🇮🇷 Iran has blamed Washington's refusal to lift sanctions for Friday's breakdown in the latest round of talks regarding a return to the 2015 JCPOA nuclear deal in Vienna.

A senior Iranian Foreign Ministry official said that the problem lies in the US delegation's insistence that it would maintain some sanctions even if Tehran limits its uranium enrichment

"It has now become clear that the US reluctance to fully abandon the sanctions is the major challenge to progress in the talks," the official said.

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⚡️ Biden White House to reportedly announce diplomatic boycott of Beijing Olympics

The boycott only applies to US government officials who traditionally attend the international games.
Olympians competing under the US flag will not be impacted by the demonstration.

👀Dr. Anthony Fauci appeared to be momentarily speechless after Republican US Senator Ron Johnson asserted that the epidemiologist had 'overhyped' the effects of COVID-19.🦠

Fauci is using the same method he used in the 1980s when he "overhyped" the threat of HIV/AIDS, according to Johnson's remarks.

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🇺🇸 ⭐️ The World Petroleum Congress (WPC), a triennial global industry event that was postponed by a year amid the pandemic, finally opened in Houston on Sunday night, a Sputnik correspondent reports.

The forum will last until December 9, with around 5,000 representatives from 70 different countries expected to attend.

⚡️ Kremlin calls US-Russia ties 'lamentable' on eve of Putin-Biden video call

Check out some news you may have missed:

▪️The US actively shared intelligence in order to convince the EU and NATO of Moscow's alleged plans to prepare an invasion of Ukraine, the Financial Times reports.

▪️Chris Cuomo has been fired from CNN not only because he helped defend his brother, but also over allegations of sexual misconduct, according to attorney Debra Katz.

▪️Alec Baldwin is facing a backlash for deleting his Twitter account – following his controversial tell-all interview about the fatal "Rust" shooting.

▪️A man has been arrested for allegedly harassing the judge overseeing the trial of Kim Potter – the police officer who shot Daunte Wright in April.

▪️A student of the University of New Hampshire was found dead in the woods on Sunday afternoon after a fight at a fraternity party.

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❗️ New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio has expanded a vaccine mandate for all private sector workers.

https://twitter.com/NYCMayor/status/1467845610065780740

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📌 The new rules require proof of two vaccine doses instead of one. Kids from 5 to 11 need to provide proof as well – when at entertainment venues or dining indoors.

The measure will reportedly come into effect starting 27 December.

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⚡️ Kremlin: Putin will listen to Biden's proposals on Ukraine 'with great interest'

🛬❗️ New travel rules for air passengers arriving in the US went into effect today.

Now, travellers have to take a COVID test no more than one day before trip, regardless of their vaccination status. Previously, the test could be up to three days old for those vaccinated.

The new measure applies to all people aged two years and older.

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⚡️ Biden administration reportedly mulls cutting Russia off SWIFT, sanctions against energy producers

❗️The White House is reportedly considering sanctions against Moscow ahead of Biden and Putin’s video call tomorrow.

The wide array of options include:

🔹 new sanctions against President Putin’s “inner circle”;

🔹 sanctions against Russian energy producers;

🔹 disconnecting Russia from SWIFT – a worldwide system of inter-bank communications.

"We have put together a pretty damn aggressive package", CNN quotes a senior administration official as saying.

The official, however, expressed concerns that Moscow could retaliate by holding back its energy production.

No final decision has been made on the sanctions package, CNN says.

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⚡️ US government officials will not attend 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing – White House

❗️ US athletes will still participate in the games despite the diplomatic boycott, Jen Psaki says

🚨 The NYPD is looking for a man who robbed a small grocery shop in Queens.

The suspect approached the register counter while it was unattended and left with $72,000 in cash.

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❗️ A secure line of video communication will be used in the upcoming Putin-Biden talk, Kremlin Press Secretary Peskov says

❌ The White House has announced that it would hold a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing by refusing to send any US government officials to the games.

"The Biden administration will not send any diplomatic or official representation to the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympic Games given the PRC's ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang and other human rights abuses," White House spokesperson Jen Psaki told reporters.

🗣 Jen Psaki: "The athletes on Team USA have our full support. We will be behind them 100% as we cheer them on from home, but we will not being contributing to the fanfare of the games."

"US diplomatic or official representation would treat these game as 'business as usual' in the face of the PRC's egregious human rights abuses and atrocities in Xinjiang, and we simply can't do that," she added.

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🧑‍⚖️ The trial of Ghislaine Maxwell on child sex trafficking charges is entering its second week today.

Here is what last week’s hearings revealed:

🔹 the authorities seized two massage tables and sex toys during a search of Epstein’s south Florida estate;

🔹 Epstein's former housekeeper said he had to clean up after his massages, mentioning finding "large dildos" that were hidden in Ghislaine Maxwell's "basket of sex toys";

🔹 there was a "sexually suggestive photograph of a very young girl" in Epstein's bedroom at his Palm Beach estate, the prosecution said;

🔹 in his Manhattan house, "schoolgirl costumes, small ones, were found in the same floor of the house as a massage room where an underage girl was sexually abused", according to prosecutors;

🔹 an anonymous witness named "Jane" asserted that the late financier sexually abused her when she was 14 and that Maxwell was sometimes present during the process.

Ghislaine Maxwell has not testified.

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🇺🇸🇺🇦🇷🇺 US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin chaired a meeting of top Pentagon leaders on Monday morning to discuss the situation in Ukraine in light of Russian military buildup, spokesman says