💉 Texas attorney general sues Pfizer for lying about COVID-19 vaccine

Ken Paxton accuses Pfizer of having used fake statistics to promote the vaccine and trying to intimidate anyone who doubted its effectiveness.

The Republican demands that the pharmaceutical giant be fined $10 million and that the company be banned from publicly speaking about the effectiveness of its own vaccines.

The Texas attorney general also claims that the coronavirus pandemic worsened after people started taking the Pfizer vaccine. Paxton criticized the Biden administration's handling of the pandemic:

"We are pursuing justice for the people of Texas, many of whom were coerced by tyrannical vaccine mandates to take a defective product sold by lies," Paxton said.

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❗️ Israel plans to launch operation in southern Gaza Strip in parallel with operation in northern part of enclave, Financial Times reports

❗️ Somalia expresses gratitude to Russia for humanitarian aid, country's minister of information, culture and tourism tells Sputnik Africa

🗣 "We are thankful for the delivery of 25,000 tons of grain, which will greatly benefit the thousands of Somali people affected by the current floods resulting from El Nino. This assistance arrives at a crucial moment, and once more we commend Russia for its substantial support and unwavering commitment to helping Somalia overcome this challenging period," Somalia's Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism Daud Aweis stated.

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🇷🇺 Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken “ran away” from the OSCE Foreign Ministers’ meeting in Skopje because he was “afraid of an honest conversation with facts in hand.”

“I think they are cowards,” the minister said.

Blinken left Skopje for the Middle East before the Russian foreign minister had even arrived in the North Macedonian capital.

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💥 The Russian military destroyed a Ukrainian German-made tank Leopard 2A4 in the Rabotino area of the Zaporozhye region

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🇷🇺🌍 Russia launched free grain deliveries to African nations as part of a humanitarian initiative. The total commitment is 200,000 tons of grain by the end of 2023.

📊 Take a look at our infographic for more details about the Russian initiative

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“This [conflict] proves once again that the US will never leave West Asia. The region is absolutely essential for the empire, considering that the Americans are being slowly, but surely and very forcefully expelled from the big Eurasia by the Russia-China strategic partnership – by their trade deals, their multilateral organizations and economic integration projects. All that goes completely against American domination of Eurasia," Pepe Escobar, veteran geopolitical analyst, told the New Rules podcast.

👉 Why Israel-US war in Gaza is a war on multipolarity, Zelensky's growing desperation, and the battle for BRICS: You can find the full episode on Rumble

✅Definitely a must-watch!

🗣 "Our deputy PM visited Russia where Moscow granted us debt relief. We also requested the supply of 50,000 tons of grain. Today, we received the first consignment and we will urgently deliver this to people affected by the floods across different parts of the country, gibing the first priorities to most affected regions in coordination with the Somali Disaster Management Agency," Ahmed Moalim Fiqi, Somalian minister of interior, federal affairs and reconciliation, said.

"The Russian ambassador said his government is ready to help us in the peace building and security sector, particularly in the fight against armed group al-Shabab which is a global challenge as well as expanding already existing bilateral relations between our nations," Abdulrahman Noor Mohamed, official of the ministry of foreign affairs and international cooperation of Somalia, stated.

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COP28: Global leaders gather in Dubai to discuss climate change

Our AI correspondent Nika decided to use this opportunity to debunk some of the most popular ecoactivist myths about “green economics.” This is an episode that the World Economic Forum definitely doesn’t want you to watch!

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🇷🇺🪖 Key points of Russian MoD briefing on progress of special military operation in Ukraine:

▪️Ukrainian Armed Forces (UAF) losses amounted to 750 servicemen.

▪️Russian air defenses shot down a Ukrainian Mi-8 helicopter in the Kherson region.

▪️The Russian Armed Forces repelled six attacks by the UAF in the Donetsk direction.

▪️Russian air defenses shot down a Ukrainian MiG-29 aircraft in the Nikolaev region.

▪️The Russian Armed Forces hit a Ukrainian center for training and use of UAVs in the Zaporozhye region and an aviation ammunition warehouse in the Kirovograd region.

▪️The Russian Armed Forces repelled six attacks by Ukrainian assault groups in the areas of Rabotino and Verbovoye.

▪️Russian troops have repelled an attack by the Azov brigade in the Krasny Liman direction. The enemy lost up to 250 troops.

▪️The UAF lost up to 95 servicemen in the South Donetsk direction, as well as a US-made M777 artillery system.

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🇺🇸🇷🇺 The collapse of the legacy of former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, who sought to improve Soviet-American relations, has led to trust between Washington and Moscow being completely absent today, Paul Craig Roberts, former assistant Treasury secretary, told Sputnik.

"The (Bill) Clinton administration broke its word, given by George W. Bush. The Bush administration said that in exchange for the USSR agreeing to the reunification of Germany, the US would not move NATO's borders one inch eastward. All subsequent US administrations have withdrawn from arms agreements that served for reducing tensions and forged bonds of trust between the nuclear superpowers," Roberts said.

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🪖The problem for Kiev’s fortification and bunker-based strategy is that it won’t alter the Russian military’s strategy, says Russian journalist, military correspondent, and political analyst Ivan Konovalov.

Russia’s military has amassed “considerable experience in overcoming” Ukraine’s fortifications, the observer told Sputnik.

“In some areas we broke through them, in others we maneuvered around them to save troops. But it must be recognized that this is an important issue, and that Kiev is stubbornly betting on [this tactic]. They pour concrete into virtually everything they can. I witnessed what they did in Mariupol, where they poured concrete in the third floor of a multi-story building to turn it into a solid bunker. They didn’t care that there were civilians hiding somewhere in the basements, they did it from the third floor. They strengthened pillboxes or grenade launchers this way, simply pouring concrete over the entire floor,” Konovalov said.

👉 Follow the link to learn more

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🫧 Living in a bubble: Zelensky can't believe West is done with him

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has outlived his usefulness for the West which is going to destroy him soon as the Ukraine conflict has not met their expectations, former Ukrainian diplomat and whistleblower Andrii Telizhenko told Sputnik's Backstory podcast.

"A year ago, I was told that there are talks happening in Washington that everything could be blamed on Zelensky if the war is going to be finished in Ukraine or if the war is going to be lost. The Zelensky government could be blamed because that's what's happening today."

Telizhenko added that Ukrainians shouldn't delude themselves into believing that their country would ever join NATO. The "NATO membership fairy tale" was used by the West to make Ukraine an "anti-Russia," the whistleblower said.

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A lethargic West shackled by “fatalism, complacency and a shocking lack of strategic vision” is why Ukraine is losing against Russia, The Economist has speculated.

Putin “looks as if he could win,” — that is the startling pronouncement made by the outlet. The reality that the botched counteroffensive and Kiev regime infighting, more than hints at this.

Putin is credited by the authors for having “procured military supplies” with foresight, forged strong ties with the Global South, which the West has alienated, and, most importantly, “undermining the conviction in the West” that Ukraine can emerge from the conflict victorious.

Stating the obvious, the magazine admitted that Ukraine’s counter-offensive has “stalled,” and predicts that next year Russia will be “in a stronger position to fight.” Russia’s military, it said, will have at its disposal more drones and artillery shells while its army has developed successful electronic-warfare tactics against some Ukrainian weapons.

👉Follow the link to learn more

🇰🇪🇬🇧 Activist speaks on nation's reaction to BATUK's refusal to face justice for atrocities in Kenyan court

"Yesterday, they filed another submission to the court in Kenya that they are not subject to the rules of Kenya, which is very very dangerous for Kenyans to have military operating in Kenya with impunity, killing our people, destroying our environment. It is quite irresponsible of the MoD UK to present such a scene in court, because the country currently is outraged," James Mwangi Macharia, executive chairman of the African Center for Corrective and Preventive Action, told Sputnik Africa.

The commander of the British Army Training Unit in Kenya (BATUK) earlier asked the High Court to dismiss a lawsuit filed by the family of Agnes Wanjiru, who was allegedly killed by one of his soldiers. He argued that Kenyan courts have no jurisdiction and that BATUK enjoys immunity from the British government.

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🇷🇺 Putin signed a decree establishing the authorized strength of the Russian Armed Forces at 2,209,130 people, including increasing the size of the army by 170,000 servicemen, up to 1,320,000 military personnel, the Kremlin said.

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