The World Blog by humble servant.

Three Chinese astronauts have returned home following a six-month stay on the Tiangong space station, where the crew carried out a number of experiments and construction projects on orbital modules during their mission. The astronauts landed in China’s Inner Mongolia region on Saturday morning after a nine-hour journey, during which their Shenzhou spacecraft reached speeds of up to 200 meters per second as it hurtled toward Earth, according to local media. Medical workers at the landing site reported that the three crew members were “in good condition” upon touching down, China Daily reported. Astronauts Zhai Zhigang, Wang Yaping, and Ye Guangfu left for the space station last October and spent around half a year in orbit, installing parts of Tiangong’s external mechanical arm and conducting tests and experiments in that time. Wang also made history in November when she became the first Chinese woman to perform a spacewalk, having already become the first woman to serve on the st...

he Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has declared 18 employees of the European Union Delegation ‘persona non grata’ as a response to the “unfriendly actions” of the bloc. On Friday, the ministry summoned the head of the Delegation of the EU, Markus Ederer, to express his “strong objection” to the earlier “unjustified” expulsion of 19 employees of the Russian Permanent Mission to the EU and Euratom. “The Russian side stated the EU was responsible for the consistent destruction of the architecture of bilateral dialogue and cooperation that has been created for decades,” the ministry said in a statement. Ederer also was given a reminder of the necessity for the the bloc to obey the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. “As a response to the unfriendly actions of the European Union, 18 employees of the EU Delegation to Russia have been declared ‘persona non grata’ and will have to leave the territory of the Russian Federation in the near future,” the ministry said. The Eu...

Ukrainian presidential advisor Mikhail Podolyak has criticized the European Union for sending Kiev the ‘wrong’ weapons amid the country's continuing conflict with Russia. Taking to Twitter on Saturday to express his frustration both over the type of weapons being supplied and the pace of deliveries, Podolyak offered a reminder that Ukraine keeps asking EU members for armaments and, in his opinion, “Europeans [sic] support the call for their governments.” But the “EU gives Ukraine weapons but not the ones we asked for,” he claimed, before adding that the “weapons take too long to arrive.” He concluded his post with what appears to be a warning: “Democracy won’t win from playing this game. Ukraine needs weapons. Not in a month. Now.” Last month, President Volodymyr Zelensky's regime banned Ukraine's second largest political party, the Opposition Platform – For Life, and earlier this week its leader, Victor Medvedchuk, was captured by government forces. A couple of week...

US President Joe Biden has released over 756,109 illegal migrants into the nation’s interior since taking office in January 2021, according to a court brief filed Thursday by the America First Legal Foundation. That total includes the 545,000 border crossers caught and released by Customs and Border Protection, plus the 212,000 migrants nabbed then released by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. That’s already more than the total number of residents of Boston, the capital of Massachusetts, Detroit, the largest city in Michigan – or the entire US capital Washington, DC. However, that number does not even include the nearly 123,000 unaccompanied minors who have been resettled across the country, or hundreds of thousands estimated to have crossed the Mexican border without being caught that year. As the America First Legal Foundation’s brief explains, under the current rate of removal, the Department of Homeland Security would take 14.5 years just to deport the illegals it has relea...

yongyang has claimed a successful test of a “new-type guided weapon,” allegedly designed to increase the efficiency of its “tactical nukes.” North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was present to observe the launch, conducted at an undisclosed time and location. Several undated images published by KCNA state news agency on Sunday show the firing of at least one rocket from a mobile launch platform, as well as a smiling Kim, surrounded by his generals. “The new-type tactical guided weapon... is of great significance in drastically improving the firepower of the frontline long-range artillery units and enhancing the efficiency in the operation of tactical nukes of the DPRK and diversification of their firepower missions,” the KCNA said. Pyongyang has not revealed any technical details of the missile, but the test launch is said to be “successful.” One of the released photos showed dust and smoke rising from a small island. South Korea in US nuclear talks – mediaREAD MORE: South Korea in US ...

The Russian Defense Ministry has called on the remaining Ukrainian forces, besieged at a steel plant in the coastal city of Mariupol, to lay down their arms, offering guarantees of life and safety, if they accept the proposal and halt all hostilities starting Sunday morning. “Considering the catastrophic situation at the Azovstal metallurgical plant, and being guided by purely humane principles, the Russian Armed Forces offer militants of nationalist battalions and foreign mercenaries to stop hostilities and lay down their arms starting 6am Moscow time on April 17, 2022,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in a late-night announcement on Saturday. “All who lay down their weapons are guaranteed the preservation of life,” the ministry stated. Earlier on Saturday, Moscow revealed its estimate of Ukrainian casualty numbers, claiming that in the city of Mariupol alone Kiev has lost more than 4,000 combatants, including “foreign mercenaries” and “Nazis” associated with the notorious Azov a...

Oksana Marchenko, the spouse of the arrested Ukrainian opposition politician Viktor Medvedchuk, has recorded a video address to Russian President Vladimir Putin in which she requests his assistance in securing the release of her husband. It comes after she appealed to Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, earlier this week. In her statement, Marchenko suggested to Putin that there is a chance of persuading the Ukrainian authorities to swap Medvedchuk for two British mercenaries who reportedly surrendered to Russian and Donbass forces in Mariupol earlier this week. She underlined that her husband “gave his consent to be exchanged and transferred to the territory of the Russian Federation if the Russian and Ukrainian sides reach the relevant agreements.” “You know well that the trial arranged for Viktor has nothing to do with common sense and is a vivid example of unlawful reprisal against an undesirable politician for his consistent, principled and open position,” Marchenko said in he...

Germany faces no risks under international law when it supplies arms to Ukraine amid Russia’s military operation, German Justice Minister Marco Buschmann told Die Welt on Saturday. Ukraine is fighting a “defensive war,” the minister claimed, adding that it has a right to fight back under the UN Charter. This fact, according to Buschmann, allows other nations to send it weapons without fear of being seen as a party to the conflict. “When it [Ukraine] exercises its legitimate right for self-defense, supp orting with arms deliveries cannot lead [a nation] to becoming a party to war,” Buschmann said, adding that it is not just his personal. Western nations have been supplying Kiev with arms since the start of the Russian offensive in Ukraine in late February. The deliveries have mostly consisted of small arms, portable anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles, as well as munitions and fuel. However, some nations are sending heavier arms as well. In particular, Slovakia confirmed donating its...

The US Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announced on Friday that it will resume selling oil and gas leases on federal lands, despite US President Joe Biden’s campaign-trail promise to end the practice. The move is a belated response to a 2021 court ruling, as well as an apparent effort to increase domestic fuel supply at a time when energy prices are near record highs across the US. The BLM will only offer about 144,000 acres of government land for lease, 80% less than what the agency initially evaluated. It will also increase drilling royalties from 12.5% to 18.75%, the first such increase in decades. The move complies with a ruling issued by the US District Court for the Southern District of Louisiana in June 2021 that required the government to resume granting leases on federal land. While the exact location of the new leases will not be revealed until they are auctioned by the BLM on Monday, they will be located in nine states: Alabama, Colorado, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, North...

kraine has suffered the “irretrievable loss” of an estimated 23,367 troops since Russia launched its military offensive in February, the Ministry of Defense in Moscow stated on Saturday. The casualty figures were revealed by Defense Ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov, who said that in the city of Mariupol alone Ukraine has lost more than 4,000 fighters, including “foreign mercenaries” and “Nazis” associated with the notorious Azov and Aidar regiments. In a statement, the general accused President Volodymyr Zelensky of hiding the true scale of his country's losses, saying the president “is afraid to tell the people of Ukraine” how many soldiers have died. Konashenkov explained that Russia has obtained documents proving the figures, and would soon publish more detailed information from these files. Ukraine claims to have lost between 2,500 and 3,000 soldiers across its entire territory. This was the figure Zelensky gave to CNN in an interview on Friday, while clai...

A peace agreement with Russia might consist of two separate documents that would cover the two key issues – security guarantees for Kiev and its future relations with Moscow, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday. Speaking to Ukrainian media, Zelensky explained that Moscow would like to have one comprehensive document that would address all the issues. However, because the security guarantees involve other countries, two documents could be a solution, according to the Ukrainian leader. “A peace treaty with Russia can consist of two different documents. One of them should concern security guarantees for Ukraine, the other to directly address its relations with the Russian Federation,” Zelensky said. He explained that a document covering security guarantees could be signed by those countries “who are ready for these security guarantees,” while another document could cover future relations between Ukraine and Russia. Zelensky claimed that the UK, US, Italy and Turke...

e US Navy has fired the commanding officer of Fleet Readiness Center East in North Carolina due to a “loss of confidence in his ability to command.” The facility is responsible for overhauling the Navy’s variant of the next-generation F-35 fighter jet – which, although it is already the most expensive military project in history, has been plagued with flaws and requires upgrades to see out its lifespan. Marine Corps Col. Thomas Atkinson was relieved on Friday and replaced by Capt. James Belmont, who was originally slated to assume command in May, a statement from the Navy reads. No further details were given to explain Atkinson’s firing. Fleet Readiness Center East has a workforce of more than 4,000 sailors, Marines, and civilians, and is one of six facilities where Navy and Marine Corps aircraft are serviced and upgraded. However, it is the only facility in the US certified to carry out crucial airframe strengthening work on the F-35B, a variant of the F-35 fighter jet used by the...

Russia used high-precision strikes to destroy an armored-vehicle manufacturing plant in Kiev and a military repair depot in the city of Nikolaev in southern Ukraine, Defense Ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov said on Saturday. He added that 16 targets were hit overnight, including Ukrainian military units, weapons and ammunition depots, and radar facilities. Moscow warned that it would step up strikes on Kiev after accusing Ukraine of shelling Russian territory on Thursday. Kiev has denied launching attacks on Russian soil. Russia confirmed on Thursday that the cruiser Moskva, the flagship of the country’s Black Sea Fleet sank after a fire and detonation of ammunition onboard. Ukraine, however, claimed that it hit the Russian vessel with anti-ship missiles. Russia attacked the neighboring state in late February, following Ukraine’s failure to implement the terms of the Minsk agreements, first signed in 2014, and Moscow’s eventual recognition of the Donbass republics ...

US police have warned of a radioactive contamination threat after a portable nuclear gauge went missing from a stolen car in the state of Pennsylvania. On Friday, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) asked the public for assistance in the search for a gauge “containing sealed sources of radioactive material.” According to the statement, the device belonged to Pennsylvania-based KAKS and Company LLC, which provides services in construction inspection and soil testing. The department did not specify when exactly the car and the gauge, which is “commonly used to evaluate the properties of building and road-bed materials at construction sites,” were stolen. “The gauge had been secured in a vehicle stolen in Philadelphia. When the vehicle was recovered, the gauge was no longer inside and may have been discarded,” reads the statement. Mexico puts 9 states on ALERT following theft of highly RADIOACTIVE material in truck robberyREAD MORE: Mexico puts 9 states on A...

President Joe Biden’s accusation made earlier this week that Moscow was committing “genocide” in Ukraine has raised concerns among officials in the White House and has not been confirmed by US intelligence agencies, NBC News reported on Friday, citing senior government officials. The claim of genocide “has so far not been corroborated by information collected by US intelligence agencies,” the report said. The news outlet quoted two State Department officials as saying that Biden’s remarks “made it harder for the agency to credibly do its job,” since it is up to the department to formally determine genocide and other war crimes. “Genocide includes a goal of destroying an ethnic group or nation and, so far, that is not what we are seeing,” a US intelligence official was quoted as saying. At the same time, NBC added, the intelligence community is concerned that Russia’s actions “could amount to genocide” in the future. On Tuesday, during a domestic policy speech in Iowa, Biden accuse...

Germany will not turn down any asylum seekers fleeing the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, Transport Minister Volker Wissing told the German RND media group on Saturday. The nation could see an increase in the number of new arrivals at any moment, the official believes. The federal government “cannot and will not reject any refugees from Ukraine,” Wissing said, adding that his country must “expect a further escalation and be prepared” since “people in need in Ukraine should be able to find refuge in Germany.” Currently, the number of people arriving in Germany by train from Ukraine has fallen from 8,200 per day to around 2,500, the minister revealed, adding that it still could change “because we cannot predict the course of the war and can experience an increase in the number of refugees at any time.” Wissing also admitted that Germany’s transport and logistics have been “severely affected” by the situation in Ukraine. In Poland alone, he said, there’s a shortfall of about 100,000 truc...

The US should compensate France for losses if the EU bans Russian energy carriers, French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen said in an interview with BFM TV. “The Americans, who will sell us liquefied gas and get a solid profit from it, could transfer money to France as compensation for anti-Russia sanctions,” Le Pen said, noting that Washington is pressuring the EU to sanction Russian energy carriers. The bloc placed multiple sanctions on Russia after Moscow launched a military operation in neighboring Ukraine. The operation has been widely criticized by many Western nations, but perhaps none have been more outspoken than the US. According to Le Pen, if Washington succeeds in stopping Russian gas imports to the EU, it will result in unbearably high fuel bills for the French. However, she believes that American fuel magnates care little about ordinary French people and their plight, and are only interested in business, eager to profit from the increase in LNG exports to the bloc....

Russia has continued exporting grain to some of its biggest customers, including Egypt, Turkey, and Iran, Bloomberg reported on Thursday, citing the general director of the Moscow-based Institute for Agricultural Market Studies, Dmitry Rylko. Supplies have been maintained despite the surge in shipping costs, he said. According to Logistics OS, nearly 900,000 tons of wheat have been loaded at Russian ports so far this month, in line with the pace in March. Crop data from AgFlow also showed that Russian exports of key agricultural commodities, including wheat, fell by just 1 million tons over the first 13 days of April, meaning shipments abroad were close to the level for the same period in March. Last week, the US Department of Agriculture also raised its estimates for Russian wheat exports in the current season to 33 million tons, which is just 2 million tons less than it forecast before the crisis in Ukraine. Leaders warn of ‘unprecedented’ global food crisis risksREAD MORE: Leade...

Interview with Director of the Foreign Ministry Information and Press Department Maria Zakharova Question: It became known that during the special military operation in Ukraine Russian troops discovered new documents on military biological activities in Ukraine. Can you talk about this in more detail? Maria Zakharova: As a result of the Special Military Operation in Ukraine (SMO), Russia’s Armed Forces found documents that shed some light on the bio-military programme implemented by the US Defence Department in Ukraine. The researchers in the programme were studying the most dangerous pathogens – potential biological agents for biological weapons that have natural focuses in both Ukraine and Russia. They were also researching ways that epidemics spread based on these agents. The scale of work makes it obvious that a considerable, and probably the most important, part of the information on the American military programme remains concealed from the international community. US conducte...

rmans have been advised to think twice about having a hot shower if the authorities decide to place an embargo on Russian natural gas amid Moscow’s military operation in Ukraine. “You will have to ask yourselves a question, whether you really need to take a hot shower seven days a week – with gas heating,” the head of the Federal Network Agency of Germany, Klaus Mueller, said in an interview with n-tv. His words echoed a similar statement earlier by European Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager, who advised EU residents to “control your own and your teenager’s showers, and when you turn off that water, say, ‘take that, Putin.’” According to Mueller, if Germany cuts supplies from Russia, gas reserves in the country will last until the end of summer or early autumn at the latest. “But then the storage facilities will be empty. And we would not like to have such a situation before winter,” the official said. Amid mounting pressure on the EU to add Russian energy carriers ...

British SAS troops have trained Ukrainian forces for the first time since the Russian military offensive began, in February, Ukrainian commanders told The Times on Friday. Instructors from the UK were previously withdrawn from the country, two months ago, when NATO member states were expecting a Russian assault. The British have now returned to teach locals how to use NLAWs, UK-supplied shoulder-fired anti-tank missile launchers, the paper explained, citing Captain Yury Mironenko and two other Ukrainian commanders, identified only by their nicknames. The units which received the training are stationed around the capital, Kiev, the report revealed. “We have received huge military help from Britain,” Mironenko told the paper. “But the people who knew how to use NLAWs were in other places, so we had to go on YouTube to teach ourselves,” he said, adding that the British officers were in their unit two weeks ago. The UK Defense Ministry refused to confirm whether British commandos h...

Russian Railways (RZD) said on Friday it has agreed with its Chinese partners to gradually increase the number of freight trains through connecting stations. “In April, rail cargo transfer [between Russia and China] increased by 27% month-on-month in Zabaykalsk, and by 10% in Grodekovo,” RZD said, adding that “Export cargo transportation to China through Kazakhstan and Mongolia is also growing.” The company noted that in addition to growing volumes of coal, others types of cargo have been sent via the Baikal-Amur (BAM) and Trans-Siberian railways. The number of applications submitted for transportation over these railways increased by almost 30% compared to last year. In the first quarter of 2022, more than 3,500 heavy and 1,700 connected trains carried cargo via the strategic route in the supply chains of the two nations. The volume of additional cargo exceeded 6 million tons, RZD said.