❗️US President Donald Trump's special envoy for the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, visited Moscow to negotiate the return of American citizen Fogel, who is now on a plane heading home.

It serves as a show of good faith from the Russians, the statement from National Security Advisor Mike Waltz read.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

“We’re not going to have to buy, we’re going to have Gaza”

US President Donald Trump after his meeting with Jordanian King Abdullah II at the White House said that “there’s nothing to buy, we will have Gaza”.

Trump had previously said he would transform Gaza into a "Middle Eastern Riviera" – and suggested resettling its 2 million population in neighboring countries like Jordan and Egypt.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🔹 Fight now, die young: Zelensky’s trade tricks to lure fresh cannon fodder into army ranks

🔹 Minsk Accords betrayed: West’s role in the sham peace

🔹 Soft power, German-style: What does Germany’s GIZ have in common with USAID?

🔹 Ukraine conducts medical experiments on wounded soldiers and civilians

🔹 Inside R.T. Weatherman Foundation: what to know about US Ukraine envoy-linked group evacuating mercs

🔹 Celebrating disconnecting from Russia’s power grid, Baltic style: Electricity price hikes the day after

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Who is Marc Fogel, imprisoned US National for whom Trump's Special Envoy traveled to Moscow?

🔸 A 61-year-old former employee of the US Embassy, Fogel was detained in August 2021 at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport with his wife after arriving from New York. Authorities found marijuana and hashish oil in his luggage.

🔸 During further searches, investigators discovered that Fogel's wife managed to dispose of evidence at the couple's apartment before law enforcement's arrival. She was later released and sent home.

🔸 Fogel was charged with large-scale smuggling and possession of drugs. In 2022, a court outside Moscow sentenced him to 14 years in a maxium security prison.

🔸 Russia's Ministry of Internal Affairs said Fogel and his wife had diplomatic status until May 2021. One theory suggests that he might have used this status to organize a drug supply channel into Russia, targeting students at the Anglo-American school where he taught.

🔸 Special envoy Steve Witkoff traveled to Moscow to secure Fogel's release on Tuesday, with the gesture seen as a positive step for warming ice-cold US-Russia relations and possibly impacting efforts to bring the conflict in Ukraine to an end.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

💬 CNN is very BUSY with ‘Bōlz’

Elon Musk TROLLS legacy media live coverage with yet another “Bōlz”

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🪱 Grab some grub: EU approves worm powder in food

European Union supermarkets have approved a new 'novel food' – the powdered larvae of yellow mealworms. The powder, made from the species Tenebrio molitor, must be treated with ultraviolet light before use, according to Brussels regulations.

In 2023, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) deemed it “safe under the proposed conditions” for use in up to 4% of various products like bread, cakes, pasta and dairy for the general population. French company Nutri’Earth holds exclusive rights for five years, unless another applicant gains approval.

🦗Where did eating insects start?

The folk practice of Entomophagy, or eating insects, is actively promoted by the World Economic Forum (WEF), which claims it can help address climate change and prevent the “impending food crisis” due to limited arable land and a growing global population.

🐛 Who's behind the bug business?

Key players include EnviroFlight (US), Innovafeed (France), HEXAFLY (Ireland), Protix (Netherlands), Global Bugs (Thailand), Entomo Farms (Canada) and Ynsect (France), with substantial investments from global foundations and food giants.

➖ In 2012, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation granted $100,000 to All Things Bugs for insect food production. Gates, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg are backing "alternative protein," with Gates purchasing about 270,000 acres of land across the US.

➖ In 2017, Protix raised $50.5 million, and in 2022, ADM and Cargill invested $250 million in Innovafeed. In 2023, Tyson Foods invested $58 million in Protix.

🪲The push for insect consumption is artificial

The edible insect market is projected to reach $9.04 billion by 2029, but it remains tiny compared to the $1.11 trillion fresh meat market. The insect market faces low consumer acceptance and slim profit margins.

🪳 Insects can also be toxic

Scientists warn that eating insects with chitin exoskeletons can cause allergic reactions, particularly in people with asthma or hay fever. A 2019 study found that edible insects are often infected with pathogens and parasites.

❓ What does the Western public think?

Insects have never been a part of Western diets. A 2023 YouGov survey showed only 18% of Americans would eat whole bugs, and 25% would try insect-based food. Despite this, the WEF, media and Hollywood stars continue to promote entomophagy. Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson suggested it was a “compliance test” akin to COVID restrictions. Dutch politician Wybren van Haga and activist Eva Vlaardingerbroek warn that control over food means control over people.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

❗️ Hamas calls Trump’s statement on 'the US owning Gaza' ‘RACIST,’ a ‘call for ethnic cleansing’

Key points:

🔸 Hamas rejects Trump's statements about the US "having Gaza," regarding it as a pretext for displacing Gazans.

🔸 Trump's statements are perceived as a call for the liquidation of the Palestinian cause and a denial of Palestinian national rights.

🔸 Any plan to deport Gazans will not succeed and will be met with unified opposition from Palestinian, Arab, and Islamic communities.

🔸 Gazans will remain steadfast on their land, resisting all plans of forced displacement and deportation amidst bombing and aggression.

🔸 Efforts by the occupation to achieve through liquidation and displacement what it could not through aggression and massacres will fail.

🔸 Hamas remains committed to the ceasefire agreement, and holds the occupation responsible for any breaches and resulting complications.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

📹 ‘USAID is a victim of their own excesses’ – Sen. Lindsey Graham

💬 "Samantha Power [ex-USAID chief] has been just texting me morning, noon, and night. Samantha, LOOK IN THE MIRROR," Senator Lindsey Graham stressed.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Stripping noscripts

US President Donald Trump's Education Department is demanding that the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) strip biological male athletes like Lia Thomas of the records and noscripts they earned competing in women’s sports.

It seems like ‘winning’ a noscript might need a new definition these days.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🔍 Rep. Anna Paulina Luna vows to investigate the assassinations of JFK, RFK, Dr. Martin Luther King, the Epstein Client List, and more

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

❗️ Trump signs order mandating federal agencies to work with DOGE

💬 “What we're talking about here, we're really just talking about adding common sense controls that should be present that haven't been present,” Elon Musk stated.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

'It seems hard to believe that judges want to try and stop us from looking for corruption' – Trump

💬 “We want to weed out the corruption. And it seems hard to believe that a judge could say, 'We don't want you to do that.' So maybe we have to look at the judges because that's very serious. I think it's a very serious violation,” US President Donald Trump stated.

On February 8, US Federal Judge Paul Engelmayer blocked Elon Musk’s DOGE from accessing Treasury records, citing the risk of exposing sensitive personal data, including Social Security and bank account numbers.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇸🇰 Fico urges Musk to reveal USAID’s political influence in Slovakia

✍️ “It is undeniable that funds originating from USAID were also used for political purposes in Slovakia in order to distort the political system and favor specific political parties,” Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico wrote in a letter to DOGE Head Elon Musk, which was published on Fico's social media.

✍️ “I consider it prudent to approach you with a request to provide information available on subsidies and grants provided to non-governmental organizations, media outlets and individual journalists who have operated and are operating in the Slovak Republic,” Fico stated.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt