🚨❗️ BREAKING: Former Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe ARRESTED

👉 The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has taken former President Ranil Wickremesinghe into custody over allegations of misuse of public funds.

📑 The charges relate to a personal trip he made to London while serving as president—a visit allegedly financed with state money.

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🗣✍️ 'I AM VERY ANGRY': Trump writes to Orban over Ukraine’s strikes on Druzhba pipeline

In response to Viktor Orban informing him about Ukraine’s attacks on the Druzhba pipeline, Donald Trump wrote an angry letter, according to Hungarian media.

💬 “Viktor, I do not like hearing this – I am very angry about it. Tell Slovakia. You are my great friend,” Trump wrote.

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🚨Zelensky said "NO" to all of Trump’s proposals for a Ukraine resolution during the meeting in Washington that the US considers essential – Lavrov to NBC

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🚨🇷🇺💥 RUSSIAN MOD UPDATE: HUGE GAINS & DEVASTATING UKRAINIAN LOSSES

⚡️KATERINOVKA, VLADIMIROVKA, RUSIN YAR (DPR) LIBERATED

By freeing these settlements, Russian troops have strengthened their hold near Konstantinovka, tightening the encirclement of Ukrainian forces and cutting their supply lines.

◻️ Nine settlements freed in the past week

◻️ Air defense superiority: 25 air bombs and 11 rockets from US-made HIMARS systems intercepted this week 

◻️ Ukrainian losses: 9,375 soldiers

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🚨🇻🇪🪖MADURO CALLS UP 4.5 MILITIA IN RESPONSE TO PREVENT 'IMPERIAL INTERFERENCE'

Venezuela mobilizing forces as 3 US warships with 4k Marines head to the country

The US vowed to use "all elements of American power" to fight drug trafficking, including a possible military op

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🇷🇺🎉 RUSSIA CELEBRATES STATE FLAG DAY

📑 Established by Russian presidential decree in 1994, it commemorates the restoration of Russia’s historic tricolor on August 22, 1991.

The day symbolizes national unity and loyalty to state symbols. Although not a public holiday, solemn events are held across Russia, including processions, concerts, flash mobs, car rallies, and flag-raising ceremonies.

👉 What do the colors of the Russian flag mean?

⚪️ White symbolizes nobility and honesty

🔵 Blue represents loyalty, integrity, and perfection

🔴 Red stands for courage, valor, and heroism

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🔥⛓️‍💥 Russian strike on Flex plant WRECKS CRITICAL NODE in Ukraine’s high-tech arms production – analyst

The Flex plant—a key maker of custom circuits—transforms standard electronics into specialized systems used in drones, cruise missiles, and other precision weapons, military expert Alexey Anpilogov told Sputnik.

🗣This blows apart Volodymyr Zelensky’s claim that the US-owned Flex plant was “an ordinary civilian facility” that produced “household items, such as coffee machines."

💬 “It’s clear that Ukraine’s conflict zone serves as a testing ground for cutting-edge unmanned aerial vehicles, crewless sea vessels used in the Black Sea, and other high-precision weapons systems saturating the battlefield,” the military expert said.

➖ Blurred lines between civilian & military production

Civilian industries in Ukraine, including Flex, are increasingly militarized, the analyst notes.

The plant likely “served as a logistics hub for storing munitions, military equipment, or explosives, which could explain the prolonged fires and secondary explosions observed after the strike,” the pundit says—blowing apart claims it only made “civilian goods.”


➖ High-tech arsenal takes a hit

Integration of Western digital equipment into Ukrainian systems with direct military use is a “critical stage of final weapon assembly” needing expert skills not easily replicated elsewhere, the nuclear expert underscored.

💬 “This setback will likely hamper the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ ability to sustain drone and missile operations, as restoring these production capabilities will be both challenging and time-intensive,” he speculated.

➖ Ukraine’s ‘smoke & mirrors’ strategy

The regime’s hurried denial of military activity at Flex likely has several aims:

👉 Deflect accusations by framing the strike as civilian-targeted

👉 Sway Western opinion, since the parent company may not have known about the plant’s military role, as under Ukrainian law “joint ventures are not subsidiaries and enjoy a high degree of autonomy”

👉 Conceal any surviving production by implying total destruction

If Russian intelligence confirms any lingering military potential, more strikes on Flex are likely, the analyst added.

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🇺🇸 MADE IN USA? HA! American manufacturing fading fast

Trade deficit with India? Just the tip of the iceberg.

Most of what Americans buy isn’t made at home—so how “American” is your stuff really?

📉 Trade deficit

💬 In 2024, the US goods trade deficit hit $45.8B with India (+5.9%, +$2.6B) and $295.5B with China (+5.7%, +$15.9B).

But is that really India or China’s "fault," as the US threatens them with punitive tariffs?

💬 US manufacturing is down to ~10% of GDP, from 21–25% in the 1950–70s.

💬 The US' share of global manufacturing output has plummeted from 28.5% in 1970 to ~16% in 2024.

💬 The decline is sharper than its peers, leaving an economy skewed toward services and imports.


👉 Made in USA? Offshoring jobs

💬 Since the 1970s, US manufacturing jobs in steel, textiles, electronics, and autos have moved to Latin America, then Asia.

💬 Now, high-paying tech and consulting roles follow, as companies offshore skilled jobs to cut costs, as per Revelio Labs.

💬 US producers’ domestic market share is shrinking. Most furniture, TVs, phones, clothes, toys, and personal care items in American homes are imported.

💬 Even US car brands outsource parts or assembly abroad. Why? Short answer: It's cheaper to produce overseas.

❌ All-American iPhone? Impossible

MIT Tech Review shows:

🟥 Assembly is cheaper in China

🟥 Half the parts come from mainland China, the rest from Taiwan, Japan, and the US

🟥 Rare earths are from China

From mine to assembly, no iPhone can be fully made in the US.

🤜🏻 Self-inflicted damage

🔴The US remains the world’s top market for manufactured goods - $7 trillion.

However, the decline in US manufacturing production means the loss of millions of jobs, factory closures, economic decline, and a massive loss of know-how in the labor force.

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🚨 Attacks on Slovak energy security are UNACCEPTABLE — Interior Minister

"Everything has its limit. Ukraine's difficult situation does not justify repeated attacks on the Druzhba pipeline, which delivers oil to Slovakia," wrote Matúš Šutaj Štefánik on social media.

👉 Meanwhile, Russian Deputy Energy Minister Sorokin informed Hungarian Foreign Minister Szijjártó that repairs will require at least five days.

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📹 Putin arrived in Russia's top nuclear weapons center in Sarov

Putin is expected to meet with staff from the Federal Nuclear Center, a key hub for nuclear technology research and strategic weapons development.

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🤝 MI6 and CIA: Will broken bromance lead to divide on Ukraine?

"There is now a cooling of the relationship between the US and British governments, and particularly between the CIA and MI6," retired CIA officer and State Department official Larry Johnson tells Sputnik.

👉 What are the signs?

🟠The Observer raised concerns about Trump’s stance on US-UK intelligence cooperation and noted the rejection of veteran officer Tom Sylvester as CIA station chief in London.

🟠 The British media concerns may stem from Sylvester’s role as “the primary liaison with MI6" on Ukraine, Johnson notes.

🟠 On August 21, CBS revealed that DNI Tulsi Gabbard barred intelligence sharing on Russia-Ukraine talks with Five Eyes partners the UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand from July 20.

🟠 In April, reports suggested some European insiders think Britain should reduce intel sharing with Washington.

"There is a change underway with respect to CIA activities in support of the war against Russia using Ukraine as a proxy," says Johnson. "But I think there's also another dimension to this: Donald Trump knows or should know that MI6 played a very active role in Russiagate."

🟠 Could the CIA live without MI6?

🔸 "Really, the CIA doesn't need MI6," Johnson says. "MI6 needs the CIA more so because it does not have the collection assets that the US does."

🔸 But some observers point out that listening posts in the UK and across Europe remain valuable to Washington.

🔸 Five Eyes spy services are deeply intertwined: sometimes using US equipment run by Brits, other times vice versa, with similar arrangements in Australia and Canada.

🫢 MI6 terror ops in Ukraine

🗣 "The US and Britain have been working closely together, coordinating operations, including terrorist attacks, military attacks, intelligence operations, information operations with respect to Russia’s and the conflict in Ukraine," Johnson says.

🔊 He warns MI6 might now bypass the CIA and work directly with Ukraine.

With its long track record in covert and paramilitary terror activities, MI6 shows no sign of giving up sowing trouble in Ukraine.

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🚨📹 Trump says Putin may attend World Cup 2026 in the US

"Depending on what happens, we have a lot of things happening over the next couple of weeks," he added.

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🔊 Next 2 weeks will be decisive — Trump

"I'm going to make a decision as to what we do," the US president said, outlining two options:

▫️ Massive sanctions and massive tariffs, or

▫️ Doing nothing and saying, "It's your fight."

"I will see whose fault it is… I know exactly what I'm doing," he added.

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🇮🇷☢️ Iran-EU nuclear talks will resume — FM

Abbas Araghchi confirmed a call with the E3 (UK, France, and Germany) and the EU's foreign policy chief. He warned the European leaders against enforcing the "snapback" mechanism.

💬 In a statement, Araghchi said, "Just as the Islamic Republic acts firmly in self-defense, it has never abandoned diplomacy and is prepared for any solution that guarantees the rights and interests of the Iranian people."

Local media reported that the talks will resume in Vienna at the deputy foreign minister level on Tuesday.

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🚨🇷🇺 Putin on US-Russia ties & the Arctic — key points:

▫️ Russia and US are discussing cooperation in the Arctic and Alaska—first steps taken toward restoring relations

▫️ "We have no unfriendly countries — only unfriendly elites"

▫️ Trump’s return is a light at the end of the tunnel

▫️Meeting in Alaska was frank & substantial.

▫️ Russia-US contacts continue at the level of ministries and corporations

▫️ Russia’s military edge: subs disappear from radar in northern waters

▫️Preserving its own sovereignty is the most important thing for Russia

▫️No country has such nuclear icebreaker fleet like Russia's

▫️Prototypes of quantum computers with huge capabilities assembled in Russia

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🔊☢️ US nuclear scientists helped USSR to 'create global balance' — Putin

Russian president praised American scientists who aided Soviet nuclear program, stating they were "not spies" but visionaries who understood mutual deterrence was necessary to protect humanity.

"Our scientists would have done it anyway, without this support, but they did it consciously," Putin said.

🔍 Some claim Russia only got nuclear bomb because of spies, but by the early 1940s, the USSR amassed dozens of world-class atomic scientists, from Igor Kurchatov and Yuli Khariton to Isaak Kikoin, Andrei Bochvar, Igor Tamm, and many others.

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🚨 Russia calls urgent UNSC meeting on Nord Stream sabotage

Russia demands answers about the 2022 attacks on the pipeline and criticizes Germany’s delayed and opaque investigation.

"We will draw the Security Council's attention to the delay and lack of transparency in the German investigation," said Dmitry Polyansky, Russia's deputy permanent representative to the UN.

The meeting is set for August 26.

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🔍 Ghislaine Maxwell FBI interview released: There is no client list

US DoJ publishes full transcript and audio of July 24–25 interview with convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell.

Maxwell didn't incriminate any high powered individuals, saying there is no client list.

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