🚓After finding "rainbow fentanyl" during two recent busts in the Portland area, federal authorities are warning Oregonians to keep an eye out for the brightly-colored and highly-toxic synthetic opioid that resembles sidewalk chalk.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Oregon joined the Drug Enforcement Administration on Friday to warn over the rainbow fentanyl. Officials say the new colorful-powdery form has a higher potency than other forms of fentanyl.

They say the DEA’s Portland Office has seized record amounts of fentanyl, adding that the drug’s availability has led to a huge rise in overdose deaths in Oregon. “Fentanyl is the deadliest drug threat we face today,” said DEA Acting Special Agent in Charge Jacob D. Galvan from the Seattle Field Division.

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🎶🔜Elton John and Britney Spears have collaborated for the first time, creating the slinky, the club-ready single “Hold Me Closer” that sees the pop icons take old sounds and fashion something new.

The funky, piano-driven single uses John’s 1971 hit “Tiny Dancer” as the skeleton and adds elements from his songs “The One” and “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart,” all with Spears's voice soaring and fluttering.

While John has been releasing new music in the past few years — including the 16-track 2021 album “The Lockdown Sessions” — the song represents Spear’s first new music since her 2016 album “Glory” and her first offering since the ending of her contentious conservatorship.

“She truly is an icon, one of the all-time great pop stars, and she sounds amazing on this record. I love her dearly and am delighted with what we’ve created together,” John said.

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🤔 The Trump social media platform Truth Social is having a $1.6 million dispute with one of its largest vendors and creditors, RightForge, according to Fox Business.

▪️ RightForge is an internet infrastructure company that provides internet hosting services for Truth Social. According to sources that Fox Business talked to, the two companies are fighting over contractually obligated payments allegedly missed by Truth Social, dating back to March.

▪️ The sources contend that the missed payments show Truth Social has significant financial problems and that RightForge is threatening legal action to recoup the lost payments.

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🥵 US envoy to the Western Balkans Gabriel Escobar told Balkan news outlet N1 on Friday that it was necessary to “move away” from the idea that Kosovo is part of Serbia. The region illegally declared independence from Belgrade in 2008, violating the Serbian Constitution.

🗯 “I think we have to move away from the narrative that Kosovo is Serbia and move towards the narrative that Kosovo and Serbia are Europe,” Escobar said. “You have a common future and that future is rapidly moving away from the problems of the 1990s and quickly to the opportunities of the 21st century.”

▪️ He added that the “21st century will be one of economic opportunity for this region, where the Western Balkans become a driver of growth for the entire continent of Europe,” including in energy production, IT, and shipping. “The reality is that you will be linked eventually through regional economic relations.”


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🇷🇺 🇷🇸 On her Telegram channel the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has commented on the words of the US envoy to the Western Balkans, Gabriel Escobar, who previously called international community to “move away” from the idea that Kosovo is part of Serbia.

❗️The Russian diplomat simply replied, "NEVER".

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📹 “I bought army boots, bullet proof vests, tactical plate carriers”: A Ukrainian serviceman shames his comrades who crowdfund for uniforms on social media, advising them instead to buy all they need with their own money.

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▪️ A Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) Interior Ministry official Vitaly Kiselev tells Sputnik that he has survived an assassination attempt.

🗯"At the end of May of this year, there was an attempt to assassinate me. Until now, we have not disclosed this circumstance and what happened. …search activities and investigative measures are being carried now," Kiselev explained.

▪️ He specified that the assassination attempt occurred in central Lugansk, but refused to provide any further details.

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📌 LIVE UPDATES: Ukraine shells DPR 54 times over past day, Donetsk authorities say

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⚡️ The authorities of the Zaporozhye region reported that at the moment there is an artillery shelling of the Energodar by Ukrainian troops

They missed a page!

📹 Airborne units repelled an attempt to break through Kherson's Russian defenses from the direction of Nikolaev-Krivoy Rog; more than 20 Ukrainian troops were killed, the Russian Defense Ministry reports.

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📹 Servicemen of the Russian Center for the Reconciliation of Opposing Sides in the Syrian Arab Republic distributed 400 food packages to the residents of al-As in Aleppo province as part of a humanitarian relief project.

▪️ About 4 metric tons of foodstuffs were distributed in 400 boxes. The kits weigh 9.4 kg each and consist of food items such as flour, rice, tea, condensed milk and cooking oil.

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📹 Crews of the Western Military District’s Niobii radar station, on combat duty during the special military operation.

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⚡️ Belgrade ready to partially accept Pristina's requirements for entry documents, awaiting EU guarantee

⚡️ Footage showing combat operation of airborne units during the special military operation.

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❗Ukrainian soldiers fleeing the battlefield left the deceased US mercenary Alan Joshua behind, the DPR's ombudsman reports.

The US mercenary was eliminated on August 23 in combat actions in the DPR, his death was confirmed by the US Department of State.

"Unlike Ukraine, we remain committed to the principles of humanism even in relation to enemies. US officials have been notified of the death of Alan Joshua. We also confirm our readiness to transfer his remains to his relatives for burial," the ombudsman of the DPR said, recalling that foreign mercenaries are deprived of any immunity in the conduct of hostilities, urging them to leave Ukraine.