⚡️The Russian Ministry of Defense says that airborne troop units have blocked Artemovsk from the northern and southern outskirts. Assault squads, supported by artillery, have liberated three blocks of the city, and efforts by Ukrainian troops to mount a counterattack have been quashed.

Taliban calls on Afghan media to fight western propaganda 🚫

🇦🇫 Abdul Kabir, a leading member of the Taliban* and third deputy PM of Afghanistan on Wednesday called on the Afghan press agencies to "present the true image of Afghanistan to the people and the world by exposing false propaganda" in the West.

* under UN sanctions for terrorism

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🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏃‍♀️ Easy ride: Scottish ultrarunner disqualified for using a car during marathon

Dr Joasia Zakrzewski, the 47-year-old GP from Dumfries had been caught at the M2L Ultra marathon after tracking data revealed that she reached a top speed of 35 miles per hour. Moreover, data showed that she took the main road rather than the race route.

The M2L Ultra is a 50-mile race from Manchester to Liverpool in England's North-West and part of the GBUltras. It is a challenging ultra-marathon that takes runners on a scenic journey between the two major cities along the Trans-Pennine trail, the Manchester Ship Canal and the River Mersey.

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☦️The parishioners of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church who entered the sealed premises of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, which had been sealed by authorities, found monks locked up there as hostages.

The Lavra's lawyer called the actions of the police who sealed off one of the monastery's premises illegal. A complaint has been filed against them, which will be considered by the state investigation bureau.

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

▪️In Kupyansk direction, Russian forces destroyed up to 120 Ukrainian troops, one tank, two armored fighting vehicles, two motor vehicles, and one Grad MLRS vehicle as well as one ammunition depot. In addition, actions of two sabotage and reconnaissance groups were thwarted;

▪️In Krasny Liman direction, Russian forces destroyed up 75 Ukrainian personnel and two armored fighting vehicles;

▪️In Donetsk direction, Ukrainian losses amounted to up to 380 troops, one tank, two infantry fighting vehicles, five armored fighting vehicles, eight motor vehicles, one Akatsiya self-propelled artillery system, one D-20 howitzer, and one Grad MLRS as well as one ammunition depot.

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

▪️In South Donetsk and Zaporozhye directions, Ukrainian losses in these directions amounted to up to 120 troops, two armored fighting vehicles, two motor vehicles, and one Msta-B howitzer. In addition, actions of two sabotage and reconnaissance groups of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were thwarted;

▪️In Kherson direction, up to 30 Ukrainian troops, two motor vehicles, and one Gvozdika self-propelled artillery system, one D-30 howitzer and one ammunition depot have been destroyed over the past 24 hours;

▪️Russian Aerospace forces shot down two Ukrainian MiG-29 fighter jets and two Su-25 in the Donetsk People's Republic and Kharkov region. In addition, air defence forces shot down four HIMARS MLRS projectiles and six Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles in Kherson region, Donetsk People's Republic and Lugansk People's Republic.

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⚡️Robert Kennedy Jr announces bid for presidency, challenging Biden for democratic nomination

🇫🇷 Macron was booed during his visit to Alsace in eastern France. This is his first trip to the regions since the final adoption of the pension reform.

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🇷🇺 Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu has made an inspection of combat duty in the Vladimirskoye missile force of the Strategic Missile Forces in the Kaluga region.

The defense minister checked the organization of combat duty of the strategic complex with intercontinental ballistic missiles.

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❗️The US is providing Ukraine with a new package of military assistance worth $325 million. The total amount of US support to Ukraine since the start of the Russian special operation has reached $35.4 billion, and since the beginning of President Biden's term it has reached $36.1 billion, the Pentagon said.

🗣️”People have to remember that this weapon sale is done while at the very same time the US officially recognizes Taiwan as part of China. So it's a blatant violation of international law”: Brian Berletic, journalist and host of "The New Atlas" on Youtube, speaks about fresh provocations by the US increasing weapons sales and sending more troops to Taiwan

🎧Listen to more of Berletic’s analysis in our podcast The Critical Hour

🏎 Sputnik has gathered the most impressive new products from the Shanghai Auto Show, from flying cars to color-changing ones

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‼️ US Supreme Court Delays Ruling for Key Abortion Pill Mifepristone Until Friday

🗣️”If you look at a map, you can see how the US has ringed both Russia and China with military installations. And a lot of these are in places where the local population don't want US military bases, even nations that are supposedly friendly with the US”: Brian Berletic, journalist and host of "The New Atlas" on Youtube, speaks about the encirclement of US ‘enemies’ with numerous American military bases

🎧Listen to more of Berletic’s analysis in our podcast The Critical Hour

🇲🇩 Moldovan authorities called head of the Russian republic of Tatarstan, Rustam Minnikhanov, an "undesirable person" and refused to grant him entry into the country to take part in the international Congress of people's diplomacy "Friendship of Peoples" held in Gagauzia, an autonomous territorial entity in the south of Moldova.

Earlier in the day, Kishinev declared an employee of the Russian Embassy persona non grata, alleging "inappropriate behavior" after Minnikhanov was denied entry to Moldova.

"A decision has been made to expel an employee of the Russian Embassy after the incident at the Kishinev airport. And two more embassy employees are being deprived of accreditation," Moldovan Foreign Ministry spokesman Filip Cojocaru said.

Earlier in the week, the spokesman of the Moldovan government, Daniel Voda, said that the country was considering declaring one of the employees of the Russian Embassy persona non grata.

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🇨🇦 A general nationwide strike comprising 155,000 workers has been announced by the Public Service Alliance of Canada after failing to reach an agreement with the Federal government on fairer contracts.
"We truly hoped we wouldn’t be forced to take strike action, but we’ve exhausted every other avenue to reach a fair contract for Canada’s Federal Public Service workers," Aylward said in a statement on Tuesday.

Accordingly, PSAC said strike actions would begin as of April 19, 12:01 am, noting that as part of the demonstrations, picket lines will go up in 250 locations, across Canada.With strikers representing nearly a third of the entire Canadian federal public workforce, these would be the largest strikes in the country’s history, PSAC said, noting this would not be without consequences for the availability of government services.

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US economy faces 'Stagflation' thanks to federal reserve interest rate hikes

Financial experts are warning that the collapse of Bed Bath & Beyond's shares is a sign of deeper problems in the US, including the possibility of 'stagflation' due to interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve.

Todd "Bubba" Horwitz, chief market strategist at BubbaTrading, criticized the Federal Reserve for being "out of control," while David Tawil, founder of ProChain Capital, noted the difficulties businesses are facing in borrowing. Both experts highlighted the challenges faced by small businesses and regional banks, with Horwitz warning that many may fail, and Tawil attributing Bed Bath & Beyond's collapse to competition from larger, better-capitalized retail giants like Amazon.

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Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov arrived in Brasilia, the capital of Brazil, on Monday for a meeting with the recently-elected President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva.

Brazil, as the largest nation and economy in South America, is considered to have significant potential in a multipolar world and is already part of the BRICS development partnership.

Journalist and correspondent Camila Escalante notes that Brazil's resurgence is viewed as a threat in Washington.

"Celso Amorim is just like the number one confidant, a confidant and advisor to President Lula. He's been with him for many years," Escalante noted. "It was Celso who went to meet with President Maduro in Venezuela on kind of a secret mission. Just recently, he was in Moscow himself and he met with President Putin and with Lavrov as well."

Escalante told Sputnik that what was more significant was Lavrov's "extended" meetings.

🇷🇺🇰🇷 South Korea not supplying Kiev with arms for stability in relation with Russia

💬 "There is no law in South Korean legislation that prohibits the delivery of weapons to another belligerent country. There is also no clause in the [South Korean] Foreign Ministry's regulations that does not allow to provide military assistance to a third country in distress. We do not do this because, while South Korea actively supports the international community for the sake of protecting the freedom of Ukrainian citizens, we must manage relations with Russia in a stable manner," an official with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol's office said.

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