🇺🇸 US sets mass killing record in first half of 2023

The United States has witnessed an alarming surge in mass killings from January to June of 2023, setting a record of 28 incidents with total 140 casualties, according to an AP analysis. The study disclosed that all but one of the killing sprees involved firearms.

The number of mass killings in 2023 has surpassed the previous record of 27, set in the second half of 2022. James Alan Fox, a criminology professor at Northeastern University, expressed his astonishment at the current figures, as when he began overseeing the database five years ago, the estimation was only two to three dozen mass killings per year.

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🇨🇳🇺🇸 Top US officials make beeline for China 'because 2024 elections are coming up'

Chinese-American relations have been characterized by various contradictions for a long time, with the main problem being that the United States "says one thing and does another," Yang Mian, a professor at the Institute of International Relations, Communication University of China, told Sputnik.

💬 “What always happens in Sino-US relations is that when the Americans go back home [after visits to China], they immediately publish a lot of critical statements, but when they return, they again try to fool and appease China. Because the US needs to maintain a more or less acceptable relationship with China.”

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🗣️ On the Ukrainian counteroffensive:

“There is nothing that Ukraine has accomplished militarily that you can hang your hat on and say 'Boy, that was a success.'… On top of that, Ukraine’s complete lack of air power. They don't have any combat air capability because whatever planes they fly towards the Russian lines, they're getting shot down because Russia has ample air defense, both mobile and fixed,” 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

⚡️ Plot against Simonyan and Sobchak's life confirms 'terrorist essence of Zelensky regime,' Russian Foreign Ministry says

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❗️Key points from Russian Foreign Ministry's statement on the prevention of an attempted murder of Simonyan and Sobchak:

▪️It is another attempt of a terrorist attack on Russians, organized by the Kiev regime;

▪️Everything that happens once again shows the terrorist essence of the Zelensky regime;

▪️Obviously, the two journalists' professional activities became the reason for the failed murder attempt;

▪️It is unlikely there will be a reaction from relevant international organizations after Kiev's attempt on Simonyan's and Sobchak's lives.

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🇱🇾 Closure of Libya's major oil fields threatening domestic production, the Ministry of Oil and Gas of the Libyan Government of National Unity said on Saturday.

On Thursday, production at El Feel, Sharara and 108 oilfields was shut down by the Al-Zawi tribe protesting against the abduction of a former finance minister, Faraj Bumatari.

The ministry additionally stressed the risks of the irretrievable loss of Libyan oil importers and warned of the possible return of force majeure to the oil fields.

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📹 ‘Betrayal is worse than death’: Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of Sputnik parent company Rossiya Segodnya international media group and the RT broadcaster, speaks about the planned attempt on her life

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

▪️Near Kupyansk, Ukrainian losses amounted to up to 20 Ukrainian servicemen, two armored combat vehicles, three vehicles, a D-20 howitzer, and a Gvozdika self-propelled artillery mount;

▪️In the Kherson region, Russian forces destroyed up to 30 Ukrainian servicemen, three vehicles, an Msta-B howitzer, and an Akatsiya self-propelled artillery mount were destroyed;

▪️The Russian Armed Forces repelled two attacks of the Ukrainian Armed Forces near Krasny Liman; Ukrainian losses amounted more than 70 fighters;

▪️The Russian army in the DPR stopped the activities of a Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance group;

▪️Air defense systems intercepted three HIMARS MLRS shells and shot down 6 UAVs;

▪️The Russian army repelled two attacks by units of Ukrainian troops in the DPR;

▪️Ukrainian forces are losing up to 315 troops in Donetsk direction;

▪️Russian troops destroyed a Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance group in the Zaporozhye region;

▪️The Ukrainian Armed Forces lost up to 210 fighters in the South Donetsk and Zaporozhye direction.

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#SputnikInfographic: Ukrainians unwilling to join army even if conflict escalates

A recent US-commissioned poll has shown that the majority of Ukrainian citizens have not suffered any damage to their homes during the special operation, and that they will not join Ukraine's armed forces even if the situation near their cities deteriorates. The vast majority of those remaining in the country also have no plans to leave their homes.

The poll was carried out by the Ukrainian sociological group "Rating" in late June, commissioned by the US-based non-profit organization International Republican Institute, and funded by the US Agency for International Development.

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⚡️ Moscow's Basmanny District Court has remanded six suspects in the case of an attempted attack on Margarita Simonyan into custody, the court told Sputnik

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The FSB has released a video of the arrest and interrogation of neo-Nazis who, following SBU instructions, were planning assassination attempts against Simonyan and Sobchak

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🇺🇸 Officials are urging nearby residents to stay indoors and take shelter until further notice due to a massive explosion at the Dow Chemical Plant in Plaquemine, Louisiana, US

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🇬🇧 Ben Wallace, British Defence Secretary, has declared his intention to step down from the Government during the upcoming Cabinet reshuffle and has no plans to contest the next general election

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China recalls ‘debt of blood NATO owes’ for bombing its embassy in Yugoslavia

China’s Foreign Ministry has repeatedly accused Washington and its allies of efforts to further militarize East Asia and sow the “seeds of a new Cold War” in the region and remind about the debt of blood NATO owes the Chinese people in bombing Chinese embassy in Yugoslavia on May 7, 1999, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying said in Twitter.

China does not welcome an "Asia-Pacific version of NATO" that persistently stokes “bloc confrontation,” Chunying has tweeted, in reference to the alliance’s expansion in the region.

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🇮🇱 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is undergoing medical evaluation in a hospital, his office said on Saturday.

Earlier in the day, a Israeli news portal reported that the 73-year-old prime minister arrived in the Sheba Medical Center in the city of Ramat Gan east of Tel Aviv, feeling unwell, but fully conscious.

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🇵🇪 3,000-year-old condor ceramic piece found inside sealed Peruvian temple

Archaeologists in Peru have made an exciting discovery within a sealed corridor in a 3,000-year-old temple complex which is a UNESCO World Heritage site: a roughly 37-pound large ceramic piece adorned with appears to be a condor's head and wings. The ceramic finds were made at the Chavin de Huantar archaeological site - home to the Chavin culture that flourished between 1,500 and 550 BC.

Lead archaeologist and Stanford anthropology professor John Rick described the find as something that has been "frozen in time." The condor holds great significance in ancient Andean cultures, symbolizing power and health as it is associated with the sun deity and believed to be the ruler of the upper world.

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🇫🇷 The French police made 96 arrests on July 14, Bastille Day, across the country, a French broadcaster reported on Saturday.

This year, the holiday was marred by various incidents. Seven people among police, gendarmes and firefighters were injured. Across France, 255 cars were set on fire.

In Paris, the number of detentions decreased by 80%, the report added.

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin thanked the French law enforcement forces for their service during the national holiday.

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