Russian MoD on the latest provocations by Ukrainian neo-Nazi battalions and troops:

▪In Sumy, Ukrainian troops have mined a railway bridge, they want to accuse Russian forces of blowing it up;

▪Azov Battalion neo-Nazis have set up barracks in a kindergarten building in Mirnograd and deployed armoured vehicles near residential areas;

▪Militants of the Donbass Battalion have placed heavy weapons in a residential building in Slavyansk. Civilians haven't been evacuated from the building;

▪Neo-Nazis in Borovoy, Kharkov region are forcing civilians with children to take cover in the basement of a school, while a barracks for the militants is deployed there;

▪In Zaporozhye, on the lower floor of a hospital, Aidar Battalion militants have equipped firing positions, while staff and patients are being held as "human shields";

▪Aidar Battalion militants have set up firing positions at a church in Pavlograd (Dnepropetrovsk region). Artillery and MLRS have been deployed

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⚡️🇺🇸 🦠 The number of Americans who have died from COVID-19 has reached 1 million, according to the Johns Hopkins University count

The coronavirus death toll in the US is higher than in any other country

🇺🇸🇷🇺The US does not believe talks between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Secretary of State Antony Blinken "would be constructive in the current environment"

💉Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration modified the emergency use authorization (EUA) for the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, authorizing the use of a single booster dose to manage the vaccine for children aged 5 to 11, making everyone in the country over the age of 5 eligible for a third shot.

"What is the goal of this vaccine? Are we trying to protect against all symptomatic infections for a limited period of time? Or are we trying to protect against serious illness, in which case all the evidence is that we are preventing serious illness" with the two-dose vaccine regimen, Dr. Paul Offit, a pediatric infectious disease expert at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, said.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) still needs to sign off on the shots before they can be administered. Children below the age of five are not yet eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine in the United States.

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👩‍🚀NASA's InSight Mars robotic lander will complete its work in late 2022 due to lack of solar energy, mission chief Bruce Bannerdt says.

The lander now generates only 10% of the original capacity of solar power because of heavy dust on Mars, which has covered the robot's solar panels.

Photo credit: NASA

⚡️🇺🇸🇻🇪 Washington has allowed US and European oil companies to resume work in Venezuela, Delcy Rodriguez, the vice president of Venezuela, said on Tuesday

‼️ 🇺🇸 🇸🇾 An internal Pentagon probe concluded that a US airstrike that killed dozens of Syrians in the town of Baghuz in 2019 was "consistent with the Laws of War," Defense Secretary Austin said.

The casualties were first exposed in a months-long 2021 New York Times investigation that pointed to a multilayered coverup aimed at obscuring the deaths of up to 64 civilians.

⚡️🇹🇷⚡️Turkey demands re-entry into the F-35 program and the lifting of S-400 sanctions in exchange for the approval of Sweden & Finland's NATO memberships, Bloomberg reports, citing sources

Last Monday, U.S. authorities announced the discovery of a cross-border tunnel linking Tijuana, Mexico, and San Diego, California. The drug-smuggling tunnel on Mexico's border ran the length of a football field on U.S. soil to a warehouse in an industrial area.

"There is no more light at the end of this narco-tunnel," said Randy Grossman, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of California. "We will take down every subterranean smuggling route we find to keep illicit drugs from reaching our streets and destroying our families and communities."

Authorities said that the secret passage from Tijuana to San Diego featured rail and ventilation systems, electricity, and reinforced walls. It was discovered near San Diego's Otay Mesa border crossing in an area where more than a dozen other sophisticated tunnels have been found in the last two decades.

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⚡️🇺🇸🇰🇵The US assesses that North Korea is apparently preparing to conduct an intercontinental ballistic missile test within the next 48 to 96 hours, CNN reported citing an official.

The news comes as President Joe Biden is set to visit South Korea and Japan later this week.

🔻✈️A US media report says that the China Eastern crash data suggests the planes were sent into intentional dives. The Boeing 737-800, en route from Kunming to Guangzhou, crashed on March 21 in the mountains of Guangxi after a sudden plunge from cruising altitude, killing all 123 passengers and nine crew members aboard.

Data recovered from the black box suggests that someone in the cockpit input controls sent the plane into its deadly descent, the Journal reported, citing people familiar with the US officials' preliminary assessment of the incident.

US officials involved in the investigation have focused on a pilot's actions. However, it is possible someone else on the plane could have broken into the cockpit and caused the crash, the Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

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🗳Trump-endorsed Ted Budd wins North Carolina GOP Senate primary, overcoming a challenge from former North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory. The victory is a major win for former President Trump as he continues to exert his influence on the Republican party.

Aside from the former president, Budd had the backing of some key Republican powerbrokers. The conservative Club for Growth, one of the most influential players in Republican primaries, spent some $11 million to boost Budd, helping him overcome relatively low name ID and lagging fundraising early on in his campaign.

With the nomination locked up, Budd will face Democrat Cheri Beasley, a former state Supreme Court justice, in the November general election to succeed retiring Sen. Richard Burr (Rep. North Carolina).

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🇦🇺🇷🇺🇧🇾Australia has included in the sanctions list a number of journalists and civil servants from Russia, including Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency Director General Dmitry Kiselev, FSB First Deputy Director Sergey Korolyov, RT Managing Director Alexey Nikolov and acting Emergencies Minister Alexander Chupriyan, according to a document by Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT).

🎥 😙 Video: George W Bush Reveals Ukraine’s ‘Mission’ in Convo with Infamous Russian Pranksters.

Vladimir “Vovan” Kuznetsov and Alexei “Lexus” Stolyarov have spent more than a decade trolling politicians, celebrities, and other public figures worldwide. This time they target former US President George W. Bush. A tweet posted Tuesday on Vovan’s Twitter account features a preview mash-up of a conversation expected to be released in full later this week.

“I wanted Ukraine into NATO,” Bush says in one excerpt. Read more

🇺🇸🇸🇦 US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and Saudi Vice Minister of Defense Khalid bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud met in Washington to discuss bilateral cooperation and international issues

🔎 South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster (Rep.) has signed a measure barring transgender athletes from elementary school through college from competing on sports teams aligning with their gender identity.

"I think the girls ought to play girls, and the boys ought to play boys. That's how we've always done it," McMaster said before signing the bill.

The law "will protect those born biologically as females from having to compete against those born biologically as males but identify as females," State Senator Richard Cash said. The law, which takes effect "upon approval from the governor," also affects private schools whose sports teams compete against public schools.

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⚡️ Ambassadors of Sweden and Finland submit applications for NATO membership to alliance's Secretary General

📹 Footage of the combat work of Russia’s Tor-M2U anti-aircraft missile systems during a special military operation in Ukraine

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⚡️⚡️ Russia tests combat laser capable of burning drones at distance of some 3 miles, official says