❗️ Mahmoud Abbas will meet with Antony Blinken in Amman on Friday, a source in the Palestinian administration told Sputnik

❗️ Air defense systems have destroyed a Ukrainian drone over the Belgorod region, the Russian Defense Ministry said

A private residential house caught fire because of the drone's wreckage, the region's governor added.

❗️Two people were injured when a downed drone crashed into a house near Belgorod, two more people may be under the rubble, regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said

The Hamas attack into southern Israel became possible due to an array of intelligence lapses, along with operational and logistical weaknesses of the military, a US report has claimed, citing senior Israeli security officials.

▪️ Firstly, intelligence officers had failed to duly track key communication channels resorted to by Palestinian attackers.

▪️ Secondly, there had been an overreliance by the Israeli military on border surveillance equipment, which the attackers had no trouble shutting down.

▪️ Thirdly, Israeli commanders had been amassed at the time of the attack at one border base. After it was overrun, communication had been cut off with the rest of the Israeli armed forces.

▪️ Willingness to “take at face value” statements by Gazan military leaders made in wiretapped telephone conversations, that they were not preparing an attack. Israeli intelligence is reportedly now determining whether these calls were real or staged.

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❗️ Kim Jong-un congratulated Putin on the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the DPRK and the Russia, which are “developing in the direction of eternal prosperity,” Korean Central News Agency reported

Israel’s defense industry: can Tel Aviv survive without American weapons?

The escalation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict has underlined Tel Aviv’s potentially precarious security situation, with Washington’s focus on the proxy war against Russia in Ukraine sparking questions about whether the US can afford to back two allies at once. In this light, it’s worth taking a closer look at Israel’s domestic defense sector.

What prompted the birth of Israel’s defense industry? Does Israel actually need American arms?

Find out here

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❗️Two people died when a drone crashed near Belgorod; a child may remain under the rubble of a house, the governor said.

The governor added that one victim is in a coma, the second is in serious condition.

Why US warship deployment nearby Israel spells escalation risks

In response to the surprise attack by Hamas on Israeli cities on October 7, the US deployed a carrier strike group, led by the USS Gerald R. Ford, to the Eastern Mediterranean.

Retired CIA intelligence officer Larry Johnson expressed concerns about the situation, warning that increased US military presence could heighten the danger and volatility. He noted that such involvement could lead to airstrikes on Palestinian and Hamas positions, potentially resulting in civilian casualties.

Johnson drew a historical parallel to the 1983 conflict with Hezbollah, where US warships were deployed off the coast of Israel and Lebanon, leading to a series of terrorist attacks causing significant loss of life. He emphasized the potential for a similar scenario if the US chooses to engage militarily in the region.

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Holocaust comparisons seek to ‘exceptionalize’ Hamas violence, not contextualize it

In the 75 years since Israel was founded in 1948 there have been numerous civilian massacres by both Israelis and Palestinians - a context that has been erased in recent reporting on the killings of hundreds of Jewish civilians in towns on the Gaza border, a Jewish peace activist told Sputnik.

Check out the full interview

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Americans ‘thirsty’ for independent candidates, but Kennedy faces big challenges to ballot access

On Tuesday, environmental lawyer Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. announced he was leaving the Democratic presidential primary race and launching an independent campaign for the US presidency in the November 2024 elections. Kennedy had been polling a distant second place in the Democratic race, with most liberal voters opting for the incumbent, US President Joe Biden.

The campaign of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has the potential to invigorate many disaffected voters, especially on the right, but steep restrictions on ballot access created by the two main US parties could make it impossible for him to win, political analysts told Sputnik.

Check out his full analysis

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🇺🇸 US Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA), who was officially nominated for the House speakership on Wednesday, does not have enough support from his colleagues at present to hold a full confirmation vote, a congressional source told Sputnik.

Earlier Wednesday, House Republicans voted to nominate Scalise, the chamber's majority leader, as speaker in a vote of 113-99, beating fellow US Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH).

However, several Republicans, including Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Max Miller (R-OH) have said they would still vote for Jordan in a full vote on the House floor.

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🇷🇺 Samara University researchers in Russia have found an affordable way to assess vein elasticity by analyzing heart and pulse rhythms, potentially aiding heart disease prevention.

Vascular elasticity is a key aspect of cardiovascular health, and traditional assessment methods are costly and require specialized equipment, researchers say.

This new non-invasive method measures the difference between a patient's heart and pulse rhythms and could improve early atherosclerosis diagnosis and support heart attack prevention. The researchers also hope their findings will benefit the field of physiology.

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Finnish police spokesman Mikko Simola said on Wednesday that some external traces had been detected in the seabed near the site where the Balticconnector gas pipeline was damaged, adding that the Central Finland Police Department is investigating the matter together with colleagues from Estonia.

Earlier in the day, Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur said his ministry obtained photo and video footage of the damage, which suggests the pipeline was pulled from one side and dragged. Authorities cannot rule out the pipeline was damaged by an anchor, media reported.

"At this stage of the preliminary investigation, the focus remains on the technical examination of the damage site and the incident site … maritime traffic in the area," Simola told a media briefing.

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❗️ Citing the Palestinian Ministry of Health, media reported that the latest death toll figures from Israeli strikes on Gaza reached 1,200 and another 5,600 injured

🇺🇸 US President Joe Biden filed paperwork on Wednesday to appear on Nevada’s Democratic Party primary ballot next year, making official his candidacy in the 2024 US presidential election.

The Democratic Party holds 57 nominating contests to choose its candidate for president every four years: one for each state plus contests in Washington, DC, five US territories, and a poll of Democrats living abroad. Nevada’s October 16 filing deadline is the first of the 57 contests.

Although some have questioned the wisdom of Biden’s candidacy at the age of 80, he has faced little formal challenge within his party.

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❗️ A child died when debris from a drone fell on a house near Belgorod, increasing the number of victims to three, the regional governor said.

Two victims are said to be in an extremely serious condition, and are presently in intensive care, the governor added.

🇷🇺🇸🇦 Trade between Russia and Saudi Arabia has increased by 20% in the seven months, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said.

Additionally, Russia is ready to increase supplies of petroleum products to Saudi Arabia, the official said.

Russia and Saudi Arabia will also discuss the situation on the global oil market, including the changes caused by the recent escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Novak added.

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