Rose Garden, a restaurant in Tacheng, NW. China's Xinjiang, is loved by diners for the great variety of foods it serves. The multi-ethnic family of the owner of the restaurant, a Uygur woman, is the secret of the restaurant's rich menu.

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The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is calling on international donors to help repair the damage to the Chernobyl nuclear plant caused by Russia’s reckless actions.

The bank, which has been at the forefront of efforts to rebuild Chernobyl, says it will need at least €100 million to do so.

“Russia’s military occupation of Chernobyl has thrown into uncertainty decades of international cooperation in helping make safe the site of the world’s worst nuclear accident,” says the EBRD.

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Press release

Chernobyl events putting at risk decades of efforts to secure nuclear site – EBRD

“During the meeting with our fellow congressmen in the US Congress, we received a very clear support for Georgia. We thank the Congressmen for their bipartisan support, which is expressed in the Georgia Support Act. According to the administration of the Ministry of Economics, clear political support is especially important in a difficult situation in the region, where we are talking about the US Congress and Congressmen supporting Georgia’s territorial integrity and sovereignty in all formats,” – Deputy Prime Minister Levan Davitashvili stated after the meeting with Congressmen Darren Soto and Brendan Boyle. The meetings was held within the framework of the Vice Prime Minister’s working visit to the United States. Ambassador of Georgia to the United States, Davit Zalkaliani also participated in the meeting.

The meetings with the congressmen focused on the current events in the Black Sea region, as well as the challenges and ways of their overcoming. It was noted that the United States continues to support Georgia in its EU and Euro-Atlantic aspirations.

Georgia is interested in moving its strategic partnership with the United States to a new level, which is one of the main priorities of the country’s foreign policy. In this regard, the importance of deepening economic relations between the two countries as well as developing trade and investment ties, including the possibility of concluding a Free Trade Agreement with the United States, was stressed. It was also noted that the launching of direct flights between Georgia and the United States will help to further deepen bilateral economic relations.

Levan Davitashvili noted that it is very important, in general, that Congress expresses clear support for the deepening of cooperation with Georgia, and this is a very clear message. According to him, there is a desire on the part of the Congressmen to implement more joint projects with Georgia.

Georgian Public Broadcaster (GPB) Director General Tinatin Berdzenishvili Tuesday hosted Vice-President Jiří Růžička-headed delegation of the Senate of the Czech Republic, including the chair and MPs of the Standing Senate Committee on Media, as well as the representatives of the Czech Embassy in Georgia.

The conversation focused on the media standards and the projects to deepen links with the Czech Public Broadcaster.

“We had an important meeting with the representatives of the Czechia. We consider the Public Broadcaster an essential institution for the EU states and the country on the European integration path. The talks concentrated on media standards that the Public Broadcaster and the overall media should follow. Fake news as a global challenge was in focus. GPB should continue the partnership with similar organizations through the European Broadcasting Union. We discussed ongoing projects and the prospects for further cooperation with the Czech Public Broadcaster. I believe the significance of the public broadcaster will be many times highlighted on that EU integration path,” Tinatin Berdzenishvili said.

Vice-President Jiří Růžička said that the delegation reviewed the situation in Georgia as the Czech Republic is to hold the EU presidency on June 1.

“It was an important meeting with the head of the GPB First Channel. We talked about media, journalism and mainly media independence,” Jiří Růžička said.

Source: GPB

Take a tour around one of China's most famous museums to understand the theme of this year's International Museum Day - the Power of Museums.

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Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili, as part of his ongoing working visit to Brussels, is holding a series of high-level meetings with the leaders of various European institutions.
This two-day visit includes today's meeting with Charles Michel, President of the European Council. Georgia's EU membership bid and granting the status of a candidate to the country were the key issues discussed.
During the meeting, the parties held extensive discussions on the process of reviewing Georgia's application, including the European Commission's questionnaire, with both of its parts completed by Georgia ahead of schedule, also the country's progress toward implementing the Association Agreement and carrying out democratic reforms. The Prime Minister underlined Georgia's historical choice to return to the European family, emphasizing in this context the importance of the European Commission's opinion and the European Council's decision on granting Georgia the status of a candidate country.
The parties also discussed the region's security situation in light of Russia's military aggression in Ukraine, including the state of affairs in Georgia's occupied territories. The Prime Minister reaffirmed the solidarity and unwavering support of the Georgian Government and people for Ukraine. According to Garibashvili, ending the war in Ukraine is crucially important to all, and the consequences of this war will define the future of both the whole world and Georgia.
Irakli Garibashvili thanked Charles Michel for his personal effort toward supporting Georgia's path to European integration.

Press Service of the Government Administration

EU foreign ministers have agreed to allocate an additional €500 million from the European Peace Facility for arms supplies to Ukraine. This will bring the total amount of the EU military support to Ukraine to €2 billion. At the same time, however, ministers failed to agree on a sixth package of sanctions against Russia and an oil ban, EU High Representative Josep Borrell reported last night.

The EU High Representative was speaking after the EU Foreign Affairs Council that was joined by Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, and Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly.

Borrell noted that the €2 billion in military support was “just the tip of the iceberg”, because Member States “do a lot from their side without asking for refunding”. 

Borrell also said the EU has to help Ukraine to keep producing and exporting grains and wheat via the already established initiative ‘Solidarity Lanes’. “The storage capacity of Ukraine is full, because they cannot export this grain and they need to empty this storage capacity in order to be able to receive the next crop. So, we are working on how to help them to take this grain out by train,” added Borrell.

Regarding sanctions, he said: “We will continue imposing sanctions on Russia to make the cost of invasion unbearable for the Kremlin. We continue discussing. Unhappily today, it has not been possible to reach an agreement to finalise the 6th sanctions package. The issue will go back to the COREPER and [EU] Ambassadors will continue discussing. We are with the same difficulties about unanimity on the oil ban.”  

EU ministers also met over lunch with the six foreign ministers of the Western Balkan countries to discuss their path to the European Union. “Ministers expressed their clear expectation towards the partners as future Member States, to commit to European values and to the European foreign policy. Those who have not yet done so – and Serbia is one of them – should, as soon as they can, step up their alignment and implement sanctions [against Russia],” Borrell said, adding the European Union’s partner countries could not remain neutral in the current situation: “To maintain close ties with [Vladimir] Putin’s regime is no longer compatible with building a common future with the European Union. Both things at the same time are not compatible. Being neutral today, with respect to the Ukrainian war, is a false concept.” He also said that the EU intends to support its “partners in order to mitigate the effects of this upcoming crisis”.

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Press release

Blood shortages due to COVID-19 are prevalent across the world. In January, the American Red Cross declared “a national blood crisis” poising a great risk to patient care. In March, a US-based non-profit organization Memorial Blood Centers (MBC) declared the blood “emergency” due to a lack of the stock of type O blood at only 1-2 day supply and appealed to the public participation in a single blood donation that can save up to three lives.

According to the Red Cross, blood is used for a variety of purposes, including serious injuries caused by accidents, surgical procedures, anemia, childbirth, and cancer treatment. But since blood cannot be artificially produced, experts say the only solution to the blood supply lies in donating blood.

In South Korea, in cooperation with Heavenly Culture, World Peace and Restoration of Light (HWPL), 18,000 members of Shincheonji Church of Jesus and HWPL participated in blood donation for two weeks from April 18th. This number was recorded as the largest group blood donation in the country.

Namsun Cho, head of the Korean Red Cross Blood Services, said, “When the impact of the Omicron reached its peak, Shincheonji Church of Jesus launched a large scale of blood donation. It was like rain during a drought. We are surprised that the number of donors exceeded 6,000 in 3 days and more people participated. We appreciate their life-saving dedication.”

 “They did a really great job in the life-sharing movement. This scale is equivalent to one army corps donating blood for a year. The number of blood donors is nearly four times the number in a normal day, a great help in overcoming the current blood supply crisis,” said an official from the Blood Services.

“We also appreciate the members of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus who participated in the nationwide plasma donation for the development of a treatment for COVID-19 back in 2020,” he added.

In South Korea, blood donation certificates are issued to blood donors. The certificate can be used when paying for a blood transfusion so that the transfusion fee to patients is deducted. All the donors of Shincheonji Church of Jesus and HWPL also donated their certificates to alleviate the financial burden of patients who need blood for treatment.

Shincheonji Church of Jesus, headquartered in Gwacheon, South Korea, is contributing to the communities through volunteer activities including plasma and blood donations, although the church suffered greatly from the initial stage of COVID-19 pandemic.

HWPL, headquartered in Seoul, South Korea, is a non-governmental organization under the UN Economic and Social Council and Department of Global Communication is carrying out long-term peace projects through education, relief, and youth empowerment based on solidarity with civil society and international organizations in 193 countries.

Press-release of the HWPL