Israeli Hacker Group Reportedly Carried Out Election Interference Ops in More Than 30 Countries

A team of contractors were recently discovered to be behind more than 30 election interference operations that were carried out for more than 20 countries, it was recently revealed by a group of journalists.

Some of the interference operations were carried out in Britain, the US, Canada, Germany, Switzerland and Mexico, among other nations.

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Russia Will Not Allow Silencing Issue of Nord Stream Explosions: Embassy in US

"The Russian side will not allow to simply turn the page on blowing up the critical energy infrastructure. Especially given the fact that nothing is known about the several remaining explosives, apparently located on the bottom of the sea," the Russian embassy in the US said on Thursday.

Embassy spokesman Igor Girenko added that Moscow qualified the incident as "an act of international terrorism" that requires a "comprehensive and independent investigation."

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Chinese Balloon Downed by US Air Force Reportedly Aimed For Guam & Hawaii, But Was Blown Off Course

The Chinese balloon brought down by a US Air Force F-22 fighter jet over American territorial waters off the coast of South Carolina on February 4 had been on a flight trajectory taking it over Guam and Hawaii, according to US media reports.

However, strong winds from a cold front had factored in, and blew the alleged spy balloon way off course, across Alaska's Aleutian Islands, Canada and, subsequently, the central United States, said a US official cited by the media.

Thus, US analysts are believed to be considering the possibility that the errant craft's flight over American territory might not have been intentional.

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❗️ Turkiye's earthquake death toll has risen to 36,187 with 108,068 injured, the country's Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) says

Sweden's Top Cop Has 'No Explanation' Why Country Is Overrun With Crime

As once-peaceful Sweden is grappling with a major crime wave that includes murder, gun violence and bombings, at a level unwitnessed by its peers and neighbors, the country's police chief Anders Thornberg admitted that "this is a society we don't want".

According to the Nordic country's top cop, the reason for such a drastic decline is impossible o fathom. Nevertheless, he cautiously admitted that "there are those who claim" that immigration could have a hand in the game.

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🇨🇳 It is necessary to conduct an impartial investigation into the Nord Stream explosions and bring those responsible to justice, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said on Thursday.

▪️ The Nord Stream gas pipelines are an important transnational infrastructure, and their bombing has raised international concern regarding the security of transnational infrastructure in large countries, the diplomat said.

🗣 "It is imperative to conduct an objective, impartial and professional investigation into this incident with explosions and bring [those responsible] to justice," Wang told reporters.

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🇻🇦 Pope Francis takes 🇷🇺Russian Far Eastern Leopard as 'ward', names it after Argentine literary character

🐆 The big cat, living in the Russian protected area “Land of the Leopard”, was named after Martin Fierro, the protagonist in a poem by Argentine writer José Hernández.

💭“To be honest, I smile at the thought of being one of the 'defenders' of the leopard. I saw a leopard in the photo - it’s beautiful,” Francis wrote in a letter to Russia.

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🇹🇷 💥 An explosion interrupted a visit by the head of Turkiye's Ministry of Health to areas devastated by the earthquake just as he was talking to doctors.

▪️ Turkish media report that the minister and his companions weren't severely injured and their lives are not at risk. The cause of the explosion has not yet been identified.

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📹 Russian 152mm D-20 howitzers eliminated a Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance boat approaching the left bank of the Dnepr River

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❗️Russian’s MoD briefing on the progress of the special military operation in Ukraine:

▪️Russian forces destroyed up to 65 Ukrainian military personnel near Kupyansk (Kharkov region);

▪️The Russian military destroyed up to 135 Ukrainian military personnel during the offensive in the Donetsk direction;

▪️Russian troops destroyed a depot with ammunition for the 54th Mechanized Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the area of Verkhnekamenskoye in the DPR;

▪️The Russian military struck four ammunition depots of Ukrainian defense brigades near Kherson;

▪️Russian troops destroyed over 100 military personnel near Krasny Liman (DPR);

▪️Russian air defense systems destroyed 20 Ukrainian drones and four US-made HIMARS rockets;

▪️Over 55 Ukrainian military personnel were destroyed by Russian troops in the Donetsk direction and in the Zaporozhye region;

▪️The Russian military struck the command posts of three Ukrainian brigades in the DPR;

▪️The Russian military destroyed a fuel and lubricant storage for Ukrainian military equipment in the Poltava area.

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🇨🇳 China is ready to work with the international community to find a political solution and end the conflict in Ukraine as soon as possible, China's Central Foreign Affairs Office Director Wang Yi said at a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron.

Wang stressed that China firmly adheres to an objective and fair position on the Ukrainian issue, and always strives to contribute to reconciliation and peace talks.

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❗️Moscow expels four employees of Austrian Embassy in tit-for-tat move, Russia's Foreign Ministry says

🇨🇳🇺🇸 China sanctions US' Lockheed Martin, Raytheon over arms sales to Taiwan, the Chinese Commerce Ministry said.

The US firms are now prohibited from carrying out import and export activities with Beijing, and investing in the Chinese economy, with their senior staff barred from entering China and employees no longer eligible to live and work in the country, the ministry added.

Beijing explained its decision as the need to protect China's national sovereignty and security, which it considers undermined by supplies of weapons to Taiwan. China also fined the defense companies the sum that double the amount of contracts on arms sales to the island.

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🇺🇸 US names new al-Qaeda* leader

▪️ Saif al-Adel, a former Egyptian special forces lieutenant-colonel and close affiliate of Osama bin Laden is al-Qaeda's "new de facto leader", according to a US State Department statement.

▪️ The statement follows the UN's Tuesday report which also identified Saif al-Adel as the new leader of the terrorist organization.

▪️ Since the former al-Qaeda leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, was reportedly killed in August 2022, there has been no formal announcement from the group about the new leadership.

💬 “But in discussions in November and December many UN member states took the view that Saif al-Adel is already operating as the de facto and uncontested leader of the group,” the report said.

*A terrorist organization banned in Russia and many other countries

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The US is reviewing its weapons stockpiles and may have to increase military spending after seeing the high rate at which ammunition has been used in the Ukraine conflict, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley told media.

"One of the lessons of this war is the very high consumption rates of conventional munitions, and we are re-examining our own stockages and our own plans to make sure that we got it right," Milley said. Ammunition is "very expensive," the top general noted.

"We’re trying to do the analysis so that we can then estimate what we think the true requirement would be. And then we have to put that in the budget," he added. Milley also reaffirmed his belief that the conflict would end at the negotiating table, with neither side likely to achieve their military aims.

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⚡️ 101 POWs were returned to Russia as a result of a prisoner swap with Ukraine, the Russian MoD says