🗳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

🤨 “Ay-ay-ay-ay”: That's how Joe Biden pronounced AANHPI - an abbreviation standing for Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders. At a White House event, the US president was decrying racism, having been spurred on by the Buffalo supermarket massacre. He managed to pronounce the US without any mishap, however

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📌 The latest updates on the special op in Ukraine from the Russian Defence Ministry:

▪ Russia has tested a laser capable of burning drones at a distance of 5km;

▪ Russian forces destroyed a battery of US-made 155mm M777 howitzers in Ukraine

▪ Russian airspace forces destroyed units of European mercenaries located in Ukraine;

▪ Russian air defence shot down one Ukrainian Su-25 fighter jet and one MiG-29;

▪ Russia destroyed 172 combat warplanes and 125 aircrafts during a special operation

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📹 Russia's MoD has released footage of “Msta-S” and "Akatsiya" self-propelled howitzers with 152mm, performing fire missions during the special operation

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📹 Surrendered mercenaries from the Azovstal plant in Mariupol

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⚡️ Russian office of Google initiates its own bankruptcy, Fedresurs says

🎞📹 People from Mariupol were so terrified that they were sobbing prayers in the basements in which they were hiding. Elena, a Mariupol resident, has told how Azov radicals booby-trapped territory near residential buildings and civilians were blown up periodically

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⚡️ Protectionism of Western tech giants should stop, Russian MFA says

❗Erdogan calls on NATO allies to 'respect' Turkey's concerns over Finland, Sweden membership

⚡Kremlin on Kiev's attempts to present surrender of Azov militants from Azovstal as 'evacuation': Interpretation is unambiguous, they surrender

❗Moscow expels 34 employees of French diplomatic missions in retaliation, they must leave country in 2 weeks

🎞📹 A man from Mariupol asked for his face not to be revealed as he is afraid nationalists might attack his relations in Kiev. He said that Azov neo-Nazis took Mariupol residents hostage and thanked Russian forces for coming and helping

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