CHINA has built a twenty-story-tall nuclear space engine to power a mission to Mars.

Boffins have reportedly been tasked with “innovating” the project “or dying” as the country paves the way for a new era in the global space race.

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After a collaboration of more than ten research institutes and universities, China believes it has made tremendous progress in interplanetary travel.

According to a report from the South China Morning MailThe research team has confirmed that the prototype lithium-cooled nuclear reactor system has passed initial ground tests.

The 1.5-megawatt-class fission reactor, which is seven times more powerful than a competing system being built by NASA, has shrunk to an unprecedented size.

An article published by the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ peer-reviewed journal Scientia Sinica Technologica explains how the lithium-cooled system is also designed to dramatically expand in space.

By using liquid lithium, they can also make the reactor smaller, thanks to the element’s high thermal conductivity and low weight.

Starting as a container-sized volume, once fully deployed the structure can grow to the size of a 20-story building, including the 1.5-megawatt reactor’s heat sink.

But on the ground it folds neatly into a container-sized volume that weighs less than eight tons, the paper said.

Additionally, the design will allow the reactor system to be “easily loaded and launched by rocket,” while also being able to maintain stable operations for extended periods in the harsh conditions of space.

The article adds that the Chinese reactor will generate up to 1,276 degrees Celsius from the fission of uranium fuel, which is much higher than the operating temperature of most commercial nuclear power plants.

The intense heat then expands liquid forms of the inert elements helium and xenon into gases, driving a generator.

The paper adds that high-mass return transport will be possible for both crewed and cargo spaceflights.

As a result, the powerful energy source will pave the way for China’s large-scale exploration of the moon and Mars.

China’s determination to lead the race for nuclear-powered spaceflight is further implemented with a slogan hanging above the reactor prototype that reads: “Innovate or perish. No excuses.”

While spacecraft like the Starship, which is being developed by US company SpaceX, could take at least seven months to reach Mars, China’s nuclear-powered spacecraft could complete a round trip in just three months.

The Starship rocket is central to NASA’s plans to land astronauts on the moon later this decade, as well as SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s hopes to colonize Mars.

But even a single trip to the red planet requires a massive life support system.

NASA confirmed that the first Blue Origin New Glenn rocket will send two scientific spacecraft to Mars in late 2024, while Musk sees 2026 as the earliest year SpaceX will launch its own unmanned mission.

The new timeline comes after Musk’s Starship mega-rocket – the spacecraft he hopes will land on the moon and eventually Mars – exploded during a second launch attempt.

NASA has also called for volunteers to live in a simulated Mars colony for an entire year to boost preparations for future life on the red planet.

The Earth mission will launch in early 2025 and will see a crew of four living in a 1,700-square-foot facility – just like one would be built on Mars.

NASA says it “simulates a realistic Martian habitat” with the aim of supporting long-duration space exploration missions.

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The US State Department has warned that the increasing speed at which AI is developed could be “catastrophic” for humanity.

This is evident from a new report that examines the risks of AI.

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The report is called ‘An action plan to increase the safety and security of advanced AI’ Futurism.

It is 247 pages long and was first released in 2022.

The report included interviews with more than 200 experts.

This included experts from OpenAI, Google and Meta.

The report says the US government must take “swift and decisive” action to look at minimizing the power given to AI development.

The report claims we could face an “extinction-level threat to the human species” if no action is taken.

This comes as Peter Deng, the head of ChatGPT, revealed that he believes we should accelerate AI development, but cautiously.

The artificial intelligence expert told an audience his thoughts at this week’s South By Southwest conference in Austin, Texas.

“I’m somewhere in the middle. With any new technology there will be very positive use cases, but there are things we really need to take into account,” he said.

He thinks safe acceleration is possible if all developers are careful.

Deng is not alone in this belief, but there are other AI experts who have called for a slowdown in development.

“The rise of advanced AI and AGI [artificial general intelligence] has the potential to destabilize global security in ways reminiscent of the introduction of nuclear weapons,” the new report warns.

It also says that providing open source information about powerful AI models should be criminalized.

Even Elon Musk has expressed concerns about the speed at which AI is being developed and the lack of safeguards.

He previously signed an open letter urging a pause on creating new systems that are “more powerful” than current bots like ChatGPT.

More than 1,000 industry experts also signed that letter.

The surviving inhabitants of a Soviet-era town in northeastern Kazakhstan where 456 bombs were detonated on their doorstep, have revealed the devastating impact the explosions had on their health, with cancer spiking along with severe birth defects. 

Filmmakers Thomas Brag and Staffan Taylor ventured to Kurchatov, which was a top secret town established in 1947 as the headquarters of the Soviet Union’s nuclear weapons program. At the time, it was not even visible on maps due to the high level of secrecy. 

It is estimated that more than one million people lived in and around the remote settlement when the nuclear program was running from 1949 to 1989 – but today there just a few thousand people remaining and many of the buildings are stripped bare and derelict. 

In their eye opening YouTube documentary titled ’50hrs in the most nuked place on Earth erased from maps,’ Thomas and Staffan find four Kurchatov locals who are willing to talk about the nuclear testing they witnessed. All of them make it clear that they had no idea what was happening at the time, as the authorities succeeded in keeping people in the dark. 

From time to time their houses would violently shake and they would see plumes of dust erupting in the distance but these aftereffects were written off as extreme weather cycles.  

One woman called Nadezhda Golovina, who unknowingly witnessed hundreds of nuclear bombs go off in her youth, explains: ‘We didn’t know it was so bad.

‘Now everybody writes and talks about it. And then, what did we know? We didn’t know anything. Just what the teacher taught at school. 

‘They used to tell us to leave the house in case it collapsed, a window or the door of the stove would open and ashes would fall out. [Even] the chandeliers were swinging.’

During the 1950s, it was reported that one detonation in the area resulted in four times the number of cases of acute radiation sickness than those from the Chernobyl disaster.

Another local in the documentary, a man called Uncle Serikpay, reveals that he moved to Kurchatov as a miner and his role was to help construct passages to ‘prepare everything for the [nuclear] tests.’

He says he knew about what was happening at the ‘Semipalatinsk’ test site – which was less than 100 miles from Kurchatov – but he had to sign a non disclosure act. 

Anyone who did speak about their work there, Uncle Serikpay says, would suddenly disappear and ‘we never saw him again.’

In a bid to reduce health risks, Uncle Serikpay says he was only allowed to work 30-minute shifts in places with high levels of radiation.

‘If there was a low level of radiation, we could work longer,’ he adds.

Thankfully, Uncle Serikpay wasn’t exposed to high levels of radiation and at almost 73 years old, he says he still ‘feels good.’

While some were not effected by the radiation, many people were, as a woman called Lyubov Filina explains. 

She says: ‘Of course it affected people’s health. People have cancer. Cancer, cancer, cancer, cancer…

‘There was radiation and people started getting sick. There are the books from the hospital where only cases of radiation and anemia are written.

‘We were kids back then and we didn’t understand anything. Even adults didn’t know that the mushroom cloud was more dangerous than vibration or broken windows. 

‘In 1989, I was pregnant with my son and he was born with congenital cataracts of 16 diopters.

‘I believe it was caused by the radiation exposure. I read about it in the medical encyclopedia. We saw helicopters over the city measuring something and now we understood there was a radiation release at that time.

‘Some children were born with disabilities. Our parents covered us, but not themselves.’

It was only in 1989 that information about radioactive contamination from the Semipalatinsk test site became public and the findings triggered mass outcry. 

An anti-nuclear movement raged for two years with the Kazakh government demanding that Moscow end nuclear testing.

Eventually, the activists won and the Semipalatinsk nuclear testing site was officially shut down on August 29, 1991, with all testing banned in the region. 

This marked the same year that Kazakhstan gained independence from the former Soviet Union. 

Uncle Serikpay said most people left Kurchatov when the testing site closed. 

He explains in the documentary: ‘In 1991 when the test site was closed and Kazakhstan declared a moratorium everything broke up. People moved away and the Soviet Union collapsed.’

Lyubov Filina says the mass exodus of people was quite strange but her family decided to stay.

She recalls: ‘They just left. The military was reassigned to other places and went there.

‘People were leaving but we continued to live and work here. Everyone had families and children to feed.

‘The military moved away, and our family didn’t have military, so we stayed here.’

Uncle Serikpay continued working at the nuclear testing site after its closure, and from 1996 to 1999 America helped dismantle the site.

He also reveals in the film that he helped to excavate an unexploded bomb, which was then safely detonated in an underground tunnel in 1995. 

He says: ‘It was an atomic bomb that was supposed to explode. It was a real bomb that we had time to install, but we didn’t have time to use it.’

A man called Uncle Khamit – who lost both of his parents to cancer – also reveals in the documentary that he helped dismantle radioactive weapons after the fall of the Soviet Union.

He moved to Kurchatov in 1976 and said that when he first moved there, the nuclear bomb explosions were a scary experience.  

Detailing what the detonations were like, he said: ‘First, there’s a big flare and then there’s the mushroom that comes out. We were kids, but there was a feeling inside that something bad was being done. 

‘Older people, everyone was afraid because everything became dark there, everything was covered in dust, the feeling was terrible.

‘We were taken outside the village. There was a ravine dug there, and there we lay down.

‘They always covered us with blankets, and the whole village lay there. Soldiers would run to see if we were covered or not.

‘One time I remember a soldier being swept away.’

The worst explosion at Semipalatinsk took place on January 15, 1965, when the Soviet Union tested a hydrogen bomb 11 times the strength of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima by the U.S. military in 1945.

In the documentary, the narrator explains: ‘The 140-kiloton device was buried nearly 180 meters in the ground, and upon detonation, the blast created a crater of 454 meters wide and 100 meters deep, throwing soil nearly one and a half kilometers up in the air.

‘The blast was so large that it took the dust nearly 50 days to settle, forming the current hills that now surround the crater.

‘Shortly after the test, a nearby river was diverted to fill the crater and turn it into what locals now call the Atomic Lake.’

Towards the end of the documentary, the subjects are asked how they feel about rising global tensions and the possibility of nuclear conflict coming into force again. 

Uncle Khamit merely says that he feels ‘very badly’ about it.  He muses: ‘An achievement is an achievement, every state develops its armament. But I would like to have a peaceful sky over my head, to have no conflicts with anyone.

‘And we, Kazakhstani people, want to have peace everywhere. I also call on all those countries that have nuclear weapons to reduce it or even be like Kazakhstan.

‘We are in favor of nuclear-free armaments, always. I want to say that people all over the world should live in harmony and in peace. That our future generation should grow up healthy and strong.’

Echoing his sentiments, Nadezhda Golovina repeats that ‘we need peace,’ while Uncle Serikpay ends with a request for ‘all countries to abandon nuclear weapons like Kazakhstan has done.’ 

He tells the cameramen: ‘Kazakhstan abandoned all its nuclear weapons, although it had fourth-biggest nuclear arsenal in the world. I wish all countries behave the same way.’

Putin’s statement on Wednesday comes ahead of this week’s presidential elections.

Russian nuclear weapons: As the war between Russia and Ukraine continues, President Vladimir Putin made a big, bold statement Wednesday saying Russia is willing to use nuclear weapons if there is a threat to its statehood, sovereignty or independence.

There is speculation that President Putin made this worrying statement, expressing hope that the US and NATO would refrain from actions that could trigger a nuclear conflict.

Putin’s statement on Wednesday comes ahead of this week’s presidential election, in which he is certain to win another six-year term.

The former KGB described US President Joe Biden in an interview with Russian state television early Wednesday as an experienced politician who fully understands the potential dangers of any escalation and said he does not think the world is heading towards nuclear war. .

He stressed that Russia’s nuclear forces are in full readiness and “from a military-technical point of view we are prepared,” adding that Moscow, in line with the country’s security doctrine, is ready to use nuclear weapons in case of a threat to “ the survival of the country”. of the Russian state, our sovereignty and independence.”

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and the subsequent armed conflict between the two neighbors, the Russian leader has repeatedly spoken of his willingness to use nuclear weapons. The latest threat came in his state of the nation speech last month, when he warned the West that deepening his involvement in the fighting in Ukraine would risk nuclear war.

When asked in the interview whether he had ever considered using nuclear weapons on the battlefield in Ukraine, Putin said there was no need for it.

He also expressed confidence that Moscow will achieve its goals in Ukraine and kept the door open for talks, stressing that Russia will maintain its gains and seek firm guarantees from the West.

“It should not be a pause for the enemy to rearm, but a serious conversation about security guarantees for the Russian Federation,” he said, adding that a recent spike in Ukrainian drone attacks deep inside Russia is part of the attempts to derail the Russian Federation. three-day presidential elections, which begin Friday.

Meanwhile, Russian authorities reported another major attack by Ukrainian drones early Wednesday, when the country’s Defense Ministry said its air defenses had shot down 58 drones over six regions.

However, one drone hit an oil refinery in the Ryazan region, injuring at least two people and causing a fire. Another drone was shot down as it approached a refinery near St. Petersburg.

Ukraine, meanwhile, reported more Russian attacks early Wednesday, with a Russian strike killing two people and wounding another five in the city of Myrnohrad in the eastern Donetsk region, Governor Vadym Filashkin said. Local rescuers managed to pull a 13-year-old girl from the rubble of an apartment building that was hit by a Russian missile.

In President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s hometown of the central Dnipropetrovsk region, the death toll from a Russian missile attack the night before rose to four.

(With PTI inputs)

SPACEX has announced the launch date for Starship’s third test launch, months after the rocket exploded in mid-air during an earlier training flight.

Starship is the rocket that NASA will use to take humans to the moon during the 2026 Artemis III mission – and ultimately to Mars in the 2030s.

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In an announcement on X (formerly Twitter), the company said it is targeting March 14 for Starship’s third test flight “pending regulatory approval.”

The second test flight in October last year exploded dramatically in mid-air due to a technical fault.

The nearly 400-foot-tall rocket with 33 engines is the most powerful spacecraft ever built and costs a whopping $3 billion.

SpaceX plans to try a number of procedures on this third attempt, including propellant transfers during the coast phase of the flight.

Without the ability to transfer fuel into space, NASA will not be able to land astronauts on the moon.

If successful, SpaceX will attempt to transfer propellant from one rocket to another in orbit on the next jump.

In this process, several spacecraft will fuel a tanker in orbit, which will be used to move fuel to another spaceship that is part of NASA’s Human Landing System.

It’s part of the U.S. mission to get boots on the moon’s south pole before China does.

US vs China

The ongoing saber-rattling between the US and China has led to a renaissance of the space race of the 1960s.

The pair compete for the moon’s mysterious south pole, which both countries believe is the most feasible location for a permanent moon base.

In January, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said he believed the “race” for China was over, and that the US was on track to return humans to the moon in September 2026 with Artemis III.

If all goes according to plan, Artemis III will be the first human mission on the moon since Apollo 17.

China’s military presence in the South China Sea signals how the country might behave on the lunar surface, Nelson argues, which would violate the 1967 Outer Space Treaty.

But China has big plans and is working with Russia to realize them.

A research paper from scientists at the China National Space Administration earlier this week revealed that the country plans to build a moon base the size of Disneyland.

The planned moon base has a radius of 6 km and includes a command center, a power plant, a communications center, scientific facilities and a fleet of robots.

It will even have its own remote sensing, navigation and communications satellites.

China hopes to start construction of the moon base within the next few years and have a stripped-down version of the outpost by 2028.

Next, China and Russia plan to build a nuclear reactor by 2035 with the robots that will call the moon base their home.

Hunting for helium

The south pole of the moon has been a place of interest for all spacefaring countries including India, Russia, China and the US.

The area is considered one of the most resource-rich areas on the moon.

Last year, India made history by becoming the first country to land near the southern location.

Days before India’s success, Russia also attempted a landing at the South Pole, which resulted in an emergency landing.

There are many ‘cold traps’ on the moon’s surface that are believed to contain gases such as Helium-3, which could help produce enormous amounts of energy here on Earth.

“Even though there are many precious metals and minerals on the moon, the most valuable resource is Helium-3, because it is rare on Earth but very common on the moon,” says a report from the Universities Space Research Association (USRA ). .

“The price of Helium-3 could even reach $2,000 per liter, or $59.15 per ounce.

“It is essential to note that 2.2 pounds, or 1 kilogram, of Helium-3 mixed with 1.5 pounds, or 0.67 kilograms of deuterium, can produce 19 years of megawatts of energy – enough energy to power the United States for an entire year Let it turn.”

BAE's boss says the war in Ukraine has made alert investors look again at defense companies.

Charles Woodburn revealed that BAE's share performance languished for years as ESG-obsessed British funds shunned the company.

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But US investors appeared not to be as concerned with ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) considerations, meaning BAE's US rivals are much more highly valued.

Mr Woodburn said there has now been a “reappraisal of ESG in light of the tragic conflict in Ukraine”.

He told The Sun: “Democracy and freedom of speech require a strong defense structure.”

Mr Woodburn said he was pleased that BAE remains listed on the London stock exchange, despite earning most of its revenue abroad.

And despite only four of BAE's top 15 investors being British, he said: “We've closed that valuation gap.”

The chief's comments came as BAE revealed a record £55 billion backlog of orders from governments due to the “heightened threat environment” globally following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

BAE won new contracts worth £38 billion last year, including contracts related to the UK's nuclear deterrent submarines.

The company is also ramping up production of so-called 'shoot and scoot' towed artillery guns.

BAE said last month it has restarted production of Britain's M777 howitzer, some of which have been donated to Ukraine.

BAE, which hired 7,000 staff last year, recorded a nine percent increase in annual turnover to £25.3 billion.

And it expects sales to rise 12 percent this year thanks to new orders for fighter jets, combat vehicles and weapons.

£275 million for BT tower hotel

THE BT Tower, one of the most recognizable landmarks in London's skyline, is set to become a luxury mega-hotel.

BT Group has sold the building to American MCR Hotels for £275 million.

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MCR already owns the Sheraton Times Square Hotel and the High Line Hotel in New York.

The Grade II listed BT Tower was built by the Post Office in 1961.

The revolving restaurant at the top was permanently closed after a bomb went off in 1971.

Despite standing 600 feet tall in the heart of London, it was an official state secret for many years and was only referred to as Site 23.

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Ashley in 'snob' dig at the bank

BILLIONAIRE Mike Ashley yesterday accused Morgan Stanley of snobbery during a showdown at the Supreme Court.

His Frasers Group is suing the Wall Street bank for £40m over a £790m margin call – a demand he provide collateral to cover potential losses on a trade that left them heavily exposed.

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His lawyer Adrian Beltrami described the call as “out of proportion to any actual risk”.

He told the court in London: “The evidence unfortunately suggests that Morgan Stanley's erratic behavior was at least partly the result of snobbery.”

He said bank staff called Mr Ashley “an upstart” and claimed the negative reaction was “class-driven”.

Mr Ashley said the shock of it was “like an atomic bomb hitting Slough”.

It is his second trial in five years after winning a £15 million case against ex-consultant Jeff Blue, who described the tycoon vomiting into fireplaces during staff drinking sessions.

27% Heathgrow

HEATHROW has returned to profitability thanks to pent-up demand for holidays following Covid travel restrictions.

Last year the aircraft transported 79.2 million passengers, 29 percent more than in 2022.

Revenues rose 27 percent to £3.68 billion, boosting profits to £38 million.

A year earlier it made a loss of £684 million.

The airport still wants to increase airline fares, which will translate into higher fares for passengers.

Boss Thomas Woldbye said it was still considering building a third runway.

MPs were angry about the IMF

The International Monetary Fund has been blasted by MPs for refusing to provide evidence on its economic forecasts for Britain.

The IMF declined an invitation from the Treasury Select Committee to join other forecasters in a discussion on the economy.

Chairman Harriett Baldwin called the no-show “annoying.”

She said: “They continue to make public statements about Britain from their perch in Washington.

“Given that the IMF is a government agency partly funded by Britain, I find this unbelievable.”

An incredible island in Patagonia with its own mountain range has been put up for sale for a whopping $35 million, offering potential buyers an incredible place to escape the busy world around them.

The property, called Virgin Island, is located in the sparsely populated Aysèn region of southern Chile, on a remote island in the South Pacific with 150 miles of coastline, freshwater lakes and lagoons, as well as a lush forest of more than 110,000 acres. .

In addition to providing a lush habitat, the island could also prove incredibly popular with doomsday preppers looking to escape a possible nuclear attack; Due to its geostrategic location and history of neutrality, Chile is one of the countries least likely to face a nuclear threat, making this remote stretch of land the perfect safe haven.

Furthermore, wind patterns and ocean currents affecting the region are highly unlikely to spread nuclear fallout across Patagonia. Thanks to its decidedly remote location, the island is miles away from any built-up area that would be the target of an attack.

It also has vast reserves of natural resources that can be harnessed to help its wealthy owners survive the apocalypse.

This offering has an eclectic topography, which includes jungles and high mountains that plunge into deep valleys. This leaves three large lakes and more than 80 lagoons isolated from the ocean.

Overall, the island is half the size of Hong Kong and seven and a half times larger than Manhattan.

Between the mainland and the archipelago of southern Guaitecas, the nature of this pristine private island still exists untouched as it did thousands of years ago.

The diverse ecosystem makes the island resilient to rapid environmental change, with the island considered a 'fundamental green lung for the planet'.

Much of the island is covered in peatlands, known locally as turba, creating a natural breeding ground for flora. Defined as 'terrestrial wetland ecosystems' by the International Peatland Associationpeatlands are recognized as the largest natural terrestrial carbon sinks in an ecosystem,

Large wetlands also spread across the island, storing fresh water and trapping greenhouse gases.

The ideal buyer will view the island's incredibly remote, untouched nature with a forward-thinking eye for conservation and adventure.

“As the world seemingly becomes smaller and the expansion opportunities for world-class real estate work increase, we are excited, privileged and humbled to present the Virgin Island,” the mentionin the possession of the Hall and Hall company, reads.

'It is a rare opportunity to present this unprecedented property to the global market.

'A real Rembrandt; the size of this island is unparalleled. Equally atypical is the extraordinary amount of surface water, wetlands, peatlands, more than 100 miles of coastline, waterfalls, springs, creeks, topography and overall biodiversity.

'The country's distinctive elements are finite, rare and irreplaceably exceptional. Located in perhaps one of the most diverse ecosystems in the world, if not the most diverse, the amount of biodiversity and abundance of hundreds of wildlife species is challenging to quantify.

'The opportunities for nature conservation and management here are equally unprecedented. The acquisition of the Virgin Island provides an opportunity to preserve an ecological wonder while contributing to the environment in a meaningful and ecological way.

'Terminology is often thrown away in an overused capacity; however, this characteristic fits the saying 'once in a lifetime'.

To access the property, visitors must fly into the local Balmaceda Airport, approximately 100 miles away on mainland Chile, before continuing to Virgin Island by private boat or helicopter.

A luxury travel agent who plans trips for some of the world's wealthiest individuals has revealed how he spent more than $44 million on a single holiday and that the requests can sometimes cross borders.

Ricardo Araujo, 45, started his company Ariodante Travels more than seven years ago, and he told DailyMail.com that his team now works for “a handful of extremely wealthy individuals, mostly billionaires and sometimes senior royals, who have a common interest in culture, beauty and having a positive impact on the world. '

“You could call them thrillionaires, because their thirst for adventure is insatiable,” he joked.

Because Ricardo's clients require NDAs, he says he can't reveal the exact details behind each trip, but on one occasion a sabbatical in Latin America that lasted several months cost more than $44 million and took us almost a year of planning. '

Asked about some of the more unusual requests he has received, the travel professional, who splits his time between London and Paris, recalls “a gentleman who wanted to detonate an atomic bomb.”

Revealing how the unique request came about, he continued: “The man had heard how I had taken someone in a nuclear submarine for a special lunch with the commander of the fleet. By the way, these are the kinds of things I can make happen.

“So this man came to me and offered me millions to fulfill his dream of detonating an atomic bomb. After the initial shock, I politely sent the man away.'

Another crazy request came in the form of arranging a mermaid for the nine-year-old granddaughter of a wealthy American client.

On this occasion, Riccardo was able to fulfill the client's wish after researching the world of professional mermaids.

The 'mermaid show' came about during a luxury yacht trip he put together in Europe and was inspired by Homer's The Odyssey.

Riccardo managed to smuggle a professional mermaid aboard the ship, so that when the youngster took a submarine trip with her mother off the island of Capri in Italy, the performer took a deep dive and left her spectators 'wowed'.

The stunt, including the rental of the submarine, cost $350,000, while the total trip earned the unnamed family $2.5 million.

Ricardo says he's inundated with requests from deep-pocketed travelers around the world, but he's selective about who he takes on as clients because there's one thing money can't buy: good manners.

He recalls an instance where he ended up referring a “very complicated couple” to other agencies because the billionaire's husband didn't seem very courteous.

He explained: 'My complaint about the client was his attitude. He showed his true colors while I was planning an experience to gain access to a beautiful private castle in Italy.

'I had arranged for the couple to have lunch with the castle owner, who is actually a prince from one of the oldest families in Italy.

'But when my client saw the schedule, he asked to exchange lunch for sandwiches in the helicopter because he was reluctant to pay for the prince's lunch.

“That kind of billionaire doesn't suit me, so I referred him to other agencies so he could have a normal journey.”

Riccardo says that his clients generally placed their trust in him to devise unique and extraordinary trips.

He says he often gets “clues” about certain desires, but “just like a fashion designer creating a haute couture dress or an artist, my imagination takes over and I create something with that original concept as a basis.”

“My clients are happy to give us a creative blank check because they know our team has the expertise, know-how and imagination that they don't,” Riccardo told DailyMail.com.

One of Riccardo's proudest moments was gaining access to “one of the most famous museums in Europe” so that his client could participate in the restoration of a mummy.

Recalling the extraordinary experience, he said: 'My client was so overwhelmed that his hands were shaking with excitement and disbelief that he was actually doing it.

'What I am most proud of is conveying these kinds of emotions and memories that will last a lifetime. I don't think there is a price for that.

'When I let the child spot a mermaid from the submarine, that was also very special.

'There had been people saying for years that her mermaids weren't real, but then she saw one and managed to get a photo on her phone. She couldn't sleep for almost two days because she was so happy and excited.”

So, how do you become a luxury travel agent?

Well, for Riccardo, his entry into the world of yachts, helicopters, mermaids and more happened completely by accident.

He started out as a classical musician, composer and conductor by training, and one day Airbnb contacted him and asked if he could create a classical music concert.

Recalling the series of events, he said, “I received the request and decided to do it. It simply involved a group of tourists going to a classical concert with a conductor to learn more about music. I ended up hosting a wonderful older couple from Boston, passionate about opera, and we became friends.

'They were incredibly kind to me, so to thank them I took them on a backstage tour of the opera house because all I had to do was call a friend and open the door.

'They liked it so much that they started bragging about it in the US, and their friends started contacting me.

'Soon I was impressing every new wealthy traveler with my imagination and attention to detail and the requests started pouring in.

'My ambition was to make each journey even more incredible than the last. In an effort to turn some of my crazy, impractical ideas into reality, I had to recruit a team of experts and from there my business grew.

“I now consider myself a travel alchemist, able to turn dreams into reality, and I pride myself on choosing my clients carefully.”

Looking to the future of travel, Riccardo – whose favorite luxury hotels now include Claridge's in London and The Carlyle in New York – says people will “continue to shift their focus to experiences rather than looking for our regular flight and hotel packages.”

He concludes: 'Overtourism is becoming a real problem for many destinations and this also applies to the luxury market.

'That is why I believe we should move more towards meaningful travel.

'The good news is that you don't necessarily need a lot of money to have meaningful experiences. It just requires taking the time to research and look beyond the obvious.

“So instead of following Google's recommendations or quizzing ChatGPT, look further and discover countless wonders that 90 percent of people 'neglect' because they don't even know they exist.”

With Ukraine’s much anticipated counteroffensive stalling and Western military support waning, there are now real fears that Vladimir Putin could be victorious and destroy the nation. 

Any move to halt or reduce aid packages to Ukraine – as we’ve already seen with US Republicans blocking £50billion of funding – would play into Putin’s hands by kneecapping Ukrainian soldiers on the battlefield against advancing Russian troops.

A victory for Russia wouldn’t just mean the ‘destruction’ of Ukraine and its people – it would be ‘catastrophic’ to the West and turn global world order on its head, warns Oleksandr Danylyuk, an associate fellow at the defence and security think tank RUSI. 

Indeed, a win for Russia against Ukraine would ‘undoubtedly’ result in the fall of NATO, ‘economic carnage’ for the West as well as the rise of foes including China, Iran and North Korea, retired US General Ben Hodges tells MailOnline.

At the crux of this is the fact that Russia and the Global South would see a Ukrainian defeat as a military loss for the West – it would show the world that NATO, led by the US, is capable of sacrificing a European nation in order to avoid a nuclear conflict.

And once autocrats realise that the US and the West are beatable, a nuclear war would be ‘inevitable’ and the world would be consumed in bloodshed, Danylyuk says in a terrifying prediction. 

Indeed, Danylyuk says the world will have been watching as Ukraine, which gave up the world’s third-largest arsenal of nuclear weapons in 1993, was defeated by Russia’s military amid daily threats of Moscow incinerating the country with nukes. 

And that would send a strong message: The only way for non-nuclear states to protect themselves against an attack by countries with nukes – like China and Russia – would be to have weapons of mass destruction of their own. 

Yet with the number of nations possessing nuclear arsenals increasing, it would be ‘only a matter of time’ before a state – or terrorist organisation – uses them, Danylyuk says. 

‘Breaking the taboo on the use of nuclear weapons would create a new reality, the tragic characteristics of which are hard to imagine,’ Danylyuk says in the RUSI report.

Ultimately, a victory would see a ‘catastrophic’ change to world order that would have devastating consequences for civilians living across Europe and the US. 

It would destroy the perception of the US as the world’s military power and encourage countries such as China, Iran and North Korea to continue their military expansion, Danylyuk says. 

‘A Russian victory would also force the countries of the Global South to seek special relationships with these countries, displacing the US as an international security broker,’ Danylyuk, who is an expert in multidimensional warfare, says.  

Gen. Hodges, the former Commanding General of US Army Europe, agrees and says a Russian victory would see the rise of the Kremlin’s allies. 

He says Iran and North Korea will most likely manage to develop effective nuclear weapons in the next few years, which will pose a direct threat to the West and could lead to a nuclear war that would see tens of thousands killed. 

‘That’s why it’s so important now to have a nuclear deterrent,’ Gen. Hodges says. ‘If we allow Iran and North Korea to develop nuclear capabilities then we are going to be regretting that forever.’ 

He said a Russian victory would also mean that nuclear states – Pakistan, India, North Korea, Iran – would become unstable and could result in terrorists getting their hands on nuclear weapons and launching terror attacks on the streets of Europe. 

‘Lots of these countries would become more unsettled and fragile,’ Gen. Hodges says.

And as the West descends into years of instability while Russia casts its iron grip over Ukraine, Gen. Hodges says Putin will set his sights on launching an attack on NATO soil.

He says a Trump presidency would open the door even further for Putin to launch his attack on Europe because of the Republican’s lack of support for NATO. 

Gen. Hodges says if Donald Trump is elected in November, it would weaken NATO and could leave Europe as ‘sitting ducks’ for Putin and his forces without any protection.

Gen. Hodges says if Putin believes that NATO is becoming ‘disunified’ due to a Trump presidency, the Russian warmonger would think ‘we can attack now’. 

Indeed, he believes that if Trump was president, the likelihood of Putin launching an invasion and sparking WW3 would massively increase. 

And without the protection of US troops – especially the US nuclear umbrella – European countries ‘will not be able to defend themselves in the event of a full-scale war’ with a nuclear state such as Russia, Danylyuk says.

Gen. Hodges says it would be ‘foolish’ to assume that Putin could not invade a Baltic country – like Lithuania, Poland or Estonia – and wreak havoc on civilians across Europe.

In one scenario, Gen. Hodges says Moscow could first attack the narrow strip of land known as Suwalki Gap, sandwiched between Poland, Lithuania and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad. 

Even a small attack on this weak point – the only land border between mainland Europe and the Baltic States – could cause huge problems for NATO.

Gen. Hodges said if Putin was successful in blocking the Suwalki gap, Russian forces would use that strip of land and Belarus as a launchpad for the second phase of their offensive. 

And that second phase would involve sending thousands of Russian soldiers, tanks and special forces, to attack one of the Baltic states on NATO’s eastern flank – most likely either Lithuania, Poland or Estonia.

William Freer, a research fellow at the think tank Geostrategy, says Russia could likely launch a ‘mass hypersonic attack early in the conflict’ to ‘sow chaos and open vulnerabilities’.  

Gen. Hodges says how NATO responded to an attack on an allied soil will determine the future of Western civilisation and could ‘destroy’ the alliance. 

‘If we hesitated, that failure to live up to our obligations under Article 5 to protect member states, it would break the alliance,’ Gen. Hodges tells MailOnline from his home in Frankfurt, Germany.

Indeed, Gen. Hodges said if it just came down to military capabilities, NATO forces –  with their better soldiers and equipment – would defeat Russia in an all-out war. 

But, he said: ‘The way we would lose is if we failed to respond, if we failed to stick together, if we moved too slowly to protect our NATO members.’ 

Gen. Hodges said it ‘worries him a lot’ that NATO forces ‘cannot move very quickly across Europe’ due to the terrain and how built up much of the area is. 

‘The way we would fail would be if we didn’t react quick enough or hesitated,’ Gen Hodges says. 

‘If the Russians were able to accomplish some penetration of a NATO state of the eastern flank – like Estonia or Lithuania – and then Moscow dared us to do something about it, that would be the real test.’

The retired US General says that if NATO did hesitate, Putin would not stop there. He would deploy his Russian Navy for a vital mission: taking control of the northern Arctic route and reaping in the economic benefits while leaving the West out cold. 

Gen Hodges warns that a win for Russia against a NATO state would mean further  ‘economic carnage’ for the West, the rise of foes including China and the end of the international rules-based order as we know it. 

‘If Russia was successful and won the war, from an economic standpoint, it would be carnage,’ Gen. Hodges tells MailOnline. 

‘The international-rules based order from which the US and the UK have benefited for the last 80 years would be turned upside down,’ Hodges says in an ominous prediction. 

‘Financial markets, control of energy resources, all of this would be in a completely precarious and different state,’ Gen. Hodges says. ‘A big part of a successful economy is confidence – and Russia breaking NATO would shift that. 

‘That would be a major problem for the economy and the various international organisations – like the UN – which make up the rules-based order,’ Hodges says, referring to the international liberal order established by the victorious allies after the Second World War.

‘It would all be turned on its head and there would be chaos and we’d have to try to find another way back to stability,’ Hodges says.

He said Putin would focus his efforts on taking control of the northern Arctic route. With the polar ice cap melting due to climate change, new shipping routes are becoming all the more accessible.

‘Russia will want to dominate that northern route, it would make it much quicker for them to sail over the top of the world and benefit Moscow economically,’ Gen. Hodges said. 

‘With their long-range weapons, they would be able to dominate what goes in and out of the North Atlantic from the Arctic,’ he added, saying this would be economically catastrophic for the West. 

And as West descends into economic turmoil and Russia continues to cast its iron grip over eastern Europe and the Arctic, Gen. Hodges says China will be watching eagerly from the side-lines.

He said Beijing could launch an attack of its own on Taiwan if it saw that the US and its allies had been unsuccessful in defending Baltic states from a Russian invasion. 

‘If China saw that the United States and its allies were unsuccessful against a Russian invasion, that we lost – and the losses that we would have sustained would have been enormous – then I think Beijing will not feel restrained to do what they want,’ Gen. Hodges says.

‘If China saw that Russia could create carnage, China would take advantage of this and could launch their own attack on Taiwan for instance,’ Gen. Hodges adds.

Analysts believe Putin intends to destroy Ukraine – which is relying heavily on support from its allies, particularly the US – before setting his sights beyond Ukraine’s western borders, with the Baltic states in particular under threat. 

With his invasion in Ukraine at a stalemate, Putin has also switched his economy onto a war footing, meaning weapons factories are producing arms around the clock.

What’s more, Putin’s allies in Iran and North Korea are also propping his forces up with arms, meaning Russia can build up its defences faster than previously thought.

A series of military officials from across NATO and Europe have warned that this means that Putin could be ready to wage a war against the West in the next two or three years. 

Meanwhile Admiral Rob Bauer, the chairman of NATO’s Military Committee, warned last week that the alliance must brace itself for an all-out war with Russia in the next two decades. This came as secret plans were leaked revealing that Germany is preparing for Putin‘s forces to attack NATO as early as 2025.

Gen. Hodges said for NATO to be able to respond effectively, the military alliance needs to move more troops to the eastern flank along with equipment and arsenal. 

If the alliance does this now, in 2024, it could stop Putin from ever invading one of the countries on NATO’s eastern flank as the despot will know he couldn’t take the West by surprise, Gen. Hodges says. 

Norway’s defence minister Eirik Kristoffersen said last week that Europe has a matter of years – maybe as little as three – to prepare for a war against Russia. 

Kristoffersen pointed out that Moscow has built up its military stockpiles far quicker than expected.

‘Russia has increased production significantly,’ Kristoffersen told NTB.

‘They have also collaborated with countries such as Iran and North Korea, which means that we can get a faster build-up of the Russian defence than what we envisioned just last year,’ he added.

‘So we must use the time well now to strengthen our own defence.’

Norway also shares a border with Russia at Europe’s most northern point and is thus vital to the continent’s defence strategy against Putin’s forces.

Relative peace in Europe was shattered in February 2022 with Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and kicked European nations into action. 

Germany, for example, dramatically ramped up its defence spending, while Finland swiftly joined NATO. Sweden is set to follow once its application is approved. 

However, Kristoffersen warns that much of Europe’s military supply is being sunk into Ukraine to support Kyiv’s forces in their fight against the invading Russians.

He points out that the same can be said of Russia, which has sunk vast supplies of military hardware – as well as soldiers – into its war, with limited success.

With Russia having found ways to quickly replenish and expand its supply of weapons, Kristoffersen says it is vital for NATO to continue to support Ukraine – currently Europe’s the first line of defence – ‘for as long as it takes’. 

‘This is a calculated risk,’ he says. ‘If the danger was imminent of an attack by Norway right now, then we could not have given so many weapons. But that is not the case.’

Gen. Hodges echoes this sentiment, and says if we want to ‘avoid this terrible scenario’ of Putin invading a NATO county, ‘we need to help Ukraine win’. 

‘We need to help Ukraine push Russia into the abyss and defeat them,’ Gen. Hodges says, adding that if the West does not increase its spending and supplies to Ukraine, a country on NATO’s eastern flank will be next on Putin’s list. 

Ahead of last week’s NATO meeting in Brussels, NATO Military Committee Admiral Rob Bauer urged countries to ensure they are prepared conflict.

‘We need public and private actors to change their mindset for an era in which everything was plannable, foreseeable, controllable and focused on efficiency to an era in which anything can happen at any time. An era in which we need to expect the unexpected,’ he said as he opened the meeting.

‘In order to be fully effective, also in the future, we need a warfighting transformation of NATO,’ Bauer added.

Kristoffersen echoed this comments when asked what this means for Norway and other NATO countries. 

‘Concretely, this means that we must fill NATO’s plans with content and provide the necessary capacities,’ he told the Norwegian press agency. ‘The challenge for NATO now is that there are some gaps here.’

Specifically, he warned that air defence and long-range weapons are lacking.

‘More investment must be made in air defence,’ he said. ‘It also means that we have to have more in stock, both when it comes to ammunition and spare parts.’

He also agreed with his Swedish counterpart, Commander-in-Chief Mikael Bydén, who recently called on all Swedes to prepare for war.

‘What the Norwegian population should think about is their own preparedness, which was actually what Bydén was also talking about. We recommend everyone to have three days (worth of supplies at home) to manage themselves.

‘And we also recommend increasing it if you are very vulnerable,’ he added.

That urgency for governments and civilians to prepare for war has since crossed over the Channel to Britain. 

On Wednesday, General Sir Patrick Sanders, the head of the UK’s army, said Britain should ‘train and equip’ a ‘citizen army’ to ready the country for a potential land war. 

But Sanders, the outgoing Chief of the General Staff (CGS), said even that would be ‘not enough’ as he pointed to allies in eastern and northern Europe ‘laying the foundations for national mobilisation’.

The military top brass said increasing Army numbers in preparation for a potential conflict would need to be a ‘whole-of-nation undertaking’, meaning that men and women across the UK should be ready for a call-up to the armed forces. 

It comes after Defence Secretary Grant Shapps in a speech last week said the world is ‘moving from a post-war to pre-war world’ and the UK must ensure its ‘entire defence ecosystem is ready’ to defend its homeland.

But Downing Street ruled out any move towards a conscription model, saying that Army service would remain voluntary. 

Sir Patrick said on Wednesday Britain could not rely on its navy and air power, arguing ‘we must be able to credibly fight and win wars on land’.

He said: ‘We need an Army designed to expand rapidly to enable the first echelon, resource the second echelon and train and equip the citizen army that must follow.

‘Within the next three years, it must be credible to talk of a British Army of 120,000, folding in our reserve and strategic reserve. But this is not enough.

‘Our friends in eastern and northern Europe, who feel the proximity of the Russian threat more acutely, are already acting prudently, laying the foundations for national mobilisation.

‘As the chairman of the NATO military committee warned just last week, and as the Swedish government has done, preparing Sweden for entry to NATO, taking preparatory steps to enable placing our societies on a war footing when needed are now not merely desirable but essential.

‘We will not be immune and as the pre-war generation we must similarly prepare – and that is a whole-of-nation undertaking.

‘Ukraine brutally illustrates that regular armies start wars; citizen armies win them.’

He also made a pitch for more backing for the Army, saying those serving ‘rightly want the equipment that enables them to deliver lethal capability’.

Last week, a former chief of the general staff of the British Army said the UK risks a repeat of the 1930s unless more is invested in its armed forces.

General Lord Dannatt hit out at the shrinking size of the army, which he said has fallen from 102,000 in 2006 to 74,000 today and is still ‘falling fast’.

He drew parallels with the 1930s when the ‘woeful’ state of the UK’s armed forces failed to deter Adolf Hitler, saying there is ‘a serious danger of history repeating itself’.

It comes as NATO this week mobilised 90,000 troops in its largest military manoeuvre since the Cold War, with the war games aimed at deterring Putin from targeting a member country. 

The alliance announced the exercise would begin this week, with the months of drills aimed at showing the alliance can defend all of its territory up to its border with Russia. 

The exercises – dubbed ‘Steadfast Defender’ – will run until late May and involve units from all 31 NATO member countries plus candidate-member Sweden, NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe, US General Christopher Cavoli, said.

The exercises will involve 90,000 troops rehearsing how U.S. soldiers could reinforce European allies in countries bordering Russia and on the alliance’s eastern flank if a conflict were to flare up with a ‘near-peer’ adversary. 

The wargames are meant as a fresh show of strength from NATO and its commitment to defend all allied nations from attack.

‘The Alliance will demonstrate its ability to reinforce the Euro-Atlantic area by a transatlantic movement of forces from North America,’ Cavoli told reporters in Brussels after a two-day meeting of national chiefs of defence last week. 

The UK is sending 20,000 troops with the Royal Navy’s two new aircraft carriers, eight warships, as well as the RAF’s F-35 lightning attack aircraft, which will practice flying in imitated conflict scenarios.

In response, Russia said the NATO exercises mark an ‘irrevocable return’ of the alliance to Cold War Schemes. 

‘These exercises are another element of the hybrid war unleashed by the West against Russia,’ Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushk said on Sunday. 

‘An exercise of this scale… marks the final and irrevocable return of NATO to the Cold War schemes, when the military planning process, resources and infrastructure are being prepared for confrontation with Russia.’

How do we turn back the clock?

In yesterday's statement, the Bulletin of Atomic Sciences explained the steps Earth must take to turn back the Doomsday Clock.

They said: 'Everyone on Earth has a stake in reducing the risk of global catastrophe from nuclear weapons, climate change, advances in life sciences, disruptive technologies and the widespread corruption of the world's information ecosystem.

“These threats, individually and as they interact, are of such a nature and magnitude that no nation or leader can control them.”

The Bulletin called on Russia, the United States and China to work together in an effort to combat climate change, nuclear threats and disruptive technology such as AI.

They added: “At the highest level, these three countries must take responsibility for the existential danger the world now faces. They have the ability to pull the world back from the brink of catastrophe. They must do so, with clarity and courage, and without delay.”