🇺🇸📉 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

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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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📹 The captured Swedish CV-90 infantry fighting vehicle was shown (0:24) to Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu during an inspection of the command post of the Tsentr Group of Forces in the zone of the special military op

Sergei Shoigu also listened to the reports of the group commander and staff officers, and thanked them for the successful offensive near Krasny Liman.

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Rhodes residents urgently need government assistance to restore the environment and support the island's economy in the wake of the huge wildfires that raged in the region in July, local residents told Sputnik 

Islanders voiced serious concerns over the destructive impact of the wildfires on the nature of Rhodes, its exceptional flora and fauna, noting with regret that the damage could in no way be fixed quickly.

Following the disaster, the Greek government pledged to introduce several measures to support residents and businesses. The list includes direct financing, infrastructure restoration, compensations, as well as advertising campaigns to reestablish the island's tourist appeal.

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📹 Artillerymen of the Russian Airborne Troops' formation launch attacks with D-20 152mm howitzers at fortified enemy positions in the zone of the special military op

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