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A hat-trick by veteran striker Karim Benzema, including two fine headed goals in the space of three first-half minutes, earned Real Madrid a 3-1 win at reigning European champions Chelsea in their Champions League quarter-final first leg on Wednesday, Reuters reported.

Benzema, 34, claimed his hat-trick when he pounced on an error by Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy just after halftime to put the Spaniards in control of the tie before Tuesday’s second leg in Madrid.

Kai Havertz had restored some hope to the Blues when he headed in an angled pass from Jorginho in the 40th minute to make it 2-1.

But Chelsea’s chances of a comeback were undone by Mendy’s mistake in the 46th minute when, outside his box, he tried to pass to Antonio Rudiger only for Benzema to intercept and steer the ball into an empty net for his 37th goal of the season.

The France striker rocked Chelsea when he converted pinpoint crosses with headers, first from Vinicius Jr from the left in the 21st minute and then from Luka Modric on the right in the 24th, leaving Mendy with no chance on either occasion.

Benzema had looked certain to claim his hat-trick just before halftime but he fired wide with Chelsea’s usually rock-solid defence looking ragged.

“They’re very important goals. I’m happiest to have scored the third as I missed one in the first half and I was thinking about that chance because it’s very important to score goals. Then I got another and I’m very happy,” Benzema told Spanish television, according to Reuters.

“Today we came out to win, to show we’re Real Madrid. Things worked out well for us as we played well, from the first minute to the last.”

The Spaniards were seeking revenge after the Londoners eliminated them in last season’s semi-finals before the Blues won the trophy in Porto.

There was an early warning sign for the Londoners when Vinicius Jr cracked a shot against the bar in the 10th minute.

Chelsea sought to fight back in the second half with the best chance falling to substitute Romelu Lukaku – Chelsea’s record signing who has struggled to fit in at Stamford Bridge – but he headed narrowly wide as a deflected ball dropped to him on the edge of the six-yard box in the 69th minute.

In the dying moments, Hakim Ziyech, also on as a sub, fired over from 13 yards.

Real – who have been crowned European champions 13 times but had never previously beaten Chelsea – are now in pole position to advance into the semi-finals to face either Manchester City or crosstown rivals Atletico Madrid.

Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti, who spent two years as Chelsea head coach and led the Blues to the Premier League and FA Cup double in the 2009/10 season, hailed his team’s control of the game and the danger they posed on the counterattack, Reuters reported.

“It was a good night but it is only the first half of this round,” he was quoted as saying by the BBC.

Chelsea’s defeat adds to a sense of turmoil with the club put up for sale by Roman Abramovich after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which Moscow calls a “special military operation.”

The Russian billionaire has been sanctioned by the British government.

Chelsea coach Thomas Tuchel said his team had been way off the levels he expects.

“You cannot expect a result from this kind of performance,” he told reporters.

The District Police Office, Udayapur has made public two persons arrested for murdering Kabita Sunuwar (15) of Belka Municipality-3, Buddhachowk on Wednesday.

Kavita’s dead body was found near a local Jasoda rivulet on Tuesday morning. 

Police made public Sarita Dhakal Khatry (17) of Belka-3 and her elder uncle’s son Binod Dhakal (19), a resident of Sikkim Paiyu of India and are currently living in Belka, as the murderers of the adolescent girl. 

Kabita, a 10th grader of Koshi Janata Secondary School, was murdered while she was on the way to school for SEE tuition classes. Her dead body was found almost two kilometres away from the home. 

In course of an immediate investigation into the murder incident, police had arrested Sarita and Binod, informed District Police Office chief Subas Bohora. 

According to the police, both Kabita and Sarita were 10th graders in the same Koshi School. They had some personal disputes and to take revenge Sairita had used his brother to plot the murder of Kavita, police said. 

According to the investigation’s preliminary findings, Sarita had sent a mobile text to Kavita on Tuesday morning for early tuition classes. “Sarita also took his brother Binod to the forest which is their route to go to school. When Sarita and Kabita met on the way, Binod had attacked Kabita on her head from the back with a beer bottle. She had fallen unconscious after the assault and then after Sarita and Binod beat her with stones to death”, the police investigation revealed. 

Police have made necessary preparation to file a murder case against Binod and Sarita, police said. RSS

India's first case of the XE variant of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) was reported from Mumbai on Wednesday, Hindustan Times reported.

Results of the 11th genome sequencing declared by the city civic body Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC,)  found one sample positive for XE variant and another for Kappa variant.

The individual who tested positive for the XE variant was a fully vaccinated 50-year-old women with no comorbidity and asymptomatic, BMC officials said. She had come from South Africa on February 10 and had no prior travel history. On arrival, she had tested negative for the virus.

The woman, a costume designer, had been inoculated against the virus with two doses the Comirnaty vaccine.

On March 2, in a routine test at Suburban diagnostics, she was found infected and was quarantined in a room in Taj Lands End. Officials said another test was done on the next day by Spice Health, where she tested negative, according to Hindustan Times.

The BMC had tested 230 samples which 99.13 per cent or 228 samples tested positive for the Omicron strain that had driven the spread of the virus earlier this year across the country. 

The World Health Organisation (WHO) had earlier said the new subvariant – ‘XE’ – a hybrid strain of two Omicron sub variants, could be the most transmissible coronavirus strain so far. 

According to the global health body, early studies indicated the variant had a growth rate advantage of 10 per cent as compared to BA.2, one of the very contagious variants.

A study in UK, which is facing a fresh wave of infections, suggested that while there were signs of “community transmission” of XE in England, it remained less than one per cent of the totally sequenced coronavirus cases.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) was studying XE — a mutation of the BA.1 and BA.2 Omicron strains — and as of March 22, 637 XE cases had been detected in England, according to official figures, Hindustan Times reported.

Professor Susan Hopkins, the UKHSA's chief medical advisor, said such variants were known as “recombinant” and usually died off "relatively quickly".

A two-year-old child died after being hit by a car in Lubu, Lalitpur on Wednesday.

The deceased has been identified as Aryan Puri of Ramechhap currently residing in Lubu.

The car (Ba 16 Cha 3687) hit Puri at around 5 pm yesterday, police said.

Critically injured in the incident, he breathed his during the course of treatment at the Imadole-based Kist Medical College.

Police said that they have impounded the four-wheeler and arrested its driver for investigation.

Kolkata Knight Riders beat Mumbai Indians by five wickets in their IPL match on Wednesday, The Indian Express reported.

Opting to bowl after winning the toss, KKR saw MI recover from 55 for three in the 11th over to post 161 for four.

In reply, KKR chased down the target of 162 with 24 balls to spare. Pat Cummins blasted 56 off 15 balls, while Venkatesh Iyer remained not out on 50.

For Mumbai, Suryakumar Yadav made 52 off 36 balls, while Tilak Varma chipped in with 38 in 27 deliveries. Kieron Pollard smashed an unbeaten 22 off five balls, according to The Indian Express.

Ukrainians living in the east must flee while they still can, the country's deputy prime minister has warned, BBC reported.

Iryna Vereshchuk said if they did not, Ukraine wouldn't "be able to help" as Russia's invading forces move in.

Her warning comes as a picture begins to emerge of atrocities carried out in Ukrainian towns under the control of Moscow's troops - including allegations of rape, torture and executions.

Russia's Vladimir Putin has again denied his forces are to blame.

In a call with Hungary's re-elected prime minister - and Moscow ally - Viktor Orban on Wednesday, Mr Putin said the alleged atrocities seen in Bucha - the town where bodies of civilians were left out on the streets, and mass graves were discovered at the church - were a "crude and cynical provocation" created by the Ukrainian government.

There is a growing body of evidence which contradicts Mr Putin's claims that the horrors in Bucha have been staged, including satellite images showing bodies discovered late last week were already lining the street on 19 March - when it was still under Russian control, according to BBC.

As Russia withdraws from the north, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has warned that the worst atrocities committed may yet to be discovered.

However, thoughts are now turning to the people in the east, where Russian forces are regrouping before a push to take the region known as the Donbas, the area that includes the Donetsk and Luhansk regions which have been controlled by Russia-backed rebels since 2014.

Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Wednesday they were "expecting a major offensive".

"We have seen no indication that President Putin has changed his ambition to control the whole of Ukraine and also to rewrite the international order so we need to be prepared for a long haul," he added. 

Ms Vereshchuk said the leaders in Donetsk and Luhansk regions, as well as Kharkiv, slightly further north, were trying to organise an evacuation ahead of any attack.

"It has to be done now because later people will be under fire and face the threat of death," the deputy prime minister said on her Telegram channel, BBC reported.

"There is nothing they will be able to do about it, nor will we be able to help."

The difficulties of evacuating people from areas under sustained attack has been exemplified in Mariupol - the southern city which would link Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014, to Russia through the Donbas if it fell under Moscow's control.

The International Committee of the Red Cross has been trying to reach Mariupol since last week so it can lead a convoy of evacuees to safety, but has failed every day. 

Residents leaving by themselves describe scenes of horror within the besieged city.

"There are starving people," a woman named Yulia told the BBC's Tom Bateman. "People are being buried in the streets. Shallow graves, half a metre deep at best. [There are] dead bodies all over the streets."

Russia has made clear the Donbas is its next target, and people have been fleeing the region since last week.

On Wednesday, the BBC's defence correspondent Jonathan Beale passed a 50-mile tailback of traffic as people moved west.

Maryna Agafonova, 27, is among those who have already fled, leaving her parents behind in Lysychansk, in Luhansk, as the attacks intensified, according to BBC.

"They attacked hospitals and residential buildings. There is no heating and no electricity."

But Ukrainian forces were still holding out there in numbers, she told the BBC: "They aren't letting the Russians occupy it."

The US has imposed sanctions against Russian President Vladimir Putin's inner circle, including his daughters, BBC reported.

The list also includes the family of Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and major banks.

The measures follow new revelations of atrocities by Russian troops in Ukraine, including images of bodies of civilians scattered on the streets of Bucha, near the capital Kyiv.

Russia says, without evidence, the images are staged by Kyiv officials.

Even though satellite images have shown the civilians were killed when Russians were in control of Bucha, Mr Putin on Wednesday described the event as a "crude and cynical provocation by the Kyiv regime".

Referring to the Bucha murders, US President Joe Biden said on Wednesday: "There's nothing less happening than major war crimes."

"Responsible nations have to come together to hold these perpetrators accountable," Mr Biden added, according to BBC.

The US said that Mr Putin's daughters, Katerina Vladimirovna Tikhonova and Maria Vladimirovna Vorontsova, were being put under sanctions "for being the adult children of Putin, a person whose property and interests in property are blocked".

The announcement described Ms Tikhonova as "a tech executive whose work supports the GoR [Russian government] and defense industry". 

Her sister, Ms Vorontsova, it went on, "leads state-funded programs that have received billions of dollars from the Kremlin toward genetics research and are personally overseen by Putin". 

Asked why the US was targeting Mr Putin's daughters, a senior Biden administration official said the US thought they could be in control of some of their father's assets.

"We have reason to believe that Putin, and many of his cronies, and the oligarchs, hide their wealth, hide their assets, with family members that place their assets and their wealth in the US financial system, and also many other parts of the world," the official said.

"We believe that many of Putin's assets are hidden with family members, and that's why we're targeting them." 

The US sanctions announced by the White House include:

• economic measures to ban new investment in Russia
• severe financial sanctions on Russia's largest private bank, Alfa Bank, and its largest financial institution, Sberbank
• sanctions on critical major state-owned enterprises
• sanctions on Russian government officials and their family members

Meanwhile the UK has announced further sanctions against eight oligarchs and Russian banks, including the country's largest, Sberbank, and Credit Bank of Moscow, BBC reported.

The European Union is also debating cutting off Russian coal imports as concern over alleged war crimes increases.

Before the new raft of sanctions was announced in Washington, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he could not "tolerate any indecisiveness".

Speaking to the Irish parliament on Wednesday, he said there was still a need to convince some in Europe who believe "war and war crimes are not as horrific as financial losses" to back tougher sanctions. 

He added that "Russian oil cannot feed the Russian military machine", with Ukraine's foreign minister arguing on Twitter that an embargo on gas and oil was needed to truly impact Russia's ability to finance the war, according to BBC.

A security alliance between China and the Solomon Islands has sent shudders throughout the South Pacific, with many worried it could set off a large-scale military buildup or that Western animosity to the deal could play into China’s hands, Associated Press reported.

What remains most unclear is the extent of China’s ambitions. 

A Chinese military presence in the Solomons would put it not only on the doorstep of Australia and New Zealand but also in close proximity to Guam, with its massive U.S. military bases.

China so far operates just one acknowledged foreign military base, in the impoverished but strategically important Horn of Africa nation of Djibouti. Many believe that China’s People’s Liberation Army is busy establishing an overseas military network, even if they don’t use the term “base.”

The Solomon Islands government says a draft of its agreement with China was initialed last week and will be “cleaned up” and signed soon.

The draft, which was leaked online, says that Chinese warships could stop in the Solomons for “logistical replenishment” and that China could send police, military personnel and other armed forces to the Solomons “to assist in maintaining social order.”

The draft agreement specifies China must approve what information is disclosed about joint security arrangements, including at media briefings, according to the Associated Press.

The Solomon Islands, home to about 700,000 people, switched diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to Beijing in 2019 — a move rejected by the most populous province and a contributing factor to riots last November.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken responded in February by saying that Washington would reopen its embassy in the capital, Honiara, which has been closed since 1993, to increase its influence in the Solomons before China becomes “strongly embedded.” 

Both China and the Solomons have strongly denied the new pact will lead to the establishment of a Chinese military base. The Solomon Islands government said the pact is necessary because of its limited ability to deal with violent uprisings like the one in November.

“The country has been ruined by recurring internal violence for years,” the government said this week. 

But Australia, New Zealand and the US have all expressed alarm about the deal, with New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern describing it as “gravely concerning.”

David Panuelo, the president of nearby Micronesia, which has close ties to the U.S., wrote an impassioned letter to Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare asking him to rethink the agreement, Associated Press reported.

He noted that both Micronesia and the Solomon Islands were battlegrounds during World War II, caught up in the clash of great powers.

“I am confident that neither of us wishes to see a conflict of that scope or scale ever again, and most particularly in our own backyards,” Panuelo wrote.

But the Solomon Islands police minister mocked Panuelo’s concerns on social media, saying he should be more worried about his own atoll being swallowed by the ocean due to climate change.

Sogavare has likewise dismissed foreign criticism of the security agreement as insulting, while labeling those who leaked the draft as “lunatics.”

China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson said the agreement aims to maintain the safety of people’s lives and property, and “does not have any military overtones,” saying media speculation on the potential development of a base was groundless.

Euan Graham, a senior fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies based in Singapore, said China has been pursuing such a port facility for some five years as it aims to expand its naval presence in the South Pacific as part of Beijing’s long-game of seeking to become the dominant regional power.

“If they want to break out into the Pacific, at some point they will need the logistics capability to support that presence,” Graham said. “We’re not talking about war plans here; this is really about extending their presence and influence.”

Unlike the base built in Djibouti, where China has commercial interests in the region to protect, Graham said any operation in the Solomon Islands would likely be less substantial, according to the Associated Press.

“It’s quite a subtle and interesting geopolitical game that’s emerged in the South Pacific,” he added. “And I think the Chinese have been very successful, if you like, in outflanking the United States and Australia in an influence competition, not a military competition.”

China’s base in Djibouti was opened in 2017. China doesn’t call it a base, but rather a support facility for its naval operations fending off piracy in the Gulf of Aden and for its African peacekeeping operations. It boasts a 400-meter (1,300-foot) runway and a pier big enough to dock either of China’s two operating aircraft carriers.

The base, with 2,000 personnel, allows China to position supplies, troops and equipment in a strategically crucial region, while also keeping an eye on US forces that are stationed nearby, Associated Press reported.