US ready to lend Ukraine $50 Bln if EU extends anti-Russia sanctions indefinitely - report

The United States is pressuring the EU to extend sanctions on Russian state assets in order to receive money as repayment for a $50 billion loan to Ukraine, the Financial Times reported, citing a leaked discussion paper.

Washington is pushing for an agreement ahead of the G7 summit in Italy next week, the report said. However, approval requires the unanimous consent of all EU leaders, including Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has exercised "his regular veto over sanctions decisions," the report read.

Russia has repeatedly slammed the move. Commenting on the situation concerning Russian frozen assets, Russian President Vladimir Putin dubbed the West’s actions "unseemly business," and warned that "stealing other people’s assets has never brought anyone good."

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🇷🇺🧑‍🚀Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko - world's first man to spend over 1,000 days in space

The record was set on June 5 at 00:20 Moscow time, according to RosCosmos.

Kononenko himself said that American crew members from the Mission Control Center in Houston were the first to congratulate him on the new world record.

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The next leg of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's African tour will be Chad, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

Late Tuesday, Lavrov arrived in the capital of Burkina Faso, Ouagadougou, on his first visit to the country.

Prior to his visit to Ouagadougou, Lavrov visited Guinea and the Republic of Congo as part of his Africa tour.

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📹🔥Russian paratroopers are actively using FPV drones near Chasov Yar, a village being fought for in the Donbass.

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Shooting at US Embassy in Lebanon

• What is known so far?

▪️A Syrian man opened fire on the US Embassy in Beirut at 08:34 local time (5:34 GMT). Soldiers stationed in the area returned fire, wounding the attacker. He was detained and taken to hospital, according to the Lebanese army.

▪️The US Embassy confirmed that the assailant opened fire with small arms in the area of the embassy entrance. No members of the diplomatic corps were injured, the embassy said. American diplomats are in close contact with Lebanese law enforcement officials.

▪️The attacker shot a guard at the US Embassy in Beirut and Lebanese forces returned fire, shooting the gunman, The National reported, citing a diplomatic source.

▪️Photo of the suspected attacker was shared online.

▪️Tight security measures have been put in place near the US Embassy in the Beirut suburb of Aaoukar after the shooting at the embassy headquarters in Lebanon.

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A member of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party was attacked with a knife in Mannheim.

In Mannheim, an AFD candidate for local elections was injured in a knife attack. The perpetrator was arrested, reports Die Welt.

The politician is still in the hospital, but only suffered cuts.

The AfD reported it was an attack by left-wing extremists, but the information hasn't been officially confirmed, according to the news agency.

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🚀🧑‍🚀Virtual Yuri Gagarin greets guests at Smolensk Region stand at St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF)

On April 12, 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man to leave the confines of Earth and enter space.

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