Author: Reporter

Putin mocks Ukraine conference while floating latest ploy for peace talks using 2022 draft document

A draft peace agreement that Russia and Ukraine negotiated in the early days of the conflict could serve as a starting point for talks to end the fighting, the Kremlin said recently, reviving a proposal that Ukraine had rejected. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that the draft document that was discussed in Istanbul in March 2022 could be “the basis for starting negotiations.” At the same time, he noted that the possible future talks would need to take into account the “new realities.” “There have been many changes since then, new entities have been included in our constitution,” Peskov...

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China surges equipment sales with Russia to help its illegal war in Ukraine according to U.S. intelligence

China has surged sales to Russia of machine tools, microelectronics and other technology that Moscow in turn is using to produce missiles, tanks, aircraft and other weaponry for use in its war against Ukraine, according to a U.S. assessment. Two senior Biden administration officials, who discussed the sensitive findings in April on the condition of anonymity, said that in 2023 about 90% of Russia’s microelectronics came from China, which Russia has used to make missiles, tanks and aircraft. Nearly 70% of Russia’s approximately $900 million in machine tool imports in the last quarter of 2023 came from China. Chinese...

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Far fewer U.S. college students now want to study in China over concerns of arbitrary detentions

Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. These days, only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of close to 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at U.S. schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their...

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Pacifist principles: Japan steps away from its post-war policy by exporting military aid to Ukraine

Japan’s Cabinet approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets to other countries on March 26. It is the latest step away from the pacifist principles the country adopted at the end of World War II. The controversial decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in a year-old project to develop a new fighter jet together with Italy and the U.K., but it is also part of a move to build up Japan’s arms industry and bolster its role in global affairs. Japan has long prohibited most arms exports under the country’s...

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Missing in Action: Thousands of Ukrainians live in agony as they search for loved ones who disappeared

Iryna Reva stares at her phone, replaying the last video her 25-year-old son Vladyslav sent her from the front line before the volunteer soldier disappeared more than 19 months ago in a battle with Russian forces in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region. Reva is one of the thousands of Ukrainians desperately seeking news of loved ones who have disappeared in the two years since Russia’s full-scale invasion began. According to Ukraine’s National Police, more than 30,000 people have been reported missing in the last 24 months. “Up to this day, I am searching for my son,” Reva said. “He is...

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Out of words: Muslim leaders tire of inaction by the White House and its outreach on the war in Gaza

Osama Siblani was sipping his morning coffee at the office when his phone buzzed with a message from one of President Joe Biden’s advisers. As publisher of the Arab American News in Dearborn, Michigan, Siblani serves as an occasional sounding board, and the White House wanted to know what he thought of Biden’s recent conversations with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. After months of mounting concerns over the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza, Biden had publicly, albeit vaguely, threatened to cut U.S. assistance to Israel’s military operations in the Hamas-controlled territory. “This is baby steps,” Siblani said he responded....

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