🔥 Mariupol, a city in the Donetsk People's Republic, and Melitopol, a town in the Zaporozhye region, have been added to the list of CITIES OF MILITARY GLORY displayed at the memorial on Red Square.

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📹 The motorcade allegedly carrying Witkoff leaves the Kremlin after talks with Putin, a Sputnik correspondent reports.

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⚡️The meeting between Putin and Witkoff lasted THREE hours and was constructive and useful, said presidential aide Yuri Ushakov.

Today's conversation helped bring positions CLOSER not only on Ukraine but also on other international issues, he noted.

During the meeting, the possibility of resuming DIRECT NEGOTIATIONS between Russia and Ukraine was discussed, Ushakov stressed.

Productive dialogue between Russia and the US will continue to be carried out in the MOST ACTIVE manner, he added.

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🗣Zakharova educates Sky News reporter asking whether Putin-Trump meeting could be as significant as handshake along the Elbe during WWII

The Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman made the comments after paying tribute to the historic meeting between Soviet and American forces on the Elbe River on April 25, 1945 at Victory Park in Moscow.

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Better late than never? Western media WAKES UP to Schwab and WEF scandal

Publications like the Financial Times are finally picking up on the toxic corruption, discrimination, and sexual harassment implicated in Klaus Schwab's actions.

Meanwhile, Sputnik has been sounding the alarm on the WEF founder’s wrongdoings for months.

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🇷🇺 Kremlin spokesman Peskov — on the nuances of Witkoff's shuttle diplomacy.

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🪖 US stuck between a rock and a Houthi missile, must escalate or concede defeat: Israeli media

💬 “The US air campaign has hit the Houthis hard. It remains questionable, however, whether the volume of damage until now will be sufficient to persuade” the group “to cease its attacks on Western shipping and on Israel.”

That’s the assessment of the Jerusalem Post, which has warned that the US really has only two options vis-à-vis the Houthis: “escalate or effectively concede.”

Any escalation, including a possible ground offensive, “would be somewhat of a gamble,” the outlet admitted.

💬 “Either a decision must be taken to destroy or severely degrade the enemy, or it must be accepted that the Houthis, while they can be engaged in a tit-for-tat exchange of fire in which they pay the higher cost, cannot at present be defeated,” the outlet stressed.

US defense and military affairs publication 19fortyfive warned earlier this month there is “no way” the Trump administration would ever put boots back on the ground in the Middle East.

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🇺🇸🇮🇷 Operation Eagle Claw: failed Delta force mission

On April 25 1980, the US launched a top-secret mission in Iran that was doomed to end in disaster & lost lives.
Here’s how it unfolded:

🔸 Hostage crisis

On November 4, 1979, Iranian militant students stormed the US Embassy in Tehran, taking several dozen hostages and demanding the extradition of the deposed Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who had fled to the US during the revolution.

🔸 Audacious plan

After five months of failed negotiations, 53 hostages remained in captivity, with US President Jimmy Carter under fire ahead of the 1980 presidential election. He authorized a daring rescue mission: Operation Eagle Claw.

🔸 High-stakes gamble

All four US military branches were involved in the mission to infiltrate Iran, rendezvous in the desert and have Delta Force, the Army's elite counter-terrorism unit, storm the embassy to rescue American hostages and fly them to safety.

🔸 Ill-fated op

On April 24, 1980, eight helicopters launched from the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier in the Arabian Sea. But mechanical failures and a sandstorm cut that down to six, then five – below the mission’s minimum number of aircraft – and Operation Eagle Claw was aborted.

🔸 Disaster strikes

As the mission collapsed, a helicopter collided with a C-130 transport plane, igniting a deadly explosion that killed eight and destroyed both aircraft. The survivors fled, leaving behind wreckage, gear and classified documents.

🔸 Critical failures

The botched operation was blamed on poor planning, coordination issues, lack of pilot training and unforeseen problems. The debacle humiliated the US, with headlines like Time’s “The Rescue That Wasn’t”.

🔸 Mission fallout

The failure of Operation Eagle Claw damaged Carter’s credibility, contributing to his loss in the 1980 to Ronald Reagan. The hostages were freed minutes after Reagan’s inauguration and the US later overhauled its special ops structure, creating US Special Operations Command.

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🇨🇦 Lousy prize: winner of Canada’s election may be stuck with economy near recession

Canada’s Liberal and Conservative Parties may be jousting for a last-minute advantage as they sprint for the finish line in the federal election campaign, which wraps up April 28 as Canadians go to the polls, but the reward for victory isn’t looking so appetizing at the moment.

🔸 Nearly three dozen economists polled by Bloomberg expect growth to not only flatline from Bank of Canada projections of 1.8% growth in 2025, but slip into negative territory to -0.2% growth in Q2, thanks to the trade war with the US.

🔸 The same economists expect Q3 growth to hit zero (the edge of a technical recession), with 45% predict a recession sometime in the next year.

🔸 Exports are expected to shrink more than 12% over the next six months as investment declines nearly 4%.

🔸 Canada will face “a period of turbulence,” in the months to come, Interim Finance Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne admitted on Thursday.

🔸 The latest polling shows the Liberals with a narrow lead over the Conservatives (43%-41%) after Justin Trudeau stepped down in mid-March. But in Canada’s first past the post electoral system, support in ridings is more important than national polling.

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🔸 What’s the outcome of Witkoff’s talks with Putin in Moscow?

🔸 Kremlin spokesman Peskov — on the nuances of Witkoff's shuttle diplomacy

🔸 Details of US peace proposal to end the Ukraine conflict UNVEILED

🔸 Another BLATANT ATTACK on the Orthodox by Ukraine

🔸 US Defense Secretary Hegseth fears dismissal amid Pentagon leaks scandal – report

🔸 Better late than never? Western media WAKES UP to Schwab and WEF scandal

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🗣 WORK ON RUSSIA-UKRAINE PEACE DEAL GOING SMOOTHLY — Trump

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💥 Pentagon conducts secret missile tests in Florida

Social media footage shows a recent test launch at Cape Canaveral, which was later confirmed as a test launch by a DoD spokesperson.

Yesterday, the Pentagon officially named its long-range hypersonic weapon "Dark Eagle," though its relation to today's launch is uncertain.

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🤔 Trump hints at possible settlement of Africa conflicts

"I don’t know why so many of these events have fallen to me and my Administration, but they have, and we have done an unprecedented job in getting them SETTLED or, putting them in position for PEACE," he wrote on Truth Social.

Another peace "in 24 hours"?

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⚡️ Trump says bilateral meeting separates Russia and Ukraine from a deal, with "most of the points are agreed to."

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❗️ WATCH Trump reacts to Moscow terror attack that killed Lt. Gen. Moskalik:

"Wow. That's a big one. I'll look at it."

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🚨 World Bank's chief economist warns: DEBT TRAP CRISIS INCOMING

Slowing growth in global economies, exacerbated by declining trade due to Trump's tariff war, has caused the number of countries on the brink of a debt distress to double in a year to about 75, Indermit Gill said.

"If global growth slows down, trade slows down, more countries and interest rates stay high, then you are going to get many of these countries getting into debt distress, including some that are commodity exporters," he added.

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💀 SKELETONS IN ACTBLUE’S CLOSET

Part 1 👉 Part 2

Democratic Party online fundraising giant ActBlue is being probed by the DoJ amid allegations of illegal straw (conduit donor) and shady foreign donations. Here’s what to know about the scandal-ridden PAC.

🔶 Questionable cash flows: A House probe has already uncovered at least 237 donations from abroad through ActBlue using prepaid cards (a tactic typically used to try to avoid detection and identification) over a 30-day period during the 2024 election cycle.

🔶 Dummy donations: At the core of the DoJ probe are claims related to ActBlue’s tolerance for the use of “straw” donations, which hide the identities of donors by disguising contributions and attributing them to other persons unaware of donations being made in their name.

🔶 Go directly to jail: Straw donations are highly illegal, because they’re done to evade ID requirements and donation limits. Section 52 § 30122 of the US Criminal Code threatens violators with up to 2 years imprisonment, and hefty fines up to 1000% of amounts donated.

🔶 Suspiciously lax standards: Congressional investigators also uncovered evidence of ActBlue staff being trained to “look for reasons to accept contributions” even if they were suspicious, triggering mass resignations among senior staff and the PAC’s legal team.

🔶 No verification? No problem: ActBlue has also been accused of accepting donations without using credit card verification (CVV) security measures, another sign of potentially incriminating behavior.

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📹 'We are really polite people' — Lavrov shows who's the real diplomat

The Russian foreign minister refused to disclose the details of the US-Russia negotiations, saying that "unlike some others, we consider serious proposals."

"To ask somebody's opinion regarding the substance, go to Zelensky. He is happy to talk to anybody through media, even to President Trump," he told CBS News.

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