He recalls: ‘It was bittersweet in a sense because the weather was so tough to deal with that the wind, I mean, there were 60mph winds at times where you could barely stand up… you could barely set up a camera. And it rained, I think, every single day that I was there, for about two weeks.
HANOI, April 8 (Reuters) – U.S.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit Vietnam next week, Senator Jeff Merkley told a news conference in Hanoi on Saturday, as part of Washington’s efforts to move diplomatic relations with Hanoi on to a higher level this year.
Tens of thousands of flag-waving Russians packed out Moscow’s Luzhniki World Cup stadium on Friday as the despot attempted to drum up support for his stalled invasion of Ukraine, peddled debunked claims about why the war started and shilled a false narrative of Russia’s battlefield ‘success’.
‘It kind of warms your heart when you go to a place where people genuinely want to have a conversation with you and want to know who you are. It’s very different from what I’m used to, living in a place like San Francisco, where people just kind of do their own thing and you go about your business.
‘The range of things you can see in a day in New Zealand is pretty interesting, from the lush rainforest to the high ridge peaks to the lone oak trees just kind of sitting out on the fields, and to the seascapes. Just beautiful, dramatic, striking seascapes.’
Merlion is owned by three Russian oligarchs who appear in Forbes’ list of 200 wealthiest Russians with a combined net worth of £1.6 billion. Two of them have been sanctioned by Ukraine for ‘material or financial support’ for the war.
* Russia threatened to bypass a U.N.-brokered grain deal unless obstacles to its agricultural exports were removed, while talks in Turkey agreed removing barriers was needed to extend the agreement beyond next month.
In Ukraine, the documents suggested a misalignment between US and Ukrainian military strategies, with intelligence reports appearing to show the US continues to spy on top military and political leaders in the region.
* Russian forces have likely seized the center of the fiercely contested city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine and are threatening a key supply route for Ukrainian forces to the west, British intelligence said.
Putin used the rally to peddle falsehoods about why the war started and to shill a narrative of Russia’s battlefield success, speaking of ‘how our guys are fighting during this operation, shoulder to shoulder, helping each other’
* Ukraine’s First Deputy Foreign Minister Emine Dzhaparova is due to visit India on Monday and will seek humanitarian aid and equipment to repair energy infrastructure damaged during Russia’s invasion, the Hindu newspaper reported on Saturday.
Financial records appear to show shipments of laptops, mobile phones and microchips have been repeatedly sent from a business registered at the unassuming property in Enfield, North London, since Vladimir Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine began last year.
American officials told the that while the leak underscores the Pentagon’s capacity to collect information on Russia’s strategies, it remains to be seen whether their sources of information will be hampered by the revelations.
San Francisco-based photographer Michael Shainblum, 31 was inspired to visit New Zealand after watching Lord of the Rings as a child, with the trilogy filmed on both the North and South islands. Pictured, Milford Sound
Allied nations, such as South Korea, Online English Program have also reportedly been the subject of spying by the Pentagon, raising questions as to the diplomatic impact the leak could have at a time of deteriorating global ties.
They show that a large volume of high-end microchips, telecoms equipment and servers, which have the potential to support Russian infrastructure, have been shipped through other countries, largely China, avoiding sanctions.
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In his speech, Putin quoted the Bible’s book of John, praising his troops in Ukraine. ‘The words from the sacred scripture come to my mind: “There is no greater love than if someone laid down his life for his friends,”‘ he said.
Putin, who called the rally to mark the anniversary of the last time he attacked Ukraine to annex the Crimea region, spoke of sharing a ‘common destiny’ with Crimeans, of ‘de-Nazifying’ the region in 2014, and of the ‘bravery’ of soldiers currently fighting in Ukraine.
In the wake of the invasion, the Kremlin has cracked down harder on dissent and the flow of information, arresting thousands of antiwar protesters, banning sites such as Facebook and Twitter, and handing out tough prison sentences for what it says is false reporting on the war, which Moscow refers to as a ‘special military operation.’