Russia hikes interest rates to 15% as inflation soars ( www.bbc.com )
‘It will be slow, very hard’: can Israel achieve its aims in Gaza invasion? ( www.theguardian.com )
Netanyahu: Defeating Hamas will make prophecy of Isaiah a reality ( www.christianpost.com )
Turkey’s Erdogan says Hamas is a ‘liberation’ not a ‘terrorist’ group ( english.alarabiya.net )
Russia spread bedbug panic in France, intelligence services suspect ( www.telegraph.co.uk )
archive.today link for those hit by a paywall: https://archive.is/9YZ30...
Gaza hospitals ceasing to function as water and fuel run out ( www.theguardian.com )
Russia has likely suffered up to 480,000 soldiers killed or wounded in the war against Ukraine, says UK Ministry of Defence ( www.yahoo.com )
US intelligence report alleging Russia election interference shared with 100 countries ( www.reuters.com )
The United States on Friday released a U.S. intelligence assessment sent to more than 100 countries that found Moscow is using spies, social media and Russian state-run media to erode public faith in the integrity of democratic elections worldwide....
About 100,000 turn out in London for pro-Palestine rally ( www.theguardian.com )
US Vetoes Resolution Calling for ‘Humanitarian Pause’ ( www.truthdig.com )
Truthdig.com
Pentagon independently concluded Islamic Jihad responsible for hospital blast ( abcnews.go.com )
President Joe Biden was asked by a reporter in Israel on Wednesday what made him confident that the Israelis weren't behind the explosion that killed hundreds at a Gaza hospital on Tuesday....
Colleges announce support for isreal ( www.axios.com )
Russia’s Avdiivka offensive is failing, says top Ukrainian officer ( www.theguardian.com )
A top Ukrainian commander has claimed that Russia’s biggest offensive in months – involving tanks, thousands of soldiers and armoured vehicles in an attack on the eastern Ukrainian town of Avdiivka – is failing, as he admitted Kyiv’s own attempts to advance in the south were proving “difficult”....
The U.N. says the Israeli military told it that all of northern Gaza has 24 hours to move south. ( www.nytimes.com )
Israel’s military has informed the United Nations that the entire population of northern Gaza should relocate to the southern half of the territory within 24 hours, the U.N. spokesman, Stéphane Dujarric, said late on Thursday night, adding that such a movement — involving over one million people — would lead to...
West urges Israel to show restraint amid escalation fears ( www.politico.eu )
Hamas official says group is open to discussions over truce with Israel ( www.reuters.com )
‘Unprecedented’ rail traffic between North Korea and Russia suggests military transfers ( www.politico.eu )
Pyongyang could very well be helping Moscow to gear up in its war with Ukraine, according to satellite imagery of the Tumangang rail facility at the border with Russia recorded by the U.S. think tank Beyond Parallel and made public on Friday....
US fears Canada-India row over Sikh activist's killing could upend strategy for countering China ( apnews.com )
The Biden administration is nervously watching a dispute between Canada and India, with some officials concerned it could upend the U.S. strategy toward the Indo-Pacific that is directed at blunting China’s influence there and elsewhere....
Common cold triggers killer blood clot disorder, scientists discover ( www.thesun.co.uk )
Russia's gas production collapses to late-stage USSR levels ( www.newsweek.com )
Pope Francis suggests gay couples could be blessed in Vatican reversal ( www.theguardian.com )
Conservative cardinals had challenged the pope to confirm teachings on LGBTQ+ issues...
British police arrest second suspect accused of cutting down 300-year-old tree near Hadrian's Wall ( www.foxnews.com )
Suicide bomber detonates explosive device in Turkish capital ( www.aljazeera.com )
Turkey’s interior minister says a suicide bomber detonated an explosive device in front of the ministry building in the Turkish capital, wounding two police officers....
With Kremlin apologist leading the polls, Slovakia vote threatens country’s support for Ukraine ( www.cnn.com )
Slovaks are voting in a parliamentary election on Saturday, a knife-edge vote that could radically reshape Slovakia’s approach to Ukraine and create deep rifts within NATO and the European Union....
Russia pardoned a murderer who put his girlfriend through a meat grinder because he agreed to fight in Ukraine, his mom says ( www.businessinsider.com )
A Russian convicted murderer who was sentenced to 11 years in prison after he killed his girlfriend and put her body through a meat grinder has been pardoned after fighting against Ukraine, his mother said....
