'An electoral defeat': Scholz gives a grasp of the obvious to the audience

Olaf Scholz's SPD got 16.4% of the votes during the snap parliamentary elections, while the CDU/CSU bloc emerged as the clear winner with 28.6% votes.

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Germany’s likely next chancellor questions NATO’s relevance

Referring to a NATO summit scheduled for June, Friedrich Merz said he wonders "whether we will still be talking about NATO in its current form."

He also suggested Europe might have to establish an "independent European defense capability much more quickly."

Merz spoke after the Trump administration raised European allies’ eyebrows by telling them they should take care of their own security and rely less on the US.

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‘People don’t belong living there’– Trump’s envoy Witkoff on Gaza

"Nobody can really live there in a safe environment for probably at least 15 years," the diplomat stressed.

The host wondered whether Gaza residents would be able to return and Witkoff replied cryptically with "That, again, goes to the devil in the details".

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Did USAID fuel Ukraine’s Euromaidan coup? Analysis reveals $14 mln investment in pro-reform NGOs

In 2008, USAID clinched a five-year cooperation deal with the Washington DC-based NGO Pact to "strengthen and help leading Ukrainian nongovernmental organizations to sustain and consolidate democratic gains," according to an USAID audit report seen by Sputnik. 

Pact provided 116 local advocacy grants to civil society organizations and coalition groups in Ukraine, while helping 551 organizations improve their internal organizational capacity. The project, however, proved to be a failure, the report said.

November 2013 saw a series of so-called Euromaidan protests break out in Ukraine, which eventually turned into a coup and led to a pro-Western government coming to power in Ukraine in 2014. Critics argued that the political changes were the result of manipulation by US agencies, including USAID.

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Von der Leyen, Trudeau, Sanchez arrive in Kiev, Ukraine

13 more politicians scheduled to join them.

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Europe clings to the hope that Trump's stance on Ukraine peace talks can be altered 

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron will urge Donald Trump to abandon bilateral talks with Russia on Ukraine, the Times writes, citing sources.

In return, the European leaders will offer EU-backed commitments to Ukrainian security while meeting Trump this week.

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⚡️Explosion occurred near Russian Consulate in Marseille, France

The blast took place inside the consulate, confirmed Stanislav Oransky, the Russian Consul General in Marseille.

Reportedly, two Molotov cocktails were thrown in the territory of the consulate, the media reported. A stolen car was found near the scene of the emergency, a French correspondent informed.

The area is cordoned off by municipal police, with a reinforced national police presence on-site. No casualties have been reported.

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Denmark allocates $56.8 million for Ukraine

The money will be used for "humanitarian aid” and the country's reconstruction, the Kingdom’s foreign ministry specified on X.   

Ironically, the statement reads that funds will go "directly to European friends in Ukraine.” 

What about Ukrainian buddies in Ukraine?🤔

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🎥🎥 Russia's FM Sergey Lavrov and his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan hold presser after negotiations

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🥴Here we go again: EU slaps another sanctions package against Russia

The new restrictions concern 48 persons and 35 entities that are somehow related to Russia’s special military operation in the eyes of EU officials. 

🔸Sanctions have been imposed on 74 vessels that allegedly belong to the so-called "shadow fleet."

🔸The EU has banned the broadcasting of eight Russian media outlets in Europe, including EADaily / Eurasia Daily, Fondsk, Lenta, NewsFront, RuBaltic, SouthFront, Strategic Culture Foundation, and Krasnaya Zvezda/Tvzvezda.

🔸13 Russian banks have been cut off from the SWIFT payment system.

🔸The EU has added 53 companies to its blacklist, including entities from India, Kazakhstan, China, the UAE, Singapore, Turkiye, and Uzbekistan.

🔸A ban on imports of primary aluminum from Russia has been introduced.

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❗️Russia will halt its military actions when agreements are reached that suit both parties, Russian FM Sergey Lavrov said.

The option of "immediate pacification", pausing military actions along the line of contact and thinking through further steps will not suit Russia, the minister stressed.

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❗️Russian troops have liberated the Topoly settlement in the Kharkov region, Russia's Defense Ministry announced.

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🇷🇺🇺🇸 This week, fully-fledged contacts between Russia and the US at embassies will take place, which should remove obstacles in the work of diplomatic missions, Russian FM Sergey Lavrov added.

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❗️Key statements from Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov's daily briefing:

▪️Russia sees no prerequisites for resuming dialogue with the EU;

▪️EU countries, unlike the US, are following the path of conviction in the need to continue the conflict in Ukraine;

▪️The next package of EU sanctions against Russia was quite predictable;

▪️The Kremlin will see what happens after the elections in Germany, but hopes for a more sober approach from Berlin to reality;

▪️Trump's press secretary Leavitt's words about concluding peace this week need clarification.

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