❗️ The US House of Representatives will break from legislative business until February 28, without having advanced any legislation to provide assistance to Ukraine and Israel.

House lawmakers adjourned on Thursday for a President’s Day break, before beginning consideration of legislation to provide aid to Ukraine and Israel, such as a $95 billion supplemental funding bill passed by the US Senate earlier this week.

US Congressman Don Bacon reportedly said that he intends to introduce a new bipartisan bill with foreign aid and border security measures, which cut some economic and humanitarian assistance included in the US Senate bill.

US House Speaker Mike Johnson has said that he has no plans to bring the Senate bill to the House floor for a vote.

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Recession-plagued Japanese economy ‘has fallen into vicious circle’ thanks to anti-Russian sanctions

Tokyo’s decision to impose sanctions against Russia after February 2022 contributed to the current woes plaguing the Japanese economy that has now entered recession, says Sergio Rossi, professor of macroeconomics and monetary economics at the University of Fribourg.

According to him, the “boomerang effect” of the Japanese sanctions “can be observed to a large extent on energy prices, which have been recording a mushroom growth in the last two years.”

“This has given rise to observable inflationary pressures across the market for produced goods and services, thereby reducing the purchasing power of Japanese consumers, mostly with regard to the middle class, which has a higher propensity to consume than the wealthy people,” Rossi notes.

“As a result, consumption expenditures have slowed down, thereby inducing a sort of demand-led recession across the Japanese economy. This weakened the exchange rate of the Japanese yen, thereby aggravating the domestic inflationary pressures stemming from a much higher cost for imported goods.” Japan’s economy thus has “fallen into a vicious circle,” he states.

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Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev discussed with his Iranian counterpart, Ali Akbar Ahmadian, security issues in the Middle East and Central Asia in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, the Russian Security Council said.

"There was an extensive exchange of views on issues of mutual interest, with an emphasis on the strategic priorities of Russia and the Islamic Republic of Iran. The parties focused on security issues in the Middle East and Central Asia, as well as prospects for Russia-Iran cooperation in countering challenges and threats to the security of both states," a statement said.

The officials also discussed the practical implementation of the agreements at the highest level, the council highlighted.

Nikolai Patrushev and Ali Akbar Ahmadian held talks on the eve of the multilateral meeting of the secretaries of security councils on the issues related to Afghanistan.

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has signed a bill legalizing the use of cannabis for medical purposes in Ukraine, the country's parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, said.

"The bill on regulating the circulation of hemp plants for medical, industrial purposes, scientific and scientific-technical activities… was returned with the signature of Volodymyr Zelensky," the Verkhovna Rada said in a statement.

The bill will go into effect six months after it is officially published.

On December 21, 2023, Ukrainian lawmaker Yaroslav Zheleznyak said that the Verkhovna Rada had adopted a bill on the legalization of medical cannabis in the second reading. Later, a resolution to block the bill was registered in parliament. Subsequently, the majority of deputies refused to block it.

Zelensky pledged to legalize medical cannabis during his presidential campaign in 2019. However, the bill failed to pass the parliament in July 2021. The Ukrainian cabinet backed the president's bid to allow its cultivation and use for medical and scientific purposes in June 2022.

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🇿🇦 'Over our dead bodies': Global South mustn't allow West to extend its domination, SA politician says

There is a need to build a cohesive and powerful global movement that will serve as a steadfast bulwark against neo-colonial and imperialist forces that seek to conserve their hegemony in different ways, Dr. Alex Mashilo, the South African Communist Party (SACP) National Spokesperson, told Sputnik Africa.

"For example, they will deprive you of access to original sources of information, such as what Russia is saying. And when you do an Internet search engine, depending on the territory you are doing that from, the results you will receive are predominantly Western European and American internet search engine results. What do those results do? They push an imperialist agenda and want you to believe it," the South African politician explained.

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Exposed: US intel's false claim on the Trump-Russia collusion

The US intelligence community fabricated claims that Russian President Vladimir Putin preferred Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton in the 2016 US presidential election, journalists Michael Shellenberger, Matt Taibbi and Alex Gutentag reported.

An Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) published by the US Director of National Intelligence in January 2017 purported that Putin wanted Trump to win the election.

However, the assessment’s authors fabricated the intelligence on the claim, the report said, citing sources close to a House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) investigation into the origins of the Trump-Russia scandal.

The findings of the HPSCI investigation are being blocked from release, according to the report.

Evidence indicates that Putin actually preferred Clinton, the report said. The House investigators found that US intelligence analysts had information about Russians calling Trump unreliable and unsteady, the report said.

In contrast, intelligence indicates that Russians viewed Clinton as manageable and likely to continue existing US policies, the report said.

A four-year investigation by US Special Counsel Robert Mueller into the allegations found no evidence of a criminal conspiracy.

A subsequent investigation by US Special Counsel John Durham concluded that the FBI should have never launched the probe into the collusion allegations.

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Soaring US national debt will reach double annual GDP by 2050

US national debt will double annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in a quarter century and will grow faster than the domestic economy, driven by huge and growing Medicare and Social Security deficits, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) warned in a new report.

"The federal government faces an unsustainable long-term fiscal path that poses serious economic, security, and social challenges if not addressed," the report said.

The government's accumulated debt is projected to grow faster than the entire economy, reaching 200% of GDP by 2050 if revenue and spending policies are unchanged, the report states.

"Large budget deficits drive the growing debt, as Medicare and Social Security spending outpace revenue," the GAO said.

Government interest spending as a share of GDP will reach an all-time high by 2030, in part due to rising interest rates, the report added.

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“The best way to contain this Russia is to continue funding Ukraine, to keep Russia trapped in Ukraine, to keep the Ukrainians killing Russians. That's what's behind this,” former UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter told Sputnik’s Fault Lines program.

The analyst alleged that US Representative Mike Turner is part of a deep state “cabal” of lawmakers and intelligence officials who want to destroy Russia at any cost.

“Turner is… part of the cabal of people that view this Ukrainian conflict [as] not about defense of democracy – knock off this nonsense – it's about defeating Russia, the strategic objective of the United States by using Ukraine as a proxy in a conflict against Russia,” Ritter emphasized.

The discussion comes amidst claims by Turner that Russia possesses the capability to knock out US satellite communications, with observers saying the revelation is likely timed to convince GOP legislators to back further military funding for the Ukrainian proxy war. Russia has dominated Kiev’s forces on the battlefield in recent months, with a lack of ammunition contributing to the decimation of Ukraine’s Nazi army.

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🇷🇺🇪🇬 Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov and Egyptian Ambassador in Moscow Nazih el Nagari discussed the Palestine-Israel conflict and the possible tragic consequences of the implementation of Israel's plans to conduct a military operation in the city of Rafah, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

“During the conversation, the main attention was paid to the situation in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict zone. We expressed deep concern about the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip and the need for an immediate ceasefire was stressed," the ministry said.

According to the statement, the countries pointed out the possible tragic consequences of the implementation of the Israeli army's plans to conduct a military operation in Rafah, including the displacement of a million Palestinians into Egypt and the destabilization of the situation throughout the entire Middle East region.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday Israel would take large-scale actions in Rafah after the evacuation of the civilian population.

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Hypocrisy in action: Israel is allowed to participate in Eurovision while Russia is banned

Israel will be allowed to compete in this year’s Eurovision, organizers say. The decision contradicts the song contest’s decision to bar Russia following the launch of its military operation in Ukraine in February 2022. The country ended up missing the contest in 2022 and 2023.

“The Eurovision song contest is a non-political music event and a competition between public service broadcasters who are members of the EBU. It is not a contest between governments,” Noel Curran, the EBU director general, said in a statement.

“Our governing bodies… did review the participants list for the 2024 contest and agreed that the Israeli public broadcaster Kan met all the competition rules for this year and can participate, as it has for the past 50 years,” Curran claimed.

In response to the ban, Russian national broadcasters suspended their memberships from the EBU.

At the time, the contest’s executive supervisor, Martin Österdahl, said the contest’s values stood for “basic and ultimate values of democracy” as well as “solidarity, reaching out, and uniting through music”.

In December, 2023, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin announced that Moscow would stage its own singing contest with its “partner countries” as a replacement for Eurovision.

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🍔🍟 Journalist Tucker Carlson expressed his approval after a visit to the fast-food restaurant “Vkusno - i Tochka” (lit. Tasty, period) during his stay in Moscow, calling the Russian cheeseburger and fries “excellent”.

“Vkusno - i Tochka” is a Russian fast-food restaurant chain created on the model of "McDonald's" after its closure in Russia due to Western anti-Russia sanctions.

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Bombshell: Obama CIA colluded with foreign powers in a massive spy op against Trump

“The US was not able to spy on Trump legally [through] the intelligence community. So, they asked their allies, 'Hey, spy on someone and tell us what's going on,'” analyst Daniel McAdams told Sputnik’s Fault Lines program, commenting on the recent report that suggests CIA officials worked through foreign intelligence partners to spy on Trump’s presidential campaign.

Since 2016, Democratic Party officials have accused former President Trump of collusion with Russia as part of the discredited “Russiagate” narrative, but now it appears such claims may be a case of projection.

“It is deplorable that we have a federal government that is spying on our citizens, not because of a legitimate national security interest, but because the deep state is trying to protect their interests rather than the interests of fair and free elections,” attorney Steve Gill said in response to the report.

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‘More disgusting, more vile’: a Palestinian hostage was shot dead after delivering a message by the IDF, media reports.

A recent report shows that Israeli forces shot dead a Palestinian hostage whom they sent into al-Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis to warn others to evacuate. Footage that was shared online shows the man wearing protective clothing with his hands zip tied together.

According to the video testimony by Palestinian journalist Mohammaed Akram al-Helo, the man was detained and arrested in the hospital before he was sent back with his message from Israeli forces. After delivering his message and following Israeli orders he was shot three times in cold blood, says the journalist.

“Gaza is a pen, this is what it was made for and I think that the fact is that the Israeli military seems pretty cowardly. They seem pretty inept, and I think that this is pretty standard order for them. They just want to line up targets,” James Carey, the host of the Left is Dead podcast, said. “I think that people can't see how these crimes sort of repeat genocides of the past is really baffling to me, because it's so obvious that there's just no regard for civilian life, in this case,” he added.

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As establishment figures in Washington stoke Russophobia with hysterical claims of Russian space nukes, security analyst David Oualaalou noted the timing of the “revelations” is likely intended to damage Donald Trump after the former president made statements questioning the relevance of NATO.

“The timing of the release of this story seems interesting and I would say is – no pun intended – targeted like a laser to damaging Donald Trump,” Oualaalou told Sputnik’s The Critical Hour program.

Trump has angered establishment figures by challenging Ukraine funding and other Washington foreign policy shibboleths. However, host Garland Nixon said establishment outrage against Trump likely helps instead of harms him.

“They don't understand that in a way, they're helping Donald Trump because the American people, the average working-class people, don’t see NATO as something that we got to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on,” Nixon emphasized.

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Throughout the post-Soviet era, Russia made a great deal of concessions to the Ukrainian government, whose insatiable appetite turned out to be worth tens of billions of dollars, according to the data.

In his address to the nation in 2020, Russian President Vladimir Putin elaborated on the various privileges and multi-million dollar favors Russia had granted to its neighbor in the years following the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The many concessions made by the Russian government included trade agreements, energy supplies, purchasing Eurobonds, and paying off old debt.

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▪️ John Kirby admits Russia has almost liberated Avdeyevka, blames Republicans for it

▪️ Scott Ritter explains reason behind US fanning the ‘Russian nuclear threat’ scare

▪️ British ship under the flag of Barbados attacked by Houthis in the Gulf of Aden

▪️ What was that massive spy op against Trump all about?

More stories:

▪️ UN Palestinian refugee agency’s center for the visually impaired in Gaza City completely destroyed by Israeli forces

▪️ Exposed: US intel's false claim on the Trump-Russia collusion

▪️ Journalist Tucker Carlson enjoyed “excellent” cheeseburger and fries at a Russian fast-food restaurant

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Ukraine is withdrawing units from parts of Avdeyevka, spokesman for the country's military, Dmytro Lykhovoy, said, as quoted by Reuters.

"In Avdeevka a manoeuvre is underway in some places to withdraw our units to more advantageous positions," Lykhovoy said in televised comments.

"Therefore the key announcement with regards to all this is that supplies to Avdeevka and evacuations from there are difficult," he said.

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❗️The Russian Investigative Committee opened a case of terrorist attack following yesterday's Ukrainian shelling of Belgorod

❗️ WATCH NOW: Lavrov Speaks at Conference Marking 10th Anniversary of 'Euromaidan' Unrest

Watch the livestream here or follow the link to the Sputnik's website

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