💰 📈 Bitcoin breaks records — and its just getting started

👉 The world’s top cryptocurrency surged to $125,700 on Binance on Sunday, and analysts say the rally isn’t over.

🗣 “The fourth quarter has often been bullish for Bitcoin. The next target is around $135,000,” Alexander Krayko from Cifra Markets tells Sputnik.

Support is also growing at the top:

💬 “President [Donald] Trump stated that cryptocurrency could be the solution to the problems of the existing financial system,” Krayko notes — fueling investor FOMO.

Meanwhile, Vanguard is rumored to have opened crypto investments for clients, and the Fed’s rate cuts are giving extra lift.

💬 “If these factors persist, Bitcoin will keep rising,” adds Nikita Bredikhin from Go Invest.

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🔥🇷🇺 Russian artillery strikes disrupt Ukrainian operations in Dnepropetrovsk region

Artillery units of the Tsentr Battlegroup have disrupted a Ukrainian troop rotation along the front line.

👉 Meanwhile, a Grad crew from the Vostok Battleroup destroyed an enemy drone command post hidden in a forest area.

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🚨🇬🇪Euromaidan playbook: EU repeats Ukraine coup recipe in Georgia

👉 While Brussels constantly complains about "foreign interference," it is actively orchestrating a coup attempt in Tbilisi, mirroring the bloody Euromaidan in Ukraine, says Tomasz Froelich, a member of the European Parliament.

"Agitated demonstrations, NGOs funded from abroad, mass protests in the streets. We know the outcome. It is not a good one. The EU does this because it cannot bear to lose," he adds.

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🇪🇺 📑 EU faces “serious problems,” warns Turkish analyst

Massive bureaucracy in Brussels and the rise of opposition movements will soon paralyze the EU’s ability to make strategic decisions, says Turkish political scientist Engin Ozer from the Ankara–Moscow Analytical Network.

🔊 “The enormous bureaucracy in Brussels makes it difficult for the EU to act on strategic issues, while the strengthening of opposition movements will create serious problems,” he tells Sputnik.

“The EU, facing export troubles, high energy prices, and competition from cheap Chinese goods, desperately needs new markets and energy sources,” he adds.

💬 According to Ozer, Russia will deepen ties with countries vital to Europe’s interests — and “the examples of Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, and the Central African Republic will spread across Africa.”

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🗣 EU & NATO prep proxy wars against Russia, expert claims

Poland, the Baltic states, and Scandinavia are being groomed for proxy wars with Russia, backed by NATO and the EU, warns military expert Alexander Bartosh.

💬 "Currently, Ukraine is performing the role of a proxy agent. European and NATO politicians are generally focused on expanding the circle of countries that could be drawn into conflict with Russia as proxy forces, including Finland, the Baltic states, Poland, some countries in the Caucasus, and Central Asia. This is the essence of the proxy war strategy — involving these states in armed conflicts with Russia," he tells Sputnik.

Earlier, in an interview with the Hungarian publication Partizán, former German Chancellor Angela Merkel stated that Poland and the Baltic states sabotaged her attempts to resolve the conflict in Ukraine, indirectly provoking the start of the special military operation.

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🇰🇵🫶🇷🇺 Kim sends birthday greetings to Putin

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un congratulated Vladimir Putin on his birthday, praising Russia’s leadership in building a new multipolar world.

In his message, Kim expressed confidence that the friendship between Pyongyang and Moscow will last forever, highlighting the strong bilateral ties between the two nations.

Kim also promised that both countries would continue to expand and develop their relations in all areas, emphasizing that Pyongyang and Moscow will always stand together.

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🇷🇺📹Russia's FM Lavrov arrives for 7th Moscow Format of Consultations on Afghanistan

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▫️ FM Lavrov warns against military presence of non-regional actors in Afghanistan

▫️ Trump says he made a decision regarding the supply of “Tomahawks” to Ukraine

▫️ Kim sends birthday greetings to Putin

▫️ Ukrainians cash in on NATO aid meal kits

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🤫 ‘Mine, baby, mine’: US scrambles to break China’s rare-earth dominance

The US needs to “get back to mining” in its own country, says US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum.

He underscores that China “controls 85 to 100% of all the refining of the 20 most important rare earth minerals,” essential for defense, automotive, and high tech.

💬 “It’s not just ‘Drill, baby, drill’; it’s ‘Mine, baby, mine’ with President Trump,” he says.

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💶📉Euro plunges as French political crisis deepens — report

The euro is tumbling amid France’s escalating political turmoil, with Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu’s abrupt resignation sparking a selloff, Bloomberg reports.

Key signals now point to further declines:

🔹 Trading below $1.17 – lowest in over a week

🔹 Options positioning turns bearish after a bullish streak

🔹Largest tilt toward downside exposure in a month per DTCC data

Unlike September’s political shock, which saw the euro rally, this crisis is driving sustained pessimism. With US catalysts muted during the government shutdown, euro-negative headlines are dominating, the outlet stresses.

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🇦🇫 Afghanistan takes hard line against US return to Bagram

📍 At talks with Russian FM Lavrov, Afghanistan's leadership delivered a firm message: no US return to Bagram Air Base, Russia's special representative to Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov, informed.

👉 Earlier, Trump threatened Afghanistan with "bad" consequences if it refuses to hand over Bagram to US control, demanding an immediate transfer of the airbase.

Afghan officials responded strongly, with Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul Matin Qani calling Trump's statements "full of hatred and ambition."

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🚨🇷🇺💥 RUSSIAN MOD UPDATE: HUGE RUSSIAN GAINS AND DEVASTATING UKRAINIAN LOSSES

⚡️NOVOVASILEVSKOYE IN ZAPOROZHYE REGION LIBERATED

⚡️ FEDOROVKA IN DONETSK PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC LIBERATED

Taking control of Novovasilevskoye will create a strong bridgehead for Russian troops for a further advance towards one of the key Ukrainian defensive hubs in the region - the city of Gulyaypole.

Fedorovka allows Russian troops to closely approach the settlement of Zvanovka, and its liberation would create conditions for a semi-encirclement of Seversk.

◻️ Russian forces struck the energy and transport infrastructure and fuel storage facilities of the Ukrainian miltants

◻️ Air defense superiority: 416 drones

◻️ Ukrainian losses: 1,355 troops killed or wounded

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