Category World News

In Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam celebrated the end of its war with the United States by hosting a grand military parade that included thousands of Vietnamese and sang patriotic songs.

The country’s reunification took place on April 30, 1975, when communist-led North Vietnam seized Saigon, the country’s capital, and gave its new name, Ho Chi Minh City, in honor of its founding leader, on April 30.

As fighter jets and helicopters carrying red flags flew overhead, a lotus-shaped float carrying a portrait of Ho Chi Minh was close to the start of the show.

According to Al Jazeera’s Tony Cheng, who was reporting from the city, thousands of people stayed overnight in the streets to get the best view of the parade, which was both a day of mournful reflection and a day of celebration.

Veteran, 75, Tran Van Truong, who had traveled from the capital, Hanoi, to see the parade, said, “I am proud of having contributed to the liberation of the south.”

Truong told the AFP news agency, “But what’s gone is gone is gone, I have no hatred for those on the other side of the battle.” We should “raise our hands to applaud the war’s conclusion.”

More than 300 soldiers from China, Laos, and Cambodia also took part in the event for the first time.

According to state media, more than 300,000 Chinese soldiers participated in the bloody conflict, providing essential anti-aircraft defense support and providing logistics and supplies.

According to Zach Abuza, a professor at the National War College in Washington with a focus on Southeast Asian politics, “Hanoi is signaling to China that they recognize its historical contribution.” They can also use this as a signal that “Don’t think our foreign policy is leaning in favor of Americans.”

US ties have a problem,

Vietnam and the US have diplomatic ties dating back 30 years.

Vietnam’s relationship with the US became the most effective diplomatic relationship it can have with any nation, and it also has the same level of relations as China and Russia.

However, President Donald Trump’s heavy tariffs and the cancellation of significant foreign aid, which have had an impact on Vietnam’s efforts to end war, have caused the relationship with Washington to deteriorate.

Existing weapons and unexploded ammunition are still a threat to lives in the countryside as a result of Agent Orange contamination. Due to the administration’s extensive cuts to USAID, those projects’ future is now in jeopardy.

Jamal Murray scored 24 of his game-high 43 points in the second half, and the hosts Denver Nuggets pushed the Los Angeles Clippers to the brink of elimination with a 131-115 win in Game 5 of their Western Conference first-round series.

Denver have won the past two games to take a 3-2 lead in the first-round matchup. Game 6 is on Thursday night in Los Angeles.

Murray scored 11 points in a momentum-turning third quarter on Tuesday night and added 13 more in the fourth, the last on a 3-pointer with 2 minutes 13 seconds left that put the Nuggets up by 20.

Nikola Jokic had 13 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds – his third triple-double of the series – for the Nuggets, who never trailed. They led by 22 in the fourth quarter for the second straight game, but unlike Saturday, they did not give away the entire lead.

The Clippers used a 17-4 run to get within 116-107 with 4:01 left, but Aaron Gordon hit a lay-up, Murray made a free throw after a transition foul and then a fallaway jumper, and Gordon drained a 3-pointer to seal it.

Russell Westbrook, who missed Game 4 with a foot injury, scored 21 points off the Denver bench. Gordon had 23 points, Michael Porter Jr contributed 14 points, and Christian Braun had 11 points and 12 rebounds.

The Nuggets shot 17-for-33 (51.5 percent) from 3-point range.

Los Angeles’ James Harden was held to 11 points on 3-for-9 shooting, but Kawhi Leonard had 20 points, 11 assists and nine rebounds, and Ivica Zubac added 27 points.

Porter opened the fourth quarter with a 3-pointer and a three-point play, Murray drained one from deep and fed Westbrook for a 12-footer to make it 110-88 before Los Angeles closed within nine.

Murray and Porter hit 3-pointers to prompt a 10-2 run at the start of the third quarter, and the Nuggets went ahead 84-67 midway through the period.

The Clippers scored seven points in 43 seconds to get within 88-80, but Braun’s 3-pointer made it 99-83 heading into the fourth.

Denver won Game 4 101-99 at Los Angeles on Sunday when Gordon sensationally dunked the ball at the buzzer.

Boston Celtics, Indiana Pacers clinch series

The Indiana Pacers and the Boston Celtics became the latest teams to book their places in the second round of the NBA playoffs on Tuesday as the Detroit Pistons thwarted the New York Knicks to keep their postseason hopes alive.

In Indianapolis, the Pacers battled back from a 20-point deficit and then rallied again in overtime to defeat the Milwaukee Bucks 119-118 and seal a 4-1 victory in their NBA Eastern Conference duel.

The reigning NBA champions Celtics had an easier time of it as they overpowered the Orlando Magic with a series-clinching 120-89 victory at Boston’s TD Garden.

The Knicks, leading their series 3-1, missed the chance to join Boston and Indiana in the second round after losing 106-103 to Detroit at Madison Square Garden.

The Pacers advanced to an Eastern Conference semifinal series with top seeds Cleveland after pulling off a remarkable overtime Houdini act.

The Pacers trailed 118-111 with 40 seconds remaining but launched an 8-0 run that culminated with Tyrese Haliburton’s driving layup to clinch victory with 1.3 seconds left on the clock.

A late blunder by Milwaukee’s Gary Trent Jr, who fumbled a wide-open pass to turn over possession and set up Haliburton’s winning layup, proved pivotal.

“Both teams literally left every single ounce of everything they had out there, including timeouts – nobody had anything left,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said.

“But you know, fortune favours the bold. And our guys were bold in the last three quarters, and we’re very grateful and thankful to be moving on.”

According to South Korean lawmakers, about 600 North Korean soldiers have died fighting in Ukraine, according to intelligence officials.

Lee Seong-kweun and Kim Byung-kee told reporters that an estimated 4,700 North Koreans have been killed or injured so far in the war after a closed-door briefing by the National Intelligence Service (NIS) on Wednesday.

Two days after Pyongyang revealed for the first time that it had sent troops to Russia in support of Moscow’s war, Lee and Kim, who co-chair the legislature’s intelligence committee, made their remarks.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was quoted as saying in a report from the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Monday that he had ordered the deployment of troops to “annihilate and wipe out the Ukrainian neo-Nazi occupiers and liberate the Kursk area in cooperation with the Russian armed forces.”

The spy agency’s alleged claim that about 300 North Korean soldiers were killed in the conflict increased significantly from the NIS’s briefing to lawmakers in January.

According to the NIS, Lee and Kim, who represent the conservative People Power Party and the liberal Democratic Party, have deployed about 15, 000 soldiers overall.

Additionally, the lawmakers noted that Pyongyang may have received assistance from other countries in the form of drones, electronic warfare equipment, and SA-22 surface-to-air missiles.

On Wednesday, April 30th, the situation is as follows:

Fighting

• At least one person was killed and at least 38 were hurt in the Russian drone attacks on Kharkiv and Dnipro, according to officials, who were also injured by two children.
• The Ukrainian village of Doroshivka in the northeastern Kharkiv region has also been taken over, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense.
• The governor of Sumy, a governor of the Ukrainian province, claimed that Russian troops are working to create a buffer zone in the northeastern region near Kursk, but have not had “significant success.”
• Authorities in Kiev’s central Dnipropetrovsk region reported earlier on Tuesday that three people had been injured by Russian drone attacks in the country’s capital, Kyiv. A 12-year-old girl was killed in the overnight attacks in the country’s central Dnipropetrovsk region.
• Additionally, Ukrainian officials ordered the eviction of seven villages in the eastern Dnipropetrovsk region, which were once isolated but now face danger from Russian forces.
• The governor of the Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine, claims that a Ukrainian drone struck a car in Russia, killing two people and injuring three.
• The Russian Defense Ministry reported earlier that night that it had downed 40 Ukrainian drones over the Kursk border.
• Denys Shmyhal, the country’s prime minister, claimed that the country, despite losing nearly half of its domestic gas production in the winter as a result of Russian attacks, is still importing the needed gas.

Diplomacy

After Moscow declared a three-day truce between May 8 and May 10, to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s and its allies’ victory in World War II, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy once more demanded that Russia accept a total and unconditional ceasefire.
• Zelenskyy also claimed that Russia was “preparing something” for military exercises in Belarus this summer during a summit in Warsaw.
• Without Russia and Ukraine making “concrete proposals,” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned that the country would resign as mediator.
• Washington was requesting a “complete, durable ceasefire and an end to the conflict,” according to a Rubio spokesman, not a “three-day moment so you can celebrate something else.” This week will be “critical” for peace efforts, according to the US.
• Russia responded to Ukraine’s request to extend the three-day truce to 30 days, saying it would be difficult to reach a long-term ceasefire without first answering a number of “questions”.
• Rosemary DiCarlo, the UN’s political affairs chief, welcomed the more intensive negotiations, saying they “offer a glimmer of hope for progress toward a ceasefire and an eventual peaceful settlement.”
• Russia was criticized while France and the UK praised US mediation. Kiev rebuffed accusations that Russian forces had targeted Ukrainian civilians, while Kyiv rebuffed those accusations.
• In an effort to destabilize the nation, France also alleges that Russia’s military intelligence has launched cyberattacks on a dozen French organizations, including ministries, defense companies, and think tanks, since 2021.

Politics

• Viktoriia Roshchyna, a Ukrainian journalist who died in Russian captivity, was tortured and had organs removed before her body was returned, according to an investigation by the European nonprofit Forbidden Stories.
• A man was given a 27-year sentence by a Russian military court for trying to kill army pilots at a graduation party under Ukrainian orders while serving them with poisoned alcohol and cakes.
• Defense officials in Ukraine are being detained because they are suspected of providing the army with defective mortar shells.
• According to the Latvian prosecutor’s office, Latvia has sentenced a citizen to six years in prison for supporting Russian forces in Ukraine.