🗣️ On how Russian and American involvement in Syria differ and why the US is still involved in the country despite being asked to leave:

“What Russia is doing is they were invited by the Syrian government to help in their fight against ISIS* when it was at its peak in 2015. And they're continuing in that capacity. What the US is doing, is they basically have bases in the South, and in the East, they have been explicitly asked to leave by the Damascus government. They are without the authorization of the government,” Rick Sterling, independent journalist, told Sputnik.

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

*ISIS (also known as Daesh/ISIL/IS) is a terrorist organisation outlawed in Russia and many other states

🇳🇪 Not all peoples equal in West's eyes, Niger activist denounces 'Western hypocrisy'

🗣"Not all peoples have the same value in the eyes of the West, nor do all countries enjoy the same respect. The West observes international values differently depending on whether it is an African country or a European state," Ibrahim Namaiwa, a participant in Niger's Social Movement for the Promotion of Responsible Citizenship, told Sputnik Africa.

The social activist's remarks come against the backdrop of the coup in Niger, which has provoked strong opposition in the West, especially from former colonial ruler France. In response to the events, France cut off financial aid to the West African country and began evacuating its European citizens

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🇨🇳📱China's top internet regulator has proposed a new rule that would limit the amount of time minors can spend on cell phones each day.

The proposed rule was announced on Wednesday by the Cyberspace Administration of China and would require all mobile devices, apps, and app stores to include a “minor mode” that would limit users under the age of 18 to a maximum of two hours on the device per day - even less for younger age cohorts.

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🇺🇸📉 Fitch downgrade of US credit rating is 'historic failure of leadership by both political parties and the Executive branch,' Senator Joe Manchin, a Democrat from West Virginia, stressed in a statement.

Manchin pointed out that Fitch specifically cited the decline in governance, erosion of cooperation in the federal government and ballooning national debt as reasons for its decision to lower the US credit rating.

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📹💥 Target destroyed: Russian gunners hit crew of towed mortar of Ukrainian Armed Forces

Russian UAV operators noticed the movement of a car with a towed mortar of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. The car drove into a forest belt for the covert deployment of a firing position. Artillery fire was adjusted on the target.
The mortar and the enemy crew were destroyed.

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‼️Former US President Donald Trump has officially arrived at the E. Barrett Prettyman Federal Courthouse to appear before a magistrate judge in the January 6 case.

➡️ Trump is expected to plead not guilty to four charges outlined in his third indictment over alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election results

🇹🇭 Another round of the election for next prime minister of Thailand, scheduled for August 4, was postponed and may take place in mid-August, Thai Parliament Speaker Wan Muhamad Noor Matha said on Thursday.

According to the speaker, the vote can take place only after the constitutional court rules on a appeal by Move Forward party against the rejection by parliament of renomination of its leader for prime minister.

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⚡Trump has officially submitted not guilty pleas to all four charges

➡️ The first hearing in the case is scheduled for August 28 at 10 a.m. local time. Unlike Thursday's proceedings, the hearing will be overseen by US District Judge Tanya Chutkan

🏦🇬🇧 Bank of England Raises UK Interest Rate to Fresh 15-Year High of 5.25%

"The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) sets monetary policy to meet the 2% inflation target, and in a way that helps to sustain growth and employment. At its meeting ending on 2 August 2023, the MPC voted by a majority of 6–3 to increase Bank Rate by 0.25 percentage points, to 5.25%," the bank said in a statement.

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‼️Former US President Donald Trump said after his court arraignment on four election-related criminal charges that the legal case against him is a "persecution of a political opponent."

💬"When you look at what's happening, this is a persecution of a political opponent," Trump told reporters on Thursday. "This was never supposed to happen in America. This is the persecution of the person that's leading by very, very substantial numbers in the Republican primary and leading [US President Joe] Biden by a lot. So if you can't beat him, you persecute him or you prosecute him. We can't let this happen in America."

🔺Is Biden preparing to dump Ukraine for Taiwan?
🔺Ukraine hopes to hold ‘Peace Summit’ this autumn
🔺China calls on NATO to drop plans of expanding to Asia Pacific

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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🇺🇸🇷🇺 US long violating letter, spirit of New START - Russian ambassador Antonov

"Washington has not only abandoned the principles embedded in the Preamble to New START, but also breached the central limits of the Treaty that restrict the number of strategic weapons. It illegitimately removed from accountability under the Treaty about a hundred strategic offensive arms: SLBM launchers and heavy bombers. Russia’s repeated demands to resolve the problem have been ignored," Antonov told reporters.

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🇫🇷🇪🇺 Macron rejects former French Economy Minister Breton as possible EU Commission head, an American newspaper reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter.

On Wednesday, the newspaper noted, referring to high-ranking EU officials, that Breton would like to replace Ursula von der Leyen as the European Commission president. To do this, he would need to enlist the support of all European leaders and get an authorization from the European Parliament, the paper said.

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🤖People are experiencing more and more difficulty distinguishing between human and machine interlocutors when talking on the phone, according to a group of researchers at University College London (UCL).

The scientists gave computer-generated and human samples to 529 participants for them to listen to in order to find out whether they would be able to distinguish between human and machine speech. It turned out that 27 percent of the time, the participants mistook an artificial sample for a human recording.

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‼️ Russian defenses down 13 Ukrainian drones and foil attempted attack on naval base in Novorossiysk

The Russian armed forces shot down ten and jammed another three Ukrainian drones with radio and electronic warfare equipment attempting to attack facilities in Crimea overnight, the Russian Defense Ministry said

The ministry added that there was no material damage or casualties.

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The Ukrainian Armed Forces has reverted from the US tactics to their previous strategy, as Ukraine Western-trained units got bogged down, per the US press

Ukraine's decision to change tactics has raised questions about the quality of NATO training and war planning, as well as the West's massive spending on the much-anticipated offensive, according to the US media. It also showed that NATO's hopes for a Ukrainian breakthrough have been dashed.

In practice, it turned out that the Ukrainian military had to deal not only with Russia's minefields, fortifications, and troops, but also faced heavy losses, poor interaction between their units, difficulties associated with operating Western equipment, and a lack of competent Ukrainian officers, according to the expert.

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💱 The rise of China's digital yuan, or e-CNY, poses a significant challenge to the dominance of the US dollar in global trade settlements, signaling a potential shift in the world's financial landscape.

Over the next 10 years, the Chinese digital yuan is expected to shake up the status of the US dollar as the leading currency for global trade settlements, expresses Richard Turrin, author of Cashless: China's Digital Currency Revolution.

Sputnik explains all you need to know about the electronic Chinese yuan: what it is and how it works.

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📹 Su-25SM crews destroy Ukrainian mortar units

Russia's Su-25SM crews launched a missile strike (0:26) against Ukrainian mortar units near Krasny Liman.

A pair of Su-25SM attack aircraft, skirting the terrain at an altitude of no more than 25 meters and a speed of 800 km/h, carried out an air strike on Ukrainian mortar positions, using unguided 80mm and 122mm caliber missiles.

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