🇺🇸 The number of deaths due to the wildfires in Hawaii has increased to 89, Hawaii Governor Josh Green said.

Three in 4 Democrats ‘concerned’ about Biden's job performance at 80, according to a poll

A large majority of Democrats have admitted to being worried about US President Joe Biden’s ability to discharge his duties in office given his age, a poll published Saturday showed.

The exclusive survey conducted for Newsweek by Redfield & Wilton Strategies revealed that 75% of Biden voters were at least to some degree "concerned" by the fact that he was 80. In addition 31% of those sampled from August 5-6 said they disagreed that he should not run for a second term.

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🇺🇸 Rebuilding Hawaii after the devastating wildfires, which destroyed over 2,000 buildings, may cost almost $6 billion, the United States’ Pacific Disaster Center (PDC) has said.

The assessment also indicated that 86% of the damaged or destroyed buildings in Lahaina were residential, which potentially left 4,500 people with no shelter.

The wildfires in Hawaii broke out due to dry and hot weather and are exacerbated by strong winds brought by Hurricane Dora. Some fires cover an area of 400 hectares (over 1.5 square mile).

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Hunter did nothing wrong: Joe Biden defends his son amid DOJ probe, reports say

Since 2018, Hunter Biden has been under a spate of investigations into tax-related crimes, drug use, money laundering and illegal business dealings in foreign countries, including Ukraine and China.

US President Joe Biden repeatedly argued that his son Hunter did “nothing wrong” ahead of the appointment of Attorney for Delaware David Weiss as special counsel in the Hunter Biden probe, an American broadcaster has reported.

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Taiwan’s vice president and presidential candidate Lai Ching-te says he has arrived in New York, making a transit stop there on his way to Paraguay.

Taiwanese deputy foreign minister Yui Tah-ray said at the start of August that Lai Ching-te was going to make transit stops in New York and San Francisco on his way to and back from Paraguay, where Lai was going to attend the inauguration of Paraguayan president-elect Santiago Pena from August 12-18.

"Happy to arrive at the Big Apple, icon of liberty, democracy & opportunities. It’s very nice of [Taiwan’s representative to US Hsiao] Bikhim and [American Institute in Taiwan] AIT’s Ingrid Larson to greet me with a warm welcome at JFK airport. Looking forward to seeing friends and attending transit programs in New York," Lai said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Saturday night.

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🇮🇶 The Iraqi Communications Ministry says that the Telegram messaging application will be unblocked in the country on Sunday, following the company’s agreement to fulfill the demands of security authorities. Earlier this month, the ministry announced that it was banning Telegram for refusing to comply with guidelines on data security.

"The Ministry of Communications draws the attention of dear fellow citizens to the fact that it will lift the ban on Telegram in Iraq starting from tomorrow, Sunday," the ministry said in a Saturday statement.

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❗️ Russia's MoD: on August 13 at about 11 am, an attempt by the Kiev regime to carry out a terrorist attack by an aircraft-type drone on objects in Russia was thwarted.

An unmanned aerial vehicle was found and destroyed by Russian air defense systems over the Belgorod region, there were no casualties or damage.

🇩🇪 Germany will supply Ukraine with the Luna NG aerial reconnaissance drones before the end of this year

The supplies will be carried out by the German defense company Rheinmetall on a government contract, the outlet reported late on Saturday. The package will also include ground control stations for the drones, catapult launchers, as well as military trucks.

Luna NG (NG stands for new generation) is an advanced military system that is capable of not only conducting reconnaissance, but also maintaining the LTE network, intercepting or jamming enemy communications, according to the report. The drone has a maximum flight altitude of 5,000 meters (16,400 feet) and a reconnaissance range of several hundred kilometers.

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🇨🇫 "We Don't Want Neocolonialists to Impose Their Will": Official on CAR's Independence Day

On August 13, the people of the Central African Republic celebrate Independence Day from France. In honor of the holiday, Sputnik Africa sat down with Samuel Feizounam Ouanfio, who heads the country's Research and Pedagogical Development Institute, to discuss the significance of the day for the country

💬 "Today, the mentality of Central Africans has evolved: they don't want others to speak for them, they want Central Africans themselves to take charge of their destiny and speak for themselves," Ouanfio remarked

👉 READ THE FULL STORY

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🇷🇺🪖 80 years ago the Soviet Army liberated Donbass - one of the country's main industrial centres. On this occasion, Russia commemorates the immortal feat of the Soviet soldiers.

📹 Learn more in our video!

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📹 Military personnel of the engineering and sapper units of the Western Military District perform combat missions in the Kupyansk direction. They neutralize NATO-made mines, which Ukrainian militants throw into the rear areas.

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🇯🇵🇦🇺 The Japan-Australia military cooperation pact took effect on Sunday, facilitating joint drills, quicker deployment of forces, and transportation of weapons and supplies. What does the agreement mean for China?

The Japan-Australia Reciprocal Access Agreement (RAA) was signed in January 2022 in order to strengthen "deterrence" against the People's Republic of China (PRC) amid growing tensions over Taiwan, as per the Japanese press.

Does new Japan-Australia defense pact bring Asia-Pacific closer to war?

Check out this Sputnik's article to find out.

📹 In the Kupyansk area, artillerymen of the Western Military District hit an IFV of Ukrainian forces with a direct hit from a 82-mm mortar.

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🗣️ On US unwillingness to acknowledge its power is limited:

“The moment to start negotiations is now. But the temptation always in the United States is to put that off, to hope that something will turn up, because arguing for negotiations risks not just opening oneself up to criticism that one is advocating appeasement, but also to the argument that one is admitting to limitations in US power, which is not easy for Americans to do. Americans don't like to admit that their country has limits to its power,” 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

📹 The Russian Defense Ministry has published footage of the destruction of the Starlink satellite communication system used by Ukrainian forces.

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

▪️ In the Donetsk region, Ukrainian losses amounted to 300 soldiers;

▪️ In South Donetsk, Ukrainian losses amounted to 80 soldiers, a tank, four armored vehicles, D-20 and D-30 howitzers;

▪️ In the Krasny Liman area, Ukrainian losses amounted to 45 soldiers and a self-propelled gun "Gvozdika";

▪️ In the Kherson direction, Ukrainian losses amounted to 20 soldiers and the M777 artillery system;

▪️ In the Zaporozhye area, the Russian Army repelled the attack by Ukrainian troops and inflicted a complex defeat on the accumulation in the areas of Yablonevo and Malaya Tokmachka;

▪️ Russian forces repelled six attacks by Ukrainian forces in the Kharkov region and in the LPR;

▪️ A fighter of the Russian forces shot down a Mi-8 helicopter of the Ukrainian Forces in the Brusovka area in the DPR;

▪️ Russian air defense systems intercepted eight HIMARS rockets and destroyed 25 Ukrainian drones in the special operation zone.

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Dodging the bullet? Ukrainians pay up to $10k to avoid connoscription, reports say

Thousands of Ukrainians have paid hefty bribes to “corrupt army recruiters” in order to avoid being drafted as Russia continues its special military operation in Ukraine, a UK newspaper has reported.

According to the newspaper, the cost of bribes differs across Ukraine, with “many draft dodgers […] asked to pay $6,000 for a medical certificate granting them an exemption from military service.”

In this vein, the media outlet mentioned head of the Odessa regional recruitment center Evgeny Borisov, who was arrested in July after he was accused of bagging more than $5 million worth of bribes to approve exemptions.

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🇷🇺 Russia's Kalashnikov designs short version of AK-19 rifle for NATO cartridge

The compact version is presented at the company's expo center. It can fire 5.56×45mm rounds, which are adopted as a standard cartridge for rifle weapons in NATO countries.

Kalashnikov designed AK-19, an export variant of the AK-12 assault rifle, which fires NATO cartridges in 2020. In 2021, Russia signed first export contracts for the supplies of these rifles. Last year, the weapon was put into series production.

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🚀 Russia's lunar mission Luna-25 transmits first scientific data to Earth, Roscosmos reports

"Today the scientific equipment, developed by the Russian Academy of Sciences' Space Research Institute, was switched on for the first time in the conditions of space flight," Roscosmos said in a statement. The space corporation confirmed that telemetry information from all the devices showed that they are functioning nominally.

The data gathered by the station on its way to the Moon has already been received, and the project's scientific team has begun processing it, according to the statement.

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⚡️Four people die in a terrorist attack at the mosque in Iranian Shiraz, reports say