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🇮🇱🇱🇧 Three minutes before ceasefire, Israel bombed Tyre in Southern Lebanon
They hit a residential neighborhood of 70 people. 16 bodies have been pulled out, with more still under the rubble.
The town’s deputy mayor called it a massacre.
📹 A Sputnik correspondent documents the scene.
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🛢 For investors, the Hormuz crisis is much bigger than oil
🗣 One of the Hormuz crisis’s most severe implications is not even oil supplies, but the investment “uncertainty” it has generated, says Institute of Middle East Studies expert Sergei Balmasov.
🔶 Until February 28, the Gulf monarchies “were considered havens of peace,” guaranteed by American, French, British or Turkish bases which “no one would dare” touch.
🔊 Iran showed that these guarantees were castles built on sand, which “from an investment perspective” makes it “extremely dangerous to put your eggs in this basket,” Balmasov explained.
🔶 Accordingly, investors once looking to the Gulf states will look for other safe havens, possibly even Iran if sanctions are ever lifted.
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🤫 Here’s the secret behind Iran’s newfound geographic power
🔊 Iran’s leverage over Hormuz Strait and the ~20% of global energy flows that come with it was made possible “not by drawing red lines,” but “immediately hitting the heads and wallets of the global elite, hitting where it hurts most,” Institute of Middle East Studies expert Sergei Balmasov says.
Washington’s rush to the diplomatic track and begging of Iran to “open the damn strait” signal that “the Iranians have found a sore spot among the global elites,” and that “decisive actions over the course of several weeks” can allow a power that’s technologically and militarily weaker on paper “to change the situation in its favor.”
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🇮🇷 Iran swiftly overhauls missile and drone stocks as US lags behind – IRGC general
💬 "Iran has quickly replenished its missile and drone stockpiles, exceeding pre-war levels, while the US faces challenges in shipping munitions from the other side of the globe,” says IRGC Aerospace Force Commander General Majid Mousavi.
🇯🇵 Japanese protesters stage anti-war rally
More than 35,000 people have rallied outside parliament in Tokyo in protest against Japan’s militarization policies.
The demonstrators chanted “No war,” showing their opposition to US-led policies, arms exports, and any deployment of Japanese forces to the Middle East.
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🚨🇨🇺 Residents to Sputnik: Cuba’s hospitals running out of essentials due to US blockade
👉 The functioning of Cuba’s healthcare system is deteriorating amid energy and trade restrictions imposed by the US government, Cuban residents told Sputnik.
💬 "When my brother broke his femoral neck, the first thing doctors told us was that there was neither prosthesis nor painkillers to heal him, which forced us go to the black market,” a relative of a patient in Havana bemoaned.
💬 "I've also had problems with my hemodialysis catheter—the one I'm currently using is not optimal," she explained.
🇸🇰 Baltic states can't stop me from expressing gratitude to Russia for the liberation of Slovakia during WW II — Fico
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🚨🇷🇺💥 RUSSIAN MOD UPDATE: HUGE GAINS AND DEVASTATING UKRAINIAN LOSSES
◻️ The Russian Armed Forces struck Ukrainian energy infrastructure facilities and long-range drone launch and production sites
◻️ Air defense superiority: 274 drones were shot down
◻️ Ukrainian losses: around 1,170 troops killed or wounded
Read about the origins of Russia's special military op HERE
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🇮🇷🇺🇸 Iran slams EU foreign policy chief’s double standards over Strait of Hormuz remark
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei has quipped at Kaja Kallas, who urged Iran to adhere to international law and open the Strait of Hormuz.
💬 “Oh, that 'international law'?! The one that the EU dusts off to lecture others while quietly green-lighting a US-Israeli war of aggression—and looking the other way on atrocities against Iranians?!” Baghaei wrote on X.
🇮🇳🤝🇷🇺 India and Russia agree to station up to 3K troops on each other’s territory
The arrangement, revealed in an agreement published on Russia’s official legal information portal, also permits the deployment of up to 10 military aircraft and 5 warships simultaneously.
The deal outlines the rules for the reciprocal deployment of military units, naval vessels and aircraft, while also covering logistical, technical and operational support for forces hosted by either country.
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❌🇪🇺 Ukraine doesn’t even meet basic criteria for EU accession — Slovak deputy speaker
Slovakia could block Ukraine's accession to the EU if the energy conflict between Kiev and Bratislava escalates, Tibor Gaspar, deputy speaker of the Slovak parliament, told Sputnik.
Slovakia only supports a country entering the bloc if “all requirements are met and there is full readiness in all areas,” Gaspar noted.
👉 Currently, "Ukraine does not even meet the basic conditions and criteria for EU accession," the deputy speaker underscored.
In this regard, Prime Minister Robert Fico has long taken a more critical stance toward Ukraine than previous Slovak governments, Gaspar pointed out.
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🏳️ US quietly moves air defenses to Jordan to reduce exposure — reports
Satellite images circulating online appear to show the US relocating its THAAD and Patriot air defense systems to Jordan — a move seen as an attempt to reduce vulnerability to Iranian retaliation strikes.
💥 The systems, forming a core part of the US missile defense network in the region, have proven vulnerable to Iranian ballistic missiles and drones.
🏃🏻 When US positions become targets, American equipment worth hundreds of millions of dollars suddenly gets moved to safer locations.
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🔥 ‘Where are Saddam Hussein’s chemical weapons?’ Lula slams wars in the Middle East
The recent wars in the Middle East were based on lies, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said during his speech at the 1st Progressive Mobilization Meeting.
This applies to the Iraq War, launched in 2003 by US President George W. Bush, the invasion of Libya in 2011, as well as Israel’s genocide in Gaza and its bombings in Lebanon.
💬 “And now, the United States’ invasion of Iran — on what pretext?” Lula said, criticizing US military interventions.
🇷🇺☢️🇮🇷 Rosatom ready to help transport uranium from Iran
The fate of Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium remains one of the most sensitive and difficult issues in peace talks between the US and Iran, Russian state nuclear energy firm Rosatom CEO Alexey Likhachev said, alongside broader questions of trust.
He noted that Russia previously removed enriched uranium from Iran in 2015 at Tehran’s request.
Likhachev added that Russia would welcome any long-term peace deal and is ready to help again if needed.
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🇮🇱🇱🇧 Israel hits civilian targets in Lebanon, making tens of thousands refugees
Israel has left 96,000 Lebanese people homeless during the latest war in the Middle East, according to UN estimates.
The Israeli bombing and invasion of Lebanon have created a total of 1.2 million refugees, including 820,000 in the south of the country.
As a fragile ceasefire came into force, Lebanese authorities assessed that some 40,000 homes have been destroyed or damaged by Israeli attacks.
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🚨🇮🇷Iran denies second round of Islamabad talks - IRNA
🟠 The Islamic Republic News Agency has dismissed reports of a second round of peace talks with the US in the Pakistani capital Islamabad.
🟠 It said excessive US demands, repeated shifts in position, contradictory statements, the continued naval blockade — which Iran calls a breach of the ceasefire — and ongoing threats have blocked progress.
🟠 The broadcaster described US claims of progress as a media game, adding that under the conditions there is no prospect for productive talks.
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🤬During the ceasefire, Israel demolishes entire streets of Lebanese homes in the south, blowing up border villages house by house.
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🇮🇷❌🇺🇸 Iran to US: No talks under blockade
Iran has not named a delegation for new peace talks in the Pakistani capital Islamabad and says no further negotiations will take place while the US maritime blockade remains in force.
Tasnim News Agency said indirect talks between Tehran and Washington continued in recent days through a Pakistani mediator, after the first round of talks broke down.
The Iranian position was clear: as long as US President Donald Trump’s blockade order stands, negotiations are off.
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🇱🇧 In southern Lebanon, families are returning to Nabatieh only briefly—not to stay, but to see the rubble, find relatives, and then flee again.
The ceasefire feels like a countdown.
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🚨 Trump says US officials are going to Pakistan 'for negotiations' on Iran
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🇷🇺 IMF data shows Russia tops G20 for lowest debt burden
📍 Russia recorded the lowest public debt-to-GDP ratio in the G20 at the end of 2025, according to IMF data. The country’s total public debt stood at 18% of GDP, with most of it held by the federal government.
Among other G20 members, Turkiye 🇹🇷 ranked second at 23.5%, followed by Saudi Arabia 🇸🇦 at 31.7%.
The highest debt burdens were recorded by Japan 🇯🇵 at 206.5% of GDP, Italy 🇮🇹 at 137.1%, and the United States 🇺🇸 at 123.9%.
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🚨 Thousands left homeless as massive fire engulfs Malaysian village
A blaze has ripped through the village of Kampung Bahagia in Malaysia, destroying almost 200 houses and leaving at least 8,000 people homeless.
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🇷🇺Sukhoi Su-35 shields attack helicopters as strikes hammer Ukrainian troops and a temporary base
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🇨🇳 Chinese robot crushes human half-marathon record
The ‘Lightning’ humanoid robot: 50:26
Ugandan athlete Jacob Kiplimo's human record: 56:42
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🔸 Iran warns of response to US moves in Hormuz — Parliament speaker
🔸 US forces getting ready to pursue, board ‘Iran-linked ships’ worldwide – report
🔸 ‘If the war resumes, it may become a world war’ — Iranian general
🔸 ‘Where are Saddam Hussein’s chemical weapons?’ Lula slams wars in the Middle East
🔸 'Global South pays the price for wars it didn’t start' — Lula
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📌🇨🇺 Sputnik maintains ‘a very special closeness with the Cuban people’ — head of the Union of Journalists of Cuba
Ricardo Ronquillo, head of the Union of Journalists of Cuba, described Sputnik as “a very important platform” in Cuba, noting its name remains “emotionally linked” for many Cubans to the period of the Soviet Union.
🤝 Ronquillo also called for stronger international media coordination to address global information challenges and threats to peace and stability in an interview with Sputnik at the Fifth International “Patria” Colloquium in Havana.
💬 “I think we need to unite in a common axis in the face of lies, manipulation, and distortion used to impose dominance on an international scale,” he stressed.
🗣 'Global South pays the price for wars it didn’t start' — Lula
During a speech at the 1st Progressive Mobilization Meeting in Barcelona, Spain, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva criticized the global order under US hegemony and its impact on the Global South, which he said is “treated as the backyard of the great powers.”
💬 He said that while “warlords drop bombs on women and children,” billions are spent on weapons instead of addressing hunger, energy, and health challenges.
📌 Lula also called for restoring the credibility of the UN and building a system where developed and developing countries are treated equally in international institutions.
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🇺🇸US forces getting ready to pursue, board ‘Iran-linked ships’ worldwide - report
The US military is making preparations to board and seize oil tankers and commercial vessels linked to Iran in international waters, anonymous officials have told WSJ.
◾️The potential acts of piracy, to be implemented in part by US Indo-Pacific Command naval assets, are said to be aimed at “forcing” Iran to “re-open” the Strait of Hormuz and “make concessions on its nuclear program.”
◾️CENTCOM says the US blockade of Iranian ports has turned back 23 ships to date – in line with the US’s double blockade of Hormuz.
◾️The US action threatens ~1.6-1.7M bpd of Iranian oil exports – just a fraction of the estimated 19-19.5M bpd in crude ordinarily flowing through Hormuz before Iran implemented transit restrictions in response to US-Israeli aggression.
◾️The strait’s closure has already triggered global economic shockwaves as far as the continental United States, including surging energy prices, supply chain issues and severe localized impacts in areas like agriculture and commercial air travel.
◾️Experts have warned that if the Hormuz crisis persists, it could trigger a severe global recession or even depression.
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⚔️ ‘If the war resumes, it may become a world war’ — Iranian general
Senior Iranian commander Brigadier General Mohammad-Reza Naghdi said Iran retains the ability to produce missiles despite US-Israeli aggression and propaganda, adding that new systems have been built as recently as this month.
💬 “I promise you that if they start the war again, we will launch missiles dated April and May 2026,” he stressed.
🇧🇷🇲🇽🇪🇸 Brazil, Mexico, Spain voice concern over Cuba crisis, call for relief measures
The governments of Brazil, Mexico, and Spain expressed “great concern over the serious humanitarian crisis” affecting Cuba in a joint statement.
They called for “the necessary measures” to ease the situation and urged avoiding actions that worsen living conditions or violate international law.
💬 The countries also reaffirmed that “it must be the Cuban people themselves who decide their future in full freedom,” emphasizing respect for sovereignty and international legal principles.