📹 An eerie black ring was spotted in the sky over Vietnam, a viral video on social media shows.

While the ring is spooky in appearance, it has a trivial explanation. Scientists say such black rings can appear when there is a blast through a circular structure, like a smokestack.

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The Russian Foreign Ministry's official spokesperson is asking London to comment on a mysterious 'It's done' text message allegedly sent by former Prime Minister Liz Truss to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken moments after the coordinated sabotage attack against the Nord Stream pipeline network in late September.

The 'It's done' SMS was reportedly among a trove of information obtained by a mystery group who hacked Truss' iPhone using a back door in Apple's iCloud architecture

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⚡️ Erdogan and Putin have discussed the situation around the grain deal over the phone

🇷🇺🌍 The first batch of fertilizers that Russia donates to Africa free of charge to be sent to the African continent the first week of November, said Secretary General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Rebecca Greenspan

💬 “Concrete actions bring certain results, especially with regard to fertilizers that are currently stored in ports and warehouses of European ports. These fertilizers are provided free of charge by Uralchem for humanitarian needs in Africa, Southeast Asia and Latin America with the direct participation of the World Food program. We expect the first batch of fertilizers to go to Africa in the first week of November," Greenspan said at a meeting of the UN Security Council.

▪️Russia temporary suspended its participation in the grain deal following the UK-backed Kiev's terrorist attack on Russia's Black Sea Fleet and civilian ships in Sevastopol waters on Saturday.

▪️On Monday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated that Russia is willing to compensate for undeliverable grain supplies to Africa's poorest nations at its own expense

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⚡️ Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu spoke by phone with Turkish counterpart Hulusi Akar. They discussed the situation related to the grain deal

⚡️ Ukraine must provide guarantees not to use the humanitarian corridor in the Black Sea for military purposes – Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs

🔴🔵 The Democrats have failed to impress their prospective voters, with Republicans gaining a boost in support just ahead of the midterm elections, a new poll has found.

As pessimism about the economy and the direction of the country jump to their highest levels of the year, now 46% of likely voters will vote for a Republican, while 44% would vote for a Democrat.

The shift in preferences is attributed to growing concerns about the economy and the direction of the country, with only 19% saying the economy is headed in the right direction, while 71% say the economy is on the wrong track.

The poll also showed a lack of confidence in Biden’s economic leadership, with only 27% saying his policies had a positive impact on the economy. The leadership of the current US president is in low regard, with 55% of voters disapproving of his overall job performance, compared to 43% who approve.

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🌍🐘 The Africa’s oldest elephant female Tusker Dida died at the age of 65

▪️The elephant lived in the vast Tsavo National Park in southeastern Kenya, known for its flora and fauna.

▪️Dida's death comes almost a month after the death of another famous elephant from the Samburu Game Reserve, an arid stretch in northern Kenya that is facing one of the worst droughts in 40 years

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❗️Latest statements from the Kremlin press service:

▪️Putin and Erdogan have held a detailed exchange of views on the current situation with the implementation of the grain deal;

▪️Putin informed Erdogan of the reasons for Russia's decision to suspend the deal;

▪️A detailed investigation of the Ukrainian attack on ships in Sevastopol is necessary;

▪️Putin stressed that Kiev used the grain corridor to strike ships that ensured the route’s safety;

▪️Putin stated that Ukraine must provide guarantees not to use the humanitarian corridor in the Black Sea for military purposes.

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⚡️ Suspension of movement through Black Sea on November 2 is temporary and extraordinary measure - UN

⚡️ Russian FM Lavrov and his Turkish counterpart Cavusoglu have discussed the situation around the grain deal over the phone — Turkish MFA

🇰🇵 North Korea has issued a warning to the US and South Korea amid largest-ever joint drills.

"If the US continuously persists in the grave military provocations, the DPRK will take into account more powerful follow-up measures," North Korea’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

On Monday, Washington and Seoul started five-day-long joint aerial drills, named Vigilant Storm, involving over 240 warplanes conducting 1,600 sorties, according to US military officials.

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⚡️ Russian FM Lavrov and his Turkish counterpart Cavusoglu reaffirm the need to obtain guarantees not to use humanitarian maritime corridors for military purposes - Russian MFA

💬 "Ever since the Obama administration, the US has had a policy what's called the pivot to Asia. You know, instead of hunting terrorists and blowing up weddings in the Middle East, we're going to focus on building up our defenses against a rising China. It's pretty ridiculous, because they're acting like China is a threat to us. Meanwhile, if you look at a map of all the US military bases, they surround China and they surround Russia. And so Taiwan, which is dominated by interests that are similar to US capitalist interests that's been used as a lever, so to speak, to try and poke at China, to try and give it to extend itself in a way that the US could react to and then frame itself as the protectors the same way they did with Ukraine and Russia," says Bryce Greene, a contributor to Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting.

🎧 Listen to more of Bryce's analysis in our podcast Lula's Win in Brazil Continues a Tremendous Regional Shift to The Left

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❗️Elon Musk has confirmed that the new price of Twitter Blue will be $8 per month in the US.

He also announced changes to the premium service, saying that “Twitter’s current lords & peasants system for who has or doesn’t have a blue checkmark is bullsh*t.”

Among the new features for Twitter Blue are:

🔹Priority in replies, mentions, and searches, which is “essential to defeat spam/scam”;
🔹Ability to post long videos and audio;
🔹Half as many ads;
🔹And a “paywall bypass for publishers willing to work with us.”

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🇺🇸 Americans are set to go to the polls next Tuesday for the midterm elections - a national vote which will see the election of the entire House of Representatives, a third of the Senate, dozens of governors, and thousands of judges, state legislatures and other officials. The 2022 midterms are shaping up to be the most consequential in decades.

👉 Here's why.