🇪🇨 What’s known about Ecuador presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio’s assassination

▪️Fernando Villavicencio, a candidate in Ecuador’s upcoming presidential election, was assassinated at a campaign event in the Ecuador’s capital, Quito

▪️The main suspect has died of gunshot wounds received during his arrest, a total of six people have been detained in connection with the crime.

▪️The number of those injured at Villavicencio's campaign rally has risen to nine people, the Ecuadorian Prosecutor General's Office said.

▪️Several offices of the slain candidate were also attacked in Quito

▪️Police conducted a controlled explosive detonation near the assassination site

▪️A friend of the assassinated politician mentioned he had received threats before the attack

▪️Five out of seven Ecuador's seven presidential candidates reacted to the assassination by announcing the suspension of their campaigns

▪️Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso has announced a state of emergency across the country for 60 days and declared 3 days of national mourning in honor of Villavicencio

▪️The date of the presidential election set for August 20 will not change, the National Electoral Council said.

▪️According to the latest polls, Villavicencio did not garner enough votes to win the election.

The video shows the moment of the attack on Fernando Villavicencio

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Before and after scenes from Hawaii’s Lahaina resort

At least 36 people dead and dozens injured as fast-moving wildfires tear through and decimate entire communities.

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🇷🇺📹 ‘Sniper strikes where enemy least suspects it’: Russian snipers hunt Ukrainian militants near Artemovsk (Bakhmut)

How do you avoid falling easy prey to the enemy when you’re a sniper?

Watch this video to find out!

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🥴 President Biden strikes again with another doozy: "The problem was too many people are working. Or working people are working, making too much money. That's not the problem."

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🇷🇺🇨🇳 Russian and Chinese Navy ships repelled a mock air raid by during joint drills in the Pacific Ocean

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⚡️🇮🇳 🇷🇺 Russia has sent a proposal to India launching a visa-free group exchange, diplomatic channels are currently being explored, according to the Minister of Economic Development Maxim Reshetnikov.

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🇷🇺 Why Russia has potential of world’s agricultural powerhouse? US-born farmer living out his dream in Russia's Altai explains

💬 “We in Russia have one of the largest reserves of topsoil in the world. We have one of the largest reserves of fresh water in the world. We have temperate climates along the southern border, and there are huge expanses of land that aren't being properly used, or used at all. So we have this giant resource, agrarian resource that just is still even yet untapped. And I think that for me those are the conditions," Justus Walker, lovingly dubbed the Merry Milkman by his Russian compatriots for his sparkling sense of humor and kindness, said.

👉 Read the full interview here

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

▪️ The Ukrainian Armed Forces (UAF) lost up to 60 soldiers around Krasny Liman.

▪️ The Russian Armed Forces repelled the attack of the 46th airmobile brigade of the UAF in the Zaporozhye region.

▪️ The Russian Armed Forces successfully repelled 17 attacks by UAF assault groups around Donetsk.

▪️ The UAF lost up to 125 troops, a tank, two armored vehicles, three Msta-B howitzers, D-20 and D-30 guns around Zaporozhye.

▪️ The UAF lost over 290 troops killed and wounded in Donetsk direction.

▪️ The UAF lost more than 55 soldiers around Kupyansk.

▪️ The Russian Armed Forces destroyed an ammunition depot in the DPR and hit the control points of two UAF brigades;

▪️ The Russian Armed Forces repelled two UAF attacks in South Donetsk direction;

▪️ The UAF lost more than 130 troops in the South Donetsk direction, a Hyacinth-S self-propelled gun, a Msta-B and a D-20 howitzer;

▪️ The Russian Armed Forces destroyed up to 30 UAF military personnel and the US-made AN/TPQ-36 counter-battery radar station in Kherson.

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🇷🇺 The Russian Strategic Missile Forces will wrap up rearmament with Yars ICBMs in 2023, said Colonel-General Sergei Karakayev, commander of the unit.

The Yars ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missile) is a modern nuclear missile that is designed to be launched from a mobile platform. Developed by Russia, it is equipped with multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles (MIRVs) that can deliver several nuclear warheads to different targets with pinpoint accuracy.

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🇷🇺 The Russian military has tested the first batch of the new "Obereg" armored vests that can stop NATO sniper bullets of 8.6 millimeter caliber, said the first deputy director general of Rostec, Vladimir Artyakov, in an interview ahead of the international military-technical forum "Army-2023".

"And we succeeded. The weight of the "Obereg" is only about 11.7 kilograms. The novelty was tested not only with standard 7.62x54 mm bullets for the Br-5 class, but also with bullets of a more powerful caliber - 8.6 mm (.338 Lapua Magnum). The ceramic plate withstood such a hit. We also shot American and Chinese classmates. The tests showed that foreign vests are powerless against such a test," Artyakov said.

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🗣️ US foreign policy establishment will block any attempt at a diplomatic solution in Ukraine:

“Any president, any administration that decides to seek a negotiated solution to the Ukraine conflict is going to know that every day there will be people appearing in the media on the talk shows, talking about how Ukraine is being betrayed and how the United States, how the president of the United States and his administration is engaging in appeasement and is letting Ukraine, a key ally of the United States, a heroic ally of the United States, fighting against the Russian colossus, how they are betraying it and letting it down. And that is a potent message,” Alexander Mercouris, writer and international affairs analyst, host of The Duran on Youtube, told Sputnik.

🎧 Listen to more of Mercouris’ analysis in our podcast New Rules

👉 Watch the full episode of our show on YouTube or Rumble