🇨🇳 China is projected to give a significant boost to the world economy, accounting for about a third of global growth in 2023, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund Kristalina Georgieva said.

💬 "The robust rebound means China is set to account for around one third of global growth in 2023, giving a welcome lift to the world economy," Georgieva said at the 2023 China Development Forum in Beijing.

The IMF analysis has shown that a one percentage point increase in China's gross domestic product growth leads to a 0.3 percentage point GDP growth of other Asian economies on average, Georgieva said, dubbing this "a welcome boost."

China's GDP is expected to reach 5% this year, according to the country's social and economic development plan. Meanwhile, some experts have more optimistic views on China's economic growth. Chen Fengying, the former director of the Institute of World Economic Studies in the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, has told Sputnik that the country's GDP may grow by 6% in 2023, but Beijing has chosen not to put this ambitious goal in the plan, since last year's growth rate was below the official forecast of 5.5%.

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📹 The AZOM factory in Artemovsk (Bakhmut) has come under the complete control of private military company the Wagner Group, a Sputnik correspondent has said.

This is where Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky awarded Ukrainian militants for "valiantly defending" the plant in December last year. The footage shows the building abandoned by Ukrainian troops.

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❗️(1) Russian MoD briefing on the progress of the special military operation in Ukraine:

▪️ Russian artillery destroyed up to 70 Ukrainian troops, one armored fighting vehicle, four pick-up trucks in Kupyansk direction;

▪️A Ukrainian ammunition depot has been hit in the Kharkov region;

▪️In the Krasny Liman direction, Russian troops destroyed more than 90 Ukrainian servicemen, four armored fighting vehicles, three motor vehicles, and two D-30 howitzers;

▪️In the Donetsk direction, Russian forces destroyed more than 200 Ukrainian troops, nine armored fighting vehicles, two pick-up trucks, one Grad MLRS vehicle, two Msta-B howitzers, two D-30 howitzers, one Polish-made Krav self-propelled artillery system, and two US-made AN/TPQ-50 radar systems;

▪️A Ukrainian ammunition depot has been hit close to Kramatorsk in the Donetsk People's Republic.

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❗️(2) Russian MoD briefing on the progress of the special military operation in Ukraine:

▪️Ukrainian losses in these directions have amounted to 60 Ukrainian troops, two armored fighting vehicles, three motor vehicles, and two D-30 howitzers in the South Donetsk and Zaporozhye directions;

▪️In the Kherson direction, the Russian army has neutralized more than 20 Ukrainian troops, one Akatsiya self-propelled howitzer, and one US-made M777 artillery system;

▪️Russian Aerospace Forces have shot down one Mi-8 aircraft of the Ukrainian Air Force in the Donetsk People's Republic;

▪️Air defense forces have intercepted seven HIMARS MLRS projectiles;

▪️Fourteen Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles were shot down in the LPR, DPR and Zaporozhye regions.

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❗️Three injured as explosives-laden drone hits Russia's Tula region

The local emergency service told Sputnik that, according to preliminary data, the explosion had been caused by a fall of an unmanned aerial vehicle carrying ammunition.

"The explosion occurred in the Kireyevsky district, which partially damaged three residential buildings. Two people have minor injuries, they are receiving medical assistance now," the committee said in a statement, while later in the day the regional health department noted that the number of wounded reached three.

The incident site has been cordoned off and the work of operational services is underway, the statement added.

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Nine Killed, 74 Injured in Recent Natural Disasters in Afghanistan

The recent earthquake, heavy rains and floods in Afghanistan have hit 23 out of 34 provinces of the country, killing nine people and injuring 74 others, 1,700 houses had been completely or partly destroyed, Hasibullah Sheikhani, a spokesman for the Afghanistan National Disaster Management Authority, told Sputnik on Sunday.

At the same time, Sheikhani said that thanks to the cooperation of humanitarian organizations, including international institutions, 53,000 families in Afghanistan had received humanitarian assistance.

Earlier this week, a powerful earthquake hit the Hindu Kush mountains, most of which are located in Afghanistan, the European Mediterranean Seismological Center said. The quake hit Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan, killing at least 13 people and injuring around 100 others in the two countries in total.

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Northern Lights illuminate Russia's Murmansk region

The Northern Lights are a rather common phenomenon in the north of Russia. Located in the northwestern part of Russia, on the Kola Bay of the Barents Sea, Murmansk is one of the best places in the world to observe the Northern Lights, as the city is located in the middle of the Aurora Belt, which is the region of the world where the Aurora is most frequently visible.

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Michael Gove Pushes Ban On Laughing Gas Despite Personal Cocaine Use

"We are doing this because if you walk through any urban park you will see these little silver cannisters which are the evidence of people regarding public spaces as arenas for drug-taking. It is unacceptable. People should feel those spaces are being looked after in a way which means they are safe for children," UK minister Michael Gove said.

The statement may come across as questionable, considering that Gove has previously acknowledged that he used cocaine in the past. In 2019, a book disclosed that he had taken the drug several times while he was working as a journalist.

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