🤝 Are you waiting for the Putin-Trump meeting?

🔍 Which countries officially offered venue for Putin-Trump meeting

🟠Serbia
🟠Slovakia
🟠Switzerland

🔍 Which nations could fit as experienced mediators in the Ukrainian conflict

🟠Brazil
🟠China
🟠Hungary
🟠Vietnam
🟠Egypt
🟠India
🟠Qatar
🟠United Arab Emirates
🟠Saudi Arabia
🟠South Africa
🟠Turkiye

🔍 Where key international gatherings are scheduled for 2025

🟠Brazil: BRICS Summit
🟠Germany: Munich Security Conference
🟠Malaysia: ASEAN Summit
🟠US: UNGA 80
🟠Switzerland: World Economic Forum
🟠South Africa: G20 Summit
🟠South Korea: APEC Forum

📊 #Sputnikinfographic

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🇻🇪 Why does US seek regime change in Venezuela?

The US president-elect, who spent much of his first term trying to oust Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, hasn’t lost his obsession with the Latin American nation, anonymous Trump advisors revealed to Axios on Saturday.

❓ What does Trump want?

🔸 Venezuela has oil: a lot of it. In fact, with nearly 300 billion barrels of proven reserves, the country has the largest untapped oil stockpile on Earth.

🔸 Some US and European energy companies are allowed to operate in Venezuela, but Washington would like to deregulate their activities, reduce taxes on earnings, and expand production.

🔸 Besides oil, Venezuela has vast untapped mineral and rare earths wealth, from iron ore, gold and bauxite to diamonds and the tech metal coltan, which late Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez dubbed ‘blue gold’.

⚔️ Geopolitical Competition

🔹 Besides resources, Trump’s Venezuela fever may be related to his obsession with America’s ‘Manifest Destiny’ and the Monroe Doctrine. Each are fraught with risks for nations in the Western Hemisphere seeking to escape US hegemony.

🔹 Venezuela has been outside of US orbit since the late 1990s and has forged close economic and security partnerships with China, Iran and Russia.

🔹 The Bush administration tried to coup Chavez in 2002. In 2018, disgraced former Trump advisor John Bolton labeled Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua the ‘Troika of Tyranny’, signaling Washington’s plans to push for regime change.

🔹 In 2019, the US slapped crushing sanctions on Venezuelan oil giant PDVSA, seizing billions in assets and trying to smother exports. In 2020, a bizarre attempt by a group of mercs to kidnap Maduro dubbed the ‘Bay of Piglets’ went comically wrong, leaving 6 mercs dead and 91 captured, including 2 Americans.

🔹 With Trump surrounding himself with Venezuela hawks like Marco Rubio and Mike Waltz, storm clouds are gathering for a new round of confrontation between Washington and Caracas.

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⚡️New footage of the transfer of Israeli female prisoners to Red Cross vehicles in Gaza has emerged online

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⚡️Palestinian prisoners set to be released under the exchange deal with Israel are being prepared for their handover to the Red Cross.

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TikTok states that it is in the process of restoring its service in the US and has committed to working with the Trump administration on a long-term solution to ensure the platform remains operational in the country

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🔸 Hamas hands over three Israeli hostages to IDF after long-awaited ceasefire comes into force

🔸 Preparations are underway in Israel to release more than 80 Palestinian hostages

🔸 WATCH: Hamas fighters freely move around the streets of Gaza after ceasefire deal takes effect

🔸 Where could Putin and Trump meet?

🔸 Why does US seek regime change in Venezuela?

🔸 Western intel now say ‘accidents’, not Russia, to blame for damaged Baltic cables

🔸 Privatizing profits, socializing losses: The sorry state of UK and US’s healthcare

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⚡️ The first pictures of Israeli hostages being reunited with their families at a reception point have been released by Israeli media

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TikTok has resumed service in the US

💬 "As a result of President Trump's efforts, TikTok is back in the U.S.!" the app's welcome page declares.

However, according to a Sputnik correspondent, it is still impossible to download TikTok from the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.

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📹 A video of the meeting between the three hostages released by Hamas earlier today and their families has been made public by the Israeli Prime Minister's Office

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Funky, fun and festive facts about US presidential inaugurations

The stage is set for Monday’s festivities marking Donald Trump’s return to the White House. In honor of the occasion, here are some interesting, curious and downright weird facts about this well-worn US tradition.

🔸 From 1792-1937, inauguration day was held on March 4, not January 20. The change was congressionally mandated in 1933 to reduce the transition time between the old ‘lame duck’ president and the new administration.

🔸 The number of stars on flags on the Capitol building changes depending on what state the new president is from, representing the order in which the state joined the Union.

🔸 Since Trump ran from two different states in 2020 and 2024 (New York and Florida), the flags had/have 13 and 27 stars, respectively.

🔸 In 1825, John Quincy Adams became only president-elect not to have given the presidential oath with his hand on a Bible. In 1977, Jimmy Carter became the only one to be sworn in by his nickname “Jimmy,” rather than his full name, “James Earl Carter.”

🔸 Inaugurated in 1837, Martin Van Buren was the first president not to have been born under British rule.

🔸 Inauguration Day parades have been held every year since 1841. In 1973, during Richard Nixon’s second inauguration, organizers’ desire to pigeon-poop-proof the event went horribly wrong, with pigeons eating a chemical meant to repel them and littering Nixon’s parade route with dead birds.

🔸 Some festivities associated with the inauguration, like the inaugural luncheon, didn’t exist before the 20th century. America’s first president, George Washington, dined alone in 1789 after his ceremony. Talk about sigma energy. Oh, and his 1793 inaugural address was just 135 words.

🔸 In 2009, Barack Obama became the first president to flub the oath of office by repeating Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts’ mistaken words. Obama retook the office shortly after. Roberts is expected to administer the oath again this year, hopefully correctly.

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😳 ‘I’m not going anywhere’ – Biden

On his last full day in office, outgoing President Joe Biden, during his speech at the Royal Missionary Baptist Church in Charleston, South Carolina, promised to remain active in public life after leaving the White House.

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📹 Trump vows to repeal 'every radical and foolish executive order of the Biden administration' on his first day

US President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to dismantle the diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) hiring practices.

💬 "We're going to stop the destructive and divisive DEI mandates across both government and the private sector," Trump stated.

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