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The death toll from a Ukrainian missile strike on the city of Lisichansk in Russia’s Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) has risen to 28, the region’s acting head and the emergencies services have said.

The attack on a bakery occurred during a busy period on Saturday, partially destroying the building. Sources in Russia’s Investigative Committee told the media that the bombardment was likely carried out with the use of a US-made HIMARS multiple rocket launch system, supplied to Kiev by the West.

“As a result of a strike on a bakery by the Ukrainian nationalists, 28 civilians were killed, including one child,” the acting head of the LPR, Leonid Pasechnik, wrote on Telegram on Sunday.

Ten people have been rescued from the rubble, with “medics currently fighting for their lives,” he added.

Sunday has been declared a day of mourning in the LPR for the victims of the “barbaric” Ukrainian strike on Lisichansk, Pasechnik said.

The Russian Emergencies Ministry has provided similar figures of those killed and wounded. Rescuers have been working on site all night, dismantling 65% of the damaged building, it said, adding the search and rescue operation continues.

The local military police office earlier said that some 40 people may have been trapped under the rubble as a result of the strike.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said shortly after the bombing that the Ukrainian forces targeted the bakery deliberately as they were “well aware that on Saturdays local residents traditionally come there for pastry and groceries, including elderly people and families with children.” The bombardment is another “act of terrorism” by Ukraine and proof of “the criminal essence” of the government in Kiev, she wrote on Telegram.

Lisichansk, home to around 93,000 people as of September 2022, was liberated by the Russian military in early July 2022. The city, located near the frontline, has been a frequent target of Ukrainian shells and missiles since then, but the strike on Saturday appears to be one of the deadliest.

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https://www.rt.com/russia/591815-lisichansk-lugansk-bakery-ukraine/

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American journalist Tucker Carlson has spent several days in Russia and even took in a ballet performance at the iconic Bolshoi Theatre, Telegram channel Mash reported on Saturday, sharing several photos of the conservative commentator.

Carlson allegedly touched down at Vnukovo airport on a Turkish Airlines flight from Istanbul on Thursday after several hours’ delay, according to the channel. Since then he was also spotted taking in the ballet Spartacus at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow.

The conservative commentator has yet to confirm the trip and it remains unclear what business he had in Russia. However, rumors of his intention to interview President Vladimir Putin have been circulating since last year.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov did not rule out the possibility of Carlson interviewing Putin when asked about it in September, though he explained that the Russian leader would wait to sit down with any American journalist until the US population was no longer so “seriously stupefied by Russia-hating propaganda.”

Carlson himself told Swiss outlet Die Weltwoche that he had been prevented from setting up an interview with Putin by the White House.

While he expressed dismay that he did not receive more support from his fellow journalists regarding his intention to sit down with the Russian president and questioned why Americans are “not allowed to hear” Putin’s voice, he declined to provide any further details regarding when the interview was supposed to have taken place or how the presidential administration of Joe Biden intervened to stop it.

The former Fox News host claimed previous attempts to secure an interview with Putin had led to aggressive surveillance by the National Security Agency, alleging he was “unmasked” by the spooks and the contents of his emails were leaked to the media in 2021 in order to “paint [him] as a disloyal American” and force him off the cable news network. The NSA denied Carlson was an intelligence target and claimed it never sought to take him off the air.

Despite dominating prime-time ratings for years, Carlson was ultimately fired from Fox News in April for reasons that have never been made public. He subsequently launched his own talk show streaming on X (formerly Twitter).

While Carlson has been repeatedly demonized by the US media establishment as a “useful idiot” for Moscow – if not a Russian agent entirely – due to his skepticism regarding Washington’s foreign policy and particularly the conflict in Ukraine, the journalist has never previously visited Russia or worked with Russian media organizations. 

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https://www.rt.com/russia/591798-tucker-carlson-spotted-moscow/

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The US and UK have carried out a series of combined air- and sea-launched strikes against at least 36 targets at 13 locations across Yemen, the US Central Command announced on Saturday.

The joint operation was reportedly carried out by Tomahawk missiles launched from US Navy ships, and F/A-18 fighter-bombers launched from the aircraft carrier USS Eisenhower.

Earlier on Saturday, the US struck six locations in Yemen, stating they contained Houthi cruise missiles set to be launched at ships in the Red Sea, US Central Command reported on X (formerly Twitter).

In response, the Houthis are set to “meet escalation with escalation,”according to a senior political official and spokesman Mohammed al-Bukhaiti. “Our military operations against the Zionist entity will continue until the aggression against Gaza stops, no matter what sacrifices it costs us,” he wrote on X.

Yemen’s Houthi rebels have been attacking shipping in the region in solidarity with Palestinians since the breakout of the Israel-Hamas conflict in October last year. Initially targeting only Israeli-affiliated vessels, the Houthis later began attacking the US and UK-owned ships, after the coalition launched strikes against Yemen.

The latest assault on Saturday came following a series of airstrikes on Iraq and Syria this Friday. Washington claimed it targeted members of the Islamic Resistance movement and other “Iranian-backed” militias, in response to the drone strike that killed three US soldiers at a military facility in Jordan last weekend.

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https://www.rt.com/news/591799-yemen-us-uk-strikes/

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Ukrainian forces on Saturday targeted a bakery located in the Russian city of Lisichansk, Lugansk People’s Republic, killing at least two and injuring six more people at the site. The building was heavily damaged in the strike and partially collapsed, footage from the scene shows.

The acting head of the LPR, Leonid Pasechnik, accused the Ukrainian military of deliberately targeting the building during the weekend to maximize potential damage on civilians. 

“Three people were hospitalized. Several dozen more civilians may remain under rubble,” Pasechnik wrote on Telegram without providing an exact figure.

The local military commandant’s office told RIA Novosti the estimated figure of missing persons currently stood at 40. The incident triggered a massive emergency services response, with multiple rescuers and heavy machinery deployed to the scene in order to dig through the rubble.

No official information on weaponry used by the Ukrainian military to strike the bakery was readily available. Some media reports, however, suggested the building was struck by a projectile launched from a US-supplied HIMARS missile system.

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https://www.rt.com/russia/591789-russian-bakery-attack/

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The US has made a huge blunder by attacking targets in Iraq and Syria, as it will only further inflame tensions in the already turbulent region, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani has said.

In a statement on Saturday, Kanaani condemned the US airstrikes on militia groups in the two countries. American officials have said that the attacks targeted groups linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) Quds Force, an elite secret unit specializing in foreign operations, and came in response to an earlier attack on a US military post in Jordan that left three service members dead and dozens wounded.

The ministry’s spokesman insisted that Washington had violated the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Iraq and Syria, calling the decision “another adventure and strategic mistake by the American government, which will have no result other than the escalation of tension and instability in the region.”

He also stressed that by launching the strikes, the US was helping Israel, which is locked in conflict with the Palestinian armed group Hamas in Gaza. The latter has close ties to Tehran, and attacked the Jewish state in early October, with the fighting resulting in tens of thousands of deaths, including many civilians, and unprecedented destruction.

Kanaani added that the root cause of the current region-wide crisis is “the occupation of the Israeli regime” and its operations in Gaza, as well as “the genocide of the Palestinians with the unlimited support of the United States.”

However, the spokesman did not address US claims that it had attacked Iranian-affiliated groups. Tehran previously stated that regional groups that attacked American military facilities were acting independently and not on Iran’s orders.

On Friday, commenting on the new wave of US airstrikes in the region, US President Joe Biden stressed that the US “does not seek conflict in the Middle East or anywhere else in the world” but warned of retaliation against those who do harm to Americans. Senior US officials have also said that they do not want conflict with Iran.

Prior to the US moves, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi also said that Tehran “will not be the initiator of any war,” but vowed to “respond firmly” to anyone who would try to pressure his country.

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https://www.rt.com/news/591785-us-strikes-strategic-mistakes-iran/

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The US should withdraw its ground troops from Middle Eastern countries that do not welcome them, independent candidate for US president Robert F. Kennedy Jr has said.

He said the escalation could have been avoided, reacting in an X (formerly Twitter) post to Washington’s attack on more than 80 targets allegedly linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) in Iraq and Syria in a wide-ranging air assault.

US Central Command says it hit 85 Iranian-linked targets in Syria and Iraq in retaliation against the recent “Iran-affiliated” fighters’ attack that killed three US servicemen in Jordan. President Joe Biden’s X post read that the US does not “seek conflict in the Middle East or anywhere else in the world. But to all those who seek to do us harm: We will respond,” despite Iran denying involvement in the incident.

“If we ‘do not seek conflict,’ then let’s get the troops out of there,”Kennedy said, apparently reacting to Biden’s statement. “They are not welcome. They are not needed,” he added.

Kennedy claimed that the current escalation would not have been necessary if Washington hadn’t put its military “in the crosshairs” of Shiite militias. He described the existence of these groups “as a legacy of our illegal war in Iraq.” He recalled that both Iraq and Syria had asked the US troops to leave their territory while Iran would not tolerate America’s military presence on its borders.

Besides pulling US troops “out of the Mideast,” Kennedy urged Washington to forge ties with regional powers instead. The presidential candidate also described the troop presence in the area as “indefensible targets for anyone in the region who wants to provoke a conflict.”

Iraq has rebuked the US over the airstrikes, saying they constitute “a violation of Iraqi sovereignty” and “pose a threat that could lead Iraq and the region into dire consequences. The Syrian military, as quoted by SANA news agency, denounced the raid as “the aggression of the American occupation forces.”

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https://www.rt.com/news/591769-kennedy-slams-usa-strikes-iraq-syria/

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PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel is among a handful of tech billionaires bankrolling the Enhanced Games, a privately-funded sporting contest that encourages doping and transhumanist-inspired upgrades, according to a post on X (formerly Twitter) by the official account for the Games on Tuesday.

Venture capitalist Christian Angermeyer and former Coinbase CTO Balaji Srinivasan were also named as contributors to the Games’ “investors’ circle.” The funding round yielded enough capital to pay for the first edition of the Games, founder and Australian venture capitalist Aron D’Souza told the New York Post on Thursday. However, D’Souza declined to reveal the absolute total raised, merely stating that it was in the “high single-digit millions.”

Thiel reportedly plans to provide more details regarding his investment in April and will promote the Games during the ‘real’ Olympics in Paris in July. The Palantir CEO is himself an avid doper, taking human growth hormone and metformin for muscle-building and anti-aging purposes, respectively, and hopes to be cryogenically frozen before death.

Several cities are currently in talks to host the Games, D’Souza claimed, predicting the first competition will take place by the middle of next year using existing sporting facilities – an attempt to avoid the taxpayer-funded bonanza of construction that typically occurs when cities compete to host the Olympics.

In addition to taking performance-enhancing drugs, athletes are encouraged to use so-called “performance technology” like the polyurethane swimming “super suits” banned by FINA in 2010 after they were used to break 55 world records in a single year.

D’Souza justified the idea of allowing athletes to take drugs “out in the open and honestly” by claiming that “44% of Olympians admit to using banned substances while only 1% get caught.” He cast his pro-doping outlook as a stand for medical freedom, telling the Post, “Individuals should be able to make choices about your body and no one – whether it’s a sports federation or the government – should be able to tell them what to do about it.”

The investor also pitched his event as a boon to scientific research, with athletes as guinea pigs testing which “compounds and therapies”work for “extending human life.”

D’Souza claimed over 900 athletes have contacted him with interest in competing in the Games since he revealed the concept last year. Unlike the Olympics, the Games promise every competitor a sizable base salary in addition to competition winnings.

US Anti Doping Agency head Travis Tygart dismissed the Games as a “dangerous clown show” and “not real sport” in a November interviewwith CNN, while former Australian Olympic gold medalist Anna Meares called it “unfair, unsafe” and “a joke.” Lawyer Jim Walden added that it was probably illegal in the US.

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https://www.rt.com/news/591748-doping-enhanced-olympic-games/

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US podcast king Joe Rogan has signed a contract renewal with Spotify that essentially allows him to have his cake and eat it, too – reportedly earning as much as $250 million from the streaming service and gaining the freedom to distribute his show on other platforms.

Spotify confirmed the new multiyear agreement on Friday, saying it will continue to stream ‘The Joe Rogan Experience’ and will allow it to be carried by rival distributors. That means a show already rated as the most-watched podcast in the world while being streamed exclusively on Spotify will soon be opened up to listeners of such services as Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and YouTube.

Rogan’s controversial show has ruffled feathers at Spotify since he joined the platform in 2020 in a deal valued at around $200 million. Elderly rock musician Neil Young removed his songs from the streaming service in 2022 and urged Spotify employees to quit after CEO Daniel Ek refused to cancel Rogan’s show for spreading “deadly misinformation” on Covid-19 vaccines.

Angry Spotify staffers also accused Rogan of being “transphobic,” but his show was reportedly making the platform too much money to be torpedoed. The podcast boasts an audience estimated at about 11 million people per episode, and Rogan has credited media pearl-clutching over his controversial content for attracting about 2 million of his subscribers.

Rather than counting on an exclusivity arrangement with Rogan’s podcast to help attract more subscribers, Spotify is betting on ad sales to generate more revenue. Rogan’s compensation will include a base fee and a share of advertising revenue. Spotify said it will work with Rogan to “continue to maximize the audience of the show across platforms.”

There was media speculation that Rogan would move to another platform when his Spotify contract expired. He turned down a $100 million, censorship-free offer to join Rumble in early 2022.

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https://www.rt.com/news/591747-joe-rogan-podcast-contract/

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Governor Ron DeSantis has announced that he will deploy members of the Florida National Guard to assist Texas in repelling an “invasion” of illegal immigrants. US President Joe Biden’s administration has fought to prevent Texas from sealing the border.

Roughly 1,000 soldiers will be sent to Texas, DeSantis’ office said in a statement on Thursday. They will be joined by members of the Florida State Guard, and around 90 members of various Florida law enforcement agencies already at the border.

“States have every right to defend their sovereignty and we are pleased to increase our support to Texas as the Lone Star State works to stop the invasion across the border,” DeSantis said. “Our reinforcements will help Texas to add additional barriers, including razor wire along the border. We don’t have a country if we don’t have a border.”

During his first week in office, Biden signed a flurry of executive orders repealing former President Donald Trump’s immigration restrictions. Illegal crossings have surged as a result, with a record 302,000 people caught crossing the 2,000-mile border in December, and more than 10 million entering the US since 2021. Under Biden’s policy of ‘catch and release’, apprehended migrants are immediately released into the US, with orders to show up at immigration hearings years in the future.

Texas – which shares more than 1,200 miles of border with Mexico – deployed national guardsmen to the border in 2021 and began constructing razor wire obstacles at popular crossing points. The Biden administration responded by suing the state, and the Supreme Court ruled last month that federal agents could access the border to remove the razor wire.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott vowed to defy the ruling and install more wire, arguing that the Biden administration has neglected the constitutional obligation to enforce federal immigration law, and that his duty to protect his constituents supersedes any federal laws.

Although the Department of Homeland Security gave Abbott three days to begin removing the obstacles late last month, a US Customs and Border Patrol official told Fox News that the agency had “no plans” to move in and destroy the barriers after Abbott ignored the deadline.

Some 25 Republican governors issued a joint statement of solidarity with Abbott last week, accusing Biden of “illegally allowing mass parole across America of migrants who entered our country illegally.”

Florida has been sending law enforcement officers and soldiers to assist Texas since 2021. National Guard troops have built obstacles and observation posts, while Florida Highway Patrol officers have apprehended almost 150,000 illegal aliens and charged 2,102 people with smuggling or human trafficking charges, DeSantis’ office said.

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https://www.rt.com/news/591715-florida-troops-texas-border/

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The Russian and Chinese governments have held an inter-agency meeting in Beijing to share their assessments of biological security concerns, and address the threats posed by bioweapons – particularly those allegedly being developed by the US military.

Moscow and Beijing agreed to work together in seeking to strengthen the Biological and Toxic Weapons Convention (BTWC), a treaty signed by 109 nations in 1972 to block the development of these unconventional armaments, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Thursday in a statement.

“The meeting confirmed the unity of approaches of Russia and China to the biological security,” the ministry said, adding that “particular attention in this context was paid to the military and biological activities of the United States.”

“The need for further close coordination and constructive interaction both in bilateral format and at relevant multilateral fora, primarily within the framework of the BTWC, the UN and the SCO [Shanghai Cooperation Organization] was noted,” the ministry added.

Russia, China, and 14 other nations issued a joint statement in December calling for strengthening the UN’s policing of biological and chemical weapons. “Convinced that such use would be repugnant to the conscience of humankind, we are determined to condemn any use of toxic chemicals, biological agents or toxins as weapons by anyone, anywhere at any time, and to hold accountable those responsible for any such use,” the statement declared.

Moscow and Beijing have repeatedly pressed for greater transparency from the US and its allies regarding their military biological activities. Wednesday’s talks between the two governments devoted “particular attention” to the Pentagon’s bioweapons activities, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

The Russian Embassy in Washington accused the US last year of “gross violations” of the BTWC, including illegal bioweapons research in labs scattered around the world. Washington aims to use dangerous biological agents and artificial epidemics to advance its interests, the embassy claimed.

The US and its NATO allies vetoed a UN resolution last year calling for an investigation of Washington’s biolabs in Ukraine. Some “unfinished” bioweapons projects were moved to Africa amid the conflict in Ukraine, the Russian Defense Ministry said in November. The ministry accused Washington of exploiting Nigerian citizens as a “free clinical resource,” conducting illegal research on the pretense of public health.

This week’s meetings in Beijing also included talks on Thursday over security threats in outer space. “The sides exchanged their assessments of the current situation in this area,” the Foreign Ministry said. “They stressed the need to continue close cooperation and active joint efforts to prevent an arms race in outer space and its weaponization.”

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https://www.rt.com/news/591678-china-russia-us-biological-activities/

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The US and its citizens are complicit in the deaths of the Ukrainian POWs who were killed last week when the Russian Il-76 military aircraft transporting them was shot down by Kiev’s troops, Moscow’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, has said. 

On Thursday, Russia’s Investigative Committee released a report stating that the cargo plane was destroyed using two US-made MIM-104A missiles fired by a Patriot air-defense system. The Il-76 came down in Russia’s Belgorod Region last Wednesday. All of those on board – 65 Ukrainian POWs, three Russian troops, and six crew members – were killed. 

Russian investigators stated that Ukrainian troops fired the missiles from a staging area in Kharkov Region, not far from the village of Liptsy, some 10km from the Russian border. They based their conclusion on 116 missile fragments found at the crash site. 

Responding to the report, Zakharova said in a Telegram post that US citizens “need to know where their money is going,” arguing that President Joe Biden and his administration have made Americans “complicit in a bloody tragedy.” 

Russian President Vladimir Putin previously also said that the Il-76 had been shot down using a US-made Patriot system, and called for an international investigation into the incident. He noted, however, that it’s unlikely that any official international organizations would be willing to conduct a probe. 

Kiev, meanwhile, has refused to admit responsibility for the attack. The Ukrainian military intelligence agency, the GUR, stated that it was not informed by Moscow that the POWs, which were due to be exchanged later in the day, were being transported by air over Belgorod Region.  

Moscow has insisted that Ukrainian authorities were made aware of all the details of the prisoner transfer ahead of time.

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https://www.rt.com/russia/591653-us-complicit-downing/

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American specialists may have been part of the crew that operated the US-made Patriot air defense system that shot down a Russian military aircraft carrying Ukrainian prisoners of war last week, TASS news agency reports.

The plane, a Russian Il-76, crashed over Belgorod Region last Wednesday while carrying 65 captured Ukrainian servicemen who were set to take part in a prisoner swap later that day. All of the POWs, as well as three Russian officers and six crew members, died in the crash.

On Thursday, Russia’s Investigative Committee released a report claiming that the plane was brought down using two MIM-104A surface-to-air missiles launched from a Patriot missile system deployed at a staging area in Kharkov Region, Ukraine near the village of Liptsy, around 10km from the Russian border.

Following the Investigative Committee’s report, a source within Russia’s security services told TASS that it is very likely that the crew operating the Patriot system represented a mix of Ukrainian and American specialists.

The agency’s source explained that Ukrainian officers are likely placed in lower positions while “Western specialists, including Americans, sit at the control and missile guidance stations.” They added that Ukrainian servicemen are often only allowed to be involved with these systems as drivers or operators of transport-loading vehicles. 

The TASS report noted that the Russian authorities are still in the process of identifying the exact people who were involved in the attack and were operating the Patriot system.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the use of a US-made system in the killing of Ukrainian POWs means that US President Joe Biden and his administration have made regular American citizens “complicit in the bloody tragedy.”

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https://www.rt.com/russia/591660-us-patriot-crew-ukraine/

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The US and its allies have shown little interest in launching an international probe into last week’s crash involving a Russian aircraft that was carrying Ukrainian prisoners of war, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists on Thursday. President Vladimir Putin called for an investigation on Wednesday.

A Russian Il-76 military transport aircraft with 65 Ukrainian POWs on board crashed in Belgorod Region on January 24. All of the Ukrainians, as well as six crew members and three Russian military personnel, died in the crash. Moscow immediately blamed Kiev for the incident.

On Wednesday, Putin said Moscow had asked “for international experts to be deployed [here] to conduct an analysis, assess the existing material evidence” as part of an international probe.

READ MORE -  Americans likely part of crew that shot down Ukrainian POWs – TASS

According to Peskov, Western nations have demonstrated no interest in the Russian initiative. “The president stated it publicly and openly yesterday that we are ready for an international investigation,” he said, adding that the US and its allies were demanding official written requests and refusing to consider the issue without such documentation.

The West’s position came as no surprise for Russia, since it is a “direct participant” in the ongoing conflict, Peskov said. “It is clear that not one of them [the US and its allies] would be interested in conducting a probe and stumbling upon themselves as a result,” he added.

Earlier, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky had disputed Moscow’s claims and called for an international probe into the incident as well.

On Thursday, the Russian Investigative Committee confirmed that the aircraft had been shot down by a US-made Patriot air-defense system. Such systems have been provided to Kiev’s troops by the Western backers.

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https://www.rt.com/russia/591665-west-refuse-ukrainian-pow-crash/

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The US military is planning to provide Ukraine with its first shipment of a new, longer-range munition recently developed by Boeing, according to Reuters and Politico, which reported that the bombs could arrive in the country as soon as this week.

With the Pentagon recently wrapping up final tests for the Ground-Launched Small Diameter Bomb (GLSDB), the US is preparing a maiden transfer to Kiev, Politico reported, citing two officials and two others familiar with the discussions. The bombs can achieve a maximum range of 90 miles (145km), and will be “a significant capability for Ukraine,” one of the officials said.

”It gives them a deeper strike capability they haven’t had, it complements their long-range fire arsenal,” the official added. “It’s just an extra arrow in the quiver that’s going to allow them to do more.”

The US military declined to confirm the exact date of the shipment, though Pentagon spokesman Major General Pat Ryder said the bomb would be provided at some point under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI). He added that Washington would “defer to Ukraine” as to the details of the delivery.

Developed jointly by Boeing and Saab, the ground-launched variant of the new bombs has not yet reached the US arsenal, which currently contains an air-fired version only. The weapon is said to have twice the range compared to the US-supplied High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) already used by Ukrainian troops, according to Reuters.

Citing several unnamed sources, the outlet added that testing on the GLSDB was completed on January 16 and saw six rockets fired over the Gulf of Mexico. The weapon could reach Ukraine as soon as Wednesday, and would be brought to the country by air transport.

In order to speed up deliveries, Boeing and the Pentagon reportedly agreed to an “expedited nine-month option,” under which the company bypassed the usual arms sale review ensuring that firms provide the lowest price possible.

Kiev has already depleted its small supply of its longest-range bomb to date, the US-made ATACMS missile, and has repeatedly called for additional weapons from foreign sponsors. While the GLSDB packs less power than the ATACMS, its superior range and cheaper production cost could enable deeper and more frequent strikes on Russian territory.

Moscow has denounced previous attacks on civilian infrastructure as acts of “terrorism,” and has called for an end to Western military aid to Kiev, saying the arms would only prolong the conflict and lead to more bloodshed without affecting the outcome.

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https://www.rt.com/news/591572-new-us-bomb-ukraine/

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There is “a high probability” that Kiev’s troops used a US-supplied Patriot surface-to-air missile system to down a Russian military transport plane carrying Ukrainian POWs last week, a source close to the investigation told TASS on Wednesday.

Separately, another source in the Russian emergency services has revealed that “the preliminary examination of the striking elements found in the plane shows that the missile [that hit it] belongs to a Western-made air defense system,” according to RIA Novosti. The source, however, did not specify the weapons system.

The plane in question, an Il-76 transport aircraft, went down last Wednesday in Russia’s Belgorod Region, which borders Ukraine. Everyone on board was killed, including 65 Ukrainian servicemen who were being transported for a prisoner exchange. Six crew members and three Russian troops also died.

Moscow has accused Ukrainian forces of downing the aircraft with a surface-on-air missile. Russian President Vladimir Putin also said last week that Kiev’s military intelligence agency, the GUR, had known that Ukrainian POWs were aboard the plane.

TASS reported on Tuesday that the investigation into the crash has confirmed that the plane was targeted intentionally, citing an unnamed member of the Russian security services.

Data from the aircraft’s black boxes “excludes all other possible versions of the Il-76 crash and confirms that the plane was subjected to external influence,” the source said, adding that it was “shot down in the air.”

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has refused to acknowledge that Kiev’s forces were responsible for bringing down the plane, and has called for an international investigation.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Monday that Moscow will not close off its own probe into the crash from those who “want to learn the truth.” He also criticized the West for not initiating the inquiry called for by Zelensky, claiming that Ukraine’s “masters… generally dislike international investigations.”

Moscow has repeatedly warned that any Western weapons deliveries to Ukraine that allow it to target Russian territory could cross ‘red lines’ and lead to a major escalation of hostilities. The supply of arms, intelligence sharing, and training to Kiev’s troops already means Western nations are de facto parties to the conflict, according to Russia.

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https://www.rt.com/russia/591598-pow-plane-ukraine-patriot/

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“In this case, you have got Joe Biden — a sane, decent, normal human being — running against a man who is an existential threat to democracy and to the foreign world, to the international world, to the universe,”

Ana Navarro on "The View."

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/01/view-co-hosts-panic-third-party-candidate-will/

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The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Reverend Justin Welby, is facing calls to scrap Church of England guidance that offers advice on how to deal with children who wish to change their gender in the UK school system, according to a report by The Telegraph.

In 2014, the Church of England’s education office first published its official guidance challenging homophobic bullying. The policy, titled ‘Valuing All God’s Children,’ was aimed in part at countering “homophobic, biphobic, and transphobic bullying” in schools, it said, to ensure that children are “kept safe and can flourish” in an educational environment.

It adds that “schools can make adjustments to meet the needs of a trans pupil without being accused of discriminating against non-trans pupils.”  However, in a letter signed by Christian parents Nigel and Sally Rowe, Archbishop Welby has been asked to withdraw the guidance because it promotes an ideology they argue that children should not be exposed to. 

“Valuing All God’s Children recognizes an ideology that should have no place in primary schools,” the Rowes said in the letter, according to The Telegraph on Sunday. It added that children require “unambiguous rules based on facts.” 

They continued in the letter that the “vast majority” of parents seeking to have their children educated in a Church of England school expect Christian beliefs to be adhered to, and called for the urgent withdrawal of the official guidance which they said gives a “foot in the door to a dangerous ideology.”

The Rowe family also claimed that in 2017, their then six-year-old son was told by a Church of England primary school that it would be ‘transphobic’ if he did not recognize as a girl a young boy who wished to change genders.

The family, backed by the UK-based private Evangelical advisory body the Christian Legal Center, brought a legal challenge against the British Education chiefs after the government opted against intervening in the case. In 2022, the UK government settled the case and said it would review transgender policies in place in schools.

In response to the letter issued by the Rowe family, the Church of England said that ‘misleading pressure groups’ had attempted to distort the intentions of the Valuing All God’s Children advice. 

“Some pressure groups have misleadingly attempted to spin it as being guidance for schools to help them provide for gender-questioning children,” a spokesperson said, per The Telegraph. “It is not and has never set out to provide such guidance.” 

The spokesperson added that the Church intends to “update” the policy later this year.

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https://www.rt.com/news/591481-uk-church-england-transgender-guidance/

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Wildlife charity African Parks said it had launched an investigation into allegations of rape and torture committed by its guards in the Republic of the Congo amid growing calls for the Duke of Sussex, Prince Harry, to resign as a board member.

In a statement issued on Saturday, the organization said it learned of the “serious” charges of human rights violations by its eco-guards against locals living near Odzala-Kokoua National Park in the Central African nation. It reportedly received a tip by email from the human rights group Survival International last year. Odzala-Kokoua National Park is one of over 20 parks managed by the non-profit, headquartered in the South African city of Johannesburg, spread over 12 African states. 

“We immediately launched an investigation through an external law firm based on the information we had available while also urging Survival International to provide any and all facts they had,” it said.

The charity, however, accused Survival International – the London-based NGO campaigning for the rights of indigenous people – of refusing to cooperate with the probe “despite repeated requests.” 

“This is an active, ongoing investigation that is our highest priority as an organization, and we encourage anyone with knowledge of any abuses to report them to us or to the Congolese law enforcement authorities,” African Parks added.

The conservation charity, founded in 2000 to protect Africa’s national parks and advance wildlife conservation, presently manages over 20 million hectares of protected areas. Prince Harry was the organization’s president for six years before joining the board of directors last year.

Survival International has criticized African Parks for causing “destruction” instead of “conservation” with its activities.

In response to the charge of refusing to comply with investigations, Fiore Longo, the head of Survival International’s conservation campaign, told the PA news agency that African Parks “had the money to conduct their own investigation.” 

“It’s not up to us to give them details. It’s their responsibility when we raise a problem to go there and investigate,” Longo said.

The human rights group has launched a petition calling on Prince Harry to step down as director of the African Parks and funders to terminate relations with the charity. This comes over claims of atrocities by its armed rangers against indigenous tribes across Africa, particularly the Baka people in the Congo.

According to the NGO, the Baka and other hunter-gatherers who have lived in the Congo rainforest, now the Odzala-Kokoua National Park under the management of African Parks since 2010, have seen much of their land stolen and been banned from entering the area. 

“We want donors, such as the EU, to withdraw support until the Baka are allowed to return to the park with land ownership rights recognized,” Longo said in another statement published by the Daily Mail on Sunday.

A spokesperson for Prince Harry’s foundation, Archewell, claimed that the Duke had referred the “serious allegations” to the African Parks leadership for further action.

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https://www.rt.com/africa/591469-prince-harry-african-parks-resignation-demands/

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is prepared to start a full-blown war against the pro-Palestinian armed group Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Lebanese broadcaster LBCI reported on Saturday.

Hezbollah has been firing rockets and mortar shells at Israeli positions since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. The barrages have prompted retaliatory strikes from the Israeli army. 

According to LBCI, an intelligence report on Israel’s plans has been provided to Hezbollah by an unnamed Arab country. The potential IDF campaign would be aimed at compelling the militants to abide by UN Security Resolution 1701, which was adopted after the end of the last Israel-Lebanon war in 2006, the TV channel said. The UN document facilitated the creation of a demilitarized zone along the Israeli-Lebanese border.

The situation further escalated this month after an Israeli strike killed Hamas deputy leader Saleh al-Arouri in Beirut. 

Last week, Israeli Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi said that the possibility of a conflict with Beirut was “much higher than it was in the past.” He added that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) were in a state of “increasing readiness” for cross-border attacks.

Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib, meanwhile, said that the involvement of other countries in the Israel-Hamas fighting would be “unacceptable.” He also warned that a war with Lebanon would not be “a picnic” for Israel. Hezbollah MP Hassan Ezzedine similarly said that the militants would “fight back twice as hard and deal a blow to the enemy.” 

Earlier this month, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken traveled to the Middle East to try and prevent a full-blown war between Israel and Hezbollah. 

According to the Washington Post, US officials are concerned that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may want to attack Israel’s northern neighbor amid the growing criticism of his government’s failure to prevent the Hamas October 7 incursion, which left around 1,200 people dead. The report also suggested that the IDF would find it “difficult to succeed” in a two-front war against Hamas and Hezbollah.

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https://www.rt.com/news/591384-israel-poised-to-invade-lebanon/

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The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has announced the uncovering of a major embezzlement scheme involving high-ranking Defense Ministry officials and a private arms manufacturer.

Five suspects attempted to steal 1.5 billion hryvnia (around $39.6 million) in state funds intended for acquiring mortar shells for Ukrainian troops fighting Russia, the SBU alleged in a statement on Saturday.

According to the agency, the company Lviv Arsenal, based in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, had received an order from the Defense Ministry to provide a batch of 100,000 rounds in August 2022, six months after the outbreak of the conflict between Moscow and Kiev.

Lviv Arsenal took payment of the total sum stipulated in the contract and transferred part of the funds to a foreign firm that was supposed to supply the rounds to the Ukrainian military.

However, that firm “didn’t send a single mortar shell to our country” but instead put the money in the accounts of an affiliated company “based in the Balkans,” the SBU said.

The rest of the sum still remains in Lviv Arsenal’s accounts in a Kiev-based bank, it added. The agency also published photos, which it alleged show searches at the suspects’ homes.

Those believed to have been involved in the scheme include the former head of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry’s Department of Military and Technical Policy, Development of Armaments, and Military Equipment, Aleksandr Liiev, the department’s current head, Toomas Nakhur, as well as the founder and CEO of Lviv Arsenal, Yury Zbitnev, the SBU said.

According to the agency, one of the men had been detained by its operatives while attempting to cross the border out of Ukraine. Facing fraud charges, the suspects face up to 12 years in prison and confiscation of property, it added.

On Friday, an appeals court in Kiev upheld a lower court decision to recover the 1.5 billion hryvnias from Lviv Arsenal in favor of the Defense Ministry due to the firm not fulfilling the contract.

The Armed Forces of Ukraine and the Defense Ministry have been plagued by corruption amid the conflict with Russia. In September, Ukrainian Defense Minister Aleksey Reznikov was dismissed from his post over graft allegations. His successor, Rustem Umerov, announced earlier this month that a probe he had initiated revealed $262 million in theft-related costs in weapons procurement.

Multiple media outlets, including RT, have also reported that arms supplied to Kiev by the US and the EU have been sold on the black market.

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https://www.rt.com/news/591398-ukraine-corruption-ammunition-sbu/

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Russian President Vladimir Putin has vowed to crush modern-day forces that promote Nazism, singling out Ukraine and the Baltic states as countries where the authorities have embraced such ideologies.  

Speaking on Saturday at the opening of a memorial to Soviet civilians killed by Nazi German forces in Leningrad Region, the Russian head of state said: “these days the outcomes of the Nuremberg trials are effectively being revised.” He claimed that some countries have gone from rewriting history and whitewashing the Nazis to “arming themselves with Hitlerite ideology and methods.” 

President Putin cited the Baltic states, in an apparent reference to their treatment of Russian-speaking minorities, which Moscow deems discriminatory.  

“The regime in Kiev lionizes Hitlers’ accomplices, SS members, and uses terror against” those who resist it, the Russian leader alleged, accusing the Ukrainian authorities of subjecting the elderly, women and children to “barbaric shelling.”  

According to President Putin, “in a number of European countries, Russophobia is being promoted as the state policy.”  

“We will do everything – everything to undercut and eradicate Nazism for good,” the Russian head of state pledged.

He went on to predict that modern-day proponents of the Nazi ideology are doomed.

Putin noted that January 27 marks 80 years since the Soviet Army broke the Nazi Siege of Leningrad, which began in September 1941 and claimed the lives of more than a million civilians.

President Putin’s own parents lived through the ordeal. Indeed, his older brother succumbed to diphtheria at the age of two in the besieged city.

He noted that Nazi Germany was conducting a genocide of the Soviet population, leaving a deep scar on all generations since, with memories never fading away over the past eight decades.

In his New Year’s address to Russians, former President Dmitry Medvedev said that the “ultimate defeat” of neo-Fascism, an ideology “Russia’s enemies are trying to rekindle” should be the country’s “main goal” in 2024.

Earlier in December, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told AFP that Moscow “will not allow the existence on our borders of an aggressive Nazi state.”

She added that the goal of “denazification” of Ukraine proclaimed by President Putin back in February 2022 remain unchanged.

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https://www.rt.com/russia/591373-no-more-nazism-putin/

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A large convoy reportedly led by a retired US Army lieutenant colonel has said it will arrive at the border in Texas next week in a bid to halt illegal crossings from Mexico, as tensions rise between the leadership of the US state and the federal government over illegal immigration.

The group, called ‘Take Our Border Back,’ has amassed more than 2,100 followers on the Telegram social network as of Sunday, where supporters of the movement have shared information for the planned four-day convoy to begin on January 29. The group also intends to hold rallies in Texas, California and Arizona.

“What gets us to the enemy quickly is find, fix and finish” Pete Chambers, reportedly a retired lieutenant colonel of the US Armed Forces, who is organizing the convoy, said to US radio host Alex Jones earlier this week.

“That’s what we did in Syria when we took out ISIS really quick,” Chambers, who claims to have been a ‘Green Beret,’ explained. “Now we don’t have the authorities to finish, so what we can do is fix the location of where the bad guys are and pair up with law enforcement who are constitutionally sound.”

Chambers added: “That’s what Green Berets do. Unconventional warfare is our bread and butter. Now we’re doing domestic internal defense.”

The group, though, has disputed claims – particularly from the website Wired – that many, or most, of those participating in the convoy will be carrying firearms.

“We are not making a call to arms,” a message from the group said on Telegram. “A call to engage with anyone crossing the border. We are here to peacefully protest under our First Amendment right and pray.” It added that the convoy’s motivation is to stop illegal immigration into the United States and to close the border.

The convoy is due to arrive at the US border with Mexico at a time of increased tensions between state officials in Texas and the federal government. On Monday, the US Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Biden administration, which had requested that Border Patrol officials remove razor wire installed along stretches of the border at the direction of Texas Governor Greg Abbott.

Abbott subsequently announced his intention to defy the government – and the top court in the United States – by ordering that even more razor wire be erected on border sites to deter illegal migration.

The governor had stated earlier this week that it is the state’s right to “defend and protect” its residents from an “invasion” of migrants, and that doing so “supersedes any federal statutes.”

Migration into the US is set to be a key issue ahead of this year’s presidential election. US officials said that about 300,000 people made attempts to cross the border in December alone.

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https://www.rt.com/news/591379-us-convoy-texas-migrants/

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US President Joe Biden has again urged Republican lawmakers to approve a long-stalled budget deal, vowing to shut down his country’s southern border as soon as he’s given the authority to do so.

Republicans have been blocking the White House's attempts to push through a $106 billion ‘national security package’ for Ukraine and Israel since October. They have demanded tougher security measures on the southern frontier be included in the agreement.

”For too long, we all know the border’s been broken. It’s long past time to fix it,” Biden outlined in a written statement on Friday.

He described the border deal, now being negotiated in the Senate, as “the toughest and fairest set of reforms to secure the border we’ve ever had in our country.”

“It would give me, as President, a new emergency authority to shut down the border when it becomes overwhelmed. And if given that authority, I would use it the day I sign the bill into law,” Biden vowed.

Under the bipartisan agreement, the administration would, among other things, be required to shut the border down if the number of migrants trying to get into the US illegally on any given day reaches 5,000, the New York Times reported. This threshold had been surpassed “routinely” in recent months, the paper stressed.

Finding common ground on the immigration deal would be “a win for America,” the president insisted. “If you’re serious about the border crisis, pass a bipartisan bill, and I will sign it,” Biden said, addressing the Republican lawmakers.

The Washington Post described the comments as “a remarkable shift”in the Democratic president’s rhetoric on the immigration issue. The media outlet underscored “the urgency” of the situation on the border for his re-election bid.

Biden’s statement came as Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson said on Friday that if the leaks about the deal’s content were accurate, it would be “dead on arrival” in the lower chamber.

The likely Republican presidential nominee, Donald Trump, slammed the border deal earlier this week, warning that it “would be another gift to the radical left Democrats.” The agreement “will be meaningless in terms of border security,” Trump argued, reiterating that the only way to solve the immigration issue would be voting for him in November.

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https://www.rt.com/news/591358-biden-border-deal-us/

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The US is working on a new strategy for Ukraine that would mark a departure, away from the offensives of 2023 and now toward frontline defense, the Washington Post has reported. The supposed adjustments come in response to Kiev’s failed counteroffensive last year, the newspaper added.

In its article on Friday, the newspaper quoted a senior White House official explaining that “it will be difficult for [Ukrainian forces] to try to mount the same kind of major push on all fronts that they tried to do last year.” In light of this, the hope is now much less ambitious – to ensure that Kiev does not lose any more ground to Moscow, the unnamed staffer told reporters.

This, however, does not mean that Ukraine’s military will just sit in their trenches, with what is described as a “swapping of territory” still likely in small cities and villages, the source told the WaPo.

Late last month, Politico reported similarly, of a realization that a “total victory” for Ukraine was unlikely, at least in 2024, and that this has convinced Kiev’s backers in the US and EU to silently redirect their efforts toward an eventual negotiated settlement.

The Post reported that the Ukrainian army in Zaporozhye Region is already preparing to emulate the Russian defense line that stopped their own advance last summer.

Its Western backers also want Kiev to focus more on long-distance missile strikes against Russian forces, including the Black Sea Fleet based in Crimea.

In the longer term, the Biden administration reportedly hopes to seal a ten-year-security agreement with Ukraine as early as this spring, similar to that recently signed between London and Kiev.

Under the would-be accord, Washington would commit to beefing up Kiev’s military as well as to strengthening its industrial and export base, among other things, the WaPo report claims.

However, these plans hinge on Congress giving the green light to President Biden’s $61-billion funding request, with Republicans appearing as uncompromising as ever, the newspaper pointed out.

According to the report, it is hoped that Washington’s long-term agreement with Ukraine would make it more difficult for the Republican frontrunner Donald Trump to slash aid, should he win the presidential election in November.

Trump has repeatedly called into question his country’s continued generous allocations for Kiev, and vowed, if returned to the White House, to end the bloodshed “in one day, 24 hours.”

Last week, CNN reported that the Biden administration was hoping to get “as much aid [as possible] in before January 2025” amid fears that Trump could throttle back the flow of cash, if reelected.

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https://www.rt.com/news/591367-wapo-us-change-ukraine-strategy-defense/

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China’s top ten highest grossing films for 2023 included zero Hollywood blockbusters, the New York Times reported on Tuesday, marking just the second time in three decades of screening American movies for Chinese audiences that not one US offering cracked the list.

Hollywood power brokers and film experts increasingly acknowledge that China can no longer be counted upon to financially bail out American superhero sequels, big-budget action fodder, and other costly productions that barely broke even on US ticket sales alone, according to the Times.

Over years of the Chinese market opening its doors (and its wallets) to a US film industry that had already reached a financial crisis point domestically, studios shifted focus to churning out shallow but visually exciting effects-stuffed spectacles for their perceived appeal to overseas audiences.

With that no longer a guarantee, studio executives reportedly decided over the last year that budgets for franchise sequels must be slashed dramatically.

“The days when a Hollywood film would make hundreds of millions of US dollars in China – that’s gone,” University of Southern California professor of Chinese politics and film Stanley Rosen told the news outlet.

No American film cracked the top ten in 2020 primarily because the Covid-19 pandemic kept much of China under lockdown, preventing international travel and ratcheting up tensions between the two governments as each accused the other of misleading the world about the origins of the novel coronavirus.

Meanwhile, a marked increase in production quality among Chinese filmmakers paired with plot lines powered by authentic cultural sensibilities significantly increased the allure of domestic cinema for locals.

Efforts by US filmmakers to directly appeal to the Chinese gaze fell flat out of the gate, with many critics feeling they relied on ham-handed stereotypes and minimal cultural understanding. A weak grasp of the differing marketing styles favored by Chinese vs American audiences has also left Hollywood behind as a new crop of sophisticated Chinese filmmakers seduced audiences previously accustomed only to foreign films.

While massive Chinese box office receipts had for years been considered so guaranteed that American filmmakers began preemptively altering plot points and characters for international release in order to appease government censors and ensure a hassle-free theatrical run, the practice has been criticized in the US, where some see it as capitulation to a hostile rival.

International films can be banned if they “endanger” Beijing’s “national unity, sovereignty, and territorial integrity,” according to the National Radio and Television Administration.

As Warner Bros. found out in July, however, appeasing China may mean losing other audiences. The studio’s summer blockbuster ‘Barbie’ was banned by Hanoi for a scene that included a map that appeared to show the South China Sea largely under China’s control.

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https://www.rt.com/pop-culture/591344-china-rejects-hollywood-films-barbie/

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