Child-killer British nurse Lucy Letby sentenced for life

A British court has sentenced a former nurse to life in prison for killing seven babies and attempting to kill six more.

Lucy Letby killed newborns in British Chester by injecting air from a syringe into the body, which led to a rupture of the diaphragm.

The woman could be responsible for harming up to 30 more babies, according to media reports. The nurse herself does not admit guilt, her defense claims that she was the victim of a conspiracy to hide the poor state of affairs in the hospital.

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The Kiev regime made another attempt to conduct a terrorist attack using a fixed-wing UAV on 21 August at around 16:00 Moscow time

Russian air defence systems detected and destroyed the UAV over the territory of Belgorod region

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“We should not expect BRICS in two days in South Africa, turning the rules based international order upside down. No, this is going to be a gradual, slow moving, very challenging process. But what's happening in South Africa and immediately after South Africa, let's say, is a sort of Rosetta Stone for what's going to happen ahead,” Pepe Escobar, a geopolitical analyst and writer, told the New Rules podcast, commenting on the upcoming BRICS Summit.

👉 BRICS opportunities and challenges, ahead of the summit in South Africa this week, obstacles facing the organization, BRICS own currency: You can find the full episode on YouTube or Rumble

❗️ Roscosmos head’s key statements on the Luna-25 crash:

▪️Russia’s Luna-25 module crashed due to fact that engine did not turn off normally and ran for 127 seconds instead of 84;

▪️Russia’s Luna-25 module crashed into moon surface;

▪️ Luna-25’s transition to pre-landing orbit took place in radio communication zone, experts knew everything that was happening before crash;

▪️ Despite Luna-25 mission’s crash, Russia gained invaluable experience of flying to Moon and entering lunar orbit;

▪️ Commission on Luna-25 crash already started to work, it will have to figure out what led to abnormal operation of corrective engine.

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📹 Footage of the defeat of the Ukrainian IFV in the Zaporozhye region by soldiers of the "Osman" special forces

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🌐 Democratization of Multipolar World Order Lures BRICS Hopefuls, Expert Emphasizes

BRICS is promoting a more just global order, which explains the ever-increasing attention the bloc is attracting, a researcher at the Institute for Global Dialogue Mikatekiso Kubayi told Sputnik Africa.

🗣 “[…] It promotes collaboration, cooperation and peace, and promotes fairness in global governance, promotes equity, [and] in fact, the democratization of the multilateral system," he said, adding that "it's very organic"

👉 Read the full interview!

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#SputnikInfographic📊 The Russian Federation was included in the list of countries that in 2022 were able to increase their wealth, according to a report by the Swiss bank UBS

According to the document, Russia's financial wealth has grown by $600 billion during 2022. UBS experts noted that household income in Russia grew rapidly between 2000 and 2020 (13%).

Check out Sputnik's infographic to see more

🇮🇳 🌐 Muslims Unite Against Quran Burning

🗯 "Day by day, they play with the sentiments of Muslims. Again and again, they disrespect the great Quran, the way we see it, especially in Sweden, they burn the Quran, they do it again and again," one demonstrator said.

These demonstrations emphasize the importance of religious coexistence, aiming to raise awareness about the need for tolerance in a multicultural society. They also urge Muslims around the world to unite.

📹 Watch our video to learn more!

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UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres will attend the BRICS Summit in South Africa and will deliver a number of important messages, said his spokesman Dujarric.

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Ukrainian artillery fire faulty shells: 20% just fizzle out

Ukrainian forces are launching intense artillery fire on Russian positions in Zaporozhye near the village of Rabotino on a daily basis, but about 20% of Ukrainian shells fail to detonate, according to a fighter from the 71st Guards Motor Rifle Regiment, call sign "Monk."

💬 "Every morning, our wake-up call isn't an alarm clock, but rather artillery fire. Starting at 4 a.m., tanks are heavily engaged, as well as AGS [automatic grenade launchers], and artillery — everything that can be used - rains down on us. And quite often, about 20% of the shells do not explode. There are also cases with cluster munitions, where the shell explodes but does not deliver its submunition payload. It just explodes in the air [without the submunition detonation]," said "Monk."

In his opinion, this could be due to the age of the shells or to violations in the conditions of their storage.

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🛢 Global oil and gas prices rise amid supply concerns

The economic sanctions imposed by the US and its allies against Russia over the escalation of the Ukrainian conflict last year, as well as hostile actions by certain Western states such as the destruction of the Nord Stream pipelines, have effectively cut off many European countries from the supply of cheap Russian natural gas.

The prospects of a workers' strike at offshore platforms in Australia apparently led to an uptick in gas futures prices in Europe today.

Last week, trade unions at Woodside Energy Group's North West Shelf offshore gas platforms announced plans to launch a strike, which may start as soon as September 2.

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Trump holds ‘commanding lead’ in Iowa presidential race, a poll shows

Former US President Donald Trump holds a “commanding lead” over other Republicans in the presidential race in the US state of Iowa, a new poll revealed on Monday.

The poll showed that 42% of potential caucus participants would vote for Trump, which is twice more than the second Republican candidate, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (19%). All others, including Tim Scott, former US Envoy to the UN Nikki Hailey, and ex-Vice President Mike Pence, received the support of less than 10% of potential voters.

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🇹🇷 Erdogan expects to hold face-to-face meeting with Putin in September

"There will be the G20 meeting in India and the UN General Assembly in the United States in September. If we find an opportunity in this busy environment, we will meet and talk with Putin face-to-face," Erdogan told reporters.

Russia's presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov earlier told the media that Putin and Erdogan had agreed to decide on the time and place of their meeting in the near future. According to the spokesman, the agenda of the two leaders' talks will focus on bilateral ties, the Ukraine crisis and the Black Sea Grain Deal.

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‘Voila, we have air power’? F-16 transfers to Ukraine will take years to produce results

While Ukraine is now set to receive F-16 Falcon fighter jets from NATO, they won’t be on the battlefield for at least six months, and they stand little chance of being effective for at least two years, meaning the program won’t affect the course of Russia’s special operation in Ukraine for a while, experts told Sputnik.

According to the latest deal hammered out between the NATO powers and Ukraine, the Netherlands and Denmark will together supply Kiev with 61 F-16 Falcon fighter jets of the older A/B variants - with updated equipment - in exchange for being permitted to buy newer versions of the jet from the United States.

Check out this link to discover experts' opinion on this topic

❗Russian air defense suppressed two Ukrainian drones near Crimea by means of electronic warfare, as a result of which they fell into the water 40 kilometers (24.8 miles) northwest of the peninsula, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Tuesday.

"On August 21, at about 23:00 Moscow time [20:00 GMT], an attempt by the Kiev regime to carry out a terrorist attack with aircraft-type unmanned aerial vehicles was thwarted. Two Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles were detected and suppressed by electronic warfare by the air defense forces," the ministry said.

The ministry added that drones, having lost control, "crashed over the Black Sea, 40 kilometers northwest of the Crimean peninsula."

🔺BRICS Summit in Johannesburg: What to expect?
🔺Donald Trump says that he won’t take part in the first Republican primary debate as he is leading the field of candidates by "legendary" numbers
🔺US, Japan, South Korea announce "multi-year" military exercises

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Pentagon mulls allowing calculators on entrance exams amid recruiting shortfalls, according to reports

The US Defense Department is weighing a change in a policy that would lift a ban on the use of calculators on entrance exams amid one of the worst recruiting crises in history, an American broadcaster reported on Monday.

The new policy will make it easier to pass the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) test as many young recruits have not been able to get high enough scores to qualify for military service, the report said.

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