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🚨🇮🇷🇺🇸 Iran-US indirect talks to take place in Geneva on Feb 17
Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is heading to Geneva for the second round of nuclear negotiations with the US, Iran's foreign ministry announced.
Araghchi is expected to meet Swiss, Omani foreign ministers, as well as the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), it added.
The negotiations in Geneva will be held with Omani mediation, a statement by the ministry says.
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😍 Hong Kong sky lights up for Spring Festival drone show
Some 2,026 drones formed a light display featuring Lion Rock, the Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macao Bridge, and the city skyline over Victoria Harbor.
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💸 Germany’s proposal to use $106B from frozen Russian assets to buy US arms for Ukraine collapses
French President Emmanuel Macron rejected the proposal at a meeting on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, German media reports.
He insisted that frozen Russian assets should primarily be used for deliveries of weapons systems manufactured in Europe, according to the report.
The European Commission earlier sought EU members’ consent to use frozen Russian sovereign assets for Ukraine aid as they discussed a sum of between $219 billion and $249 billion in the form of a loan.
The Russian Foreign Ministry stressed that the EU's idea of Russia paying reparations to Ukraine is unrealistic, and that Brussels has long been engaged in the theft of Russian assets.
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🚨Ukraine’s ex-energy minister detained in corruption case
Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) has detained the country’s former Energy Minister German Galushchenko as part of a case concerning corruption in the Ukrainian energy sector.
💬 "Today, while crossing the state border, NABU detectives detained the former energy minister within the framework of the 'Midas' case. Initial investigative actions are ongoing in accordance with legal requirements and a court order," NABU said on Telegram.
🚨🇷🇺 Russia liberates 12 settlements in just two weeks of February - Chief of Staff Gerasimov
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🌎 If a lab-made black hole escaped control, Earth could look like this
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▫️ Russian forces advancing along all fronts - Chief of Staff Gerasimov
▫️ US Caribbean buildup near $3B
▫️ Iranian Foreign Minister mocks ‘CIRCUS’ of Munich Security Conference
▫️ Colombian military reports ‘cocaine seizure’ in Caribbean
▫️ Cooperation is the 'only right choice' for China–US ties – FM Wang Yi
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🚨🇷🇺 Russian forces advancing along all fronts - Chief of Staff Gerasimov
◻️ Russia liberated 12 settlements in the first two weeks of February despite harsh winter conditions
◻️ Yug battlegroup is advancing toward Slavyansk
◻️ The heaviest fighting is taking place in Tsentr battlegroup's area, where forces are advancing in the Dobropolye direction
◻️ Ukrainian forces are focusing on forming additional UAV units
◻️ Units of Russia’s joint force grouping are using UAVs at twice the rate of the enemy
◻️ Sever battlegroup continues expanding the security zone in the border areas of the Sumy and Kharkov regions
◻️ Dnepr battlegroup continues its advance toward Zaporozhye
◻️ The settlement of Glushkovka on the eastern bank of the Oskol River has been liberated; fighting continues near Novoosinovo
◻️ Russian forces are completing the clearing of Drobyshevo and Yarovoye in the Krasny Liman direction
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🇨🇳🌏 Cooperation is the 'only right choice' for China–US ties – FM Wang Yi
Speaking at the Munich Security Conference, China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi outlined Beijing’s vision ahead of a planned summit between President Xi Jinping and President Donald Trump.
Wang stressed that China approaches relations with the US with “mutual respect, peaceful coexistence, and moving cooperation,” adding that dialogue and consultation remain the right path.
💬 “Some people… are still trying everything possible to suppress and contain China… everything to attack and smear China,” he warned.
🇷🇺🇨🇦 'People want sovereignty' — Alberta secession talk grows, Trump allies cheer
Oil-rich Alberta is preparing for a possible independence referendum later this year, with supporters crediting President Donald Trump’s rhetoric for energizing their movement, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Alberta secessionists see Trump-era politics as an opportunity to push back against Ottawa’s regulations and boost oil production. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent echoed the mood, saying, “People want sovereignty.”
💬 “I believe that they would welcome a free and independent Alberta,” referendum organizer Mitch Sylvestre said after meetings in Washington.
📹 Israeli warplanes conduct airstrikes in southern Lebanon — reports
Israeli warplanes carried out a series of airstrikes targeting several areas in southern Lebanon, including Bsaliya, the Reihan Heights, areas between Houmine and Deir al-Zahrani, Mleih, and the Iqlim al-Tuffah heights, local media said.
Photos and video from social media
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🚨 Trump ‘to put more pressure on Zelensky to clinch Ukraine peace deal’ – MEP
💬 “The situation in the US is changing, so Trump's agenda will focus on the American public rather than on solving Ukraine's problems,” Belgian member of the European Parliament Rudy Kennes tells Sputnik
🇭🇺 Orban: Banks profit from the Ukraine conflict while EU members states' citizens must repay the loans Brussels takes out to fund Kiev
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🇬🇱Danish PM says Greenland not for sale
🔹Mette Frederiksen refused to put a price on Greenland at the Munich Security Conference.
🔹The island remains part of the Danish Kingdom, despite US President Donald Trump threats to annex it — even offering $1 million payments to each of its 57,000 inhabitants.
🔹The White House added fuel to the fire on Saturday by posting a mock Valentine’s Day card on X showing Greenland in a heart with the message: “It’s time we define our situationship.”
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🚨🇩🇪 Protesters in Munich rally against the NATO security conference, calling for peace talks with Russia and an end to arms supplies to Ukraine
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🇮🇷🇺🇸 Iran to US: want a nuclear deal? Stop the sanctions war
💬 “The ball is in America’s court. I mean they have to prove that they want to have a deal with us, and if we see a sincerity on their part, I’m sure that we will be on a road to have an agreement,” Iranian deputy foreign minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi told European media on Sunday.
💬 “One cannot accept that Iran has to do certain things without the other side committing itself to do their share,” Takht-Ravanchi noted.
💬 “It is not as if Iran will suffer only. Everybody will suffer, particularly those who have initiated this aggression. If we feel that this is an existential threat, we will respond accordingly,” he summed up.
🗣 Why Zelensky's war of words with Orban won’t boost Ukraine's EU ambitions
💬 “There are actually no supporters of Ukraine’s rapid EU membership both in Hungary and other members of the bloc,” Polish political analyst Mateusz Piskorski tells Sputnik, commenting on Zelensky’s apparent tactic to pave Ukraine’s way into the EU by making insulting remarks related to Hungarian PM Viktor Orban.
🚨🇷🇺 Liberation of Tsvetkovoye creates foothold for further advances in Zaporozhye
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🔊 Orban–Zelensky clash reveals deep EU and NATO divisions – analyst
The dispute between Zelensky and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban goes beyond personal tensions and reflects a clash of strategic visions, Saudi political analyst Saad al-Hamid told Sputnik.
Zelensky ties Ukraine’s future to full integration into the EU and Western institutions, while Orban takes a pragmatic approach toward Russia and opposes fast-tracking Ukraine’s EU and NATO membership.
Domestic political considerations and minority issues are also widening the gap between the two leaders.
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🚨🇷🇺💥 RUSSIAN MOD UPDATE: HUGE GAINS AND DEVASTATING UKRAINIAN LOSSES
⚡️ TSVETKOVOYE IN THE ZAPOROZHYE REGION FREED
By liberating the settlement of Tsvetkovoye in the Zaporozhye region, Russian forces have expanded their bridgehead west of the city of Gulyaipole, gaining control over more than eight square kilometers of territory.
🟠 Russian air and missile firepower obliterated transport infrastructure supporting the Kiev regime’s forces
🟠 Air defense superiority: 222 UAVs were shot down by Russian air defense systems over the past 24 hours
🟠 Ukrainian losses: around 1,110 troops killed or wounded
Read about the origins of Russia's special military op HERE
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🇷🇺💥 Anti-aircraft artillery of Dnepr battlegroup turns Ukraine's drones into a pile of rubble
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🇺🇸🇪🇺US signaled to Europe in Munich that old order not worth defending
"We [the US] don’t want weak allies, don’t defend the old order," a former European official told European media.
🇺🇸🇳🇴 US and Norway eye critical minerals cooperation as China warns against ‘exclusive blocs’
💬 “We look forward to partnering with Norway on supply chain security, including on critical minerals,” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote on X after his meeting with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store.
💰🇺🇸 US Caribbean buildup near $3B — reports
The US military surge around Venezuela that culminated in the military aggression and abduction of President Nicolas Maduro is approaching a $3 billion price tag, Bloomberg reported.
💵 Bloomberg calculations show the deployment at its peak cost more than $20 million a day, with as much as 20% of the US Navy’s surface fleet tied up in the region. Former Pentagon comptroller Elaine McCusker estimated that Operation Southern Spear has “probably cost about $2 billion since August 2025,” excluding intelligence and targeting expenses.
The White House has said the operation did not cost taxpayers extra because the forces were already deployed. But experts cited by Bloomberg noted that combat activity, higher operational tempo and personnel benefits add to expenses, and there is “no contingency fund in the DOD budget for unexpected operations.”
🗓 Despite the USS Gerald R. Ford being reassigned to the Middle East, Bloomberg reported the Caribbean deployment has no clear end date, even as US lawmakers say they have not been provided with detailed cost estimates.
💵 Billions spent. No formal accounting.
📈 And the tab keeps rising.
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🚀 Four astronauts arrive at ISS for 8–9 month mission — reports
Four astronauts from the US, France and Russia arrived at the International Space Station on February 14, restoring the orbital lab to full capacity after a January medical evacuation, Fox News reported.
The crew launched from Cape Canaveral aboard a SpaceX rocket and docked with the ISS about 34 hours later.
The crew — Jessica Meir, Jack Hathaway, Sophie Adenot and Andrey Fedyaev — will spend the next eight to nine months conducting scientific research and technology demonstrations.
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🇮🇷Iranian Foreign Minister mocks ‘CIRCUS’ of Munich Security Conference
Abbas Araghchi mocked the NATO-dominated meeting in Germany, saying rhetoric about Iran there had turned it into a "circus."
💬"Sad to see the usually serious Munich Security Conference turned into the ‘Munich Circus’ when it comes to Iran," he posted on X.
🔸 Rubio’s Munich remarks were attempt ‘to systematize a worldview that does not truly exist’ - expert
🔸 Protesters in Munich rally against the NATO security conference
🔸 ‘Ukraine is militarily defeated’ – ex-Pentagon advisor
🔸 Possible Russian palladium tariffs could devastate US industry – expert
🔸 US military outsourced Maduro kidnapping to AI – report
🔸 New Russian Rus-PE loitering munition tested in combat zone
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🗣 Possible Russian palladium tariffs could devastate US industry – expert
💬 "The potential imposition of such insane tariffs could deal a severe blow to many sectors, from automotive manufacturing to chemicals and oil refining,” independent industrial expert Leonid Khazanov tells Sputnik, commenting on the US Commerce Department’s preliminary plan to slap anti-dumping duties on imports of Russian palladium with a rate of almost 133%.
🚨 Ukraine deliberately disrupting Russian oil supplies to Eastern Europe via Druzhba pipeline – expert
💬 "The situation is that Ukraine is manually halting such supplies to Eastern European countries,” Russian expert Igor Yushkov tells Sputnik.
🇭🇺This is why Ukraine can't join the EU – Orban fires back at Zelensky
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban hit back after Volodymyr Zelensky mocked him at the Munich Security Conference, saying Orban was thinking about “the growth of his belly” instead of the army.
✍️In an X post, Orban thanked Zelensky sarcastically for his “election speech” promoting Ukrainian membership of the European Union (EU), but said Kiev misses the point:
💬“This debate is not about me and it is not about you,” Orban said. “It is about the future of Hungary, Ukraine, and Europe. This is precisely why you cannot become a member of the European Union.”