world
Popular Bengali actor Abhishek Chatterjee dies at 57
Popular Bengali actor Abhishek Chatterjee passed away at his residence in the eastern Indian city of Kolkata on Thursday morning. He was 57.
Local media reported that the actor complained of chest discomfort during the shoot of a TV reality show on Wednesday night. The crew dropped him home after he refused to be taken to hospital.
Later a local doctor declared him dead at his home, reports said, speculating that he died of a possible heart attack.
Read:Oscar 2022 Best Director Winner Predictions
Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee was among the first to take to Twitter to condole the actor's "untimely demise", describing it as a "great loss" for the local film industry.
"Sad to know of the untimely demise of our young actor Abhishek Chatterjee. Abhishek was talented and versatile in his performances, and we shall miss him. It is a great loss for TV serials and our film industry," she wrote.
Read:Bollywood bids tearful adieu to Bappi Lahiri
A graduate of Calcutta University, Abhishek Chatterjee made his debut with the Bengali film Pathbhola in 1986. Some of his popular flicks include Sangharsho, Lathi, Bhai Amar Bhai, Amar Prem and Sabuj Saathi. Of late, he was seen in TV soaps as well.
He is survived by his wife and daughter.
UN to vote on blaming Russia for Ukraine humanitarian crisis
The U.N. General Assembly votes Thursday on a resolution backed by over 90 countries that blames Russia for the escalating humanitarian crisis in Ukraine and demands an immediate halt to hostilities, especially attacks on civilians and their homes, schools and hospitals.
Russia has denounced the resolution as “anti-Russian” and accuses its supporters of not really being concerned about the humanitarian situation on the ground, saying they want to politicize aid.
The vote follows the Security Council’s overwhelming defeat on Wednesday of a Russian resolution that would have acknowledged Ukraine’s growing humanitarian needs -- but without mentioning Russia's invasion that has left millions of Ukrainians in desperate need of food, water and shelter.
The council acted few hours after the General Assembly started considering a separate resolution titled “Humanitarian consequences of the aggression against Ukraine,” which was drafted by Ukraine and two dozen other countries from all parts of the world. There were over 70 scheduled speakers and only 62 were able to deliver their remarks, so the final speeches and vote were postponed until Thursday.
The assembly will also consider a rival South African resolution, which doesn't mention Russia and is similar to the Russian resolution rejected by the Security Council.
The vote on the Russian resolution reflected Moscow’s failure to get widespread backing for its military offensive in Ukraine, which marks its one-month anniversary Thursday.
Read:Russia-Ukraine war: Russian journalist killed in Kyiv shelling
To be adopted, Russia needed a minimum of nine “yes” votes in the 15-member Security Council and no veto by one of the four other permanent members — the U.S., Britain, France and China. But Russia got support only from its ally China, with the 13 other council members abstaining.
Britain’s U.N. ambassador, Barbara Woodward, called Russia's draft “a cynical effort to exploit the crisis which they have caused” and told reporters that “Russia has consistently misplayed its hand here, and seriously underestimated the consequences of what it’s done and the international perception of what it’s done.”
Before and after the vote, Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia and U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas Greenfield argued about Russia’s offensive and its decision to even draft a humanitarian resolution.
Nebenzia told the council that Russia's resolution, like other humanitarian resolution, “is not politicized.”
Thomas-Greenfield countered that Russia was “attempting to use this council to provide cover for its brutal actions.”
“Russia does not care about the deteriorating humanitarian conditions," she said. “If they cared, they would stop fighting. Russia is the aggressor, the attacker, the invader, the sole party in Ukraine engaged in a campaign of brutality against the people of Ukraine, and they want us to pass a resolution that does not acknowledge their culpability.”
China's vote Wednesday marked the first time it supported a Russian draft on Ukraine since the Feb. 24 invasion. It abstained on a March 2 General Assembly resolution demanding an immediate cessation of hostilities and withdrawal of all Russian forces from its smaller neighbor.
Chinese Ambassador Zhang Jun said China’s support for the resolution was to stress its call for the international community “to place high importance to the humanitarian situation in Ukraine” and for the parties to protect the safety of civilians.
Russia introduced its resolution on March 15. A day earlier, France and Mexico decided to move their proposed humanitarian resolution blaming the Russian invasion for the humanitarian crisis out of the Security Council, where it faced a Russian veto, to the 193-member General Assembly where there are no vetoes.
Unlike Security Council resolutions, General Assembly resolutions are not legally binding, but they do have clout in reflecting international opinion.
Read:7,000 to 15,000 Russian troops dead in Ukraine: NATO
Throughout Wednesday, the assembly heard speeches starting with Ukrainian Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsy, who urged all nations to vote for the resolution on the humanitarian consequences of Russia's military assault. He said this would send a powerful message aimed at helping people caught in the conflict and ending Moscow’s military action.
Nebenzia told the assembly that by considering the Ukraine-backed resolution, it was engaging in “another political anti-Russian show, set this time in an allegedly humanitarian context.”
He warned that adoption of that draft “will make a resolution to the situation in Ukraine more difficult” because it will likely embolden Ukrainian negotiators to maintain their “current unrealistic position” and not tackle the root causes of Russia’s military action.
Thomas-Greenfield sharply criticized Russia in her assembly speech, saying, “In one month, Russia caused the fastest-growing humanitarian catastrophes in the world.”
According to the U.N., about 10 million Ukrainians -- a quarter of its population -- have fled their homes and are now displaced in the country or among the 3.6 million refugees, she told the assembly, and 12 million need aid and 5.6 million children are unable to go to school.
South Korean Ambassador Cho Hyun compared what Ukrainian children are experiencing to the plight of kids in his own country during the Korean War in the 1950s. “It is this organization’s most urgent and collective responsibility to stop this haunting replication of the agonies of children in the 20th century.”
Albanian Ambassador Ferit Hoxha urged the world’s nations not to forget the responsibility of Russian President Vladimir Putin. "This is a war of one man, in his own seclusion, and who, by his reckless actions, has managed to generate in a few weeks, the biggest ever solitude and world isolation of his own country.”
But Russia has some supporters other than China, including Syrian Ambassador Bassam Sabbagh, who said the assembly once again “is seeing an exploitation of human rights issues in order to create a state of polarization and politicization, used to serve the political interests of some.”
The draft reiterates the demand of the March 2 resolution for an immediate Russian cease-fire and it demands protection for all civilians and infrastructure indispensable to their survival.
The resolution deplores the “dire humanitarian consequences” of Russia’s aggression which it says is “on a scale that the international community has not seen in Europe in decades.” It deplores Russia’s shelling, airstrikes and “besiegement” of densely populated cities, and demands unhindered access for humanitarian aid.
The South African draft calls for “an immediate cessation of hostilities” as a first step in easing the humanitarian crisis and encourages “political dialogue, negotiations, mediation and other peaceful means aimed at achieving lasting peace.” It makes no mention of Russia’s attack.
Russian authorities maintain they did not start the war and have repeatedly and falsely decried reports of Russian military setbacks or civilian deaths in Ukraine as fake news. State media outlets and government officials insist Russian troops target only military facilities.
Ukraine president pleads for worldwide show of support
Ukraine President Volodymr Zelenskyy called on people worldwide to gather in public Thursday to show support for his embattled country on the one-month anniversary of the Russian invasion that he said breaks the heart of “every free person on the planet.”
Zelenskyy — whose video messages have repeatedly riveted the world’s attention — also said he would speak to NATO members by video to ask the alliance to provide “effective and unrestricted” support to Ukraine, including any weapons the country needs to fend off the Russian onslaught.
“Come to your squares, your streets. Make yourselves visible and heard,” Zelenskyy said in English during an emotional video address late Wednesday that was recorded in the dark near the presidential offices in Kyiv. “Say that people matter. Freedom matters. Peace matters. Ukraine matters.”
When Russia unleashed its invasion Feb. 24 in Europe’s biggest offensive since World War II, a swift toppling of Ukraine’s government seemed likely. But with Wednesday marking four full weeks of fighting, Moscow is bogged down in a grinding military campaign.
NATO estimated that 7,000 to 15,000 Russian soldiers have been killed in four weeks of war in Ukraine, where fierce resistance has denied Moscow the lightning victory it sought.
Read: Putin wants 'unfriendly countries' to pay rubles for gas
By way of comparison, Russia lost about 15,000 troops over 10 years in Afghanistan.
A senior NATO military official said the alliance’s estimate was based on information from Ukrainian authorities, what Russia has released — intentionally or not — and intelligence gathered from open sources. The official spoke on condition of anonymity under ground rules set by NATO.
In its last update, Russia said March 2 that nearly 500 soldiers had been killed and almost 1,600 wounded.
Ukraine has released little information about its own military losses, and the West has not given an estimate, but Zelenskyy said nearly two weeks ago that about 1,300 Ukrainian servicemen had been killed.
Ukraine also claims to have killed six Russian generals. Russia acknowledges just one dead general.
With its ground forces slowed or stopped by hit-and-run Ukrainian units armed with Western-supplied weapons, Russian President Vladimir Putin's troops are bombarding targets from afar, falling back on the tactics they used in reducing cities to rubble in Syria and Chechnya.
A senior U.S. defense official said Wednesday that Russian ground forces appear to be digging in and setting up defensive positions 15 to 20 kilometers (9 to 12 miles) outside Kyiv, the capital, as they make little to no progress toward the city center.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss military assessments, said it appears the forces are no longer trying to advance into the city, and in some areas east of Kyiv, Ukrainian troops have pushed Russian soldiers farther away.
Instead, Russian troops appear to be prioritizing the fight in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions in the Donbas, in what could be an effort to cut off Ukrainian troops and prevent them from moving west to defend other cities, the official said. The U.S. also has seen activity from Russian ships in the Sea of Azov, including what appear to be efforts to send landing ships ashore with supplies, including vehicles, the official said.
Despite evidence to the contrary, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov insisted the military operation is going “strictly in accordance” with plans.
In an ominous sign that Moscow might consider using nuclear weapons, a senior Russian official said the country’s nuclear arsenal would help deter the West from intervening in Ukraine.
“The Russian Federation is capable of physically destroying any aggressor or any aggressor group within minutes at any distance,” said Dmitry Rogozin, who heads the state aerospace corporation, Roscosmos, and oversees missile-building facilities. He noted in his televised remarks that Moscow’s nuclear stockpiles include tactical nuclear weapons, designed for use on battlefields, along with far more powerful nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missiles.
Read:7,000 to 15,000 Russian troops dead in Ukraine: NATO
U.S. officials long have warned that Russia’s military doctrine envisages an “escalate to deescalate” option of using battlefield nuclear weapons to force the enemy to back down in a situation when Russian forces face imminent defeat. Moscow has denied having such plans.
Rogozin, known for his bluster, did not make clear what actions by the West would be seen as meddling, but his comments almost certainly reflect thinking inside the Kremlin. Putin has warned the West that an attempt to introduce a no-fly zone over Ukraine would draw it into a conflict with Russia. Western nations have said they would not create a no-fly zone to protect Ukraine.
As U.S. President Joe Biden headed to Europe to meet with key allies about new sanctions against Moscow and more military aid to Ukraine, he warned there is a “real threat" Russia could use chemical weapons.
On the eve of a meeting with Biden, European Union nations signed off on another 500 million euros ($550 million) in military aid for Ukraine.
Zelenskyy appealed to Western countries to stay united in the face of Russia’s efforts to “lobby its interests” with “some partners” to bring them over to its side, and noted during his national address that Ukraine has not received the fighter jets or modern air-defense systems it requested. He said Ukraine also needs tanks and anti-ship systems.
“It has been a month of defending ourselves from attempts to destroy us, wipe us off the face of the earth,” he said.
The U.S. has determined that Russian troops have committed war crimes in Ukraine, and it will work to prosecute the offenders, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said. He cited evidence of indiscriminate or deliberate attacks against civilians and the destruction of apartment buildings, schools, hospitals, shopping centers and other sites.
In Kyiv, where near-constant shelling and gunfire shook the city Wednesday as the two sides battled for control of multiple suburbs, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said at least 264 civilians have been killed since the war broke out. The independent Russian news outlet The Insider said Russian journalist Oksana Baulina had been killed by shelling in a Kyiv neighborhood on Wednesday.
In the south, the encircled port city of Mariupol has seen the worst devastation of the war, enduring weeks of bombardment and, now, street-by-street fighting. But Ukrainian forces have prevented its fall, thwarting an apparent bid by Moscow to fully secure a land bridge from Russia to Crimea, seized from Ukraine in 2014.
In their last update, over a week ago, Mariupol officials said at least 2,300 people had died, but the true toll is probably much higher. Airstrikes in the past week destroyed a theater and an art school where civilians were sheltering.
Zelenskyy said 100,000 civilians remain in the city, which had a population of 430,000 before the war. Efforts to get desperately needed food and other supplies to those trapped have often failed.
Zelenskyy accused Russian forces of seizing a humanitarian convoy. Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said the Russians were holding captive 11 bus drivers and four rescue workers along with their vehicles.
In the besieged northern city of Chernihiv, Russian forces bombed and destroyed a bridge that was used for aid deliveries and civilian evacuations, regional governor Viacheslav Chaus said.
Kateryna Mytkevich, 39, who arrived in Poland after fleeing Chernihiv, wiped away tears as she said the city is without gas, electricity or running water, and entire neighborhoods have been destroyed.
“I don’t understand why we have such a curse," she said.
Russia-Ukraine war: Russian journalist killed in Kyiv shelling
A Russian journalist has been killed during shelling by Russian forces in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv.
Oksana Baulina had been reporting from Kyiv and the western city of Lviv for investigative website The Insider, the outlet said in a statement, reports BBC.
She died while filming damage in the city's Podil district, it added.
Read: Putin wants 'unfriendly countries' to pay rubles for gas
Baulina previously worked for Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny's anti-corruption foundation, and had left Russia.
Last year the foundation was made illegal and branded extremist by the authorities, forcing many of its staff to flee abroad.
One other person was killed and two injured in the shelling, the Insider said.
Baulina had previously sent several reports from Kyiv and the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, The Insider said.
The publication expressed its "deepest condolences" to the reporter's family and friends.
Investigative journalist Alexey Kovalyov paid tribute to Baulina.
Baulina is one of five journalists known to have been killed in a month of war.
In early March Yevhenii Sakun, a camera operator for Ukrainian TV channel LIVE who also worked for the Spanish news agency EFE, was killed during shelling of the TV transmission tower in Kyiv.
Two weeks later US journalist and filmmaker Brent Renaud, 50, was shot dead as he was filming in the town of Irpin outside Kyiv.
Read:7,000 to 15,000 Russian troops dead in Ukraine: NATO
And two days later two Fox News journalists - cameraman Pierre Zakrzewski, 55, and Oleksandra Kuvshinova, 24 - were killed when their vehicle was struck by incoming fire on the outskirts of Kyiv.
Putin wants 'unfriendly countries' to pay rubles for gas
President Vladimir Putin announced Wednesday that Russia will demand “unfriendly'' countries pay for Russian natural gas exports only in rubles from now on.
Putin told a meeting with government officials that “a number of Western countries made illegitimate decisions on the so-called freezing of the Russian assets, effectively drawing a line over reliability of their currencies, undermining the trust for those currencies.”
“It makes no sense whatsoever," Putin added, “to supply our goods to the European Union, the United States and receive payment in dollars, euros and a number of other currencies.”
Read:Russia to expel more American diplomats
As a result, he said he was announcing “measures” to switch to payments for “our natural gas, supplied to so-called unfriendly countries” in Russian rubles.
The Russian president didn’t say when exactly the new policy will take effect. He instructed the country’s central bank to work out a procedure for natural gas buyers to acquire rubles in Russia.
Economists said the move appeared designed to try to support the ruble, which has collapsed against other currencies since Putin invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24 and Western countries responded with far-reaching sanctions against Moscow. But some analysts expressed doubt that it would work.
“Demanding payment in rubles is a curious and probably ultimately ineffective approach to attempting an end run around Western financial sanctions,’’ said Eswar Prasad, a professor of trade policy at Cornell University. “Rubles are certainly easier to come by now that the currency is collapsing. But exchanging other currencies for rubles will be quite difficult given the widespread financial sanctions imposed on Russia."
“The hope that demanding payment in rubles will increase demand for the currency and thereby prop up its value," Prasad added, "is also a false hope given all the downward pressures on the currency.’’
Neil Shearing, group chief economist at Capital Economics, said: “It’s not an obvious move to me, since the (Russian) economy needs a supply of foreign currency in order to pay for imports — and energy is one of the few sources left.”
German Economy Minister Robert Habeck accused Putin of breaking contracts with the move, German news agency dpa reported. Habeck said Wednesday in Berlin that the German government would discuss the matter with European partners.
Habeck said Putin’s announcement shows once again that Russia is not a stable partner, dpa reported.
Read:7,000 to 15,000 Russian troops dead in Ukraine: NATO
Despite severe Western sanctions, natural gas flows are still heading from Russia to Europe. The European Union is reliant on Russia for 40% of the natural gas it needs to generate electricity, heat homes and supply industry — a key reason why the EU has not applied its sanctions to Russia’s energy industry.
At the same time, across Europe, governments are slashing fuel taxes and doling out tens of billions to help consumers, truckers, farmers and others cope with spiking energy prices made worse by Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Vinicius Romano, a senior analyst at Rystad Energy, suggested that Moscow’s insistence on payments in rubles “may give buyers cause to reopen other aspects of their contracts — such as the duration — and simply speed up their exit from Russian gas altogether.”
New Zealand to remove pandemic mandates as omicron wanes
New Zealand will remove many of its COVID-19 pandemic mandates over the next two weeks as an outbreak of the omicron variant begins to wane.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Wednesday that people will no longer need to be vaccinated to visit places like retail stores, restaurants and bars from April 4. Gone, too, will be a requirement to scan QR barcodes at those venues.
Read:Fishing boat sinks in New Zealand storm, 4 dead, 1 missing
A vaccine mandate will be scrapped for some workers — including teachers, police officers and waiters — though it will continue for health care and aged-care workers, border workers and corrections officers.
Also gone from Friday is a limit on outdoor crowds of 100. That will allow some concerts and big sporting events like marathons to resume. An indoor limit of 100 people will be raised to 200 people, and could later be removed altogether.
Remaining in place is a requirement that people wear masks in many enclosed spaces, including in stores, on public transport and, for children aged 8 and over, in school classrooms.
Ardern said the government's actions over the past two years to limit the spread of the coronavirus had saved thousands of lives and helped the economy.
“But while we’ve been successful, it’s also been bloody hard," Ardern said.
“Everyone has had to give up something to make this work, and some more than others,” she said.
The changes mean that many restrictions will be removed before tourists start arriving back in New Zealand.
Earlier this month, the government announced that Australian tourists would be welcomed back from April 12 and tourists from many other countries, including the U.S., Canada, and Britain, from May 1.
International tourism used to account for about 20% of New Zealand’s foreign income and more than 5% of GDP but evaporated after the South Pacific nation imposed some of the world's strictest border controls after the pandemic began.
Read: New Zealand to end quarantine stays and reopen its borders
New Zealand continues to see some of its highest rates of coronavirus infections and hospitalizations since the pandemic began, with an average 17,000 new infections being reported each day.
But Ardern said modeling shows that the biggest city of Auckland is already significantly past the peak of its omicron outbreak and the rest of the country will soon follow.
Health experts warned that some countries which had dropped restrictions as omicron faded were now experiencing another surge of cases.
Russia to expel more American diplomats
The U.S. State Department says Russia has begun the process of expelling several more diplomats from the U.S. embassy in Moscow.
The department said it received a list of diplomats on Wednesday who have been declared “persona non grata” by the Russian foreign ministry. It didn't say how many diplomats were affected by the order, which generally results in the expulsion of those targeted within 72 hours.
Read: Esteemed theater director taken by Russians
The Russian foreign ministry summoned U.S. Ambassador to Russia John Sullivan on Monday to protest President Joe Biden’s description of Russian leader Vladimir Putin as a “war criminal” over the invasion of Ukraine. After that meeting, Russia warned that it was close to severing diplomatic relations with the United States, which would be an unprecedented move.
The State Department called Wednesday’s move “Russia’s latest unhelpful and unproductive step” in relations between the countries. It urged Russia “to end its unjustified expulsions of U.S. diplomats and staff.”
Taliban break promise on higher education for Afghan girls
Afghanistan's Taliban rulers unexpectedly decided against reopening schools Wednesday to girls above the sixth grade, reneging on a promise and opting to appease their hard-line base at the expense of further alienating the international community.
The surprising decision, confirmed by a Taliban official, is bound to disrupt efforts by the Taliban to win recognition from potential international donors at a time when the country is mired in a worsening humanitarian crisis. The international community has urged Taliban leaders to reopen schools and give women their right to public space.
The reversal was so sudden that the Education Ministry was caught off guard on Wednesday, the start of the school year, as were schools in parts of the Afghan capital of Kabul and elsewhere in the country. Some girls in higher grades returned to schools, only to be told to go home.
Aid organizations said the move exacerbated the uncertainty surrounding Afghanistan's future as the Taliban leadership seems to struggle to get on the same page as it shifts from fighting to governing.
Read:Taliban nixes girls higher education despite earlier pledges
It also came as the leadership was convening in Kandahar amid reports of a possible Cabinet shuffle.
U.S. Special Representative Thomas West tweeted his “shock and deep disappointment” about the decision, calling it “a betrayal of public commitments to the Afghan people and the international community.”
He said the Taliban had made it clear that all Afghans have a right to education, adding, “For the sake of the country’s future and its relations with the international community, I would urge the Taliban to live up to their commitments to their people.”
The Norwegian Refugee Council, which spends about $20 million annually to support primary education in Afghanistan, was still waiting for official word from the Taliban about canceling the classes for girls above the sixth grade. The NRC also provides emergency shelter, food and legal services.
Berenice Van Dan Driessche, advocacy manager for the council, said their representatives had not gotten official word of the change as of Wednesday night, and that girls in the 11 provinces where they work had gone to school but were sent home.
The committee's staff in the provinces “reported a lot of disappointment and also a lot of uncertainty” about the future, she said. They said that in some areas, teachers said they would continue to hold classes for the girls until the Taliban issued an official order.
Waheedullah Hashmi, external relations and donor representative with the Taliban-led administration, told The Associated Press the decision was made late Tuesday night.
“We don’t say they will be closed forever,” Hashmi added.
U.N. special representative Deborah Lyons will try to meet Thursday with the Taliban to ask them to reverse their decision, U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said.
Earlier in the week, a statement by the Education Ministry had urged “all students” to return when classes resumed Wednesday.
6 students killed in Oklahoma crash were in car that seats 4
Six teenage girls on a high school lunch break were killed when their small car with only four seats collided with a large truck hauling rocks, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol said Wednesday.
The crash occurred shortly after noon Tuesday in Tishomingo, a rural city of about 3,000 located about 100 miles (160 kilometers) southeast of Oklahoma City, the patrol said. Those killed included the 16-year-old driver, three 15-year-olds, and two 17-year-old passengers, according to the patrol.
Read:One 'black box' found in China Eastern plane crash
While what led to the crash is unknown, it highlighted concerns of teenagers carrying other young passengers.
“Just adding a single passenger under age 21 increases the risk of crashing by 44%” when the driver is a teen," said William Van Tassel with AAA’s national office.
The crash report, released Wednesday morning, said the circumstances of the wreck remained under investigation. But Highway Patrol Trooper Shelby Humphrey said Tuesday night that the girls’ car was making a right turn when it collided with the truck, KXII-TV reported.
"One of the main concerns and risks of having multiple teenagers in a car is the distractions that come with that,” Van Tassel said.
“If one of the passengers is over 35 (the risk) goes down by 62%. That implies teens can drive safely when there’s an adult in the car," Van Tassel told The Associated Press.
Only the 16-year-old driver and front-seat passenger were wearing seat belts when the 2015 Chevrolet Spark collided with the truck, according to the Highway Patrol.
“The unbelted people put everyone at risk," Van Tessel said. "In a crash, the unbuckled people fly around all over the place,” injuring others inside the vehicle.
Oklahoma is the only state where passengers who are older than 7 years old and in the back seat of a car do not have to wear a seat belt, said Leslie Gamble, the manger of public and government relations for AAA-Oklahoma.
“A 41-member coalition of traffic safety advocates has pushed for a bill to be passed by our state legislators for the past three years without success,” Gamble said
The crash occurred about a mile (1.6 kilometers) from Tishomingo High School.
Students in the district of about 850 students were in class Wednesday, Tishomingo Public School Superintendent Bobby Waitman said.
“Academics are secondary, frankly, at this point to the students knowing that they belong, that they have a safe place,” Waitman said.
“You'll never fully understand, I don't think we'll ever fully understand a loss like this," Waitman added.
The girls' names weren't released because they are juveniles.
The Highway Patrol identified the driver of the truck as Valendon Burton, 51, of Burneyville, Oklahoma. The report said Burton was not injured.
The National Transportation Safety Board was sending a team, according to NTSB spokesman Peter Knudson.
Read:Tornado rips through New Orleans and its suburbs, killing 1
Waitman said funerals for the students were not yet scheduled and that the district would work with their families to potentially schedule a memorial service on campus.
The crash happened one week after nine people were killed — including six members of a New Mexico college’s golf team and their coach — died in a crash in West Texas. In that crash, the NTSB determined that a 13-year-old boy was behind the wheel of a truck when it blew a tire and struck the van carrying University of the Southwest students.
Esteemed theater director taken by Russians
Russian troops who occupy the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson seized one of the country's most prominent theater directors “in a fascist manner” and took him to an unknown location, Ukraine’s Culture Minister Oleksandr Tkachenko said.
Witnesses said nine Russian military vehicles pulled up to the home of Oleksandr Kniga early Wednesday and led him out. The Russians warned neighbors that if they came out of their homes, they would be killed, the witnesses said.
Read:7,000 to 15,000 Russian troops dead in Ukraine: NATO
“The whole world should know about this!” Tkachenko said on Facebook.
Kniga, 62, is one of the most important and respected theater directors in Ukraine. He founded the international theater festival Melpomene of Tavria.
He was among many in Kherson who oppose the Russian occupation. On Monday, Russian troops used stun grenades and fired in the air to disperse a protest.