https://archive.today/rwvFT

Dec 29 (Reuters) - Activity in Russia's manufacturing sector expanded at its fastest pace in almost seven years in December, a business survey showed on Friday, though new export orders contracted for the second month running.

The S&P Global Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) for manufacturing rose to 54.6 in December from 53.8 in November, moving further above the 50 mark that separates expansion from contraction. It was the highest reading since January 2017.

Output rose at its fastest pace in seven months and new orders also increased sharply again.

"Greater client demand was largely focused on the domestic market, however, as new export orders fell for the second month running," S&P Global said in a statement.

"Fewer customer requests from clients in key export markets led to the fastest fall in new business from abroad since July."

Moscow is spending heavily on manufacturing, pouring cash into the defence sector to ramp up military production

With Ukraine’s military facing mounting deaths and a stalemate on the battlefield, army recruiters have become increasingly aggressive in their efforts to replenish the ranks, in some cases pulling men off the streets and whisking them to recruiting centers using intimidation and even physical force.

Recruiters have confiscated passports, taken people from their jobs and, in at least one case, tried to send a mentally disabled person to military training, according to lawyers, activists and Ukrainian men who have been subject to coercive tactics. Videos of soldiers shoving people into cars and holding men against their will in recruiting centers are surfacing with increasing frequency on social media and in local news reports.

The harsh tactics are being aimed not just at draft dodgers but at men who would ordinarily be exempt from service — a sign of the steep challenges Ukraine’s military faces maintaining troop levels in a war with high casualties, and against a much larger enemy.

250 155mm artillery shells;

One LUNA NG reconnaissance system;

10 VECTOR reconnaissance drones with spare parts;

6 border protection vehicles;

8 Zetros trucks;

100,000 first aid kits;

70 70mm grenade launchers.

Poland is no longer sending weapons to Ukraine, the Polish prime minister said on Wednesday.

The announcement came as Polish-Ukrainian relations come under strain owing to the extension of a ban by Warsaw on Ukrainian grain over concerns large quantities of it will hurt Polish farmers.

The spat, which has even resulted in the Ukrainian ambassador to Warsaw receiving an official summons to the Polish Foreign Ministry for a formal ticking off, has added grist to the generally warm relations between the two countries.

Speaking on private TV channel Polsat News, Mateusz Morawiecki said Poland was helping in the victory over the "Russian barbarian" but could not agree to any destablisation of the Polish market by Ukrainian grain imports.

"Of course we will maintain the transit of Ukrainian goods," he said. "Poland does not bear any costs due to that. On the contrary, it could be said that we earn from it."

Morawiecki also said Poland would certainly not risk Ukraine's security.

::: spoiler Article text

The New York Times is finally acknowledging that the September 6 deadly impact of a missile in the center of Kostiantynivka was caused by a Ukrainian missile:

Evidence Suggests Ukrainian Missile Caused Market Tragedy

One wonders what took them so long.

The Sept. 6 missile strike on Kostiantynivka in eastern Ukraine was one of the deadliest in the country in months, killing at least 15 civilians and injuring more than 30 others. The weapon’s payload of metal fragments struck a market, piercing windows and walls and wounding some victims beyond recognition.

Less than two hours later, President Volodymyr Zelensky blamed Russian “terrorists” for the attack, and many media outlets [followed](https://apnew

The Sept. 6 missile strike on Kostiantynivka in eastern Ukraine was one of the deadliest in the country in months, killing at least 15 civilians and injuring more than 30 others. The weapon’s payload of metal fragments struck a market, piercing windows and walls and wounding some victims beyond recognition.

Less than two hours later, President Volodymyr Zelensky blamed Russian “terrorists” for the attack, and many media outlets followed suit.

But evidence collected and analyzed by The New York Times, including missile fragments, satellite imagery, witness accounts and social media posts, strongly suggests the catastrophic strike was the result of an errant Ukrainian air defense missile fired by a Buk launch system.

Ukrainian authorities initially tried to prevent journalists with The Times from accessing the missile debris and impact area in the strike’s immediate aftermath. But the reporters were eventually able to get to the scene, interview witnesses and collect remnants of t

cross-posted from: https://lemmygrad.ml/post/843485

The Chinese spy balloon that was shot down over the Atlantic Ocean in early February was built -- at least partly -- using American off-the-shelf parts, a U.S. official has confirmed to ABC News.

A second U.S. official was also able to confirm that the balloon did not appear to have transmitted any of the data it collected on its journey above North America, as was initially reported by the Wall Street Journal.

The first official could not say whether any of the American gear was sold illicitly to China but said determining whether any of it came from illegal trade was a topic of serious concern among officials since some items -- like chips -- are forbidden to sell to certain markets.

The Chinese spy balloon that was shot down over the Atlantic Ocean in early February was built -- at least partly -- using American off-the-shelf parts, a U.S. official has confirmed to ABC News.

A second U.S. official was also able to confirm that the balloon did not appear to have transmitted any of the data it collected on its journey above North America, as was initially reported by the Wall Street Journal.

The first official could not say whether any of the American gear was sold illicitly to China but said determining whether any of it came from illegal trade was a topic of serious concern among officials since some items -- like chips -- are forbidden to sell to certain markets.

Alternative link if you're not on Lemmygrad: !thedeprogram@lemmit.online

cross-posted from: https://lemmygrad.ml/post/835983

On Friday evening, the Biden administration published a previously classified intelligence report acknowledging that three years of investigations have produced no evidence that SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, was created in a laboratory by scientists at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) in China.

This admission demolishes years of false claims, uncritically promoted by the entire spectrum of the US media and political establishment, that China deliberately created the virus that has infected the world and killed more than 20 million people.

The report reveals that three leading US newspapers the New York Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal lied when they claimed that the United States had evidence that researchers at the institute were hosp