World News - Page 5

The heated words come from Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who warned that nuclear war is a possibility that all should take very seriously.

In a recent interview with Russian state TV, Lavrov claimed that NATO is going to war with Russia via proxy and is arming that proxy, referencing the multi-billion-dollar weapons shipments being sent to Ukraine from various countries. The top diplomat also went on to explain that Russia doesn't want to turn to nuclear war and that he doesn't want the risk of it to be "artificially inflated". However, Lavrov did warn that it was "serious," "real," and "cannot be underestimated."

In response to these remarks by Lavrov, his Ukrainian counterpart claimed that Russia is losing its last hopes in scaring off the world from supporting Ukraine. Notably, Lavrov went on to say that the tensions between the US and Russia are currently worse than the tensions during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. As Russia is seemingly losing at its invasion of Ukraine, many officials have turned a wary eye towards Putin, who may not think he has many other options than nuclear war in the face of defeat.

The US Naval Institute (USNI) learned that Russia was using dolphins to protect its navy in the Black Sea. The reports were confirmed by satellite images.

New satellite images from Maxar Technologies reveal what is being reported as dolphin pens located at the entrance of a key port in the Black Sea. According to the USNI website, there are two dolphin pens that were moved to the harbor in February and contain trained dolphins that are most likely there to prevent any Ukrainian divers from entering the harbor to destroy any ships.

The images were analyzed by H I Sutton, who specialized in marine mammal pens and wrote for the USNI. Sutton said that dolphins were "the most obvious type of mammal" that Russia would be using to protect its navy fleet. Sutton went on to say that Russia has previously used dolphins in war and recounted that the Kremlin deployed them in Syria in 2018 to counter enemy divers, gather objects from the seabed, and conduct military intelligence operations.

One of the most legendary stories to come out of the Ukraine and Russia conflict is the notorious tale of the "Ghost of Kyiv".

The tale began circling the internet in the early weeks of Russia's attempt at invading Ukraine's capital of Kyiv and involved a Ukrainian fighter pilot nicknamed the "Ghost of Kyiv" as his identity was hidden. This fighter pilot was rumored to have taken out as many as 40 Russian aircraft and was later shot down on March 13, according to the Times of London. Last week many publications reported the fighter pilot's name was 29-year-old Major Stepan Tarabalka.

Now, Ukraine's Air Force Command has said while Tarabalka is a real war hero that was killed in battle, he wasn't the "Ghost of Kyiv" as the story was made-up. Taking to Facebook and Twitter, Ukraine's Air Force Command states that the "Ghost of Kyiv is a superhero-legend whose character was created by Ukrainians!" and "embodies the collective spirit of the highly qualified pilots of the Tactical Aviation Brigade who are successfully defending #Kyiv and the region."

USNI News is a website run by the U.S. Naval Institute, which has learned of the recent dolphin deployment by Russia.

The dolphins have been deployed to protect Russia's Black Sea naval base amidst the country's invasion of Ukraine. Satellite imagery shows that two dolphin pens were placed at the entrance to Sevastopol harbor by the Russian Navy around February. The Sevastopol base in Crimea is Russia's most important naval base in the Black Sea.

The Soviet Union developed its own military marine mammal programs during the Cold War, including dolphin training in the Black Sea. The training was conducted at Kazachya Bukhta near Sevastopol, where it remains to this day. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the unit responsible for the programs came under Ukrainian control.

On April 26, the European Union commissioner took aim at Elon Musk over his purchase of Twitter and what the future entails when it comes to content moderation.

The EU's commissioner Thierry Breton reminded Musk that the second largest social media platform doesn't need "less moderation", which is contrary to Musk's sentiments leading up to an after the purchase of Twitter with the Tesla and SpaceX CEO pushing for free speech as he believes its "the bedrock of a functioning democracy".

Breton spoke to the Financial Times and said that Musk needs a "reality check" if his push for free speech on the platform results in less content moderation and warns that if Twitter doesn't uphold the European Union's rules for content the platform risks being banned across Europe. With the EU's commissioner warning Musk to tread lightly, the same question can be raised for the US's own rules and regulations when it comes to content guidelines.

It's not the first mass grave that's been spotted in Ukraine since the Russian invasion began.

Photographed on April 3rd, 2022, by Maxar Technologies' GeoEye-1 is a recently excavated mass grave with rows visible just below the road in a field. The grave is located in the Ukrainian town of Manhush, approximately 12 miles (20 kilometers) from the war-torn port city of Mariupol.

Maxar Technologies' WorldView-3 satellite took a photo of the same area on March 19th, 2022, highlighting the recent grim addition. To the right of the graves in the image is a previously existing cemetery, which evidently was not sufficient to bury all of the victims of combat. The mayor of Mariupol has said that over 10,000 civilians have been killed since the invasion began on February 24th.

Vietnam's government is planning on rolling out a new law that would put a 24-hour timer on any "illegal" content posted to social media platforms.

According to a new exclusive report from Reuters, the new law will make Vietnam one of the leading countries when it comes to tight laws around content posted to social media platforms and comes at a time when the controlling Communist Party is attempting to decrease any "anti-state" activity.

Furthermore, the 24-hour timer on any content that is deemed "illegal" won't have a grace period of two days as social media platforms currently have, and "illegal livestreams" are required to be removed within three hours.

Reports indicate that the Biden administration is expected to announce an additional aid package for Ukraine sometime this week.

According to five officials close to the matter that spoke with NBC News, the Biden administration is expected to announce a security assistance package that is similar in size to last week's package, worth $800 million. Biden's $800 million contained various military equipment from Howitzers, radars, artillery rounds, drones, Javelins, and multiple vehicles.

CNBC reports when asked on April 19 if he would send more military aid to Ukraine, Biden replied with a simple "Yes." Pentagon spokesman John Kirby declined to reveal the contents of the upcoming weapons package, as naming the contents would cause several security concerns. However, Kirby did say that the contents of the package comes "directly out of multiple conversations with the Ukrainians."

The Moskva was a Russian cruiser class warship that Ukraine has allegedly sunk.

Ukraine claims to have sunk the warship while it was in the Black Sea after striking it with a Neptune anti-ship cruise missile. However, Russia has disputed this, admitting the Moskva has sunk but not that Ukraine attacked it and caused it to sink.

According to Russian news agency TASS in 2020, the Russian Orthodox Church acquired a piece of the True Cross, the cross upon which Jesus Christ was crucified. The Russian Orthodox Church told TASS that it would place the piece aboard the Moskva, in keeping with the church's close ties with the Russian military. Previously, members of the clergy has blessed Russian weapons of all sizes, even up to nuclear weapons.

A biolab located in Ukraine is involved in unethical human experiments conducted by American scientists, according to Russia's ministry of defense.

Russia's ministry of defense announced last week on Thursday that it has evidence of "American scientists from the lab" conducting a series of experiments on humans between the dates of 2019 and 2021. Russia's military alleges that the American scientists involved in the experimentation used psychiatric patients from a hospital ward in the Kharkiv region as their subjects. The ministry claimed that the experiments and research was "potentially dangerous biological preparations", but didn't actually describe what those "biological preparations" are.

Additionally, Russia's defense ministry said that the subjects were chosen based on their age, nationality, immunity status to disease, and more. Furthermore, the ministry said that there was no documentation for the subjects, and they were forced to sign non-disclosure agreements that stopped them from discussing anything they were involved in or saw. The trials also didn't have any records, but according to the Russian military, it has eyewitness testimonies that account "inhuman experiments".