News of the World

[kyonides]

Mercedes-Benz Begins Building Battery Recycling Factory in Southern Germany

Mercedes-Benz laid the foundation stone for a sustainable battery recycling factory in Kuppenheim, southern Germany on Friday.

The pilot plant will have an annual capacity of 2500 tonnes and will contribute to the production of more than 50,000 battery modules for new electric Mercedes-Benz vehicles.

Recycled batteries will come from test vehicles and start-up batteries. Based on the pilot’s success, production volumes could be scaled up in the medium to long term.

Commissioning for the first stage of the plant—mechanical dismantling—is scheduled to begin in December this year. Subject to talks with the public sector, the pilot factory will be completed a few months later.

Biden and Germany’s Scholz Vow to Support Ukraine ‘As Long as It Takes’

Scholz met Biden in the Oval Office for an extended one-on-one discussion about Russia’s attempted conquest in Ukraine, during which both leaders reaffirmed their commitment to supplying military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine.

“It is really important that we act together, that we organize in lockstep, and that we make it feasible that we can give the necessary support to Ukraine during all this time,” Scholz said.
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Scholz said that U.S.-German relations were in “very good shape,” and that the two nations were prepared to follow through on their commitments to help Ukraine defend itself from Russian aggression.

Biden also described the U.S.-German partnership to support Ukraine as working in “lockstep,” and said that the nations had followed through on their vow to impose costs on Moscow for its hostilities.
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Shortly before the meeting took place, the United States announced a 33rd Presidential Drawdown of security assistance for Ukraine, which has relied heavily on international aid to maintain its defense against Russia.

The new package will provide Ukraine with $400 million worth of artillery systems and munitions, as well as spare parts for the maintenance of damaged equipment, and bring the total amount of U.S. military aid to Ukraine to more than $30 billion since Russia’s full-scale invasion last year.

Putin Says Ukrainian Group Attacks Border Region, Kyiv Denies Russian ‘Provocation’

President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday Russia had been hit by a “terrorist attack” in the southern Bryansk region bordering Ukraine, and vowed to crush what he said was a Ukrainian sabotage group that had fired at civilians.

Ukraine accused Russia of staging a false “provocation,” but also appeared to imply some form of operation had indeed been carried out by Russian anti-government partisans.

Putin, in a televised address, accused the group of opening fire on civilians in a car, including children. Bryansk Governor Alexander Bogomaz said the attack had killed two people and wounded an 11-year-old boy.

“They won’t achieve anything. We will crush them,” said Putin.
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The FSB security service said in an initial statement that the army and FSB were trying to liquidate “an armed group of Ukrainian nationalists” who had crossed the border.

In a later update, the FSB said the situation was under the control of law enforcement agencies. It said a large number of explosive devices had been found and demining was taking place. It did not mention earlier reports by state news agencies that hostages had been taken.

In two videos circulating online, armed men calling themselves the “Russian Volunteer Corps” said they had crossed the border to fight what they referred to as “the bloody Putinite and Kremlin regime.”

Emphasis is mine.

Deadly Greek Train Crash Prompts Strike; Relatives Give DNA

Family members awaited the results of DNA testing to identify victims of a train crash that killed nearly 60 people in Greece, as workers went on strike Thursday saying the rail system is outdated, underfunded, and dangerous.

The government has blamed human error, and a railway official was charged with manslaughter.

Emergency crews, meanwhile, inched through the mangled remains of passenger carriages in their search for the dead from Tuesday night’s head-on collision, which has left 57 confirmed dead—a number that rescuers fear will increase.
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DNA matching was going fast, with at least four families—in the presence of psychologists—receiving confirmation Thursday that their relatives were among the dead, said police spokeswoman Constandia Dimoglidou.
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Railway workers’ associations called strikes, halting national rail services, and the subway in Athens to protest working conditions and what they described as a dangerous failure to modernize the rail system. A second 24-hour strike was called for Friday.

Two separate protests in central Athens were held by left-wing groups, with one resulting in clashes between stone-throwing youths and riot police. Protests were also held in Thessaloniki and Larissa.

And talking about train wrecks...

Another Train Derails in Springfield; No Hazardous Materials Spilled: Ohio EPA

A Norfolk Southern train derailed in Springfield, Ohio, on Saturday.

The Clark County Emergency Management Agency asked residents within 1,000 feet of the incident to shelter in place “out of an abundance of caution,” it said in a post on Facebook. The shelter-in-place order was lifted later, according to an updated Facebook post at 2:15 a.m. Sunday.

The derailment took place at Ohio 41 near the Prime Ohio Business Park, according to the agency, which asked all locals who need the highway to “find alternate routes.”

Local and state first responders confirmed that no hazardous materials were found at the train derailment site in Clark County.

About 20 of the 212 cars derailed. Four tankers were identified to contain non-hazardous materials—two had a small amount of Diesel Exhaust Fluid and the other two had small amounts of Polyacrylamide Water Solution.
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There was no indication of any injuries or risk to public health, they said.

CCP’s Top ‘Two Sessions’ Political Meeting Kicks Off:
Sets Lower GDP Target, Increases Military Spending

The regime’s outgoing premier, Li Keqiang, made the last “Government Work Report” during his tenure on March 5 during the meeting, in which this year’s China’s economic growth (GDP) target was set at about 5 percent, lower than expected by the outside world.
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Even with the lowered target rate, in 2022...the final reported achieved GDP growth was only 3 percent, far below expectations.
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Fujian is a major manufacturing and foreign trade province of China, selling light industrial products such as shoes, clothing, textiles, and food to the domestic market and abroad. Many local private manufacturing companies’ owners expressed to the media that they have been experiencing a sharp decline in product orders.

...many small and medium-sized Chinese enterprises have also decided to relocate to Southeast Asia to set up factories and adjust their business models. “It is possible that foreign trade orders will not go directly to China in the future.”
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CCP leader Xi Jinping is expected to appoint an economic team during the Two Sessions, which is expected to be led by the new premier, Li Qiang.
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“There were some experts in the CCP’s State Council, or some professionals with overseas and international experience. They will all be replaced by Xi’s loyalists.”
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The Chinese regime also announced on March 5 that this year’s military budget is 1,553.7 billion yuan ($224 billion), an annual increase of 7.2 percent, the second highest in the last five years. In the context of the escalation over Taiwan, intensified regional conflicts, and international turmoil, the CCP’s military budget has continued to increase in recent years despite a sluggish economy, which has caused international concern.

China Outpacing US in Military Ship Buildup: Former Intelligence Officer

China is outpacing the United States in military ship buildup, according to veteran intelligence officer and author Grant Newsham.

Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro said on Feb. 28 that the Chinese military is producing warships at a greater pace than the United States, jeopardizing U.S. supremacy on the seas. He noted that China currently has about 340 ships and is seeking to add 100 more by 2030.

Newsham echoed Toro’s opinion, noting that the number doesn’t even include the regime’s coast guard ships, which are built like warships, and a maritime militia that adds thousands of ships to that.

The U.S. Navy reportedly has about 295 ships to cover the entire world.
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Newsham cited the inflow of fentanyl reportedly from China, which has led to the deaths of about 70,000 Americans per year. More than 100,000 Americans died of drug overdoses in the 12 months ending in April 2021, according to a report by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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Newsham took note of Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s call on the United States not to “abuse the concept of national security to oppress Chinese companies,” during his November 2021 virtual summit with President Joe Biden.
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“That shows you that they are terrified of being cut off from American technology, cut off from American markets, etc., and even our allies’ markets,” he said. “The Chinese Communist Party is vulnerable to an economic slowdown, and they know it.”

Newsham also highlighted the CCP’s fear of the United States and/or other like-minded countries banding together to present a unified front against the regime.

Biden Extends ‘National Emergency’
Due to ‘Extraordinary Threat’ of Russian Actions in Ukraine

President Joe Biden has extended an executive order that declared a “national emergency” in the United States because of Russian actions in Ukraine that conflict with U.S. interests, according to a White House notice.
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Just days before the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Biden signed another executive order that “further expanded the scope of the national emergency declared in Executive Order 13660” and “relied on for additional steps taken” in other orders.

“The actions and policies addressed in these Executive Orders continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States,” the White House stated, noting that Biden will continue “for 1 year the national emergency declared in Executive Order 13660.”

The White House stated that executive orders “deal with” individuals who “undermine Ukraine’s democratic processes” as well as threaten the country’s security, peace, and sovereignty.
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Bakhmut has been reduced to a wasteland, with only a few thousand of its 70,000 pre-war residents still there amid street-by-street warfare. Russian troops, bolstered by Wagner Group mercenaries, have been advancing north and south of the city to cut it off.

The city has limited strategic value, but Ukraine says it’s exhausting Russia’s invasion force in what has become the bloodiest battle of the war.