🇺🇸 A 79 square mile territory in Los Angeles County is under quarantine to stop the spread of the invasive Tau fruit fly from Asia.

The California Department of Food and Agriculture imposed the quarantine after finding over 20 flies in Stevenson Ranch, 55 km from Los Angeles. These flies are a significant threat to agriculture and local plant life, especially avocados, citrus fruits, peppers, tomatoes, and cucurbit crops.

The quarantine – applicable to fruits and vegetables, but not people, is said to be the first ever of its kind in US history.

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The Ukrainian military command has started collecting more donor and biometric material from members of the territorial defense and national police officers in the Odessa Region and Ukraine's controlled parts of Zaporozhye Region starting July 20, an officer of Russian law enforcement agencies told Sputnik.

The source also noted that biological samples are supposed to be used for identification and collection carried on a voluntary basis, but those, who are against it, are threatened with dismissal, after which they face mobilization to regular forces, the source said.

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Moscow is prepared to return to the grain deal as soon as the conditions concerning Russia are fulfilled, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Sputnik on Tuesday.

Earlier Tuesday, US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said that the United States has seen signs that Russia is "interested in returning to discussions" on the grain deal.

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The US defense contractors have received nearly $10 billion in new Department of Defense weapons orders to replace systems sent as aid to Ukraine, US media reports said.

Citing official Defense Department figures released Tuesday, US media reported the Pentagon has currently used $9.7 billion to replenish its depleted weapons and ammunition stockpiles, out of a total $26 billion already approved for that purpose by the US Congress.

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The US' National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has finally detected a signal from Voyager 2 after losing contact with the spacecraft on July 21, it was recently revealed.

The 46-year-old spacecraft lost contact with NASA after flight controllers sent the wrong command nearly two weeks ago, which cut off the spacecraft's communication with Earth.

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An employee of the Swedish consulate in the Turkish city of Izmir was injured as a result of an armed attack on the consulate building, a Turkish broadcaster reported on Tuesday.

According to preliminary information, the attack was carried out by a citizen of Syria, who was unsatisfied with the visa processing situation, the broadcaster reported.

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Federal judge Tanya Chutkan, who was nominated by then-President Barack Obama, has been assigned to oversee former President Donald Trump's case involving his alleged role in attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, court documents revealed.

Chutkan is the only federal judge in Washington to issue sentences to January 6 rioters that were longer than prosecutors had requested, according to media reports.

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Ukrainian forces unleashed seven 155 millimeter caliber shells at Donetsk and three at Makeyevka, local authorities say

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🇹🇷 Massive inferno in Turkiye’s Bursa tears through 10 factories

Aviation and more than 100 firefighting brigades were involved in extinguishing the inferno, local TV reports.

The mayor of Bursa said that the emergency services managed to contain the blaze.

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🇧🇾 Mammoth remains unearthed by rescuers in Gomel Region of Belarus

Upon surveying the Besed River, divers from the Ministry of Emergency Situations unexpectedly found the remains of a prehistoric animal.

Specialists from the Gomel Palace and Park Ensemble museum complex, who arrived on the spot, confirmed that the unearthed discovery was a mammoth.

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🇺🇸 Trump indictment shows free, fair 2024 election no longer possible, watchdog says

💬 “This indictment is a naked threat and act of intimidation by the Democratic Party against any and all of their political opponents. The message from the Biden regime is: ‘We will put you in jail if you dispute elections’. A free and fair 2024 election is officially impossible,” Tom Fitton, president of conservative legal and election watchdog group Judicial Watch wrote in a release.

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🇺🇸🇨🇳 Biden to urge Congress to bankroll Taiwan arms through Ukraine budget

President Joe Biden intends to ask Congress to fund arms for Taiwan as part of a supplemental budget request for Ukraine, US media reports.

The White House request seeks to speed up arms deliveries to Taiwan amid an allegedly growing threat from China, the report said.

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📹 Russian Giatsint-S howitzer crew fires off rounds in military op zone

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🇵🇱 Poland’s ‘zealously’ pro-Ukrainian policy has come back to haunt it

Jan Engelgard, an editor-in-chief in a leading Polish newspaper, said Polish establishment created a political Frankenstein’s monster in Kiev, demonstrating the glaring mistake of zealously promoting the narrative that the Ukrainian crisis is a fight for Poland’s freedom.

Calling the Ukrainian crisis a fight for Polish independence is “an absurd assessment which has no relation to reality,” Engelgard said. He added that the conflict is not rooted in “any ‘Russian imperialism’," but "the struggle to maintain Moscow’s influence in areas it considers its sphere of influence and security, and on which the US and NATO have set their foot, and in addition, carried out a coup and overthrew the lawful president of Ukraine.”

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🇨🇳 🐻 Bear-ly Believable: #Chinese Zoo's Case of Sun Bear Suspicion

Rare sun bears in Hangzhou #zoo are suspected to be disguised humans, as per recent rumors and videos circulating online.

🎤 The zoo denied these claims and provided a playful "statement" from one of its sun bears, "Angela", clarifying her identity "as a #sunbear, not a human."

🦁 Chinese zoos have a history of trying to pass off other animals as different species, like a Tibetan mastiff as a lion in 2013, however visitors noticed the animal's "all too canine" barking in its enclosure.

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In this fresh episode of our New Rules podcast, we are joined by Judge Andrew Napolitano, a former New Jersey Superior Court judge, author, and host of "Judging Freedom" podcast on Youtube.

🗣️ He discusses the political implications of the Ukrainian counteroffensive for the Biden administration, the upcoming US 2024 presidential election, where the different candidates stand on Ukraine and what sort of impact they could leave on US foreign policy if elected and more...

Do not hesitate!

🔊 Tune in to Radio Sputnik at 6am EST|3am PST|12pm CET|10am GMT via the website or app!

📻 Also in the United States at 105.5FM, 104.7FM, 102.9FM, 1390AM, 1140AM

🇷🇺🇹🇷 Putin holds telephone conversation with his Turkish counterpart Erdogan, Kremlin says

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🇮🇷⚓️ Iran has deployed warships with 600 km range missiles on board during snap Gulf drills to ensure the security of the country’s Persian Gulf islands, IRGC Navy commander Ali Azmaei said, referring to surprise exercises off an Iranian-administered Gulf island which is also claimed by the United Arab Emirates.

The commander further said that a standout feature of the drills was the use of unmanned aerial vehicles and naval drones equipped with “advanced artificial intelligence.”

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🇷🇺 Ocean Shield 2023 drills kick off in Baltic Sea

Over 30 warships and boats, 20 support vessels, 30 aircraft, 6,000 military personnel to participate in the drills in the Baltic Sea, the MoD said.

In total, more than 200 combat exercises are planned, including live fire drills, the ministry added.

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❗️Key points of Putin-Erdogan talks on Black Sea grain deal:

▪️Putin confirmed Russia’s readiness to return to the deal as soon as the West fulfills all its obligations to Russia;

▪️Prolongation of the deal is meaningless due to the lack of progress towards implementing Russia’s side of the agreement, designed to ensure the real exemption from illegal unilateral Western sanctions on Russian agricultural products and fertilizers;

▪️Options for supplying Russian grain to countries in need are being worked out, including free of charge;

▪️The issue of grain supplies to countries in need was discussed at the Russia-Africa Summit;

▪️Putin expressed willingness to cooperate with Turkiye and other interested countries on grain supplies.

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