🇺🇸🌍 The US frames African issues as if it assumes “Africa is like one country,” Hermela Aregawi says

▪️She notes that if the US really was to “take the economic development needs of Africa seriously,” it could give the continent’s countries financial relief by reviewing its sanctions policy.

🗣“I mean, a third of the continent is under sanctions,” she adds.

▪️According to Aregawi, the US-Africa Leaders Summit “feels like an opportunity to talk high in the sky issues” and “probably not much will come out of it”

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🇷🇺🇮🇷 Moscow and Tehran are considering setting up joint ventures in Iran that would allow them to design and build airliners with 100 seats and fewer, Iranian Deputy Industry Minister Manouchehr Manteghi, Iranian media reported.

Manteghi said that talks were underway on the joint construction of Ka-226 utility helicopters in Iran and the construction of 100- to 150-seat civil aircraft by the Russian union of aircraft makers. Joint maintenance projects were also discussed.

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🔺 To kick things off, we are joined by Netfa Freeman to talk about the expectations of the US-Africa Leaders Summit taking place in Washington, DC
🔺 After that, George Koo joins us to discuss contrasting styles of diplomacy
🔺 And then Caleb Maupin will drop by to discuss why weapons of political destabilization do not work in Venezuela

All these, alongside other fascinating topics with Dr. Wilmer Leon and Garland Nixon! Tune in to Radio Sputnik at 6pm EST|3pm PST|12am CET via the website or app

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🇦🇷🇭🇷 Argentina advances to World Cup final after besting Croatia 3-0

From Neck-Breaking Ejection Seats to Frightening Lightning: F-35’s Top Ten Problems

Did you know that even as Lockheed Martin continues to pump out hundreds of F-35 multirole strike jets, the US Government Accountability Office still lists four major "Category 1" problems with the plane, and 822 lesser "Category 2" issues? It's true.

Read more about it here

👷 Stay safe, folks!

🤏 Members of NATO face “very” real” arms shortages due to the conflict in Ukraine, and the alliance is working with the military-industrial complex on filling these gaps, US Permanent Representative to NATO Julianne Smith said on Tuesday.

💬 “That effort is focused on declining stockpiles across the NATO alliance for a country like Estonia that has given an enormous amount of security assistance to Ukraine. They're facing some very real shortfalls, and they're not alone. We see that across the Alliance,” Smith said at in remarks at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Members of the alliance are discussing the issue among themselves and with representative of the defense industry, she added. “They meet with industry. They're also trying to look at things like multinational buys, pool purchases,” she said.

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📹 Footage of the combat use of the Su-35S jet in the special operation zone (video courtesy of Russia's MoD)

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US Lawmakers Introduce Bipartisan Legislation to Ban TikTok

The legislation is called the Averting the National Threat of Internet Surveillance, Oppressive Censorship and Influence, and Algorithmic Learning by the Chinese Communist Party Act (ANTI-SOCIAL CCP Act) and is expected to protect Americans by blocking and prohibiting all transactions from any social media company in China, Russia, among other countries.

The previous Trump administration attempted to ban TikTok as well as the Chinese media platform WeChat in 2020, allegedly in order to protect Americans’ privacy. The Biden administration did not continue to fight for the implementation of their predecessors' initiative and only recently resumed criticism of TikTok.

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After Good Inflation Report, Biden Says He ‘Hopes’ Prices to Return to Normal by ‘End of Next Year’

Biden’s comments come after the US Bureau of Labor Statistics published its consumer price index report for November, showing that prices had risen by 7.1% since a year prior. While still high, it’s still the smallest such increase since December 2021 - a sign that the Federal Reserve’s efforts to quash inflation are working.

Read more

‼️Air raid warning issued in Kiev - authorities

🇬🇧 UK PM Rishi Sunak vowed to stop illegal crossings of the English Channel

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👉 Follow our LIVE UPDATES on the Ukrainian crisis

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Foreign weapons supplied to Ukraine, including Javelin anti-tank systems, are being sold on the black market, most often to Africa, the acting head of the Donetsk People's Republic, Denis Pushilin, told Sputnik.

🗣 “I haven’t seen anything new lately, but the arms that continue to come to Ukraine can now be bought easily. And now Ukraine is becoming one of the main suppliers of weapons on the black market - on the darknet you can buy the weapons that are supplied to Ukraine as part of the assistance and support given by western countries," Pushilin said

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🇨🇩 At least 120 people have died in the Democratic Republic of the Congo's capital Kinshasa, as a result of floods and landslides brought on by torrential rain this week.

Houses and roads, notably the N1 highway that connects Kinshasa to the main sea port of Matadi, were ripped apart by sinkholes, and entire neighborhoods were inundated with murky water.

The city has become more susceptible to flash floods during heavy rains, which have increased in frequency because of climate change, as a result of poorly controlled fast urbanization of the capital which has ballooned to 15 million inhabitants.

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🇬🇧 The UK will allocate a new package of military assistance to Ukraine worth almost $62Mln, the country's Foreign Ministry said. The package will be sent to support air defense: Kiev will receive 125 anti-aircraft installations

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📹 A resident of Volnovakha told how his family of 10 people was forced to hide from Ukrainian shelling in the basement for 12 days almost without food or hot water

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❗️Latest statements by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov:

▪️On the possible supply of US Patriot systems to Ukraine: Moscow will wait for official information;

▪️If delivered to Ukraine, these systems will become a legitimate target for the Russian Armed Forces;

▪️Moscow will work out a claim for damages after Lithuania banned the transit of some goods sanctioned by the EU to Russia’s Kaliningrad in violation of the previously established transit agreement.

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