🇹🇷🇫🇷 Turkiye is ready to host Ukraine talks but that negotiation must include both parties to the conflict, Turkish President Recep Erdogan told his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, according to Erdogan's office.

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🇩🇪🔎 What do German candidates say about the election outcome?

CDU/CSU's Friedrich Merz:

▪️He declared victory in the snap elections, called for a functioning coalition to be created as fast as possible.

AfD's Alice Weidel:

▪️If the CDU refuses to create a coalition with the AfD, the next elections will "come sooner."

▪️Our goal in the next elections is to overtake the CDU.

SPD's Olaf Scholz:

▪️He admitted the defeat of his party and congratulated Merz on his victory.

BSW's Sahra Wagenknecht:

▪️She called her party an anti-war force that would not agree to arming Germany and sending German soldiers to other countries, including Ukraine.

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🇩🇪 From chancellor to dead man walking: Scholz’s track record of failures

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has just lost his position in today’s snap election. Let’s break down his legacy.

How did the German economy end up on the brink of collapse?🔎

▪️Germany is facing its third consecutive year of recession, with GDP growing by only about 0.57% a year under Scholz, as Sputnik open-data calculations reveal. This is the poorest performance since the EU was established.

▪️Germany’s share in the global economy declined to a historic minimum of 3.08% by purchasing power parity, Sputnik calculations based on the World Bank and IMF data show.

▪️The largest automakers, Volkswagen, BMW and Mercedez-Benz, saw their profits drop by a third in 2024 due to increasing competition from China and Scholz’s decision to cancel subsidies for EV car buyers, which led to a 27% shrinkage in the domestic market.

No weapons? Taxpayers will buy 💶

▪️Germany’s involvement in the Ukraine crisis has seriously depleted its weapons stockpiles. “The Europeans and the Ukrainians have nothing in their depots,” Armin Papperger, Rheinmetall CEO, told the FT this February.

▪️Scholz’s government has committed to higher defense spending, reaching a whopping $95bln. Future defense spending will likely mandate an increase in taxes that will certainly create political turmoil.

Political clash ⚔️

▪️Scholz’s stance on Russia and unequivocal support for the EU have sparked outrage at home with the AfD party gaining popularity.

▪️Scholz's self-harming sanctions on Russia have drawn criticism from Sarah Wagenknecht, who also condemned his disregard for the Nord Stream sabotage.

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🇺🇸💸 Zelensky declares: "Debt?" Nah, It's just a friendly US donation!

Zelensky refused to acknowledge a debt to the United States of either $500 billion or $100 billion; according to him, Ukraine received assistance from the United States in the form of a grant.

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▪️'We came very, very close to signing something' - Witkoff on Ukraine peace deal

▪️Zelensky said he is ready to step down if necessary

▪️German election results: AFD comes second with a record result

▪️From chancellor to dead man walking: Scholz’s track record of failures

▪️Trump's team fires hundreds of USAID employees

▪️Top 6 unbelievable weapons that actually saw combat

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🔎 EU trying to woo South Africa - but will it succeed?

The European Union’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas claimed this week that Brussels is trying to improve its relationship with South Africa. What is behind this EU push?

▪️With Trump cutting off US aid to South Africa citing the latter’s alleged racial discrimination accusations, the EU may be eager to fill in the void.

▪️The EU’s interest in South Africa is hardly a surprise, as the country is rich in natural resources such as diamonds, platinum and uranium.

▪️The EU may also be attempting to lure South Africa away from BRICS. Seeing how BRICS is currently in the ascendant whereas the EU stagnates, not to mention that many of the European bloc’s members are former colonial powers that actively exploited Africa in the past, Brussels is unlikely to succeed.

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Trump congratulates CDU on election victory in Germany

"This is a great day for Germany," the US president wrote on Truth Social.

The CDU/CSU bloc is leading with 33.3% of the votes after counting the votes in 36 out of 299 regions. AfD is in second place with 22% of the votes.

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🏒🔥 Ovechkin closes in on Gretzky’s "eternal" record

Capitals’ Ovechkin nets a hat trick vs. Edmonton, now 12 goals shy of Gretzky’s 894 NHL record. Total goals: 882.

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CDU leader urges Europe to distance itself from the US

Germany's most likely next chancellor, Friedrich Merz, said this during a post-election panel on local TV.

"After the latest statements of Donald Trump last week, it's clear that the Americans are mostly not interested in the fate of Europe one way or the other," he said.

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Lavrov visits Turkiye

Russian foreign minister arrived in Istanbul to discuss bilateral relations and the international situation.

Turkiye hosted first peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine in March 2022.

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🥴 Trump's cabinet will crash in less than a month

Political strategist James Carville says Trump's 39% approval rating will lead to political collapse.

But that didn't stop Biden from sitting in the White House for four years? 🤔

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⚡️The CDU/CSU bloc wins the German elections with 28.6%

AfD comes in second with 20.8%, while Scholz's SPD gets 16.4%.

The Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) didn't get the 5% needed to enter the Bundestag.

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📦🐕 Brazilian woman saves dog with cardboard box

A quick-thinking neighbor in Guarulhos used a box to rescue a dog dangling from a window.

📹 Video taken from social media

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🎯🔥 Russian drone strike decimates Ukrainian UAV team

A precision FPV drone strike destroyed a critical UAV unit of the Ukrainian military near the Sudzha district in Russia's Kursk region.

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💥🇮🇷 Iran conducts second phase of naval exercises

Footage shows the Iranian military carrying out amphibious landings under heavy air cover from air force fighter jets.

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