Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's Friday's trip to Manila became the first visit by an Australian premier to the Philippines in 20 years.

During the historic visit, Albanese and Filipino President Ferdinand Marcos upgraded the nations' relations to a strategic partnership and agreed to start joint naval patrols in the contested South China Sea to challenge Beijing's influence in the region.

What message does the new pact send to China?

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🇷🇺 The BMP-3, due to its powerful weapon, destroys Ukrainian armored personnel carriers and infantry fighting vehicles with one shot - the Russian plant Kurganmashzavod told Sputnik

🇩🇪 German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on Friday that the supply of long-range Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine is challenging as it takes time to agree on every detail.

"This is not something that can be done quickly as it was with Leopard tanks or IRIS-T air defense systems. Every detail needs to be clarified first," Baerbock said in an interview with German media group Funke.

The foreign minister noted that Kiev's request for the transfer of Taurus cruise missiles is "more than understandable," although she declined to answer whether she considers it necessary to limit their strike range.

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Carter Clews, the president of Constitutional Rights PAC, Rory Riley Topping, a legal analyst at SpectrumNews 1 and opinion contributor at The Hill discusses the possible indictment of Hunter Biden with investigative journalist Dan Lazare.

Looming charges against Joe Biden's son Hunter may paradoxically be part of the long game of covering up his wrongdoing to save his father's career, pundits have suggested.

👉 Check out their full analysis

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❗️ Citing Morocco's Interior Ministry, a statement issued by the country's military has placed the latest death toll at 296. The figure accounts for the affected provinces of Al Haouz, Marrakesh and Ouarzazate.

🇷🇺🇨🇳 De-dollarization of economic relations between Moscow and Beijing has already occurred, the Russian Foreign Ministry told Sputnik

🇺🇸 The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Friday forced SpaceX’s Starship Super Heavy rocket to stay grounded, and told the company that it would need to make 63 corrections before it could undergo another test flight.

In late April, Elon Musk’s SpaceX company test launched what is meant to be the world’s largest and most powerful rocket designed to transport crew and cargo in Earth’s orbit and space. The rocket is also intended to be fully reusable.

The rocket, however, never made it into Earth’s orbit (far from it) and malfunctioned during its stage separation process and exploded, causing widespread damage and destroying the launch pad. The explosion, which occurred in Boca Chica, also left a crater in the earth, flung debris into nearby tanks and other equipment, impacted endangered animals’ habitats, and sparked a 4-acre fire on state park land.

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US Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has announced she will seek another term in office. The 19-term congresswoman retired from Democratic Party leadership last year, but has dismissed questions about leaving political life.

“Now more than ever our City needs us to advance San Francisco values and further our recovery,” Pelosi said on social media on Friday.

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The Russian Foreign Ministry has heaped praise on a joint project between Moscow, Ankara and Doha on Russian grain supplies to Turkiye.

The ministry said in a statement that “the project to deliver one million tons of grain from Russia for processing in Turkiye with subsequent free transportation to the poorest countries is of utmost importance.”

A new grain agreement initiated by Moscow may partly add to resolving the problem of hunger across the globe, Russian analysts have told Sputnik.

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🇺🇸 Jake Sullivan, White House national security adviser, reportedly criticized Hillary Clinton for asking Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to assist in evacuating Afghan women during the chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan.

After Clinton reached out to Zelensky's aide to arrange the potential transport and was confronted by Sullivan, she fired back by explaining she wouldn't have needed to contact Ukraine if the Biden administration had acted earlier. She subsequently assured Sullivan she would coordinate with US officials moving forward.

Clinton had also contacted leaders from Canada, Qatar and Albania in her efforts to evacuate 1,000 at-risk women.

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Russian FM Lavrov greeted by Indian PM Modi upon his arrival for the G20 summit in New Delhi.

🌐 Indian PM Modi addresses #G20 summit, here are the key points:

🟧 21st century is the time to show the world a new direction. Old global challenges are demanding new solutions;

🟧 We must follow a human-centric approach to resolve these challenges;

🟧 The COVID-19 pandemic has created a Global Trust Deficit. We defeated COVID-19, we can also overcome these differences;

🟧 Through G-20, we must strive to turn this deficit into a global understanding. It is time to work together;

🟧 The global understanding is needed to address economic turmoil, food and fertiliser security;

🟧 I am confident that the proposal to induct the African Union as a G-20 member has the all of the members' backing.

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🇨🇳🇷🇺 Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning confirmed on Friday that China's State Council Vice Premier Zhang Guoqing would be participating in the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) hosted by the Russian city of Vladivostok.

Zhang will head the country's delegation to the forum and will be accompanied by representatives of the Chinese provinces of Heilongjiang and Liaoning, the government of Russia's Primorsky Territory revealed earlier in the day.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin has congratulated Kim Jong Un with the 75th anniversary of North Korea's establishment.