🇺🇸 Joe Biden and the Democrats have gone all in on Ukraine, sending tens of billions of dollars in military and economic assistance to the country since February.

What has US aid cost the US president and his party politically, and is it sustainable post-midterms?

👉 Click here for some possible answers.

‘Drag on Our Ticket’: Ex-Rep. Paul Ryan Disses Trump After Midterm ‘Red Wave’ Fails to Materialize

Former US House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) blamed former US President Donald Trump for Republicans’ lackluster performance in the midterm elections earlier this week.

"I think we're going to have to do a lot of soul searching and head scratching, looking through and parsing the numbers as to why we didn't perform as well as we would have liked to," Ryan told local news outlet WISN on Thursday, adding that US Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) “got reelected, I'm very happy to see that. It was a mixed blessing night, but we should have done better than we did."

"I think Trump's kind of a drag on our ticket,” Ryan explained. “I think Donald Trump gives us problems, politically. We lost the House, the Senate and the White House in two years when Trump was on the ballot, or in office. I think we just have some Trump hangover. I think he's a drag on our office, on our races."

NASA Launches ‘Inflatable Saucer’ That Could Bring Humans to Mars

NASA has launched an inflatable saucer that acts as a heat shield, potentially allowing far larger payloads to be landed on Mars and other space objects with a significant atmosphere.

In addition to testing the new heat shield, NASA also included a weather satellite on the Atlas V rocket they launched at 1:49 a.m. local time on Thursday. For the first hour or so, the LOFTID team had little to do as the weather satellite’s mission took place first. After detaching from the satellite, the rocket turned on its side, pointing the inflatable heat shield at Earth before deploying.

📹 The Russian MoD has shared footage showing a Russian mortar crew in action

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Follow our LIVE UPDATES on the Ukrainian crisis

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🇺🇳 The UN is worried about Elon Musk's promise that he would turn social network Twitter into a "haven for freedom of speech". Melissa Fleming, UN Under-Secretary-General for Global Communications, wonders what this promise from Musk might mean "in the age of disinformation".

Fleming noted that social media algorithms are designed to stimulate interaction and put profit above politeness when they distribute provocative materials. She added that the UN will not leave Twitter, but is going to fight "disinformation" even more resolutely and be a source of "trusted, life-saving information"

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Watch: Russia’s 2S3 Akatsiya self-propelled 152mm howitzers in combat action

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Watch: A Russian Lancet kamikaze drone eliminates a Ukrainian howitzer in the area of the special operation

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❄️ The Biden administration has been warned that growing resentment over the cost-of-living crisis - which is increasingly being linked to Washington's sanctions policy towards Moscow - may prompt some EU leaders to withdraw their support for the ongoing sanctions pressure on Russia, according to internal memoranda and reports quoted by US media.

Read our article and discover all the other ways Europe has been affected by the energy crisis and whether the continent is headed for a harsh winter

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⚡️Putin doesn't plan attending or addressing participants of G20, APEC summits via video conference, the Kremlin says

⚡️The Kherson region is part of Russia, this status is fixed, and there can be no changes to it - Kremlin.

⚡️Putin's non-participation in G20 and APEC summits connected to his schedule and the need to stay in Russia - Kremlin

❗️Moscow does not see changes in Kiev's position on negotiations with Russia, Ukraine still does not want negotiations - Kremlin.

Kremlin does not consider partial withdrawal of Russian troops from Kherson humiliating.

❗️The latest statements from the Kremlin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov:

▪️The Kherson region is a part of Russia, this status is fixed, and there can be no changes to it;

▪️The goals of the special military operation in Ukraine could have been achieved through peaceful negotiations, which is now impossible because of Kiev's actions;

▪️On the US decision to strip Russia of its classification as a “market economy”: Pressure on Russia will not help to stabilize the global market;

▪️On Biden's remarks about US being ready for prisoner swap talks: megaphone diplomacy undermines the effectiveness of the process.

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🎬 US rapper 50 Cent has said that he will produce a TV show about the life of infamous Nigerian scammer and Instagram celebrity Hushpuppi, who is currently imprisoned

💬 "For my scammers I gotta do this one, Hushpuppy series coming soon !" he said in an Instagram post.

50 Cent is a prominent TV show-maker, having produced the drama series Power, which initially debuted in 2014.

⛓ Ramon Abbas, known as Hushpuppi online, is serving an 11-year sentence in a US prison for his participation in a global fraud ring. He was also well-known on Instagram, where he boasted to his 2.8Mln followers about his enormous wealth before being detained in 2020 in Dubai, when his accounts were suspended.

Tell us in the comments, what African story/personality/event would you choose for a film?

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⚡️ Transfer of all Russian military in Kherson area to left bank of Dnepr river completed at 05:00 a.m. Moscow time on Friday - Russian Defense Ministry

⚡️The European commission significantly increased the forecasts of inflation in the EU for the current year - to 9.3% from 8.3%, next year - to 7% from 4.6% - release. It also expects that the EU economy will be in recession in the last quarter of this year

‼️ Discussing food security with the President of the Central African Republic, Russia's President Vladimir Putin confirmed that Moscow is ready to provide Africa with agricultural products and fertilizers, the Kremlin's spokesman said.

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❗️The latest statements from Russia's MoD on the military redeployment to the left bank of the Dnepr River in the Kherson area:

▪️There have been no losses of personnel, weapons, or military equipment during the transfer process to report;

▪️All civilians willing to leave the right bank of the Dnepr are receiving evacuation assistance;

▪️Russian troops are manning designated defense positions;

▪️The Ukrainian Army tried to disrupt the transportation of civilians and troops during the night, launching five HIMARS missiles;

▪️Russian artillery and army aviation stopped a Ukrainian military advance 30 to 40 km from the area of the river crossing;

▪️More than 20 Ukrainian servicemen were killed while trying to cross a minefield to disrupt the river crossing.

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The European Commission identifies the causes of the recession:

▪️Exceptional degree of uncertainty;

▪️High energy price pressures;

▪️Erosion of households' purchasing power;

▪️A weaker external environment;

▪️ Tighter financing conditions are expected to tip the EU

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