🇲🇼 🇷🇺 Malawi has asked Russia to send its specialists to fight cholera outbreak, Russian Ambassador to Zimbabwe and Malawi Nikolai Krasilnikov told the national broadcaster

According to the diplomat, the Malawians "are showing interest in restoring and developing cooperation with Russia in various fields."

🗣 "Recently, contacts took place between Rospotrebnadzor [Russian health watchdog] and the Ministry of Health of Malawi on the possible participation of Russian specialists in the fight against cholera," he said

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Russia Enters India's Top 5 Trading Partners for First Time: Indian Commerce Ministry

🇮🇳🇷🇺 As of today, Russia ranks fifth on the list of India's main trading partners, which is the first time since the late 1990s, when India began to keep such statistics.

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🪱☔️ A viral video showing an area apparently being showered with worm-like creatures has left the Internet shocked.

Residents of the Chinese province of Liaoning were told to seek shelter after it looked like it had started to rain worms. One theory suggests that the “worms” were actually poplar flower stalks.

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'An Injustice & Disgrace': Outrage Surges Over 'Shameful' Corsican Language Ban on French Island

A verdict issued on March 9 in the Corsican city of Bastia ruled that only French was to be allowed for public office use on the fourth largest island in the Mediterranean and a “territorial collectivity” of France. Furthermore, use of the Corsican language in debates - something that had been commonly practiced by the Assembly (unicameral legislative body of Corsica) - was pronounced as running counter to the French constitution.

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German Railway Carrier Halts Free Transportation of Humanitarian Aid to Ukraine, Reports Say

Since February 2022, DB Cargo has transported 1,300 containers with food, hygiene products, water purification equipment, generators and wheelchairs to Ukraine by rail and road, the newspaper said, adding that the transportation costs of almost 5 million euros ($5.3 million) were borne by the German railways. DB Cargo will no longer be able to finance the transportation of humanitarian aid for legal reasons, the sources clarified.

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

▪️The Russian Army eliminated over 70 Ukrainian servicemen in the South-Donetsk and Zaporozhye directions;

▪️Ukrainian losses in the Kupyansk direction amounted to up to 50 servicemen, with one Gvozdika self-propelled gun destroyed;

▪️Russian forces destroyed two US-made counter-battery radars in the DPR;

▪️Ukrainian losses in the Donetsk direction amounted to more than 140 servicemen, with two armored vehicles and two D-30 howitzers destroyed;

▪️Russian troops eliminated over Ukrainian 50 servicemen and destroyed an ammunition depot in the Kherson direction;

▪️Ukrainian losses in the Krasny Liman direction amounted to up to 90 servicemen, with one D-30 howitzer and one Akatsiya self-propelled gun destroyed;

▪️Russian air defense systems shot down four HIMARS and Uragan MLRS rockets, and intercepted four HARM anti-radar missiles.

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'Swift & Severe' Costs: US Lawmakers Push Sanctions Mechanism to 'Deter' China From Russia Support

“The increased coordination between China and Russia... is cause for alarm. By passing legislation that authorizes the Biden administration to enact sanctions, we can ensure we are ready to place swift and severe financial consequences on any Chinese entity that knowingly tries to aid Russia either by supplying deadly weaponry that will be used in Ukraine or by helping Russia evade the sanctions imposed by the international community,” Rep. Adam Schiff said.

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🇷🇺🇸🇾 Russia's multipurpose hospital unit started operating in Syria's Aleppo to assist the victims of the devastating quakes that rocked the country and neighboring Turkiye in early February, the Russian Health Ministry said on Saturday.

💬 "A multiprofessional team of doctors from the Federal Center for Disaster Medicine of the Russian Ministry of Health has arrived in Aleppo, Syria, to help the victims of the earthquake. The Russian specialists have set up a multipurpose field hospital and have already begun receiving patients," the statement read.

Around 30 professionals, including surgeons and traumatologists, physicians and pediatricians, neurologists and sonographers as well as nursing staff are providing care in over 10 medical fields. "Russia and Syria have been traditionally cooperating in many areas. I am confident that this kind of interaction will continue and expand," Alexey Kuznetsov, assistant to the Russian health minister, said.

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📈💰 Domino effect feared after collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, as First Republic Bank’s shares slump

The future of First Republic Bank - the 14th largest in the United States - has triggered concern amid speculation of a “domino effect” in the wake of Friday’s bankruptcy of Silicon Valley Bank, media reported.

The bank’s shares fell by 50% on Friday (before the market went dormant for the weekend, the drop was 15%). Analysts sounded the alarm that First Republic, just like Silicon Valley, had a large difference between the fair-market value (the estimated value) and balance-sheet value (the actual value) of its assets.

💬 “The US banking system is on the verge of a much bigger collapse than 2008. Banks own long-term paper at extremely low interest rates,” said Peter Schiff, CEO and chief global strategist of Euro Pacific Capital. “They can't compete with short-term Treasuries. Mass withdrawals from depositors seeking higher yields will result in a wave of bank failures.”

🖨 “If enough banks fail the only way depositors are going to get their money back is if the Fed prints it. So either way everyone gets screwed. Either the FDIC defaults and depositors lose their money, or the Fed bails out the FDIC with QE and deposits lose most of their value,” Schiff added.

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Nord Stream Enigma Deepens as OSINT Analyst Finds Mystery Tanker Hung Around Explosion Site for Week

The Nord Stream sabotage saga saw another development last week after US and German media offered "new evidence" of the alleged involvement of a shadowy "pro-Ukrainian group" in the September terror attacks. Now, a Denmark-based open source intelligence analyst has spotted something fishy off the Danish Baltic Sea island of Bornholm.

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🇫🇷 Riots erupt in Paris as protesters clash with police over pension reform

In January, French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne unveiled a draft of the pension reforms the government plans to adopt in 2023. Under the initiative, the French authorities intend gradually to raise the retirement age by three months a year from 1 September 2023 so that by 2030, the retirement age will have reached 64.

The reform has provoked a wave of protests across the country. Since Borne's announcement, six nationwide demonstrations against the bill have already taken place.

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🇿🇦🇮🇱 South Africa's parliament passes resolution to downgrade embassy in Israel into liaison office over continued human rights violations against Palestinians

▪️The resolution was supported by a majority of lawmakers, with 208 votes in favor and 94 against.

▪️In a statement, the National Freedom Party (NFP) that introduced the resolution to the parliament referred to it as a historic decision that demonstrates South Africa’s commitment to "justice, human rights, and freedom."

🗣 "We’re hoping that this is going to be the first step in putting pressure on Israel to comply with human rights, recognize the rights of the Palestinian people, their right to exist, and also go back to the negotiating table," the NFP’s leader is quoted as saying

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Ukrainian Opposition Leader: Zelensky Regime Won't Be Able to Destroy Orthodox Faith

“The Zelensky regime has once again demonstrated that it holds nothing sacred, this time in the literal sense. Today, the authorities have begun a gangster-style takeover of the main shrine of Orthodoxy – the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra,” said Viktor Medvedchuk, former Ukrainian opposition leader.

“The people are being robbed of the last thing they’ve got – their faith. Orthodoxy is the basis of the culture and spiritual life of the Ukrainian people. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church has called the people to peace, unity and conscientiousness. But peaceful, God-fearing and conscientious people have been declared enemies by the Zelensky government,” Medvedchuk added.

“Ukrainians aren’t zombies. There is Another Ukraine – the genuine, true, Slavic, Orthodox one, which will not allow Satanism and lawlessness to be imposed upon it. And today the traitors of the Ukrainian people, Ukrainian culture and Ukrainian faith hear our voice, and understand that their sinister, black core is becoming more and more obvious each day. Everyone will receive their just deserts. The attempt to destroy the true Orthodox faith only strengthens the people. The Orthodox faith, like the people, cannot be destroyed!” said Medvedchuk

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🇲🇩 Kiev is digging trenches on the border with Moldova, explaining it as an attempt to combat illegal migration and smuggling, a representative of the Moldovan border police told Sputnik.

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Iran Launches Production of New Combined Trainer Aircraft/Close Air Support Jet

Iran lost access to spare parts and maintenance for its fleets of US and French-built aircraft after the 1979 Revolution, and was slapped with a Security Council arms embargo from 2007-2020. While the restrictions were meant to weaken Tehran’s defense capabilities, they instead led to the creation of an advanced domestic defense-industrial complex.

Iranian aviation giant Iran Aviation Industries Organization (IAIO) has rolled out the production version of the Yasin – a light jet-powered trainer aircraft that’s also capable of flying close air support (CAS) missions.

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🇻🇦Pope Francis told an Argentine daily that he was ready to go to Kiev, but only on the condition of making a similar trip to Moscow.

💬 "I am willing to go to Kiev. I want to go to Kiev. But on condition of going to Moscow. I go to both cities or neither," the pontiff said.

▪️When told by the reporter that a visit to Moscow was "impossible," Pope Francis expressed hope that it could be arranged.

▪️In January, the Ukrainian ambassador to the Holy See, Andrii Yurash, expressed hope that Pope Francis would visit Ukraine in the near future.

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How Biden and the Fed Caused Silicon Valley Bank to Tank

Regulators took control of California commercial banking giant Silicon Valley Bank after a bank run this week. The calamity may have been startling, but wasn’t unpredictable, given the Fed’s aggressive policy on interest rates, says author and banking expert David Tawil.

SVB fell victim to the Federal Reserve’s policy of raising interest rates too high, too fast, according to the observer. SVB’s failure was “astounding” in the sense that it was the largest bank collapse since the 2007-2008 crisis, but transpired in a space of 24 hours.

Pondering what the reaction of the Biden's administration and Congress might be, Tawil suggested that given the "dysfunctional" current state of the White House and Congress, the response may come down to lawmakers wagging their fingers at bank executives and the president talking about the need to reign in venture capitalists. "But frankly I don’t expect anything substantive to be done out of Washington,” he said.

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🇪🇸 #StopKillingDonbass: Spaniards took to the streets of the city of Bilbao in the country's north to protest against arms supplies to Ukraine as they do not want the civilian population of Donbass to be killed with European weapons.

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