❗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”.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

❗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

👉READ MORE

❗️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.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

⚡️🇮🇱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.”

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🔹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.”

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🔎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.”

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

💥🚙 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.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

⚓️⛵️This Saturday afternoon, US authorities detained more than 300 Haitian migrants off the coast of the Florida Keys, in the extreme south of that country, immigration authorities reported.

218 were picked up by Coast Guard boats, and another 113 jumped from the ship, swam to shore, and were made available to the Border Patrol.

Local authorities also reported that two people had to be transferred to a local hospital after being evaluated on land due to dehydration. Authorities are investigating the case as an alleged human trafficking operation in the United States.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🚨 New Jersey man jailed for 5 years for creating GoFundMe scam involving fake story about homeless veteran.

Mark D'Amico and his then-girlfriend, Katelyn McClure, raised more than $400,000 by tricking donors into thinking they were donating money to homeless veteran Johnny Bobbitt Jr who had allegedly spent his last $20 buying fuel for McClure's car in 2017.

💵The heart-warming tale prompted more than 14,000 people to donate to their GoFundMe page trying to raise $10,000 to pay for rent, a reliable car and some living expenses for the man.

However, the story was a hoax: Bobbitt had never bought fuel for McClure and the couple spent most of the money on luxury items, a recreational vehicle, a BMW and trips to casinos, according to the prosecutor's office.
Bobbitt sued the couple in 2018, saying he had only received $75,000.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

❗️🇨🇳 The Chinese army continued military exercises off the coast of Taiwan on Monday, which were initially supposed to end at noon on 2 August.

In a statement, the Chinese army said its priority was to organize joint anti-ship and naval offensive operations.

🇨🇺 A second explosion occurred at the oil depot in Matanzas, Cuba, on Sunday night; the fire cannot be extinguished.

According to the latest information, one person was killed and at least 121 people were injured by a fire at an oil storage facility which was caused by lightning hitting the dome of a tank containing some 25,000 cubic meters of oil.

About 1,300 residents of Matanzas province have been evacuated.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

⚾️ “F**k him up”: Fans of the New York Mets knock out Atlanta Braves supporter in a fight during the game at Citi Field in New York.

It’s unclear what started the brawl, but one person can be seen trying to hold the Braves fan back, while another can be heard loudly egging Mets fans on, telling them to “f**k him up".

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🎥 Russia's MoD has shared footage of the combat work of "Grad" multiple launch rocket systems firing at positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

❗️ The latest updates from Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service:

▪️ Kiev has already started selling off the country, giving priority in this "business project" to its Polish neighbors;

▪️ Poland is investing in transport infrastructure so that Ukrainian products can be exported without hindrance;

▪️ Poland plans to establish control primarily over Ukraine's agriculture;

▪️ Polish goals are supported by Ukrainian laws on the sale of enterprises at a 50 percent discount

❗️Taiwan has announced its own military exercises which will include the usage of heavy artillery. They will be held in Pingtung County in the south of the island on Tuesday and Thursday

⚡️⚡️The head of Zaporozhye region in Ukraine has signed a decree on holding a referendum on joining Russia, a Sputnik correspondent reports.

🎥 "Not just a right-wing media story": The ongoing federal investigation into Hunter Biden could jeopardize his father's chances in a 2024 re-election run, CNN host Brian Stelter said

Stelter brought up the Department of Justice's probe into Hunter's alleged tax violations and shady business dealings while presenting CNN's 'Reliable Sources' when he was in conversation with Michael LaRosa, former press secretary of First Lady Jill Biden.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

❗️🎥 "Not a single rib was left unharmed": A resident of Lisichansk reveals what he was forced to endure when he was captured by Ukrainian militants in 2014

Subscribe to @SputnikInt