The TikTok platform began to massively delete accounts and videos associated with the Alabuga special economic zone and the Alabuga Polytech college. This was reported to The Insider by activists who monitor and collect a database of such materials. Among the deleted ones was, in particular, the account of the popular blogger Yan Shaimukhametov (ynchq, Yanchik), who had about 11.9 million subscribers before the blocking. He published at least three videos advertising Alabuga.

Alexander Okunev with his family. Collage: “Important Stories” Available in English Kaliningrad resident Alexander Okunev committed self-immolation in February 2025 at the memorial to 1,200 guardsmen as a protest against the war. The incident became known only almost a year later - from an open report by Estonian foreign intelligence. The name of the deceased was not disclosed in the document.

North Korean trading companies affiliated with the state began to actively import domestic animals from China - dogs, cats and parrots - for sale to wealthy residents of Pyongyang. The South Korean publication Daily NK reported this on Wednesday, citing a source in the country. According to the source, the imported dogs include Maltese dogs, Yorkshire terriers and beagles. They were transported in cages from the Chinese border city of Dandong through North Korea's Sinuiju to Pyongyang.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky earlier today announced that Hungary has returned funds and valuables belonging to state-owned Oschadbank that Hungarian law enforcement seized in March. The March 5 incident involved currency and precious metals that were being transported from Austria to Ukraine. At the time, two armored cash-in-transit vehicles and seven bank employees were detained on Hungarian territory. The vehicles were later returned, but the cash and gold remained in Hungary.

Research suggests that migrants bring the greatest benefit to their home country when they maintain ties to it and return, or plan to return — they contribute more money, knowledge, and skills. But what influences one's decision to leave or to come back? In the past decade, some Eastern European countries have welcomed back a significant share of citizens who left after the collapse of the socialist bloc.

Trump's immigration policies have put hundreds of foreign medical residents at risk of losing their positions in American hospitals ahead of a key July 1 deadline, the day when new residency and fellowship programs traditionally begin, Bloomberg Businessweek writes . In January, Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) froze processing of visas, work permits and green card applications for citizens of 39 countries designated as “high risk,” including Afghanistan, Iran and Nigeria.

Vesti reports in four publications at once the statements of Putin’s special representative for international cultural cooperation, Mikhail Shvydkoy, regarding the upcoming presentation of the Russian pavilion at the Venice Biennale.

Researcher from the University of Amsterdam Petter Ternberg found out why in online communities, over time, only those who think alike remain, while those who disagree disappear somewhere, as a result of which the discussion becomes more homogeneous, and the community becomes more and more radical.

In the Pokrovsk direction, the Russian military expanded the zone of stable control in Rodinsky . According to DeepState , the Russian military has advanced into the territory of Rodinsky north of Pokrovsk (until 2016 - Krasnoarmeysk) and Mirnograd (until 2016 - Dimitrov). For our part, we recall that the capture of Rodinsky is a necessary condition for the start of an offensive operation towards Dobropolye.

Russian troops from the Afrika Korps and the army of Mali, a country ruled by a military junta, continue to retreat in the northeast of the country - they have now begun to withdraw forces from the base in Aguelhok, Le Monde reports . Prior to this, Russian and Malian troops left Kidal on April 26 and Tessalit on May 1 under joint pressure from the Tuareg Front for the Liberation of Azawad (FLA) and the jihadist group Jamaat Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimeen (JNIM).

The Russian pavilion opened on May 6 and will be open until the 8th. The musical project “A Tree Rooted in the Sky” is presented there, in which musicians from Russia, Argentina, Brazil, Mali and Mexico participate. During the Biennale, from May 9 to November 22, the Russian pavilion will be closed to the public; recordings of the performance will be shown on large screens outside.

EU ministers voted to formally join the bloc in a special Council of Europe tribunal that will prosecute the Russian leadership for aggression against Ukraine. The Tribunal will receive a mandate to prosecute for unleashing a war of aggression. No other existing court has the jurisdiction to try this crime, since Russia is not a party to the Rome Statute and the ICC cannot prosecute its leadership.

World oil reserves fell by almost 200 million barrels (6.6 million barrels per day) in April amid the conflict in the Middle East, the Financial Times writes , citing data from S&P Global Energy. This happened despite a sharp decline in demand caused by rising prices by about 5 million barrels per day - the sharpest drop in history except during the COVID-19 pandemic. S&P explained that fluctuations in global oil reserves typically range from several hundred thousand to a million barrels.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino said the high price of tickets for the World Cup, which starts in June in the United States, Canada and Mexico, is justified by high demand. According to Infantino, FIFA received about 500 million requests for tickets before sales began, compared with less than 50 million for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.

Russian tax revenues from oil rose to a six-month high amid rising prices caused by the war with Iran. As Bloomberg writes , citing data from the Ministry of Finance , in April, oil companies paid 707 billion rubles in taxes to the budget - this is the highest figure since October. Total oil and gas revenues amounted to about 856 billion rubles. The growth is associated with a rise in oil prices after supply disruptions through the Strait of Hormuz.