling that sparked fires in high-rise buildings, injuring four people.

The United Nations Secretary-General is urging an end to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine saying its people are “enduring a living hell.” This comes as Russian forces continue their siege of Mariupol, as the Ukrainian military refuses to back down. Kim Smith has the latest.

Canadian Medical Association in November 2021 showed 53 per cent have experienced “high levels” of burnout, compared to only 30 per cent four years before.And nearly half — or 46 per cent — of doctors are considering reducing their work in clinics in the next two years. No moving on from COVID-19 for Canada’s exhausted health workers Since the start of the pandemic, 59 per cent of physicians said their mental health has taken a turn for the worse since the start of the pandemic.

Edmonton-area businessman Dale Wishewan and his daughter, Sienna, are in Poland to help those fleeing the war in Ukraine, while also shedding light on the plight of refugees and how to help. Morgan Black reports.

Ukraine and Russia are confrontational but moving forward, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Wednesday, as the West plans to announce more sanctions against the Kremlin amid a worsening humanitarian crisis.Intense Russian air strikes are turning besieged Mariupol into the “ashes of a dead land,” the city council said on Tuesday, as street fighting and bombardments raged in the port city.Hundreds of thousands are believed to be trapped inside buildings, with no access to food, water, power or heat. Both civilians and Ukrainian troops were coming under Russian fire, said regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is warning his country could become Russia’s gateway to Europe. Redmond Shannon reports on Zelenskyy’s new pleas to Italian lawmakers; how Russian forces bombed a psychiatric hospital in Mykolaiv, Ukraine; and how the U.S.

WAYNE, Pa. - A local bartender concocted a way to help Ukrainian refugees after he was inspired by a connection he made with a Ukrainian woman and her young daughter. A week before Russia's full scale invasion of Ukraine, Sam Whitaker hired Vika, a Ukrainian woman, to design a web page for a project he was working on. Days later, Vika and her 5-year-old daughter fled to Italy to stay with relatives as Russian forces pillaged Ukraine.Sam managed to stay in touch with Vika during the ongoing war in Ukraine.

Legislative bureau chief Keith Baldrey has more on the presence and spread of the COVID-19 BA.2 variant in the province.

MADRID - Authorities in Gibraltar seized a superyacht belonging to a notorious Russian billionaire on March 21, local media reported. In recent footage obtained by Storyful, the ship, the Axioma was seen arriving at a dock in the British overseas territory. ThE footage shows the Axioma coming in to dock in the British overseas territory. The vessel was reportedly seized for its ties to Dmitry Pumpyansky, owner of Russian steel company TMK.The 240-foot boat has an estimated value of $75 million.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on Tuesday a deal with the federal NDP to govern until 2025 in a decision he says will offer “stability” to Canadians in uncertain times.

inflation, and the cash is scheduled to arrive a few months ahead of the provincial election.The money will be transferred directly into Quebecers’ bank accounts after they file their 2021 tax returns, Finance Minister Eric Girard told reporters Tuesday after tabling the budget for the 2022-23 fiscal year. It’s his fourth and last budget before Quebecers head to the polls in October.Girard insisted the payments aren’t to curry votes and help his government win a second mandate but to help Quebecers weather significant inflation that the government expects will reach 4.7 per cent in 2022.

An electrical contractor repairs a sign with gasoline fuel prices above six and seven dollars a gallon at the Shell gas station at Fairfax and Olympic Blvd in Los Angeles, California, on March 8, 2022. (Photo by Patrick T.

Ottawa has one of the highest COVID-19 vaccination rates of any big city in the country, saying it’s safe for workers to return.“A healthy city must have a healthy core,” the mayor said in a statement. Year-end interview: Jim Watson defends his 3-term record as mayor of Ottawa Approximately 94 per cent of adults in Ottawa are fully vaccinated, and 98 per cent of the core public service has attested that they’ve received two shots of a COVID-19 vaccine.Even so, many public servants are still logging in from home.Business and government employees working from home have taken a huge bite out of small commercial enterprises, said Dan Kelly, president of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.The federation is one of several business groups that have also asked the government to send its workers back to the office.“So many (businesses) are related to serving office workers.

MEDYKA, Poland (AP) - The president of Poland compared Russia’s attacks on Ukraine to Nazi forces during World War II, saying Tuesday that besieged Mariupol looks like Warsaw in 1944 after the Germans bombed houses and killed civilians "with no mercy at all."President Andrzej Duda, who will host President Joe Biden later this week in a Warsaw rebuilt from the ashes of that war, spoke as traumatized people bearing witness to the horrors inflicted on Ukraine by Russian forces continued to flee. They arrived by the thousands in Poland and other neighboring nations.The United Nations refugee agency announced a staggering milestone Tuesday: More than 3.5 million refugees have now left the country.Among them was Viktoria Totsen, a 39-year-old from Mariupol who entered Poland as part of an exodus that has become Europe’s worst refugee crisis since World War II.She described how the bombing by Russian planes had become incessant, prompting her to flee with her two daughters."During the last five days the planes were flying over us every five seconds and dropped bombs everywhere," she said.Military personnel are seen as civilians being evacuated along humanitarian corridors from the Ukrainian city of Mariupol besieged by Russian military and rebel forces, on March 20, 2022.

LOS ANGELES - Los Angeles on Tuesday became the first major city in the U.S. to reach an average gas price of $6 or more. That's according to fuel savings platform GasBuddy, which reported the national average gas price in the U.S.

Ukraine said he was simply in “black-out mode” and believes rumours of his death were part of a propaganda campaign by the Russians.The sniper, who goes by the name Wali, and who Global News is not naming to protect his family, became famous after a viral, but false, claim that he took the world’s longest sniper shot in Iraq. Ukrainian civilians prepare to fight as Russian troops close in on Odesa Both Wali and special operations sources say he was never a member of JTF2 and was not present when a JTF2 sniper took the 2 km shot killing an ISIS operative in Iraq in 2017.Wali arrived in Ukraine at the beginning of the war to join the Ukrainian Armed Forces.Speaking from the Kyiv region to Global News on Tuesday, he said he is “well-fed, rested and all good.”Rumours that Wali had died began circulating on social media last week, with no obvious source.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. - A former Google employee sued the tech giant saying it engages in a "pattern and practice" of racial discrimination against its Black workers, steering them into lower-level and lower-paid jobs and subjecting them to a hostile work environment if they speak out. April Curley was hired in 2014 to recruit Black candidates for the company. Her lawsuit, filed on Friday in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in San Jose, claims she was unlawfully fired in 2020 after she began speaking out and "called for reform of the barriers and double standards Google imposed on Black employees and applicants," according to the lawsuit."Google chose to ignore and ultimately attack Black employees brave enough to speak up about Google's embedded racism that actively harmed Black employees on a daily basis," Curley said. "Google believes great people are white people.

WARNING: This video contains disturbing content. Ukraine’s civilians are facing new horrors every day.