🇨🇦 The life cycle cost of Ottawa’s F-35 program is estimated to be of C$73.9 billion (US$53.6 billion), Canada’s Parliamentary Budget Officer Yves Giroux said.

In early January, former Minister of Defense Anita Anand announced that Canada had inked a US$14.2 billion deal with Lockheed Martin to acquire a fleet of 88 F-35 fighter jets to replace the aging F-18 fleet of the Royal Canadian Air Force.

Giroux added that the four phases of the program – development, acquisition, operations and sustainment, and disposal – will cost Canada some C$73.9 billion. “This is roughly in line with the governments own estimate of about C$70 billion,” he added.

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🇺🇸 US President Joe Biden’s attempt to lump aid for Israel with a four-times-larger handout to Ukraine was “despicable” but also “ordinary everyday politics,” former Florida Democrat congressman Alan Grayson told Sputnik.

🗣 "It’s a parliamentary manoeuvre to slap two things together and force people who were inclined to vote for one against the other, to vote for both," Grayson said.

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🇷🇺 Two Il-76 aircraft will deliver 28 tons of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations reports

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📹 Russian soldiers from the Viking special forces detachment identified a camouflaged dugout of the Ukrainian Armed Forces with ammunition in the Artemovsk direction, and then destroyed it with a kamikaze drone

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🗣 There were elements of genocide in Israel's actions in the Gaza Strip, former director of the United Nations High Commissioner of Human Rights Craig Mokhiber told Sputnik

Mokhiber pointed out that following the escalation in October, the world has been witnessing "the wholesale slaughter of Palestinian civilians in Gaza", while the United Nations has totally failed to respond effectively to the situation and noted that a humanitarian ceasefire was blocked by the United States in the Security Council.

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Doctors in the Gaza Strip are struggling with shortages of everything and have to operate without anesthesia, renowned US doctor Bill Novick told Sputnik

He stressed that it is very difficult to treat patients, particularly children, in Gaza, where hospitals are running out of gas, medical supplies and anesthesia.

The US doctor said that the current situation looks more difficult than in 2000 when he worked in the West Bank and Gaza in the beginning of the Second Intifada.

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📹 Online footage appears to show Hamas militants using their hands to place mines on a Merkava tank during a battle

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🗣 The European Union's total losses from the imposed sanctions and curtailed economic relations with Russia come to around $1.5 trillion, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grushko stated

🇺🇸🇮🇱 Antony Blinken arrived in Tel Aviv

It was reported that the Secretary of State intends to "commit US support for Israel's right to defend itself from terrorism in accordance with international humanitarian law."

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Biden asks Israel to show some restraint amid public outrage

US President Joe Biden reportedly warned Israel in recent private talks that growing global outcry over Gaza’s humanitarian catastrophe would have “dire consequences” for IDF operations against Hamas in the Palestinian enclave.

“The problem for [Israel] is that the criticism is getting louder, not just among their detractors, but from their best friends,” CNN cited an unnamed source as saying.

On Thursday night, the Israeli military said that the IDF is surrounding Gaza City and “deepening” its operations in the area, amid reports about more explosions in Northern Gaza.

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Who is First Woman to Be at Helm of US Navy?

▪️Admiral Lisa Franchetti most recently served as acting chief of naval operations from August to November 2023 and the 42nd vice chief of naval operations from September 2022 to November 2023.
▪️In 2020, she served as the second deputy chief of naval operations for warfighting development, and commander of the United States Sixth Fleet from 2018 to 2020.
▪️The US Navy veteran served on a series of surface vessels, commanding a guided missile destroyer, a destroyer squadron and two carrier strike groups.

On Thursday, the Senate approved Franchetti to lead the US Navy, making her the first woman to hold the position and to serve on the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

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🗣 Netizens were quick to share their opinion on the new appointment of America’s top navy commander, with some of them saying that the move will have an adverse effect on the US military

👀 The United States has been flying surveillance drones over the Gaza Strip with a view to assisting in the release of hostages held by Palestinian group Hamas since October 7, an American newspaper reported on Thursday, citing sources

Hamas is believed to be holding over 240 hostages, with 10 of them likely to be US citizens.

US military officials told the newspaper that MQ-9 Reaper drones, which were first detected through a flight-tracking website last week, have been flying over the conflict area in the Middle East after the events of October 7 to locate hostages and monitor for signs of life.

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❗️ Hamas is ready for a "full compromise" on prisoner exchange, movement’s spokesman stated

❗️ LIVE NOW: Russian FM Lavrov holds talks with Kuwaiti counterpart Al-Sabah

Join the live stream here or follow this link to Sputnik's website

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The volume of the global LNG market will reach 750 billion cubic meters to 800 billion cubic meters by 2030, Russian energy company Novatek CEO Leonid Mikhelson said

The global demand for LNG will grow and only three countries — Qatar, Russia and the United States — will be able to provide it, the CEO said.

Commenting on the latest US sanctions against the Arctic LNG 2 project, Mikhelson stressed that the fact that sanctions were imposed against Russia's project is a testament to its significance, adding that the fewer projects there are, the higher the prices will be.

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Mission сomplete

📹 The Russian military carried out a precision strike, destroying a Ukrainian Armed Forces tank that was firing at Russian positions near the village of Kleshcheevka

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