🎂 As President Biden turns 81 today, a lot is been said about how suitable he is for the job. To celebrate the birthday of "the US man with a finger on a red button," we offer you more than just some funny video.

☑️ Take our quiz and put yourself in the same situation as the US president to discover how your choices would suit Joe Biden’s logic – because politics is in many ways about decision-making and finding the right words at the right time.

👉 Quiz (clickable)

Hints: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

🇮🇱 Yair Netanyahu, the eldest son of the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, blamed the October 7 Hamas raid, which the Gaza-based Palestinian militant group called the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation, on the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Shin Bet and the High Court.

In his Telegram posts Yair Netanyahu alleged that:

▪️ "the High Court changed the security arrangements and the instructions for opening fire on the border of the Gaza Strip";

▪️ The Shin Bet and the IDF persuaded Israeli politicians that "in order to preserve peace in the Gaza Strip — economic operations for Gaza must continue";

▪️ Surveillance soldiers warned of Hamas activity on the Gaza Strip border months prior to the militant group's Al-Aqsa Flood Operation, but the reports were brushed aside by their commanders;

Yair Netanyahu, has been living in Miami, Florida, since at least April, and has come under heavy criticism in Israel for not joining the IDF amid the Gaza ground operation.

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🇷🇺 Contract completed: Kalashnikov's Vikhr-1 supersonic missiles sent to front

The Kalashnikov Concern has completed its 2023 state defense contract ahead of schedule, delivering the advanced Vikhr-1 (lit. Whirlwind) supersonic missiles for the Ka-52 helicopters to the Russian Defense Ministry.

These guided missiles are adept at striking armored vehicles, enemy fortifications, and various ground and low-speed air targets within a 10-kilometer range, boasting speeds of over 600 meters per second. Kalashnikov's president, Alan Lushnikov, praised the Vikhr-1's effectiveness in the zone of Russia's special military operation in Ukraine.

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🇵🇸 While Shehab Younis was commenting to Sputnik on the situation at the Indonesian hospital in Gaza, a battle was raging right next to him. You can hear for yourself the conditions under which journalists are forced to work in Gaza.

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🇺🇸 US President Joe Biden's op-ed calling for continuing the proxy war in Ukraine and rejecting an immediate ceasefire in Gaza has nothing to do with peace or democratic values, as per Joe Siracusa, political scientist and dean of Global Futures, Curtin University.

Speaking to Sputnik, Siracusa called out Biden's "quasi-proxy war with Russia" and nailed Washington's hypocritical support of a two-state solution for Palestine. In fact, the US political establishment is doing everything not to let this happen, he stressed.

"The destruction in Gaza is so bad. I mean, who's going to pick up the bill? Who's going to put this place back together? You know, 60% of the housing is gone. The sewage systems are gone. The schools are gone. I mean, at the very best, Gaza, if it's there, is just rebuilt a little bit, will be a basket case for the next hundred years," Siracusa concluded.

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🇺🇸 America Last?

"We can’t allow Ukraine to lose the battle on the homefront…Ukraine is utterly dependent on this aid, so we need to join our European friends to hold this together as a package. And of course, Israel urgently needs aid as well,” US Secretary of Treasury Janet Yellen said in a television interview.

🧐 Yellen went on to claim that unless the US adopted a new assistance package for Ukraine, Russia would go on to invade a NATO country. She did not provide any evidence for this assertion.

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🇵🇸🇺🇳 Heavy downpours have made Gaza's makeshift shelters uninhabitable, UN says

The UN Agency for Palestine Refugees reported on the social network X (formerly Twitter) about heavy rains in the Gaza Strip.

“The situation in the shelters is uninhabitable. People have no choice. Humanity must prevail,” the agency stated.

Hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced in the Gaza Strip since Israel launched airstrikes in response to the Hamas attack on October 7.

Thousands of displaced people have to live in rain-battered tents.

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💬 "He's [Biden’s] got a built in Russophobia, the way he does with the Chinese, too. He's hardwired for the original Cold War. And he got involved in this without really asking the American people. You know, he started giving them money. Then he started beating the war drums. The intelligence agencies decided that China was public enemy number one, and Russia was public enemy number two – which is nonsense. Russia doesn't want to start a war with the United States or NATO. And China doesn't want to war with anybody, as a matter of fact," Joe Siracusa, political scientist and dean of Global Futures, Curtin University, told Sputnik.

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

▪️The death toll in the Gaza Strip since the start of Israeli strikes on the enclave has exceeded 13.3 thousand people, more than 31 thousand have been injured, local authorities reported.

▪️IDF soldiers have seized Hamas’ Supreme Court building in Gaza Strip.

▪️Putin to join upcoming BRICS summit via video link on Tuesday to discuss Palestinian-Israeli conflict, Kremlin says.

▪️Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said on Monday that its clinic in the Gaza Strip came under fire, and four cars of the humanitarian organization were burned down.

▪️A UN protectorate in Gaza would not solve the conflict there, the body's Secretary-General said Monday, calling instead for a "transition period" involving Arab nations and the United States and leading to a two-state solution.

▪️Israel would continue its operation in the Gaza Strip to eliminate the Hamas group even after the temporary ceasefire and the release of all hostages, Benny Gantz, a minister in Israel's emergency war cabinet, said.

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🎁 Gift from the sky: Russian UAV operators eliminated a group of Ukrainian servicemen in the Zaporozhye region.

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🇫🇷☢️ No trust in the US' nuclear umbrella? Why is France upgrading its strategic missiles?

France conducted a test-launch of its new M51.3 sub-launched ballistic missile Saturday, demonstrating that Paris retains the ability to strike enemies using the deadliest weapon known to humanity.

What are the origins of France’s nuclear deterrent, and why has the country held onto it over the decades?

👉 Sputnik reached out to experts for answers

Argentina’s Pro-US President-Elect Won’t be Able to Withdraw from BRICS: Ex-Envoy

🇦🇷 Argentina's President-elect, Javier Milei, is set to usher in a pro-American stance, aligning with the U.S. However, his bold vow to withdraw from BRICS might face significant hurdles.

🌐 Rengaraj Viswanathan, a former Indian Ambassador to Buenos Aires, explained to Sputnik India that the “radical foreign policy ideas” proposed by Milei, won’t be realized for the simple reason that the incoming president didn’t have the necessary political and institutional backing.

“He doesn’t have a majority in the Congress. The other major parties—both leftist and those on the right—have more MPs than those who support his La Libertad Avanza (LLA), or the Freedom Advances Party,” Viswanathan stated.

◾Moreover, Viswanathan predicted that Milei won’t be able to survive beyond his first four-year term, much like Trump or Bolsonaro.

◾Russia, which will host the BRICS Summit next year, has expressed hope that it would be able to maintain its stable ties with Argentina under the new President.

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🇨🇦 Canada's surging debt payments add to Trudeau’s polling woes

With 2025 reelection plans in his sights, Justin Trudeau has hoped splurging on social programs might prop up his plunging popularity ratings.

However, the Bank of Canada’s higher interest rates have elevated the cost of debt for the federal government to the extent where the prime minister may have to rethink spending plans, Bloomberg reported.

A sluggish economy, looming risk of stagflation, and now rising debt payments are threatening to put a spoke in the wheel for the Liberal Party leader. As it stands, he trails Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre on the issue of who would be the best PM, recent polls show.

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🇺🇸 New $100 million aid package for Ukraine that includes air defense munitions and anti-tank weapons was announced by US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.

"I announced today another $100 million drawdown, using presidential drawdown authority, to provide additional artillery munitions, additional interceptors for air defense and a number of anti-tank weapons as well. So our support continues," Austin said after meeting with Ukrainian officials in Kiev during a surprise visit.

The weapons package includes additional HIMARS rocket artillery systems and ammunition, TOW missiles and Javelin man-portable anti-tank launchers.

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🇺🇸🩻 A physician for former US President Donald Trump has indicated the former commander-in-chief is in "excellent health."

🚢 Israeli or not? What we know about car carrier hijacked by Houthis in Red Sea

Yemen’s Houthi militia seized the Galaxy Leader commercial car carrying vessel in the southern Red Sea over the weekend, believing the ship to be linked to Israel. The IDF assured the ship is not Israeli.

Where was the ship sailing from? Where was it headed? Who owns it? Who’s on board?

👉 Sputnik did a bit of digging to find comprehensive answers

Business council official talks industrialization opportunities that BRICS expansion in Africa offers the continent

🗣 "We have, I think, amongst the BRICS nations some of the top ten largest economies represented in the BRICS nations. And we can learn from their policies, from how they implemented their policies," Busisiwe Mabuza, chairman of the Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa told Sputnik Africa on Africa Industrialization Day.

She also added with BRICS, African countries "can learn how to grow their businesses" and seize "opportunities in global markets to develop their own economies."

👉 Read the full story

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📉 Ukrainian population down by 4Mln to 19Mln in 2 months, Ex-Ukrainian PM Nikolai Azarov said.

"According to the most modest calculations, only 19 million continue to live in the territory controlled by the regime in Kiev. It’s a scary figure," he wrote on social media.

He attributed the population decline to a massive outflow of workforce, in addition to combat casualties.

"Imagine that peace will be restored tomorrow. And a border of some sort will be drawn. Ukraine will need to be rebuilt! Who will do it if there is now a gaping workforce deficit?" Azarov added.

The former minister complained about a breakdown in services in Ukraine. He said Ukraine would need highly skilled workers, such as engineers and technologists, to rebound from the conflict.

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🇵🇸🇮🇱 Hamas leader Haniyeh says his group is close to reaching a “truce agreement” in talks with Qatar and Israel that would clear the way for the release of some hostages

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🇸🇰🚜 Slovakia is ready to extend the ban on the import of agricultural products from Ukraine, valid until the end of the year, if the European Commission does not propose a solution to this problem, Slovak Agriculture Minister Richard Takac said

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🇺🇸🛩 US Navy P-8A Poseidon at Hawaii Marine Corps base overshoots runway and ends up in shallow waters

Nine people were aboard the aircraft at the time but no injuries were reported.

The P-8A Poseidon is considered a workhorse of US Navy operations. It can carry both torpedoes and cruise missiles, while conducting antisubmarine and antisurface warfare and intelligence gathering missions.

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