A 1.2 meter-tall Ukrainian soldier was choosing "slaves" among civilians in Popasnaya in the LPR, local residents said.

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❗Number of injured in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza Strip rises to 253 - enclave's health ministry

⚔ By end of year, Sweden will send over 100 military instructors to Ukraine

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❗Israeli PM says Breaking Dawn op goals reached, final stage underway - reports

⚡Amnesty International apologized for the "distress and anger" caused by a report accusing Ukraine of endangering civilians by setting up military bases in residential areas

▪"Amnesty International deeply regrets the distress and anger that our press release on the Ukrainian military's fighting tactics has caused," it said in an email letter to Reuters

▪At the same time, the UK-based organization apparently refused to delete the report: "Amnesty International’s priority in this and in any conflict is ensuring that civilians are protected. Indeed, this was our sole objective when releasing this latest piece of research. While we fully stand by our findings, we regret the pain caused"

▪Amnesty International, which is a human rights-focused organization, is a recipient of funding and grants from such bodies as the Rockefeller Foundation and the US State Department. Its report about the Ukrainian military setting up military bases in residential areas was met with astonishment by Kiev: Zelensky accused Amnesty of victim-blaming

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🚨Sirens have been heard in Tel Aviv as Sputnik correspondents report a possible missile attack on the city

💬Russian Foreign Ministry says in constant contact with Cuba on coordination of possible actions in connection with fire at oil storage facility

🇨🇳Taiwan is not a part of the US but Chinese territory, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has said, commenting on Nancy Pelosi's recent visit to the island. Likewise, he stressed that the US' actions deliberately undermined peace in the Taiwan Strait, adding that the US is accustomed to creating a problem first and then using it to achieve its own strategic agenda.

💬“There are signs that the United States has again played the old trick while planning Pelosi’s unannounced visit and is now seizing the opportunity to build up a military presence in the region,” Wang said.

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❗The death toll in Israel's latest shelling of the Gaza Strip has reached 41, including 15 children and 4 women, the Palestinian Health Ministry has said

❗Palestinian Islamic Jihad confirms Gaza truce deal with Tel Aviv, AFP reports

🇨🇳China is reportedly preparing a 48-hour blitz offensive against Taiwan, UK media claims, citing unnamed diplomatic sources

The Telegraph reports that a military operation to take the island could kick off in 2023, and that China's People’s Liberation Army has four options:

▪A series of extended drills around the island designed to exhaust Taiwan’s military and wear Taipei down economically;

▪An operation against the Taipei-administered Matsu and Kinmen Islands, which are situated closer to mainland China;

▪An air and missile barrage against Taiwanese military targets, including coastal defenses, airfields, and radar sites, but not civilian areas, to try to force Taipei to the negotiating table (the least preferable scenario, because it allegedly would allow the US and its allies to marshal their forces in the region and for Taiwan to mobilize its reserves);

▪A “full-blown land invasion,” in which “China would seek to land troops at strategic points, racing across the 70-mile [112 km] Taiwan Strait under the cover of a missile and fighter jet barrage” and the destruction of Taiwan’s navy.

The paper warns, that the 4th scenario will provoke a response by the US and its allies (Japan and Australia), which would be “almost guaranteed”.

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❗Israeli defense minister orders forces to prepare for further hostilities, ministry says

🇺🇸Donald Trump has warned of a risk of WWIII due to ‘incompetent’, ‘evil people’ in Washington

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❗️Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader says ceasefire with Israel enters into force at 23:30 local time - reports

😢A young California bank executive has been identified as the third person killed in a freak caught-on-camera lightning strike near the White House last week.

Brooks Lambertson, a 29-year-old Los Angeles-based vice president at City National Bank, was identified by DC police as the third fatality from Thursday night’s strike that also left a fourth person in critical condition.

He was killed alongside James Mueller, 76, and Donna Mueller, 75, childhood sweethearts from Wisconsin who were in the capital celebrating their 56th wedding anniversary.

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⚡️🇮🇱Air raid sirens, warning of a possible missile attack, sounded in southern Israel after the truce with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad Movement went into effect, the press office of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Sunday, Sputnik, Tel Aviv, report.

Earlier on Sunday, the movement and Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid's office confirmed that the ceasefire would go into effect at 11:00 p.m. local time (20:30 GMT). "Sirens sounded in the area adjacent to the Gaza Strip," the office said in a statement.”

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🔹Democrats pushed their election-year economic package to Senate passage Sunday, a hard-fought compromise less ambitious than President Joe Biden’s original domestic vision but one that still meets deep-rooted party goals of slowing global warming, moderating pharmaceutical costs and taxing immense corporations.

The estimated $740 billion package heads next to the House, where lawmakers are poised to deliver on Biden’s priorities, a stunning turnaround of what had seemed a lost and doomed effort that suddenly roared back to political life. Cheers broke out as Senate Democrats held united, 51-50, with Vice President Kamala Harris casting the tie-breaking vote after an all-night session.

“Today, Senate Democrats sided with American families over special interests,” President Joe Biden said in a statement from Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. “I ran for President promising to make government work for working families again, and that is what this bill does.”

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🔎The United Nations special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories says Israel’s air raids on the besieged Gaza Strip “not only are illegal but irresponsible,” calling for a diplomatic solution to the latest bout of violence, which began on Friday when Israel launched air attacks on Gaza City.

“The situation in Gaza is on the verge of a humanitarian crisis,” Francesca Albanez said to AP news. Israel has characterized the assault as a “preemptive” act of self-defense against the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group and said its operation could last a week.

The US ambassador to Israel, Tom Nides, wrote on Friday: “The United States firmly believes that Israel has a right to protect itself. We are engaging with different parties and urge all sides to calm.”

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💥🚙 A woman has been arrested and publicly identified the day after the car she was driving plowed into vehicles at a crowded intersection in Windsor Hills, igniting a fire in a crash that killed six people, the California Highway Patrol announced Friday.

Nicole Lorraine Linton, 37, was taken into custody at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Westwood, the CHP said in a news release.

Charges of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence will be recommended when the case is presented to the Los Angeles County district attorney's office, the Highway Patrol said. Earlier Friday morning, authorities identified a pregnant woman and her unborn child as two of the six victims who were killed in the collision.

Surveillance showed the Mercedes careening through an intersection, striking at least two cars that exploded in flames and were sent hurtling onto a sidewalk, winding up against the gas station's corner sign. A fiery streak led to one car. One vehicle was sheared in half.

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