Chinese President Xi Jinping awarded Paika Kalidibek, a 72-year-old veteran border guard, the national honorary title of “People’s Guardian” on the 75th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China. Baika, an ethnic Tajik from the Pamir Plateau in Xinjiang, spent 37 years guarding China’s remote border with Tajikistan’s Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region and Afghanistan’s Wakhan Corridor.
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Death Toll In Slovyansk Climbs To 11
Intense fighting between Ukrainian and Russian forces raged in the devastated town of Bakhmut on April 15 as the death toll from a Russian strike in nearby Slovyansk climbed to 11. Russian forces have been besieging Bakhmut in the Donetsk region of Ukraine for months, making only incremental progress at an enormous cost of human life. The spokesman for the eastern military command, Serhiy Cherevatiy described the fighting in the city center as unprecedented and there had been 17 clashes with Russian troops over the past 24 hours.
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New Zealand begins early voting for election
Early voting has begun in New Zealand for the nation’s Oct. 14 general election, with conservative contender Christopher Luxon casting his ballot.
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Vladimir Putin pulls Wagner Group troops from Ukraine
Russia’s notorious Wagner Group mercenaries are being ordered to scale down operations in Ukraine amid Kremlin fears they are becoming too powerful. The 50,000-strong squad, many of them convicted criminals, have played a key role in brutal fighting in eastern Ukraine.
