💸 Secret Service recovers $286M in stolen pandemic loans

The Secret Service said an investigation initiated by its Orlando office found that alleged conspirators submitted Economic Injury Disaster Loan applications by using fake or stolen employment and personal information and used an online bank, Green Dot, to conceal and move their criminal proceeds.

The agency worked with Green Dot to identify roughly 15,000 accounts and seize $286 million connected to the accounts. Billions have been fraudulently claimed through various pandemic relief programs — including Paycheck Protection Program loans, unemployment insurance and others that were rolled out in the midst of the worldwide pandemic.

Since 2020, the Secret Service initiated more than 3,850 pandemic related fraud investigations, seized over $1.4 billion in fraudulently obtained funds and helped to return $2.3 billion to state unemployment insurance programs.

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📹 A refugee from Ukraine says that the Ukrainian armed forces are even ready to kill children who attend Russian schools and kindergartens.

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📹 During the Reno Air Races in the US state of Nevada on Sunday, a pilot was killed when the aircraft crashed and caught fire.

▪️ The horrifying incident was caught on camera during the races' live webcast on YouTube, where it was visible that the jet crashed and burst into flames.

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📸 🇬🇧 The public ceremony to bid farewell to Queen Elizabeth II has ended in London. A memorial service will be held today at Westminster Abbey, after which the Queen will be buried at Windsor Castle.

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🇺🇳 The UN Secretary General said he doesn't consider visa restrictions on Russians in Europe a good idea

📹 A video is gaining popularity on social networks, showing President Biden rewriting the text from the prepared card for the book of condolences of Queen Elizabeth II.

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📹 Russia's MoD has published footage showing a Western Military District special unit in combat as part of the special military operation.

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🇯🇵 👨‍🦳 For the first time in Japan's history, people over age 75 account for over 15 percent of the population after their cohort rose by 720,000 to 19.37 million people, according to government data released on Sunday.

🔝 Japan tops world rankings for having the oldest society, in terms of the proportion of the population which is over age 65 (??%). Italy ranks second (24.1%), followed by Finland (23.3%).

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⚡️🇨🇳 China's foreign ministry on Biden's remark about Taiwan: Beijing expresses protest & urges the United States to understand the importance & sensitivity of the Taiwan issue.

The US president on Sunday claimed US forces would defend Taiwan in the event of "an unprecedented attack."

🇷🇺 🇹🇷 The central banks of Turkey and Russia will start the works for arranging partial payments for Russian gas imports in rubles, as agreed by the presidents of the two countries, Turkish Energy Minister Fatih Donmez said.

▪️ Last Friday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin met on the sidelines of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Samarkand and agreed that Turkey will pay for 25% of gas it imports from Russia in the Russian national currency.

🗯 "There is an agreement to pay for Russian gas in rubles. If one of the parties, be it the buyer or the seller, has their money in a currency other than dollars or euros, it will inevitably incur costs associated with the exchange rate difference. We will get rid of this difference. In fact, this is not a new issue, it has been discussed many times. For the past three or four years our president had an idea and a strategy with many countries as to 'we should trade in local currencies, we will earn more," Donmez was quoted as saying by the Turkish newspaper Yeni Safak.

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‼️ Ukraine preparing same scenario in Izyum like in Bucha, this is provocation - Kremlin

📹 Russia's MoD has revealed footage showing combat work of the crews of Ka-52 and Mi-28 attack helicopters during the special military operation.

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⚡️Moscow is ready for contact with the US concerning Syria, the Russian Ministry of Foreign affairs has said.

📹 “They shot me in the legs and tortured me”: A Ukrainian POW from the Aidar battalion recalls how his own comrades crippled him for refusing to go into battle.

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😱 Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron have been mocked online after being spotted wearing sunglasses and trainers in Westminster.

▪️ The French president and the first lady are in the UK for Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral ceremony and were taking a stroll in London in understated outfits on Sunday to witness the thousands of mourners making their way to the Queen’s coffin to pay their last respects.

🗣 “As always, we are proud to see Brigitte and Emmanuel Macron defend French elegance and good taste in front of the whole world!,” one Twitter user quipped sardonically.

💭 “If President Macron had wanted to permanently discredit himself, he would have had the inadmissible idea of appearing in sneakers in front of the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II of England,” another tweeted.

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European citizens reportedly book Turkish hotels for winter to survive the energy crisis.

Citizens from Europe, whose bills have increased ten-fold and who have been urged to “shower together" amid the heating crisis, are expected to hide from the upcoming winter temperatures in Turkish hotels. The number of bookings for November has already increased by 50%, according to the Turkish broadcaster A Haber.

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❗️Russian MoD briefing on the progress of the special military operation in Ukraine:

▪️Russian Air Forces performed attacks on areas where Ukraine’s personnel and military equipment are concentrated, targeting the 53rd, 58th and 93rd mechanized brigades, as well as of 80th Airborne Assault Brigade. As a result more than 200 Ukrainian servicemen and 11 Ukrainian armored vehicles were eliminated;

▪️Russian Forces performed high-precision strike at a manpower and equipment concentration area of Ukrainian 46th Airmobile Brigade. As a result, three Ukrainian armored vehicles and up to 15 Ukrainian servicemen were eliminated;

▪️Russian Forces performed massive fire attack at a Ukrainian provisional base of the units from the 59th Mechanized Infantry Brigade in the Dnepropetrovsk region, eliminating more than 30 Ukrainian servicemen as well as wounding more than 50;

▪️Russian Forces performed massive fire attacks at manpower and equipment concentration areas of Ukrainian 128th Mountain Assault Brigade, 102nd Territorial Defense Brigade in the Zaporozhye region, as well as at a Ukrainian provisional base of Karpatskaya Sech neo-Nazi battalion in the Zapaorozhye region. As a result, more than 70 Ukrainian servicemen and militants, as well as 4 Ukrainian armored vehicles were eliminated;

▪️Russian Forces hit seven Ukrainian command posts in the DPR, in the Zaporozhye region, the Kirovograd region, and the Nikolayev region. In addition, 52 Ukrainian artillery units and 134 areas where Ukrainian manpower and military equipment are concentrated were also hit by the Russian Forces;

▪️Russian Forces performing high-precision attack destroyed Ukrainian workshops at the Iskra plant in the Zaporozhye region;

▪️Russian air defense shot down Ukrainian Su-25 airplane in the Kherson region, as well as destroyed 14 Ukrainian UAVs in the DPR, in the Nikolayev region, in the Kherson region and in the Zaporozhye region;

▪️In addition, Russian air defense means intercepted 2 Ukrainian US-manufactured HARM anti-radar missiles in the Kherson region as well 2 Ukrainian Tochka-U ballistic missiles in the Kherson region and 24 HIMARS and Olkha rockets in the DPR, in the Kherson region and in the Nikolayev region.

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US pursues a proxy war strategy in Ukraine, encouraging Ukrainians to fight and die as the US provides weapons. That is a huge payday for a lot of corporations like Boeing and Lockheed Martin:

💬"The main pillars of the military-industrial complex in the United States get a huge amount of money because of the position of Biden's administration, which is that, you know, we will pay for whatever it takes, like whatever weapons you need with very limited exceptions. However much of the ammunition you need, for however long - we've got it, just keep fighting, just keep essentially enforcing military and geopolitical blows on Russia, which the United States obviously has a regime change policy towards,” Walter Smolarek, a journalist, organizer and editor of Liberation newspaper and managing editor of LiberationNews.org said regarding the US strategy in Ukraine

🎧Listen to more of Walter’s analytics in our podcast “Democrats face electoral disaster without significant change of course”