Elon Musk, Lindsey Graham feud over US handling of Ukraine-Russia War, referendum elections

Russian military forces are expected to continue with pre-planned nuclear testing at the same time as similar NATO drills are expected. NATO announced on Friday the launch of its annual "Steadfast Noon" exercise on Monday.The drill involving 14 countries is expected to mobilize approximately 60 aircraft in regions near the United Kingdom, Belgium, and the North Sea.

Elite troops from Iran have 'secretly entered the frontline in Ukraine to help Russia's horror blitz', according to reports.

SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk denied a report he engaged in correspondence or contact with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in regard to the Ukraine invasion, but the Democratic chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee warned the world's richest man not to get "over his skis" in foreign affairs. Sen.

Ukraine joining NATO could lead to a third world war, the deputy secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation said.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has appointed a new commander to the armed forces in Ukraine as Moscow looks to turn around its dwindling fortunes.  General of the Army Sergei Surovikin will take over as Commander of the Joint Group of Russian Forces in Ukraine effective immediately, drawing on experience from the second Chechen war and campaigns in Syria and Tajikistan, Russian outlet Rossiyskaya Gazeta reported.  Surovikin previously held command of the Southern group in June and Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Aerospace Forces in 2017. His Chechen war experience, where he led the 42nd Guards Motor Rifle Division, will draw scrutiny as a campaign rife with accusations of war crimes and human rights violations and marked by its brutality.  Russian troops in 2004 raided a school in the rural community of Beslan after a three-day standoff with Chechen militants, with 330 of the 1,100 hostages – mostly children – killed.  Russian President Vladimir Putin and Colonel General Sergei Surovikin, commander of Russian forces in Syria, attend a state awards ceremony for military personnel who served in Syria, at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia December 28, 2017.  (Sputnik/Alexei Druzhinin/Kremlin via Reuters) And human rights organizations claimed Moscow's warplanes in Syria deliberately targeted civilians and rescue workers during its campaign to support Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

US President Joe Biden warned that the risk of a nuclear threat has reached its highest point since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, following harrowing threats from Vladimir Putin.

China still has much to gain from its current relationship with Russia even as the invasion of Ukraine drags on, turning Russia into an international pariah and threatening to rub off on China’s reputation as well.  "China has, in effect, doubled down on its support for the Putin war effort, and we saw this, for instance, last month when China's third rank leader went to Moscow, spoke to the State Duma, and in very clear terms, expressed Beijing's support for Russia," Gordon Change, author of "The Coming Collapse of China," told Fox News Digital.  "Then, [we] see Jinping himself when he was in Uzbekistan for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit, actually confirmed that endorsement," Chang added. "The only conclusion that we can come to is that Beijing is not backing away from Russia."  The China and Russia dynamic has remained a troubling one for the United States since even before the invasion of Ukraine started in March 2022.

SoundCloud has been restricted in Russia, with the country claiming “false information” about a “special military operation” in Ukraine have been circulating on the music streaming site.According to Interfax, who cite information from communications watchdog Roskomnadzor (RKN) (via Reuters), “Roskomnadzor restricted access to the SoundCloud service in connection with placement of materials containing false information regarding the nature of the special military operation on the territory of Ukraine.”The report continued, claiming that SoundCloud has been blocked at the request of the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office, with the alleged messages circulating on the website including information on “attacks on civilians, strikes on civilian infrastructure, about numerous civilian casualties at the hands of Russian soldiers”.It said access to the service was blocked at the behest of the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office, adding that the information in question related to the special operation’s form and methods of warfare including “attacks on civilians, strikes on civilian infrastructure, about numerous civilian casualties at the hands of Russian soldiers”.Elsewhere, as the war between Ukraine and Russia continues, a rapper from Russia is believed to have taken his own life after he refused to be drawn into fighting in President Vladimir Putin’s war.Walkie, whose real name was Ivan Vitalievich Petunin, told fans in a Telegram video that he couldn’t “take the sin of murder on my soul” and that his final protest would be expressed by his death.

A deal for the billionaire Elon Musk to buy Twitter is back on it has been announced - just weeks before a court case over his first bid for the company earlier this year was due to begin.