Bad Omens: Drought Alert Looms Over Italy as Venice Canals Run Dry

Gondolas, water taxis and ambulances are standing idle, tied up along some of Venice’s iconic canals because of severe low tide, with scientists sending out dire warnings.

We have all become accustomed to the sight of Italy’s famous tourist venue, the city of Venice, inundated, with visitors trudging through flooded St. Mark's square in wellies. But now there are worries that last July's drought - the worst in decades that prompted the government to declare a state of emergency in the north of Italy - will be repeated this summer.

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❗️Russia to keep complying with New START caps on number of nuclear carriers, exchange of information will continue - MoD

❗️LIVE NOW: Vladimir Putin meets China's top diplomat Wang Yi in Moscow
Join the live stream here or follow this link to Sputnik’s website

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

▪️The Russian Army continues its successful offensive in the Donetsk direction;

▪️Ukrainian losses in the Krasny Liman direction amounted to more than 135 servicemen;

▪️Russian troops eliminated over 40 servicemen in the Kupyansk direction;

▪️Ukrainian losses in the Donetsk direction amounted to 250 people killed and wounded;

▪️Russian air defenses destroyed nine HIMARS rockets and 10 UAVs;

▪️Russian forces destroyed a Ukrainian ammunition depot in the DPR;

▪️Russian troops eliminated up to 65 Ukrainian servicemen in the South Donetsk direction.

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⚡️ US Embassy in London reportedly evacuated, building cordoned off

📹 ▶️ First footage of the meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and the head of Chinese diplomacy Wang Yi

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Catch our Fault Lines show, where we provide updates and analysis on all the most vital stories! Here's our line-up for today:

🔺To kick things off, we’ll be discussing Biden's speech in Poland, as well as a potential Chinese peace plan
🔺Next, we’ll touch upon the Ohio disaster and its political implications
🔺Finally, we’ll speak about a gold case opened against the FBI

More trending stories coming your way! Tune in to Radio Sputnik at 7am EST|4am PST|1pm CET via the website or app!

📻Also in the United States at 105.5FM, 104.7FM, 102.9FM, 1390AM, 1140AM

❗️Key points of Russian President Putin’s speech during meeting with China's top diplomat Wang Yi:

▪️Cooperation between Russia and China is very important for stabilizing the international situation;

▪️Russian-Chinese relations are developing as planned, reaching new milestones;

▪️Trade turnover between Russia and China will reach $200 billion by 2024;

▪️President Putin conveys best wishes to Xi Jinping, says Russia looking forward to Chinese president's visit to Russia.

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❗️Moscow has provided security guarantees for Biden's visit to Kiev, otherwise it would not have taken place, says Russian diplomat

🗣️“Putin's suspending a Russian participation in the last remaining arms control treaty between our two nations. And anybody who doesn't understand how serious this is probably doesn't appreciate life”, Scott Ritter, a former UN weapons inspector speaking about the New START suspension

💬”We need to pray that the United States gets over its Ukraine fixation and gets into “How do we stop the world from dying in a nuclear holocaust to which we will be singularly responsible for initiating”, he added.

🎧Listen to more of Ritter’s analysis in our podcast The Critical Hour: Russia Suspends START Cooperation; Anti-War Rally in DC; China's Push for Peace

❗️Latest statements from Russia’s Foreign Ministry after Sergey Lavrov’s meeting with China’s top diplomat Wang Yi:

▪️Lavrov discussed Ukrainian crisis with Wang Yi, Moscow is grateful to Beijing for balanced approach to it;

▪️Russia welcomes China's readiness to play a positive role in settling the Ukrainian crisis;

▪️Russia and China have similar visions of resolving the pressing international issues.

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🇷🇺📹 "Right now a battle is taking place on our historical frontiers for our people": Highlight of Vladimir Putin's speech at Russia's Luzhniki Stadium during a Defender of the Fatherland Day event

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Scott Ritter, a former UN weapons inspector discussing the New START suspension, talks about the reasons for and the meaning of the New START suspension:

💬“We withdrew from Open skies, and now we're cheating on the last remaining treaty, new START. We're not allowing Russian inspectors to come and inspect us while demanding that we go inspect Russia. And so the Russians have suspended this. This is all a power play by the United States to further what we believe to be our strategic advantage over Russia. The problem is Russia is no longer a defeated, compliant state. The Russians have nuclear superiority over us today. Their missiles are better than anything we have. We don't have a missile defense system worthy of the name. And so if there was a nuclear conflict, we would be annihilated.”

🎧Listen to more of Ritter’s analysis in our podcast The Critical Hour: Russia Suspends START Cooperation; Anti-War Rally in DC; China's Push for Peace

❗️Joe Biden calls Vladimir Putin’s decision to suspend participation in the New START Treaty a "big mistake."

On February 21, Vladimir Putin said that the growing calls from the US and NATO to allow on-the-ground inspections of Russian nuclear sites are absurd, because NATO specialists modernized and armed drones that were used by Ukraine to attack the Engels Air Base, home to part of the airborne contingent of Russia's nuclear triad. "And now they want to inspect our defense facilities. In the current conditions and today's confrontation, this simply sounds like some kind of nonsense," he added.

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❗️Latest statements of China’s Wang Yi after meetings with Russian FM Lavrov and Vladimir Putin:

▪️Relations between Russia and China are not directed against third parties, they do not tolerate interference and will not accept threats;

▪️China and Russia are ready to play a constructive role to promote peace and development worldwide;

▪️China is ready to deepen mutual political trust and strategic coordination with Russia, and protect the legal interests of the two countries.

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🇮🇹 Former Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi has slammed Volodymyr Zelensky’s claim about Berlusconi not having lived through bombardments and blackouts, Italian media reports.

"What does [Zelensky] know about me? He does not know anything! I survived bombings as a child," Berlusconi said.

A week earlier, the former Italian PM harshly criticized Zelensky, saying all the Ukrainian president had to do was stop attacking Donbass to prevent the devastating conflict. In response, the Ukrainian president clapped back by claiming that Berlusconi had never had to live through bombings. However, Berlusconi was born in 1936 and as a child saw the bombing of Milan during World War II.

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Independent investigative journalist Christopher Helali joins us to discuss Vladimir Putin's Federal Assembly address

💬“Russia always tries to awaken people who are listening to the speeches to kind of take a closer look in the mirror and to see what's going on on their side,” he added

🎧Listen to more of Helali’s analysis in our podcast Political Misfits: Dueling Ukraine Speeches, High Prison Deaths, SCOTUS on Section 230

Seymour Hersh: US, Norway Have Cooperated on Clandestine Operations Since Vietnam War

The US investigative journalist said that Norway invested in developing large armed boats to defend its 1,400 miles of Atlantic coastline after World War II, which were more powerful than US boats. Norway subsequently used these boats to assist the CIA to pressure North Vietnam's leadership during the Vietnam War.

Hersh said that Norway stayed quiet all along about its assistance to the US and even went on to sell 18 more of their boats to the US Navy. Citing a US intelligence source, Hersh said that the first batch of such boats used in the CIA’s “secret war within a secret war” against North Vietnam numbered six and landed in early 1964 at a naval base in Danang.

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Bryce Greene, a contributor to Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, joins us to discuss the media blackout on Seymour Hersh’s reporting on US involvement in the Nord Stream pipeline sabotage

🎧Listen to more of Greene’s views in our podcast By Any Means Necessary: Biden Sends More Money to Ukraine While Environmental Crisis Unfolds