⚡️ The French prime minister officially announced the adoption of a law raising the retirement age from 62 to 64.

Mark Sleboda, a Moscow-based international relations and security analyst, joined us to discuss the purpose of the US drone that went down off Russia's coast

🗣️”When the US says that this is routine operations, well, yes, it has been routine operations because the US has taken it upon themselves to regularly conduct these spy plane flights right off Russia's border and are actively feeding information and very, very likely actively directing these drone attacks on Russia,” he added

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

Silicon Valley Bank Was 'Canary in the Coal Mine' of Deepening Finance Crisis

The sudden share price slump at Switzerland's biggest private bank Credit Suisse has sent shockwaves through the global financial markets. Investigative journalist Dan Lazare, author of America's Undeclared War, argues that the crash was heralded by last week's collapse of the US Silicon Valley Bank.

Read more

📹 Combat action of airborne BMD-4M armored group and T-80 tank crews as part of the special military operation (video by Russian MoD)

▪️ The airborne reconnaissance unit, using the UAV, detected the UAF platoon strongpoint in the forest. The airborne assault unit, supported by the armored group of BMD-4M combat vehicles and T-80 tanks, was deployed to capture and destroy it.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

MQ-9 Drone Incident: Biden's Dangerous Escalation

A US surveillance drone crashed off the coast of Crimea after an encounter with a Russian fighter aircraft. What does this incident say about the current state of the war in Ukraine and where Russia and the US might go from here.

Read more

Macron Government Bypasses Parliament to Push Through Pension Age Hike

Within minutes before the final vote in France's lower house of parliament on the text of the reform, President Emmanuel Macron gathered ministers to decide whether the reform could be relied upon to receive a majority vote.

As a result of the meeting, the government decided to resort to Article 49.3 of the constitution, bypassing the legislature, Prime Minister Elizabeth Borne stated.

Read more

Mark Sleboda, a Moscow-based international relations and security analyst, joined us to speak about the detected US drone over Russia’s coast, as well as the US narrative on the situation

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

President Widodo Calls for Scrapping Visa, MasterCard to Help Indonesia 'Be Independent'

Indonesian President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has called for the country to scrap foreign payment networks, such as Visa and MasterCard, and instead using credit cards issued by domestic banks.

Indonesia, which is the world’s seventh largest economy in terms of GDP (PPP), launched a Domestic Government Credit Card payment system in March 2022.

Read more

❗️ A BNSF train derailed on the Swinomish Reservation in Washington, spilling around 5,000 gallons of diesel.

▪️ The train could contain up to 10,000 gallons of diesel. No injuries have been reported.

▪️ The ecology department and Marine Spill Response Corp. are responding to the scene to remove the locomotives and contain the spill. Most of the diesel leaked on land, and there is no reported impact to groundwater or waterways.

📍 A few hours earlier, a freight train loaded with hazardous substances derailed near the town of Topock in Mojave County, Arizona, US, media reported Thursday, citing local authorities.

Fifty-Five Years Since My Lai Massacre: How US Soldiers Freely Murdered Vietnamese Civilians

On March 16, 1968, a company of US soldiers committed an atrocity that became emblematic of the war the country waged in Vietnam, murdering over five hundred unarmed civilians in a village called Son My located in what was, at the time, South Vietnam.

Despite the fact that over 500 innocent Vietnamese, including women and children, were murdered by US troops, virtually all of the perpetrators got away scot free.

Read more

Buenos Aires Considers Buying Chinese-Pakistani F-17 Thunder Fighter Jet

Argentina could soon buy China's JF-17 "Thunder," an advanced fighter jet jointly developed with Pakistan and designed for export.

Argentina’s embassy in Beijing announced earlier this week that a group of defense officials led by Argentine Defense Minister Jorge Taiana had met with Argentine Ambassador to China Sabino Vaca Narvaja to promote cooperation with Beijing on defense.

Read more

UK Government Bans Chinese TikTok Social Media App From Official Phones

TikTok users hoping to see British cabinet ministers and civil servants miming and dancing to pop songs in their Whitehall offices will be disappointed. Downing Street has banned the app on departmental mobile phones.

The British government has banned the Chinese-made social media app TikTok from officially-issued mobile devices. Cabinet Office Minister Oliver Dowden announced the ban "with immediate effect" in Parliament on Thursday.

Read more

🔺A coalition of countries is needed to counter US hegemony in the world, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said
🔺The times of the empires are over, Maduro claimed at the High-Level Dialogue between the Communist Party of China
🔺‘I'm telling you, he did it’: Seymour Hersh slams Biden as Nord Stream bomber

The Critical Hour will cover these and more stories! Tune in to Radio Sputnik at 6pm EST|3pm PST|11am CET via the website or app

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

Seoul, Tokyo Agree to Resume 'Shuttle Diplomacy' After Fence-Mending Summit

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida have agreed to resume "shuttle diplomacy" and take steps towards resolving a trade dispute after their fence-mending summit in Tokyo.

The South Korean president and his wife are scheduled to tour Japan on March 16-17, a trip that marks the first visit of a South Korean leader to the Land of the Rising Sun in 12 years.

Read more

'Our Banking System is Sound': Yellen Tells Congress 'Decisive' Actions Stabilized Financial Markets

While the Federal Reserve has raised interest rates in an attempt to quell historically high inflation, the aggressive rate hikes have also devalued bonds into which investors have sunk large quantities of capital, increasing uncertainty as to how much cash banks can actually produce on demand.

Less than a week after two of the country’s largest bank collapses in history, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told Congress the country’s banking system was not at risk.

Read more

📹 Combat training of upgraded BRM-1KM reconnaissance vehicles in the rear area of the special military operation (video courtesy of Russia's MoD)

▪️ The armored vehicles can engage targets at ranges of over 1,500 m using 30 mm automatic guns with 7.62-mm PKT coaxial machine guns. The operator works using a modern computerized fire control system.

🔎 The search for targets for further engagement is carried out with the help of a portable radar. The station makes it possible to detect moving enemy ground objects at a distance of more than 5 km, as well as to determine the coordinates and characteristics of the target.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Chancellor Scholz Claims Germany 'Independent' From Russian Fuel After 8 Months

According to the head of government, Berlin has successfully phased out Russian energy resources.

"In just eight months, we became independent from Russian gas, Russian oil and Russian coal. In just eight months we totally changed our energy supply with the help of new compounds and liquefied gas terminals. And nobody had to freeze," Olaf Scholz said during a Bundestag session

Read more