Israeli arms exports set to break 2021 record of $11.4 bln

"The State of Israel reached an all-time record in 2021 defense exports amounting to $11.4 billion – doubling in less than a decade. We are currently gathering the data for 2022, and I can already say that last year's record is likely to be surpassed," Director General of the Israeli Defense Ministry Eyal Zamir told a conference at Israel's Reichman University.

Europe accounted for 41% of Israeli arms exports in 2021, followed by Asian and Pacific nations with 34%, and North America with 12%. Meanwhile, Arab countries that are signatories to the Abraham Accords — a series of joint agreements designed to normalize relations with Israel — accounted for 7% of the country's arms exports, followed by Africa and Latin America with 3% apiece.

Israel will continue developing conventional weapons, while focusing on research in artificial intelligence to become a global AI power, Zamir said.

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Three key goals Russia achieved by liberating Artemovsk

The northeastern Donetsk People’s Republic city of Artemovsk (also called Bakhmut) has been reduced to rubble, with entire districts leveled, and most of its 70,000 residents fleeing. Ukrainian forces left Artemovsk after 224 days of brutal house-to-house fighting.

The Russian military confirmed Sunday that operations by assault detachments supported by artillery and aviation of the Southern Group of Forces had led to the total liberation of the DPR city of Artemovsk. Alexei Leonkov, one of Russia’s top military observers, told Sputnik what this means tactically, strategically and politically.

Why is Artemovsk so important?

🇭🇺🇶🇦 Hungary signs gas purchase agreement with Qatar

💬 “Over the past year, we have learned that Qatar is a country of key importance for Europe. The European economy has made up for a significant part of the missing Russian gas with LNG coming from here... We agreed on energy cooperation, we will also buy gas from here - it is always better to stand on several legs than on one," Hungarian PM Viktor Orban said after talks with Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.

The Hungarian PM also said that after talks, the leaders of Hungary and Qatar also agreed to develop infrastructure and air traffic, cooperate in communications and agriculture, thus opening up a good prospect for Qatari-Hungarian economic cooperation.

Orban added that Qatar, like Hungary, is ready to mediate in a peaceful settlement in Ukraine.

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🔮 Kamala of the States, what is your wisdom?

👏 “Your smartphone without semiconductors is just a paperweight in your pocket”

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🇷🇺🇺🇸 US manipulates data published under New START treaty, Russian Foreign Ministry says

The information shared by the US State Department does not comply with the treaty's rules for counting, Russian Deputy FM Sergey Ryabkov said.

💬 "As for the attempts of Western countries to earn political points on information about the size of their nuclear potentials, then all this is frankly hypocritical ... The data on the size of the arsenals of the United Kingdom and France are not verifiable at all and are purely declarative," Ryabkov said in a statement.

Russia is transparent in nuclear matters and acts in a responsible manner, Ryabkov said, when asked about the G7 statement that claimed that only the Western nations are transparent when it comes to nuclear weapons.

💬 "Firstly, the declared figures are often fictitious or conditional. In particular, the US data on New START recently published by the US State Department continues to be misleading due to its inconsistency with the New START counting rules, which Washington is stubbornly trying to circumvent by unscrupulous manipulations," Ryabkov added.

He later emphasized that the West is trying to undermine China and Russia with their rhetoric on nuclear weapons.

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❗️Russia's MoD and law enforcement agencies continue security sweep to crush Ukrainian sabotage group in Belgorod

The governor of Russia's Belgorod region said that there have been no civilian deaths and that security forces are carrying out all necessary actions throughout the region's Grayvoron district. He added that two were injured as a result of an attack by the Ukrainian sabotage group.

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❗️Key points of Russian PM Mikhail Mishustin speech during Russia-China forum in Shanghai:

▪️Boosting Russian-Chinese cooperation will strengthen the economies of both countries;

▪️Russia and China may bring their trade in 2023 to $200 billion;

▪️Russia is ready for new projects with China in the sphere of renewable energy sources and will continue to supply hydrocarbons;

▪️Shipbuilding, the production of civilian drones, and timber industry are promising areas of cooperation between Russia and China;

▪️The expansion of air traffic and active use of the potential of the Northern Sea Route are a priority area of Russia-China cooperation.

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🇦🇺 Australian cop who tasered 95-year-old woman in nursing home suspended

Clare Nowland is believed to have suffered from a skull fracture and a brain bleed after being tasered by police, who were called to deal with a woman with a walking frame who was wandering around, carrying a knife.

Critics have castigated the response by the police as disproportionate and called for better de-escalation training.

An investigation involving the homicide squad is underway, as Nowland is receiving "end of life care" in hospital.

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🇮🇳 🇦🇺 📹 Australians came up with a unique and creative way to welcome the Indian PM to the nation: a recreational aircraft was seen spelling out 'Welcome Modi' in contrails ahead of the community event in Sydney, Australia.

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🤔 Interesting photo choice

The New York Times has made a strange choice for a photo, which depicts a coffin, for an article about Zelensky leaving the G7 summit in Hiroshima.

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❗️A criminal case based on six articles, including terrorism, was opened after a Ukrainian saboteur group raided the Belgorod region, which resulted in several civilian casualties, said the press service of the Russian Investigation Committee, which is now establishing the identity of the attackers who trespassed into the border region.

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🇷🇺📹 Russia's detractors failed to break country's economy, PM Mishustin says

💬 “Not only have we pulled through, but we are also continuing our steady growth.”

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🇺🇸💰 ‘Child with credit card’: Kevin McCarthy explains debt ceiling after his meeting with Biden

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📹 Russian Ka-52 helicopter crews obliterate Ukrainian stronghold

The Ka-52 is equipped with six hardpoints for mounting various armaments. The helicopter has a maximum load capacity at up to 12 9K121 Vikhr ATGMs, which are capable of hitting enemy armour at a 10km distance; up to 80 80mm S-8 unguided rockets or 10 122mm S-13 rockets alongside with various unguided bombs, gunpods, and up to four Igla anti-air missiles.

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📹 Refugee from Artemovsk tells Sputnik about drunken shootout between Ukrainian troops

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❗️Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s latest statements made in Laos:

▪️The more destructive weapons supplied to Kiev, the more likely the scenario of a nuclear apocalypse;

▪️Kiev's allegations that Ukraine has nothing to do with sabotage attacks in Russia is an absolute lie;

▪️Kiev sabotage groups need to be destroyed "like rats" and not even taken prisoner;

▪️ Ultimately, the sponsors of the Kiev regime - the US, EU, and Britain - are responsible for the sabotage attacks.

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🇷🇺🪖 Ukraine's best response after losing Artemovsk would be to seek peace: ex-US State senator

💬 "Russia has won the biggest battle in Europe since World War II," former Virginia State Senator Richard Black told Sputnik. "Those losses will pressure Zelensky to launch an offensive to prove he still has combat power, though a wiser path might be to seek peace and stop further bloodshed."

On Saturday, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement that the liberation of the city of Artemovsk has been completed.

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❗️Russia’s MoD has published footage showing the elimination of a Ukrainian sabotage group in the Belgorod region

The ministry provided details on the Ukrainian terrorist attack in the Belgorod region:

▪️After the loss of Artemovsk, the Kiev regime has decided to ramp up terrorist acts against civilians

▪️On Monday, after heavy shelling, a Ukrainian sabotage group infiltrated the Belgorod region;

▪️Ukrainian nationalist formations behind the attack were blocked and eliminated;

▪️Remnants of the group were thrown back to Ukraine, where they were shelled until their complete destruction;

▪️Russian forces eliminated more than 70 Ukrainian terrorists and destroyed four armored vehicles and five cars.

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🇳🇴 Norway's women asked for baby boom as fertility rates hit rock bottom

Norway's Minister for Children and Families, Kjersti Toppe, said that the average birth rate must grow from of the current rate of 1.41 children per woman to 2.1 – a rate unseen since the 1970s.

In order to speed up the birth rate, the minister has put forward the following measures: strengthening the finances of students and others who receive one-off benefits, offering tax relief to families with more than two children, increasing child benefits and expanding the right to a nursery place.

Norwegian fertility rates have seen a decade-long plunge, pushing the Nordic country to increasingly rely on Europe's current demographic fix-it plan - immigration - to make up for the population loss.

If the current trend continues, the nation's population will shrink, unless immigration increases to make up for the loss. As of 2022, immigrants to Norway stood at 18.9% of the populace, up from 4.3% merely three decades ago, in 1992.

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