Should the Russian Ice Hockey Federation (FHR) support its colleagues in Belarus and declare a boycott of the 2021 Ice Hockey World Cup in Latvia in protest against the interference of politics in sports? Fasel explains why Belarus can not host Ice Hockey tournament President of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) Rene Fasel said in an interview with TASS that the decision to cancel the World Ice Hockey Championship in Minsk was made under political pressure. "I realized that the reaction from the Eastern European, Western media and the political pressure was very strong, especially in Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Germany. I would say that it is more about political pressure rather than the situation with sponsors. This is a bad situation, but I think that it is very difficult for us to go against it," Rene Fasel said.

Does Russia want its athletes humiliated at the Olympic Games again? Will Russia boycott the Games this time? Olympic alternative to Russian national anthem In December 2020, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) prohibited Russian athletes from performing at world championships and Olympic Games under the national flag and deprived them of the right to perform the Russian national anthem. To crown it all, Russia was deprived of the right to host such sports events too.A number of active Russian politicians started looking for an alternative to the Russian national anthem and picked up the idea for the Russian athletes to perform ​​the famous WWII song "Katyusha." Some of them were not even embarrassed by the fact that the IOC requires not to include any mentioning of any war or any war-related topic in the Games, including in opening and closing ceremonies. They apparently assumed that the rest of the world should accept World War II as an excuse for Russia's current problems. On March 13, 2021, CAS rejected the request from the Russian Olympic Committee to use the "Katyusha" song as a replacement for the Russian anthem at the upcoming Olympic Games in the summer of 2021 in Tokyo and in February 2022 in Beijing. The court clarified that the concept of "any anthem associated with Russia" applied to all songs associated with Russia. However, the court decision did not close the discussion in Russia anyway, and the search for the replacement for the Russian national anthem continues. Does Russia need the white flag in sports? This is strange indeed: if Russia can stand up against the world supremacist state in Syria, return territories in Europe, ignore the work in the Council of Europe and make harsh statements about its readiness to terminate relations with the European Union, then why not slam the door to the IOC?Why should Russia should feel humiliated to participate in the Olympics? Those who believe that one needs to think about the athletes and their most important sports competitions, may forget to think that it goes about Russian athletes being Russian citizens. Does Russia need athletes that do not want to sacrifice their achievements and victories for sake of their country's dignity? Or does Russia need to live up to the interests of a handful of athletes to the detriment of its own national interests and interests of millions of other Russian citizens, who are not thrilled at the whole idea of Russia's sports humiliation?

When flying at full speed, Russia's state-of-the-art Avangard hypersonic vehicle is invisible to radar. “This is the only hypersonic unit in the world that can be used at intercontinental range and has a speed of Mach 28. In a nutshell, this is  a vehicle to deliver conventional or nuclear weapons that flies in the form of a fireball as its surface heats up to colossal temperatures at such speed producing plasma on the surface of the vehicle,” Yuri Knutov military expert, director of the Museum of Air Defense Forces Yuri Knutov told lenta.ru publication.  Plasma absorbs electromagnetic radiation making the unit invisible to radar, the expert added. 

The Orion upper stage of the Angara-A5 heavy rocket launched the Gagarinets small satellite into low Earth orbit, Roscosmos said on its Telegram channel. "The Cubesat 3U format satellite was created by Russian private company Avant Space and is intended to test elements of the service platform,” the state corporation said. After the launch of the Gagarinets, the upper stage continued its work.

A powerful solar flare that caused a massive ejection of solar matter on June 2, 2024, may cause a very string magnetic storm on Earth. The plasma cloud will reach our planet on Tuesday, June 4th. The June 2 X-class flare (the most powerful one) has become the third highest-level flare in the past 24 hours caused by active region 3697. This area caused a powerful flare in 2017 and the strongest magnetic storm since 2005. A total of five X-class flares were recorded in just three days from the moment the area appeared on the side of the Sun facing the Earth. The most dangerous flare occurred on May 29, but the ejection passed by the planet.

India and China evince interest in the Russian nuclear power plant project on the Moon, TASS reports with reference to Rosatom chief Alexey Likhachev. "The new solution that we are asked to implement is a version of a lunar nuclear power plant with an energy capacity of up to half a megawatt,” Likhachev said at the Eastern Economic Forum. In May, Roscosmos Director Yuri Borisov said that a Russian-made nuclear installation for a joint Russian-Chinese station would be sent to the Moon after 2036. Borisov also said that the development of a nuclear power plant for a joint lunar station with China had already begun.

China has unveiled its latest scientific development — a spheric police robot capable of pursuing criminals. The robot is equipped with artificial intelligence and can operate autonomously. Unlike Western analogues that are mostly used for surveillance purposes, the Chinese robot can effectively operate in a variety of conditions. The new Chinese robot can float and roll both on smooth asphalt and off-road terrain. Even dirt and height will not be an obstacle in its path. It can even fall from a height to continue its mission.  The robot is capable of confronting perpetrators and shooting nets to immobilise them until the human police arrive. It attacks opponents at speeds of up to 35 km/h, and also acts as part of a group with other robots. Its body is very hard to destroy. 

Chinese manned spacecraft Shenzhou-19 with three taikonauts on board was successfully launched into low-Earth orbit from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China, UDN Global reports. The spacecraft blasted off on October 29 at 23:27 Moscow time, or October 30 at 04:27 local time. A Long March 2 °F-19 launch vehicle was used for the liftoff. About ten minutes into the flight, the Shenzhou-19 manned spacecraft successfully separated from the rocket and flew into orbit. There are three crew members on board the Shenzhou-19. They will conduct 86 scientific experiments in space, including experiments in the field of medicine, biology, fundamental physics of microgravity, materials science and space technology, the agency notes.

A reader wrote: On Wednesday, January 6, Republican supporters tried to prevail outgoing president wish to remain in the White House by hook or crook has exposed the democratic norms of mighty America. The majority that has elected Joe Biden as next president of United States are watching and repenting why they tollerated such an unscrupulous man. Acts of his Vice President Pence have also open the eyes of people that he is acting more loyal than the king and supporting Trump desire to perpetuate in power even after his defeat shows the early signs that the process of US imploding from within has been ignited. Vice President and a handful of Republicans are adding fuel to fire and claiming the popular votes and electoral votes have been stolen by misleading the innocent simple voters by giving wrong information. We in the third world feel sorry for poor US voters now working on the same recipe of crippling normal working of state apparatus by street demonstration and sit-ins as CIA operatives use to spread in other countries not following on their dotted lines.

Alexander Perendzhiev, a member of the expert council of Russian Officers, candidate of political sciences, gave his assessment to the warning from American analysts about the likelihood of NATO troops entering Ukraine. According to him, the direct intervention of the United States and the North Atlantic Alliance in the Russian special operation in Ukraine will change the course of the operation and provoke a full-scale war with Russia. The presence of American and NATO military personnel on the territory of a neighboring country is a threat to the existence of the Russian Federation as a state, the political scientist explained. In this case, Moscow will resort to nuclear weapons, he stressed.

Well-known editor and journalist, former Minister of State for Foreign Affairs of India Mobasher Jawed Akbar is confident that India is a bridge for conflicting countries. "The ability to be someone's friend, to help both parties understand each other, is a unique position that we can't give up," he says. Mobasher Jawed Akbar also spoke about the economic prospects for cooperation between India and Russia.

US President Joe Biden may take drastic actions before he resigns, Alexander Yakovenko, a member of the scientific council at the Security Council of the Russian Federation and former Russian Ambassador to the UK believes. "Biden and his administration are still in power as a lame duck. In December 2016, Barack Obama similarly decided to sharply aggravate relations with Russia by expelling 35 Russian diplomats. The same can be expected now, especially in Ukraine,” Yakovenko said. Trump will take up US foreign affairs before his inauguration while trying to push the current administration out of decision-making processes, Yakovenko suggested.

The Russian leadership verbally approves and supports the China-Brazil peace plan for Ukraine. In reality, it is just diplomacy so as not to offend the "allies". China and Brazil peace plan for Ukraine The plan to establish peace in Ukraine called "Common Understandings Between China and Brazil on Political Settlement of the Ukraine Crisis" will be presented on September 27 in New York with the participation of delegations from 20 countries of the Global South, including Colombia, Egypt, Indonesia, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, and the UAE. Representatives of European countries and the United States were not invited to the meeting.

The summit of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) was a formality, but the issue at hand is the security of the Russian Federation. Moscow needs to change its attitude towards its neighbours before it is too late. The following leaders attended the CIS summit at the personal invitation from Russian President Vladimir Putin: President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, President of Kyrgyzstan Sadyr Japarov, President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon, President of Turkmenistan Serdar Berdimuhamedov, President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev. Moldovan President Maia Sandu did not attend.

Vice-Presidential candidate Tim Walz has led a charmed life. This He-Man has been in more scrapes than a cheese grater and come out for the better. And while I might regale you with innumerable tales of his derring-do, we must stick to the highlight reel of that figure who no doubt would have been Head Coach of the Green Bay Packers had he not nobly sacrificed those ambitions to care for we urchins of a petrifying nation who needed him most.

A Russian man who had been drifting for two months in the Sea of ​​Okhotsk with the bodies of his relatives was rescued. His boat was discovered by the crew of the fishing vessel "Angel". When the fishermen found the boat, the man was conscious and was even able to shout a few words. The first phrase spoken by the survivor was: "Not enough strength." In response, the crew of the vessel that found the man, a Sakhalin resident, said that they had taken this information into account and promised to save him quickly.

In Kazan, employees of several companies were asked not to use their old cars during the days of the BRICS summit. People were also asked to minimize the use of personal cars, since "their old, rusty and excessively loud cars will tarnish the look of the city," 116.ru reports. According to an unnamed employee of one of the companies, the management suggested that employees should use public transport and leave their personal cars in garages or at least park them further away. In addition, students of one of Kazan technical schools were advised not to drive their "rattlers with loud music on not to disgrace the city."

Russia's first musical marking appeared on a section of the M-11 Neva Highway (connects Moscow and St. Petersburg). When driving along the 653rd kilometer of the highway at the permitted speed, motorists can hear a fragment of the world-famous Kalinka Malinka song. Musical markings will prevent drivers from falling asleep at the wheel. They will encourage them to concentrate on the road when approaching an accident-prone section, for instance. The musical markings will serve an important purpose to reduce the number of car accidents. Such markings have not been used on Russian roads before, the press service of Avtodor (Russian Highways) said.

A resident of Syktyvkar is going to serve in the zone of the special military operation after stealing a bottle of vodka. The man stole it from a grocery store, became a defendant in a criminal case and agreed to sign a contract for military service. The 39-year-old man, named only as Vitaly, had a hangover in the morning of October 27. He went to the nearest grocery store to get a "remedy." He took a small bottle of vodka from a shelf and went home without paying for it. Store employees noticed the missing bottle, looked through CCTV footage and called the police that found the man quickly.

Vyacheslav Akhmedov, director of Moscow's Patriot Park, was arrested as part of the investigation into fraudulent activities. Deputy head of the Main Directorate for Innovative Development of the Russian Ministry of Defense, Major General Vladimir Shesterov, was detained as well, the Investigative Committee of Russia said on its Telegram channel. The arrested individuals, together with their accomplices, are responsible for the theft of funds allocated for the operation of the Patriot Park. Army-2024 international military and technical forum was supposed to be held in the Patriot Park in August 2024. Now the event has been put into question.

The heavy nuclear-powered missile cruiser Admiral Nakhimov, which is undergoing repairs and extensive modernization at Sevmash shipyard, will begin trials in the upcoming autumn of 2024, the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy, Admiral Alexander Moiseyev told TASS. "The Admiral Nakhimov is to go to sea for factory sea trials in the autumn of 2024. She is to be transferred to the Navy in 2025," he said during the Army-2024 Forum. Admiral Nakhimov of Project 1144.2M has been under repair since 1999, although the works started 2013. During the modernization, the cruiser will receive a universal shipborne firing system 3S14 to carry Kalibr, Onyx, or Zircon cruise missiles.

Army General Pavel Popov, former Deputy Minister of Defense of Russia, was detained. He appears on the fraud case related to Moscow's Patriot Park. General Popov is accused of fraud on an especially large scale. According to the investigation, in 2021-2024, while he was responsible for the development, maintenance, and operation of the Patriot Park, he enriched himself at the expense of this institution — he used building materials to build his own house in the Krasnogorsk District (Moscow region) and forced park employees to work at his three-hectare dacha for free. According to the Investigative Committee, the director of the park, Vyacheslav Akhmedov, and deputy head of the Main Directorate for Innovative Development of the Ministry of Defense, Vladimir Shesterov, were also involved in the fraudulent scheme. General Pavel Popov was detained based on their testimony. Akhmedov and Shesterov said that they received money following the general's orders and paid him about three million rubles.

Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed making a number of changes to conditions for the use of nuclear weapons, the Kremlin said. In particular, "Fundamentals of State Policy in the Field of Nuclear Deterrence" expands the category of states and military alliances against which acts of nuclear deterrence will be carried out. "In the updated version of the document, aggression against Russia by any non-nuclear state, but with the participation or support of a nuclear state, is proposed to be considered as their joint attack on the Russian Federation," Putin said at a meeting of the Permanent Conference of the Security Council on Nuclear Deterrence.

Russian President Vladimir Putin celebrates his 72nd birthday on October 7. The politician is expected to spend the day working. The head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov was one of the first to congratulate the Russian leader. He wished him good health, prosperity, happiness, long life, good luck and success in his difficult work. As the press secretary of the Russian leader Dmitry Peskov said, Putin will spend his birthday working.

In October, Russian companies delivered 2.16 tons of gold worth $124.6 million to China — a record amount since 2016. Yet, Russia remains a marginal supplier in the Chinese market that is primarily dominated by suppliers from Switzerland and Canada. Russia's gold exports to China doubled in physical terms in October compared to the same period last year, having reached 2.16 tons, the General Administration of Customs of the People's Republic of China said, RBC reports. It goes about raw or semi-finished forms of gold. Supplies in monetary terms also doubled up to $124.6 million. Judging by China's monthly statistics, these are the largest supplies since 2016.

PPDS, the exclusive global provider of Philips professional displays, has announced that Telelogos software has been approved as the very first remote device management solution for the new Philips Tableaux range of Advanced Colour ePaper displays.

TalkTalk and CityFibre have agreed a strategic partnership to accelerate their B2B Ethernet offering to the wholesale community.

Canalys's latest research reveals that the worldwide smartphone market fell by 10% to 258.2 million units in Q2 2023, showing a slowdown in decline.

According to the latest Canalys data, worldwide tablet shipments reached 33 million in Q3 2023, marking a 7% annual decline. But this represents an 8% sequential increase, reflecting a revival of the tablet market ahead of the crucial holiday season and the strong performance of new entrants in the space.

Think Tank, the UK bespoke packaging design agency, is launching new SMART packaging formats designed to help brands elevate their packaging design and boost their commercial reach.

Toshiba Electronics Europe GmbH (Toshiba) has introduced its next-generation S300 Pro Surveillance Hard Disk Drives (HDDs) targeting the latest requirements in the surveillance storage market.

Cybersecurity company, Egress, a KnowBe4 company, has launched its latest Phishing Threat Trends Report (October 2024), which examines the most recent phishing statistics and threat intelligence insights.

Infinigate Group, the technology platform and trusted advisor in cybersecurity, cloud and network infrastructure, has expanded its partnership with CYREBRO, an AI-native Managed Detection and Response (MDR) solution, bringing state-level SOC services to MSPs and MSSPs across Europe, through the Infinigate Cloud marketplace.

By Jeremy Light, freelance writer.

Businesses are constantly searching for innovative methods to lower costs, increase productivity, and satisfy the ever-increasing demands of their clients in today's fast changing e-commerce environment.

On Monday, September 20, during a trading day on the Hong Kong stock exchange, the shares of Chinese developer Sinic collapsed by 87 percent. Experts point out that the shares collapsed due to the "domino effect", which was caused by the crisis of China's another developer giant, Evergrande. In 2020, Evergrande owner Hui Ka Yan was among the top three Chinese wealthy men. Today, however, the development company that he owns has found itself on the verge of default. Evergrande's debts are overwhelming and reach an astronomical amount of $302 billion. How did Hui Ka Yan lead his development empire to such a deep crisis? Evergrande is due to pay its investors $83 million on September 23rd. S&P Global believes that the Chinese government refuses to bail out the debt-stricken company. However, Hui Ka Yan is full of optimism. He assured his employees that his company will extricate from the crisis, although he did not specify how.

Shipster, a custom shipping integration platform, and Futura Retail Solutions, an advanced retail and warehouse management software, have announced a strategic partnership to target growing omni-channel retail markets.

With the holiday season fast approaching, retail payroll teams around the world are bracing for the strain of seasonal hiring. The influx of workers means added payroll runs, and yet too few are turning to technology to ease the pressure.

By Umar Butt, CEO of UK and Europe at Aramex.

The pre-loved market is taking the fashion industry by storm. Reminiscent of the continued popularity of charity shops, thrift stores or vintage boutiques, the appetite for second hand clothes has been a constant for centuries, however in recent years a paradigm shift has moved this growing market into the mainstream.

CrowdStrike has agreed to acquire SaaS security solutions provider, Adaptive Shield. With this acquisition, CrowdStrike reports that it will be the only cybersecurity vendor to provide unified, end-to-end protection against identity-based attacks across the entire modern cloud ecosystem – from on-premises

H&M clothing, footwear and accessories store on Tverskaya Street in Moscow closed on November 30.  An employee was filmed removing store banners and signs. A note to customers on a window says that the store is permanently closed, but all returns will be processed accordingly.  The staff of H&M Russia recorded a video in which they say goodbye to customers. 

Sberbank — Russia's largest state-owned bank — has the only foreign branch in India. In early November it was reported that Sberbank was going to open a branch in China. According to Alexander Vedyakhin, deputy chairman of the board, all the necessary documents have been sent to China, RBC reports. "We have been communicating with the People's Bank of China a lot lately. We have sent a massive package of documents there, as the Chinese regulator is very meticulous about documents. I hope that by the end of 2023 we will be able to open a branch in China. It usually takes 1.5-2 years, but we hope that by the end of 2023 we will already have a branch in this country,” Alexander Vedyakhin said. Sberbank opened a representative office in China in 2010; A representative office of Sberbank appeared in Germany in 2009; Sberbank has only one branch abroad — in New Delhi, India. After the start of the Russian special operation in Ukraine, Sberbank came under sanctions from Western states: the United States and Great Britain froze the bank's assets and banned citizens from doing business with it, whereas the EU disconnected Sberbank from the SWIFT interbank data exchange system.

BRICS+ Fashion Summit, the International Forum, came to an end in Moscow. It took place from 28 November to 2 December. This event powered by Fund of Fashion and supported by the Moscow Government, was attended by delegations from 60 countries. On the last day of the Forum, all the key events took place in the underground exhibition space of Zaryadye Park. 120+ brands from Argentina, Brazil, Italy, Burundi, Egypt, India, Indonesia, China, Libya, Nigeria, Serbia, Tunisia, Turkey, and other countries took part in the B2B-showroom on the final day of the event. Designers and buyers once again met for business matchmaking there. Speakers from Russia, India, Columbia, Nigeria, and Sri Lanka participated in the fashion intensive course. During the lectures and seminars included the speakers talked about collaborations, brand philosophy, zero waste production, and inclusivity.

Gold prices rose to a record high on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) on April 1, RBC reports with reference to data from the trading platform. June contracts for the supply of gold rose in price by 2.14 percent, to $2,286 per ounce. The price neared the level of $2,300 and reached a new all-time high. Gold is rising in price amid expectations for the US Federal Reserve to cut the rate in June, Warren Patterson, head of commodity strategy at ING Groep NV said.

Nornickel's plans to move copper plant production to China have raised questions both in the government and among experts. In April, Nornickel (Norilsk Nickel) announced plans to "create a joint venture with international partners and transfer part of the copper plant's capacities from Norilsk to China." The copper plant will continue to operate "modern copper concentrate preparation facilities and industrial 3D printers." "We are transferring our environmental problems, settlement problems, problems of market access and customization of our goods for the consumer market to where they can be solved most effectively — to China," Vladimir Potanin, co-owner of PJSC MMC Norilsk Nickel said in an interview with Interfax.

Omni-ID, the developer of passive industrial radio frequency identification (RFID) tags, used by major global organisations for monitoring the location and identity of assets, has appointed Amir Mobayen as Chief Revenue Officer.

Omni-ID has been acquired by HID Global, worldwide leader in trusted identity solutions.

Despite increasing concerns surrounding food waste, more than 89 million tonnes of food are thrown away every year in Europe. The grocery retail sector contributes some 5% to the total amount, often due to expired fresh produce, equating to more than 4.45 million tonnes.

RAIN Alliance, the non-profit industry organisation supporting the development and adoption of Ultra High Frequency (UHF) Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), has announced that 44.8bn RAIN RFID tag chips were shipped globally in 2023.This figure represents year-on-year growth of 32%, and reflects increasing demand across a variety of industries....

RAIN Alliance, the non-profit industry organisation supporting the development and adoption of Ultra High Frequency (UHF) Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), has published its bi-annual research report ‘Global Markets & Applications for RAIN RFID Solutions’, produced by VDC Research.

Competition between vendors to provide POS software remains fierce, with more than 125 suppliers working with major retail and hospitality chains, according to Global POS Software 2023, the latest study from strategic research and consulting firm RBR Data Services, a division of Datos Insights.