Mick Wallace, an Irish member of the European Parliament, proposed the abolition of NATO, writing about it on his X page.

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Iran's Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called on commanders to avoid direct military confrontation with the US in the wake of the terrorist attack in Kerman and ordered that retaliation be limited to operations against Israel and attacks by "proxy groups" on American bases, the New York Times reported.

"The ayatollah had instructed Iranian military commanders to exercise "strategic patience" and avoid drawing Iran into a direct military confrontation with the United States."

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The Israeli army has dropped more than 45,000 rockets and bombs on the Gaza Strip since the conflict escalated in October, according to Gazan authorities.

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China conducts maritime patrols amid US-Philippines drills in southern sea

Chinese military has completed naval and air patrols in the South China Sea, where the Philippines and the United States began joint maritime exercises earlier this week as part of their efforts to strengthen bilateral ties.

China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) stressed that the "routine" patrols were aimed at "resolutely safeguarding" the PRC's "sovereignty, security and maritime rights and interests".

In recent months, tensions between Beijing and Manila have escalated over a series of confrontations in the South China Sea. In December, China accused a Philippine ship of "deliberately ramming" a Chinese vessel when the two vessels collided near a shoal in the area.

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Forbes magazine noted that since the Abrams tanks arrived in Ukraine, they have not been observed anywhere.

"It's been two months since ex-American M-1s tanks arrived in Ukraine. And two months since we've seen any evidence of the tanks."

As the newspaper notes, "it is not clear what Ukraine is doing with its 31 Abrams" and which brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine handed them over.

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South Korea and the United States conduct joint live-fire exercises near the border with North Korea

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📹 Russian reconnaissance group, backed by attack aircraft, destroyed a stronghold of Ukrainian forces.

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The US no longer has the resources to provide further assistance to Ukraine; new aid packages will require congressional approval of funding, the White House announced.

"The president has signed the last security assistance package for which we had supplemental appropriations. That's it. We need the supplemental to pass so that we can provide additional security assistance to Ukraine," John Kirby, US National Security Council spokesman, said. ​​

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US may deploy drones in Africa’s West Coast as America ‘falls back’ in fight against Islamists

In a sign of its military entrenchment, the US plans to deploy reconnaissance drones to the West African coast as part of efforts to tackle al-Qaeda and Daesh* in the region, WSJ has claimed, citing unnamed American and African officials.

•  The US may use airfields in Ghana, Ivory Coast and Benin to conduct aerial surveillance of militants’ movements and give “over-the-shoulder tactical advice” to local government troops during special operations;

•  The US military is seeking to station the drones at Ghana’s Air Force Base Tamale;

•  In Benin, the “unarmed” unmanned aerial vehicles may be deployed at the Parakou airfield;

•  The use of three Ivory Coast airfields are still being discussed.

The US’ intent to base the drones in coastal states allegedly shows that the White House believes Mali and Burkina Faso are so inundated with Islamist militants that these countries are beyond the reach of Western 'help.'

However, a Pentagon report previously revealed that despite sending forces to at least 22 countries in Africa, the US had not reached its objectives over the past two decades in disrupting violent extremist organizations.

*Al-Qaeda is a terrorist organization outlawed in Russia
**Daesh (ISIL/ISIS/Islamic State) is a terrorist organization outlawed in Russia

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❗India categorically rejects sending artillery shells to Ukraine

🇮🇳 India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has said that it hasn’t exported any artillery shells to Ukraine.

“We have seen media reports. We want to categorically state that we haven’t exported any artillery shells to Ukraine,” MEA spokesman Randhir Jaiswal said in response to a question from Sputnik India at the weekly briefing.

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📹 The upgraded T-80BVM tanks were first delivered to the units of the Russian Armed Forces in the Zaporozhye region.

The vehicle has a number of new and improved features that make it very effective on the battlefield, the commander of the tank unit said.

❗️ A shipment of 25,000 tonnes of free Russian grain arrived in Eritrea today, the Russian Embassy in the Eastern African nation told exclusively to Sputnik Africa.

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🗣 America is losing its dominance over global trade:

“You look at the top ten busiest container sea ports in the world, seven of them are in China, and one or two more are in South Korea and in Singapore. So the trade is all happening on the east side of the world and the western part, if you look at Los Angeles and so on, they really have dropped in trade and they're not significant anymore. So, whatever way you slice the cake, the US is losing its preeminence,” SL Kanthan, India-based geopolitical analyst, told New Rules podcast.

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