😢 Noor Jehan, 17-year-old Elephant from Karachi Zoo 🇵🇰, breathes her last

The poor animal died on Thursday. An unfortunate incident left her unable to stand up on her own. In addition, the elephant was suffering from several heath issues, with neglect and poor conditions primarily to be blamed for her poor health.

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French Energy Union Threatens to Cut Electricity at Upcoming Cannes Film Festival

The National Federation of Mines and Energy, a French trade union affiliated to the General Confederation of Labour (CGT), has threatened to plunge the Cannes Film Festival and some other major public events into darkness in protest of the controversial pension reform.

"Macron promised 100 days to restore peace, we promise him 100 days of actions and anger. In May, do what you please! The Cannes festival, the Monaco Grand Prix, the Roland-Garros tournament, the Avignon festival could end up in the dark," the union’s statement read, as quoted by a French broadcaster.

The Cannes Film Festival is set to take place from May 16-27.

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🇩🇪 Germany's Verdi Trade Union Calls for Strike at Berlin Airport on Monday

◾ Germany's services sector trade union Verdi has called air security staff working in passenger control at Berlin Brandenburg Airport out for a day-long "warning strike" on April 24 over pay.

🛫 Following the announcement, the Berlin airport cancelled all departures on Monday, adding that arrivals may also be affected by cancellations or flight schedule changes.

◾ The passengers are asked to contact their airline or travel agent for rebooking information and alternative travel options.

💶 The union says it has been in negotiations with the Federal Association of Aviation Security Companies (BDLS) for years extra pay for nighttime, weekend and public holiday shifts, as well as a better collective employment agreement on overtime pay for security and service staff at commercial airports. Despite the strikes, talks with the BDLS have not yet reached a breakthrough, the union says.

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G7 Farm Ministers Recognize Importance of Grain Deal, Support Extension

Agriculture ministers of the G7 countries have recognized the importance of the Black Sea Grain Initiative and expressed strong support for its expansion, implementation and extension in a joint communique issued following a two-day meeting in the Japanese city of Miyazaki.

At the same time, G7 ministers accused Russia of allegedly using food "as a means of destabilization and as tool of geopolitical coercion."

Ukraine and Russia signed a deal brokered by Turkiye and the United Nations last July to unlock shipments of grain, food, and fertilizer via the Black Sea despite hostilities.

Moscow has repeatedly said that most vessels carrying Ukrainian grain do not reach the world's poorest countries and end up in Europe.

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EU Foreign Policy Chief Urges European Navies to Patrol Taiwan Strait Amid Tensions

Borrell earlier dubbed Taiwan part of the EU’s “geostrategic belt” to maintain peace, adding that the island is also of importance to the bloc “in economic terms.”

“That’s why I call on European navies to patrol the Taiwan Strait to show Europe’s commitment to freedom of navigation in this absolutely crucial area,” the EU foreign policy chief pointed out.

The comments followed French President Emmanuel Macron last week calling on the EU not to allow itself to be involved into the confrontation between Washington and Beijing over Taiwan, and wondering what interest Brussels would have in adapting the confrontation-minded “American rhythm” on the issue.

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🇦🇷 🇷🇺 Argentine Business Interested in Cooperation With Russia Despite Sanctions

"Russian and Argentine companies are still interested in further cooperation especially since there are strong foundations for that. But there is now a transition period, I would say, which is due to the sanctions against Russia, concerns about secondary sanctions from the US ... a period when the Argentine business is in limbo, not understanding how to build relations [with Russian colleagues]," Russian Ambassador to Buenos Aires Dmitry Feoktistov said.

He added that the work of the Russian-Argentine business council had resumed, uniting businessmen from Argentina seeking to continue working with Russia under new circumstances.

Russia, in turn, could also be interested in various projects in Argentina, including tenders in nuclear energy announced by Buenos Aires, the head of the Russian diplomatic mission highlighted.

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Log in the Eye: Western Crimes Against Children in War Zones Revealed

The collective West is keen on projecting their own child abuse and negligence onto others, foreign experts claim, while participating in Rossiya Segodnya's recent conference dedicated to Western crimes against children in war zones across the world.

"I am an American, I served in the US Army, I participated in the war, and I am ready to talk about the terrible consequences of this US invasion," said US Army Corporal and Iraq War veteran Daniel Bosworth, who was a member of Operation Desert Storm.

"The US military left Afghanistan in a very disorganized manner. And it was decided to withdraw thousands of Afghan children without parents from August to December 2021."

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📹 Combat work of the Russian self-propelled guns 2S-19 Msta-S in the special operation zone (video by Russia's MoD)

Scouts uncovered camouflaged positions and a cluster of armored vehicles of the Ukrainian army and handed over the coordinates for destruction.

An artillery battery of Msta-S self-propelled howitzers struck at the specified coordinates, and as a result, it destroyed the enemy stronghold and infantry fighting vehicles.

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We are together: Russian surgeon saves hundreds in Donbass

Russian trauma surgeon Boris Gurkin took a two-week vacation from work to save lives in the Donbass conflict zone in early August 2022. In March 2023, he returned to the embattled region.

"I have combat experience and I work in an emergency hospital and I know what problems arise with a large number of wounded and injured," Gurkin told Sputnik.

Read the story of a man who left a peaceful life to save the lives of others

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

▪️ In the LPR, the actions of four sabotage and reconnaissance groups of the Ukrainian Armed Forces were stopped. Ukrainian losses amounted to 95 soldiers;

▪️ The Russian Armed Forces destroyed a repair workshop for Ukrainian Strizh drones near Kharkov;

▪️ The losses of the Ukrainian Armed Forces near Krasny Liman per day amounted to over 70 troops;

▪️ Russian aviation defeated enemy reserves in the DPR;

▪️ Russian troops destroyed ammunition depots of the 95th Airborne Assault and 10th Mountain Assault Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the DPR;

▪️ In the DPR, up to 200 Ukrainian soldiers were destroyed in the day;

▪️ A sabotage and reconnaissance group of the Ukrainian Armed Forces was destroyed in the Zaporozhye region;

▪️ The Ukrainian Armed Forces lost more than 130 military personnel in the south of the DPR and the Zaporozhye region in a day.

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UK spy kills own child cfter returning from undercover mission in jihadi camp - reports

A traumatized MI6 spy killed his own child after returning from a Taliban camp where he had been sent on a secret mission, a British news outlet reported.

The spy posed as a jihadi fighter and had to wash dismembered bodies of Taliban soldiers before burying them, while also witnessing an entire family accused of spying for the US being beheaded.

After returning to the UK, the man suffered from extreme stress and suffered flashbacks, eventually leading to him murdering his own child. The individual had undergone an emotional instability test before going on the mission and was still sent.

The spy's trial has been held in secret and the person's name and location have been kept anonymous.

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⚡️ Russian Foreign Ministry slams US' refusal to issue visas for journalists in Lavrov's delegation to the UN as "outrageous" and "unacceptable".

⚡️ Lavrov says US' refusal to issue visas to journalists of his UN delegation shows the hypocrisy of US rhetoric on defending freedom of speech.

Russian journalists who were planning to cover the upcoming UN Security Council meetings as part of the Russian FM Sergey Lavrov's press pool, didn't get their passports back from the US Embassy in Moscow.

I am part of this group, and I've never seen anything like this before.

Russia holds presidency in the UN SC this month, and I'm sure our audience deserves to know what's happening there.

Freedom of the press in the US? Really?

Russian journalists filed their US visa applications electronically in March. We handed our passports to the US Embassy staff on Saturday, and I asked the American diplomat who took them, when we will get the passports back.

"I have no idea", he said.

This whole situation is really absurd.

⚡️Russia will mirror the US' attitude toward Russian journalists to American journalists - diplomatic source to Sputnik

📹 Sputnik correspondent Denis Bolotsky spoke about the situation while at the US Embassy in Moscow, where Russian journalists from the Lavrov delegation to the UN were denied visas.

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‘High risk’ Ukraine counteroffensive may end up with the encirclement of troops by Russian forces

Kiev's planned counteroffensive against Russian forces may result in the encirclement of Ukrainian troops due to the high risks involved, a UK magazine has warned.

Ukraine has limited supplies of surface-to-air missiles to deter Russian bombers, and Russian soldiers are well dug-in with multiple layers of trenches and anti-tank obstacles. The magazine argued that Ukraine will need to outnumber defenders and exploit breakthroughs carefully to avoid encirclement.

Both Ukraine and its Western backers should prepare for the possibility of marginal gains or worse. Ukrainian lawmaker Alexandra Ustinova stated that the lack of arms has pushed back the launch date indefinitely.

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European Central Bank warns interest rates ‘close to maximum increase’ amid high inflation

ECB raised interest rates by 0.5% despite concerns of a domino effect. Governing Council member Yannis Stournaras warned against big or small moves on rates, saying decisions should be based on data.

ECB officials believe inflation will remain high and necessitate further rate increases. The Director of the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) European Department Alfred Kammer warned of persistent inflation in Europe. Western sanctions on Russia worsened the energy crisis and inflation in the EU.

The EU has no plans to increase sanctions further due to concerns about affecting sectors that European countries rely on, such as imports of fuel for nuclear power plants and precious metals.

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Sy Hersh: West knows Ukraine weapons end up on black market

US journalist Seymour Hersh told Russian media that weapons delivered by the West to Ukraine are being sold on the black market. He said that weapons including hand missile guns were among those being sold.

He said that “very early, Poland, Romania, [and] other countries on the border were being flooded with weapons we'd been shipping for the war to Ukraine," where the Russian special military operation is underway.

Hersh added that mainstream media had tried to downplay the issue and that CBS News had retracted a story about it.

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❗️ Russia counts on the UN to duly respond to the US' failure to issue visas to Russian journalists headed for UN Security Council events - mission to UN