Caleb Maupin joined us to speak about the US narrative of the Nord Stream explosions

🗣️“And I think that Sy Hersh's version of events has been widely accepted and this new version of events that they cannot even get the story straight about who exactly it was, but they were not tied to the Ukrainian government, but they were pro-Ukrainian. This is getting to be embarrassing almost,” he stated

🎧Listen to more of Maupin’s analysis in our podcast The Critical Hour

❗️ Ukraine has lost tens of thousands servicemen since the start of a military conflict with Russia over year ago, though Kiev still continues to deny lacking troops, Spanish newspaper reported on Monday.

▪️ Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk in her interview with the media outlet dismissed reports of a shortage of personnel in the country's armed forced.

▪️ On Thursday, the British news outlet reported that Ukraine was taking heavy losses in the battle for Artemovsk, adding that some Ukrainian servicemen had suggested it might be reasonable to retreat. US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin also said last week that it would not be an "operational or strategic setback", if the Ukrainian army withdrew from the city.

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📊 Dollar will not be the world's reserve currency in 25 years time, almost half of the respondents of a Gallup poll think. It was conducted among citizens of 64 countries worldwide, including Russia, India, Syria, the US, Nigeria and Indonesia.

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Caleb Maupin joined us to speak about growing tensions between China and the United States, as China gave the US a warning that there’s going to be conflict if Washington doesn't turn off the wrong path.

🎧Listen to more of Maupin’s analysis in our podcast The Critical Hour

📹🔥 Buddhist monks walk on fiery embers in thrilling traditional festival

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Biden Administration Approves Alaska Oil Drilling Project

The US Interior Department said on Monday that it is approving three out of five drill sites proposed by ConocoPhillips as part of its Willow Master Development Plan in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska.

"The Record of Decision denies two of the five drill site pads proposed by ConocoPhillips, reducing the project’s drill pads by 40%," the Interior Department said in a statement. "[The actions] significantly scale-back the Willow Project within the constraints of valid existing rights under decades-old leases issued by prior administrations."

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📹 Grad MLRS crews in combat action as part of the special military operation in Ukraine (video by Russian MoD)

The vehicles operate from a number of pre-arranged firing positions. The excellent training and cohesion of the crews allows them to strike and change position in less than ten minutes.

High accuracy of fire is ensured by unmanned aerial operators and forward artillery reconnaissance detachments that transmit target coordinates to the battery commander.

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🎶 A song featuring none other than Donald Trump, real estate mogul extraordinaire and 45th POTUS, shot up all the way to the top of the iTunes chart last weekend.

▪️ The song, noscriptd “Justice for All”, features Trump reciting the Oath of Allegiance while the so-called J6 Prison Choir – inmates who were imprisoned due to their involvement in the events that transpired at Capitol Hill on January 6, 2021 – sing the “Star-Spangled Banner,” the US national anthem.

▪️ The single ranked first on the iTunes Top 100 list on Saturday and managed to retain that position on Sunday, even though the song apparently did not appear on Spotify’s top 50 most streamed songs list.

🗣 “We basically broke the music industry is what we did here, because we put America First values back front and center,” former Trump administration official Kash Patel told one US media outlet. “And we said we’re going to use free speech platforms like Truth Social and Rumble, and then we’re going to debut a song that speaks to what’s on so many Americans’ minds.”

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Biden Fails to Quell Fears of SVB 'Contagion' With US Investors Hit Hard, Ex-Bank Gov. Says

The collapse of the Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) has prompted fears of contagion which persist despite US President Joe Biden's Monday assertion that the situation is under control, the former governor of the Central Bank of Cyprus and professor emeritus of the University of Leicester Panicos Demetriades told Sputnik.

US President Joe Biden delivered a speech on March 13 concerning the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank last week. The SVB became the second-largest bank failure in US history. But, according to the president, Americans should be confident that the banking system is safe.

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⚡️ Possible bomb fragment discovered 30 kilometers away from Nord Streams underlines urgent need to create UN commission on this incident, Russian Foreign Ministry said.

⚡️ Australia to receive three Virginia-class nuclear-powered attack submarines in early 2030 with possibility to buy two more, says Jack Sullivan, US national security advisor.

China Warns West Not to Cross Red Line on Taiwan

The Communist Party of China's strategy for resolving the Taiwan issue must be implemented and the One-China principle upheld, Chinese President Xi Jinping urged in his first speech since being elected for a third term on Monday.

Xi also underlined that the 1992 consensus between Beijing and Taipei must be maintained.

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Joe Biden: “The banking system is safe”

Meanwhile, the American banking system: 📉

BBC to 'Review' Political Impartiality Rules After Backdown Over Lineker Tweets

The BBC announced on Monday that Lineker would return to hosting its Saturday afternoon football show Match of the Day, after regular pundits Ian Wright and Alan Shearer boycotted the broadcast in support of the host.

BBC Director-General Tim Davie also said the corporation would commission an independent review onto its guidelines on social media use.

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