🏀🔎Phoenix Mercury star Brittney Griner's Russian detention will be extended. Prosecutors in Russia were granted another extension Tuesday in her case. The extension is a procedural move that was expected and should have little effect on negotiations for her release, according to several experts.

The Russian state news agency TASS reported that Griner's next hearing would be July 2, but U.S. officials have said they do not consider the legal proceedings to be more than an effort to give a legitimate sheen to a negotiation tactic.

Griner has been held in Russia since Feb. 17 on accusations that she was trying to bring vape cartridges with hashish oil into the country. The U.S. Department of State declared in May that officials consider her to be wrongfully detained.

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🔻Monkeypox Is Getting a New Name. A team of 29 experts is now calling it hMPXV and advocates for a “speedy decision and adoption of a new name.”

Although the virus is now evident in other parts of the world, monkeypox has become synonymous with African countries, which is why a new name is being considered for the condition.

The World Health Organization has said it is looking to rename the virus due to the connotations and assumptions that it is an “African disease.” It comes after a group of scientists signed a paper stating an “urgent need for a non-discriminatory and non-stigmatizing” moniker used to identify the virus.

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🔻The white gunman who killed 10 Black people in a racist attack at a Buffalo supermarket was charged Wednesday with federal hate crimes that could potentially carry the death penalty.

The criminal complaint filed Wednesday against Payton Gendron coincided with a visit to Buffalo by Attorney General Merrick Garland. He met with the families of the people who were killed and placed a bouquet of white flowers at a memorial outside the Tops Friendly Market, which has been closed since the May 14 attack.

“No one in this country should have to live in fear that they will go to work or shop at a grocery store and will be attacked by someone who hates them because of the color of their skin,” Garland said at a news conference.

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🤔 The Government Accountability Office (GAO) published a scathing report Monday which found that the Department of Defense and the Department of State “have not fully determined the extent to which U.S. military support has contributed to civilian harm in Yemen.” The news comes on the heels of the announcement that US President Joe Biden will be paying a visit next month to Saudi Arabia, a country which in 2019 he pledged to turn into a “pariah.”

🗯 “Despite several reports that airstrikes and other attacks by Saudi Arabia and UAE have caused extensive civilian harm in Yemen, [the Department of Defense] has not reported and [the State Department] could not provide evidence that it investigated any incidents of potential unauthorized use of equipment transferred to Saudi Arabia or UAE,” the GAO report concluded.

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⚡️ Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, French President Emmanuel Macron, and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz are currently in Ukraine, the RaiNews24 broadcaster reported on Thursday

🆙 The number of illegal migrants apprehended on the US southern border hit a third-consecutive monthly high record in May, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data revealed.

▪️ The data showed on Wednesday that Border Patrol agents apprehended 239,416 illegal migrants on the US southern border in May.

▪️ Illegal migration on the US southern border has hit record high numbers under the Biden administration. According to CBP records dating back to 2000, the Biden administration witnessed a 20-year record high of 1.7 million illegal migrants apprehended on the southern border in 2021.

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⚡️ Kremlin spokesman Peskov on Moscow's assessment of President Biden: Russia will never stoop to unflattering assessments of the leaders of other countries; it's up to US citizens to make these calls

⚡️ Peskov: Russia and the United States will have to discuss arms control, disarmament issues and non-proliferation issues, but not now

So cute!

⚡️ Peskov: Washington has never before introduced such tough sanctions against Russia or any other country, even during the Cold War

⚡️ Russia’s MFA: Russia isn't considering withdrawal from the WTO - no matter how difficult it is in the WTO, Moscow will not slam the door

⚡️ Peskov on the possibility of large-scale economic measures against the United States: Carpet bombing is not good anywhere, Russia uses high-precision weapons in all areas

⚡️⚡️ A decision on the execution of English and Moroccan mercenaries in the DPR can be made no earlier than in a month, DPR head Denis Pushilin says

⚡️ Donetsk hit by series of powerful explosions

📹 Watch how Gorlovka residents came under Ukrainian Armed Forces fire during an interview.

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⚡️ The Russian MoD’s latest statements on the Ukraine crisis:

▪️ The Russian Armed Forces have destroyed two AFU command posts, one electronic warfare station, one Tochka-U missile launcher and one Uragan multiple rocket launcher in Kharkov region using high-precision air-based missiles.

▪️ Operational-tactical, army and unmanned aviation have hit 57 areas of AFU manpower and military equipment concentration.

▪️ Russian air defence units have shot down a Ukrainian Air Force Su-25 warplane near Mazanovka, Kharkov region.

▪️ Missile troops and artillery have hit 195 areas of manpower and military equipment concentration, 34 command posts and 42 firing positions of AFU artillery units.

▪️ Missile troops and artillery have destroyed more than 200 combatants, one electronic warfare station, three ammunition depots, six tanks and other armoured combat vehicles, a Grad multiple rocket launcher, four field artillery guns, 18 special vehicles and two UAV control points in Nikolayev region.

▪️ Some 204 Ukrainian airplanes and 131 helicopters, 1,218 unmanned aerial vehicles, 340 anti-aircraft missile systems, 3,569 tanks and other armoured combat vehicles, 526 multiple launch rocket systems, 1,968 field artillery and mortars, as well as 3,647 special military vehicles have been destroyed since the beginning of the operation.

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📹 Ukrainian occupiers threw people into prison for having Russian numbers in their mobile phones.

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⚡️ Further problems with repair of Nord Stream turbines may lead to its shutdown, it will be disaster for Germany - Russian envoy Chizhov to Sputnik

📹 Ukrainian nationalists left behind scorched earth in Kremennaya. As they left, the AFU fighters burned down a building stocked with humanitarian aid, while there were still civilians inside.

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🎙 Beyonce’s seventh album Renaissance will be released on 29 July, the musician has announced on her social media accounts and streaming platforms.

Photo credit: Spotify

🎥 "We lived through a nightmare out there": Many foreign mercenaries remain at the Severodonetsk Azot Plant, said a woman who recently managed to escape from the plant's bomb shelter.

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