Trump aide Meadows waives arraignment, pleads not guilty in Georgia election case

Former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows waived his right to a formal arraignment and pleaded not guilty to charges brought in the US state of Georgia over alleged efforts to overturn 2020 presidential election results, according to a court document filed on Tuesday.

Meadows is one of 18 co-defendants listed alongside former President Donald Trump in the Georgia case. Last month, a US judge denied a request from Meadows to move his case to federal court.

Trump also declined to appear at an arraignment and pleaded not guilty to the charges against him.

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Ukrainian spy participated in US Capitol breach alongside QAnon Shaman, according to a report

Famous January Sixer Jacob Chansley, also known as the QAnon Shaman, told American journalist Laura Loomer that a "Ukrainian spy" took part in the storming of the Capitol Hill but somehow was let off the hook by the FBI.

In one of the photos taken on January 6, 2021, QAnon Shaman is standing near the man later identified as Serhiy Dubynyn at the front door of the US Capitol. Per Jacob, he didn’t know who the man was: the individual approached him and asked for a photo.

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🇷🇺 🪖 Hero of Russia Exposes Ukraine of using 'Human Mine Detectors' in Their 'Counteroffensive'

In their relentless pursuit to breach Russia's defensive lines, the Ukrainian Armed Forces resort to a horrifying tactic: using their soldiers to clear minefields.

🗯 "They're just littering our minefields with dead bodies," Hero of Russia, Rustam Saifullin says.

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The task is to identify, detect, report and destroy

📹 Footage of Russian reconnaissance drone operaters in action

The soldiers' task is to identify targets of various kinds as temporary deployment points, artillery systems, enemy manpower and hardware concentration areas. The drone operators detect the target, identify the coordinates, transmit the information, and then strike the target with artillery.

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🔺Putin and Erdogan held talks in Russia
🔺Ukraine fails to achieve its goals in three months of counteroffensive – Shoigu
🔺African states are saying ‘non’ to France’s longtime domination of the continent

The Critical Hour will cover these and more stories! Tune in to Radio Sputnik at 6pm EST|3pm PST|12am CET via the website or app

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Up to 3.3 million Ukrainians may never return home from abroad, an American media has reported

The news agency refers to the report of the Ukrainian Center for Economic Strategy. Compared with the data of a similar December study, this figure increased by 0.6 million.

Analysts attribute this to the ongoing conflict and attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure, as well as people's growing adaptation to life abroad. In addition, the report of the center noted that the potential outflow of the population could lead to a reduction in the country's GDP by 6.9% as early as 2024.

As of the end of June, up to 6.7 million Ukrainians are now abroad.

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🇮🇷🇸🇦 Iran, Saudi Arabia exchange ambassadors after years of divisions

Iranian Ambassador Alireza Enayati and Saudi Ambassador Abdullah bin Saudi Al-Enzi arrived, respectively, in Riyadh and Tehran, elevating ties between their countries to the ambassadorial level, the state news agencies of the two countries reported.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry said over the weekend that Ambassador Enayati was hosted by Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian before his departure for Riyadh for talks about his vision of future ties between the two countries.

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📹 Su-34s of the Russian Aerospace Forces destroy the positions of Ukrainian militants in the special military op

Pilots of the Russian Aerospace Forces perform the tasks of air patrol and cover the actions of units of the Russian Armed Forces at any time of the day and in any meteorological conditions.

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❗UNSC to hold meeting on 2022 referendums over former Ukrainian territory on Friday, source reveals

🇦🇺 Australia 'compromised' by National Bank rule closing accounts for 'speech violations'

A new forthcoming rule by the National Australian Bank (NAB), expected to be implemented in November, would allow the bank to close customers' accounts for a wide range of speech-related offenses. A banking expert said it was an abuse of human rights and "antithetical to democratic values."

The rule change is in keeping with guidance issued by Canberra in June that seeks to bring various government institutions’ functioning in line with national law.

The move has aroused the fury of defenders of free speech, which does not have the same legal foundations as it does in the United States, where speech by and large is legally restricted only by its potential to imminently provoke violent or illegal behavior.

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Russia may hit its national record for grain exports in the 2023-2024 agricultural year that started on July 1, with supplies forecast to exceed 60 million tons registered last season, Russian Grain Union President Arkadiy Zlochevskiy said.

Shipments have already reached record rates, with 13 million tons of Russian grain exported in the first two months of the current agricultural season, he added.

"We are expecting our second biggest gross harvest in history. All analysts have kept their forecasts at around 140 million tons. We have been keeping our forecast at this level since spring and have recently raised it for wheat from 86-89 million tons to 91-92 million tons," the Russian Grain Union chief said.

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Russian FM Sergey Lavrov arrives in Jakarta, Indonesia 🇮🇩 for ASEAN summit

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Russian troops fired at militants of Ukraine's Azov battalion* and troops of the 67th brigade of the Ukrainian armed forces using artillery and aviation near the Serebryanskoye forestry, with the enemy losing up to 30 militants, Alexander Savchuk, the head of the press center of Russia's Center Group of Forces, told Sputnik.

He added that a Western-made artillery reconnaissance system had been destroyed in a counter-battery fire. He also said that Russian bombers had struck a Ukrainian command and observation post and two temporary deployment hubs of enemy forces in the areas of the town of Kirovsk and the village of Serebrianka.

*terrorist organization banned in Russia

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The Ukrainian government has reportedly spent at least $17.6 million on drones that have largely shown to be faulty

According to a report by a Ukrainian investigative outlet, Ukrainian Aviation Systems (UAS) failed to meet a deadline to provide the Armed Forces of Ukraine with 55 HAWK reconnaissance drones (not to be confused with the American produced Global HAWK), only managing to deliver four and of which just one was accepted by the army.

Of the three that were rejected, reporters who previewed the trial of the deliveries drones reported that one drone frequently lost connection with its operator, another lost its wings mid-flight and crashed, and the third never managed to take off at all.

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❗️ Britain's Defense Minister confirmed the destruction of a Challenger 2 tank in the special military operation zone, adding that London does not plan to send a new tank to replace the one that was destroyed.

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US Secretary of State Blinken arrived in Kiev on an official visit, Ukrainian media reported

▪️Antony Blinken is paying a visit to Kiev amid a failed counteroffensive by the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

▪️Blinken last visited Ukraine in September 2022.

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🥴 The Ukrainian news agency UNIAN illustrated a publication about the Ukrainian counteroffensive with a photo showing military personnel… with PAINTBALL MARKERS

The photo depicts several people in military gear on the attack, with heavy equipment in the background.

However, a closer look at the photo reveals that the fighters are holding paintball markers, not real guns.

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Russian troops in the special military operation zone near the village of Rabotino have repelled several Ukrainian attacks, inflicting losses on the enemy and forcing them to retreat, Vladimir Rogov, head of the public movement "We are together with Russia," told Sputnik.

According to him, fierce battles for the village continue, and there is no advancement of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

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