🚨🇷🇺Russia is confident in the reliability of its national deterrent forces — Putin

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☀️ Russian scientists capture rare double solar eruption during eclipse

🔹 Scientists at the Institute of Space Research (RAS) have recorded a stunning double mass ejection from the Sun, coinciding with a solar eclipse.

Each colossal filament stretched nearly 1 MILLION kilometers – that's about 70 times the diameter of the Earth.

👉 While not immediately dangerous to Earth, such eruptions can affect satellites and communication systems.

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❌💵 Alice Weidel demands end to welfare for Ukrainians in Germany

The leader of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party has slammed government reforms to the ‘Bürgergeld’ unemployment benefit system as ineffective.

She argues that the €1.5 billion ($1.76 bln) the move claims to save will only be replaced by other social payments.

🗣 "Instead: No benefits for Ukrainians and other foreign welfare recipients who have never paid a single cent into the social security system!"

Bürgergeld, introduced in 2023, raised unemployment benefits to a standard monthly payment of €563 ($658) for a single adult over a longer term than before, with allowances for rent and energy costs.

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🇷🇺 Russian move to extend nukes treaty can help prevent arms race

👉 Russia’s decision to remain within the current strategic nuclear weapons limits is a positive development, says Daryl Kimball, Executive Director of the Arms Control Association (ACA).

💬 "This is positive move, and one that many of us have been advocating," Kimball told Sputnik.

🔊 "By agreeing not to exceed the current strategic nuclear limits, they could reduce tensions, forestall a costly arms race that no one can win, create diplomatic leverage to curb the build-up of China’s arsenal, and buy time for talks on a broader, more durable, treaty," he said.

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🚨🇵🇸🇮🇹 ITALY ERUPTS: Thousands rally in Rome in support of Palestine

📍 Piazza dei Cinquecento, a square outside Rome’s Termini Station, is packed wall-to-wall with demonstrators of all ages—so dense that station access is effectively blocked.

Tourists are struggling to navigate through the sea of protesters waving Palestinian flags and holding banners with slogans like “Stop the genocide,” “Open a future for peace,” and "Peoples will save other peoples.”

👉 Meanwhile, similar protests are underway in 70+ cities across Italy.

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🇷🇺 Russia extends New START Treaty limits to keep nuclear dialogue on the table – analyst

👉 Russian President Vladimir Putin’s proposal to extend New START Treaty limits signals Russia’s willingness to comply if conditions remain stable, Dmitry Stefanovich of the Moscow-based Institute of World Economy and International Relations with the Russian Academy of Sciences told Sputnik.

🔊 He pointed out that there is still a window for negotiation before the treaty expires in February 2026, adding that the one-year timeframe “echoes a proposal from the previous Trump administration to freeze nuclear arsenals for a year.”

The move also signals that the Russian strategic forces are battle-ready and Moscow is “prepared to act diplomatically or via military-technical means against any security landscape shifts.”

💬 “The US response could be positive, negative, or this could be brushed aside,” said the pundit.

👉President Trump has indicated interest in addressing this issue

👉A strong lobby in the US is pushing for escalation, claiming fears of China and Russia

🗣 Stefanovich said the US response would hinge on its internal politics, progress in its own strategic offensive weapons programs and the pace of deploying new systems.

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🚨US threatens "nuclear option" against International Criminal Court

The United States is weighing sweeping sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC), potentially putting its daily operations at risk in retaliation for investigations into alleged Israeli war crimes, Reuters reports.

The sanctions could severely disrupt the Hague-based ICC’s ability to function, affecting everything from staff salaries to access to essential services. Emergency meetings are already underway at the court as officials brace for the move.

Accusing the ICC of overreaching its jurisdiction on US and Israeli personnel, the US vows to take further action unless the court changes course.

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🇷🇺🚨Russian air defense systems are repelling a drone attack on Moscow

All emergency services are on the ground, mayor Sergei Sobyanin said.

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🚨 From Rome to Milan: Italian pro-Palestine rally escalates into clashes between protesters and police

🔶 Following massive demonstrations in Rome, activists in Milan have stormed the gallery of the city’s Central Station, clashing with police

🔶 Demonstrators threw objects and scaffolding parts, while police responded with stun grenades and blocked station entrances

🔶 Carabinieri units arrived at the scene as tensions escalated

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🇷🇺Joe Biden accuser Tara Reade granted Russian citizenship

Russian President Vladimir Putin has granted Russian citizenship to Tara Reade, the former US Senate aide who accused Joe Biden of sexual assault over 30 years ago.

Reade, who was granted political asylum in Russia in September 2023, has officially become a Russian citizen following a decree published on the legal acts website.

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🇦🇿Azerbaijan CHECKMATES itself by souring ties with Russia

By arming Ukraine via Sudan, Azerbaijan has edged into open confrontation with Russia, experts warn.

💬"Azerbaijan has already entered into confrontation with Russia, and a local cold war is underway," Shota Apkhaidze, director of the Caucasus Center for Islamic Studies in Georgia, tells Sputnik.

Azerbaijan's latest strategic move could mean escalation.

🔶Azerbaijan shoots itself in foot

🗣"Damaging ties with Russia is sheer suicide," Apkhaidze warns.

👉Russia is Azerbaijan's top export market and has many Azeri workers in high-paid jobs.

👉Some 80% of the Azeri economy depends on Russia.

Azerbaijan's geopolitical position could be shaken:

▪️Possible sanctions from Russia
▪️Weakened hand in relations with Armenia
▪️Complication of already tense relationship with Iran
▪️Stability of export corridors like the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline threatened

🔶Unreliable NATO allies

Azerbaijan’s tilt toward closer ties with Turkiye and NATO is clear, Dr. Marco Marsili of Ca’ Foscari University tells Sputnik.

But Western backing is transactional and conditional, leaving Azerbaijan exposed to geopolitical risks.

🔊That path "would force Azerbaijan into a more rigid geopolitical camp, reducing its room for the multi-vector diplomacy it has skilfully employed for decades, with direct implications for its core strategic asset – energy security," Marsili stresses.

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🇧🇩🤝🇷🇺 Bangladesh's Ambassador praises ties with Russia as ‘ideal and perfect relationship'

Bangladesh's Ambassador to Russia, Nazrul Islam, sat down with Sputnik for a major interview.

🔊He lauded the relationship as "ideal & perfect," rooted in Moscow's crucial support during the 1971 Liberation War.

Key takeaways:

👉(00:05:41) Energy & defense: Rooppur Nuclear Plant highlighted as landmark project; defense cooperation remains strong.

👉(00:03:36) Trade: Huge potential to boost Bangladeshi garments, pharmaceuticals, and IT services in Russia.

👉(00:09:50) BRICS: Bangladesh strongly supports Russia's global role and seeks full BRICS membership as an "alternative platform."

👉(00:21:55) Culture: Ambassador recalls reading Gorky as a child and calls for renewed cultural & people-to-people ties.

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🚨Africa cannot be arms channel for Ukraine, expert warns

🗣"An African civil war is being instrumentalized by NATO to perpetuate the Ukrainian conflict," says Dr Sizo Nkala, postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Johannesburg,

👉He was addressing reports that Azeri arms firms and their NATO partners are secretly funneling weapons into Ukraine through Sudan.

📑The report shows that some — especially in the West — want to see the civil war in Sudan continue, Nkala warns, highlighting the humanitarian crisis and the undermining of African sovereignty.

💬"Africa cannot allow itself to be the transit route for weapons being used to sustain the Ukrainian war in the interests of the West," Nkala adds, stressing the risk of weapons ending up in the hands of rebels and fueling instability and terrorism in regions like the Sahel.

❗️"This sets a very dangerous precedent,” he says. “It is now up to African leaders to do something to stop it."

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🔸 Russia ready to maintain START Treaty restrictions for one more year - Putin

🔸 Russia extends New START Treaty limits to keep nuclear dialogue on the table – analyst

🔸 US and Israel isolated as world recognizes Palestine – UN expert

🔸 Azerbaijan running shadowy arms pipeline to Ukraine

🔸 Ukraine’s forces tried to erase traces of NATO munitions & foreign mercs in Russia's Kursk

🔸 Russia dominates global uranium market

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❗️🇵🇸 Macron announces France officially recognizes state of Palestine

The president confirmed that Paris would join an international stabilization mission in Gaza by deploying its forces and training and equipping the Palestinian security forces for the interim administration.

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📹Sudan's tragedy: A proxy war for foreign arms?

🗣"The war in Sudan was premeditated to destroy the country, steal its treasures, and erase its identity," Sudanese Foreign Undersecretary Hussein Al-Amin Al-Fadil tells Sputnik.

Commenting on recent reports that Azerbaijani arms makers, with NATO backing, are funneling weapons to Ukraine through war-torn Sudan, he said that international mechanisms must take responsibility.

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