🪁 Weifang holds world’s largest International kite festival on April 15

🇨🇳 Hosted by the city of Weifang on Saturday, thousands of people flocked to the International Kite Festival.

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📹 Troops continue to train using TOS-1A Solntsepyok heavy flamethrower systems in the rear area of the special military operation (video by Russian MoD)

▪️ The military learn how to use the combat vehicle and hone crew cohesion. They train to put the equipment into a combat position, orient on the terrain, and utilize given coordinates.

▪️ In addition, TOS crews use standard weapons: light infantry flamethrowers, assault rifles, machine guns, hand grenade launchers, and sniper rifles.

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Size Does Matter: Melbourne Overtakes Sydney as Australia's Most Populous City

Melbourne became Australia's most populous city, surpassing Sydney, which had held the noscript for over a century. According to official statistics, there are now almost 19,000 more citizens in Melbourne than in Sydney.

The small yet significant difference in population surfaced during the latest census.

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Bear Facts About How Hibernating Grizzlies Can Prevent Deadly Blood Clots

Long periods of inactivity may cause major pain and even present serious health hazards, leading to life-threatening blood clots throughout the body. Nevertheless, this danger doesn't affect bears who lay nearly motionless for months at a time.

A team of Scandinavian researchers has collected and studied the blood of brown bears for 13 years in both the summer and winter in order to get to the bottom of how they prevent blood clots. The bears were tranquilized, had their blood samples taken, and returned to their dens to finish up their naps.

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💰 Over $45 billion of international support has come into Ukraine's budget since the beginning of Russia's military operation, Ukrainian lawmaker Yaroslav Zheleznyak said on Monday.

🗣 "International financial aid to Ukraine (talking exactly the credits and grants to the budget)... has exceeded $45 billions," Zheleznyak said on his Telegram channel.

📌 In January, the governor of Ukraine's National Bank, Andriy Pyshnyi, said that the total amount of foreign financing might exceed $38 billion and close the budget deficit in 2023.

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Why SpaceX Postpones Starship Launch & What Comes Next

On April 17, the private US spacecraft manufacturing and launch company SpaceX was expected to conduct the first orbital flight test of their much-anticipated creation, the Starship.

The launch, however, was postponed just minutes before liftoff, due to what appeared to be a minor technical problem.

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Israel Should Put Aside Internal Differences, Prepare for War With Iran, Think Tank Says

💬 "Israel must adopt a new paradigm that prioritizes security needs over other legitimate needs. The IDF and all elements of the security establishment must be removed from the political discourse while condemning the threats to dodge service. In addition, elected officials must ensure that the IDF has the necessary resources to prepare for a war that may be inevitable," the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security, a conservative think-tank, said.

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⚡️ Putin visited Russian troops in Kherson region, Kremlin says

💬 "Vladimir Putin at the staff of the Dnepr grouping of troops in the Kherson Region listened to reports from the commander of the Airborne Troops, Col. Gen. Mikhail Teplinsky, the commander of the Dnepr grouping of troops, Col. Gen. Oleg Makarevich and other military leadership," according to the statement.

🇨🇦 The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation is suspending its activities on Twitter following the social media platform’s decision to label them as a government-funded outlet

💬 "Our journalism is impartial and independent. To suggest otherwise is untrue. That is why we are pausing our activities on Twitter," CBC said in a statement.

The decision comes following Twitter’s decision to apply the "government-funded media" label to CBC’s primary account, which was also recently applied to US state-funded outlet National Public Radio.

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📹☦️ Vladimir Putin wished officers a Happy Easter and presented them with a copy of an icon that had belonged, as Russian president said, to 'one of the most successful defense ministers of the Russian Empire'

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🇨🇦 Elon Musk has switched the CBC’s Twitter label claiming the corporation maintains it is less than 70 percent government-funded

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📹 Vladimir Putin visited the staff of the Dnepr grouping of troops in the Kherson Region and the Vostok National Guard staff in the Lugansk People's Republic

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📹 Russian Tu-95MS strategic bombers conduct air patrols during Pacific Fleet check

The crews of two Russian strategic missile carriers Tu-95MS have conducted planned patrol flights over the neutral waters of the Bering and Okhotsk Seas as part of a sudden inspection of the Pacific Fleet's combat readiness, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

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What's the Rumpus? Hundreds of Norwegians Sue State Over F-35 Noise

The lawsuit claims that noise pollution has become significantly worse since the switch from older and less powerful F-16s to F-35s, which were welcomed as the new backbone of the Norwegian Armed Forces.

Norway has bought a total of 52 new F-35 fighter jets, making them the biggest military acquisition in the country's history. They will not become fully operational until 2025, when the inhabitants of Orland will experience the problem full on.

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DOJ Arrests Two Men for Running Alleged 'Secret' Chinese Police Station in Manhattan

“Harry” Lu Jianwang, 61, and Chen Jinping, 59, both US citizens, were arrested on Monday and released on bail. The Justice Department alleges the pair set up a secret overseas police station in an office building in Manhattan’s Chinatown with the intention to intimidate and harass Chinese dissidents living in New York.

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Sweden Foresees Economic Gloom With Steeper GDP Contraction

💬 "Many people are struggling to make ends meet, so it is important for the Government to fight inflation and support those in the most difficult circumstances," Finance Minister Elisabeth Svantesson of the ruling Moderates Party said in a statement, admitting "major challenges."

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⚡️ Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud will arrive in Damascus on Tuesday, a source told Sputnik.

The kingdom’s top diplomats have not visited Syria since a start of the civil war in 2011.

🇷🇺🇧🇾 Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko is holding a meeting with Denis Pushilin, the acting head of the Donetsk People's Republic

Lukashenko said he would like to hear from Pushilin about the situation in the DPR and how Minsk can help Donetsk, according to Belarusian state media.

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🇷🇺🇨🇳 Russia-China interaction contributes to reducing tension in the world, Shoigu says

💬 "The coordination of our efforts in the international arena has a stabilizing effect on the situation in the world and helps to reduce the conflict potential," Shoigu said during talks with Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu in Moscow.

Russia and China are also coordinating their actions in preparing joint patrols and exercises in bilateral and multilateral formats, the minister added.

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❗️China and Russia intend to deepen their military cooperation and bring it to the "new level," Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu said.

💬 "After being appointed to the post of the minister of defense, Russia was chosen as the first place of the visit in order to demonstrate to the outside world the high level of development of Chinese-Russian relations and demonstrate the firm determination to strengthen the strategic cooperation between the armed forces of China and Russia," Li added.

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❗️ Latest statements by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov:

▪️Putin’s visit to the LPR and the Kherson region was aimed to receive first-hand information about the military operation, which is important for the Supreme Commander-in-Chief;

▪️The president visited the special operation zone without top military officials due to high risks of giving “such temptation to the enemy”;

▪️Moscow has not receive any messages from Paris regarding its peace plan for Ukraine and is still not aware about the existence of such a initiative;

▪️Any ideas that take into account the Russian on the Ukrainian crisis deserve attention.

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