🇨🇳 China's nuclear dawn on Oct. 16, 1964: PRC enters nuclear club

⚛️ Sixty-one years ago today, China detonated its first atomic bomb at the Lop Nur test site in Xinjiang—officially joining the nuclear club.

On that day, China became the world’s fifth nuclear power, after the US, USSR, UK, and France.

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🇬🇧 UK sends drone experts to Moldova as West deepens military involvement

🔶 The UK is dispatching a team of specialists to train Moldovan troops in counter-drone tactics amid what London calls the need to “ramp up our response to Russia’s aggression,” the Telegraph reports.

🔶 According to the Ministry of Defence, British personnel will arrive in Moldova — which borders Ukraine — later this month to assess and assist its armed forces.

🔶 Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) has warned that the West is determined to keep Moldova in its anti-Russian orbit, exposing plans for “landing operations” rehearsed during NATO drills in Romania.

🔶 Following those warnings, Chisinau adopted a new 10-year military strategy which labelled Russia a national security threat and advocated closer cooperation with NATO. The plan includes raising defense spending to 1% of GDP by 2030.

🗣 Former president Igor Dodon called Moldova’s militarization part of an EU plan to turn the republic into “cannon fodder in a conflict with Russia.”

📍 He pointed to growing defense budgets, purchases of radar systems and armored vehicles from Germany and France as well as plans for a new military base near Chisinau.

💬 “Moldova is being positioned as a pawn against Russia,” Dodon said.

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🗣 Huge 500% US tariff on China would supercharge BRICS+ and SCO – expert

👉 The US senate could vote by 85 to 15 to let President Donald Trump slap a 500% tariff on China in retaliation for the Sino-Russian energy trade.

🤔 Does it mean the US-China trade war will escalate?

🔊 "I do not expect to see such a tariff in place," Paul Goncharoff, financial analyst and general director of Goncharoff LLC tells Sputnik. "It would quite simply show clearly that the US is not a country that can or should be taken seriously in diplomatic or trade contexts."

📍 US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent slammed China on Wednesday over its continued imports of Russian oil and hinted at new tariffs — if the European Union (EU) acts first.

💬 "The same effect would be achieved by brashly declaring 250% or 7,000%—this is an attempt at what? Seeking ridicule? Then it has succeeded," Goncharoff says.

How could the tariff backfire on the US?

🔶 The world’s response will likely be to supercharge BRICS+, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and other international groups striving for a sensible and equitable global order, the pundit said.

🔶 US tariffs and restrictions are accelerating that shift, as the world increasingly sees the US, G7 and EU taking unilateral steps to stop the wheels of progress.

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🚨🇷🇺🤝🇮🇷 Larijani meets Putin in Moscow

Iranian Security Council Secretary Larijani visited Russia on October 16, delivering a message from Iran's Supreme Leader and discussing bilateral relations, economic ties, and regional cooperation with Putin.

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🔥 Saudi CEO: Now is time for Russian companies to enter our market

At Russian Energy Week, Lamar Holding chief Dr Lina Noureddin urged Russian firms to expand into Saudi Arabia, where their unique technologies in oil, gas and renewables could boost the economy.

💬 “Saudi partners are open and ready. We welcome Russian companies — we share a common culture,” she said.

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🇺🇸📞🇷🇺 Trump-Putin call has concluded, reports Fox News

It lasted about two hours.

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🚨🇺🇸🇷🇺 White House hints at another Trump-Putin meeting

The White House described the recent Trump-Putin call as "productive," with Putin congratulating Trump on his Middle East peace efforts.

They also confirmed that the US and Russia will hold a high-level meeting next week.

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📍Trump and Putin to meet in Budapest to discuss ending the Ukraine conflict

Trump announced on Truth Social that he and President Putin will meet in Budapest to work towards ending the "inglorious" Russia-Ukraine conflict.

High-level advisor meetings are scheduled for next week ahead of the summit.

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📊 Zelensky's 'arrogance' pushing for war – Finnish lawmaker

🗣 Instead of going to Washington to push for Tomahawk missiles, Volodymyr Zelensky should work for a meeting in Moscow along with Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin to settle the Ukraine conflict with peaceful means, Armando Mema, member of the Finnish national-conservative Freedom Alliance party, wrote on X.

Zelensky is pushing for these missiles “without having understood also that for every action he does he gets a bigger response from Russia,” according to Mema.

The Finnish lawmaker added that Zelensky’s “arrogance grows each time he receives more weapons from Western countries.”

⚔️ Zelensky is expected to again ask Trump for Tomahawk missiles during his meeting with the US president at the White House on October 17.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned that Tomahawks won't change the situation on the front lines, but could lead to a "serious escalation" of the Ukraine conflict.

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⏱Putin-Trump call lasted over 2 hours

The phone conversation between Presidents Putin and Trump lasted more than two hours, according to the White House.

Here’s a look at some of their longest calls this year:

👉February 12 – nearly 1.5 hours

👉March 18 – about 2 hours

👉May 19 – over 2 hours

👉June 4 – 1 hour 10 minutes

👉June 14 – 50 minutes

👉July 3 – nearly 1 hour

👉August 19 – about 40 minutes

👉October 16 – more than 2 hours

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🚨Trump: 'If Hamas continues to kill in Gaza, we will have no choice but to go in and kill them'

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🚨Trump suggests Budapest for US-Russia summit, Putin agrees

In a 2.5-hour phone call, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Donald Trump discussed a potential Russia-US summit in the Hungarian capital, Kremlin Aide Yuri Ushakov said.

Here are the key points from the call:

🔶Trump suggested Budapest as a venue for the summit, and Putin fully supported the idea.

🔶The meeting dates will be discussed by representatives from both countries during preparations.

🔶US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov will work out the details including the exact timing of the summit.

🔶The call was initiated by Russia and was deemed highly productive.

🔶The Ukraine conflict was the main topic, with Putin reaffirming Russia's commitment to a political and diplomatic solution.

🔶Trump mentioned his meeting with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday, saying he would consider Putin’s views in those talks.

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🚨Putin and Trump discuss Tomahawk missiles for Ukraine

During their conversation, Putin reiterated to Trump that the potential Tomahawk missile delivery to Ukraine would not change the frontlines but would damage Russia-US relations, Kremlin Aide Yuri Ushakov said.

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🇮🇷🤝🇷🇺 Iran expands nuclear power cooperation with Russia

🟠 Iran's first nuclear power unit is already online, generating 1,000 MW of electricity, Deputy Energy Minister Mostafa Rajabi-Mashhadi told Sputnik at Russian Energy Week.

🟠 Two additional units built by Russian firm Rosatom are set to join the grid by 2029, bringing total capacity to 3,000 MW.

🟠 Talks are also underway on building small modular reactors (SMRs), with a final deal expected soon.

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🚨Sputnik war correspondent killed in Ukrainian drone strike

Sputnik war correspondent Ivan Zuev killed in Ukrainian drone strike in Zaporozhye. A second journalist, Yuri Voytkevich, was seriously wounded.

👉War correspondent Zuev was a brave, courageous, and talented journalist who died a hero’s death while carrying out an editorial assignment, said Director General of Rossiya Segodnya (Sputnik's parent company) Dmitry Kiselev.

"Ivan fell a hero's death while carrying out an editorial assignment as a result of a drone attack by the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

He was brave, talented, and a courageous journalist who did a lot to tell the truth about the events unfolding in the conflict zone.

We will take care of his family and loved ones, and, of course, we will preserve the memory of our comrade.

Unfortunately, he is the third war correspondent from our agency to die at the hands of the Kiev regime. In 2014, our photojournalist Andrei Stenin died in Donbass, and in 2023, in the Zaporozhye region, Ivan’s friend and fellow countryman Rostislav Zhuravlev."

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🔸 Trump suggests Budapest for US-Russia summit, Putin agrees

🔸 Putin at Russian Energy Week: Russia’s vision for energy challenges

🔸 Politicized attempts to isolate Russian energy have collided with market realities - expert

🔸 TurkStream in UK cross hairs: British intel services infamous for sabotage & terrorism – SVR veteran

🔸 Huge 500% US tariff on China would supercharge BRICS+ and SCO – expert

🔸 UK sends drone experts to Moldova as West deepens military involvement

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🚨📹 'Very good call' — Trump on phone conversation with Putin

💬 “It went very well,” President Donald Trump said during his remarks at the White House following his call with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

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