🇺🇸 US President Joe Biden's Democratic administration prosecutes civil society representatives for alternative opinions and, basically, wages war against society by using security forces, Russian anti-globalization activist Alexander Ionov said on Thursday.

"Today, in fact, Biden unleashed a war against civil society at the hands of his security officials," Ionov, the president of the Anti-Globalization Movement of Russia, said.

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🇨🇴 The government of Colombia on Wednesday issued a decree for a temporary ceasefire with the National Liberation Army (ELN) rebel group, which will be in effect from August to January, according to the text of the decree.

The 180-day ceasefire was reached by the government of Colombia and the ELN in early June during talks in Cuba.

The radical left ELN consists of several thousand people and is the second largest armed rebel organization in Colombia after the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.

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🇷🇺 The Russian military captured almost an entire British Storm Shadow cruise missile at the front line, former Roscosmos head Dmitry Rogozin told Sputnik. The missile will be studied by specialists.

🇨🇳 China has expressed concern over reports that the United States plans to sent a nuclear submarine with ballistic missiles to the South Korean shores, Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said on Thursday.

Wang noted that China has urged the US and South Korea to "grasp the crux of the issues" and play a constructive role in the political settlement on the Peninsula. He said that the false path of military intimidation and pressure will not help to resolve the problem.

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🇺🇸 "Recruitment crisis": Drug tests to be dropped in the US military?

Florida Representative Matt Gaetz tabled an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act which would do away with tests for cannabis use for newly-enlisted personnel and those receiving commissions as officers.

"Our military is facing a recruitment and retainment crisis unlike any other time in American history," said Gaetz. "I do not believe that prior use of cannabis should exclude Americans from enlisting in the armed forces. We should embrace them for stepping up to serve our country," he added.

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🚁 The ongoing Ukrainian conflict, among other things, has helped to highlight a simple fact – Western military hardware is not necessarily superior to the weaponry designed and made by Russia. In particular, Russia's Ka-52 “Alligator” attack helicopter has proven to be an extremely powerful and versatile weapon.

Check out Sputnik's infographic of Ka-52 and AH-65 Apache, a helicopter adopted by the US military in 1984 that has since become the workhorse of several countries:

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🌎 Central and Latin American countries have removed all Ukraine references from the EU's draft declaration for an upcoming summit on July 17-18, causing concern among EU diplomats, Euroacriv reports. The attendance of Ukraine's president at the summit is also in question after pushback from Latin American leaders.

The counter-proposal will be discussed by EU ambassadors, and the summit may end without a joint declaration.

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🇷🇺 🌍 What's in Second Russia–Africa Summit Program & Why Does It Matter?

The Second Russia-Africa Summit, scheduled for July 27-28 in St. Petersburg, Russia, is a major diplomatic event that will bring together the heads of state and government of Russia and more than 50 African countries, as well as representatives of regional and international organizations, the business community, civil society, and the media.

🤝 The two-day event aims to build a strategic partnership between Moscow and African nations, promote political dialogue, strengthen mutually beneficial economic cooperation, and foster cultural and humanitarian exchanges, among other things.

👉 Click here to learn more about the summit's agenda!

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🇺🇸 The American Institute in Taiwan, the de facto embassy of the United States, is planning to expand its office compound in Taipei, which is meant to reinforce the United States' commitment to Taiwan, US news agency reported

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‼️ US Dow Jones fell over 350 points at Thursday's closing bell after a jobs report prompted a surge in fear over looming interest rate hikes

Find out more here!

🇫🇷 The French authorities have required digital platforms limit the operation of some applications during the riots throughout the country, French government spokesperson Olivier Veran said on Thursday.

"During these nightly riots, we asked, demanded from [digital] platforms that they cut off some features for a certain period," Veran was quoted as saying by French broadcaster.

Veran gave an example of Snapchat's SnapMap feature, which was allegedly allowing rioters to "gather at a certain place and time" in an organized manner.

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🔺CIA personnel visited Ukraine to provide assistance to Kiev with new weapons and systems
🔺Biden calls Cuba ‘terrorist’ while the people demand an end to US terrorism against Cuba
🔺Western-supplied weapons to Ukraine are being used by protesters in France, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said

The Critical Hour will cover these and more stories! Tune in to Radio Sputnik at 6pm EST|3pm PST|12am CET via the website or app

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📊 A majority of likely voters in the United States believe that US President Joe Biden was involved in his son Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings, which are under investigation by US House lawmakers, a Rasmussen Reports poll revealed on Thursday.

More than half of respondents, 58%, said that it was likely that Biden was involved in his son’s foreign business deals, with 44% believing it "very likely," the poll said.

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🗣️ On Cuba’s placement on the US' state sponsors of terrorism list:

“The state sponsors of terror list is an arbitrary list that was designated by the State Department to essentially punish countries with whom they disagree… It's a way in which they are able to continue to punish countries with whom they have policies that they disagree… So it's a way to identify Cuba as the boogeyman, the terrorists,” Gail Walker, executive director of Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization, told Sputnik.

🎧 Listen to more of Walker’s analysis in our podcast By Any Means Necessary

🇸🇪🇺🇸 Sweden is doing its utmost to avoid becoming a member of NATO, but Washington is exerting pressure on Stockholm, which wants to use the country as a foothold for access to resources in the Arctic region, a Turkish newspaper wrote on Thursday.

"Sweden is doing everything it can to avoid becoming a member of NATO. It is trying to use Turkiye as an excuse. If it really wanted to become a NATO member, none of this would have happened. It would have reached a real compromise with Turkiye. It wouldn't have led to provocative actions like the burning of the Quran. On the contrary, in the last few days Sweden is doing everything to avoid reconciliation. Why? Because it doesn't want to join NATO. There are both strategic and social reasons for this," the publication wrote.

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🇺🇸🇷🇺 US imports of goods from Russia more than doubled in May to $504 million, according to data released by the US Census Bureau on Thursday.

By comparison, in April, the United States imported $215.6 million worth of goods from Russia.

In February, the US imported $642.8 million worth of goods from Russia, an all-time high for 2023.

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🇨🇳 Tech mogul extraordinaire Elon Musk lavished praise upon the people of China during his address to the attendees of the annual World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai.

Speaking via a video link, Musk said he admires the “wisdom and determination” of the Chinese people who, according to him, can “do well” in the AI sphere if they so decide.

“I think, really, China is going to be great at anything it puts its mind into. That includes many different sectors – sectors of the economy, but also artificial intelligence,” he said as quoted by the media.

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🗣️ On the threat of a false flag attack on the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant by the Ukrainian regime:

“Russia got control of the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant very early on in the conflict… the Kiev regime has been shelling the plant for about eight months now with artillery and with kamikaze drones. They tried to claim for a long time that Russia was responsible for shelling the plant that Russia controlled, but those are much like the accusations of that, that the Russians bombed their own Crimean bridge and bombed their own Nord Stream pipeline,” Mark Sleboda, international relations and security analyst, told Sputnik.

🎧Listen to more of Sleboda’s analysis in our podcast Fault Lines

👉 Watch the full episode of our show on Rumble