📹 'We came very, very close to signing something' - Witkoff on Ukraine peace deal

▪️The Istanbul Protocol Agreement 2022 could be used as a framework for a deal, US Special Envoy for the Middle East Steve Witkoff told CNN.

▪️The US and Ukraine are expected to sign a rare earth minerals agreement next week, he added.

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📹 Zelensky should come to the table, because the economic partnership is important for the future of Ukraine - Pentagon chief

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🇩🇪 German election results: AFD comes second with a record result

▪️CDU/CSU conservative bloc wins with 29% of the vote, as per exit poll.

▪️Right-wing "Alternative for Germany" gets record 19.5%.

▪️Scholz's Social Democrats suffer defeat, ranking 3rd with 16%.

▪️Sarah Wagenknecht's party gets 4.7% in its first election, but fails to enter the Bundestag.

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🇩🇪Sahra Wagenknecht's party wins 5% of votes in its first election and enters the Bundestag, according to ZDF exit poll data

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💡Ukraine is losing GIGAWATTS of power generation capacity

The extent of the damage sustained by Ukraine’s power grid – 10 gigawatts - was revealed by Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmyhal in his speech at the ‘Ukraine. Year 2025’ forum this week.

Zelensky earlier claimed that Ukraine had lost 9 gigawatts’ worth of power generation capacity, including 80% of thermal power plant output and a third of the hydroelectric plant output.

Ukraine’s Energy Minister German Galushchenko also lamented last year that HALF of Ukraine’s total power generation capacity was taken out of action.

Following a series of terrorist attacks carried out by Ukrainian forces against civilian targets in Russia, the Russian military started launching precision strikes against power plants in Ukraine.

The picture is AI-generated

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🇹🇷🇫🇷 Turkiye is ready to host Ukraine talks but that negotiation must include both parties to the conflict, Turkish President Recep Erdogan told his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, according to Erdogan's office.

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🇩🇪🔎 What do German candidates say about the election outcome?

CDU/CSU's Friedrich Merz:

▪️He declared victory in the snap elections, called for a functioning coalition to be created as fast as possible.

AfD's Alice Weidel:

▪️If the CDU refuses to create a coalition with the AfD, the next elections will "come sooner."

▪️Our goal in the next elections is to overtake the CDU.

SPD's Olaf Scholz:

▪️He admitted the defeat of his party and congratulated Merz on his victory.

BSW's Sahra Wagenknecht:

▪️She called her party an anti-war force that would not agree to arming Germany and sending German soldiers to other countries, including Ukraine.

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🇩🇪 From chancellor to dead man walking: Scholz’s track record of failures

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has just lost his position in today’s snap election. Let’s break down his legacy.

How did the German economy end up on the brink of collapse?🔎

▪️Germany is facing its third consecutive year of recession, with GDP growing by only about 0.57% a year under Scholz, as Sputnik open-data calculations reveal. This is the poorest performance since the EU was established.

▪️Germany’s share in the global economy declined to a historic minimum of 3.08% by purchasing power parity, Sputnik calculations based on the World Bank and IMF data show.

▪️The largest automakers, Volkswagen, BMW and Mercedez-Benz, saw their profits drop by a third in 2024 due to increasing competition from China and Scholz’s decision to cancel subsidies for EV car buyers, which led to a 27% shrinkage in the domestic market.

No weapons? Taxpayers will buy 💶

▪️Germany’s involvement in the Ukraine crisis has seriously depleted its weapons stockpiles. “The Europeans and the Ukrainians have nothing in their depots,” Armin Papperger, Rheinmetall CEO, told the FT this February.

▪️Scholz’s government has committed to higher defense spending, reaching a whopping $95bln. Future defense spending will likely mandate an increase in taxes that will certainly create political turmoil.

Political clash ⚔️

▪️Scholz’s stance on Russia and unequivocal support for the EU have sparked outrage at home with the AfD party gaining popularity.

▪️Scholz's self-harming sanctions on Russia have drawn criticism from Sarah Wagenknecht, who also condemned his disregard for the Nord Stream sabotage.

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🇺🇸💸 Zelensky declares: "Debt?" Nah, It's just a friendly US donation!

Zelensky refused to acknowledge a debt to the United States of either $500 billion or $100 billion; according to him, Ukraine received assistance from the United States in the form of a grant.

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▪️'We came very, very close to signing something' - Witkoff on Ukraine peace deal

▪️Zelensky said he is ready to step down if necessary

▪️German election results: AFD comes second with a record result

▪️From chancellor to dead man walking: Scholz’s track record of failures

▪️Trump's team fires hundreds of USAID employees

▪️Top 6 unbelievable weapons that actually saw combat

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🔎 EU trying to woo South Africa - but will it succeed?

The European Union’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas claimed this week that Brussels is trying to improve its relationship with South Africa. What is behind this EU push?

▪️With Trump cutting off US aid to South Africa citing the latter’s alleged racial discrimination accusations, the EU may be eager to fill in the void.

▪️The EU’s interest in South Africa is hardly a surprise, as the country is rich in natural resources such as diamonds, platinum and uranium.

▪️The EU may also be attempting to lure South Africa away from BRICS. Seeing how BRICS is currently in the ascendant whereas the EU stagnates, not to mention that many of the European bloc’s members are former colonial powers that actively exploited Africa in the past, Brussels is unlikely to succeed.

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