There is growing frustration in German military circles about Defense Minister Boris Pistorius’ (Social Democratic Party of Germany) efforts to reform the ministry he is in charge of, Germany’s Bild daily said on Monday.
The daily recalled that Pistorius, who took office on January 19, promised to do away with the so-called diffusion of responsibility, which leads to delays in the implementation of important projects, including weapons purchases.
He has already reduced the ministry’s senior personnel from 370 to 160 and has made several reshuffles. Thus, he replaced Inspector General of the Bundeswehr Eberhard Zorn with Carsten Breuer and President of the Federal Office of Bundeswehr Equipment, Information Technology and In-Service Support (BAAINBw) Gabriele Korb with her former deputy, Annette Lehnigk-Emden.
"No other minister has ever come in to rule with an iron fist so firmly and so quickly. However, Pistorius’ strategy is very risky, since no other ministry is that fond of drama," the Bild writes. "Now, Pistorius may face the wrath of disillusioned top brass whom he wants to strip of power or who simply don’t share his plans."
Officers are particularly unhappy about the dismissal of Eberhard Zorn, who is very popular in the army. "That’s no way to treat a distinguished soldier," the newspaper cites its source in the Bundeswehr as saying. Gabriele Korb’s being replaced by Lehnigk-Emden, who reportedly learned about her appointment through the mass media, was also met with discontent.
These reshuffles and rumors paralyze the ministry’s work. "Pistorius must put an end to the speculation," a general told the newspaper on condition of anonymity. According to the general, everyone is nervous about being fired at the drop of a hat. The situation is complicated by the fact that Pistorius is on Easter leave, after which he will pay a visit (the destination is not disclosed - TASS).
This means that a meeting on reforming the ministry can take place only in late April. The minister apparently sees the problem and wrote an e-mail to the ministry’s employees on April 6, while on leave, asking them not to worry and trust him.
"The question is: can this calm the situation?" the Bild noted. Brigadier General Christian Freuding has been appointed chief of the operations management and planning headquarters that is tasked to improve communication between the ministry’s departments. However, his appointment aroused resentment in the ministry, since most other department chiefs have a higher rank than Freuding.
"This creates a power struggle in a ministry with such a strict hierarchy," a Bild source said, adding that the ministry’s civilian personnel are unhappy that an army officer has been appointed to such a crucial position.
Guitarist Lasse Wellander, who toured and recorded with Swedish pop group ABBA over a span of nearly 50 years, died of cancer Friday, according to his family and the band.
“It is with indescribable sadness that we have to announce that our beloved Lasse has fallen asleep,” a statement on the musician's Facebook page posted Sunday said.
“Lasse recently fell ill in what turned out to be spread cancer and early on Good Friday he passed away, surrounded by his loved ones.”
Lasse Wellander, ABBA's touring guitarist, on stage at Wembley Arena in London on November 5th, 1979.Gus Stewart / Gus Stewart
The statement went on to praise Wellander for his kindness and humility, calling him "an amazing musician" and beloved "husband, father, brother, uncle and grandfather."
"Kind, safe, caring and loving... and so much more, that cannot be described in words,” the statement said.
“We love and miss you so much,” said the post, which was accompanied by a photo of the late musician strumming a guitar.
In a statement to NBC News early Monday, the member of Abba — Benny Andersson,Frida Lyngstad, Agnetha Fältskog, and Björn Ulvaeus — called Wellander "a dear friend, a fun guy and a superb guitarist."
"The importance of his creative input in the recording studio as well as his rock solid guitar work on stage was immense," the band said.
"We mourn his tragic and premature death and remember the kind words, the sense of humour, the smiling face, the musical brilliance of the man who played such an integral role in the ABBA story. He will be deeply missed and never forgotten."
It wasn't clear how old Wellander was when he died, but he was believed to be around 70.
According to ABBA’s official website, Wellander began playing guitar in the early 1960s for a few local bands before he met ABBA members Ulvaeus and Andersson.
The Swedish native joined the group’s recording session for songs “Intermezzo No.1” and “Crazy World” from ABBA’s self-titled third album, released in 1975.
“Lasse soon became the main guitarist on ABBA’s albums, and toured with them in 1975, 1977, 1979 and 1980,” the band's website said. He continued to work with Ulvaeus and Andersson after the quartet split in 1982.
Wellander contributed to the soundtracks for 2008’s “Mamma Mia! The Movie” and 2018’s “Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again” during the band’s hiatus.
He reunited with ABBA for the group’s latest collaboration, their ninth studio album “Voyage,” which was released in November 2021.
The guitarist also released seven albums on his own, the website said.
“In 2005, he received the Albin Hagström Memorial Award from The Royal Swedish Academy of Music and, in 2018, the Swedish Musicians Union’s prestigious special prize Studioräven Award for his work as a session musician," his biography said.
According to his personal website, Wellander was born in 1952 in a small Swedish village called Skrekarhyttan. His family later moved to Nora, Sweden, where his music career began.
He learned to play bass, keyboard, recorder and accordion. His three final singles, titled “O Come, All Ye Faithful, “Merry-Go-Round” and “Overdrive,” were released in 2022.
Saudi Aramco logo is pictured at the oil facility in Abqaiq, Saudi Arabia October 12, 2019. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov
State oil giant Saudi Aramco will supply full crude contract volumes loading in May to several North Asian buyers despite its pledge to cut output by 500,000 barrels per day, several sources with knowledge of the matter said on Monday.
This comes after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allies, known as OPEC+, surprised markets last week by announcing an extra output cut of 1.16 million barrels per day (bpd) from May for the rest of the year.
Saudi Aramco’s monthly allocation was being keenly watched by investors as an indicator of whether planned output cuts could tighten supplies in Asia, the world’s biggest crude import market.
People are wondering whether the additional voluntary cut will actually affect supply, or whether it is designed just to shore up oil prices, said a source at an Asian refiner who declined to be named as he is not authorised to speak to media.
The OPEC+ announcement caused Brent and US West Texas Intermediate crude futures to jump 6% last week, returning to levels last seen in November.
Last week, Saudi Aramco also surprised the market by raising prices for the flagship Arab Light crude it sells to Asia for a third month in May.
It also increased the prices of other oil grades to Asian clients amid expectations of tighter market supply.
Asia’s oil demand had been expected to weaken in the second quarter as several refiners in Asia, namely Sinopec, South Korea’s third largest refiner and Aramco affiliate S-Oil Corp, Japan’s Fuji Oil and Idemitsu Kosan are shutting a combined 1.15 million bpd of crude distillation capacity in May.
Still, some investors are bullish about a recovery in China’s oil demand and expect global oil markets to tighten in the second half this year and push prices towards $100 a barrel.
Meanwhile, the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), a state-owned oil giant from the United Arab Emirates, has informed at least three buyers in Asia that it will supply full contractual volumes of crude in June, trade sources said.
The UAE plans to cut 144,000 bpd from May as part of the OPEC+ cuts.
Oil rallied as much as 8.4% on Monday, the most in more than a year, after an unexpected decision by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies to cut more than 1 million barrels in daily output starting next month. Saudi Arabia, the cartel's de facto leader along with Russia, agreed to slash production by 500,000 barrels a day.
The move blindsided the global crude market and prompted some banks to hike their price forecasts.
Traders and refiners had been eagerly awaiting the release of Saudi official prices since the start of this week on expectations of an OSP hike. Some buyers were also concerned about potential cuts in their cargo liftings from Aramco, or so-called allocations, prompting them to begin speaking with other non-OPEC+ suppliers for replacement or alternative supplies. Prices for US buyers also rose.
"These prices show that, despite the production cuts they announced, the Saudis still expect strong Asian demand," said Giovanni Staunovo, commodity analyst at UBS Group AG. "For the US, it may be possible that less supply will be flowing to the region with the higher prices."
Saudi Aramco can shape the overall amount of oil it exports in a given month through the setting of its official prices relative to those other competing suppliers. It can also do so via an allocation process where it decides how much of each grade it will supply to each customer. Allocations are typically known by the 10th of each month.
The producer also maintained prices for customers in northwest Europe and the Mediterranean.
Aramco sells about 60% of its crude shipments to Asia, most under long-term contracts, pricing for which is reviewed monthly. China, Japan, South Korea and India are the biggest buyers.
The company's pricing decisions are often followed by other Gulf producers such as Iraq and Kuwait.
More than 100 Bayraktar-TB drones, supplied to Ukraine, have been destroyed during the special operation, Lieutenant-General Andrey Demin, the commander of the Air Defense Force, deputy commander-in-chief of the Aerospace Force, has said.
"There are practically no fundamental distinctions between fighting against strategic drones like the US Global Hawk (RQ-4) or Reaper (MQ-9) or Turkey’s operational-tactical Bayraktar-TB and counteraction to crewed aircraft. The elimination of more than 100 Bayraktars, delivered to Ukraine during the whole period of the special military operation is clear evidence of this," Demin said in an interview to the Russian army daily Krasnaya Zvezda.
He said the incident with the US MQ-9 over the Black Sea, when as a result of sharp maneuvering it went out of control, lost altitude and collided with the water surface "makes it clear to the Western world community that for Russia’s air defenses such aerial targets are no problem."
The U.S. Air Force's MQ-9 Reaper drone went down in international waters of the Black Sea on March 14. The Russian Defense Ministry said that the drone had been flying towards the Russian border with its transponders turned off and entered the area of "a temporary regime of using airspace" imposed in connection with the special military operation.
The aircraft lost control as a result of sharp maneuvering and crashed. The Russian fighters escorting it did not use on-board weapons or made contact with the drone, the Defense Ministry added. According to the US version, two Russian Su-27s intercepted the MQ-9 on a reconnaissance mission and dropped fuel several times. Eventually, according to Washington, one of the fighters hit the drone’s propeller, which led to its crash.
MOD: Russian Aviation Strikes Ukrainian Positions in Krasny Liman Direction
Russian attack aircraft and TOS-1A "Solntsepek" (Blazing Sun) thermobaric rocket launchers have inflicted a defeat on the manpower of Ukrainian troops in the Krasny Liman direction, a Russian Defense Ministry spokesperson told Sputnik.
"In the Krasny Liman direction, air defense crews … discovered and destroyed unmanned aerial vehicles of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Operational-tactical aviation carried out airstrikes using high-explosive aerial bombs on temporary deployment locations and an enemy ammunition depot. Attack aircraft, using unguided missiles, attacked the firepower and manpower of Ukrainian nationalists. Heavy flamethrower systems TOS-1A ‘Solntsepek’ inflicted fire damage with thermobaric shells. The enemy suffered losses in personnel and equipment," the spokesperson said.
Scouts of the Central Military District and the "Brave" group continue to work on the Kremensky sector of the front in the Donbass. The fighters spoke about the capture of a strong point and showed how they train in rare moments of rest.
Russia launched its special military operation in Ukraine on February 24, 2022, after the Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics appealed for help in defending themselves against Ukrainian provocations. In response to Russia’s operation, Western countries have rolled out a comprehensive sanctions campaign against Moscow and have been supplying weapons to Ukraine.
On September 30, 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin and the heads of the Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics, as well as Kherson and Zaporozhye regions, signed agreements on the accession of these territories to Russia, following referendums that showed that an overwhelming majority of the local population supported becoming part of Russia.
Western countries have significantly increased their economic and military support for Kiev, which now includes air defense and multiple rocket launching systems, tanks, self-propelled artillery, anti-aircraft guns, armored vehicles and various types of ammunition. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in January that arms supplies to Ukraine by Western countries testify to their direct and growing involvement in the conflict.
Special operation, 8 April. Main:
▪️The interdepartmental coordination headquarters of the Russian Federation for humanitarian response in Ukraine reported that Kyiv was going to carry out a provocation in the Sumy region and accuse Russia of using poisonous substances
▪️The New York Times writes that a new portion of secret US documents on Ukraine, China and the Middle East allegedly leaked to the network, the information is being investigated by the Pentagon and the Department of Justice
▪️in the Donetsk, Krasnolimansk, Kupyansk, Yuzhnodonetsk, Zaporozhye and Kherson directions, Kyiv's losses per day amounted to almost 600 military killed and wounded, the Russian Defense Ministry reported
▪️according to the head of Crimea Aksyonov, a rocket launched from Ukraine was shot down over Feodosia, debris fell in one of the settlements, no one was injured
▪️Ukrainian troops shelled Yasinovataya in the DPR, as a result, at least 7 civilians were injured
▪️DPR Ombudsman Morozova stated that international structures have never taken proper measures against Ukraine for the torture of DPR servicemen, which have been massive since 2014
▪️Blinken ruled out negotiations between Russia and Ukraine at the moment, saying that this requires a willingness to "constructive" negotiations on the part of Moscow
▪️Medvedev said that nobody needs Ukraine, therefore it will disappear and it will not be on the planet, and the pieces of Russia called Ukraine within the borders of 1991 are a misunderstanding.
Special operation, 9 April. Main:
▪️The New York Times, citing leaked US secret documents on Ukraine, writes that the authorities in Kiev were forced to deploy elite troops near Artemovsk, which they counted on for a counteroffensive, and this led to "strategic costs"
▪️According to the NYT, the leaked documents have complicated Washington's relations with its allies and could harm its diplomatic relations with Western countries due to spying on them.
▪️in Donetsk, Kherson, Krasnolimansk, Kupyansk, Yuzhnodonetsk, Zaporozhye directions, Kyiv's losses per day amounted to 420 soldiers, the Russian Defense Ministry reported
The work of a sniper of the 1st Slavic brigade with a Lobaev rifle in the special operation zone. Footage of the use of long-range weapons, filmed with a thermal imager, was at the disposal of RIA Novosti - they show the defeat of one of the enemy's targets.
▪️Matviyenko said that Hollande and Merkel deceived Russia for 8 years to prepare Ukraine for conflict, talking about their commitment to the Minsk agreements instead of really forcing Ukraine to peace
▪️Peskov called the Minsk agreements a game of thimbles: this deception largely untied the hands of the Kyiv regime to arrange a massacre of Russians in their country
▪️The representative of the command of the Ukrainian Air Force, Ignat, said that the air defense systems promised by the West should soon arrive in Ukraine.
American entrepreneur Elon Musk, who heads Tesla and SpaceX and owns Twitter, refused to delete a statement posted earlier by Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev on the Twitter social network.
One of Twitter subscribers earlier turned attention of Musk to Medvedev’s tweet on Saturday, when he stated why no one needs Ukraine any more.
The billionaire explained his decision by the fact that any news is essentially propaganda, so people must decide for themselves how they relate to this or that statement.
American billionaire Twitter owner Elon Musk refused to remove a propaganda post by Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev about Ukraine. Relevant statement the businessman did today, April 10, in response to one of the questions from social network users.
He commented on this by saying that any news is essentially propaganda, and people should decide for themselves how they relate to this or that statement. We are talking about Medvedev’s statement the day before that “Ukraine is of no use to anyone and there is no one to protect it.
The American billionaire responded that all news is propaganda to a certain degree and people should make decisions on their own adding that the platform at the issue was not intended to restrict or promote accounts of Russian state structures.
He also said that he himself was almost a victim of propaganda, because someone on the network spread information that Putin allegedly called him a war criminal for helping Ukraine.
“I was told that Putin called me a war criminal for helping Ukraine, so he’s not exactly my best friend,” he said.
Musk also emphasized that Twitter would not “neither promote nor restrict” Russian government accounts. But there will be no “censorship” either.
Recall, on April 8, Twitter testing showed that in recommendations to other users, the system issues the official account of Russian President Vladimir Putin, the page of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Russian Embassy in the UK, which were previously under restrictions.
Musk has repeatedly called on Ukraine to give up its territories to the Russian Federation in order to avoid a third world war.
On March 6, Twitter stopped protecting users from Russian propaganda. And in February, the billionaire called the Revolution of Dignity “a coup.
In April last year, Twitter announced that it would block social network users, who have accounts affiliated with the state authorities that allegedly restrict access to the "open Internet." A spokesman for the company said back then that the measure would primarily affect the Russian government and would involve more than 300 accounts.
Jassem Mohamed Albudaiwi criticized the violation of the sanctity of Al-Aqsa and the lack of respect shown by Israeli forces during Ramadan. (@GCCSG)
The Secretary-General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) has condemned Israel’s escalation in Jerusalem and repeated attacks by Israeli soldiers on Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Jassem Mohamed Albudaiwi criticized the violation of the sanctity of Al-Aqsa and the lack of respect of Israeli forces during Ramadan.
Albudaiwi said that Israeli aggression during the holy month and the continuation of the incursions at the mosque were a violation of the sanctities of the holy sites.
He called on the international community to protect Palestinian civilians and stop Israeli attempts to change Jerusalem’s legal character, demographic composition and arrangements for the Islamic holy place.
The GCC has detailed violations by Israeli forces, including harassment, assault and expulsion of worshipers, as well as the closing of the Ibrahimi Mosque.
Albudaiwi said such acts were a provocation to Muslims around the world, an assault on the legal status of holy places, a violation of historically agreed status quo arrangements and a serious breach of international law and UN resolutions.
He added that the ongoing brutal attacks were an alarming turning point for which the Israeli government bears all responsibility.
The statement came days after Albudaiwi condemned the actions of Israeli settlers’ storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque on March 29, under the protection of Israeli soldiers.
He said that such actions during Ramadan constituted a dangerous escalation, a flagrant violation of international law and a violation of the historical and legal status quo in Jerusalem.
