UK Begins Military Evacuation in Sudan While US Says It’s Too Dangerous

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While a 72-hour ceasefire appears to be holding, the British government has begun to evacuate British nationals from Sudan aboard military flights from an airfield outside the capital Khartoum, the United Kingdom government announced today.

“Flights will be open to those with British passports and priority will be given to family groups with children and/or the elderly or individuals with medical conditions,” according to the statement tweeted by the U.K. Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. “At this stage we will contact those who are eligible for evacuation directly and British nationals should not make their way to the airfield unless called.”

Meanwhile, the Pentagon said the security situation in Khartoum is too uncertain for a U.S. military airlift of Americans and dual nationals trapped in the city, as two warring generals fight over a plan to combine their rival military factions.

“We’re going to do everything we can to help guide people, get them the information they need to get out safely, but it is not safe right now, for another evacuation attempt that would actually put Americans in more danger, not less,” said NSC spokesman John Kirby on CBS.

Instead, the Biden administration is telling Americans who want to get out of Khartoum to consider an arduous 500-mile drive overland to Port Sudan. “We just entered a period of a ceasefire, we hope it holds, but because of the violence we’ve seen in the last few days, our best advice to most Americans who are still in Sudan, despite the warnings to leave, is to shelter in place, stay somewhere safe and secure before moving about,” said Kirby on CNN last night. (Read more from “UK Begins Military Evacuation in Sudan While US Says It’s Too Dangerous” HERE)

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Parents Given Permission to Euthanize Children If They Have Certain Diseases

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Children between the ages of 1 and 12 now can be euthanized in one European nation after officials there extended their voluntary death laws to cover them.

The only qualification appears to be that they have a terminal illness and be suffering.

The Telegraph reported the Dutch government has tweaked its Euthanasia Act so that children are covered for the first time.

“Under the change, euthanasia – legal, voluntary death carried out by a doctor – will only be an option for children who are suffering unbearably with no hope of improvement and for whom palliative care cannot bring relief,” the report explained.

Health minister Ernst Kuipers said the death procedure now is available for “children who are so ill that death is unavoidable and they are expected to die soon.” (Read more from “Parents Given Permission to Euthanize Children If They Have Certain Diseases” HERE)

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Kyiv Seeks US Technical Support at ‘Maximum Proximity to the Battlefield’

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Over the past 14 months, Western countries have pledged to provide Ukraine with more than $65 billion worth of direct military aid, most of it coming from the United States. Now, with a major Ukrainian counteroffensive looming, prominent officials in Kyiv have begun to call for those Western countries to assume a more forward role in the maintenance of that new arsenal, including the provision of technical personnel on the ground closer to the war zone.

“I am sure that our partners could hire such specialists, and we would do everything in our capacity to organize for them to come to Ukraine,” Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said in response to a question from Newsweek at a briefing held on April 10 at the Ukraine Media Center in Odesa. “We have been suggesting for quite a long time that our partners assist in providing maintenance at the maximum proximity to the battlefield.”

“It is very complicated to send a tank all the way to Europe for repairs,” Reznikov explained. “If we could have specialists with access to the necessary documents come here, it would really help.”

Currently, all of the Western technicians known to be assisting Ukraine with the maintenance of imported weapons systems are located outside the country’s borders. Although thousands of ex-active duty military personnel have voluntarily taken up arms on Kyiv’s behalf, maintenance specialists, even experienced ones, require access to classified technical manuals in order to perform their duties at the requisite standard. (Read more from “Kyiv Seeks US Technical Support at ‘Maximum Proximity to the Battlefield’” HERE)

Photo credit: Flickr

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Reports: Macron Working With China on ‘Secret Plan’ for Peace Deal Between Ukraine and Russia

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French President Emmanuel Macron is reportedly actively working on a “secret plan” with Communist China to attempt to broker a peace deal by the summer between Russia and Ukraine.

French sources speaking to Bloomberg have revealed that Emmanuel Macron, who recently travelled to Guangdong to hold talks with Chinese dictator Xi Jinping, has apparently tasked top diplomats from Paris to engage with Beijing in crafting a deal to end the war in Ukraine.

According to the report, the Elysée believes that such a deal could possibly be struck by the summer should certain conditions be met, namely that Kyiv succeeds in its Spring counter-offensive to such a degree that the Zelensky government would be able to come to the table with Vladimir Putin from a position of strength.

An official from Macron’s office reportedly told the news outlet that the French president has tapped his foreign policy advisor Emmanuel Bonne to work alongside the CCP’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, to begin crafting a potential peace framework.

While Mr Macron was one of the few Western leaders willing to engage with Moscow in the early days following the invasion, he later fell in line with the neo-liberal establishment and backed sending billions to the region in the form of money and weapons to prop up the proxy war.

(Read more from “Reports: Macron Working With China on ‘Secret Plan’ for Peace Deal Between Ukraine and Russia” HERE)

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Putin Visits Russian Troops in Occupied Ukraine

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Russian President Vladimir Putin visited the headquarters of Russian troops fighting in Ukraine early Tuesday, his second trip to the Russian-held territories there since March.

A video released by the Kremlin and broadcast by Russian state television showed Putin visiting the command post for Russian forces in the southern Kherson region. It showed Putin arriving by helicopter to receive reports from the top military brass about the combat situation.

The Russian leader then moved by helicopter to the headquarters of the Russian National Guard of the eastern Luhansk region to hear a report from commanders.

In both locations, Putin congratulated the military on Orthodox Easter, which was celebrated Sunday and presented them with icons.

Russia annexed the Kherson and Luhansk regions along with the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions in September in a move that was rejected by much of the world as illegal. (Read more from “Putin Visits Russian Troops in Occupied Ukraine” HERE)

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Putin Boasts of ‘Joint Military Exercises’ in Meeting With Chinese Defense Chief

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Russian President Vladimir Putin touted “military-to-military cooperation” with China while hosting the communist regime’s defense chief at the Kremlin.

“We also hold joint military exercises in various theaters of operation, including in the Far East, Europe, at sea, on land, as well as in the air,” Putin told Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu, according to the Kremlin transcript. “I do believe that this constitutes a major track for strengthening the trust-based strategic relationship between the Russian Federation and the People’s Republic of China.”

Li traveled to Moscow less than a month after Chinese General Secretary Xi Jinping made the trek as Russia and China seek to dramatize their geopolitical cooperation. The meeting on Monday coincided with separate military exercises in the Pacific by each state, while world powers clashed at the U.N. Security Council over North Korea’s nuclear weapons program and Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with democratic heavyweights in Japan.

“We have a very strong relationship that goes beyond the Cold War-era military and political alliances,” the Chinese defense minister said. “Under your strategic leadership and that of the President of China, we are actively developing cooperation in practical spheres. Our relations have already entered a new era.”

Xi has stopped short of taking direct steps to arm Russia in its campaign to overthrow the Ukrainian government, but Ukrainian forces have begun to find larger numbers and varieties of “dual-use” Chinese components in Russian arms, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s team. (Read more from “Putin Boasts of ‘Joint Military Exercises’ in Meeting With Chinese Defense Chief” HERE)

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Russia Is Equipping Simple Bombs With Guidance Systems, Turning Them Into Cheap Substitutes for Expensive Cruise Missiles

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Russia is modifying simple bombs to equip them with guidance systems, turning them into cheap and effective substitutes for expensive guided missiles.

The regular bombs appear to be being converted to smart ones using UMPK (unified module for gliding and guidance) systems, according to Illia Ponomarenko of the Kyiv Independent.

Ponomarenko wrote that the upgraded guided or gliding bombs pose “an especially serious threat to Ukraine” that can “deliver devastating hits upon Ukrainian lines and the rear front.”

This system can be used to equip old Soviet FAB-500М-62 gravity bombs, which Russia has an abundant supply of, with a simple satellite guidance system and “wings,” according to the outlet.

In March, Russia effectively used the modified bombs to bombard Ukrainian defenses of Avdiivka in Donetsk. (Read more from “Russia Is Equipping Simple Bombs With Guidance Systems, Turning Them Into Cheap Substitutes for Expensive Cruise Missiles” HERE)

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Russian Ambassador: U.S. Threatened ‘Retaliatory Measures’ Over American Reporter’s Arrest

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The Russian ambassador to the U.S., Anatoly Antonov, said he had a “very harsh” conversation with the State Department over the arrest of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich.

Mr. Antonov met with Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland after being summoned over Mr. Gershkovich’s detention in late March on charges of espionage — allegations the U.S. has called bogus.

“The Americans threatened us with retaliatory measures if we did not release Gershkovich in the near future. Let’s see how they will act,” Mr. Antonov told Russia’s Channel One.

He said the meeting had “no practical outcome.”

Mr. Antonov also said the number of U.S. reporters in Russia exceeds the number of Russian reporters in the U.S. (Read more from “Russian Ambassador: U.S. Threatened ‘Retaliatory Measures’ Over American Reporter’s Arrest” HERE)

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US Guided Rockets in Ukraine Are Being Jammed by Russia

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U.S.-made smart bombs provided to Ukraine are being jammed by Russia and are missing their targets, according to a Politico review of a leaked Pentagon document.

Russia is electronically jamming the precision-guided munitions, a Defense Department official confirmed to Politico, rendering them useless upon impact.

Some of the smart bombs were also failing to detonate because of a technical issue, but that has since been addressed by Ukraine.

The latest revelations from a trove of leaked Pentagon documents underscores yet another hurdle for Ukraine ahead of an expected spring offensive.

The documents also highlighted vulnerabilities in Kyiv’s air defenses and cast doubt on Ukrainian troops retaking significant territory this spring. (Read more from “US Guided Rockets in Ukraine Are Being Jammed by Russia” HERE)

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Chinese Bank Voluntarily Turns Over Hunter’s Bank Records in Sign That China Owns Joe Biden

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China fired a warning shot at President Biden when a Chinese-American bank supplied Senate Republicans with records showing millions of dollars flowing from Chinese companies to Mr. Biden’s son Hunter Biden and brother James Biden, said a lawmaker spearheading an investigation of the first family.

Cathay Bank, which is based in Los Angeles but has offices in China, voluntarily turned over bank records requested by Sens. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Charles E. Grassley of Iowa. Every other American bank denied the two Republicans’ requests for financial records.

“In my mind, it’s the Chinese government telling Joe Biden, ‘We got the goods on you, buddy, and we’re willing to dish it up,’” Mr. Johnson told The Washington Times. . .

The records the bank handed over showed deep financial ties between the president’s son and brother and the now-defunct CEFC China Energy, which had ties to the Chinese Communist Party. The energy giant wired $1 million to Hudson West III, a joint venture owned by Hunter Biden and Gongwen Dong, a business associate of CEFC’s founder and chairman, Ye Jianming.

A second Chinese energy company, Northern International Capital Holdings, which is associated with the communist-backed CEFC, wired $5 million to Hudson West III, the Cathay Bank records show. The money sent from the two companies funded a $4.8 million wire transfer from Hudson West III to Hunter Biden’s companies Owasco P.C. and Owasco LLC, and Lion Hall Group, owned by the president’s brother James Biden. (Read more from “Chinese Bank Voluntarily Turns Over Hunter’s Bank Records in Sign That China Owns Joe Biden” HERE)

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