🚢 🇷🇺 🌍 The first ship carrying Russian fertilizers blocked in European ports will leave for Africa from the Netherlands on November 21, Secretary-General of United Nations Conference on Trade and Development Rebeca Grynspan announced

The first country to receive Russian fertilizers will be Malawi, which will get it via Mozambique.

The UNCTAD head stated that shipments of these fertilizers would soon be expanded to other African nations in need, adding that there were over 300,000 tons of fertilizers blocked in EU ports.

👉 West Africa is next in line to receive Russian fertilizers, according to Grynspan.

The grain deal, originally scheduled to expire on November 19, was renewed for another 120 days on Wednesday. It is part of a UN- and Turkey-brokered package agreement that unblocks exports of Ukrainian and Russian grain and fertilizers via the Black Sea.

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‼️ US AG Merrick Garland has appointed career prosector Jack Smith as special counsel to oversee investigations into the January 6 events and the storage of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago

Garland noted during a Friday presser that the appointment was made in light of former US President Donald Trump's decision to run in the 2024 election, as well as US President Joe Biden's "intention to be a candidate."

Biden has yet to officially declare his bid for the next presidential cycle.

"I have concluded it's in the public interest to appoint a special counsel," Garland declared. "I am confident that this appointment will not slow the completion of these investigations."

Smith previously served as an acting US attorney in Tennessee and public integrity chief with the Justice Department. Since 2018, he served as a Hague war crimes prosecutor.

🇦🇫 The Pentagon has struggled for years with accurately accounting for the equipment it provided to Afghanistan and the ANDSF, according to a new report.

💭 The report states that the US Department of Defense “did not meet its own oversight requirements for sensitive equipment transferred to the Afghan government and ANDSF, and had not inventoried 60% of defense articles with enhanced monitoring requirements - those containing sensitive technology - between May 2019 and April 2020 due to security constraints and travel limitations.”

🤷‍♂️ In other words, the US government doesn’t really know which equipment, or how much of it, was left behind in Afghanistan, but it was at least $7.1 billion worth.

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👀Trump Responds to Garland's Special Counsel Appointment, Vows He 'Won't Partake'

Shortly after news broke on the development, Trump slammed Garland's decision, stressing he would not "partake" in the "unfair" twin probes.

"I have been going through this for six years — for six years I have been going through this, and I am not going to go through it anymore," Trump said in an exclusive Fox News Digital interview. "And I hope the Republicans have the courage to fight this."

"It is not even believable that they’re allowed to do this. This is the worst politicization of justice in our country."

Check out the full story!

‼️Explosions reported in Ukraine-controlled Zaporozhye

👫 The force of human superstition coupled with the desire to spice up one’s sex life has put sea turtles inhabiting a Panama peninsula on the brink of extinction.

🐢 Eggs of the species, marked as “vulnerable” on the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, are being illegally harvested.

Convinced that the eggs possess powerful aphrodisiac qualities, poachers snatch them up straight from the beach to sell in town. One egg could go for anything from 75 cents to a dollar.

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‼️Founder Elizabeth Holmes sentenced to 11 years in prison for Theranos fraud

A jury convicted Holmes in January on four charges that she had misrepresented the firm's finances, business endeavors and technology to investors

🇰🇵 Why has North Korea ramped up its ballistic missile testing so dramatically this year, and what sort of message does Pyongyang hope to send to Seoul and its allies from across the sea? When did the country begin its nuclear and missile research, and why does it want the bomb so badly?

👉 Click for some answers.

📹 The Russian MoD has shared footage showing Su-35S jets in action.

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🤯 The latest figure to speak out against the proposed price cap is former US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, who said on Friday that the idea was “not only not feasible, I think it’s the most ridiculous idea I’ve ever heard.”

💬 “I think the problem now is that there’s limited options ... there’s parts of the world that are now buying Russian oil outside of US sanctions,” he said. “But look, a price cap, the market is going to set the price. So if you put sanctions on at higher prices, in a way you’re just making the situation worse, in my opinion.”

▪️The US boycott has helped push up the price of oil and gas around the globe, which has had the opposite of its intended effect, buttressing Russian profits as Moscow shifts from Europe to new buyers in Asia instead of losing out on sales altogether. The price cap is seen as an attempt to undermine this new advantage and at the same time bring down prices worldwide, which are helping to drive record-high inflation.

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Dramatic footage has surfaced showing the moment in which a fire truck collided with a LATAM flight in Lima, Peru, on Friday.

A statement released by the airline indicated there had been no fatalities among the boarded passengers and flight staff; however, it was later confirmed by the company that the two individuals who were inside the crashed vehicle were killed.

Read the full story to get all the details!

🇨🇳 The news that China may hold a third Belt and Road Forum is important, as the ambitious, gargantuan infrastructure program has proven its worth in a time of crisis, a scholar has explained to Sputnik.

💭 “I think that the ‘One Belt, One Road’ initiative will aid to the building of bridges between Asia and the rest of the world. For example, the results of the initiatives have recently been reflected in relations between China and the European Union. After the Russia-Ukraine conflict broke out, some European countries became prejudiced toward China, with Sino-European relations hitting their worst-ever level in March. However, German Chancellor [Olaf] Scholz recently visited China and urged [Europe] not to separate from China, and French President Emmanuel Macron has also announced plans to visit China,” the scholar explained.

👉 FULL ARTICLE HERE

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😁 Elon Musk has trolled prominent critics of his new Twitter business practices.

Earlier this week, Musk came under fire for asking Twitter employees to commit to an "extremely hardcore" work ethic for the sake of the company or be forced to exit with three months' severance.

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📹 The Russian MoD has shared footage showing the training of mobilized servicemen at Western Military District facilities in the rear area of the special military operation.

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