Prophetic Birth Pangs

ENTRIES

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SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT

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UKRAINE:

SEE the Brethren link for a recent update. [12-Nov-2023]

Due to decreased news coverage of the War in Ukraine and with no impactful news related to our Brethren in recent months, the daily entries are being discontinued. The Links section contains the Ukraine page of those sites which still carry one.

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ISRAEL: This link takes you to the home page of the Times of Israel. A link to the Live Feed is at the top of that page. ______________________
Additionally, the number of users of this page has dropped dramatically.

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November 2nd, 2023

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UKRAINE:

Ukraine’s commander-in-chief of armed forces General Valery Zaluzhny has said that the war in Ukraine in “at a stalemate”, warning that there is likely to be no quick “no deep and beautiful breakthrough” in the counteroffensive against Russia.

Russia has likely lost at least four long range Surface-to-Air Missile (SAM) launchers to Ukrainian strikes over the last week. On 26 October 2023, Russian media reported that three Russian SA-21 launchers had been destroyed in the Luhansk region

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ISRAEL:

Countries in the Middle East that have normalized or are considering normalizing relations with Israel are coming under growing public pressure to cut those ties because of Israel’s war with Hamas.

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November 1st, 2023

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UKRAINE:

US senators from both parties indicated support for funding for Ukraine, voicing doubts on Tuesday about a House Republican plan to split US president Joe Biden’s request for a $106bn aid package.

Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said: “The modern world is set up in such a way that it becomes accustomed to success too quickly. When the full-scale aggression began, many in the world did not think Ukraine would endure,” in his nightly video address on Tuesday.

A senior UN official says Russian strikes are inflicting “unimaginable suffering” on the people of Ukraine and that more than 18 million Ukrainians – 40% of the population – need humanitarian assistance.

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ISRAEL:

The Israel Defense Force says it has bolstered the Red Sea area with Navy missile boats, following several missile and drone attacks by Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen.

Jordan has recalled its ambassador to Israel in protest of Jerusalem’s conduct in the war against Hamas, the foreign ministry in Amman announces.

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October 31st, 2023

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UKRAINE:

Defense secretary Lloyd Austin and secretary of state Antony Blinken will appear before a US Senate hearing on Tuesday to argue in favour of Joe Biden’s $105bn emergency aid request for Israel and Ukraine. New Speaker Mike Johnson has proposed cutting out the Ukraine aid and focusing on Israel alone.

Nine people, including two young children, have been found shot dead in their house in the Russian-occupied eastern Ukrainian town of Volnovakha. Ukrainian officials say they believe Russian soldiers killed the whole of the Kapkanets family on 27 October for refusing to give them their house.

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ISRAEL: [CLICK HERE FOR LIVE FEED.]

Israel said its forces attacked Hamas gunmen inside the Islamists' vast tunnel network beneath Gaza, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed calls for a halt to fighting.

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October 30th, 2023

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UKRAINE:

Moldova has blocked access to the websites of major Russian news media, accusing them of taking part in an information war against the country. Moldova, a small country located between Ukraine and NATO-member Romania, has accused Moscow of trying to overthrow its pro-western government since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. It holds local elections later this week.

The first US-made F-16 combat aircraft the Netherlands is donating Ukraine will arrive in Romania’s training center within two weeks, outgoing Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte said on Monday.

Ukraine’s army said it had overnight “successfully hit” part of Russia’s air defense system located in annexed Crimea, AFP reports.

In its latest intelligence update, the UK’ s Ministry of Defense (MoD) has said that a Russian state-backed private military company (PMC) is specifically attempting to recruit women into combat roles in Ukraine for the first time.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) and newly elected Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) are headed for a showdown over emergency funding for Ukraine and funding the government beyond Thanksgiving, two tough issues that will test their ability to work together.

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ISRAEL: [CLICK HERE FOR LIVE FEED.]

Fierce air and artillery strikes rang out in Gaza early on Monday as Israeli troops backed by tanks pressed into the Palestinian enclave with an expanded ground assault.

Israeli tanks entered the edge of Gaza City this morning and cut a key road from the north to the south of the war-torn Palestinian territory, witnesses tell AFP.

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October 29th, 2023

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INDIA:

A bomb blast rocked a Jehovah's Witnesses Convention in Kerala, India where 2,000 attendees were present. [FULL STORY] Indian Brethren are concerned this incident could result in a crackdown on Bible Students as well as JWs.

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UKRAINE:

The UK ministry of defense has cited unspecified reports that the Russian government is attempting to suppress discussion of “negative political, economic and social trends” at universities. ______________________
ISRAEL:

Israel said Saturday that it was recalling its diplomats from Turkey over “increasingly harsh statements” coming from the government in Ankara. The announcement came after Turkey’s president told a massive protest crowd in Istanbul that his government was preparing to declare Israel a “war criminal” due to its actions in the Gaza Strip.

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October 28th, 2023

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UKRAINE:

A third round of Ukrainian-backed peace talks opens in Malta today with representatives from more than 50 countries. Moscow has oddly denounced it as “a blatantly anti-Russian event”.

The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, claimed that Russian forces had lost at least a brigade’s worth of troops attempting to advance on Ukraine’s eastern town of Avdiivka.

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ISRAEL:

The Israel Defense Forces warns residents of Gaza City that the area is now a “battlefield,” as it steps up its air campaign against Hamas terrorists in the Palestinian territory.

The Israel Defense Forces released footage of the interrogation of Hamas terrorists who participated in the October 7 massacre in southern Israel, where they confirm the terror group has a hideout under Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.

A resolution calling for a Gaza ceasefire, which makes no mention of the Hamas terror group, has overwhelmingly passed the United Nations General Assembly by a vote of 121 in favor, 14 against, and 45 abstaining.

Saudi officials have reportedly warned American counterparts that an Israeli ground incursion into Gaza would have catastrophic implications for the Middle East.

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October 27th, 2023

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UKRAINE:

French fighter jets have taxied alongside the Romanian Air Force after flying through the sky above the Fetesti air base, as NATO bolsters its military presence in member country Romania, bordering Ukraine.

Yesterday, the Kyiv-based Barva Invest consultancy, British security firm Ambrey and a specialised outlet, Ukrainian Ports, reported that Ukraine had suspended use of the corridor due to a possible threat from Russian warplanes and sea mines. Ukrainian officials denied this and president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said today the corridor would continue to function despite threats.

Russia is executing soldiers who try to retreat from a bloody offensive in eastern Ukraine, the White House has said. According to the US, some of the casualties suffered by Russia near Avdiivka were "on the orders of their own leaders". A Ukrainian army spokesperson said that Russian troops were refusing to attack Ukrainian positions near Avdiivka because of heavy losses and that there had been mutinies in some units.

Newly elected US Speaker of the House Mike Johnson said that funding to support Ukraine and Israel should be handled separately, suggesting he will not back President Joe Biden’s $106 billion aid package for both countries. Johnson, speaking in an interview on Fox News, said he had concerns about Ukraine funding in general. “We want to know what the object is there, what is the end game in Ukraine.”

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ISRAEL:

In a briefing for reporters of international media outlets, IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari says the Hamas terror group’s main base of operations is under Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. He says the information on Hamas’s use of the hospital is based on a wide range of intelligence sources collected by the Military Intelligence Directorate and Shin Bet security agency, and that the intel has already been provided to allies.

A Hamas official tied the release of hostages held in Gaza to a ceasefire in Israel's bombardment of the enclave, launched after a deadly rampage by Hamas militants into southern Israel nearly three weeks ago.

Israel overnight sent tanks and troops into the Gaza Strip for a second limited incursion in as many nights, the Israel Defense Forces says, striking Hamas operatives and sites.

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October 26th, 2023

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UKRAINE:

Ukraine has suspended the use of its new Black Sea grain corridor due to what it sees as military risks, the Kyiv-based Barva Invest consultancy has said.

The Kremlin on Thursday said it hoped to receive more “information” from Armenia after the Armenian prime minister said he saw “no advantage” in continuing to host Russian military bases on its territory.

Slovakia’s new populist prime minister, Robert Fico, has said his three-party coalition government was ending military aid to its eastern neighbour Ukraine, fulfilling one of his central campaign pledges.

Newly-elected U.S. Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, was among 93 Republicans who voted for an amendment by Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., to cut off U.S. military assistance for Ukraine.

South Korea, Japan and the US have strongly condemned the supply of arms and military equipment by North Korea to Russia, saying they have confirmed “several” deliveries.

Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said Ukraine is preparing for renewed Russian attacks on its energy infrastructure ahead of the second winter of Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion of the country – and that the country is ready to counterattack if targeted.

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ISRAEL: [CLICK HERE FOR LIVE FEED.]

In a move which is likely to provoke a lot of reaction, the Russian foreign ministry has announced that a delegation from Hamas is currently visiting Moscow. Iranian deputy foreign minister Ali Bagheri Kani is in Moscow as well.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan slammed the European Union for failing to call for a ceasefire in Gaza, accusing the West of indifference toward the suffering of Muslims.

The Israel Defense Forces said that overnight it carried out a “targeted raid” in the northern part of the Gaza Strip with infantry forces and tanks.

The Libyan parliament demanded the departure of ambassadors from countries that “support” Israel as it fights Hamas in Gaza, taking specific aim at the United States, Britain, France and Italy.

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October 25th, 2023

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UKRAINE:

A Russian drone attack damaged buildings near the Khmelnytskyi nuclear power plant in western Ukraine in the early hours of Wednesday and 20 people were wounded, Reuters reports.

Ukraine’s economy ministry said GDP grew around 9.1% year-on-year in September. The ministry also said GDP over the first nine months of 2023 rose by 5.3% compared with last year when Russia launched its invasion. It described the figures as positive.

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ISRAEL:

Speaking to a gathering of his AK party faction in parliament, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says that Israel “can view Hamas as a terrorist organization along with the West. The West owes you a lot. But Turkey does not owe you anything. Hamas is not a terrorist organization, it is a group of mujahideen defending their lands,” he said to a standing ovation.

VIDEO LINK: Important interview with the pro-Israel son of the Hamas founder. [NOTE: This video is about 8-1/2 minutes long. Another unrelated video may auto-start after this one is finished.]

Saudi Arabia intercepted one of the cruise missiles fired toward Israel last week by Iran-backed Houthi rebels, The Wall Street Journal reveals. The US was known to have shot down the other four missiles from its USS Carney guided missile cruiser but Saudi involvement in the missile defense actions had been unknown until now. Saudi Arabia’s Patriot Missile Defense array is supplied by the US.

The New Jersey Air National Guard’s 119 Expeditionary Fighter Squadron has arrived in the Middle East, Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder tells reporters. The squadron has F-16 fighter jets, and officials will not say where exactly it went.

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October 24th, 2023

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UKRAINE:

Moldova has blocked access to more than 20 Russian media websites because of what it called an information war being waged against the country.

Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba cited Forbes as reporting that Russia has spent around $167bn (£137bn) on the war between February 2022 and August 2023, with which it could have built almost 24,000 kindergartens across Russia, or more than 4,500 maternity wards, or about 17,000 schools. “Instead, Russian war criminals have bombed Ukrainian kindergartens, maternity wards, schools, and hospitals, destroying almost 120,000 civilian structures in all.”

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ISRAEL:

The war between Israel and Hamas could deal a “serious” blow to global economic development, the president of the World Bank told an investor conference in Saudi Arabia.

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October 23rd, 2023

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UKRAINE:

Russia appears to be suffering severe losses as it wages its new offensive in eastern Ukraine, amid some of the bloodiest fighting in months, according to Ukrainian officials and independent analysts.

Ukraine’s defense systems destroyed all air weapons Russia launched overnight, Ukraine’s air force said on Monday. The air force said on Telegram that a total of 14 attack drones, including 13 Iranian-made Shahed drones and one unspecified drone, as well as one cruise missile were all destroyed, Reuters reports.

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President Isaac Herzog Herzog showed materials recovered from a USB drive on the body of a Hamas terrorist in Israel which was copied from al-Qaeda and included “detailed instructions on creating chemical weapons,” including “precise instructions for preparing a device for dispersing cyanide agents”.

Five days after Hamas accused Israel of bombing a hospital in Gaza City and killing hundreds of people, the armed Palestinian group has yet to produce or describe any evidence linking Israel to the strike, says it cannot find the munition that hit the site and has declined to provide detail to support its count of the casualties.

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October 22nd, 2023

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UKRAINE:

The number of wounded in a Russian missile strike on a postal distribution centre in Kharkiv district on Saturday, in which at least six people died, is now put at 16, rising overnight from 14.

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ISRAEL:

The Pentagon moved to step up its military readiness in the Middle East, ordering the activation of air defense systems “throughout” the region and alerting additional US forces that they may be deployed soon.

The Israel Defense Forces and Defense Ministry say they are planning to evacuate another 14 communities close to the Lebanese border, amid repeated rocket and missile attacks by Hezbollah and allied Palestinian factions in the last two weeks.

Syrian state-run news agency SANA says Israel carried out airstrikes against the Aleppo and Damascus airports earlier this morning, damaging the runways and putting them both out of service.

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October 21st, 2023

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UKRAINE:

More than a third of the territory of Ukraine is contaminated with mines and explosive objects due to the war with Russia, the official account of the general staff of the armed forces of Ukraine posted on Telegram.

The White House asked Congress on Friday to approve a $106bn (£87bn) package of emergency aid to Israel and Ukraine, as well as to the southern US border. The request includes $61.4bn for Ukraine, $44.4bn of which is to provide defense department equipment for the country.

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ISRAEL:

The Israel Defense Forces says that it continuing to prepare for the expected ground offensive in the Gaza Strip with “plans for the expansion of the fighting” being approved in recent days.

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October 20th, 2023

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UKRAINE:

The Ukrainian parliament gave initial approval on Thursday to a law that would ban the Ukrainian Orthodox Church after Kyiv accused it of collaborating with Russia following last year’s invasion.

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ISRAEL:

Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, Pentagon press secretary, tells reporters that the USS Carney, a Navy destroyer in the northern Red Sea, intercepted three land attack cruise missiles and several drones that were launched by Houthi forces in Yemen. He says they were shot down over the water.

Eighty percent of Israelis believe Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should publicly accept responsibility for the staggering failures that led to Hamas’s devastating onslaught on October 7, according to an opinion poll by the Maariv newspaper.

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October 19th, 2023

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UKRAINE:

Biden is reportedly to propose a joint $100bn package for Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan and the migration crisis at the US-Mexico border this week. The package is intended to bypass congressional chaos and bring Democrats, who have sought additional aid for Kyiv for weeks, together with Republicans, who want funds to tighten controls on the southern border.

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ISRAEL:

The head of the IDF Southern Command, Maj. Gen. Yaron Finkelman, says the expected ground offensive in the Gaza Strip will be “long and intense. This war was forced on us, with a cruel enemy that harmed us greatly.”

IN DEPTH: [Humanitarian aid to Gaza — Where will it go?]

“The intelligence community assesses that Israel is not to blame for the explosion of the hospital in Gaza,” Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. said as he left. “They believe it was an errant rocket from terrorists in Gaza.”

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October 18th, 2023

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UKRAINE:

The images of EU member state Hungary’s prime minister shaking hands with Vladimir Putin were “very, very unpleasant” and defied logic given Budapest’s past history with Moscow, Estonian prime minister, Kaja Kallas, said.

Moscow has launched a drive to recruit Serbs to fight for the Russian army in Ukraine, as the Kremlin seeks to replenish its forces, depleted by 18 months of fighting.

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ISRAEL:

Hamas has blamed the Gaza hospital blast on an Israeli airstrike, but the IDF has provided evidence showing that the explosion was caused by a misfired Islamic Jihad rocket. It also claims the death toll was inflated by Hamas.

The Israel Defense Forces says that based on intelligence information a failed Palestinian Islamic Jihad rocket caused the deadly blast at the Gaza hospital. Video, taken from Netiv Ha’asara, appears to match footage taken by Al Jazeera, which also shows a rocket misfire landing inside Gaza. The army determined there were no air force, ground or naval attacks in the area at the time of the blast at the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital.

The Israel Defense Forces announced the creation of a humanitarian zone in southern Gaza where international aid will be provided, after days of negotiations with Egypt, the US and others to create a safe zone for fleeing Gazans.

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October 17th, 2023

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UKRAINE:

The Ukrainian military used US-supplied longer-range missiles to strike nine Russian helicopters in eastern Ukraine, after Washington secretly shipped the weapons in recent weeks.

A telecommunication cable connecting Sweden and Estonia has been damaged, Sweden’s civil defense minister has said. Carl-Oskar Bohlin said the incident appeared to have occurred at the same time as a subsea gas pipeline and a telecom cable connecting Finland and Estonia were damaged on 8 October.

Ukraine’s forces made successful overnight strikes on Russian airfields and equipment near the cities of Luhansk and Berdiansk in territory controlled by Russian forces, Ukraine’s military said earlier on Tuesday.

Canada said on Tuesday it was targeting nine Moldovan individuals and six TV stations in new sanctions against Russian collaborators in Moldova.

Israel turned down Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's request to make a solidarity visit to the country in the wake of Hamas' attack, telling him that the "time is not right". The president was, however, told that the visit might be possible at a later date.

President Biden said the U.S. can aid both Ukraine and Israel while maintaining America's overall international defense.

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ISRAEL:

Hamas said it was ready to release the hostages it captured in the Gaza invasion of southern Israel in exchange for the release of 6,000 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.

More than 500,000 Israelis have been evacuated and displaced in the 10 days since Hamas unleashed the bloodiest attack in the country's history. All communities around the Gaza Strip have been evacuated, as have more than 20 communities along Israel's northern border with Lebanon.

The U.N. Security Council rejected a Russian resolution that condemned violence but didn't mention Hamas, with only four countries voting in favor and four countries voting against.

An Israel Defense Forces spokesman says that some 100,000 people remain in Gaza City despite warnings from the Israeli military that they should move to the south of the enclave ahead of the ground operation.

President Joe Biden will visit Israel on Wednesday, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken announced on Monday night.

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October 16th, 2023

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UKRAINE:

Slovakia’s populist former prime minister, Robert Fico, and his party signed a coalition deal to form a new government expected to reduce support to Ukraine, Reuters reported.

A top Ukrainian commander has claimed that Russia’s biggest offensive in months is failing. According to the Kyiv Post, 102 tanks and 183 armoured vehicles were destroyed, with 2,840 troops killed. This would be the biggest loss suffered by the Russians since the start of the war.

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ISRAEL:

The Pentagon has sent “prepare to deploy” orders to about 2,000 US troops to be ready to respond to the Israel-Hamas war, two US officials said, on the condition of anonymity to discuss a decision that has not been announced yet.

Colombia demands that Israel’s ambassador leave the South American country in the midst of a spat over President Gustavo Petro’s praise for the Hamas terror group in the Israel-Gaza war.

Iran threatens an “expansion of war fronts” if the war in Gaza doesn’t stop, its foreign minister Hossein Amirabdollahian says in an interview with Al Jazeera.

The Defense Ministry says some 100,000 Israelis may be internally displaced amid the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip and escalating skirmishes on the Lebanon border.

UNRWA, the UN organization that treats Palestinian refugees and their descendants, says Hamas authorities in Gaza have apparently stolen fuel and medical supplies meant for refugees from its premises in Gaza City.

The Arab League chief called for an immediate end to military operations in the Gaza Strip and for aid to be allowed into the Palestinian enclave. “We demand the immediate end of military operations and the opening of safe corridors to bring aid to the population,” Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit said during a meeting with Arab justice ministers in Baghdad.

The Rafah border crossing from Gaza into Egypt is set to open at 9 a.m. today, NBC News reports, citing Kamel Khatib, a representative for the Palestinian embassy. However, official Israeli sources denied this report.

In an interview with CNN, Israel’s ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan responds to US President Joe Biden’s warning that occupying Gaza after destroying Hamas would be a “big mistake,” saying that Israel has “no interest” in ruling over 2 million Palestinians.

As of now there are 60,000 Israeli internal refugees — those who have been directed by the IDF to evacuate their homes.

IDF spokesperson Jonathan Conricus says a strike on a convoy of Gazans fleeing to the southern part of the Strip Friday appears to have been a false flag operation carried out by Hamas.

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October 13th-15th, 2023

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ISRAEL:

A senior Israeli official confirms to The Times of Israel that Jerusalem has resumed water supply to the Gaza Strip after shutting it off following the Hamas terror onslaught last Saturday.

Israel plans to send 10,000 troops to capture Gaza City and “destroy” the Strip’s leadership, the New York Times reports, citing Israeli military officers who have spoken publicly.

A US lawmaker tells The Times of Israel that Israeli officials have indicated to them that they will allow food, water and medicine into Gaza after imposing a siege on the enclave.

A Syrian pro-government media outlet says Israel’s military has attacked the international airport of the northern city of Aleppo, putting it out of service.

The United States will soon be sending a second aircraft carrier to the eastern Mediterranean to deter Iran and Hezbollah from attacking Israel in the wake of the war against Gaza’s Hamas terror group, ABC reports, citing two unnamed US officials.

European Union Commission President Ursula von der Leyen visited. Kfar Azza during a solidarity trip to Israel following the Hamas onslaught. “We were in Kfar Azza. One of the epicenters of the atrocities committed by Hamas last weekend. The horror of what happened here is unspeakable. We mourn with the families of the victims,”" she said.

US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer will lead a bipartisan congressional delegation to Israel this weekend, his office says.

A Gazan resident speaking to The Times of Israel on condition of anonymity confirms that Hamas is preventing residents of the north of the strip from evacuating to the south, following an evacuation order issued by the IDF for Friday morning.

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin says he believes that in many ways the Hamas terror group is worse than ISIS.

The Israel Defense Forces says it has struck dozens of drone launch sites in the Gaza Strip that were located on the roofs of residential buildings. “This is another example of how the Hamas terror group uses the citizens of the Gaza Strip as a human shield,” the IDF says in a statement.

The IDF notified the United Nations at midnight on Friday that the entire Palestinian population north of Wadi Gaza should relocate to southern Gaza within 24 hours, a UN spokesperson says. The message indicates that the IDF could be readying to launch a ground invasion.

Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs Hossein Amirabdollahian says that if Israel’s bombardment of Gaza continues, the war may open on “other fronts,” an apparent reference to the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah.

______________________ UKRAINE:

Ukraine struck a Russian missile carrier and a patrol ship in separate attacks this week involving seaborne drones carrying experimental weapons, a Ukrainian intelligence source said on Friday.

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October 12th, 2023

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ISRAEL: More than 1,300 Israeli civilian deaths have been reported. The number of civilian injuries is now over 3,300.

Various activist groups have expressed sympathy for the Palestinian people in the wake of Hamas’ attack on Israel. A major Black Lives Matter group championed Palestinian resistance to Israel in a recent Instagram post, as did a Black Lives Matter chapter in Chicago.

International Monetary Fund managing director Kristalina Georgieva said on Thursday the "heartbreaking" Israel-Hamas conflict threatened to darken an already murky global economic outlook.

Israeli strikes have knocked Syria’s two main airports out of service, Syrian state media says. The “simultaneous” strikes on the Aleppo and Damascus airports “damaged landing strips in the two airports, putting them out of service,” state media says, citing a military source.

El Al Israel Airlines announced that for the first time since 1982, it will fly on a Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath, to bring back Israelis called up for emergency military reserve duty as well as security and rescue forces stranded abroad.

In light of Hamas massacres in Israel on Saturday, Germany has decided to suspend aid to Palestinians. Chancellor Olaf Scholz criticized Mahmoud Abbas, saying: "The Palestinian President’s silence is shameful."

IDF spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari says the military has so far notified the families of 97 hostages being held by terrorists in the Gaza Strip.

Energy Minister Israel Katz says no electricity or water will be supplied to Gaza until those abducted during Hamas’s shock onslaught are returned home.

______________________ UKRAINE:

Romania’s defense ministry has reported the discovery of a drone crater near the country’s border with Ukraine after Russian attacks on Ukrainian port infrastructure on Wednesday evening. “The intensification of Russian drone attacks on Ukraine’s sea and river ports in the Black Sea area has brought the war even closer to Romania’s borders,” Reuters reports the president’s office said. “Incidents with fragments of drones falling on the territory of our country and implicitly of NATO have increased the risk of escalation.”

Jens Stoltenberg said it is too early to determine what caused the damage to the undersea gas pipeline and communications cable connecting Finland and Estonia, but said NATO would react with a “united and determined response” if it was found to be a deliberate attack.

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October 11th, 2023

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UKRAINE: [A number of websites linked to elsewhere on this page have stopped their running blog of the Ukraine conflict.]

An international team of prosecutors seeking to put Russia’s top officials on trial over Ukraine has already gathered “thousands” of pieces of evidence, the head of EU judicial agency, Eurojust, has told AFP.

In its latest intelligence update, the UK’s Ministry of Defense (MoD) said the Russian military is facing a “mental health crisis”, with more than 100,000 personnel suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder in 2022 alone.

A former prime minister of Slovakia who plans to end the country’s military support for Ukraine is poised to return to office after his political party signed a deal with two other parties to form a coalition government, the Associated Press reports.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky revealed, after his visit to Romania, that the military aid provided by the government in Bucharest to Ukraine will consist of artillery ammunition and anti-aircraft systems.

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ISRAEL: [CLICK HERE FOR LIVE FEED.]

More than 1,200 Israeli civilian deaths have been reported. This is now the deadliest attack in Israel's history. The number of civilian injuries is now over 3,000. In addition, the number of IDF solders killed now stands at more than 170.

Incoming drone alerts are continuing to sound in northern Israel. The sirens are sounding in every town and city in the north, including the Golan Heights. Early reports suggest dozens of drones were launched from Lebanon at Israel.

"Israel should not forget that if it acts more like an organization rather than a state, it'll finish by being treated as such," Turkey's President Erdogan said, attacking what he called "shameful methods" of the Israeli army in the densely-populated Gaza Strip. He has not condemned the actions of Hamas.

Civilians from a number of other countries are among the dead and injured. Among countries confirming victims: US, UK, Canada, France, Thailand, Nepal, Russia, Ukraine, Cambodia, Germany, Philippines, Chile, Brazil, Italy, Sri Lanka, Tanzania and Ireland.

President Biden revealed that at least 14 Americans are among the more than 900 people killed in Israel, and American citizens are also among those being held captive by Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip.

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October 10th, 2023

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UKRAINE:

Extensive damage to an undersea gas pipeline and communications cable connecting Finland and Estonia “could not have occurred by accident” and appears to be the result of a “deliberate … external act”, Finnish authorities have said.

Russia failed in a bid to return to the UN’s top human rights body, with Albania and Bulgaria winning far more votes at the general assembly, Reuters reports. Russia received 83 votes, while Albania got 123 and Bulgaria 160 in a secret ballot on Tuesday.

Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said on Tuesday he had “good news” on artillery and air defense supplies after talks with his Romanian counterpart, Klaus Iohannis, in Bucharest, but gave no details.

Poland's two highest-ranking military officers have resigned days before a key election and amid the war in neighbouring Ukraine. They gave no reason for their decision.

Russia launched 36 drone attacks overnight on Ukraine, according to Kyiv’s air force, in Moscow’s latest air raid targeting the country. Ukraine’s air force said in a statement on Tuesday that its defense systems had destroyed 27 of the drones.

The National Police of Ukraine have documented almost 100,000 war crimes committed by Russian forces in Ukraine, according to the head of the body. Speaking to the Interfax-Ukraine news agency, Ivan Vyhovsky said the evidence being gathered would form the basis of future attempts to prosecute the crimes’ perpetrators.

Ukraine’s parliament registered a draft law on Monday that would allow a ban on activities of the Moscow-linked Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The church has been accused by Kyiv of undermining Ukraine’s unity and collaborating with Russia following Moscow’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Russia will seek to return to the UN human rights council on Tuesday, just days after a Russian missile attack on the Ukrainian village of Hroza killed more than 50 people. The vote will take place by secret ballot.

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ISRAEL: Three-hundred ninety-two members of the US House have signed onto a bipartisan resolution expressing full-throttled support for Israel’s war against Hamas. So far 11 US citizens have been confirmed dead as a result of the terrorist attacks.

Israel’s total siege of the Gaza Strip, depriving civilians of goods essential for survival, is banned under international law, the United Nations human rights chief Volker Turk said on Tuesday.

The Israel Defense Forces took international journalists to Kfar Azza, a kibbutz close to the border where around 70 residents were slaughtered during the devastating attack by Hamas terrorists.

The Hamas terror group is calling for mass rallies in the West Bank, Jerusalem and throughout the Arab and Muslim world on Friday in support of its fight against Israel.

The Israeli military advises Palestinians to leave the Gaza Strip for Egypt amid the ongoing war with the Hamas terror group. “Rafah crossing is still open. Anyone who can get out, I would advise them to get out,” says Lt. Col. Richard Hecht in a call with foreign reporters.

Israel Defense Force Spokesperson Richard Hecht says 1,500 bodies of Hamas terrorists have been found in Israeli territory and no Hamas fighters have crossed into Israel since Monday night, although infiltrations could still be possible.

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October 9th, 2023

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UKRAINE: News coverage of the war has decreased dramatically since the Gaza conflict.

Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, will visit neighbouring Romania on Tuesday, his first trip to the NATO member country since Russia invaded Ukraine last February, the Romanian presidency has said.

Russian military analyst Yuri Fedorov noted that the recreation of the Leningrad Military District suggests that Russia is preparing for possible conflicts with Baltic states and NATO. [ISW Daily Report]

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ISRAEL There are now more than 750 Israeli deaths and over 2,600 injuries have been reported.

The Israel Defense Forces says it is continuing to strike Palestinian terrorists infiltrating into Israel through the porous Gaza border. Israel’s security barrier with the Gaza Strip has been heavily damaged since Hamas launched its attack on southern Israel, allowing terrorists to infiltrate.

Fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas terrorists is ongoing in seven to eight locations around the Gaza Strip inside Israel, the army now says.

A spokesman for the Israeli military said his country has gathered 100,000 reserve troops near Gaza for the ongoing war with Hamas.

The UN Security Council has met behind closed doors in an emergency session amid the war between Israel and Hamas, but failed to achieve the unanimity needed for a joint statement.

A spokesperson for ZAKA, a volunteer group that handles human remains after terror attacks and other disasters, tells Hebrew media outlets that it has so far collected more than 250 bodies from the site of a music festival in the south, which was attacked by Hamas terrorists.

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October 8th, 2023

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UKRAINE: The Kremlin is already and will likely continue to exploit the Hamas attacks in Israel to advance several information operations intended to reduce US and Western support and attention to Ukraine. [ISW Daily Report]

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ISRAEL There are now more than 700 Israeli deaths and over 2,000 injuries have been reported.

Israel’s Government Press Office confirms that at least 100 Israelis are currently being held captive in Gaza.

The Israeli security cabinet voted last night to put the country officially at war, and it can carry out “significant military activities,” the Prime Minister’s Office announces. This is the first declaration of war since 1973.

The estimated death toll from the Hamas assault on Israeli border communities jumped sharply this afternoon to some 600 as more bodies are found in areas where Hamas terrorists are being cleared out.

The Israel Defense Forces says it is carrying out artillery strikes in Lebanon after a number of mortar shells were fired toward Israeli territory.

Hamas spokesman Ghazi Hamad tells the BBC that Iran gave its support to the Palestinian terror group to launch its surprise multi-front attack on Israel on Saturday, as cited by Hebrew media.

The violence continued on Saturday evening - with Tel Aviv and other central Israeli cities hit by a new barrage of rockets and Israel saying they are fighting militants in 22 places.

The Israeli army has asked residents of seven different areas across long-blockaded Gaza to leave their homes and move to the city centers or take refuge in shelters.

The Israeli military says a "significant number" of Israeli civilians and soldiers are being held hostage by Palestinian militant group Hamas.

The Israeli military is still fighting with Hamas terrorists in parts of southern Israel after a brazen assault from Gaza.

A high-ranking IDF commander is among those killed. This is the first surprise attack on Israel in 50 years.

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October 7th, 2023

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•US President Joe Biden backs Israel’s right to self defense, and warns other parties in the region against joining the attack against the Jewish state.
•The Israel Defense Forces says it struck another two high-rise towers in the Gaza Strip, used by Hamas.
•Netanyahu has offered opposition leaders Lapid and Gantz to join him in an emergency unity government.
•A new rocket barrage has been fired at Tel Aviv. Deaths and injuries have been reported.
•Israel has cut the electricity supply to Gaza.
•The Israeli Air Force bombed the home of Yahya Sinwar, the head of the Hamas terror group in the Gaza Strip.
•Turkey has declined to condemn Hamas.
•Israel has regained control of the Re'im Military base.
•The number of dead and injured continues to climb.

The UN security council is due to meet in emergency session on Sunday. The UN secretary-general, António Guterres, condemned the attack by Hamas and urged “all diplomatic efforts to avoid a wider conflagration”, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.

Israeli civilians and soldiers are being held hostage in Gaza, a spokesperson for the Israeli defense forces now confirms.

IN DEPTH: How did Israeli intelligence fail to see this coming?

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A party official in the Russian-held town of Nova Kakhovka in Ukraine's Kherson province was killed by a car bomb on Saturday, the provincial governor said.

Kazakhstan has announced efforts to promote the use of the Kazakh language over Russian in its media, amid growing scepticism over Moscow’s influence in the country since the invasion of Ukraine.

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October 6th, 2023

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Russian patriotic bloggers poured scorn on President Vladimir Putin’s intimation that mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin’s plane was blown up with hand grenades while those on board were high on cocaine and alcohol.

Many of Ukraine's smaller European allies are dedicating a greater share of their economic power to support Ukraine than the US.

A Turkish-flagged general cargo ship that was sailing on Thursday in the Black Sea en route to Ukraine’s Izmail port did not sustain damage from an explosion that occured 15-20 meters behind the ship, Turkey’s maritime authority and the ship’s captain told Reuters on Friday.

Germany has promised another Patriot air defense system to Ukraine to mitigate attacks on infrastructure as winter approaches, Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced following a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Spain.

The Ukrainian government has announced in a Telegram message that it is temporarily shutting down its border checkpoint with Romania in Orlivka for safety reasons, after a Russian attack overnight left munitions scattered in the area.

A new Russian air attack early on Friday has injured 27 and killed a 10-year-old boy and his grandmother in the northeastern city of Kharkiv, less than 24 hours after a separate strike killed 51 people in the region.

Ukraine air force says it intercepted 25 out of 33 Shahed drone attacks launched by Russia targeting Odesa, Kharkiv and five other regions in the country.

Fragments of hand grenades were found in the bodies of the victims of a plane crash in August that killed the former Wagner group mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, Vladimir Putin said on Thursday.

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October 5th, 2023

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Ukrainian officials said a Russian attack on a village in the northeast of the country killed at least 52 people and injured at least six more. Presidential chief of staff Andrii Yermak and Kharkiv governor Oleh Syniehubov said Russian forces shelled a grocery store and a cafe in the village of Hroza, in the Kharkiv region, around 1pm local time, the Associated Press reported. An eight-year-old boy was among those killed in the attack, Syniehubov said, and one child was also among the wounded.

A new Reuters/Ipsos poll is showing that support is falling among Americans for supplying Ukraine with weapons, a warning sign for Kyiv which relies heavily on US arms to fight Russia. The two-day poll, which closed on Wednesday, showed only 41 percent of respondents agreed with a statement that Washington “should provide weapons to Ukraine”, compared to 35 percent who disagreed and the rest unsure.

Spain has offered six new air defense and anti-drone systems to Ukraine to protect its energy and port infrastructures, a government source told Reuters on Thursday.

The Ukrainian general staff said 24 of 29 Russian drones launched overnight were downed over southern Odesa and Mykolaiv regions, as well as the central Kirohovrad region.

Russia is planning a naval base on the Black Sea coast of the breakaway Georgian region of Abkhazia, the leader of the region has told the Izvestiya newspaper.

The United States has supplied Ukraine with more than a million rounds of Iranian ammunition confiscated in the Gulf late last year.

Britain has accused Russia of plotting to sabotage civilian tankers loaded with Ukrainian grain by planting sea mines on the approaches to the country’s Black Sea ports.

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October 4th, 2023

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Moldova’s parliament began moves on Wednesday to prevent members of the banned pro-Russian Shor party running in local elections for other parties or as independent candidates.

Reuters news agency is reporting that Ukraine has carried out a drone attack on the western Russian region of Belgorod overnight and hit an S-400 air defense complex and its radar. It costs about $1.2 billion.

Ukraine’s navy has announced that 12 more vessels were ready to enter a Black Sea shipping corridor on their way towards Ukrainian ports, and that 10 other vessels were ready to depart from the country’s ports.

Western militaries are running out of ammunition to give to Ukraine, NATO and British officials warned Tuesday, as they urged the bloc’s nations to ramp up production to “keep Ukraine in the fight against Russian invaders.”

Russian air defenses destroyed 31 Ukrainian drones over the border regions of Belgorod, Bryansk and Kursk overnight, Russia’s Defense Ministry said on Wednesday.

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October 3rd, 2023

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Drunk recruits, insubordinate soldiers and convicts are among hundreds of military and civilian offenders pressed into Russian penal units known as "Storm-Z" squads and sent to the frontlines in Ukraine this year. Few live to tell their tale.

In a significant breakthrough that could help resolve their continuing “grain war”, Kyiv and Warsaw announced that they have reached a deal speeding up the transit of Ukrainian cereal exports through Poland to third countries.

Armenia’s parliament on Tuesday voted to join the international criminal court (ICC), obliging the former Soviet republic to arrest President Vladimir Putin if he were to visit the country. Al Jazeera’s Bernard Smith, reporting from Yerevan, says Armenia’s decision is a signal of Russia’s waning influence.

The US army is reportedly ready to send an unspecified amount of Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) missiles to Ukraine. With a range of about 300 km (186 miles), these would give Ukraine the advantage to strike Russian targets behind the front line.

Ukraine has received the first batch of refurbished Leopard tanks from Poland, a Polish industrial partner announced Monday.

Ukraine destroyed 29 of 31 drones launched by Russia and one cruise missile, its air force said on Tuesday via Reuters, most of them targeting the regions of Mykolaiv and Dnipropetrovsk.

Ukraine’s troops would soon run short of essential ammunition and equipment if Republican hardliners succeed in stopping US military aid, undermining operations on the ground and reducing their ability to defend against Russian strikes, experts have told AFP.

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October 2nd, 2023

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The Russian defense ministry says it destroyed Ukrainian fuel depots and military aircraft in a strike in Dolgintsevo airfield in Dnipro, according to the news website, Zvezda.

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October 1st, 2023

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A possible Ukrainian drone struck a helicopter base in Russia’s Sochi today, according to media reports. This strike came after social video showed a drone hitting an aircraft factory in Smolensk.

A drone struck an aircraft plant in Russia’s Smolensk oblast this morning. Earlier, the Russian ministry of defense said air defense systems shot down three Ukrainian unmanned aerial drones – but made no reference to the drones making any contact or causing any damage.

Russian forces launched around 40 drones in an overnight attack on Ukraine’s central and southern regions, the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) said in an operational update early Sunday. Ukraine’s air force destroyed 30 out of 40 Shahed drones launched from the south overnight.

The US government has avoided a federal shutdown after both House and Senate agreed on a short-term funding deal. A bill ensuring funding until 17 November received overwhelming support, and was signed into law by President Joe Biden minutes before a deadline. However, it was stripped of any new aid for Ukraine for its war against Russia.

The SMER-SSD party of former Prime Minister Robert Fico has won Slovakia’s parliamentary election after criticizing the European Union as well as NATO and promising to stop military aid to Ukraine.

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