🇺🇸 US President Joe Biden’s decision to authorize 3,000 US military reserve personnel for use in the European theater demonstrates how his escalation of the conflict in Ukraine is straining US forces, former US President Donald Trump said on Friday.

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Tucker Carlson: "Every city in America has become worse over the past few years... Your concern is that Ukraine doesn't have enough tanks... Where's the concern for America in that?"

Mike Pence, US presidential candidate: "That's not my concern."

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🎙 On the eve of World Youth Skills Day, hear what Pan African Youth Union's secretary general has to say on the role of youth in Africa and what skills they need to bring about Africa's prosperity in our new episode of the #AfroVerdict podcast from Sputnik Africa.

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📹 Russia’s 2S5 Giatsint-S self-propelled artillery guns thwarted another attack of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the zone of the special military op

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🇮🇷 An ultralight plane's first flight in Iran took place in Tehran, the Iranian news agency reported on Friday. Iran's civil aviation agency, in coordination with the relevant authorities, had permitted such a flight. A plane of the VL3 type flew around the Milad TV tower on the evening of July 13.

The head of the civil aviation agency's ultralight aviation group, Capt. Mohammad Mehdi Garanli, said that permission was given with the goal of spreading the culture of general aviation, the news outlet reported. The flight, the captain added, was carried out by a female pilot.

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📹 Ukrainian armored fighting vehicle destroyed by Russian loitering munition

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Multiple heat records may fall this week as dangerous US weather scorches millions

Scientists predicted earlier this year that 2023 would bring record temperatures. July 3 marked the hottest day globally in recorded history.

The US National Weather Service (NWS) issued heat alerts for more than 112 million people in 15 states on Thursday, covering roughly a third of the United States population.

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📢 "BRICS can no longer be ignored", says South African ANC treasurer general

🗣"BRICS continues to grow stronger, more reliable and more influential as a platform that advances the common interests of the global South," Gwen Ramokgopa noted

BRICS represents over 42% of the world's population, 30% of the world's territory and over 30% of the world's GDP, she said, speaking at the BRICS Political Parties Dialogue – one of the many events leading up to the BRICS Summit in August, organised by the ANC's Progressive Business Forum (PBF)

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Scientist: Ukraine attacking Russian nuclear plants is height of lunacy and moral irresponsibility

Ukraine's attacks on Russia's nuclear power plants must be of concern to European politicians and the international community in general because of the potentially disastrous consequences, famous nuclear expert Dr. Christopher Busby told Sputnik.

An aircraft-type drone crashed and detonated in the Russian town of Kurchatov on Friday just a few kilometers from the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant (NPP). Earlier, in April, another drone attack on the plant was repelled by Russia's air defenses.

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🇺🇸 'It's not my concern': Mike Pence, Tucker Carlson quarrel over Ukraine policy

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🇺🇸📉 Just 1 in 10 Americans believe democracy working well for US, poll finds

A new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs research reveals that 53% of Americans believe Congress is doing a bad job of upholding democratic values, compared to the slim 16% who say it is doing a good job.

Overall, 49% of Americans say democracy is not working well in the US, compared with 10% who say it is working “very” or “extremely well,” and 40% who say it is working “somewhat well.”

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OceanGate expeditions that owned Titan sub leaves social media

The website of the US deep-sea excursions company consists of only one page saying that "OceanGate Expeditions has suspended all exploration and commercial operations."

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😬 Freudian slip? Kamala Harris says 'invest in reduced population'

Many online noted that the statement is akin to an inscription on the infamous Georgia Guidestones which says “Maintain humanity under 500,000,000 in perpetual balance with nature.”

The White House later reiterated that Harris actually wanted to reduce “pollution” and not promote depopulation.

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🇬🇧 UK Defense Secretary Wallace could leave government this fall

Wallace, 53, could leave the government during the reshuffle that UK PM Rishi Sunak is planning this fall, British media report.

Possible candidates for the post of UK defense secretary include Chief Secretary to the Treasury John Glen, Minister of State for Security Tom Tugendhat and Anne-Marie Trevelyan, the UK's Minister of State for the Indo-Pacific.

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🇨🇳🇰🇷 China ready to work with South Korea to restore mutual trust

China’s top diplomat Wang Yi said that the China-South Korea relations have recently faced a lot of challenges, which are not in line with the fundamental and long-term interests of the peoples of the two countries.

South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin, in turn, noted that the unhindered development of relations between China and South Korea is in the common interests of both sides, and will also contribute to regional peace and stability.

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Kiev regime tries to sell Ukrainian conflict as “safari to kill Russian soldiers” for foreign mercenaries

💬 "Ukraine is recruiting in the Global South because it no longer has people to send to the battlefield,” Brazilian military analyst and reserve officer Robinson Farinazzo told Sputnik. The Brazilian media are misinforming their readers that Brazilian fighters "will make posts on social media networks, and will be welcomed at home as heroes," he added.

"Those who have been there [in Ukraine] have seen that this is not true. This is a high-intensity conflict in which many die no sooner they arrive on the front line, without even experiencing combat operations," Farinazzo said.

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🫣 Joe Biden sniffs and nibbles on little girl in Finland in his latest uncomfortable interaction with children

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📹 Russian Ka-52 helicopter crew eliminates Ukrainian armored fighting vehicle in South Donetsk direction

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🇮🇹🇷🇺 Italian-Russian Chamber of Commerce working on system for payments in rubles

Ferdinando Pelazzo, the chamber's president, told Sputnik that almost half of Italy's exports to Russia do not fall under sanctions.

"We want to create a system that will allow the Russian buyer to pay us in rubles, and we could then transfer this money to Italy from our [bank] account in a third country," Pelazzo said.

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🇬🇧 Storm Shadow supplies to Kiev may become affected by strike at UK missile site

A strike over low wages at the Defence Equipment and Support depot in Beith, Scotland, occurred on Friday and involved more than 50 key workers, media reported.

The UK Defense Ministry has reportedly launched "contingency measures" to prevent Ukraine’s weapons supplies from being affected.

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❗️Moscow condemns Kiev regime for plotting terrorist attack on Russian nuclear power plants, Foreign Ministry says

Such actions could lead to a nuclear catastrophe in Europe, said Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, commenting on the drone crash in Kurchatov, a few kilometers from the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant.

According to the spokeswoman, the Kursk NPP was the likely target of the attack in Kurchatov, "which once again indicates that the Kiev regime has embarked on the path of using the methods of nuclear terrorism."

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