News of the World

[DerVVulfman]

RUSSIA DESTROYS
CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL

Locals in Ukraine Use Mass Graves to Bury Thousands

This Wednesday, the forces of Russian President Vladimir Putin launched an attack that targeted and destroyed a Children's Hospital and Maternity Ward in Mariupol. Police and soldiers rushed to the scene to evacuate victims, both children and expectant mothers.

This missile attack was committed during what was meant to be a cease-fire. However, this is yet another cease-fire which was broken again by Russian Forces. And Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba called the hospital attack a “petrifying war crime” while appealing for more help from other world leaders.

RUSSIA DENIES HOSPITAL STRIKE
The he Russian Defense Ministry claimed explosions were staged to smear Russia

In response to world-wide condemnation of the attack on the Maripol Children's hospital, Russia’s Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov denied any Russian Military involvement.  Instead, he stated that blasts that decimated the hospital were planted in an attempt create fake news and incite anti-Russian sentiment.

This statement was much different than what Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated earlier, that it was being used as a base of operations by far-right radical fighters. Lavrov also laid claim that the hospital had no patients within, despite photographs and video footage to the contrary.

JUSSIE SMOLLETT

SENTENCED FOR STAGING HATE CRIME
The Fallen Star Sentenced to 150 days in Jail and 30 Months Probation

The trial that sentenced the former "Empire" actor for lying to police over three years ago after he asked two men to “fake beat him up” and shout racist and homophobic slurs at him ended this week in a conviction.

After sentencing, Smollett professed his innocence while clasping his hands together in prayer. However, this did not move the Judge.  Instead, Judge James Linn called the actor a “disgrace” and a charlatan pretending to be the victim of a hate crime and that’s his testimony was "pure perjury."

THE PUTINY CONTINUES

MORALE DWINDLES AMONG RUSSIAN TROOPS

A senior member of the US Defense Department stated to reporters that not all of the Russian troops were fully trained, prepared, or even knew they were going into a combat operation.  And now, it appears that a number of them are so discouraged that they began sabotaging their own equipment and started surrendering to Ukraine forces.

The acts of vandalism include puncturing vehicle gas tanks, presumably so the soldiers can avoid being transported into combat.

Entire units of Russian soldiers, many that are young and inexperienced, have even laid down their weapons rather than fight Ukrainian defenders.

[kyonides]

Biden Authorizes $200 Million in New Military Aid for Ukraine

President Joe Biden has authorized an additional $200 million in aid for Ukraine for training and weapons.

In a March 12 memorandum to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Biden directed that up to $200 million should be designated for Ukraine’s defense, with the funds allocated through the Foreign Assistance Act.

The funds would cover weapons and other defense items, as well as military services, education, and training.

It comes days after Congress approved $13.6 billion in emergency aid for Ukraine as part of a $1.5 trillion measure to fund the U.S. government through September.

Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said this week that weapons provided to Ukrainian forces thus far have been impactful against the Russian offensive.
...
Kirby said the slowed Russian advance near Kyiv and the fact that Ukrainian forces continue to contest the airspace above their country are evidence that the military aid is making a difference.

The Pentagon spokesperson also said that the much-discussed question of supplying Polish fighter jets to Ukraine was off the table as it could be mistaken as escalatory and it anyway would be unlikely to make much of a difference in the conflict.

Zelensky Ready to Negotiate, Open to High-Level Peace Talks in Jerusalem

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday that he’s ready to hold high-level peace talks with Russia, flagging Jerusalem as a possible location and expressing hope that Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett could help broker a deal.

Zelensky told foreign reporters at a briefing in Kyiv that holding lower-level technical negotiations in Belarus, Russia, or Ukraine would be “unconstructive,” calling instead for a “meeting of leaders,” potentially in Jerusalem.

He took a positive view of Bennett serving as a mediator between the warring sides and called for Israel to be among the security guarantors for Ukraine.
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“There are certain positive developments there, as the negotiators from our side reported to me,” Putin said on Friday at a meeting with his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko, according to Russian state news agency Tass.
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Moscow has demanded that Ukraine cease military action, pledge never to join NATO and enshrine neutrality in its constitution, acknowledge Crimea as Russian territory, and recognize the separatist-controlled regions of Donetsk and Luhansk as independent states.

Zelensky earlier signaled openness to a compromise with Putin on some of his key demands for halting the offensive in Ukraine, including on NATO membership and the status of the contested territories, but he insisted his forces would not capitulate.
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The Russia-Ukraine conflict has driven 2.6 million from their homes, according to the U.N., with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg describing the exodus as “Europe’s fastest-growing refugee crisis since the Second World War.”

Well, we can't really say Russia's diplomatic relationship with Israel has ever been good enough as to become friends. They might have been slightly neutral for Russia and even Iran have been able to attack Israel indirectly by using Syria or Lebanon as bases for missile launches targeting Israeli lands. There is also the dispute between Israel, Syria and Russia concerning the Golan Heights, recognized by the US government as Israeli territory.

Knowing this, Jewish Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky plans to move peace talks to Jerusalem!

Diplomatically, this utter nonsense.  Even if Bennett might befriend Putin up to some point, at the end of the day they have not stopped being either rivals or enemies. Some EU member could have negotiated this process, why involving Israel now?  

Now from a Biblical perspective I can tell you something relevant.

IT IS THE WORST IDEA ZELENSKY COULD EVER COME UP WITH!!

Actually, it looks as bad as asking Gog from the land of Magog to take a survey of the land of Israel. Literally!

In a (near or distant?) future, Gog, prince of Rosh, Mesec and Tubal, will come up with a plan to get uber rich in no time... to prepare a large coalition of nations, including Persia (Iran), Phut or Put (Lybia) and Cush (Sudan + Ethiopia) plus other countries to invade, well, ISRAEL!

And do not say I mentioned Iran because of some specific (nuclear) bias, Iran was known as Persia till 1935!  Even the adjacent sea is called the Persian Gulf for a reason!

Keep in mind how the Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov wanted to let Iran get the best nuclear deal without any restrictions. Russia is fully aware of Israel's ferocious opposition to such agreement and does not care about Israel's security at all.

Are Zelensky and Bennett pushing Putin to become part of an ancient and terrible prophecy!?

Perhaps they know nothing about it or they interpret it in a different way. Even so it is weird that they seem to be working together to make it happen some day...

By the way, Gog's armies get utterly destroyed at the end.

[kyonides]

Orphan’s Promise Aid Worker Kidnapped in Ukraine

An aid worker with CBN’s Orphan’s Promise ministry has been kidnapped in Ukraine.

The woman’s name is Valentina, and those close to the situation report eyewitnesses saw the kidnappers throw a bag over her head when she was abducted.

Russian forces are believed to be behind the kidnapping. Russian troops have besieged the area where Valentina lives, and she had been helping with the distribution of food to people who are hiding in bomb shelters.

Valentina has worked in the area near Mariupol for the Orphan’s Promise Children of War Project. “The team evacuates women, children, as well as sick and elderly from hot spots. Missionaries, while under fire, drive to bakeries (that also work under fire) and deliver bread to hungry people at the same time providing them with spiritual bread,” Orphan’s Promise reports.
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CBN’s Terry Meeuwsen, who founded Orphan’s Promise, says, “No one knows where they took her, where she is. So please pray for Valentina. We’re asking that she would be released, asking God to send angels with her that she would be released without harm.”

[kyonides]

Egypt displays recently discovered ancient tombs in Saqqara

Egypt on Saturday displayed recently discovered, well-decorated ancient tombs at a Pharaonic necropolis just outside the capital Cairo.

The five tombs were unearthed earlier this month and date back to the Old Kingdom — a period spanning roughly from around 2700 BC to 2200 B.C., as well as to the First Intermediate Period, which lasted for over a century after the Old Kingdom collapsed, according to the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.

Mostafa Waziri, secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, said Egyptian archeologists started excavating the site in September. The tombs, he said, were for senior officials including regional rulers and palace supervisors in ancient Egypt.

The tombs were found near the Step Pyramid of Djoser, in the Saqqara Necropolis, 24 kilometers (15 miles) southwest of Cairo.

Equifax, Experian, TransUnion to remove majority of medical debts from consumers' credit reports

Equifax, Experian and TransUnion have announced they will collectively remove nearly 70% of medical collection debt tradelines from credit reports.

Starting July 1, paid medical collection debt will no longer be included on consumer credit reports. In addition, the time period before unpaid medical collection debt would appear on a consumer’s report will be increased from 6 months to one year, offering consumers more time to address their debt with insurance and healthcare providers before it is reported.

In the first half of 2023, Equifax, Experian and TransUnion will also no longer include medical collection debt under at least $500.

The three credit-reporting firms cover more than 1.6 billion credit accounts for over 200 million adults every month.

"Medical collections debt often arises from unforeseen medical circumstances. These changes are another step we’re taking together to help people across the United States focus on their financial and personal wellbeing," Equifax CEO Mark Begor, Experian CEO Brian Cassin and TransUnion CEO Chris Cartwright said in a joint statement Friday. "As an industry, we remain committed to helping drive fair and affordable access to credit for all consumers."

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau estimates that there was at least $88 billion in medical debt sitting on 43 million credit reports as of June 2021.
...
Past-due medical debt can lower a person's credit score, potentially reducing their access to credit and making it harder to find a home or a job. The CFPB emphasizes that medical debt collections are less predictive of future payment problems than other debt collections are.

Black and Hispanic people, and young adults and low-income individuals of all races and ethnicities, are more likely to have higher rates of medical debt than the general population. Older adults and veterans are also heavily impacted by medical debt. Medical debt is more prevalent in the southeastern and southwestern United States.

Keep in mind that they're only working on removing them from the reports, they're not paying back the debts or anything the like. Still, I guess it's good to get this kind of little help if you've got other kind of financial needs to care about.

Firing-squad executions get green light in South Carolina

South Carolina has given the green light to firing-squad executions, a method codified into state law last year after a decade-long pause in carrying out death sentences because of the state’s inability to procure lethal injection drugs.

The state Corrections Department said Friday that renovations have been completed on the death chamber in Columbia and that the agency had notified Attorney General Alan Wilson that it was able to carry out a firing-squad execution.

Lawmakers set about tweaking state law to get around the lethal injection drug situation. Legislation that went into effect in May made the electric chair the state’s primary means of execution while giving inmates the option of choosing death by firing squad or lethal injection, if those methods are available.

During South Carolina’s lengthy debate, Democratic state Sen. Dick Harpootlian — a prosecutor-turned-criminal-defense lawyer — introduced the firing squad option, arguing that it presented "the least painful" execution method available.

So they now care about making it the less painful method of execution...
Did their victims get the same kind of compassion from the  killers?
 Just saying.

Putin lays out his demands for cease-fire in call with Turkey's president

In a Thursday conversation with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Russian President Vladimir Putin reportedly outlined the conditions that would need to be met in order for him to end his invasion of Ukraine.

According to a BBC report, a Turkish official who listened to the call between the two leaders said that Putin would end his invasion if several conditions are met including a promise that Ukraine will remain neutral and not join NATO.

Erdogan's leading adviser and spokesman, Ibrahim Kalin, says that Russia is also calling for Ukraine to undergo a disarmament process to mitigate threats to Russia in the future as well as legal protections for the Russian language in Ukraine.

Additionally, Putin reportedly desires promises related to the "Denazification" of Ukraine.

Putin, according to the report, is also asking for face-to-face negotiations with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to hammer out his demands which Zelenskyy has previously stated he is not opposed to.

Kalin said that there were other conditions Putin listed that he did not go into much detail about but he believes they will involve territories that have broken away from Ukraine in the eastern Donbas region.

The report states that it is "assumed" Putin will ask Ukraine to give up territory in the east and formally recognize that Crimea, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014, is a part of Russia.

Keep in mind that Russia's allies in the Middle East are Turkey and Iran. Syria is nothing more than a puppet state to Russians.

And the detractors still insist on not portraying Russia as Gog, even if Turkey has become one of its closest allies...

[DerVVulfman]

BRENT RENAUD KILLED IN UKRAINE

Former New York Times contributor Brent Renaud killed by Russian Forces in Kyiv

We are deeply saddened to hear of Brent Renaud’s death. Brent was a talented filmmaker who had contributed to The New York Times over the years. Though he had contributed to The Times in the past (most recently in 2015), he was not on assignment for any desk at The Times in Ukraine. Early reports that he worked for Times circulated because he was wearing a Times press badge that had been issued for an assignment many years ago.

Shot at a checkpoint, Brent Renaud was wearing his press credentials, so he was able to be identified as a member of the press.

Fox News cameraman Pierre Zakrzewski,
fixer Oleksandra Kuvshynova
killed by Russian Forces in Ukraine

Today is a heartbreaking day for Fox News Media and for all journalists risking their lives to deliver the news. He was profoundly committed to telling the story and his bravery, professionalism and work ethic were renowned among journalists at every media outlet.

Both were with Fox News correspondent Benjamin Hall when their vehicle came under fire in a northwest suburb of Kyiv. While Hall survived, he lost part of his leg from the attack.

  Clearly, the free press is a threat to Putin. He made it a law to never talk of the war in negative terms against his rule, carrying a 15 year prison sentence. And many journalists have either quit or left Russia altogether.

The New York Times Admits
The Hunter Biden Laptop Is Real

In the words of the NY Post author... 'but you have got to be s–tting us.'

The Hunter Biden laptop story broke over a year ago, before the 2020 election. The hard drive contained information about Hunter Biden's dealings with Burisma and other foreign entities. Much of this which would show conflicts of interest with his father. Yet throughout the 2020 election, the NY Times repeatedly attempted to cast doubt on the story, claiming no evidence existed and that it was Russian Disinformation.  But now...

People familiar with the investigation said prosecutors had examined emails between Mr. Biden, Mr. Archer and others about Burisma and other foreign business activity. Those emails were obtained by The New York Times from a cache of files that appears to have come from a laptop abandoned by Mr. Biden in a Delaware repair shop. The email and others in the cache were authenticated by people familiar with them and with the investigation.

  Seriously?  Good timing, now that Hunter's criminal tax probe now has Grand Jury testimony from his mom, ex-girlfriend and others hitting him hard.  I wonder what Facebook and Twitter has to say for their actions, actively condemning the report when it was released.

Zelensky Plays Video before US Congress

The Horrors of Russia's Invasion and its Toll on Life Now Witnessed

Over heart-tugging classical strings, the graphic footage showed Ukraine’s historic cities in happier times — interspersed with some of the most harrowing moments of death and destruction inflicted by invading forces.

The montage showed buildings, both administrative and civilian exploding from deadly airstrikes such as that of the Maternity Hospital in Mariupol.  It also depicted the overwhelming trauma of children caught in the war, and of medical workers weeping over the slain... some being children as well.

If you ask NY Times / ABS Journalist Jon Karl, he says that this 'radicalized Congress' into war.

[kyonides]

Zelensky cites Ukraine’s support for Jews
as he criticizes Israel’s ‘indifference’

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky delivered yet another emotional address — this time to Israel’s Knesset — Sunday, invoking the Holocaust while accusing the country of ignoring Ukraine’s pleas for help.

“Ukraine made the choice to save Jews 80 years ago, now it’s time for Israel to make its choice,” Zelensky, who is Jewish, said to a packed crowd of pols by video.
...
Zelensky condemned Israel’s current leaders such as PM Naftali Bennett, who has refused to provide Ukraine with Israel’s Iron Dome technology that would protect it from Russian missile strikes.

They are showing “indifference” and “meditating without choosing a side,” he said.

Wallmapu: The "Mapuche Nation" that they want to create
by taking land from both Argentina and Chile

Many people think that the Mapuche conflict only affects Chile, but the reality is that the indigenous terrorists challenge the sovereignty of practically all of Argentine Patagonia.
On the first day in charge of the Ministry of the Interior, the communist Izkia Siches said that she spoke with important figures of the Mapuche community and  referred to the conflict zone as "Wallmapu" instead of Arauco or La Araucanía in Chile.
...
However, they also claim Argentinian lands, despite the fact that they inhabited them after massacring the Tehuelches.
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Thus, the Wallmapu would be made up of the Chilean regions of  Bío Bío, La Araucanía, Los Ríos and Los Lagos; and through the Argentinian provinces  Neuquén, La Pampa, Buenos Aires, and parts of Córdoba, Santa Fe, Mendoza, and San Luis. It is not a minor fact, this Mapuche country would have access to both the Pacific and the Atlantic, it would divide Argentina and Chile in two and it would have the most important areas of mining resources in both countries.

Take in consideration that Chile has a communist government now. 

[DerVVulfman]

UKRAINE SAYS IT RETAKES KYIV SUBURB
BATTLE FOR MARIUPOL RAGES

U.S. Senior Defense can’t refute or verify claims that Ukrainian troops drove Russian forces out of the Kyiv suburb of Makariv

Early Tuesday, Ukrainian troops drove Russian forces out of the Kyiv suburb of Makariv after a fierce battle, Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said. The regained territory allowed Ukrainian forces to retake control of a key highway and block Russian troops from surrounding Kyiv from the northwest.

Still, the Defense Ministry said Russian forces were able to partially take other northwest suburbs, Bucha, Hostomel and Irpin, some of which had been under attack almost since Russia’s military invaded almost a month ago.

Estimates of Russian military casualties in the grinding war have been hard to come by and vary, but even conservative figures by Western officials are in the low thousands. Russia has not given an update since it said March 2 that 498 soldiers had been killed in action in Ukraine. Russia’s pro-Kremlin Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper, citing the Defense Ministry, briefly reported Monday that almost 10,000 Russian soldiers had been killed. The report was quickly removed, and newspaper blamed hackers. The Kremlin refused to comment on Tuesday.

[kyonides]

Afghanistan's last finance minister
now a DC Uber driver
ponders what went wrong

Until last summer, Khalid Payenda was Afghanistan's finance minister, overseeing a $6 billion budget — the lifeblood of a government fighting for its survival in a war that had long been at the center of U.S. foreign policy.

Now, seven months after Kabul had fallen to the Taliban, he was at the wheel of his Honda Accord, headed north on I-95 from his home in Woodbridge, Va., toward Washington, D.C. Payenda swiped at his phone and opened the Uber app, which offered his "quest" for the weekend. For now his success was measured in hundreds of dollars rather than billions.
...
The job was his way of supporting his wife and four children after he burned through his family's savings from Afghanistan.
...
Senior U.S. officials have largely moved on from the Afghanistan war, which began 20 years earlier with high-minded promises of democracy, human rights and women's rights and ended with an American president blaming Afghans, such as a Payenda, for the mess left behind.

"So what's happened? Afghanistan political leaders gave up and fled the country," President Joe Biden said as desperate Afghans rushed to the airport the day after Kabul fell, adding: "We gave them every tool they could need. . . . We gave them every chance to determine their own future. What we could not provide them was the will to fight for that future."

The question of what happened and who was at fault haunted Payenda. He blamed his fellow Afghans. "We didn't have the collective will to reform, to be serious," he said. He blamed the Americans for handing the country to the Taliban and betraying the enduring values that supposedly had animated their fight. He blamed himself.

US expels another Chinese phone carrier on security grounds

Washington has expelled another state-owned Chinese phone carrier from the U.S. market over national security concerns amid rising tension with Beijing.

The Federal Communications Commission revoked authorization for Pacific Networks Corp. to provide domestic and international service under an order issued Wednesday.

The U.S. government is reducing Chinese access to American markets and investment over possible spying and Beijing’s military development.

The FCC cited "significant national security and law enforcement risks" that Pacific Networks could monitor or disrupt U.S. communications. It said there were no steps that could eliminate those risks while the company operated in the United States.

President Joe Biden has extended efforts begun under his predecessor, Donald Trump, to limit access to U.S. technology, investment and markets for Chinese companies due to concern they are security risks or helping military development.

In October, a unit of China Telecom Ltd., one of China’s three main state-owned carriers, was expelled by the FCC from the U.S. market on similar grounds.

The FCC said in 2019 it planned to revoke licenses granted two decades earlier to China Telecom and another state-owned carrier, China Unicom Ltd. It rejected a license application by the third carrier, China Mobile Ltd.

The FCC also cited unspecified "conduct and representations" by Pacific Networks to regulators and Congress that "demonstrate a lack of trustworthiness and reliability."

Pacific Networks owns an American company, ComNet (USA) LLC, which provides international service, calling cards and global SIM cards, as well as network management, business phone systems and website services, according to a U.S. Senate report in 2020.

The companies ultimately are owned by the Chinese Cabinet’s main holding company, CITIC Group, which "may be able to access U.S. customer records," said the report by the Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.

Zelensky Calls for Direct Talks With Putin
Says Ukrainians Must Vote on Terms of Peace Deal

Russia and Ukraine have held several rounds of talks by way of video conferencing, but so far without any significant breakthroughs. Zelensky said direct talks are now needed with his Russian counterpart “in any format” in order to understand the conditions for putting an end to hostilities.
...
Zelensky said he’s ready to discuss the status of Russia-annexed Crimea and the breakaway separatist regions of Donetsk and Luhansk provided Ukraine receives security guarantees.
...
Separately, Zelensky told Ukrainian news outlet Suspilne that any deal agreed with Russia would have to be put to a referendum in Ukraine.
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Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said on Tuesday that efforts to evacuate civilians from besieged towns and cities were focused on the city of Mariupol but did not announce any new agreement with Russia to allow safe passage for trapped residents.

Kremlin Reacts to Zelensky’s Idea of Ukrainian Referendum
on Any Compromises to Russia

Russia is pushing back on a proposal that Ukrainians would put the key terms of a Russia-Ukraine peace deal to a popular vote, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying on Tuesday that a referendum would hamstring the negotiations.
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“We’re convinced that putting [the terms] before the public at this moment can only undermine the negotiations that are already going a lot slower and are less substantial than we want them to be,” Peskov said, according to Russian state-backed media RT.
...
The United Nations chief, meanwhile, has said his discussions with officials indicate “there is enough on the table to cease hostilities now” and seriously negotiate a Russia-Ukraine peace deal.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told reporters on Tuesday that the war is “unwinnable,” and the only question is how many more lives will be lost and how many more cities like Mariupol will be destroyed before the conflict shifts away from the battlefield and onto the negotiating table.

Pfizer Recalling Some Blood Pressure Drug Products

With ‘Above Acceptable’ Levels of Cancer-Causing Impurity

Pfizer says that it’s voluntarily recalling some of its blood pressure drug products and two authorized cheaper generic versions of the drug because of elevated levels of a potentially cancer-causing impurity.

The pharmaceutical giant stated on March 21 that it’s recalling six lots of Accuretic (quinapril HCl/hydrochlorothiazide) tablets, one lot of quinapril and hydrochlorothiazide tablets, and four lots of quinapril HCl/ hydrochlorothiazide tablets that are used to treat the symptoms of high blood pressure.

Pfizer stated that the tablets, which were distributed nationwide to wholesalers and distributors in the United States and Puerto Rico from November 2019 to March, have been found to contain the presence of nitrosamines.

According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), nitrosamines are common in water and foods, including cured and grilled meats, dairy products, and vegetables. While everyone is exposed to some level of nitrosamines, overexposure to the impurities for extended periods of time can lead to an increased risk of cancer.

Drugs that contain levels of nitrosamines that are above the acceptable daily intake limits are recommended by the FDA to be recalled.

[kyonides]

Ukraine celebrates blowing up Russian warship

Ukraine on Thursday celebrated blowing up a Russian warship that was bringing military supplies to invading forces.

“The morning starts with good news!” Ukraine’s armed forces gloated as it shared videos and photos of the still-blazing landing ship, the Orsk.
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Aerial footage showed huge plumes of black smoke billowing over the Azov Sea from the docks in Berdyansk, an area that Ukraine said has been “captured by Russia.”

The flames burst out as the ship sat near at least two others, although it was not immediately clear if the damage spread beyond the Orsk.

Defense analyst and author H.I. Sutton speculated that the Alligator-class ship was destroyed with a “ballistic missile strike.” Two other ships were seen “sailing away as fire raged,” he tweeted.

Zelensky urged Biden not to sanction Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich: report

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky reportedly asked President Biden to hold off on imposing sanctions against Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich in the hope that the reputed crony of Vladimir Putin could act as a go-between in negotiating peace.

The US Treasury Department was asked by the White House to stand down on sanctioning Russian billionaire Abramovich after Zelensky personally made his pitch to Biden during a recent phone conversation, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Officials at the Treasury Department prepared a package of sanctions against Abramovich that were timed to coincide with a parallel announcement from the European Union, the Journal reported.

But Biden apparently acceded to Zelensky’s request for caution.

Tesla’s new Texas factory is throwing a party — and locals aren’t happy

Tesla is planning to hold a massive, 15,000-person bash to celebrate the grand opening of its gigafactory in Austin — and the shindig has local community and environmental groups up in arms.

Locals raised objections to a permit that was granted to Elon Musk’s electric car maker for an April 7 party at the company’s new 8 million-square-foot headquarters.

Travis County officials signed off on the invite-only event, which will include two stages with live music, food, and a fireworks display, Bloomberg reported.

Paul DiFiore, who represents the Colorado River Conservancy and the Austin-based group PODER, said that the event will generate noise, force road closures, kick up dust from construction, and increase water pollution.

“This grand opening is not a substitute for real community engagement,” DiFiore said.

[DerVVulfman]

PUTIN CANNOT REMAIN IN POWER

Biden's statement being walked back by White House Staff

(Link includes video with the ending statements of Biden's speech)

President Biden on Saturday said that Russian President Vladimir Putin "cannot remain in power," as he declared the Russian invasion of Ukraine a "strategic failure" while pledging continued support for the embattled Ukrainian people. But shortly after Biden explicitly called for Putin’s removal, the White House denied that Biden was calling for regime change.

Still, Biden wished to speak directly to the Russian people who oppose Putin’s invasion, that Putin can and must end this war, and that the American people stand with them.