Elon Musk subpoenaed in Virgin Island lawsuit against JPMorgan for Epstein connection

The US Virgin Islands has issued a subpoena for Elon Musk, the owner of Twitter and CEO of Tesla, as part of their lawsuit against JPMorgan Chase. The lawsuit alleges that JPMorgan Chase was involved in the sex trafficking ring operated by Jeffrey Epstein, who was awaiting trial for multiple sex trafficking crimes before his death.

The government believes that Epstein may have referred or attempted to refer Musk to JPMorgan Chase. The subpoena asks for Musk to provide all communications between him, JPMorgan Chase, Epstein, and any documents related to Epstein's involvement in human trafficking or procuring girls or women for sex.

The subpoena does not accuse Musk of any wrongdoing and does not require him to testify under oath. The US Virgin Islands is suing JPMorgan Chase over allegations that the company enabled and benefited from Epstein's trafficking activities.

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YouTube overuse may lead to loneliness & depression - study

Dr. Luke Balcombe and Emeritus Professor Diego De Leo from Griffith University's School of Applied Psychology and AISRAP initiated a study to explore the positive and negative effects of YouTube on mental health. The research determined individuals under 29 years of age and those who regularly watch content about other people's lives are particularly susceptible to negative effects.

Balcombe highlights that the development of parasocial relationships between content creators and viewers can be a cause for concern.

Researchers also raised concerns about YouTube's algorithms, which can inadvertently recommend suicide-related content to users, potentially leading them down a disturbing "rabbit hole." Although users can report such content, it often goes unreported due to the vast amount of content being uploaded.

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⚡️ Kiev's Patriot air defense system was hit by a high-precision strike from the Kinzhal hypersonic system, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

❗️ The Russian State Duma adopted a law to denounce the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe

The treaty was concluded in 1990 by representatives of 16 NATO member states and six members of the Warsaw Pact Organization. The document envisaged limiting the number of tanks, armored combat vehicles, artillery pieces, combat aircraft and attack helicopters in Europe.

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Catch our Fault Lines show, where we provide updates and analysis on all the most vital stories! Here's our line-up for today:

🔺To kick things off, we’ll be discussing how the Pentagon doesn’t really vet its paramilitary partners for human rights violations
🔺Next, we’ll cover the continuing debt ceiling negotiations
🔺Finally, we’ll speak about the abortion fight in North Carolina

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

▪️In the Kupyansk direction, Russian forces destroyed up to 60 Ukrainian troops;

▪️In the Krasny Liman direction, Russian forces neutralized up to 65 Ukrainian personnel and one Akatsiya self-propelled howitzer;

▪️In the Donetsk direction, Ukrainian losses amounted to more than 215 troops, five armored combat vehicles, as well as Msta-B and D-30 howitzers;

▪️In the South Donetsk and Zaporozhye directions, Russian forces destroyed over 135 Ukrainian troops, a Msta-B howitzer and one Akatsiya self-propelled howitzer;

▪️In the Kherson direction, Russian troops neutralized up to 25 Ukrainian soldiers and one Akatsiya self-propelled howitzer;

▪️Russian air defenses shot down a Ukrainian a Mi-24 and Mi-8 helicopter, seven Storm Shadow cruise missiles, three HARM anti-radar missiles, seven HIMARS projectiles, and 22 unmanned aerial vehicles in the LPR, DPR, and Kharkov region.

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❗️Latest statements by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov:

▪️ Contacts on the Grain Deal are ongoing, a number of issues on the implementation of the Russian part are still open;

▪️ Russia will inform about the decision on the Grain Deal when it is made;

▪️ Putin has repeatedly said - and experts have confirmed - that Kinzhal missiles have unique performance characteristics;

▪️ This is not the first time the United States has initiated investigations, as a result of which they come to the conclusion that there is no Russian interference in their affairs;

▪️ Foreign intelligence services do not weaken their activity in Russian territory.

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🎥 Combat operations involving the Rapira anti-tank gun crews of Russia’s Airborne Forces (video courtesy of Russian MoD)

The Rapira anti-tank gun is designed to engage heavy armored vehicles with direct fire. When necessary, the 100mm gun can also engage other types of targets. The Rapira is operated by artillery units within the Airborne Forces.

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❗️ Footage purportedly shows Russia's Kinzhal missile hitting the Patriot air defense system in Kiev

In the video, the extremely dense work of the batteries of the American MIM-104 Patriot air defense system can be seen. As soon as the air defense system runs out of missiles, a powerful explosion occurs at the place where the launches were made.

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🇦🇷 Argentina's emergency measures likely to worsen monetary situation

The govt announced on Sunday a set of measures, which includes an interest rate hike, among other things, to curb runaway inflation. Argentina's inflation soared past the 30-year watershed of 100% in February, making it a country with one of the highest inflation rates in the world.

"Inflation very likely will be around 10% in May and above 10% in June. The increase in the interest rate can delay some weeks, maybe a month or two a further depreciation of the peso, but not more than that," Sebastian Galiani, a former secretary of economic policy old Sputnik.

He explained that private agents will go back to demanding more dollars in their portfolios ahead of the elections in August. Meanwhile, the increase in the interest rate will lead to higher currency emission, meaning that "after a short period, the disequilibrium in the pesos market will be even larger," according to the economist.

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Turkiye election outcomes are unevident

The outcome of the May 14 Turkish general election has shown that there is still no obvious winner. While Erdogan received more votes than many observers expected, he failed to receive 50% of the vote.

A lot hinges on which of the two candidates will be backed by Sinan Ogan, who won about 5% of the vote in the first round, according to independent investigative journalist Christopher Helali.

Helali said the biggest issues for the Turkish people were economic ones. According to him, Erdogan had “multiple instances where he could have done different policies that might have affected some significant change economically, but they weren’t done.”

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Borrell: West's decoupling from China could be 'catastrophe' for global economy

"Forget about decoupling [with China]. Nobody is preaching decoupling anymore, not even the US," EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said during a high-level policy dialogue held by the European Policy Centre.

"Decoupling would be a catastrophe for the world economy. Now it is de-risking. What does it mean? Well, in a less concentrated manner, reduce excessive dependencies," he added.

Borrell also indicated that some EU member states oppose sanctions against Russia because they fear the measures imposed could backfire on the bloc.

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🎥 Russia’s 120mm Self-Propelled Mortar "Nonna-SVK" (video courtesy of Russian MoD)

The Nonna-SVK is equipped with a 120mm gun that can fire high-explosive fragmentation and active-reactive projectiles with a maximum range of 18 kilometers. It is a self-propelled mortar system capable of providing indirect fire support for ground forces.

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🗣️"There will be a residential recession in real estate, which will come as a result of the Federal Reserve's interest rate hikes, pushing the entire economy into recession": Linwood Tauheed, associate professor of economics at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, speaks about commercial real estate that is likely to be the next domino to fall in the US

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

📊 India imported Russian 🇮🇳 🇷🇺 goods to the tune of $15.5 billion, making Russia the second-largest supplier of goods to the South Asian giant after China: data from India's Ministry of Commerce and Industry

Imports from Russia saw a 4.7-fold increase compared to the same period last year, making it the largest quarterly figure in history.

While China 🇨🇳 remained the top supplier of goods to India, its supplies of goods to the country reduced by 15.4% to $22.6 billion in the first quarter of 2023.

👉 READ MORE on Sputnik

Billionaire NGO kingpin George Soros has sparked rumors of a spat with Twitter owner Elon Musk by dumping his entire stake in Tesla Motors.

Is this the reason for the conflict between them or is the problem actually bigger?

Sputnik explores

Durham Report: what is known so far

The US Justice Department has released a report by Special Counsel John Durham revealing that there was no evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia at the start of the investigation. The 306-page report exposes flaws in the FBI's handling of the probe into alleged Trump-Russia collusion, debunking previous claims.

What is exposed in the Durham Report and how far has it gone before being published?

Deputy Chairman of the Security Council, and former president of Russia, Dmitry Medvedev, took to his Telegram channel to weigh in on Russia's lower house nixing the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe.

He said, "the State Duma has denounced the CFE Treaty. Good riddance. This document ceased to be relevant for us back in 2007. But now, even in terms of previously suspended international obligations, nothing prevents us from placing our weapons wherever we want to protect our national interests. Including in our Russian part of Europe."

Medvedev further added that "of course, we will maximize the production of weapons, military and special equipment, and means of destruction."

The deputy chairman of the Security Council concluded by taking a swipe at the French president, saying, "P. S. By the way, greetings to Macron. According to his logic, this is also a geopolitical loss for Russia..."

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🇺🇸🇿🇦 US sought to sway South Africa’s independent foreign policy by accusing it of sending weapons to Russia, says Moscow

The Russian Embassy in South Africa has pointed out that Washington “seems to have lost its ability to interact with partners on equal basis long ago”, noting that “one’s friendship with the US is only possible under US rules”, while responding to the claims made by US Ambassador to South Africa Reuben Brigety against Pretoria that the latter had allegedly loaded arms and ammunition onto the Russian vessel Lady R docked in SA last December.

❗️ “Appointing guilty parties at own discretion and resorting to ‘megaphone diplomacy’ have become typical characteristics of US foreign policy. In this context, the words of the US’ official cannot be perceived otherwise than as an attempt to sway the independent sovereign state’s foreign policy,” the embassy stated.

Highlighting that the Russian vessel’s docking is being used as a pretext for a pressure campaign against Pretoria, which “obviously coordinated with Western mainstream media”, the embassy argued that the reason behind this was South Africa’s “non-aligned position with regard to the Ukraine conflict, which proves unsatisfactory for the United States”.

🗣 “Docking of Lady R in Simonstown is being used as a pretext – totally fabricated and as false as the notorious tube presented by US’ State Secretary Colin Powell at the United Nations Security Council, which was followed by a full-scale invasion of Iraq and cost the lives of 1 million Iraqis (we hope it won’t come to that now),” the embassy’s statement read.

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📹 "A hunt has been declared for us, but we will also hunt for them" - a crew commander told Sputnik about the advantages of the Terminator combat vehicle.

The Terminator combat vehicle is designed to provide support to tanks, it amplifies their strength while effectively neutralizing threats on the battlefield. This vehicle possesses the capability to engage targets at long ranges, including moving objects, helicopters, and even enemy tanks. It has a large arsenal of arms including grenade launchers, thirty-caliber armor-piercing cartridges, and high-explosive shells.

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