Is this all about uranium? CIA veteran Larry Johnson, who previously worked in Africa, uncovers the role of ECOWAS in the situation in Niger in an interview with Sputnik.

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UK prepares for 'Disease X' in virus lab at top-secret germ warfare centre

A UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) laboratory at Porton Down in Wiltshire is developing prototype vaccines for a range of virus families. Those in charge of the Vaccine Development and Evaluation Centre (VDEC) say those jabs could be adapted to a hypothetical "Disease X" in a repeat of the COVID-19 epidemic of 2020 and 2021.

"We say Covid was a once-in-a-century event, but I don’t think any of us think it will be another century until we get another one," said UKHSA chief executive Dame Jenny Harries. "If we don’t know what Disease X, is we can get ready for some virus families."

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Think Tank: Gen Z last majority-white age cohort, US projected to be majority-minority by 2045

Newly released data from the 2020 US Census has revealed major demographic changes underway in the US population, including a decisive shift in racial composition. According to an analysis of Census data recently published by the Brookings Institution, Generation Z will be the last generation of Americans with a white majority.

Typically defined as those born between 1995 and 2012 (and thus between the ages of 11 and 28), Gen Z or “Zoomers” were recorded as being roughly just above 50% white. However, what’s clear is that the younger generations are becoming steadily less and less white. Among those called Generation Alpha, or those born since 2012, white people constitute about 47% of the population.

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Officials in Washington are making last minute preparations to announce $200 million in new military assistance to Ukraine, taken from the $6.2 billion in allocated but unspent cash fortuitously discovered in May and June, and chalked down to an accounting error.

The $200 million package is expected to include more anti-tank weaponry like the TOW and Javelin missile systems, additional ammunition for a range of weapons, Lockheed Martin-built rockets for the Patriot air and missile defense system, more Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS) rockets of the kind used by Kiev to attack civilian areas in the Donbass, and more.

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How much of what Blinken said lines up with reality?

Russia suspended its participation in the Black Sea Grain Initiative last month, citing the West’s systematic efforts to block the export of Russian food and fertilizers, and the fact that just 3 percent of the Ukrainian grain exported under the grain deal actually went to nations in need.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has given an interview to a French radio network targeting francophone Africans, making a series of provocative claims against Russia related to the grain deal, and complaining that Moscow’s donation of tens of thousands of tons of food to African countries was just “a drop in the bucket” compared to what’s needed.

Check out Sputnik's fact check of the secretary’s remarks to separate facts from falsehoods.

📹 A Russian UAV revealed the camouflaged firing position of a Ukrainian self-propelled artillery mount. As a result of the loitering munition strike, the self-propelled gun was destroyed.

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CIA veteran: Nuland’s Niger trip meant to ‘intimidate’, ‘threaten’ new government

Niger’s government was overthrown by the military last month. On Monday, Victoria Nuland met with members of the new government for talks. What does the arch-neocon’s visit mean for the West African nation’s future?

Sputnik spoke to CIA and State Department veteran Larry Johnson for answers.

🗣️ On the anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki:

“So there's real deep questions about whether the atomic bombings were militarily necessary. It seems not. Japan was defeated. They had no air defenses. Just look at the large number: dozens of major cities in Japan had been firebombed by US conventional bombing by air forces.. I guess in Eisenhower's case, he got over it, because by the time he was president, it was part and parcel of US military strategy to supposedly rely on deterrence to exercise US superpower status,” Kevin Kamps, radioactive waste watchdog at Beyond Nuclear, told Sputnik.

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

🇵🇰 "As the situation has unfolded, it is incrementally clear that Khan is being penalized for calling out the army," Priyanka Singh, specialist in Pakistani politics told Sputnik India

Khan's fate is similar to many others who were crushed by the army in the past be it Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, Benazir Bhutto or Nawaz Sharif, Singh explained.

With arguably Pakistan's biggest inspiration and hero outside politics, considering he led the cricket-crazy country to its lone World Cup victory in 1992, spending his time in jail, Sputnik India looks back at Khan's sojourn from a determined and talented young cricketer to the occupant of the nation's top chair.

👉 Read full story of Imran Khan on Sputnik India!

🗣️ On the "peace conference" in Jeddah excluding Russia:

“On the face of it, it is to promote what is referred to as the “Zelensky peace plan” – which is an ultimatum, right? Russia pulls out, ends their intervention in the Ukrainian civil conflict, they pull all their troops out, take all their toys home, leave the people of Donbass, Crimea, and southern Ukraine to the tender mercies of the West-backed Kiev putsch regime and its Azov and sundry other neo-Nazi battalions. Oh, it pays war reparations too. And all Russian leaders go to face international crimes trials. And Zelensky would like a pretty little pink pony, too. So and from my understanding, it was absolutely everyone all agreed, except the last item was a deal breaker. They didn't come up with the pink pony for Zelensky,” Mark Sleboda, Moscow-based international relations security analyst, told Sputnik.

🎧 Listen to more of Sleboda’s analysis in our podcast The Critical Hour

‼️ Two combat drones attempting to reach Moscow shot down by Russian air defenses

🕉 Should Hinduism Play a Role in India’s Soft Power Strategy?

In his column, Francois Gautier delves into the potential influence of Hinduism on India's soft power approach:

🗯Unfortunately, we see that the World is not yet ready for this coming together paradise. And we need to go back to another ancient Hindu sacred text: The Bhagavad Gita. What does the Gita tell us? That when your country, your borders, your women, the very safety and wellbeing of your citizens is in danger, one needs to face the enemy and fight.

🇮🇳 The question needs to be asked: can India afford to be a soft power, when it is facing threats?

👉 Read full story on Sputnik India!