Over 200 Fellow Party Members Urge Germany's Scholz to Facilitate Talks on Ukraine

More than 200 members of the ruling Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) have signed an open letter, drawn up by former Chancellor Willy Brandt's son, historian and SPD politician Peter Brandt, calling on incumbent Chancellor Olaf Scholz to facilitate negotiations to resolve the Ukrainian conflict.

The letter, circulated on Friday, advocates peace negotiations and was signed, among others, by former European Commissioner for Enlargement and former Commissioner for Enterprise and Industry Guenter Verheugen, former co-leader of the SPD Norbert Walter-Borjans, ex-Bundestag President Wolfgang Thierse, in addition to over 200 other SPD members.

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Flying High: Rishi Sunak Splashes Out £500,000 of Taxpayer Cash on Private Jet Trips

The UK opposition was quick to slam Sunak's hypocrisy about a green economy for everyone. The jet-setting PM blows excessive sums of taxpayer money on his opulent air travel, with private jet hires belching out emissions that poison the atmosphere.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak feels comfortable spending lavish sums on jet trips, government data shows. Last year his flights cost a solid sum of £500,000. In November, he visited Egypt (£108,000) to participate in the UN Climate Change Conference. A week later, he headed to Bali, Indonesia (£340,000) for the G20 Summit, and in December he flew to the Baltic States to speak at the JEF Summit (£62,000).

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🇸🇾🇪🇬 Syria and Egypt are in advanced discussions to restore full diplomatic ties, and a top-level meeting is expected soon, US media reported.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah Al Sisi could meet in the near future, after the Muslim holy month of Ramadan ends.

According to the report, Syrian and Egyptian officials are expected to discuss Syria’s possible return to the Arab League over the weekend. The Arab League suspended Syria’s membership in 2011.

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🇮🇶 Oil exports from Iraqi Kurdistan may resume on April 4

The federal government of Iraq and the authorities of the autonomous region are close to concluding a relevant agreement, a Kurdish broadcaster reports citing sources.

Negotiations between the government and the autonomous authorities are ongoing, and the agreement itself could be announced early next week, according to an informed source. The agreement will allow both sides to jointly manage oil exports from Iraqi Kurdistan.

The oil exports could resume as early as Tuesday, April 4. The proceeds from the sale of oil will be kept in an account that will be managed by the regional government of Iraqi Kurdistan under the supervision of Baghdad.

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☦ Bishop Pavel, the Metropolitan of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, was made to wear an electronic bracelet after he was placed under house arrest

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Bombshell Report Debunks ICC Warrant for Putin, and Mainstream Media Sidesteps It

The ICC prosecutor "appeared to have based his arrest warrant on research produced by Yale University’s Humanitarian Research Lab," a State Department-funded entity whose executive director, Nathaniel Raymond, recently claimed on CNN that "thousands of children are in a hostage situation," per The Grayzone, an independent American investigative outlet.

But "according to the Yale Lab," Grayzone journalist Jeremy Loffredo explained in a new video report, the outrageous allegations of war crimes on the part of the Russian President were based on simple Google searches, involved "zero interviews with actual victims… [and] the researchers didn’t even attempt to see any of the camps in person."

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☦️ The Ukrainian Orthodox Church published a video in which a believer is on her knees praying surrounded by a crowd of rabble-rousers at the entrance to the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra.

Earlier on Friday, Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Volodymyr Zelensky, said that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church must be "physically cleansed" as it is a "pro-Russian" force.

💬 "I think that the first three-six months of the war were a unique chance to resolve everything in a very fast and painless manner. Then you could just physically cleanse many pro-Russian [forces], now it is a bit more difficult. But once again 'a bit more difficult' does not mean 'impossible.' And now we have to be legally motivated and quite harshly go through this path," Podolyak told Ukrainian media.

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🇷🇺🇧🇾 Vladimir Putin sent Alexander Lukashenko congratulations on the Day of Unity of the Peoples of Russia and Belarus

💬 "Dear Alexander Grigoryevich, accept our warmest congratulations on the occasion of the Day of Unity of the Peoples of Russia and Belarus ... Despite the unprecedented sanctions pressure from outside, we are effectively coordinating efforts in the international arena, in the sphere of defense and security, and successfully implementing programs aimed at strengthening financial and economic, and scientific and technological sovereignty," Putin said.

The Russian leader also noted that Russia and Belarus were systematically expanding mutually beneficial cooperation, vigorously improving the mechanisms of the Union State. Putin said that he was confident the partnership between the fraternal peoples would only grow in the future.

The Russian president also wished Lukashenko good health and success, and the citizens of Belarus happiness and prosperity.

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🇮🇳🚀 WATCH: The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) successfully conducted the air-drop landing experiment of the space agency's reusable launch vehicle prototype.

The experiment was performed in the early hours of Sunday at the Aeronautical Test Range (ATR), Chitradurga, Karnataka.

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🇰🇵 Kim Jong-un's sister blasted the Zelensky regime for exhibiting "incurable megalomania" by believing that they could defeat Russia

Kim Yo-jong, Deputy Department Director of the Publicity and Information Department of the Workers' Party of Korea, and sister of the DPRK's head of state Kim Jong-un, has railed against the junta in Kiev over its nuclear ambitions.

Earlier this week, a petition calling for the placement of US nuclear weapons in Ukraine or for the Kiev regime to acquire its own nukes was registered on the website of the Ukrainian president’s office.

💬 "Zelensky's talk about the introduction of US nuclear weapons and the independent development of nuclear weapons is a manifestation of his very dangerous political ambition to prolong his remaining days at any cost by gambling with the destiny of his country and people," Kim Yo-jong said.

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Disney Plies Legal Loophole Linked to King Charles III to Dodge DeSantis' Self-Governance Crackdown

The Republican Governor and Disney have been feuding since he signed the "Parents Rights in Education" bill in March 2022. The legislation, branded "Don’t Say Gay" by its opponents, effectively bans all discussion of sexual or gender identity in grades pre-K to the third grade (approximately age 8). Disney had publicly opposed the 2022 bill and moved to halt political donations to the GOP in Florida.

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▪️The number of people killed in tornadoes and severe winds that swept across several parts of the United States has increased to 26, while dozens others sustained injuries, US media reported.

About 140,000 people remain without power in Pennsylvania as a result of tornadoes, nearly 82,000 in Ohio and over 65,000 in Virginia, according to data from the PowerOutage.us portal.

Media reported on Saturday that a tornado hit Little Rock, the capital of Arkansas and the state's most populated city, severely damaging and destroying many houses. Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders declared a state of emergency and deployed the National Guard, pledging to spare no effort to restore the state.

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🇧🇫 Burkina Faso deported correspondents from French dailies

▪️The two women from France's Le Monde and Liberation newspapers arrived in Paris on Sunday after being expelled, according to the media.

▪️Earlier, Burkina Faso's military government halted all broadcasts by the France 24 news channel after it interviewed the head of al-Qaeda* in North Africa

*a terrorist organization outlawed in Russia and many other countries

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Trump's Lawyers May Seek to Move NY Criminal Case to Staten Island in Hopes of 'Less Biased' Jury

Trump's lawyers, along with his advisers and allies, believe that the southernmost of New York City's five boroughs - which is known to be more conservative - might offer Trump a fairer, less biased trial, according to sources cited by a US publication.

However, Trump’s lawyers will purportedly hold off from any definite decisions on attempting to relocate the case until familiarizing themselves with the charges in the sealed indictment by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

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UK Gov't 'in Negotiations' Over Three Britons Held by Taliban* in Afghanistan, Home Secretary Says

Britain does not have an embassy or consulate in Afghanistan after the Taliban took power in Afghanistan in August of 2021, triggering the collapse of the Western-backed puppet government.

The US and NATO ended a speedy and chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan on August 30, 2021, culminating in a massive airlift of foreigners and Afghans eligible for evacuation from the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul. The Taliban has since governed the country.

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* under UN sanctions over terrorist activities

🇷🇺🐻 A bear named "Rozochka" (which means 'rose'🌹) was spotted in Moscow zoo eating an extremely appetizing sweet pumpkin, peering around suspiciously, worried that there might be someone hoping to purloin a portion of her treat.

Just look at those eyes full of charm!

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🇨🇳🇯🇵 China will deal with the Japanese national, detained on suspicion of espionage, in accordance with the law, Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang said on Sunday during talks with his Japanese counterpart, Yoshimasa Hayashi, in Beijing.

The Japanese foreign minister embarked on a two-day state visit to Beijing on Saturday to mark the 45th anniversary of the China-Japan Peace and Friendship Treaty. This is the first trip by a head of the Japanese Foreign Ministry to China since December 2019.

Japanese state media reported earlier in the day that Hayashi lodged a strong protest over China's detention of a senior employee of Japanese pharmaceutical firm Astellas Pharma in Beijing last week, and called for his quick release.

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🇮🇷🇺🇸 Iran Navy has issued a warning to a US reconnaissance aircraft for entering Iranian airspace without permission. It's unclear so far as to when the incident occurred, but the Iranian Navy's commanders responded immediately by sending a warning to prevent the aircraft from entering the country's airspace without authorization. The aircraft in question was a Lockheed EP-3E, which is responsible for collecting information and data.

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

▪️In the Donetsk direction, Ukrainian losses amounted to up to 210 servicemen;

▪️Russian air defenses shot down 11 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles

▪️Russian troops destroyed a command post and communications unit of the Ukrainian Army;

▪️Russian forces destroyed up to 30 Ukrainian troops, two motor vehicles, three armored fighting vehicles, and one D-30 howitzer in the Kupyansk direction;

▪️Russian troops destroyed two Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance groups in the DPR and Zaporozhye direction;

▪️In the South Donetsk and Zaporozhye directions, Ukrainian losses amounted to over 40 troops and two howitzers;

▪️Russian forces destroyed three Turkish-made Kirpi armored personnel carriers in the Donetsk direction;

▪️Russian troops in the LPR and the Kharkov region suppressed six Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance groups;

▪️Russian troops hit two Ukrainian command and observation points;

▪️In the Krasny Liman direction, Russian forces destroyed up to 100 Ukrainian troops and eight pieces of equipment.

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As Russia Creates New Radar-Absorbing Material, Who are the World Leaders in Stealth Tech?

Experiments in the use of special radar-absorbing materials and aerodynamic designs to provide combat aircraft with stealth characteristics go back to the Second World War.

How are such aircraft defined? What are their advantages and drawbacks? And who is leading the charge in the development of next-gen stealth?

Sputnik explores

⚡️ US Secretary of State Blinken has called Lavrov