💳 Visa, Mastercard, and AmEx to start categorizing gun shop sales

It’s a major win for gun control advocates who say it will help better track suspicious surges of gun sales that could be a prelude to a mass shooting. But gun rights advocates have argued that step would unfairly segregate legal gun sales when most sales do not lead to mass shootings.

Visa said it would adopt the International Organization for Standardization’s new merchant code for gun sales. Until Friday, gun store sales were considered “general merchandise.”  It joins Mastercard and American Express, which also said they plan to move forward with categorizing gun shop sales.

The cards acts as a middleman between merchants and banks, and it will be up to banks to decide whether they will allow sales at gun stores to happen on their issued cards.

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😳 📹 A former Central California elementary school head is facing charges of cruelty to a minor after a video appeared online showing how he shoved a student to the ground.

▪️ Brian Vollhardt, the former principal of Wolters Elementary School, was seen striking the student in the chest during breakfast time on June 7.

▪️ Superintendent Bob Nelson said the student, who has special needs, wasn't injured after the incident, and was provided with the necessary emotional support.

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📌 LIVE UPDATES: Four vessels set to leave Ukraine under Istanbul grain deal, JCC says

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📹 Thousands of people took to the streets in Vienna yesterday to protest against rising energy prices.

▪️ Protesters called for the resumption of the Nord Stream 2 project and the opening of Nord Stream, as well as the abolition of unilateral measures against Russia.

▪️ Demonstrations expressing dissatisfaction with the economic situation in Europe have been taking place in several EU countries in recent weeks.

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📹 Crews of T-90 tanks from the Southern Military District have neutralized and destroyed the units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine who attempted to penetrate Russia's defenses.

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“To start with there was the (first) explosion…Then the second blast came”

A resident of the DPR describes how Ukraine’s Army shells local residential buildings

🇫🇷 Paris plans to reduce lighting on the Eiffel Tower… because of energy crisis.

🤔 Eiffel Tower management company SETE explained that contrary to popular belief, lighting the tower at night accounts for only 4% of the monument’s annual electricity bill, and the flashing of 20,000 LEDs flashing for five minutes at the beginning of each hour is done using energy efficient equipment. Therefore, the measure, which will be announced on September 13, is symbolic.

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🇦🇫 📹 A Black Hawk helicopter crashed during a Taliban* training exercise in Kabul, killing three, the group's defense ministry said Saturday.

🗯"An American Black Hawk helicopter, which was flown... for training, crashed due to a technical problem inside the campus of the National Defense University," said Ministry of Defense spokesperson Enaytullah Khowrazmi, adding that five people were injured.

▪️The Taliban took control of some US-made aircraft after they seized power in the country just over a year ago. It remains unclear how many are operational.

*under UN sanctions for terrorist activities

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⚡️ Russia will not sell gas or oil to countries that impose restrictions on their price, the head of the Russian Energy Ministry says

❗️Russia’s MoD briefing on the progress of the special military operation in Ukraine:

▪️Russian Forces perform high-precision strikes on Ukrainian units and reserves in the Kharkov region. As a result, Ukrainian personnel and military equipment of the Ukrainian units and of the14th and 92nd Mechanized Brigades were hit; the Ukraine’s Army losses totaled more than 200 servicemen and more than 20 military equipment units;

▪️Russian Forces eliminated more than 250 Ukrainian servicemen and destroyed 12 Ukrainian units of armored vehicles, three field artillery guns, one multiple-launch rocket system and 17 motor vehicles;

▪️Russian Air Forces performed high-precision missile strikes on the Nikolayev-Krivoy Rog axis, destroying a temporary deployment point of units of the 36th Brigade of the Ukraine’s Army Marine Corps near Nikolayev. As a result, more than 100 Ukrainian troops and 15 Ukrainian units were eliminated;

▪️In total, from September 6 to 10, Kiev’s losses totaled more than four thousand and more than eight thousand were wounded in these two areas alone;

▪️Russian Aerospace forces performed strikes in the Kherson region, eliminating over 50 Ukrainian servicemen and 7 pieces of military equipment of the 60th Infantry Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine;

▪️Russian Forces destroyed eight Ukrainian command posts in the Dnepropetrovsk region, in the Nikolayev region and in the Kherson region. In addition, Russian Forces eliminated 43 Ukrainian artillery units, as well as Ukrainian troops and military equipment in 103 areas.

▪️Russian Forces destroyed Ukrainian munitions depots in the DPR and in the Nikolayev region;

▪️Russian Forces destroyed radio detection and ranging station in the Nikolayev region;

▪️Russian air defense means destroyed a Ukrainian Mi-8 helicopter in the DPR;

▪️Russian air defense means destroyed four Ukrainian UAVs in the Kherson region, Nikolayev region and in the DPR, as well as intercepted two Tochka-U ballistic missiles and two American HARM anti-radiation missiles in the Kharkov region;

▪️Russian Forces intercepted 12 rockets fired by US-made HIMARS systems and nine Olkha rockets in the Kherson region.

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📹Footage showing combat by the Russian MI-8MTV-5 army aviation rotorcraft crews within the special military operation. The video is courtesy of Russia’s MoD.

Crew members of the MI-8MTV airlift helicopter eliminated the fortified strongpoints, armored equipment and manpower of Ukraine’s Army, the Russian Ministry of Defense reported.

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📹 The Russian MoD has published footage showing Su-25 assault fighters in combat action.

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📌 Today marks the 21st anniversary of the 9/11 tragedy

👉 Here is a look at the massive terrorist attack which claimed the lives of almost 3,000 and shocked the US and people around the world. After the terrorist attack, the US and its allies responded by invading Afghanistan and things escalated into the longest war in US history.

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📹Footage taken by a Mi-35 attack helicopter crew during combat amid Russia's special military operation. The video is courtesy of Russia’s MoD.

Crew members of the MI-35 attack helicopter thwarted an attempt by Ukrainian troops to bridge the Oskol river in the Kharkov region, the Russian Ministry of Defense reported.

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"Final step to complete the circle of independence to become a truly sovereign nation"

❗️Antigua and Barbuda will vote on whether to become a republic amid the death of Queen Elizabeth II, the country’s prime minister has said.

▪️PM Gaston Browne made the comments after confirming Charles III as King and head-of-state of the Caribbean nation, adding that a referendum could take place within three years and emphasizing that the move was “not an act of hostility”.

▪️In addition to the UK, King Charles serves as head-of-state in 14 countries - Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, The Bahamas, Belize, Canada, Grenada, Jamaica, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Solomon Islands, and Tuvalu. Barbados recently voted to ditch the monarchy.

▪️However, many countries are reconsidering the role of monarchy, with Mr Browne saying that becoming a republic would mark the "final step to complete the circle of independence to become a truly sovereign nation".

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