🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia 'in talks' to join BRICS bank to enhance 'funding options'

Riyadh is in talks to join the Shanghai-based New Development Bank, also known as the “BRICS bank,” according to a statement by the NDB, cited by a US media report.

Adding the country as the ninth member of the bank would strengthen Riyadh’s ties with BRICS member states, the statement by the lender read.

It is hoped that as the world’s largest exporter of oil joins the bank, as it would serve to bolster its funding options, the report emphasized. The latter were singled out by Ashwani Muthoo, director general of the NDB’s independent evaluation office, as “the most important thing at the moment."

"We are struggling to mobilize resources,” he was cited as saying, adding that at its upcoming board meetings, the NDB board intended to look into alternative currencies, like China’s yuan (also referred to as renminbi), or South Africa's rand.

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📹 'America remains indispensable': Kamala Harris hails 'freedom at the barrel of a gun' ideal and how military helps 'advance freedom' in West Point speech

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‼️ Voting in the second round of the presidential election has concluded in Turkiye. Polling stations closed for voting at 17:00 local time (which coincides with Moscow time).

Why NATO has no right to complain about Russian nukes in Belarus

International relations and security analyst Mark Sleboda says “one of the first justifications Russia used for doing this is that the US has actually had tactical nuclear weapons in Europe for decades, hundreds of them, in fact, and they have recently even been upgraded to the B61-12 tactical nuclear warheads [in place] of older gravity bombs.”

💬 “Just in the last week, a Polish general and former deputy defense minister, Waldemar Skrzypczak, appeared on Polish TV and said there will be an uprising in Minsk. He spoke about a ‘pro-Ukrainian army’ by which I assume he means the Belarusian neo-Nazis fighting for the Kiev regime –basically the idea that they will come home and overthrow the Belarusian government, and that Poland should be prepared to support them. Obviously this is exactly one of the types of things that this placement is meant to secure Belarus from,” Sleboda said.

On top of that are the strategic considerations, both given NATO’s nuclear provocations – like staging nuclear-capable bomber drills near Russia’s borders over the Black and Baltic Seas in recent years, and longstanding efforts to create missile defenses in Eastern Europe to try to render Russia’s nuclear deterrent obsolete. The nuclear deployment in Belarus should counter these threats, from Moscow’s perspective, Sleboda believes.

Read more of Mark Sleboda's interview

🇹🇷 The head of Turkiye’s Supreme Electoral Council, Ahmet Yener, said the results of the second round of the presidential election may appear earlier than the results of the first round.

He noted that "As you know, 24 political parties, as well as our presidential candidates, took part in the May 14 elections. And because only presidential candidates participate in these elections, we think that the results will be earlier."

🇹🇷🗳 Vote counting at polling stations in Turkiye has begun

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🇷🇺😻 Meet Gosha, a small kitten who has become a cherished companion of the military, boosting the morale of soldiers in the midst of the special military operation

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Sputnik correspondent from opposition party Nation Alliance HQ

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‼️ Erdogan ahead with 57% of vote in presidential runoff after over 40% of ballot boxes counted, according to state media

🇹🇷🗳 According to Anadolu Agency, based on the ballots counted so far, Erdogan is in the lead, receiving 54.37%, while Kilicdaroglu has 45.63%

🇹🇷 Footage from Sputnik correspondent: bags with counted votes are being delivered to the regional election commission

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❗️Official data: Voter turnout - 85.2%, Counted - 89.8%. Erdogan - 52.72%, Kilicdaroglu - 47.28%.

❗️Erdogan gains over 54% of vote in presidential runoff, according to preliminary results of Turkish Electoral Commission