Flipping Middle Finger the 'God-Given' Right of Every 'Red-Blooded Canadian', Judge Rules

Flipping the finger at someone in a fit of pique "is not a crime", though hardly polite, a Canadian judge has ruled, according to local media.

His judgement was delivered as he dismissed a criminal harassment case against a man in a Montreal suburb.

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⬇️ The price of Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency, dropped 8.07% and was trading at $19,970 on the Binance cryptocurrency exchange, trading data showed on Friday.

▪️ According to the CoinMarketCap portal, which calculates the average price across more than 20 exchanges, Bitcoin's value was down by 7.94%, staying below the level of $20,010.

▪️ Bitcoin has gained 20% of value since late December, when it was trading around $16,500.

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Fat Chance: Sweden's Obesity Hits Max as Half of Population Tackles Excess Weight

In recent decades, the share of overweight Swedes has soared dramatically, a new study by the nation's Public Health Agency has discovered.

Today, generally, 51% of adult Swedes are either overweight or obese, a phenomenon most prominent among younger adults. Experts views this as a worrying trend, since excessive weight at a young age tends to persist in later life.

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📹 Tor-M2U surface-to-air missile system in action in special military operation (video by Russian MoD)

Tor anti-aircraft missile system “scans” the sky and when any air target enters the area of responsibility without responding to the friend-or-foe request, they take it under escort and are ready to strike the target.

The radar scans the sky 360 degrees and covers a distance of more than 30 kilometers. The Tor SAM system can engage four targets simultaneously or fire four missiles at a time.

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❗️Latest statements by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov:

▪️On calls in Kiev for dialogue with Russia: Despite the flow of hatred, there are people with sober approaches to future relations in Ukraine;

▪️On the situation in Georgia: Someone is trying to add anti-Russian elements; Moscow is carefully following the provocations;

▪️The “foreign agents” bill in Georgia has nothing to do with Russia, the Georgian authorities themselves initiated rules similar ones in the US.

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⚡️Russian deputy FM: responsibility for Nord Stream blasts lies with US, media leaks a distraction

UK's Sunak to Announce Billions in New Funding for Nuclear Deterrence Next Week, Reports Say

The prime minister of the United Kingdom, Rishi Sunak, is expected to reveal plans to allocate up to £5 billion (approximately $5.9 billion) in extra funding towards strengthening the country's nuclear deterrence program within the next two years.

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🇫🇷🇬🇧📹 French President Macron welcomes UK PM Sunak in Paris; leaders hug and pose for photo-op.

▪️ Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said today that Moscow was closely following the results of this meeting, which will cover nuclear issues, but he does not expect anything constructive to emerge.

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

▪️The Russian military has eliminated 400 Ukrainian planes since the beginning of special military operation;

▪️The Russian Army eliminated more than 120 Ukrainian servicemen in the Donetsk direction;

▪️The Russian Aerospace Forces shot down a Ukrainian Air Force Su-27 aircraft near Maryinka in DPR;

▪️Ukrainian losses in the Krasny Liman direction amounted to 120 Ukrainian personnel and four pieces of military equipment;

▪️In the South Donetsk and Zaporozhye directions, Russian forces destroyed over 50 Ukrainian servicemen;

▪️Russian missile troops and artillery destroyed a Ukrainian S-300 air defense missile system in the DPR;

▪️Russian troops neutralized 20 Ukrainian servicemen and a Gvozdika self-propelled howitzer in the Kherson direction;

▪️The Russian Army eliminated up to 40 Ukrainian servicemen in the Kupyansk direction;

▪️Russian air defenses intercepted nine HIMARS multiple-launch rocket system projectiles and seven Ukrainian UAVs.

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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 the latest developments in Ukraine as well as Biden’s budget proposals
🔺Next, we’ll touch upon Norfolk Southern giving evidence about their train crashes
🔺Finally, we’ll speak about Matt Taibbi's Thursday Twitter files hearing as well as the proposed TikTok ban in the US

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

🇹🇷🐱 A cat has been rescued in Gaziantep, Turkiye after being trapped under the rubble for 31 days following the devastating earthquakes that leveled buildings throughout southern Turkiye and northern Syria.

The cat, named Kiwi, lost most of its weight, going from 15 to 4 kg. Her owner said that losing the house and belongings worth roughly $80,000 now seems more manageable – the main thing is that a living creature was saved.

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⚡️US failed to deactivate biolabs in Ukraine before military op, despite American claims: Moscow

Can France & UK Reboot Rocky Post-Brexit Ties Over Pledge to Further Arm Ukraine?

The leaders of Western Europe’s two nuclear powers are also expected to discuss ensuring a "permanent presence of likeminded European partners" in the Asia-Pacific, "whose security is indivisible from that of Europe," the Downing Street statement issued ahead of the Paris summit said. This presupposes coordinating deployment of France’s Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier with the UK Royal Navy’s new carriers, such as the HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales.

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🐯WATCH: The inhabitant of the Moscow zoo tiger Stepan is already preparing himself for the weekend with the help of a relaxing massage💆

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The Russian Ministry of Defense says the Ministry of Health of one of the Central African states is studying the possibility of artificial spread of the Ebola virus in September 2022. The concern stems from the fact that the Sudan strain is completely identical to the virus that circulated in Africa during the 2012 epidemic. One theory is the negligent handling of the pathogen by US military biologists working in the region.

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The Russian Defense Ministry has added three representatives of Ukrainian state institutions and private companies the list of participants in US military biological programs.

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The US authorities contradict themselves in their statements regarding the work of US biological laboratories in Ukraine, the ministry says.

In his statement of 31 January 2023, U.S. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby confirmed the presence of US biolaboratories in Ukraine, while indicating that they had been abandoned by personnel and ‘...deactivated...’ before the special military operation was launched.

However, there are documents with reports on the continuation of the DTRA biological program in Ukraine and outlines the main objectives for the current period. These include further consolidation of collections of dangerous pathogens, as well as deployment of biorisk management and epidemiological monitoring systems.

Thus, under the pretext of reducing the risks of spreading infectious diseases, the Kiev regime continues to cooperate with the Pentagon in the military-biological sphere, including the transfer of pathogenic biomaterials.

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