US Justice Department to charge Boeing with criminal fraud – report

The US Department of Justice will indict US aerospace company Boeing on criminal fraud charges over its alleged breach of a 2021 deferred prosecution agreement, a source familiar with the matter told Sputnik.

The source said Sunday that Boeing will face one charge of defrauding the US government regarding the safety of its planes.

The Justice Department notified Boeing in May that it was subject to criminal prosecution after it determined the company had breached a 2021 agreement to avoid criminal charges for two fatal 737 MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019. Under the agreement, Boeing paid $2.5 billion in penalties and vowed to improve its safety and compliance protocols.

But federal prosecutors recently recommended to senior Justice Department officials that Boeing be prosecuted for failing to improve the safety of its aircraft after a series of mishaps this year, including a door panel that blew off an Alaska Airlines flight shortly after takeoff.

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South Korean military says DPRK fired two ballistic missiles

North Korea launched two ballistic missiles, including a short-range one, eastward Monday, South Korean news agency Yonhap reported citing the country’s Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The short-range ballistic missile flew about 600 kilometers (372 miles) while another missile flew about 120 kilometers (74 miles), the report added.

On Wednesday the DPRK reportedly launched an unspecified ballistic missile toward the Sea of Japan. Citing a military source, Yonhap later reported Pyongyang had test-fired a hypersonic missile, but the test apparently failed since the missile only flew about 250 kilometers (155 miles).

On Thursday North Korean state-run news agency KCNA reported that the North Korean Missile Administration had "successfully" carried out a separation and guidance control test of individual mobile warheads one day prior.

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Musk believes Biden's cognitive decline has unified Americans

Taking to X (formerly Twitter), one user felt that Americans were united “in a long, long time”, as everyone noticed a decline in Biden’s cognitive abilities during the debate.

“True, first time I've seen Republicans & Democrats agree on something in a long time”, Musk replied.

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🎥 The Cooperative Institute for Atmospheric Research has released a video of hurricane Beryl's eye

The atmospheric phenomenon formed as a tropical storm on June 28 and became a hurricane the next day. Beryl is now a hurricane of 4th category.

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WATCH: A crew operating a 'Giatsint-S' self-propelled howitzer from Battlegroup Center destroyed a Ukrainian UAV control post near Avdeyevka.

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The "National Rally" party and its allied forces won the first round of parliamentary elections in France, gaining 33.4% of the vote, Le Parisien reports, citing the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

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The ongoing conflict in Ukraine is slowing down the European countries’ economies and some will not be as prosperous as they used to be, renowned US investor Jim Rogers told Sputnik.

"It [the Ukraine conflict] causes economies to slow down and some countries will not be as prosperous as they have been. Whenever people have economic problems they blame somebody and that always leads to change," he noted.

Rogers expressed doubt that the European Union would survive given that few blocs have lasted for very long.

"Most of them have broken up. I'm afraid the Euro will break up someday," Rogers said.

In early June, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said the Eurozone economy was gradually recovering from the coronavirus pandemic measures, the cut in gas supplies from Russia and the consequences of the Ukraine conflict, but the bloc’s aging population and sluggish productivity present risks to growth in the medium term.

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◾️Le Pen’s ‘National Rally’ wins first round of parliamentary elections in France

◾️Fireworks and protests: Paris had a sleepless night following the first round of elections

◾️What reasons have Biden’s family set out to urge him to stay in presidential race?

◾️How many NATO troops are currently stationed near Belarus border?

◾️IDF shares footage of strike targeting commander of Al-Quds Brigades’ battalion Saeed Al-Jaber

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After the first round of parliamentary elections in France, less than 20% of the total mandates have been allocated. Presently, 39 MPs from the National Rally, 32 from the left-wing New Popular Front, and two from the Macron coalitions have emerged victorious in the 577-seat legislature race.

The remaining candidates, failing to secure over 50% of the votes, will compete in a second round set for July 7. Numerous French politicians have urged for a "united front" to combat Marine Le Pen's party.

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What to expect from France’s second round of parliamentary elections

Marine Le Pen’s right-wing National Rally (RN) topped the first round of French parliamentary elections, winning 33.4% of the votes. The New Popular Front leftist coalition came in second, securing 27.99%, while President Emmanuel Macron's center-right alliance Ensemble took third place with 20.04%.

The runoff of the snap election is set for July 7, and here is how it will work:

🔸In constituencies where no one candidate won outright in the first round, the top two candidates go forward to a second round, along with anyone else who won support from more than 12.5% of locally registered voters.
🔸French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal has stated that Macron's centrist coalition will withdraw around 60 of its candidates to allow other contenders have a chance to defeat the RN.
🔸Candidates heading into the run-off have until Tuesday evening to decide whether to stand down.
🔸Whoever gets the most votes in the second round wins the constituency seat.

What are post-round 2 scenarios?

🔸If another political party or alliance other than Macron’s centrist alliance gets a majority, the president will be forced to appoint a prime minister belonging to that new majority. The result will be a power-sharing arrangement, dubbed a ‘cohabitation.’
🔸Under this ‘cohabitation’, the French government could potentially implement policies that diverge from the president’s stance.
🔸There is no certainty that Jordan Bardella, the President of the National Rally, will become the Prime Minister. Bardella has made it clear that he will not accept the position unless the RN is able to secure an absolute majority.
🔸In the history of France, the last such cohabitation (1997-2002) was under Jacques Chirac, with domestic policy issues effectively in the hands of then socialist prime minister Lionel Jospin, while the conservative French president dealt with matters of foreign and defense policy.

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UK military unprepared for ‘conflict of any scale’, ex-defence official said

The UK armed forces cannot adequately defend its territory and are not prepared for “a conflict of any scale,” the FT noted, citing the UK Ministry of Defense ex-official Rob Johnson.

According to him, UK forces operate on the basis of the "absolute minimum", which allows them to carry out only peacekeeping and humanitarian operations, as well as the evacuation of civilians from combat zones and some anti-sabotage measures.

"In any large-scale operation, we will quickly run out of ammunition... Our defenses are too weak and we are not prepared to fight and win an armed conflict of any scale," Johnson said.

He added "the UK has reached a situation where it cannot adequately defend its homeland."

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🎥 Russian specialists are studying the guidance and flight correction system of the US-made ATACMS tactical ballistic missile, an expert told Sputnik.

"There are three ring laser gyroscopes [in the missile's guidance system]. They allow the missile to stay on a configured ballistic trajectory. [There is also] a GPS antenna, thanks to which correction [of the missile] is made at the primary and final stages of the ballistic trajectory. We can analyze the operation of the missile systems at the entire stage of the flight trajectory," the expert said.

The United States began providing ATACMS ballistic missiles to Ukraine in 2023. The missiles are manufactured by Lockheed Martin and have a caliber of 610 millimeters, a length of 4 meters, and a weight of 1.6 tonnes. The flight range of the Block 1 modification is 165 kilometers (102 miles).

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🎥 Party for kids?

Drag queen deliberately pulls kids out of the crowd to dance at Seattle Pride Parade.

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🎥 Watch Russian forces pound New York with FAB-3000 guided bomb

Russian military correspondents have shared a video showing a strike against Ukrainian strongholds in the Donbass town of New York.

The Russian army has been advancing along the front line near the town of Gorlovka for more than a week already, fighting close to Toretsk and storming the town of New York.

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The Russian Federation Council’s Committee on Foreign Affairs has unanimously endorsed suspending the Russian delegation's participation in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), a source told Sputnik.

The decision was made because Russian MPs and senators had faced repeated instances of visa discrimination, being unreasonably denied entry to EU countries to participate in assembly sessions. As a result, the Russian delegation was actually deprived of their voting rights.

Earlier, Russia’s top diplomat, Sergey Lavrov, pointed out that the OSCE was not an organization that Russia could rely on.

The OSCE is a regional intergovernmental organization focused on security, with member states in Europe, North America, and Asia. It was established to encourage greater participation by national parliaments.

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