Best Xijinping Podcasts (2025)

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Putin, Xi Jinping, and Kim Jong Un to make first public appearance together at Beijing military parade

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4h ago

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North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin will be among 26 heads of state traveling to China on September 3 for a military parade marking the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry. In June, Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said that Putin would be in China for four da…

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Russian drone hits Ukrainian naval ship, killing at least one and injuring several others

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Russian forces struck a Ukrainian naval ship on Thursday, killing at least one person and injuring several others, according to the Ukrainian military. “Most of the crew is safe, and the search continues for several sailors,” said Ukrainian Navy spokesperson Dmytro Pletenchuk. The Russian Defense Ministry said its forces used a naval drone to targe…

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Always listening. The Russian authorities are demanding round-the-clock access to home smart speakers. What could go wrong?

24m ago

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A Yandex mini smart speaker In the first case of its kind in Russia, the country’s Federal Security Service is demanding constant remote access to data from Yandex’s Alisa home smart speaker. Court records show that the company has so far refused to comply with the order, earning it a fine. Here’s what we know about the ongoing case. A Moscow judge…

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Ukrainian drone sparks forest fire just six miles from Putin’s Black Sea ‘palace’

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Smoke from the forest fire near Putin’s Gelendzhik palace. August 28, 2025. Debris from a crashed Ukrainian drone sparked a forest fire on Wednesday night roughly 10 kilometers (six miles) from Russian President Vladimir Putin’s seaside mansion on the Black Sea coast, officials said. The fire broke out between the village of Krinitsa and Gelendzhik…

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‘We expect a response from everyone in the world who has called for peace’. Russian strike on Kyiv kills children as missile tears through apartment building

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Russian forces launched a massive overnight strike on Kyiv on August 28, killing at least 21 people and injuring dozens more, Ukrainian officials and emergency services said. One of the missiles hit a five-story apartment building in the Ukrainian capital’s Darnytskyi district, bringing down an entire section. Among the dead are four children, incl…

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U.S. ready to contribute key systems to Ukraine security guarantees after ‘major shift’ in stance — Financial Times

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U.S. defense officials have told their European counterparts that Washington could provide Ukraine with intelligence assets, command infrastructure, and critical systems for ensuring air security as part of future security guarantees, the Financial Times reports, citing informed sources. The outlet notes that this marks a “major shift” in the White…

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Hungary sues E.U. over decision to use frozen Russian assets to aid Ukraine

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Hungary’s government has filed a legal challenge in the European Court of Justice against the decision to use frozen Russian assets to fund military aid for Ukraine, the outlet Portfolio reported. The lawsuit, brought against the Council of the European Union and the European Peace Facility, was submitted in July and accepted for review on August 2…

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Ukraine hits two Russian oil refineries in overnight drone strikes

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Fires broke out at two oil refineries in Russia’s Krasnodar and Samara regions after attacks by Ukrainian drones. At the Afipsky refinery in Krasnodar Krai, debris from a downed drone ignited one of the processing units, according to the regional emergency headquarters. The fire covered about 20 square meters (215 square feet). Videos posted online…

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Russian forces pound Kyiv with drones and missiles, killing at least 21, including four children

13h ago

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Update: As of 5:53 p.m. local time, Kyiv authorities said that 21 people had been killed. Among the dead are four children, including a two-year-old. Russian forces launched an overnight drone and missile attack on Kyiv, according to Tymur Tkachenko, head of the city’s military administration. As of 8:08 a.m. local time, officials reported eight pe…

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Russian FSB declares Free Russia Forum a ‘terrorist’ organization

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Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has designated the Free Russia Forum, a biannual conference for Russian opposition politicians and analysts held in Vilnius, as a “terrorist” organization. According to the FSB’s website, the basis for this decision was a March 2025 court ruling sentencing Soviet dissident Alexander Skobov to 16 years in pris…

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Zelensky appoints Olha Stefanishyna as Ukraine’s new ambassador to the United States

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President Volodymyr Zelensky has signed a decree formally appointing Olha Stefanishyna as Ukraine’s new ambassador to the United States. Zelensky made the announcement in his evening video address on Wednesday. “I just spoke with Olha Stefanishyna — now the new Ambassador of Ukraine to the United States of America. The formal procedures are complet…

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25 years ago, Moscow’s Ostankino Tower went up in flames. See photos of the unprecedented fight to save it.

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Exactly 25 years ago today, on August 27, 2000, a fire broke out at Moscow’s iconic Ostankino TV tower. It started in the feeder cables, which carry the TV signal from the transmitter to the antenna. The source of the blaze was at an altitude of 460 meters (1,500 feet), close to the top of the 540–meter (1,770–foot) structure. The heat was so inten…

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‘Very un-Christian’. Karol Nawrocki rode a ‘Poland first’ campaign to power. Ukrainian refugees are paying the price.

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Poland’s new president, Karol Nawrocki, has vetoed a bill that would have extended support for Ukrainian refugees. The conservative politician, who was sworn in earlier this month, argues that after three and a half years of full-scale war, it’s time to scale back their access to social benefits, particularly child allowances and free medical care.…

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Russia extends ban on gasoline exports through October

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The Russian government has extended its ban on gasoline exports, TASS reported. Full restrictions will remain in place through September 30. Beginning October 1, producers will be allowed to resume exports, while exporters without their own production facilities will regain that right on November 1. The ban had originally been set to expire on Augu…

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‘He continues to support them’. Russia sentences former Yandex employee to 15 years in prison for donating $500 to Ukraine over three years ago

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Sergey Irin’s arrest. May 2024. A Russian court has sentenced a former Yandex employee to 15 years in prison for donating money to the Ukrainian army in the initial days of Moscow’s full-scale invasion. In late 2022, after Vladimir Putin declared mobilization, Sergey Irin left Russia for Turkey and later moved to Sri Lanka. He was arrested in May 2…

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‘Commitment to providing facts without bias’. Russia’s flagship AI chatbot recommends reading Meduza and other ‘foreign agents’

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GigaChat, the AI chatbot developed by the state-owned Russian bank Sberbank, has been telling users to read media outlets and bloggers labeled “foreign agents” or “undesirable” by the Russian authorities — including Meduza. Since journalists took note of these unexpected suggestions, however, the bot’s developers appear to have “fixed it”; it’s now…

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Russian climber stranded on Kyrgyzstani mountain declared missing after authorities abandoned rescue operation

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Russian mountain climber Natalia Nagovitsina, who has been stranded for more than two weeks on Kyrgyzstan’s Pobeda Peak, has officially been declared missing, according to the country’s Emergency Situations Ministry and Russian state media. Agency spokesperson Adil Charygov said the designation was made “because no one can officially confirm whethe…

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Trump threatens Russia with ‘economic war’ if it refuses to end war in Ukraine

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U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday that Washington and Moscow will enter “an economic war” if the war in Ukraine continues, Bloomberg reports. “It will not be a world war, but it’ll be an economic war, and an economic war is going to be bad,” Trump said during a meeting with cabinet members. “It’s going to be bad for Russia, and I don’t want …

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Crimea’s Russian-installed authorities seek to ban street musicians from playing songs by ‘foreign agents’

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The State Council of Crimea, the Russian-installed parliament in the occupied region, has recommended that municipalities ban performances of songs by “foreign agents” in open public spaces, according to its head, Vladimir Konstantinov. He added that the ban should also extend to citizens of countries that take “unfriendly actions” against Russia. …

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Western allies discuss creating three lines of defense for postwar Ukraine — FT

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Western allies of Ukraine have drawn up a tentative plan for the country’s postwar defense, the Financial Times reported, citing sources familiar with the talks. According to those familiar with the proposal, it outlines three lines of defense. The first would be a demilitarized zone, potentially patrolled by peacekeepers from a third country with …

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In Putin’s crosshairs. With no peace in sight, Russia inches closer to its goal of fully occupying Donbas

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Like our earlier reports on the combat situation in Ukraine, this article takes stock of the recent developments on the battlefield based on open-source information. Meduza has condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine from the very start, and our detailed military analyses are part of our commitment to objective reporting on a war we firmly oppose. O…

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Russian Post suspends package deliveries to the U.S. over new import duties

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Russian Post has suspended package deliveries to the United States due to new U.S. import duties, the state news agency TASS reported. The suspension does not apply to regular letter mail, which will continue as usual. It remains unclear when shipments of packages from Russia to the U.S. will resume. Beginning August 29, the United States will abol…

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Ukraine has reportedly opened over 250,000 desertion and AWOL cases since 2022

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From 2022 through July 2025, Ukrainian authorities opened more than 200,000 criminal cases for unauthorized absence from a military unit and over 50,000 for desertion, Ukrainska Pravda reports. According to the government’s Unified Report on Criminal Offenses, cases under the article on unauthorized absence numbered 6,988 in 2022 (including 347 in …

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Ukraine allows men aged 18–22 to leave country for the first time since full-scale invasion began

2d ago

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Ukraine will start allowing men aged 18–22 to leave the country, even while martial law remains in effect, Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko announced on Tuesday. Additionally, according to Svyrydenko, men aged 22 and under who are already abroad will be able to cross the border in either direction without restriction. Ukrainian men aged 18–60 have b…

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‘Put them in their place’. Blogger known as ‘Russia’s Andrew Tate’ is arrested — not for his violent statements about women, but for ‘insulting’ WWII veterans

2d ago

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Arsen Markaryan, a Russian blogger who has drawn comparisons to British-American influencer Andrew Tate for his violently misogynistic remarks and boasts about sex with minors, was arrested this weekend — but not for his treatment of women. Instead, authorities have charged him with “insulting the memory of defenders of the Fatherland” for statemen…

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Nearly 150 Ukrainian miners trapped underground after Russian strike causes power outage

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148 miners were trapped underground after a Russian strike cut power to a mine in the Dobropillia community of Ukraine’s Donetsk region, according to Mykhailo Volynets, head of Ukraine’s Confederation of Free Trade Unions. The Ukrainian energy company DTEK, which operates the mine, reported that 146 miners were trapped and that rescue operations we…

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‘My second birthday’. Former Kherson mayor who refused to collaborate returns to Ukraine after more than three years in Russian captivity

2d ago

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After more than three years in Russian captivity, the former mayor of Kherson has returned to Ukraine. Volodymyr Mykolayenko, who was in office from 2014–2020, was abducted by Russian forces in April 2022. According to his niece, his captors refused to include him in prisoner swaps for years after he gave up his spot on an exchange list for a fello…

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Woody Allen responds to Ukraine’s condemnation of his participation in Moscow film festival

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American film director Woody Allen has responded to the Ukrainian government’s condemnation of his participation in Moscow International Film Week last weekend, NBC News reports. “When it comes to the conflict in Ukraine, I believe strongly that Vladimir Putin is totally in the wrong,” Allen said in a statement to the Associated Press. “The war he …

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Russia to withdraw from European Convention against Torture

3d ago

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The Russian government has called on President Vladimir Putin to denounce the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture, according to a resolution published on an official website on Monday. The resolution, which was signed by Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, calls for Russia’s withdrawal from both the convention and its additional protoco…

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‘They often have to compromise’. New civic initiatives are still emerging in Russia, despite war and repression. But even pro-government groups fear state reprisals.

3d ago

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A Moscow resident stands near anti-war graffiti in the city center, March 2023. In order to survive, many Russian activists are forced to seek financial support from the state — even when they hold opposition views — according to a new report from the Hannah Arendt Research Center, which studies civil society in Russia. At the same time, repression…

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How Zambian Media Frames China, the U.S., Japan, and South Africa 49:45

5d ago49:45

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Who shapes Africa’s story? Zambia’s media offers a rare window into how local voices frame global powers like China, the U.S., Japan, and South Africa. From debates on debt and development to questions of governance and influence, the coverage reveals both common threads and striking differences with other regions. Natsuko Imai Kanayama, a research…

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If You Want to Get Rich, Build a Road. Testing China’s Theory in Africa 24:53

13d ago24:53

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There's a Chinese proverb that says, “If you want to get rich, build a road first.” That philosophy has guided China's development strategy in Africa for much of the past 25 years, that's led to the construction of more than 100,000km of new roads across the continent. We wanted to find out, though, if it's true: does a new road actually pave the w…

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A Turbulent Week for China-Africa Media Narratives 1:07:28

21d ago1:07:28

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Over the past week, sharply contrasting images of Chinese engagement in Africa surfaced online. Anger erupted on social media over the release of yet another violent video that shows Congolese soldiers brutally beating local miners purportedly at the behest of Chinese nationals watching in the background. A controversial hour-long documentary by on…

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[WEEK IN REVIEW] China Invests in Angola to Secure Food Supply Chains 48:29

28d ago48:29

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Chinese construction giant Sinohydro signed a $100 million deal with Angola to build out the country's agricultural infrastructure in a bid to boost grain production. While 60% of the output from this venture will be shipped to China, the rest will be sold domestically in a move aimed at reducing the West African country's food import bill. The Sin…

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China’s Vital, Yet Poorly Understood Role in Africa’s Energy Sector 55:57

1M ago55:57

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After a two-to-three-year hiatus following the pandemic, Chinese money is once again flowing into the African energy sector. Billions of dollars in new investment and construction contracts for power facilities were registered in the first half of the year, particularly in Nigeria, according to new data published by Griffiths University in Australi…

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How China Really Secures Its Loans to Developing Countries 46:02

1M ago46:02

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The "debt trap" meme claims that China is intentionally lending vast sums of money to poor developing countries in Africa, and elsewhere, with the express intent to seize physical assets in those countries when they inevitably can't repay their debts. This fanciful narrative sounds compelling, but the problem is that there's literally no evidence f…

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The Evolution of China-Africa Research and Where It’s Headed 1:00:27

2M ago1:00:27

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A new generation of scholars is reshaping China-Africa research. More geographically diverse and digitally fluent than the field’s early pioneers of the 2000s, this cohort brings fresh perspectives and tools to the study of China’s engagement on the continent. Yet deep structural barriers persist. African and Chinese researchers still face sizable …

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Lessons for Europe From China's Critical Minerals Strategy in Africa 58:14

2M ago58:14

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While the U.S., India, and countries in the Persian Gulf are all moving quickly to establish new critical mineral supply chains, the European Union is struggling to follow suit, particularly in Africa. The EU currently lacks a cohesive policy framework that would bolster mining companies, support partner countries, and encourage the development of …

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It's Payback Time For a Lot of Those Chinese Loans 40:45

2M ago40:45

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Borrowers in Africa and other developing regions are expected to repay $35 billion of Chinese loans this year, with two-thirds of the amount coming from the world's poorest countries. Many of these debts were taken out in the mid-2010s and are now exiting their grace periods, putting enormous pressure on government budgets that were already under s…

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[GLOBAL SOUTH] China Forced to Regroup After Israel-Iran War 55:39

2M ago55:39

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China is emerging from the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran in a much weaker position. For years, Beijing counted on Tehran to serve as a bulwark against Washington. Today, though, that's no longer possible as the Iranian government and its proxies across the Middle East have been neutralized, at least for now. The conflict also exposed a major Chines…