🇿🇦 Anti-Apartheid Fight's Unsung Hero: Honoring Andrew Mlangeni on Third Death Anniversary

July 21 marks the third anniversary of the death of anti-apartheid activist Andrew Mlangeni, convicted and imprisoned alongside former South African President Nelson Mandela and others in the infamous 1964 Rivonia Trial. Mlangeni was Mandela's last remaining co-defendant.

📝 Sputnik Africa outlines the most important and interesting facts about the venerable activist and close friend of Nelson Mandela.

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🦟🇫🇷 Three cases of dengue fever have been registered in northeastern France, a French broadcaster reported on Friday, adding that this week's cases occurred in the Bas-Rhin department.

Two cases of the fever were recorded in the Brumath commune, the report said. Another case was reported in Strasbourg. Authorities in both regions have taken measures against the tiger mosquito, which is the main carrier of the infection, the broadcaster said.

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🇷🇺 A Russian company has introduced compact radars to thwart maritime drone threats. Portable radars are capable of effectively detecting unmanned vessels at a distance of up to six kilometers, Andrey Komogortsev, the CEO of the Rybinsk Instrument-Making Plant (part of Ruselectronics), told Sputnik.

"The surface of the water does not cause any additional radio interference when this radar is operating. Even an amateur three-meter boat is guaranteed to be visible from a distance of six kilometers. This allows using such stations to protect sea and river objects from unauthorized intrusion," Komogortsev said.

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🇮🇷🇺🇳 Iranian foreign minister urges the UN secretary-general to take rapid action to prevent repeated desecration of the Quran in Sweden, the Iranian Foreign Ministry said on Friday.

Further Quran desecration "under the guise of freedom of speech" would be an open insult to the Muslim community and a provocation by various groups that promote Islamophobia and extremism, the minister warned. Issuing permits to desecrate the Quran or any other holy book may pose a threat to the peaceful coexistence of the adherents of different religions, he added.

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Residents of Phoenix, Arizona, are suffering from abnormally high temperatures, with the city claiming to be the “hottest” metropolis in the United States.

On Thursday, the city's meteorological service announced another temperature record: the thermometer installed at the Phoenix airport exceeded 48 degrees, such a number was recorded only for the seventh time in the history of observations. Meteorologists reported a new temperature record for the fourth day in a row, each new day this week is hotter than a year ago.

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Escort of Ukrainian grain supplies by Turkish ships in Black Sea impossible - Moscow

The issue of transit of ships in the Black Sea will be discussed during a possible future meeting between Presidents of Russia and Turkiye, Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Vershinin said on Friday.

Russia intends to do everything to meet the food needs of African countries after the termination of the grain deal, Vershinin highlighted. The Russian diplomat also noted that UN’s measures to preserve the Black Sea Grain Initiative failed.

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Scientists Spot Boulders Flung Into Space by NASA's Asteroid Redirection Test

The so-called Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft collided with asteroid Dimorphos about 11 million kilometers from our planet in an attempt to change the space rock’s trajectory last September.

The boulders in question do not appear to be fragments of the asteroid chipped away by DART collision – rather, it would seem that they were already strewn about the Dimorphos’ surface at the time of the impact.

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🇬🇧 UK is complicit in Ukraine's war crimes against children which was once again confirmed by the statement of the Secretary of Defense Ben Wallace about the UK donating 184,000 more artillery shells to Ukraine than planned. He failed to mention that Ukraine is using lethal British arms against civilians and children.

"The UK government is showing an increasing illiberal face, from the forced relocation of asylum seekers to Rwanda to their foolish policies against Russia. It looks like a desperate attempt to cover up the failure of relaunching their imperial dreams. It is shameful and dangerous," Paolo Raffone, a strategic analyst and director of the CIPI Foundation in Brussels, told Sputnik.

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📹 Russian artillerymen continue to destroy Ukrainian forces near Kupyansk

Tornado-G MLRS crews struck another Ukrainian military infrastructure and hardware.

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Turkiye’s path to joining the European Union is unlikely to happen any time soon, as the country is being held at arm’s length due to its “human rights issues“, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said

While Germany is open to a reconciliation with Turkiye and encourages “a strategic and forward-looking approach” between the country and the rest of the EU, Baerbock said they are aware Europe is “not naive,” and that the process will not be easy in these “geopolitically challenging times.”

Russia has braced Turkiye to lower their expectations, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying: “Nobody wants to see Turkiye in Europe. I am referring to Europeans.”

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North Korea launched several cruise missiles toward the Sea of Japan early Saturday, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff confirmed

Reports have detailed that the intelligence agencies of South Korea and the United States were analyzing the launches, which occurred around 4:00 a.m. local time (19:00 GMT on Friday), to determine the type of missiles and other details.

The latest launch came three days after Pyongyang launched two short-range ballistic missiles toward the Sea of Japan.

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Over 60% of French citizens are dissatisfied with the results of the recent cabinet reshuffle and the actions of French PM, media reported

It was also reported that 62% of the respondents said they wanted a new prime minister, while 74% believed that a fresh cabinet would pursue the same policy as the previous one.

On Wednesday, Macron reshuffled the government, keeping key ministers in their posts and replacing the heads of the education and health ministries as well as the minister for labor, social relations and solidarity.

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The South Korean police have received nearly 1,000 reports of suspicious international parcels nationwide amid concerns these might contain an unspecified hazardous material

No hazardous material has been so far found in parcels, but police said it would decide whether to launch an investigation after substance analysis.

Local media cited South Korea's Postal Service as saying that it has temporarily suspended the delivery of suspicious packages amid growing concerns.

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📹 Sailors of the Russian Navy and the Chinese Navy perform joint artillery firing at the "North/Interaction - 2023" naval exercise

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📹 Russian Msta-S self-propelled howitzer crews shoot (0:15) (0:25) (0:31) at enemy positions and destroy (0:33) them in the zone of the special military op

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Ukraine’s armed forces have attempted to strike infrastructure facilities in the Krasnogvardeysky district of Crimea using an UAV, the Republic’s head Sergey Aksyonov said

Emergency services are working at the scene, he added.

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The West may be ready to deliver F-16 fighter jets to Kiev because most Western countries are currently switching to more sophisticated F-35 warplanes, Tom Burbage, a former Lockheed Martin general manager, told a US magazine

He argued that with powerhouse militaries across the globe moving towards the fifth-generation F-35s, "that does free up the F-16" for air forces such as Ukraine's.

The beginning of the Russian special military operation in Ukraine prodded “many nations to turn to the F-35 in a rapidly-changing security environment.” At the same time, he warned that it would take years to phase in the F-35s for countries now opting for the US fifth generation fighters, according to Burbage.

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A detonation at the ammunition depot occurred due to a Ukraine drone attack on Crimea; there were no casualties, Crimea Head Sergey Aksyonov said

A decision was made to evacuate the population within a radius of 5 km of the emergency site to temporary accommodation centers, Sergey Aksyonov added.

Traffic on the Crimean railway has been suspended for safety reasons.

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📹🇨🇳🇺🇸 Kissinger's “two hundred”

100-year-old former US secretary of state and his 100 trips to China

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⚡️ A large number of Polish and German mercenaries were eliminated on the territory of the Academy of the Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Lvov on July 6, as a result of a group strike with sea-based long-range precision weapons, the Russian MoD said

In total, about 4,990 foreign fighters have been eliminated during the special military operation. Another 4,910 mercenaries have fled the areas of hostilities, leaving the territory of Ukraine.

The Russian Armed Forces will continue the targeted destruction of foreign mercenaries on the territory of Ukraine, the ministry added.

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Sputnik war correspondent Rostislav Zhuravlev died during Ukrainian shelling in the zone of the special military op, the agency reports