🇺🇸🚀 An uncrewed test flight of SpaceX's Starship spacecraft exploded minutes after liftoff at Boca Chica, Texas

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🗣”These five BRICS and potentially dozens more who are wanting to join the BRICS can not only have a larger GDP in total, but also have a lower cost of living within their countries, making their citizens better off than citizens in Europe and the US”, says Linwood Tauheed, Associate professor of Economics, University of Missouri, Kansas City

🎧 Listen to more of Tauheed's analysis in our podcast The Critical Hour

Russian central bank: use of digital ruble in Russia to be voluntary

"The most important thing we are going to talk about is the voluntariness. It [the use of the digital ruble] will be a personal choice. Some people, for example, don't use smartphones and are not going to use them. There will be other forms of currency available for them, to which they are accustomed, both cash and non-cash," Russian Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina told the lower chamber of the Russian parliament.

Russia’s central bank is also ready to be open in its thinking on cryptocurrency transactions between Russian and foreign entities, Nabiullina highlighted.

"We think that the new reality calls for a limited use of cryptocurrencies in external payments … We are ready to show flexibility and allow entrepreneurs to settle external payments with foreign contractors in crypto if it solves their problems," she said in parliament.

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Spain's new military aid for Ukraine to include naval defenses

"The new shipments are aimed at reinforcing the Armed Forces of Ukraine in such areas as armored vehicles, means of ground troops protection, antiaircraft defenses and naval ... defenses. The latter is considered essential for the security of "the green sea route" that allows the transportation of the Ukrainian grain via the Black Sea,"the Defense Ministry said.

Spanish Defense Minister Margarita Robles will also confirm the humanitarian and medical aid that the Spanish government continues to provide for Ukraine.

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EUCOM: US surveillance aircraft still conduct operations in Black Sea region

"US Air Force Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance aircraft continue to actively conduct operations in international airspace over the Black Sea," a EUCOM spokesperson said.

"To ensure theater security and freedom of maneuver, we have routinely operated in the Black Sea before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, in accordance with laws governing international airspace, and we will continue to operate in the Black Sea region in the future."

According to media reports citing sources and Flightradar24 data, the United States stopped launching Global Hawk drones over the Black Sea after an incident with a Reaper drone and Russian fighter jet took place in mid-March.

The last time a US Global Hawk aircraft flew over the Black Sea, opposite the coast of Crimea, was on March 21, reports said.

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🌍🇪🇺🇷🇺 EU Falling Behind Russia in Africa, German Defense Chief Says

▪️German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius warned that the European Union was losing ground to Russia in Africa's Sahel region and beyond.

🗣"The geostrategic and security policy situation in the Sahel and across Africa has become tougher. Russia's narrative and what it brings to the table appear to be in demand, while the Western community is losing ground," Pistorius told the German parliament.

▪️He stressed the need for the EU to "remain represented and engaged in the region," especially due to Russia's presence there

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Grad MLRS crews perform firing missions (video courtesy of Russian MoD)

MLRS artillery is also used for barrage fire along possible retreat or offensive routes. Accurate targeting has a crucial role.

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Off-Record Pressure: Expert on How West Holds Africa's Funding by Strings

The financial relations between African countries and the West are "exploitative in nature" as they aim at dwindling away the continent's resources for the benefit of the world's leading states, said Dr. Anne Abaho, international relations and security studies lecturer at Nkumba University, Uganda, in an interview with Sputnik.

🗣"Because of this exploitative nature, based on resources, based on the geopolitical environment where we are, sub-Saharan Africa, particularly, is poor with a huge growing population, and with a political system that is not fair in terms of allocation and management of resources," she explained

👉 READ THE FULL STORY

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Ukraine plotted to attack Russian troops in Syria using Kurdish separatists, leaked docs claim

A leaked US intelligence document allegedly obtained by the Washington Post states the Syrian Democratic Forces sought training, air defense systems and a guarantee that its role would be kept secret in exchange for supporting Ukrainian operations.

As the establishment-friendly outlet explains, the idea was to “plan deniable attacks that would avoid implicating the Ukrainian government itself.” The scheme was reportedly nixed on the orders of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last December.

So far, the only faction to comment publicly on the alleged documents has been the SDF, which described the information they contained as “not real,” with a spokesperson for the group reportedly telling the American publication that “our forces have never been a side in the Russian-Ukrainian War.”

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🚗💥👩 “Fighting the gender inequity”: Democrat Rosa DeLauro praises Transportation Sec Buttigieg for female… crash test dummies

Despite soaring inflation in the country, the US secretary of transportation, Pete Buttigieg - the first openly gay Cabinet secretary in US history - is asking Congress for $20Mln to ensure that "female dummies" are also used in vehicle crash testing.

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❗️The Kiev-Pechersk Lavra reserve representatives and the Ukrainian police are blocking the entrance to the shrine and demand to close it, says a lawyer representing the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church

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Ukraine ignored US warnings to cut its losses and leave Artemovsk (Bakhmut), 'Pentagon leak' claims

Washington had warned Ukraine that it would not be able to hold Artemovsk and that its forces would "likely be encircled" there by Russian troops, a "leaked" US intelligence document allegedly obtained by the Washington Post showed. However, Kiev authorities did not heed the warnings, the report stated.

According to the "bleak" US assessment marked “top secret”, the Kiev regime was advised to cut its losses and abandon the city. “Steady” advances of Russia’s troops since November “had jeopardized Ukraine’s ability to hold the city”, and Ukrainian forces would probably be “at risk of encirclement, unless they withdraw within the next month,” the purportedly leaked document stated.

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❓Has Twitter ditched its “state affiliated” media label?

The tag has vanished from many high-profile pages on the platform, even from Sputnik's accounts.

The tech giant has yet to comment on the changes.

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📹 Russian Airborne Forces mobile anti-tank unit wipes out Ukrainian troops

The Russian Defense Ministry has released a video showing soldiers from a mobile anti-tank reserve of the Airborne Troops eliminating Ukrainian troops with Russia’s Fagot man-portable anti-tank missile system.

Upon pinpointing a concentration of Ukrainian nationalist formations, the reconnaissance team unleashed rockets, hammering the infantry. After destroying the enemy, the paratroopers quickly left their firing position.

The Fagot is a man-portable anti-tank missile system designed for use by infantry units. Its infrared guidance system makes it possible to accurately target tanks and other armored vehicles, proving that it is a formidable weapon against armored threats.

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❗️NATO countries to discuss in Ramstein the possibility of providing Ukraine with various types of aircraft, Stoltenberg says

❗️UK Deputy PM Dominic Raab resigns over bullying report

🇫🇷📉 French President Macron’s approval rating hits record low 26% amid protests against pension reform, BVA poll shows

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🇪🇺🌾 Decision of four EU states to limit grain exports from Ukraine blow to Kiev, Moscow says

💬 "The Zelensky regime received another blow from its closest Eastern European 'friends' — Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Bulgaria that, due to the protests of their own farmers and falling domestic prices, temporarily stopped the export of Ukrainian grain and are going to include its other agricultural products in the black list," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

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