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RZESZOW, Poland In the hours before dawn, as the world held its breath watching the first movements of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on Thursday, the Turkish military made a last-minute dash to evacuate diplomatic staff and other citizens of Turkey from the capital, Kyiv.

Two military cargo planes entered Ukrainian airspace soon after midnight and circled down into Boryspil International Airport, the main civilian airport that lies 18 miles east of Kyiv city center.

But the planes ended up stranded. So too were their military crews, and the Turkish diplomats and citizens they were trying to evacuate. At 5 a.m., Russia unleashed the first salvos of its war on Ukraine, making any flight out impossible.

Pictures of the airport the next day, obtained from the commercial satellite imagery company Planet Labs, show two gray military cargo planes parked in the open at one side of the airport, which so far has not been a target of Russian airstrikes.

The stuck planes have now become Exhibit A of President Recep Tayyip Erdogans misreading of the Ukraine situation, opening him to criticism at home for not evacuating Turkish citizens in time, for misjudging President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and for not taking American warnings of an invasion seriously enough.

Mr. Erdogan and Mr. Putin have had a sometimes close, sometimes contentious relationship as the Turkish leader has cultivated links with Moscow partly as leverage against the West, but also out of necessity, since Turkey is being squeezed from several sides by Russia.

Turkey is a NATO member, but so much distrust has built up because of Mr. Erdogans flirtations with Russia that it was not invited into at least one of the alliances leadership-level meetings before the Russian invasion, according to Asli Aydintasbas, a senior fellow with the European Council on Foreign Relations.

At the same time, Mr. Putin and Mr. Erdogan have in recent years found themselves on opposite sides of conflicts in Azerbaijan, Libya and Syria.

Russian troops in Syria have long threatened to press their offensive against the last rebel-held area in that country, which could force up to four million Syrians to flee into Turkey. And since 2020, the Russian military has expanded its footprint in the Caucasus region.

Now Russia looks poised to dominate the northern shores of the Black Sea with its advances in Ukraine, where Mr. Erdogan has irritated Russia by selling Turkish-made drones, some of which have been used to strike Russian armored convoys since the invasion began, according to Ukrainian officials.

Mr. Erdogan and Mr. Putin spoke on the telephone on Feb. 23, hours before the start of the invasion. Mr. Erdogan repeated his offer of mediation between Russia and Ukraine and reiterated his invitation to Mr. Putin to visit Istanbul for a meeting with Ukraines president, Volodymyr Zelensky.

President Erdogan stated that he always attaches great importance to the close dialogue he established with Russian President Putin on regional issues, that they have seen the positive results of this and that he is determined to maintain this understanding, an official statement from the Turkish presidency said.

Mr. Erdogan has maintained an even tone in his public statements over the situation, describing the invasion of Ukraine as unacceptable but continuing to call for a peaceful resolution.

But there is a sense of anger in Mr. Erdogans presidential circle that Mr. Putin lied to them about his intentions in Ukraine, Ms. Aydintasbas said.

Turkey was late in taking action and evacuating its people, Ms. Aydintasbas wrote in a text message, adding, They never believed the U.S. scenario of a full-scale invasion and dismissed U.S. warnings..

March 4, 2022, 7:29 a.m. ET

I suspect Erdogan trusted his relationship with Putin and thought it would be a minor incursion, she added. Turkey also failed to evacuate its citizens based on that belief. Thats proving to be a huge miscalculation.

The situation seemed to have inspired a shift in Turkeys stance toward Russia on Sunday, when both the Turkish foreign minister and head of presidential communications described Moscows intervention against Ukraine for the first time as an act of war.

Turkey oversees access to the Black Sea through the Montreux Convention, a 1936 international treaty that regulates sea vessels passing through the Bosporus. Defining the situation as war would allow Turkey to close the Bosporus to vessels of the countries involved.

There remains a loophole for Russia, since, as one of the littoral states on the Black Sea, it can claim the movement of vessels is for them to return to their home base. Russian warships and a submarine have already passed through to the Black Sea in recent weeks and have played a part in the attack on Ukraine, but Turkeys action may complicate Russias ability to send reinforcements or resupply its forces.

Its not a game changer but its a nuisance for the Russians, Ms. Aydintasbas said. Its a nuisance not to be able to have their Mediterranean fleet go up the Bosporus to the Black Sea. The change in tone was indicative of the sentiments in Turkey, she added.

Not much is known about Turkeys decision-making process in the last hours before the outbreak of war, but it is clear that Mr. Erdogan miscalculated the speed and the severity of the Russian operation, and the urgency for an evacuation.

According to flight-tracking records, two Turkish Air Force planes landed at Kyiv, one with the code TUAF600, at 12:15 a.m. on Thursday and the second, TUAF601, at 3:43 a.m., said Justin Bronk, a research fellow for air power and technology at the Royal United Services Institute in London.

A Ukrainian city falls. Russian troops gained control of Kherson,the first city to be overcome during the war. The overtaking of Kherson is significant as it allows the Russians to control more of Ukraines southern coastline and to push west toward the city of Odessa.

Two hours after the first plane landed, Ukraine announced that it was closing its airspace because of the impending Russian attack. The second Turkish plane appeared to turn back, missing its scheduled landing at 2:46 a.m., but then proceeded and landed about an hour later.

There are no flight records of the two military planes leaving in the hours after they landed, Mr. Bronk said. Both Ukraine and Russia had announced the closing of airspace by then, he noted.

The flights could have left unseen if the pilots turned off their transponders, Mr. Bronk said. But the satellite images seen by The New York Times indicate otherwise.

Turkey has been calling its citizens in Ukraine individually for the last month, urging them to leave, and is still trying to evacuate 6,600 citizens from the country, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Sunday.

A Turkish student stuck in Kharkiv, a northeastern city that has come under the most intense assault, posted on Twitter to appeal for help on Saturday.

We are a student community of 35 people in Ukraine/Kharkiv (this number is not the total number of students in Kharkiv), the student, Ahmet Kagan Gumus, wrote. 3 of us were evacuated and now we are 32. For the first time, we hear the sounds of clashes, bombardments, helicopters and jets from very close.

The predicament of Turkish citizens students, tourists and business professionals stuck in Ukraine as the war intensifies is not unique. Thousands of foreigners have been struggling to flee, including Afghan refugees, African students and employees of Western companies and embassies.

Turkey, like many other nations, is scrambling to rescue citizens who manage to travel overland out of Ukraine to neighboring countries, but the borders are clogged with tens of thousands of refugees and 20-mile tailbacks. Mr. Cavusoglu said that a Turkish Airlines plane was bringing home some who had succeeded in reaching Romania.

The Turkish defense minister, Hulusi Akar, demanded to speak to his Russian counterpart to arrange an air corridor for evacuations, Mr. Cavusoglu said. Mr. Akar did reach the Russian defense minister, Sergei K. Shoigu, on Sunday, according to an official Turkish statement.

But that statement made no mention of any agreement for an air corridor.

Nimet Kirac contributed reporting from Rzeszow, Poland, and Safak Timur from Istanbul.

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Ukraine Invasion Increases Friction Between Erdogan and Putin - The New York Times

Quantum computers, the next generation of computing machines that promise to solve some of the worlds most pressing problems, have arrivedand Northeastern researchers are hard at work trying to improve these futuristic devices.

They include Devesh Tiwari, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, who recently was awarded a National Science Foundation grant to embark on research to improve the reliability of quantum computers.

Makers of existing quantum computers, which are still largely prototypes, have claimed that their state-of-the-art devices can solve in mere minutes problems that would take traditional supercomputers thousands of years to solve. It is one of the promises of quantum computing, an emerging field which practitioners claim is verging on big transformations.

Even if it may not be apparent right now, quantum computing has already taken off, Tiwari says. When revolutionary technologies take off, it becomes apparent only in hindsight. When we look back, the last couple decades will certainly be marked as a take-off point, when lots of the theoretical promises of quantum computing started to get realized in practice.

But there is a problem. Current quantum machines, known as noisy intermediate-scale quantum-era quantum computers, or NISQ machines, are highly error-prone. As a result, when computational scientists execute their programs on NISQ machines, they receive noisy outputsthat is, inaccurate outputs, Tiwari says.

Seizing on advances in quantum bit technology, or qubits, researchers have been trying to build more powerful quantum computers. To do so, they need new techniques like the sort Tiwari hopes to develop to mitigate the side-effects of high error rates.

The funding for Tiwaris work is part of the federal agencys Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) program, given to early-career faculty who are engaged in scientific leadership, education, or community outreach and whose projects involve innovative research at the frontiers of science and technology.

Tiwaris project proposal, dubbed Qurious, does just that. He and a team of researchers plan to design and develop a robust system-software ecosystem for quantum computers to help quantum programmers make meaningful interpretations of noisy and erroneous runs on quantum computers. As principal investigator of the project, Tiwari will be awarded $560,000 over a five-year period to conduct the research.

The end result, Tiwari says, is to be able to scale the software on larger, more advanced machines as they come along. He is uniquely positioned for the research because of his prior expertise in the dependability of supercomputerspredecessor devices to the emerging quantum systems. Supercomputers are currently being used to solve some of the toughest problems worldwide, like finding novel drug therapies, strengthening cybersecurity, and modeling galaxies.

Quantum computers hold the promise to solve these problems of societal importance much faster, Tiwari says.

Companies such as IBM, Google, IonQ, and Rigetti Computing have built small-scale quantum computers in recent years. Companies that have created quantum machines will have to demonstrate that their devices can achieve quantum advantage, or that the computers can outperform their classical counterparts.

I feel fortunate and humbled that the [National Science Foundation] is supporting these futuristic, high-risk high-reward ideas, Tiwari says, because this project is very forward-looking, very futuristic. Id note that this award truly belongs to all my students for the high quality of science they doI am incredibly lucky to have the privilege of advising great students in my lab; they all are remarkably innovative, creative, and persistent.

For media inquiries, please contact media@northeastern.edu.

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Computer Engineer Has a Plan to Tackle Noisy Quantum ...

Warrior Run High School selects four students each month to be honored as student of the month. Nathan Eugene McCormack, outstanding senior; Kelsey Morgan Shrawder, Turbotville Lions Club student of the month; Logan Joseph Stroup, Watsontown Lions Club student of the month; and Myles Eugene Corderman, Milton Rotary Club Vocational student of the month, have all been selected for the month of February.

Nathan Eugene McCormack, the son of James and Candy McCormack, participates in outdoor club, National Honor Society and National Art Honor Society and participates in the soccer and track and field athletic teams. He is also a kicker on the football team. He has acheived varsity letters in track and field, soccer and football. Nathan has also acheived All-league Honorable Mention for soccer, 6th place district medal for triple jump and several tournament wins throughout his time on the travel soccer team. He also attended a mission trip to Guatemala in 2019. He is currently employed at UPMC Muncy and likes to do pottery outside of class. He plans to attend Bucknell University and receive a Ph.D in research.

Kelsea Morgan Shrawder, the daughter of Brian and Jamie Shrawder, is a member of the National Honor Society, concert choir and is the treasurer of the drama club. She is invovled at the Trinity United Church of Christ in Turbotville and is currently employed at Walmart. In the future, she hopes to continue to utilize her theatre interests in a career with the Walt Disney Co. after attending Penn State University for recreation, park and tourism managment.

Logan Joseph Stroup, the son of Joseph and Misti Stroup, is active in student council, 4H, Criminal Justics in LYCO, and is a school announcer for morning/afternoon announcements. Outside of class he enjoys playing cornhole, fishing, hunting and hanging out with his friends. He has acheived the 4H best shotgun shooter and first place in Skills USA districts for crime scene investigation. Logan is currently employed at Miles Reynolds General Contracting. He plants to work at the Lycoming County Prerealease Center and hopes to pursue a career in law enforcement.

Myles Eugene Corderman, the son of David and Jennfier Corderman, is a member of the student council and is a morning and afternoon school announcer. He attends Buffalo Community Church in Lewisburg and is part of their cornhole league as well as their youth group. During the summers, he works in commercial roofing. Outside of school, he participates in basketball, cornhole and working on vehicles. He hope to open up his own garage and build show cars and trucks.

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Warrior Run Students of the Month- February | News, Sports, Jobs - Williamsport Sun-Gazette

FIFA and UEFA decided to bar Russia only hours after the International Olympic Committee called for international sports federations to prohibit Russian athletes and teams from all global sporting events where possible. The Olympic officials said Russia had breached a commitment known as the Olympic Truce, and signed before the start of the Beijing Winter Games and scheduled to run through the Paralympics that open this week when it invaded Ukraine.

The immediate consequence of soccers ban on Russia is that it will lose its place in a four-team group for one of Europes final places for the World Cup. Poland, which was scheduled to play Russia in March in Moscow, had said flatly that it would refuse to take the field for the game, a stance it repeated after FIFA announced its initial slate of penalties on Sunday night.

Cezary Kulesza, the president of Polands soccer federation, called FIFAs initial decision not to eject Russia totally unacceptable. In a post on Twitter, he added: We are not interested in participating in this game of appearances. Our stance remains intact: Polish National Team will NOT PLAY with Russia, no matter what the name of the team is.

Sweden and the Czech Republic, the teams that could have met Russia also in Moscow if the Russians beat Poland, said that they, too, would refuse to play, even at a neutral site.

A Ukrainian city falls. Russian troops gained control of Kherson,the first city to be overcome during the war. The overtaking of Kherson is significant as it allows the Russians to control more of Ukraines southern coastline and to push west toward the city of Odessa.

The indefinite ban on Russia also extends to its club teams, meaning that Spartak Moscow, its last remaining participant in a continental competition, will no longer be able to compete in its Europa League knockout game against Germanys RB Leipzig. That match was in doubt before Mondays decision, with officials unsure how the Russian team could travel after the European Union issued a blanket ban on Russian flights into the 27-member bloc.

It remains unclear if the decision to exclude Russia will face a challenge in the courts. Russia, as well as some of its athletes, has in recent years successfully fought exclusion from other events, including the Olympic Games, by getting punishments watered down through appeals to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

The Russian Football Union, known as the R.F.U., called the ban discriminatory, and said it was considering its legal options. Such actions split the international sports community, which has always adhered to the principles of equality, mutual respect and independence from politics, the F.R.U. said. We reserve the right to challenge the decision of FIFA and UEFA in accordance with international sports law.

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FIFA Will Ban Russia, Ejecting It From World Cup Qualifying - The New York Times

Former Tottenham and Liverpool player Jamie Redknapp believes Chelseas loss on penalties to the Reds should put to bed the discussion surrounding a change of goalkeepers before a shootout.

It comes as the Blues suffered an 11-10 loss in the penalty shootout at the hands of Jurgen Klopps men, after 120 minutes were unable to separate the two sides.

Towards the end of extra-time, Thomas Tuchel made the brave call to bring on Kepa Arrizabalaga, despite the performance of Edouard Mendy throughout the game.

It was a rehearsed decision from the German coach, who has made the same substitution before in the Super Cup final last summer.

Discussing the reason for that change last year, he said: "It [the substitution] was not spontaneous. We talked about it with the goalkeepers when we came and had the first cup game against Barnsley.

"So we had some statistics, we were well prepared, that Kepa is the best in percentage in saving penalties.

"The analysis guys and the goalkeeping coaches showed me, introduced me to the data, then we spoke with the players, that this can happen when we play in a knockout game, and since then they know.

The move proved costly this time though, as Kepa failed to save 11 straight penalties before blazing his own spot kick over the bar.

It was a decision that, after the game, Jamie Redknapp was against.

The pundit said on Sky Sports: I hope it puts to bed the substitutions now of putting goalkeepers on. Edouard Mendy is one of the best goalkeepers in the world and you bring on Kepa instead of him, ridiculous.

I didnt like his behaviour when the penalties were being taken and then he took one of the worst penalties youve ever seen.

I dont like it, I dont understand why you do it. You have one of the best goalkeepers in the world, he shouldve stayed in there in the first place.

It may cause Tuchel to readdress his choice in the future for such crucial matches, especially after the showing of Mendy for the majority of the match.

What this means for the Blues now is yet to be seen, though theres little time to do too much reflection, with an FA Cup tie against Luton on the horizon.

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Jamie Redknapp disagrees with Thomas Tuchel over Kepa Arrizabalaga decision in Carabao Cup final - Football.London