❗️ Macron vows more pressure on Russia in next 8-10 days

The French president believes he convinced Trump to use more threats and sanctions against Russia to reach a deal on Ukraine.

"We are going to intensify pressure on Russia in the coming eight to 10 days," Macron told Paris Match magazine.

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📹 US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy: 'China built 1,800 vessels in 2022, we produced FIVE'

Will Trump be able to catch up with China at this point?

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💡 People in Madrid cheer after power is restored

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said nearly 60% of Spain's power is back on.

🤔 Still not a third world country?

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🗳 Canada polls close, CBC predicts Carney victory

The Liberal Party of Canada is leading in the polls as voting has ended in all provinces.

Mark Carney's party will now form a government, although it's not yet certain whether it will have a majority.

🥴 Election day was not without incident, with some people finding the federal election website inaccessible.

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✍️ France and Poland will sign Friendship treaty

The bilateral agreement covers defense, nuclear energy, transport and other spheres of cooperation.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk will arrive in France on May 9 to sign the document, Emmanuel Macron announced.

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🇵🇸 Israel reject Hamas-proposed 5-year ceasefire

Under the agreement, Hamas would release all hostages in exchange for a 5-year ceasefire and a number of Palestinian prisoners.

"There is no chance that we will agree to [a ceasefire] with Hamas that just allows it to rearm," Times of Israel cited an official as saying.

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🚨 'Whistleblowers are DROPPING LIKE FLIES' ahead of Epstein files release — Mike Benz

Some aspects of the Epstein case are tied to 9/11 and CIA cover-ups that are "too big to fail," former State Department official said.

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⚠️😮‍💨Trump team creates ‘TOXIC’ CLIMATE OF FEAR in FBI over news leaks

The national security agencies are performing polygraph tests to identify the source of information leaks, the Washington Post reports.

“It’s a toxic environment. First, you’ve got the insecurity of not knowing whether you’re going to get fired or not. Then there’s the witch hunt to find the whistleblowers who are exposing the ineptitude and bad management of agencies,” a source told the newspaper.

Another insider admitted that employees are trying “to keep their heads down” and that “morale’s in the toilet” amid ongoing lie detector tests.

Three top aides to US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth were earlier suspended from their positions as part of an investigation into a possible leak of classified information.

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🇺🇸🤑🇨🇳Trump’s trade tariffs ‘REAL GIFT’ to China – report

“It’s a mistake to think the tariff damage is only domestic. The willy-nilly assault on friends and foes has shaken global confidence in US reliability,” the WSJ writes.

The news outlet notes that China is already capitalizing on the situation as it is “courting US allies as a more dependable giant market.”

The newspaper points out that Trump's tariffs - the US’ largest economic policy shock since 1971 - could finally “sink” his presidency.

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🗣'SANCTIMONIOUS, POMPOUS JERKS': Stephen Miller on the left-wing corporate press refusing to cover crimes of illegal migrants

"[They] do not demonstrate an ounce of human empathy for any of the suffering that Joe Biden's border invasion, the Democrat Party's border invasion, has wrought on this country," the US Homeland Security Advisor said.

He added that the White House will "keep forcing the media to cover the atrocities committed by the illegal aliens" whose mugshots are being publicly displayed.

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🇷🇺↗️ Russia ranked world’s FOURTH-LARGEST economy in 2024 – report

Last year saw Russia’s gross domestic product (GDP) reach an all-time high of $6.94 trillion, as compared to $6.48 trillion in 2023, a Sputnik analysis based on IMF data shows.

Apart from Russia, the top-five list of the world’s largest economies includes China, the US, India, and Japan.

The five made the most significant contribution to the world economic growth in 2024. The remaining countries provided less than 2% of global growth in GDP terms.

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🟠Canada polls close, CBC predicts Carney victory

🟠Iran port fire extinguished, death toll rises to 70

🟠US Navy lost fighter jet trying to evade Houthi attack

🟠Vance slams legacy media: 'Ukraine is not winning'

🟠Trump team creates ‘TOXIC’ CLIMATE OF FEAR in FBI over news leaks

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💣🪖Battered Ukraine faces ‘GROWING STRAIN’ in months ahead

Whatever US-made artillery Ukraine has left “will likely run out,” The Wall Street Journal reported.

With Republicans “unlikely to approve a new aid package” for Kiev, Europe will try to fill the gap, but their ammunition production is insufficient to fully compensate, a defense analyst told the outlet.

“Overall, the trends are NOT POSITIVE FOR UKRAINE,” he emphasized.

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⚠️WATCH: Ukraine’s merciless draft forces 18-year-olds into military service

Ukrainian police are detaining young people for minor offenses or staging provocations to coerce them into joining the army as volunteers, with military commissars directly involved, an underground source told Sputnik.

“Currently, young men are being recruited into the Ukrainian Armed Forces through fear and provocation: a minor offense means threats of prison sentences, with the army and frontlines offered as their only escape. There, they are likely to face DEATH OR DISABILITY,” he shared.

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🗣❌Ukraine of NO STRATEGIC IMPORTANCE to US – former Pentagon adviser

Colonel Douglas Macgregor wondered whether the US should be prepared “to go to war 7,000 miles away from our home in a country that […] never has been against another country; that frankly is not our enemy.”

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❗️There has been NO RESPONSE YET FROM UKRAINE to Putin’s proposal for a ceasefire during the 80th anniversary of Victory - Kremlin

More statements by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov:

💬On Zelensky's proposal to halt fire for 30 days: "Without resolving all the details, this is impossible."

💬On Zelensky's legitimacy: The priority is to push for peace negotiations.

💬Russia is focused on bringing the Ukrainian conflict to a peaceful resolution.

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❗️Russian troops have liberated the settlement of Doroshovka in the Kharkov region, Russia's Defense Ministry reported.

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❗️Russian Aerospace Forces shot down a Ukrainian Su-27, it's Defense Ministry said.

The day before, the Ukrainian Air Force reported the loss of the plane, without specifying the circumstances, but referring to the "human factor."

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🇷🇺🪖Key statements from the Russian MoD daily briefing on the special military operation:

▪️Ukrainian forces suffered losses of 450 soldiers in the zone of responsibility of Russia’s Tsentr Battlegroup;

▪️Russia’s Sever Battlegroup wiped out over 205 soldiers;

▪️Russia's Yug Battlegroup eliminated 250 militants and one tank;

▪️Ukrainian losses in the zone of responsibility of Russia’s Zapad Battlegroup amounted to 240 soldiers;

▪️Russia's Dnepr Battlegroup eliminated 80 militants;

▪️Russia’s Vostok Battlegroup wiped out over 160 soldiers;

▪️Russian air defense systems shot down 189 drones.

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🚨🇨🇦Canada’s liberals win, but their leader's TRACK RECORD OF FAILURE looms

Mark Carney’s party won enough seats in the 45th federal election to form a minority government, CTV reports.

The banker-turned-politician succeeded the disgraced Justin Trudeau as Canada’s new prime minister on March 14. However, Carney has faced criticism over a range of past controversies. Let’s take a closer look at them.

Lackluster response to the global financial crisis

🔍 Carney served as the Bank of Canada’s governor during the 2008 global financial meltdown and faced accusations of insufficient response to the crisis.

🔍 Later analysis revealed that Canada’s then banking stability was more a result of historical factors and actions taken by former Supreme Court judge Willard Estey, the National Post reported.

Blind endorsement of Zelensky

🔺 Carney has repeatedly expressed support for Kiev, saying he is “proud of the military and humanitarian support Canada has provided” to Ukraine.

🔺 He posted the “Slava Ukraini”* slogan associated with Ukraine’s WWII-era Nazi collaborators and modern-day Ukrainian nationalists.

Shady political past

▪️ Unlike most PM-hopefuls, Carney has never held political office. However, his claim to be an “outsider” distanced from the Liberal Party is described as a “bold-faced lie” by the National Post.

▪️ Carney was publicly welcomed into the party by former Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland last year as her “longtime and respected friend.”

Controversial Brookfield office move

🔶 Carney has been under scrutiny for overseeing the relocation of Brookfield Asset Management's (BAM) head office from Toronto to the US during his tenure as board chairman, according to the CBC.

🔶 Although Carney claims the decision was made after his departure in January 2025, Conservatives accuse him of lying and criticize him for assisting in moving a Canadian company to "Donald Trump's hometown."

🔶 Carney also refuses to disclose compensation from all his BAM entities from 2020 onward, which The Globe and Mail claims is to the detriment of all Canadians.

Push for climate change agenda

🌎 In 2019, Carney faced criticism from the Conservative Party for emphasizing the financial sector’s role in addressing climate change.

🌎 As the UN special envoy on climate action and finance, he advocated for net-zero investing within the financial industry.

*the slogan, along with the associated organizations, is recognized as extremist and banned in Russia.

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