Japan Increases Ammunition Storage Facilities: How Will the Public Take It?

Japan's Defense Ministry plans to launch the construction of ten large ammunition storage facilities at the Self-Defense Forces' land and sea bases in 2023, including in Oita and Aomori prefectures, Japanese media reported, citing government sources.

There are currently 1,400 ammunition storage facilities in Japan, mostly concentrated in Hokkaido. The number is expected to increase by 130 by 2035. Some of them will be designed to store Japanese-made advanced Type-12 guided missiles, which have a range of over 1,000 km, and the 1,600 km range US Tomahawk cruise missiles, with which the government plans to equip the Self-Defense Forces in the near future.

How are the residents of the prefectures where the storage facilities will be built reacting to these plans?

👉Find out here

Foreign Military Bases in Afghanistan May Be Turned Into Special Economic Zones

Areas in Afghanistan that were previously used by foreign powers as military bases are now expected to be repurposed by the Taliban* as special economic zones.

As one media outlet pointed out, this scheme was first mentioned to them back in December by Afghanistan’s acting minister of commerce who said that the proposal will be submitted to both the cabinet and the economic committee.

*under UN sanctions for terrorist activities

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🇮🇱 🌍 Israeli delegation expelled from the African Union summit

A video of AU security personnel escorting the Israeli delegation, headed by senior diplomat Sharon Bar-li, from the AU’s heads of state summit has gone viral on the internet.

🗣 “Israel looks harshly upon the incident, in which the deputy director for Africa, Ambassador Sharon Bar-Li, was removed from the African Union hall despite her status as an accredited observer with entrance badges,” the Israeli foreign ministry said in a statement.

An AU representative said that the Israeli diplomat was walked out of the meeting in Addis Ababa because she was not the accredited Israeli ambassador to Ethiopia.

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📹 Mobilized paratroopers undergo training in rear areas of the special military operation (video courtesy of Russian MoD)

The main phase of this course is firearms training. Groups fire a variety of small arms, grenade launchers, and BMD-2K-AU standard weapons.

The daily, multi-hour training sessions are conducted in conditions closely resembling combat.

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🇯🇵🇺🇸 Japan and the United States conducted joint air exercises over the Sea of Japan in response to North Korea's recent missile launch, the Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) said on Sunday.

💬 "On Feb 19, JASDF F15 [fighter jet] and USAF [United States Air Force] B1 [bomber] and F16 [fighter] conducted tactical exercises in the airspace, Sea of Japan, to mutually reaffirm the readiness under the ironclad Japan-US Alliance," the air force said on Twitter.

The air forces of both nations routinely work together to maintain high levels of operational readiness, the statement added.

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🌍 Africa Knows Its Enemy: Ugandan FM Lambasts 'Western Colonizers' for Attempts to Isolate Russia

🗣 “We were colonized, and we forgive those who colonized us. Now the colonizers are asking us to be enemies with Russia, who never colonized us; is that fair? It is not, so for us, their enemies are their enemies, our friends are our friends. There should be exclusion, there should not be an interference on that matter,” Ugandan Foreign Minister Abubaker Jeje Odongo told Sputnik in an interview.

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🇧🇷💃 Tarado Ni voce street carnival returns to São Paulo, bringing joy to locals and tourists alike after one-year hiatus due to COVID-19

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China Warns US 'Not to Add Fuel to Fire' of Ukraine Conflict

Beijing’s official position on the Ukraine conflict is that it supports negotiations for peace, a senior Communist Party of China officer stated at the 2023 Munich Security Conference on Saturday.

Meeting US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on the sidelines of the 2023 Munich Security Conference on Saturday, head of the Communist Party of China's Central Foreign Affairs Office Wang Yi stressed that "As a great power, the US should contribute to a political solution to the crisis, not add fuel to the fire and look for opportunities to benefit from it."

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G For Greed, Not For Green: UK Authorities Crack Down on Business for Misleading Ecological Claims

British authorities have announced plans to fine companies abusing ecological agendas for commercial purposes, reports have suggested. According to media sources, London is passing a new bill that shields society from such false claims.

New legislation will reportedly grant the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) with new powers to impose direct civil penalties on companies involved in such activities. The new bill will give a legal definition to "greenwashing" and introduce monetary punishment for this practice. "Greenwashing" will be considered as a breach of Consumer Protection from the Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 and financial penalties will make the game not worth the candle.

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Sorry, Mulder! After Spending Millions to Investigate UFOs, US Has No Proof of Alien Contact

Public interest in things extraterrestrial was suddenly reignited this month when the US military - apparently eager to show that they are capable of protecting American skies in the aftermath of the Chinese balloon saga - went on a shooting spree and downed three unidentified objects.

Speaking with media after these objects were shot down, NORAD Commander Gen. Glen VanHerck refrained from explicitly ruling out the possibility of some kind of aliens being involved.

Alas, other US military officials were quick to dash the hopes of those who “want to believe." White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre specifically told media during a press briefing on Monday that there is “no indication of aliens or extra-terrestrial activity with these recent takedowns.”

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Can't Touch This: Ronaldo Barely Escapes Collision With Saudi Pitch Invader

Portuguese football ace Cristiano Ronaldo has managed to avoid getting injured during a suprise encounter with a pitch invader this week.

According to media reports, the incident in question occurred on Friday as CR7 was preparing for a Saudi Pro League match between his team Al-Nassr and Al-Taawoun.

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Russia's Gazprom Sees Very Big Prospects on Asian Gas Market, CEO Says

Russian energy giant Gazprom is looking to diversify its gas exports and sees the Asian market as particularly promising, its chief executive said in a TV show aired Sunday.

"We all know that the Asian market is the world’s most dynamic market right now. Its demand is growing and Russia sees very big prospects for Russian gas on this market," Alexey Miller said.

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🇩🇪 🔽 Germany has lost 100 billion euros (over $106.7 billion) amid the Russian military operation in Ukraine and the related increase in electricity costs, Marcel Fratzscher, President of the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin), said.

💬 "The Ukraine war and the associated explosion in energy costs cost Germany almost 2.5 percent, or 100 billion euros in economic output in 2022," Fratzscher told the Rheinische Post newspaper, adding that these costs will continue to increase in the coming years.

▪️ Fratzscher said that Germany has been more affected by the crisis economically because it was more dependent on Russian energy, has a high proportion of energy-intensive industry and "is extremely dependent on exports and global supply chains."

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Missiles Launched by Pyongyang on Monday Fall Outside of Japan’s Exclusive Zone

North Korea launched several missiles on Monday, all of them landed outside of Japan's exclusive economic zone, Japanese media report.

South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported earlier on Monday, citing the South Korean military, that Pyongyang test-fired an unspecified ballistic missile toward the Sea of Japan.

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Talks on Extending Grain Deal to Enter Active Phase in Coming Days

Active negotiations on extending the Black Sea Grain Initiative, commonly known as the grain deal, are expected to start in the coming days, a source familiar with the matter told Sputnik.

"I think that the negotiations will enter an active phase already starting this week," the source said, adding that the talks will not be easy, "but work is underway."

Last fall, the grain deal, originally scheduled to expire on November 19, was renewed for another 120 days and is now set to expire on March 18, if not renewed again.

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🇺🇳 UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemns the latest missile test-firing carried out by North Korea and urges Pyongyang to cease "provocative actions," Spokesman for the Secretary-General Stephane Dujarric said.

🗣 "The Secretary-General strongly condemns the launch of yet another ballistic missile of intercontinental range by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea," Dujarric said in a Sunday statement, adding that Guterres "reiterates his calls on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to immediately desist from taking any further provocative actions."

▪️ The Secretary General also called on Pyongyang to resume peace negotiations with the aim of achieving a complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

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📹 Russia’s Msta-S self-propelled artillery guns and D-20 howitzers in combat as part of the special military operation (video courtesy of Russian MoD)

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Finnish MPs Getting Ready to Enter NATO Alone Despite Swedish PM's Warning

It will be bad for several parties if Finland were to be admitted to NATO alone, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson has said, warning against leaving Sweden out.

Kristersson also argued that the military cooperation between Sweden and Finland will be complicated if only the latter becomes part of the alliance.

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🇨🇳🇷🇺 Chinese car manufacturers had a 30% share of the Russian market last year following the exodus of the Western brands because of the sanctions. This year the projection is at 50%.

🗒 Coming up is my story and a video from the assembly line of AAT - Moscow's "Alpha Automotive Technologies" plant. The AAT has been working in partnership with Renault Russia for more than 15 years, and after Renault left the Russian market, it switched to making parts for locally-assembled Chinese brand "Haval"

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⚡️🇵🇰🇦🇫 Gunfire reported between Pakistan's security agencies and Afghan Taliban* on the Torkham border crossing

The reason for confrontation remains unknown at this moment.

*under UN sanctions for terrorism