🇺🇸 The United States is concerned about China increasing assertiveness in the South and East China Seas and in the Taiwan Strait, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday.

He noted that the US remains committed to upholding freedom of navigation and overflight in the South China Sea.

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CIA Veteran: Biden could risk WW3 to bail out Ukraine

NATO is incapable of filling Ukraine's shortage in ammo and manpower without dragging itself deeper into the conflict and risking a direct confrontation with Russia, Larry Johnson, a veteran of the CIA and the State Department’s Office of Counter Terrorism, told Sputnik's New Rules podcast.

👉 Check out his full analysis

🇮🇱🇸🇪 Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen strongly condemned on Friday Swedish activists' plans to burn a copy of the Torah in front of the Israel's embassy in Stockholm and called on the Swedish authorities to thwart the action.

Earlier in the day, the Swedish police granted local activists a permission to publicly burn copies of the Torah and the Bible in front of the Israeli embassy on Saturday.

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🇩🇪 European Union support to Ukraine should be a separate matter from the EU’s long-term budget, said German Minister Lindner.

His comments come as the economic situation in Lindner’s home country is far from sunshine and roses, as the policies of Olaf Scholz’s government and the decision to jump on the anti-Russian sanctions bandwagon ultimately led to a technical recession this year.

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🗣️ On the US losing its position as the single power in the world:

“Now, when you look at what has happened internationally in terms of the standing of the United States and its control of the world order, there is a new world emerging that features Russia, China and other nations in the south that previously were sort of treated as second-class citizens by this US dominated world order. That's now transforming. The US is losing its position as the preeminent world power,” Larry Johnson, former CIA and State Department analyst, told Sputnik.

🎧 Listen to more of Johnson’s analysis in our podcast New Rules

👉 Watch the full episode of our show on Rumble or YouTube

"NATO summit - summit of death"

More than 2,500 activists of the Young Guard of the All-Russian Political Party and the Volunteer Company in Moscow and St. Petersburg went to the embassies of unfriendly countries to express dissatisfaction with NATO's support of the Kiev regime and its supply of weapons to Ukraine.

🗣 “Today we went to the Embassy of Lithuania and the embassies of 10 other countries that are transferring lethal weapons to Ukraine. We protest against the transfer of such weapons, since civilians are under attack. It was with this weapon that the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power station was bombed, it is this weapon that injures and maims the elderly and children. We believe that the [NATO] summit that is taking place in Vilnius is truly a summit of death, because it decides the issue of pumping Ukraine with new weapons to kill civilians,” said Anton Demidov, chairman of the Young Guard of the All-Russian Political Party.

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🇺🇸 US President Joe Biden’s decision to authorize 3,000 US military reserve personnel for use in the European theater demonstrates how his escalation of the conflict in Ukraine is straining US forces, former US President Donald Trump said on Friday.

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Tucker Carlson: "Every city in America has become worse over the past few years... Your concern is that Ukraine doesn't have enough tanks... Where's the concern for America in that?"

Mike Pence, US presidential candidate: "That's not my concern."

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🎙 On the eve of World Youth Skills Day, hear what Pan African Youth Union's secretary general has to say on the role of youth in Africa and what skills they need to bring about Africa's prosperity in our new episode of the #AfroVerdict podcast from Sputnik Africa.

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📹 Russia’s 2S5 Giatsint-S self-propelled artillery guns thwarted another attack of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the zone of the special military op

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🇮🇷 An ultralight plane's first flight in Iran took place in Tehran, the Iranian news agency reported on Friday. Iran's civil aviation agency, in coordination with the relevant authorities, had permitted such a flight. A plane of the VL3 type flew around the Milad TV tower on the evening of July 13.

The head of the civil aviation agency's ultralight aviation group, Capt. Mohammad Mehdi Garanli, said that permission was given with the goal of spreading the culture of general aviation, the news outlet reported. The flight, the captain added, was carried out by a female pilot.

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📹 Ukrainian armored fighting vehicle destroyed by Russian loitering munition

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Multiple heat records may fall this week as dangerous US weather scorches millions

Scientists predicted earlier this year that 2023 would bring record temperatures. July 3 marked the hottest day globally in recorded history.

The US National Weather Service (NWS) issued heat alerts for more than 112 million people in 15 states on Thursday, covering roughly a third of the United States population.

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📢 "BRICS can no longer be ignored", says South African ANC treasurer general

🗣"BRICS continues to grow stronger, more reliable and more influential as a platform that advances the common interests of the global South," Gwen Ramokgopa noted

BRICS represents over 42% of the world's population, 30% of the world's territory and over 30% of the world's GDP, she said, speaking at the BRICS Political Parties Dialogue – one of the many events leading up to the BRICS Summit in August, organised by the ANC's Progressive Business Forum (PBF)

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Scientist: Ukraine attacking Russian nuclear plants is height of lunacy and moral irresponsibility

Ukraine's attacks on Russia's nuclear power plants must be of concern to European politicians and the international community in general because of the potentially disastrous consequences, famous nuclear expert Dr. Christopher Busby told Sputnik.

An aircraft-type drone crashed and detonated in the Russian town of Kurchatov on Friday just a few kilometers from the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant (NPP). Earlier, in April, another drone attack on the plant was repelled by Russia's air defenses.

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🇺🇸 'It's not my concern': Mike Pence, Tucker Carlson quarrel over Ukraine policy

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🇺🇸📉 Just 1 in 10 Americans believe democracy working well for US, poll finds

A new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs research reveals that 53% of Americans believe Congress is doing a bad job of upholding democratic values, compared to the slim 16% who say it is doing a good job.

Overall, 49% of Americans say democracy is not working well in the US, compared with 10% who say it is working “very” or “extremely well,” and 40% who say it is working “somewhat well.”

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OceanGate expeditions that owned Titan sub leaves social media

The website of the US deep-sea excursions company consists of only one page saying that "OceanGate Expeditions has suspended all exploration and commercial operations."

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😬 Freudian slip? Kamala Harris says 'invest in reduced population'

Many online noted that the statement is akin to an innoscription on the infamous Georgia Guidestones which says “Maintain humanity under 500,000,000 in perpetual balance with nature.”

The White House later reiterated that Harris actually wanted to reduce “pollution” and not promote depopulation.

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🇬🇧 UK Defense Secretary Wallace could leave government this fall

Wallace, 53, could leave the government during the reshuffle that UK PM Rishi Sunak is planning this fall, British media report.

Possible candidates for the post of UK defense secretary include Chief Secretary to the Treasury John Glen, Minister of State for Security Tom Tugendhat and Anne-Marie Trevelyan, the UK's Minister of State for the Indo-Pacific.

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🇨🇳🇰🇷 China ready to work with South Korea to restore mutual trust

China’s top diplomat Wang Yi said that the China-South Korea relations have recently faced a lot of challenges, which are not in line with the fundamental and long-term interests of the peoples of the two countries.

South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin, in turn, noted that the unhindered development of relations between China and South Korea is in the common interests of both sides, and will also contribute to regional peace and stability.

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