Japan Planning to Build Up to 8 LNG-Fired Thermal Power Plants by 2030, Reports Say

According to the Japanese media report, construction of such plants would require investments worth around 100 billion yen ($745 million).The Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry is going to cooperate with private companies by covering their building and investment costs during the construction of new thermal power plants with a total capacity of 6,000 megawatts.

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Rail Workers Fume After Biden ‘Betrayal’ Blocks Possible Strike For Sick Days

Rail workers are venting their anger after feeling deceived by Joe Biden this week, following the United States president’s intervention in negotiations between major rail carriers and the unions representing their employees.

One worker who described feeling “betrayed by Biden” explained to a labor journalist, “Let's put it this way: for three years I flew a flag in front of my house that said ‘impeach Trump.’ If Trump runs against Biden in 2024, l'll take some of my back pay and give it to Trump.”

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Russia Hopes US Will Return to Revival of Iran Nuclear Deal, Source Says

💬 "For this, our US colleagues just lack the political will to make the final step on reaching an agreement on this matter. We hope that they will stop muddying waters, pull themselves together and follow through on the revival of nuclear deal," a high-ranking Russian diplomatic source told Sputnik on Sunday.

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US-EU Trade War Looms as MEPs Roll Out 'Nuclear Option' Hard Line Against Washington

European nations, already battered by a self-inflicted energy crisis foisted upon them by Brussels’ push to wean the region off Russian oil and gas, now face the prospect of deindustrialization and impoverishment thanks to an American law encouraging European companies to move production to the United States. Now, some lawmakers want to fight back.

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How Many Nuclear Submarines Does China Have and How Big a Threat Do They Pose to the US?

The People’s Liberation Army Navy made a splash in US media last month after the US Pacific Fleet revealed that China had fitted its boomer subs with new, longer-range intercontinental ballistic missiles. Just what are China’s sea-based nuclear capabilities?

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❗️Russian MoD’s briefing on the progress of the special military operation in Ukraine:

▪️Russian troops have launched a successful offensive operation in the Artemovsk region;

▪️The Russian Army eliminated more than 50 Ukrainian servicemen and six armored combat vehicles in the Donetsk direction;

▪️Russian forces thwarted attempts by the Ukrainian Army to break through in the South Donetsk direction, eliminating up to 40
Ukrainian serviceman, an infantry fighting vehicle, and three pickup trucks;

▪️Russian troops thwarted an attack by the Ukrainian Army near the village of Kuzemovka in the Kupyansk direction, eliminating more than 60 Ukrainian servicemen, two pickup trucks, and two cars;

▪️The Russian Army repelled attacks by Ukrainian forces on the positions of Russian troops in the Krasny Liman direction, eliminating three Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance groups, more than 80 Ukrainian servicemen, one tank, an infantry fighting vehicle, and an armored car;

▪️Ukrainian forces suffered losses in manpower and equipment in 187 districts;

▪️Russian forces destroyed two US-made AN/TPQ-37 counter-battery radar systems near the settlement of Dibrovin the DPR;

▪️Russian troops destroyed a Ukrainian munitions warehouse in the Zaporozhye region;

▪️The Russian Army destroyed an oil depot used to supply Ukrainian troops in the Kupyansk direction;

▪️The Russian Air Force shot down a Ukrainian Su-25 aircraft;

▪️Russian air defenses destroyed nine UAVs, five HIMARS and Uragan shells, and two HARM anti-radar missiles.

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⚡️ Moscow working on mechanisms to prohibit Russian oil price ceiling irrespective of set level - Novak

Russia's Dagestan Reports Mass Death of Caspian Seals Due to Natural Factors

The Caspian seal is an endemic and the only marine mammal species found in the Caspian Sea that plays a unique role in the marine ecosystem. Cases of detection of dead seals off the Caspian coast in Dagestan have increased in recent years.

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🇯🇴 Jordan is actively engaged in diplomacy with Russia rather than going along with the West's sanctions. Yesterday Jordanian Prince Hassan bin Talal told me that there are “triple standards” when it comes to refugees from Ukraine vs refugees from Syria and other war-torn countries in the Middle East.

Another Jordanian whom I’ve met on the sidelines of the Rome MED conference. Zaid Eyadat, Director of Jordanian Center for Strategic Studies has agreed, saying that there are more than 2 million Syrian refugees in his country, and their needs must be addressed internationally:

“Jordan is committed to the Geneva Accords and to the humanitarian law, where refugees have to be provided with shelters and safety. And that's where Jordan always calls for the international community to support Jordan, because Jordan's resources cannot deal with such a number of the refugees.”

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🇨🇳 Chinese taikonauts have conducted a successful rotation of crews at the Tiangong Space Station for the first time in the country’s history. The Shenzhou-14 crew completed all tasks during their six-month mission, according to the China Manned Space Agency. The Shenzhou-15 crew will work at the Tiangong Space Station until May 2023

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The US may soon stop providing assistance to Ukraine, if Congress doesn't pass an annual law on financing defense programs and other government operations, US media reported.

Defense Department officials have compiled a list of the consequences Washington could face if Congress doesn't pass a law on cumulative spending for the entire year, according to US media. The resolution, which continues throughout the year, will reduce defense funding by $29 billion, or 3.7%, compared with the budget proposal of US President Joe Biden, media reported, citing senior Defense Department officials and internal documents.

It is also reported that senior defense officials are concerned that a long-term continuous resolution could stop military assistance to Ukraine, which comes from the basic budget of the Department of Defense

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⚽️World Cup latest: France beats Poland 3-1

⚽️ American "soccer" lost to worldwide "football" or how Dutch PM Mark Rutte joked with President Joe Biden after the Netherlands knocked the US out of the World Cup in Qatar.

A video posted on Twitter in which Biden says "It's called soccer" prompted a spate of wisecracks between the US president and Dutch PM. This is how Biden wished the US national team good luck ahead of their match in the World Cup round of 16 against the Dutch on Saturday at the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha.

But the Netherlands soon sunk the United States' World Cup dream by reaching the quarterfinals with a 3-1 victory - and Rutte quickly reacted to Biden's tweet:

😉 "Sorry Joe, football won," he wrote, adding a wink emoji

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Rome MED-2022 - 🇮🇹 Italy's top public diplomacy conference was held with 🇷🇺Russia in absentia, and with Moscow being blamed by the Europeans for the difficult situation in the energy sector and lessened food security in the greater Mediterranean. Moscow considers these negative trends an outcome of the flawed EU/US economic policies during the two years of COVID pandemic, with Ukrainian crisis only adding up to these problems. Unlike the Europeans, many delegates from the Arab World and North Africa weren't afraid of voicing their own independent opinion on the Ukrainian issue and on the topic of anti-Russian sanctions. Here is my recap of the Rome-MED conference. Subscribe to @BolotskySputnik

📹 The world is full of talented and unique people, and Sasa Dulovic from northern Montenegro is one of them. He creates art out of wood using a chainsaw.

Sasa enjoys his work and the creative process, and also succeeds in making money. Having no formal art education, he mostly draws inspiration from nature, from the mountains and forests around Kolasin, Montenegro

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🌍 In 1986, the United Nations General Assembly recognized December 2 as the International Day for the Abolition of Slavery. Three experts and activists from Africa told Sputnik why the issue of slavery is still of utmost importance in the modern world.

🗣 "Modern slavery is all around us, often hidden in plain sight. People can become enslaved making our clothes, serving our food, picking our crops, working in factories, or working in houses as cooks, cleaners or nannies. Victims of modern slavery might face violence or threats, be forced into inescapable debt, or have their passport taken away and face being threatened with deportation," says Method Dallu, a youth development activist from Tanzania

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