The meeting of the US Federal Reserve System will begin soon: experts believe that the Fed will raise the interest rate to a 22-year high.

A press conference is also expected from the head of the Fed, Jerome Powell. Powell was recently the “victim” of Russian pranksters Vovan and Lexus who duped him into talking about the split in the American elites and calling participation in the Davos forum a "stigma".

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A NYC crane collapsed and caught fire. It struck the side of another skyscraper before falling onto a rush-hour Manhattan street.

Six people, including two firefighters, were injured: the blazing crane was attached to a luxury apartment building under construction, with the 16-tonnes of concrete it was carrying also smashing onto the street below.

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🇺🇳The UK has blocked the participation of a priest from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the UN Security Council debate on repression in Ukraine

"Today is a sad moment for the UN and the international community as a whole. Western delegations have effectively sided with the repressive policies of the Kiev regime against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. This is a clear demonstration of double standards in terms of freedom of expression, religion, and all the ideals they preach. Your decision to block the participation of an Orthodox clergyman, using the prerogatives of the Security Council Chair, is a clear indication of how London treats ideals and how easily it is willing to compromise them for narrow, petty attempts to provoke Russia," First Deputy Permanent Representative of Russia to the UN Dmitry Polyansky stated.

📹 Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed calls Russia a "brotherly country" during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin

🗣 "I hope this would be very fruitful discussion. We are very happy, we are very glad to be here to join our fellow African leaders for the summit. Besides that, we also have deepest interest to discuss with you, as a friend, as a brotherly country, both our bilateral issues and regional issues. Thank you very much, Mr. President, " Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed stated.

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🇺🇸 US Federal Reserve Service increased the base interest rate by 0.25% to 5.25-5.5% annual - regulator

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NATO-trained Ukrainian soldiers being wiped out - Austrian military expert

"I recently spoke to a Ukrainian comrade: in a neighboring unit, their commander was a 47-year-old reservist. Due to inexperience, he ordered his platoon to advance directly into minefields. Only just over half of the platoon returned," Colonel Markus Reisner, a military strategist from the Ministry of Defence of Austria revealed in an interview with a German media recounted.

The Austrian officer also expressed his opinion that the first phase of the Ukrainian counter offensive has failed.

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🗣️ On the Biden administration’s dedication to occupying and attacking Syria:

“They're there to prevent the Russians from gaining more influence in Syria because of their and Russia has close ties with the Shia Assad government. So it's just an excuse for more military intervention and devastating proxy wars. And we're seeing potential of an outright world war breaking out,” Jeremy Kuzmarov, author and managing editor of CovertAction Magazine, told Sputnik.

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

👉 Watch the full episode of our show on Rumble

🗣️ On how restrictions imposed in the US and the EU expose governments’ attempts to control social media:

“They were sending these kinds of requests over to Twitter all the time, saying 'we're going to flag these accounts for you. Please address them,' meaning 'take down the content, take down the account,' whatever it is. Government should not be in a place where they can do that, especially, hidden behind the scenes with no legal review, no justification needed,” Chris Garaffa, technologist, co-host of the CovertAction Magazine podcast, told Sputnik.

🎧 Listen to more of Garaffa’s analysis in our podcast By Any Means Necessary

🔺Step to closer cooperation: What is Russia-Africa Summit 2023?
🔺Former US President Donald Trump may face four indictments by election day
🔺McCarthy: Biden’s investigation is "rising to level" of impeachment inquiry

The Critical Hour will cover these and more stories! Tune in to Radio Sputnik at 6pm EST|3pm PST|12am CET via the website or app

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Life returning to Mariupol after defeat of Azov neo-Nazis - Dutch journalist

Independent Dutch journalist Sonja van den Ende is one of the few reporters from Western countries to cover the conflict in Ukraine from the Russian side of the front line — and has been accused in her own of acting as a "propagandist" against the West's proxy conflict with Russia. Sonja van den Eynde spoke to Sputnik just days after returning from her latest trip to Donetsk.

"I was five days in the Donbass. I was in Mariupol, Donetsk city, everywhere," van den Ende said. "Everything was quiet and yeah, there was no panic or something. People just want to work," she said.

Read full Sonja's interview on Sputnik's website

Pentagon expects China will try to inhibit US ability to use space

The US military expects that China will try to inhibit the United States' capabilities in space, President Joe Biden's nominee for commander of the US Space Command, Lt. Gen. Stephen Whiting, said during his Senate confirmation hearing on Wednesday.

Whiting agreed with lawmakers that a potential "Chinese invasion of Taiwan" could lead to a battle in space with the United States.

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🇷🇺🇨🇫 Defense industry ties between Russia and the Central African Republic (CAR) are thriving, and Moscow has recently delivered an L-39 fighter jet to Bangui, Russian Ambassador to the CAR Alexander Bikantov told Sputnik.

"Cooperation in the military and technical field is actively and consistently developing… Recently, Russia carried out a large supply of relevant weapons, in particular aircraft," Bikantov said.

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🇨🇫 President of the Central African Republic Faustin-Archange Touadéra, together with a delegation, arrived in St. Petersburg on Wednesday to participate in the #RussiaAfricaSummit

The republic actively demonstrates support for Moscow's policy and advocates the further development of cooperation in many areas

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More than 35,000 illegal immigrants have been detained in Turkiye, and over 16,000 of them have been deported from the country in the last two months

Nine mobile centers had been set up in Istanbul as an experiment, where it is possible to instantly check an immigrant's biometrics and immigration status in the country, Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said.

Raids to detain illegal immigrants conducted daily under the new interior minister, including on tourist ferries. Yerlikaya has pledged not to stop fighting illegal immigration.

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💬 ‘Dark grey or black cubes inside a clear sphere’

Former US fighter pilot Ryan Graves told Congress about his personal experience with what he thought was a UFO

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🗣 "It's a deep economy"

The Russian economy will not collapse as a result of the imposed sanctions, President Joe Biden’s nominee for the position of Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs James O’Brien said

💬 "It was one of the largest ten [economies]... So, they will be able to sustain themselves for quite a while. We don't see a collapse," O’Brien said during his confirmation hearing at the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

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