❗️Ukraine again shows its terrorist nature by disrupting rotation of IAEA experts — Russian MFA

🇷🇺 Key points from the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs briefing:

🔹 The planned rotation of experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Secretariat at the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant, originally scheduled for February 5 but postponed to February 12 due to Kiev's actions, once again did not take place.

🔹 During the planned rotation, Kiev made another attempt to attack the plant using a drone.

🔹 A column of Russian military personnel and IAEA Secretariat experts, who were supposed to leave the plant, came under attack by drones and mortar fire.

🔹 Russia will make every effort to neutralize threats posed by Ukraine to the functioning of the power plant.

🔹 By disrupting the rotation of IAEA experts, Kiev once again demonstrated its unwillingness to negotiate and its terrorist nature.

🔹 Russia will continue to work with IAEA leadership to ensure the safe and secure presence of the agency's representatives at the facility.

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⚡️Putin holds first call with the Syrian transitional President Ahmad Sharaa

Earlier the Russian side emphasized that the unwavering support for the unity, territorial integrity and sovereignty of Syria are the principle approaches of Russia and it does not change.

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📹 The US does not believe that Ukraine’s NATO membership is a realistic outcome of a negotiated settlement — Pentagon Chief Pete Hegseth

Returning to Ukraine's 1991 borders is an unrealistic objective and illusionary goal, Hegseth stated

Security guarantees for Ukraine must be backed by European and non-european troops, as US troops will not be deployed, he added

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Russia scores HUGE geopolitical triumph with Sudan base

The agreed-on Russian naval base in Port Sudan lies along a key region where “many others have wanted to establish a foothold, but only we have succeeded,” military expert Evgeny Mikhailov told Sputnik, spelling out the deal’s numerous benefits:

🚢 Maritime access

Russia gets a foothold on the Red Sea, while obtaining access to the Indian Ocean

🗺 Strategic value

🔸 enhances logistical support for various military units

🔸 helps mitigate threats to Russian tankers and vessels in the Red Sea and the Suez Canal zones from so-called "civilized world piracy" as witnessed in the Baltic Sea

🔸 provides a convenient point for intelligence monitoring as NATO, the US, and France get pushed out of the Central African region

🌐 Geopolitical influence

🔹 bolsters Russia’s clout and capabilities on the African continent

🔹 elevates Sudan’s standing among neighboring countries, while solidifying cooperation with Russia

“They see that we are fighting against the global West. More and more "third-world" countries are joining us, we are strengthening cooperation, and Russian influence is expanding,” noted Mikhailov.

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📈 Chinese tech stocks get HUGE BUMP following DeepSeek’s success

The valuation of the Hang Seng Tech benchmark of 30 top Chinese tech firms on the Hong Kong Exchange has collectively grown by 25 percent over the past month.

The rise comes at the same time that the US’s so-called ‘Magnificent Seven’ tech stocks (Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, NVIDIA and TESLA) saw a collective 0.5% drop for the month after recovering from a $1 trln wipeout attributed to the rise of DeepSeek and other Chinese AI large language models to challenge Silicon Valley.

The Chinese tech boom is good news for the Asian nation as it moves toward a showdown with the US on trade and technology, with AI just one of dozens of areas where China has demonstrated superiority.

The biggest winners of the HKEX bump so far?

🟠ecommerce and cloud-computing giant Alibaba (43%)
🟠electric car maker BYD (40%)
🟠electronics company Xiaomi (34%)
🟠search engine maker Baidu (13%)

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❗️❗️❗️"Africa must take full control of its own destiny," Kenyan prime cabinet secretary addresses Western neocolonialism

Africa needs to assert its independence and shape its own future, Kenyan Prime Cabinet Secretary and Foreign Affairs Minister Dr. Musalia Mudavadi said on the sidelines of the 38th African Union Summit, where the central theme is justice for Africans and people of African descent through reparations.

💬 “Africa must now be treated appropriately. [...] And going forward, Africa must take full control of its own destiny,” he told Sputnik Africa, highlighting the continent’s youthful population of 1.4 billion people.

He stressed the importance of greater integration, increased intra-African trade, and self-reliance in handling peace and security challenges.

According to Mudavadi, the summit is crucial in ensuring strong leadership that can drive Africa toward true sovereignty and economic empowerment, free from the lingering effects of colonialism and neocolonialism.

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❗️❗️❗️Africa seeks Russia’s support for UNSC reform, Kenyan prime cabinet secretary says

Kenyan Prime Cabinet Secretary and Foreign Affairs Minister Dr. Musalia Mudavadi has called on Russia to support Africa’s push for greater representation in global governance, particularly in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).

Speaking on the sidelines of the upcoming 38th African Union Summit, which will start on Saturday, Mudavadi emphasized Africa’s demand for two permanent seats in the UNSC, a position collectively held by the continent’s 55 nations.

💬 “With 28% of the world’s countries, Africa remains excluded from permanent membership in the Security Council,” he told Sputnik Africa.

He highlighted Russia’s role as a permanent UNSC member and urged Moscow to champion Africa’s cause for a more inclusive and representative global security framework.

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😷🤑 COVID made Fauci a multimillionaire – How did his wealth surge by $12.6M?

🦠 While the world battled the COVID-19, Dr Anthony Fauci’s net worth ballooned from $7.6 million to a jaw-dropping $12.6 million from 2019 to 2021, according to financial disclosures by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

💸 On top of his official annual salary of $480,000 – which already surpassed US President’s – Fauci also earned incomes from outside groups.

📄 According to media reports, in 2021 he got:

🟠$901k grant from the Israel-based Dan David Foundation for "speaking truth to power"

🟠$2.82 million from a mix of federal income and benefits totaling $903,497

🟠$1,019,205 from outside awards and royalties

🟠$910,174 from investment gains

✍️ NIH data revealed that the agency itself earned $710 million in royalties during the pandemic – of which $690 million went to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the subagency led by Fauci.

⚖️ In his final hours in office, former US President Joe Biden pardoned Fauci from potential prosecutions, sparking questions about what crimes he may have committed. Elon Musk also commented on the origin of Fauci’s wealth, claiming: “He made a percentage.”

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📹 Watch ‘delighted’ German man get Russian residence permit

The man, who applied to live in Russia citing “destructive neoliberal ideological attitudes” in his home country, was granted the right to residency in Bryansk.

Last year, President Putin signed a decree on the provision of “humanitarian support to people who share traditional Russian spiritual values,” simplifying procedures for temporary residence.

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🤑 How Federal Reserve’s corruption has swung US from crisis to crisis

Donald Trump and Jerome Powell are embroiled in another feud, with the president accusing the Fed chairman of triggering and failing to fix the inflation crisis amid his refusal to cut interest rates.

The Federal Reserve hasn’t hesitated to manipulate rates to help banks and Wall Street against the little guy in the past.

Causing full-on crises:

🔸 The Fed dropped rates to near zero and did massive quantitative easing (money printing) in 2008 as banks and corporations got multi-trillion-dollar bailouts, triggering a distressed asset buyup

🔸 It reduced interest to 0% in 2020, injecting $4 trln+ into the economy, helping stock and housing speculators as small businesses and savers faced crushing lockdowns

🔸 Rates were hiked to 20% in 1981, crashing the economy, collapsing stock and housing markets, facilitating another asset buyup

Smaller Calamities

🔹 Raising rates from 0-5% in 2022-2023 crashed the stock, housing and crypto markets after the Fed ignored inflation warnings for a year, benefiting hedge funds

🔹 Another big hike in 2018, despite low inflation, crashed the market and prompted Trump to allege sabotage

🔹 Six rate increases in 1999-2000 burst the dot-com bubble. Big investors shorted tech stocks in time, leaving small investors broke

🔹 Six surprise hikes in 1994 crashed the bond market, ruining small investors as banks profited

Corrupt to the Core

Besides rate cuts and hikes helping banks and big business, the Fed has been accused of a litany of other crimes:

🟠 Facilitating a ‘revolving door’ of Wall Street and cushy bank exec jobs for ex-Fed officials

🟠 Insider trading, like the 2021-2022 scandals that forced Dallas and Boston Fed bosses Robert Kaplan and Eric Rosengren to resign, and later pushed out Fed Vice Chair Richard Clarida

🟠 Bailouts for the boys, uncovered by a 2011 GAO audit which found $16 trln in secret loans to banks like Goldman Sachs, Citi and JPMorgan in 2008, plus trillions more for Deutsche Bank and UBS

🟠 Regulatory capture, as revealed by whistleblower Carmen Segarra in 2012

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House of horrors: Ukrainian combatants brutally slaughtered peaceful civilians in Russia’s Kursk

Following the liberation of the settlement of Nikolayevo-Daryino in the Kursk region, Russian forces uncovered a harrowing scene: nearly every man in the village had been executed by Ukrainian combatants, with only one survivor remaining, as reported by Russia's Defense Ministry.

For six months, Ukrainian militants held local residents hostage, using them as human shields and subjecting them to mockery and violence.

"My husband was killed for no reason. I had just gone home to get some water," recounted local resident Nadezhda.

On January 20, Russian forces reclaimed the land, but the scars of what transpired there will never be forgotten.

Earlier, President Vladimir Putin stated that the Kiev regime commits crimes on a daily basis against both their own citizens and the Russian people. Thus, it is the duty of military justice officials to document these atrocities, while the special services are responsible for identifying and punishing the criminals involved.

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💸 Inside the millionaire's club: top-7 richest members of the US Congress

Federal officials whose wealth far exceeds match their salaries are being investigated by Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

Most senators and Congress representatives earn a base salary of around $174,000 – a drop in the bucket for more the than half of them who are millionaires.

❓Who leads the pack?

💰 Senator Rick Scott: With an estimated net worth ranging from $271 million to $808 million, the Florida senator is considered the wealthiest member of Congress. His fortune comes mainly from his role as co-founder of Columbia Hospital Corporation – now HCA Healthcare – one of the largest for-profit hospital operators in the US, operating more than 180 hospitals and 2,300 care sites.

💰 Representative Darrell Issa has an estimated wealth of approximately $460 million. The California congressman founded Directed Electronics, a leading manufacturer of car security and convenience products.

💰 Senator Mark Warner: The Virginia senator's net worth is estimated at about $246 million. He amassed his wealth through ventures in the telecommunications industry, including early investments in companies such as Nextel Communications.

💰 Representative Daniel S. Goldman has an estimated net worth of up to $253 million, derived primarily from his inheritance and investments tied to his family's stake in Levi Strauss & Co, the iconic jeans company.

💰 Senator Mitt Romney: With an estimated net worth of about $234 million, The former Massachusetts and Utah senator co-founded Bain Capital, a private investment firm that greatly boosted his wealth.

💰 Representative Michael McCaul: The Texas congressman’s net worth is estimated at $100-200 million, largely due to his marriage into the family that founded Clear Channel Communications – now iHeartMedia – a leading global media and entertainment company mainly focused on radio, outdoor advertising and digital platforms.

💰 Representative Nancy Pelosi: The former speaker of the house, Pelosi has an estimated net worth of approximately $120 million, with significant investments in companies such as Apple, Microsoft, Amazon and Google.

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Something to hide? Democrats unite to try to stop DOGE 'incursion' into pet financial watchdog agency

189 lawmakers led by Senator Elizabeth Warren and Representative Maxine Waters want to prevent Elon Musk’s team from sniffing around the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

“Your efforts to dismantle the CFPB are dangerous, and we will fight them at every turn,” lawmakers wrote, characterizing DOGE’s efforts as an “incursion” and acting director Vought and Treasury chief Bessent’s orders to stop work as “illegal.”

Warren and Waters led a cringeworthy, expletive-laden protest Tuesday, dubbing Musk a “thief” and “gangster” and accusing Trump’s “handful of billionaires” of trying to “cheat” ordinary Americans.

Trump responded by calling Warren “Pocahontas the faker,” and a “really nasty woman,” accusing the senator, who helped set up the CFPB in 2011, of using it “as her own little personal agency to go around and destroy people.”

The CFPB had “a bad group of people running it but it was also a waste,” and the administration is “trying to get rid of waste, fraud and abuse,” Trump said.

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⚠️ Tulsi Gabbard has been confirmed as Director of National Intelligence

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⚡️Trump says he had a long conversation with Putin

The US President stated that his conversation with Putin was very productive, adding that they discussed Ukraine, the Middle East, energy issues, and a number of other topics.

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📞 Putin-Trump phone call: what we know so far

🔸 The leaders of Russia and the US discussed Ukraine, the Middle East, energy issues, and the exchange of citizens between Russia and the US

🔸 The two leaders discussed a peaceful resolution to the situation in Ukraine

🔸 Trump called for an immediate end to hostilities and a peaceful resolution to the crisis

🔸 Trump said he and Putin agreed on the necessity of stopping the conflict in Ukraine

🔸 During their conversation, Putin emphasized the importance of addressing the root causes of the conflict in Ukraine

🔸 The leaders of the two countries agreed to instruct their teams to begin negotiations "immediately," Trump noted

🔸 On the US side, the negotiations will be led by the CIA Director, Secretary of State, and National Security Advisor

🔸 The Russian president invited his American counterpart to Moscow, and other future contacts were also discussed

🔸 Trump stated that during the conversation with Putin, the topic of joint efforts on the battlefields of World War II was raised

🔸 Trump also thanked Putin for securing the release of Marc Fogel. Fogel, a former US embassy employee, had been sentenced to 14 years in Russia for drug smuggling. As part of the exchange, the US will release Alexander Vinnik, the Russian’s lawyer said

🔸 The conversation lasted for one and a half hours, said Putin's spokesperson

🔴 BEING UPD

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📹 Watch NOW - a story of SURVIVAL that’s shaking the Internet!

A female military surgeon, captured and tortured in captivity, was brutally mutilated - her back carved with a swastika by Ukrainian neo-Nazis. But what happens next will leave you speechless.

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Trump and Zelensky are having phone conversation right now, an FT correspondent reports

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