⚠️ Oxfam reveals how Israel is deliberately blocking humanitarian operations in Gaza

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🇺🇸🇷🇺🇨🇳 JUST IN: The USA wishes to engage in bilateral arms control discussions with Russia and China immediately and without preconditions, stated the American representative at the UN.

🔴 @DDGeopolitics

🤔 NEW: Poland and Germany to Establish Rapid Reaction Combat Group of 5,000 Personnel in July - Polish MoD

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🚜Polish Farmers Block Two Border Crossings with Germany

Farmers across the EU are demanding for the re-imposition of customs duties on imports of agricultural products from Ukraine that were waived in 2022.

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✅ NOW: Putin Addresses Moscow’s Red Square after Landslide Election Victory

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🤔 Lindsey Graham Wants More Ukrainians to Die for the Interests of Washington - WaPo

The US senator called for Kiev to quickly pass a law on mobilization and send young people under 27 to the front.

Half a million dead is not enough for the warmonger.

@RiseGS

⚠️ Bank of Japan announces first interest rate hike in 17 years

The Japanese central bank has ended an era of negative interest rates, raising borrowing costs for the first time since 2007 in a historic shift - as the country puts decades of deflation behind it.

The move means the BoJ becomes the last central bank to end the use of negative rates as a monetary policy tool.

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📣 JUST IN: Unilever to Cull 7,500 Jobs Across Global Operations

The job cuts are part of an overhaul aimed at saving about €800m over the next three years, Unilever said.

The consumer goods company, whose products include Dove, Lynx and Marmite, currently employs 128k worldwide.

Unilever also plans to spin off its ice cream unit, home to popular brands such as Magnum and Ben & Jerry's, into a standalone business, the company said.

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🔴NEW: Putin to Visit China in May (Reuters)

Putin will travel for talks with Xi Jinping, in what could be the Russian president’s first overseas trip of his new term, as per five Reuters sources .

The trip is expected to take place in the latter half of May with Putin's formal presidential inauguration is due to take place around May 7.

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❎Gaza Famine: More Than 1 Million Face “Catastrophic” Levels of Hunger, New Report Warns

All 2.2mn people in Gaza do not have enough food to eat, with half of the population on the brink of starvation and famine projected to arrive in the north “anytime between mid-March and May 2024,” according to the UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report.

Acute hunger and malnutrition have already “far exceeded” the threshold for famine in northern Gaza and the IPC warns of a “major acceleration of death and malnutrition.”

At least 25 people, including children and babies, have died from starvation and dehydration in the north, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza.

@RiseGS

⚫️Tropical Cyclone Megan Strikes Australia Causing Mega Rain Bomb – Leaves 700 Stranded

Hundreds of isolated Aussies in the Northern Territory have woken up to a trail of destruction after Tropical Cyclone Megan wreaked havoc overnight.

The town of Borroloola was meant to be evacuated Monday night but residents were ordered to bunker down at the local police station, the town's health facility or one of dozens of dwellings capable of withstanding a cat 3 system.

Megan is forecast to continue to move inland to the south-west on Tuesday before weakening to a tropical low in the morning, when it's likely to head westward.

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💸 The EU will impose tariffs on grain from Russia and Belarus to "placate" farmers and some member states, Financial Times reports, citing sources.

This will be the first restriction on foodstuffs since the conflict in Ukraine. Brussels has long resisted pressure from Poland and the Baltic states, arguing that such restrictions could undermine global food markets and hurt developing countries.

According to the FT, the EC will impose a €95 per tonne tariff on cereals from Russia and Belarus in the coming days. This will raise prices by at least 50% and destroy demand.

EU imports from Russia reached a record 4 million tonnes in 2023, equivalent to 1% of total EU consumption.

Earlier, the National Security and Defence Council said that by blocking Ukrainian grain, Poland is letting through large quantities of Russian grain.

The FT notes that Polish farmers are now increasingly protesting against Russian products as well.

@ukraine_watch