🇰🇵 North Korea conducted a drill with a simulated tactical nuclear strike on September 2 in response to joint military exercise by the US and South Korea, Pyongyang-run news agency reported on Sunday.

As many as two long-range strategic cruise missiles tipped with mock nuclear warheads were fired, with each of them flying some 1,500 kilometers (932 miles) for 7,672 and 7,681 seconds, respectively, and exploding afterward at an altitude of 150 meters above the "target island," the news agency also stated.

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🪖🤒 Inclusivity: Ukrainian military lowers health requirements for conscripts

The Ukrainian Defense Ministry has updated the list of diseases for assessing the suitability of servicemen; now all servicemen with "controversial" diseases will be recognized as fit.

In particular, the health requirements for paratroopers and Marines have been simplified, and the health requirements for airborne assault troops and Marines during mobilization and martial law have been relaxed.

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🇦🇺🇨🇳 Australia and China resume high-level dialogue for the first time since early 2020

The 7th Australia-China High Level Dialogue is expected to provide a platform for senior representatives from industry, government, academia, media, and the arts "to exchange perspectives across the breadth of Australia and China's bilateral relationship," the Australian Foreign Ministry said.

The dialogue will also give an opportunity for the two sides to engage in a constructive discussion on a number of issues such as trade, investments, international security and people-to-people links, the Ministry added.

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🇫🇷🚭 France may ban single-use electronic cigarettes to reduce the number of smokers

"Tobacco is [the cause of] 75,000 deaths annually, it is an enormous number. The government will soon present a new national plan to tackle tobacco smoking, which includes, among other things, a ban on single-use electronic cigarettes, known as 'puffs,' that are contributing to the development of harmful habits among young people," Borne told French broadcaster.

The minister said that the French government would not raise the prices on conventional cigarettes.

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🪖Millions of Ukrainians dodging draft to 'avoid certain death' fighting for NATO

Alternative media and even some legacy outlets have reported on the growing difficulties facing Ukrainian authorities in recruiting more conscripts for the NATO-backed proxy war against Russia, with widespread reports of draft officers grabbing men off the street, draconian restrictions on travel abroad, and demands for large-scale bribes from anyone seeking to avoid being sent to fight.

Inside the country, military analyst Viktor Litovkin told Sputnik, people have been disoriented and frightened into silence, or propagandized into believing that the ever-expanding graveyards are filled with the "defenders of Ukraine." Because of this, society at large hasn't risen up in protest, Litovkin said.

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📡👽 'Twinkling' radio signals from space may aid the search for 'alien life'

A novel technique conceived by scientists will, they hopeful, offer a breakthrough in the search for alien life in planet Earth’s galaxy, the Milky Way. The breakthrough approach is tailored to filter signals that may, potentially, be sent out by extraterrestrial (ET) intelligence, from various other ground or satellite radio interference.

The innovation helping to seek out true alien ‘techno-signature’ has been developed by researchers at the University of California-Berkeley’s Breakthrough Listen project.

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❗️Russian forces destroy four US-made Willard Sea Force assault boats with Ukrainian landing parties in Black Sea, MoD says

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🇺🇸 US Commerce Secretary warns of looming government shutdown worries among business leaders

The White House has urged Congress to swiftly approve a short-term spending bill to avert a partial shutdown, with Gina Raimondo emphasizing the need for a speedy resolution. She noted that such an event could pose a significant challenge to the economy and potentially hinder its progress.

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📹 SpaceX Dragon capsule carrying Russian cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev returns to Earth from ISS

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🇷🇺🇹🇷 Putin and Erdogan meeting: What to expect from Russia-Turkiye summit?

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan are set to hold negotiations in Russia’s Black Sea resort city of Sochi on September 4, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday. This will be the first meeting between the two leaders in person since October 13 last year in Astana, Kazakhstan.

👉 Sputnik takes a closer look at what to expect from the upcoming talks

📹 WATCH Russian Ka-52 and Mi-35 chopper crews destroy (01:10) Ukrainian stronghold in Krasny Liman direction

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🪖 Ukraine's Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov says he has submitted his resignation to the Ukrainian parliament

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🇨🇳 Chinese premier Li Qiang will take part in G20 Summit in India, Chinese Foreign Ministry says

Earlier, several Western media outlets reported that Chinese President Xi Jinping is unlikely to attend the summit.

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🪖 Ukraine's Defense Minister Reznikov: Legacy mired in corruption

Oleksii Reznikov has been Ukraine's defense minister since November 2021, during which time both the ministry and Reznikov repeatedly faced anger over a series of corruption scandals.

In January, Ukrainian media released a report claiming that the food the ministry buys for servicemen is twice or three times more expensive than in Kiev's ordinary food shops. At the time, Reznikov dismissed these stories as a smear campaign and said that the data from the published invoices has "an error in converting pieces into kilograms".

Another scandal took place in the autumn of 2022, when Ukrainian defense ministry bought 180,000 winter jackets from a Turkish firm at a cost of $86 million. However, it soon transpired that these jackets were for summer, and their full cost amounted to only $29 million.

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🇷🇺🇹🇷 The Putin and Erdogan meeting in Sochi is scheduled to start at 13:00 (+03 GMT), a source in the Turkish presidential administration told Sputnik.

Erdogan is already on his way, his plane left about half an hour ago, Turkish media reported.

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🇵🇱🪖 Poland reportedly starts extraditing men of conscription age to Ukraine

A total of 80,000 Ukrainian men of conscription age have entered Poland from Ukraine since the start of the Russia’s military op in February 24, 2022, according to the Polish authorities.

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🇷🇺 Russia seeks to build constructive relations with foreign partners that are interested in this, and is open to a broad dialogue on all pressing issues, President Vladimir Putin said in a message to the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) participants, published on Monday by the Kremlin.

💬 "Russia intends to continue to actively participate in efforts to build a system of interstate relations in the Asia-Pacific region based on equality, mutual benefit and respect for each other's legitimate interests," Putin said.

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