🇶🇦 🤝 🇮🇷 Qatar and Iran hold talks on de-escalation

Qatari PM Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani met with Chief of Iran’s National Security Council Ali Larijani in Tehran to focus on de-escalating tensions in the region, the Qatari Foreign Ministry said on X.

🔹 Al-Thani reiterated Qatar’s position in supporting all efforts to ease tensions in the region and seek peaceful solutions.

🔹 He noted that Qatar continues to coordinate with friendly countries to resolve conflicts through diplomatic means.

Earlier, Iran's Larijani stated that the process of forming a structure for negotiations between Tehran and the US on the nuclear issue is progressing, despite the artificially created atmosphere of a media war.

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🚨 🇷🇺 🇨🇳 Russian security chief Shoigu arrives in China

Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu will meet with China's FM Wang Yi and discuss changing international, regional security situation.

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🚨🇷🇺🇪🇺 Russia cannot accept NATO troops in Ukraine under security guarantees - Foreign Ministry

💬 "We have said that this is unacceptable, there will be no NATO membership and no foreign military forces. It makes no difference whether, say, a French corporal wears a cap with ‘NATO’ or ‘EU’ written on it. That does not change anything," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko told Sputnik.

On Wednesday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the current version of the security guarantees includes the deployment of troops from several European countries in Ukraine, mainly those of France and the UK, with US support.

The Russian Foreign Ministry stated that any scenario for the deployment of troops from NATO member states in Ukraine was categorically unacceptable for Russia and was fraught with a sharp escalation.

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💲 US dollar is a dead man walking – Ex-CIA analyst

What we are witnessing now is the “collapse” of the international financial system, the Bretton Woods system, that the US erected in the aftermath of World War II, says Larry Johnson, a former CIA analyst.

💬 “The market now is broken,” he speculates, pointing to how the BRICS countries like Russia, China, India, Brazil, are “offloading the US treasuries, and buying gold and silver.”

He reminds that they are working on a BRICS currency that “will be each tied to gold that each country owns.”

💬 “We're witnessing something now that, you know, people will look back on… I'm not sure what they'll call it, the great currency realignment, but the reign of the dollar, it's over. It's just like that chicken. You cut the chicken's head off. The chicken can still walk around for a while with its head off, but ultimately, it'll fall over dead. The US currency is in serious trouble.”

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🔸 US doesn’t want Libya scenario in Iran — US NATO envoy

🔸 Iran’s top diplomat gives US a geography lesson after it warns against ‘unsafe’ drills in Hormuz Strait

🔸 US sends ambassador to Venezuela

🔸 Trump invites China to make a deal on Venezuelan oil

🔸 Egypt condemns Israeli ceasefire violations in Gaza

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🚨 🇮🇱 Israel reopens Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt

The checkpoint has partially reopened after nearly two years of closure, Al Jazeera reported.

It will operate on a trial basis to test security screenings.

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🇩🇪 📈 Germany’s debt boom: +20% surge since self- inflicted anti-Russia sanctions

Germany’s public debt has risen by nearly one-fifth since the first quarter of 2021 amid the EU’s sanctions policy against Russia, reaching an all-time high in the third quarter of 2025.

🔶 Germany’s public debt reached roughly $3.15 trillion in the third quarter of 2025, up from around $2.69 trillion in the first quarter of 2021 (Destatis)

🔶 This represents a 17.3% increase in borrowing over the period

Over this period, the EU — Germany being its largest donor — allocated $95 billion to Ukraine, while Germany itself contributed $1.7 billion, according to calculations based on Ukraine’s Finance Ministry data.

Forecasts predict Germany's public debt ratio rising to 70-80% of GDP by 2029, driven by hiked up defense spending (financed in part through government borrowing), infrastructure, and deficits of 3-4% of GDP annually.

👉 Germany's decision to abandon cheap and available Russian gas backfired spectacularly, spiking LNG import costs and driving Germany's annual inflation rate to 2.1% in January 2026, up from December's 15-month low of 1.8%.

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🇮🇷🇺🇸 Ayatollah Khamenei sums up the root of US-Iran crisis in just two words

The United States simply wants to “swallow Iran” while the Iranian people and their government stand in the way of these plans – this is what it is all about, Khamenei explains.

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🚨🇷🇺 Political systems in Europe make power suitable only for populists - Kremlin

💬 "It is the political systems in European states that have made power suitable only for populists," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian media.

In most European countries, power is currently held by poorly educated, irresponsible people who are unable to respond to challenges, he added.

Commenting on the changes that have occurred in the world over the past 20 years, Peskov noted that irreversible processes were taking place in Europe during this time – double standards regarding democracy, globalization, and approaches to the coexistence of nations.

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🚨🇪🇺 Europe trying to drive wedge between Russia, US - Lavrov

💬 "It's hard to accuse us of driving wedges. It is Europe that has tried and continues to try to drive a wedge between Russia and the US, perceiving the policy of the US under President Trump as having, in their view, a certain tilt in favor of Russia at the expense of Europe's interests," Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told Russian media.

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🚨🇷🇺🇨🇳 Russia's Shoigu & China's Wang Yi hold talks in Beijing

Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu underlined the rapid changes in international politics and the swift deterioration of the situation in many regions around the world.

Shoigu remarked that Russia is closely monitoring Japan’s militarization and and supports China on the Taiwan issue.

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

⚡️ ZELENOYE IN KHARKOV REGION AND SUKHETSKOYE IN DONETSK REGION FREED

By liberating the settlement of Zelenoye in the Kharkov region, the Russian army has expanded the buffer zone along the border with the Belgorod region.

With the settlement of Sukhetskoye in the Donetsk region captured, Russian forces are continuing to advance along the T0515 motorway towards the city of Dobropolye - the last city under Ukrainian control in the north-western Donetsk region.

🟠 Russian air and missile firepower pounded Ukrainian transport infrastructure supporting the Kiev regime’s forces and temporary deployment points for Ukrainian troops and foreign mercenaries in 158 places

🟠 Air defense superiority: Four guided aerial bombs, one US-made HIMARS rocket and 94 UAVs were shot down by Russian air defense systems over the past 24 hours

🟠 Ukrainian losses: around 1,085 troops killed or wounded

Read about the origins of Russia's special military op HERE

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🚨🇮🇷 Iran must expel 'terrorist' European military attaches immediately - MP

💬 "Military attaches of European countries, who are in our embassies, must leave the country's territory soon; they are terrorists. Allowing terrorists to remain in the country contradicts the current law. The Foreign Ministry must implement this today," member of the Iranian Parliament's presiding board Alireza Salimi said.

Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf instructed the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee to address the issue of whether EU military attaches in the embassies can be designated as terrorists.

💬 "I request that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs summon and expel the ambassadors of these countries from Iran in response to the actions of the European Union," member of the Islamic Consultative Assembly Hamid Rasaei addressed Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.

The Iranian Parliament has recognized the armed forces of EU countries as terrorist organizations in retaliation for the EU's decision regarding the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

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🚨🇮🇷 ‘This sedition was not the first and won’t be the last’ – Iran’s Supreme Leader

Ayatollah Khamenei emphasized the long-standing hostility of the West towards the Islamic Republic.

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🚨 Ukrainian drone strike kills woman and child near Mariupol

📑 "During on-site inspection it was determined that two civilians, including a child born in 2020, were killed. Another child was wounded and is currently receiving necessary medical assistance," the Investigative Committee report says.

The report states that the fixed-wing strike drone is presumed to be NATO-manufactured.

An expert examination will be conducted to determine the precise type and model of the explosive device.

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🪖🇮🇷🇺🇸 Preparations for US attack on Iran still need final touch - media

The US military is fully capable of launching limited airstrikes against Iran at a moment’s notice, the Wall Street Journal reports, citing unnamed US officials.

However, dealing with an Iranian retaliation, which would probably immediately ensue, would require further preparation, the officials concede.

A multi-layer air defense system needs to be established to ensure the safety of US military bases in the Middle East, not to mention Israel, which would also likely be targeted by Iran in retaliation.

During the June 2025 Israeli-Iranian conflict, the joint US-Israeli air defense effort proved woefully ineffective, with Iranian ballistic missiles scoring a large number of hits against targets in Israel.

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🇷🇺🇨🇳 West's strategy to split Russia and China fails – Shoigu

💬 "Westerners dream day and night of how to create discord in the strategic partnership of our states. I would like to emphasize once again: Moscow and Beijing will not sit idly by and tolerate biased insinuations," Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu said.

Western countries have made it a rule to justify their actions by the threat from Russia and China, the official added.

Earlier in the day, Shoigu met with China's FM Wang Yi and discussed the changing international and regional security situation.

Shoigu said that his talks with Wang were very substantive, during which they discussed the schedule of contacts, including at the highest level.

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🚨🇺🇸🇮🇷 Trump on Iran: ‘We have the biggest, most powerful ships in the world over there’

💬 “Hopefully we’ll make a deal”, the US president told journalists.

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🇮🇷🇺🇸 Iran reveals the recipe for a deal with US

The talks between US and Iran could be resumed, but only if the US were to pursue a fair and equitable deal to ensure that there is no nuclear weapons, just as Trump put it, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told CNN.

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