❗️18 people have been killed, and 13 others injured in a shooting rampage in Lewiston, Maine, as confirmed by the governor of the state.

As of now, the suspected shooter is still at large, and it is advised that people do not attempt to approach the individual under any circumstances.

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Tal Damri resided in kibbutz Kfar Aza, the nearest community to the Gaza border. He went into detail about the events of the early morning when Hamas unleashed their carnage.

"We were completely cut off from our family until October 11. It was when the army came to us that I managed to borrow a soldier's phone and call my elder brother. Only then did I inquire about what had happened to our family. That's when he informed me about the tragic fate of our little brother—being murdered by the terrorists in Ha’ar Moshav, not far from where our mother lives."

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Moscow has discussed the release of hostages and the evacuation of Russians from the Gaza Strip during a meeting with a Hamas delegation in the Russian capital on Thursday, the Foreign Ministry told Sputnik.

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Lawmakers have decided to pick Mike Johnson as a new House Speaker because “there was a problem with each of the other candidates,” such as Republicans Tom Emmer and Steve Scalise, US political analyst and Republican strategist Melik Abdul told Sputnik.

🗣 “He [Johnson]'s not a nobody, but he is just a virtual unknown for the American people. I think another thing that we don't know what life will be like with Mike Johnson as speaker of the House for the Republican Party,” Abdul pointed out.

When asked how the House would deal with President Joe Biden’s request for $105 billion in national security funding under the new Speaker, the analyst argued, “this is where the rubber will meet the road for Mike Johnson.”

Earlier on Thursday, the 51-year-old politician was sworn in as the 56th Speaker of the US House of Representatives, ending 22 days of chaos in the lower chamber after the ouster of Kevin McCarthy.

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The deputy head of the Hamas intelligence agency, one of the masterminds who planned the attack on Israel on October 7, was eliminated, the Israel Defense Forces reported.

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🇺🇸 Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu was dragging the US into a region-wide war just to save his own skin, former US Department of Defense security advisor Michael Maloof told Sputnik.

🗣 "Netanyahu could make this an endless war just to stay in office and to protect himself personally." Maloof argued. "There's clear evidence now that he knew, he had information and intelligence that Hamas was planning an action. He was warned, but he let it happen."

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🇺🇸 US announces new $150mln military package for Ukraine that includes NASAMS, AIM-9M and Stinger missiles, HIMARS ammunition, according to the Pentagon

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Tal shared that, following the tragic event, the entire Damri family had to relocate from the Gaza border to Moshav Idan, a village near the Dead Sea.

Tal noted that while only kibbutz Kfar Aza was evacuated, his family had to navigate the relocation on their own.

"We must find the strength to move forward and consider the future, but it's challenging when we no longer have a place to call home. We lost not only our house but also our little brother in Ha’ar Moshav, our sanctuary. We are at a loss as to what to do. The pain is overwhelming."

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Russian President Vladimir Putin is not planning to hold contacts with a delegation of the Hamas movement in Moscow on Thursday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

🗣 “No. Contacts at the Foreign Ministry level,” Peskov told reporters when asked a relevant question.

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🗣️ Lindsey Graham is delusional about Iran

“Iran is a serious regional power with actually quite significant military potential. And it has some high-tech weapons, including extremely advanced air defense. Iran can literally blow [up] every single American base in the Middle East as a retaliation... And that's why, for the most part, those are pathos statements or chest thumping. And last, always consider the fact that indeed it's not a stretch. Lindsey Graham, he is a neocon's neocon and he's a mentally unstable man,” Andrei Martyanov, military analyst, told the New Rules podcast.

👉 Watch the full episode of our show on Rumble

🎧 Listen to more of Martyanov’s analysis in our podcast New Rules

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#SputnikInfographic📊 🚀 Find out the full might of Russia's Kinzhal hypersonic missile

One aspect of Russia’s vast and diverse missile arsenal has been making headlines in recent months, due to its uncanny ability to penetrate enemy defenses and wreak havoc upon its intended targets.

Introducing the Kh-47M2 Kinzhal, a Russian hypersonic missile capable of reaching a staggering speed of up to Mach 10 and striking targets as far as 3,000 kilometers away.

Check out Sputnik's infographics and see for yourself how powerful this missile is

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As a resident of the Gaza border, Tal Damri firmly believes that Israel has the right to defend itself, just as the IDF does.

"It is unfathomable to think that one can enter Israel and commit heinous acts, including the murder of innocent people and children. They even went as far as conducting horrific acts, such as cutting open the stomachs of pregnant women, removing their unborn babies, and killing them. Words cannot express the extent of the atrocities. Everyone needs to witness the photos and videos from my kibbutz, Kfar Aza, and Kibbutz Be'eri. We desire peace, but we have no choice. Hamas brought death to our doorstep, and we have a duty to protect ourselves. That's all there is to it."

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🇺🇸 The US expects that Russia will be able to achieve tactical successes in the Ukraine conflict in the coming months, the White House said.

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Russia is able to play an important role in ending the war between Israel and the Gaza Strip, and delivering aid to the Palestinian exclave, a member of Hamas’ political office, Husam Badran, told Sputnik on Thursday.

According to Badran, Hamas values Russia’s role on the international stage, especially use of veto in the UN Security Council against the United States.

🗣"But Russia can play a greater role in ending the aggression against our people in the Gaza Strip and applying international pressure to deliver urgent aid to our people in the Gaza Strip," Badran said.

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🇷🇺 Russian President Vladimir Putin visited an exhibition of promising space projects at the S.P. Korolev Rocket and Space Corporation Energia

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🇮🇶 Shia groups in Iraq say they attacks US military base in Iraqi Kurdistan with 2 drones

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🇵🇸 🇮🇱 Latest updates on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict:

▪️The deputy head of the Hamas intelligence agency, one of the masterminds who planned the attack on Israel on October 7, was eliminated, the Israel Defense Forces reported;

▪️Hamas said roughly 50 hostages were killed in Israeli shelling;

▪️The head of the Palestinian diplomatic mission to the UN said that Israel used white phosphorus during attacks on Gaza;

▪️The Israeli Defense Forces carried out a tank raid in northern Gaza in preparation for the next phases of fighting.

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❗️Pentagon confirms that approximately 900 US troops have been deployed or are in process of deploying to the Middle East amid the conflict escalation in the Gaza Strip. Washington is also planning to provide two Iron Dome systems currently in its inventory to Israel in addition to Iron Dome interceptors, the US DoD said

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🇺🇸🇮🇱 Despite being responsible for fanning the Gaza crisis, the US and Israel are trying to lay the blame for the Gaza war at Iran's door, Foad Izadi, associate professor at the Department of American Studies, Faculty of World Studies, University of Tehran, told Sputnik.

🗣 "What Iran has been saying and what many other countries, including Russia, have been saying is they need to have a cease fire," said Izadi. "That was the Russian UN resolution that was vetoed by the United States. They like to continue the war. Of course, they don't like the media coverage of the war by independent media outlets. So they want to shut down the media coverage, but they don't want to shut down the war, they want to continue the war."

Iranian FM Hossein Amir-Abdollahian's visit to New York City, where the UN headquarters are located, sends a signal to global powers that Tehran is interested in solving the crisis and that it is ready to protect itself from Washington's attacks.

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⚛️ America’s nuclear energy industry lags far behind Russia’s, says Valeriy Menshikov, member of the public council of Rosatom, the Russian state nuclear energy corporation.

🗣 “This is why we, Russia, still supply them with enriched uranium, and this is why these shipments are not being targeted by any sanctions,” he affirmed.

🗣 “To bridge this gap would be a no small feat. I think we are not talking a year or two here – more like decades, maybe,” he emphasized, referring to the time it might take the US to reach Russia’s level of uranium enrichment capabilities.

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Radhika Desai: Western press uses ‘ankle-biting yappy dog’ pseudo-academics to silence critics

A prominent Canadian academic has come under fire in the Canadian press for attending the Valdai Forum in Russia. She told Sputnik that the Western press uses government-funded “lapdog” academics to smear the reputations of those who criticize Western policies and highlight how they have discredited themselves.

Check out Sputnik's article to find out

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