Norwegian Oil Giant Pockets Fivefold Profits, Accused of Profiteering

The state-owned company Petoro, which manages the government's directly owned shares in Norwegian oil and gas operations, released a fresh annual report, posting a colossal revenue of NOK 528 billion (nearly $50 billion), five times greater than the yearly average.

Countries ranging from Germany and Poland to Brussels itself, have lambasted Norway's oil behemoth for supposedly profiteering, as European nations labor under the twin burdens of a cost of living crisis driven by rocketing energy prices and inflation. Poland has even urged Norway to share its "excess, gigantic" profit with Ukraine, accusing Oslo of indirectly "preying" on the conflict - a thought shared by some guilt-ridden Norwegians.

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Shoigu Nominates Pilots Involved in MQ-9 Reaper Drone Intercept for State Awards

"Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation, General of the Army Sergei Shoigu has put forward for state awards the Su-27 jet pilots, who prevented an American MQ-9 drone from violating the boundaries of the area of temporary airspace use, established for the special military operation," the ministry said in a statement.

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❗️Moscow lambasts ICC arrest order against President Putin as null and void

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on Friday stressed that the court's ruling has no legal significance, dismissing it as completely meaningless.

"The decisions of the International Criminal Court have no significance for our country, including from a legal point of view," Zakharova said on Telegram.

"Russia is not a party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and has no obligations under it. Russia does not cooperate with this body, and possible "recipes" for arrest coming from the International Court of Justice will be legally null and void for us," she stressed.

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Margaret Kimberley, editor and senior columnist at Black Agenda Report and author of "Prejudential: Black America and the Presidents,” joined us to discuss the system of capitalism

🎧Listen to more of Kimberley analysis in our podcast The Critical Hour

Dmitry Medvedev has on social media illustrated the "significance" of the decision of the International Criminal Court.

US Silicon Valley Bank's Former Holding Company Says Filed for Bankruptcy Protection

First Republic Bank, a medium-size private lender, received a $30 billion cash infusion from a group of large US banks, including JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley, among others.

The move comes amid fears of a contagion effect after the recent collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank. First Republic's share price had plunged nearly 70 percent, leaving investors jittery that the lender might be next in line to face a bank run, and about 70 percent of its deposits are uninsured, which is the third highest after Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank.

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Independent journalist, researcher with CODEPINK, and author Nicolas Davies joined us to discuss the US attempts to hold its dominant position while China is gaining strength

🎧Listen to more of Davies’ analysis in our podcast Political Misfits

📹 Russian Giatsint-B 152mm towed howitzers in action in the special military operation

Artillerymen are working in the most difficult conditions every day. It takes only a few minutes to go from receiving a target assignment to destroying Ukrainian strongholds, hardware, and fortifications

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Don't Fear the Reaper

Russia and the US inched a step closer to a direct military clash on Tuesday after a pair of Russian jets took emergency measures to try to force a US Reaper drone flying in the direction of a no-fly zone off Crimea to change course.

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Sputnik explains

🇷🇺 Russia's President Vladimir Putin will address the participants of the Russia-Africa parliamentary conference on March 20

▪️According to presidential adviser Yuri Ushakov, the meeting is a preparatory event for the second Russia-Africa Summit which will be held in Saint Petersburg in July. He stressed that Putin will take part in the conference offline.

▪️More than 40 countries of the continent and over 200 African parliamentarians are expected to participate in the conference.

▪️Furthermore, approximately 100 different events will be held before the July forum, as well

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Kiji Noh, journalist and political analyst, joined us to discuss the AUKUS submarine deal between the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia, the role that Australia plays as ‘a US vassal,’ and the US strategy to build an Asia-Pacific NATO under the guise of its policy of ‘deterrence of China’s aggression'

🗣️“Let's make it clear, Australia has never had an independent foreign policy,” he added

🎧Listen to more of Noh’s analysis in our podcast Fault Lines

📹 Russian T-90M tank crews are intensively training to destroy NATO tanks in Ukraine - the American M1 Abrams, the German Leopard 2, and the British Challenger 2, the Defense Ministry said

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Recession, Insolvency, Derivative Risks: Why Looming US Crisis Could be Worse Than in 2008

According to analysts, when it comes to derivatives, the problem is that the amount of these loosely regulated speculative bets have reached hundreds of trillions of dollars, with around 90% of them being concentrated in four big American banks, namely J.P. Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Citibank, and Bank of America.

According to the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), the derivatives bubble may be as much as $600 trillion. If it bursts, this could throw the financial system into mayhem.

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📹 Russian paratroopers employ a Typhoon multipurpose armored vehicle during the special military operation

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Hunter Biden Countersues Computer Repair Shop Owner

Hunter Biden, the son of US President Joe Biden, has taken legal action against the owner of a computer repair shop in Delaware who shared information from his discarded laptop regarding alleged attempts to influence US elections and inappropriate business activities. Biden's legal action is in the form of a countersuit.

"Biden accused Mac Isaac and other persons of six counts of invasion of privacy, including conspiracy to obtain and distribute the private information ... the suit argues that the object of allegedly invading Biden’s privacy and disseminating his data was not for any legitimate purpose but to cause harm and embarrassment," the report said.

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YouTube Reinstates Trump's Account as Social Media Giants Retreat From Post-J6 Ban

"Starting today, the Donald J. Trump channel is no longer restricted and can upload new content. We carefully evaluated the continued risk of real-world violence, while balancing the chance for voters to hear equally from major national candidates in the run up to an election," YouTube said on its official press account on Twitter.

Trump's account on the video hosting site was banned on January 13, 2021, six days after clashes between his supporters and police at the US Capitol Building in Washington, DC.

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Finland's NATO Membership Not Complete Without Sweden: President

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan earlier announced the initiation of the ratification process for Finland's NATO application, which is expected to be finalized before Turkiye's presidential election in May.

"It is very good to hear this news ... The Turkish parliament starts to work with the ratification of Finnish membership ... But we have a neighbor, Sweden. What I now say is not only due to the fact that they are nice people and we have excellent relations with our neighbor. But I have a feeling that Finnish NATO membership is not complete without Sweden, we have so much common interest," Finnish President Sauli Niinistov said at a press conference with his Turkish counterpart in Ankara.

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❗️US support of the decision of the International Criminal Court to issue an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin is "reminiscent of sluggish schizophrenia," the Russian Embassy in the United States says.

💬 "Allowing unacceptable remarks about the Russian leader, the US authorities deliberately keep silent about their own atrocities in Iraq, Yugoslavia, Libya and Vietnam. Moreover, in an attempt to protect its citizens from international prosecution by all available means, the United States even takes odious measures. For example, unprecedented economic sanctions that were imposed on the leadership of the Court, including ex-Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, who initiated an investigation into US atrocities in Afghanistan. What independence and impartiality can we talk about?" the Russian embassy said commenting on the US reaction.

The embassy added that Washington supports the "unprecedented legal bacchanalia" unleashed by the ICC in order to protect its own geopolitical interests, despite the fact that neither the US, nor Russia, recognize the court's jurisdiction.

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MRO Probe Discovers Relict Salt Glacier Near Mars Equator, Study Reveals

"This region of Mars has a history of volcanic activity. And where some of the volcanic materials came in contact with glacier ice, chemical reactions would have taken place at the boundary between the two to form a hardened layer of sulfate salts," says Sourabh Shubham, co-author of the study. "This is the most likely explanation for the hydrated and hydroxylated sulfates we observe in this light-toned deposit."

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🌾 The Black Sea grain deal has been instrumental in bringing down global food prices and it needs to run at its full potential, Olof Skoog, Head of the Delegation of the European Union to the UN said.

Russian Ambassador to the UN Vassily Nebenzia said during the same meeting that if the US and the EU sincerely want the Black Sea Grain Initiative to be further extended, they have two months to lift the sanctions regime imposed on Russia’s agricultural sector.

The grain deal was brokered by the UN and Turkiye between Russia and Ukraine in July 2022 to facilitate exports of grain and fertilizer from Black Sea ports amid hostilities. It was renewed for 120 days in November 2022 and would be due to automatically renew for another 120 days on March 18 unless either of the signatories object. Russia said on Monday it did not mind extending the deal but only for 60 days, which was confirmed by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Friday.

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📹 A Russian Lancet kamikaze drone destroyed a Czech-made RM-70 MLRS in the Avdeevka direction, Russia's Defense Ministry said.

The ministry added that the Russian drone is in effect used to destroy the military equipment of the Ukrainian troops, such as artillery pieces, tanks, armored vehicles, and air defense systems.

Earlier this month, a well-placed source told Sputnik that Russia's Izdeliye-52 (Lancet) had been modernized based on the experience of using it during the special military operation in Ukraine. The basic version of the drone has been significantly upgraded and now has a more powerful warhead, a new optoelectronic guidance system and a control system with updated software.

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