🇪🇺 New EU digital laws seek to bust 'gatekeeper' tactics of tech tiants

The European Union has unveiled a second batch of laws aimed at curbing the power of major technology companies, with a focus on ending monopolistic practices that leave consumers with few choices and even less power.

The package of laws is collectively called the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and is intended as a companion to the Digital Services Act (DSA) that was implemented late last month.

The EC has given the "gatekeepers" six months to comply with a list of “dos and don’ts” the EC says will result in the companies "offering more choice and more freedom to end users and business users of the gatekeepers' services." Failure to comply will result in fines that will begin with 10% of the company's total worldwide turnover and could escalate to 20% "in case of repeated infringement."

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❗An attempt by Ukrainian forces to carry out a drone attack in Russia's Bryansk region overnight was thwarted, Governor Alexander Bogomaz said early Thursday.

"Tonight, an attempt by the Ukrainian armed forces to carry out a terrorist attack using a UAV was foiled. Forces of the Russian Defense Ministry destroyed the unmanned aerial vehicle over the Bryansky district. There were no casualties or damage," Bogomaz said on Telegram, adding that emergency services were working on site.

The EU has signed eight contracts to jointly purchase 155 mm ammunition for Ukraine, according to the website of the European Defense Agency

The contracts include buying shells for the French howitzer CAESAR, the Polish self-propelled guns Krab, the German Panzerhaubitze 2000, and the Slovak Zuzana.

Earlier, an American media outlet reported that since the beginning of the conflict, the Ukrainian Armed Forces have fired about 2 million 155 mm shells, almost depleting Western stocks.

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How the West drags Armenia to its side amid NATO proxy war in Ukraine

The Armenian Defense Ministry announced on Wednesday that joint military exercises with US "Eagle Partner 2023" will be held in Armenia from September 11-20. The drills cause concerns in Moscow as they come amid Washington's proxy war against Russia in Ukraine.

Last Friday, Yerevan signaled readiness to continue cooperation with NATO within the Individual Partnership Action Plan, while the next day Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan gave an interview to Italian outlet La Repubblica claiming Russia's peacekeeping mission in Nagorno-Karabakh "failed," and that Russia is "leaving" the South Caucasus.

What's behind mixed messages coming from Yerevan?

Check out Sputnik's article to find out

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Lockheed Martin will once again delay its delivery of the latest upgraded versions of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter to the US armed forces because of continued problems in the software needed to fire its weapons

"We have updated our F-35 TR-3 schedule projections with a first TR-3 aircraft delivery between April and June 2024. As a result, we now expect to deliver 97 aircraft in 2023, all in the TR-2 configuration," Lockheed said.

Delivery of the long-delayed and problem-plagued TR-3 version of the aircraft was previously due to start this December, but the software still has to be validated in testing, the company said.

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📹 The Russian Federal Security Service prevents terrorist attacks ahead of elections in DPR by Ukrainian saboteurs

Employees of the Russian Federal Security Service have found a weapons cache in the city of Dokuchaievsk, which was planned to be used to carry out terrorist attacks by Ukrainian saboteurs ahead of the elections in the region for September 8-10, FSB has told Sputnik.

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Two people were killed while trying to enter the French military base in Chad after the incident with the death of a soldier, a local informed source told Sputnik

On Wednesday night, residents of Faya-Largeau gathered to hold protests and attempted to infiltrate a French military base after the local soldier died at the hands of a French doctor. Immediately after the incident, most of the French military base was evacuated by plane to the Chadian capital of N'Djamena.

Chadian political scientist Evariste Ngarlem Tolde told Sputnik on Wednesday that members of the Chadian parliament had demanded the withdrawal of French military forces from the country after the death of a local resident in care of a French doctor in Faya-Largeau. He added that the protests could spread across the country.

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📹 Footage shows the exact moment when the drone came crashing down in the center of the city.

A state of emergency has been introduced in the area where the drone crashed in Russia’s Rostov-on-Don, the regional governor there reported.

🗣 The potential for conflict among nuclear powers could escalate into an open military confrontation in the Asia-Pacific region, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov cautioned 

The senior diplomat added that the open military pressure on Russia is dangerously teetering on the brink of an armed conflict between global nuclear powers.

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The Ukrainian army attacked the city of Energodar, near the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant, with drones, the regional administration told reporters.

"The Kiev regime's militants used unmanned aerial vehicles to strike Energodar. No casualties were reported. The information is being verified," the Zaporozhye region administration said.

Police and emergency services are currently working at the scene.

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Russian troops inflicted a heavy blow on the units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces that were rotating near villages of Verbove and Rabotino, according to Yevgeny Balitsky, the acting governor of the Zaporozhye region

He said the enemy's losses amounted to up to 100 people.

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🥴 Burger diplomacy goes awry in Kiev: Ukraine's FM Kuleba, a self-styled vitamin buff, makes US Secretary of State Blinken cringe with his McDonalds hangover tales

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Donald Trump believes that Russia would not have launched the special military op in Ukraine if the US had not "rigged elections", that is, if Democrat Joe Biden had not come to power in 2021

💬 "I’ll tell you this. Ukraine is so sad. Every time I turn it on, that was a war that I knew it was the apple of Putin’s eye. He would have never done it if the election weren’t rigged, our election. It was rigged and stolen. If that election wasn’t rigged, if I were president, you would right now have millions of people living that are dead," Trump said.

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💬 "What is it: lies or silliness?"

The White House's claims that depleted uranium ammunition is not radioactive are nonsense, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said

The rate of cancer diagnoses increases in places where depleted uranium ammunition was used, she recalled. This was experienced by Italian soldiers who took part in the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, Zakharova added.

On Wednesday, US National Security Council Strategic Communications Coordinator John Kirby said that depleted uranium rounds were neither radioactive nor carcinogenic.

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The US military scrapped a test of what was meant to be the army's first hypersonic long-range missile in its arsenal

The Pentagon did not specify the reasons for the cancellation.

The Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon has a reported range of over 1,725 miles and travels at roughly five times the speed of sound.

The Western media pointed out that this decision raises concerns whether the US will be able to compete in hypersonic warfare with Russia and China. Hypersonic LRMs have the ability to surmount traditional air defenses and can be armed with nuclear warheads.

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🗣 Putin's speech at the G20 summit via video link is not planned, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said

📌 The summit will be held in India next weekend. The Russian delegation will be headed by Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov.

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In this fresh episode of our New Rules podcast, we are joined by Scott Ritter, former US Marine intel officer and UN weapons inspector.

🗣️ He covers the topic of the Ukrainian counteroffensive. Has it finally reached a breakthrough or is it just another bust?

Find out in the new episode of our show! You really don't want to miss it

🔊 Tune in to Radio Sputnik at 6am EST|3am PST|12pm CET|10am GMT via the website or app!

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💬 “This will not be taken for granted”

The Kremlin reacted very negatively to Antony Blinken's statement about using confiscated Russian assets for the needs of Ukraine, promising further litigation.

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'We know where the enemy is'

📹 Russia's motorized rifle unit’s spotters and grenade throwers in action at the frontline

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🇳🇪 The United States is considering the option of physically eliminating the "putsch leaders" who came to power in Niger, according to the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service.

Representatives of the American intelligence services are directly discussing potential perpetrators of possible assassination attempts with partners, the service said.

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📹 Russia's Federal Security Service has arrested smugglers who supplied spare parts for military aviation to Europe

The criminal group acquired components of combat aircraft in Russia for their illegal export, including for the needs of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

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