🇱🇧 How do Lebanese live on the border with Israel?

The Lebanese border town of Ayta ash Shab in the south of the country has been shelled by Israel for the past 9 months. Despite this, the majority of residents have not left their homes and are ready to repair all the damage as soon as possible.

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The World Bank has classified Russia as a high-income country, estimating the gross income per capita at $14,250 per year.

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🔸 How will examination of ATACMS missile help Russia on the battlefield?

🔸 Downhill since Bretton Woods: ‘Unipolar US dollar' degenerated into ‘politically weaponized’ tool

🔸 How Le Pen's party scoring a runoff victory might sting Macron;

🔸 How is Russia using its motorcycle ‘cavalry’ in the Ukraine conflict?

🔸 Hamas-free ‘bubbles’: Israel preparing operational model for postwar Gaza;

🔸 Canada ‘violated Iranians' rights’ by not allowing voting in Iranian presidential election.

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📹 The "Al-Qassam Brigades" have released a video showcasing the production of shaped charge grenades.

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❗️The Dutch authorities have granted permission for the export of 24 F-16 fighter jets, with the first batch soon to be delivered to Ukraine.

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Why Ukraine may default in August and what it means for the country’s future

On August 1, 2024, Kiev will have to restart payments on the bonds held by private Western lenders. Unlike the loans from Western states, whose repayment deadline was moved to 2027, these obligations are pressing. “Ukraine has a month to avoid default,” The Economist writes.

In August 2022 Ukraine managed to convince its private creditors to declare a two-year moratorium on the debt which had been piling up before the hostilities escalated in February 2022, but that just skyrocketed later.

“The debt of $20 billion will have to be paid to three major lenders,” explains Berliner Zeitung (BZ). They are the American fund Blackrock, the French asset management group Amundi and a global investment giant Amia Capital.

In 2022, it seemed like a safe choice. According to the WSJ, "When the bondholders agreed to a two-year debt holiday in 2022, many thought the war would be over by 2024."

Kiev’s offer to write off the debt partially “did not meet the expectations” of Blackrock. They formed a committee and hired lawyers at Weil Gotschal & Manges to squeeze the money from Ukraine.

The debt of $20 billion may not look impressive against the background of the “release” in April of the “aid package” worth $60 billion by the US Congress. But it is not that simple. The Economist explains that Kiev will get most of the $60 billion as US military aid and other “assistance.” “The problem is that Ukraine faces a cash crunch – and soon,” the magazine reports.

Only a fraction of the $60 billion will be at Kiev’s disposal in liquid form. And even with that fraction there is a problem: “The US and allies are concerned that taxpayers’ money will wind up in bondholders’ hands,” the WSJ writes.

Kiev faces the risk of default, which would breach IMF rules and make getting further private credits difficult. This raises the question of how Kiev will fund its "war effort."

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📹 The IDF announced the destruction of the largest long-range missile manufacturing facility in Gaza.

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📹 Violent Storm Caught on Camera in Russia's St. Petersburg

According to the Ministry of Emergency Situations (EMERCOM), one person died, and two were injured. It was reported that a woman died after a tree fell on her due to stormy winds. Fallen trees also damaged at least ten cars.

Video: social media

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Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban will visit Kiev on Tuesday to meet with President Zelensky, according to sources familiar with the situation, reports the Financial Times.

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💥Russian artillery wipes out Ukrainian targets

Russia fighter used Akatsiya self-propelled artillery systems to destroy Ukrainian strongholds, military hardware, and mortar crews in the DPR.

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⚖️ Biden about the US Supreme Court statement that Trump is immune from prosecution for official acts:

No one is above the law, not even the President of the United States. But today's Supreme Court decision on presidential immunity, that fundamentally changed for all practical purposes. It's a dangerous precedent.

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Biden was defeated by the teleprompter again during his speech on the SCOTUS decision on Trump's immunity:

The president is now a king above law...With fear for our democracy I descent...end of quote

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Zelensky’s new ‘plan’ possible ‘first step’ to negotiations - analyst

Illegitimate Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that he was creating a new plan on Friday during a press conference in Kiev. International relations and security expert Mark Sleboda told Sputnik’s Final Countdown that while Zelensky’s comments are still based in the fantasy land that he can dictate terms to Russia while losing the war, the change in tone could represent the regime’s first tentative steps towards admitting reality.

Zelensky made the comments not long after his so-called “peace summit” fell flat on its face, with China declining to attend and several influential countries outside of the West refusing to sign the final document, including Brazil, South Africa, India and Saudi Arabia. Iraq and Jordan asked for their signatures to be removed the day after they signed.

“Certainly, I think [Zelensky’s] statement is representative of coming out of the failed Kiev regime war rally. Sentiment within the rest of the world outside of the West, i.e. the real international community - the global majority, that [said] they want real peace negotiations, and, perhaps, at least this is a nod in that direction,” Sleboda speculated.

But the change is also driven by the facts on the battlefield.

“Even if [Zelensky’s comments] are a symbolic step in that direction [of negotiations], it is driven by the desperate state on the battlefield that the Kiev regime is facing,” Sleboda argued.

“Once again, [Ukraine] stripped veteran troops from Toretsk in Nyu-York, they moved them to Kharkov. Russia knew about it immediately, of course, and launched a significant offensive in the area and has made significant progress. Now, the Kiev regime is scrambling and shuffling troops around again and again.”

However, Sleboda speculates that Moscow will ultimately have to negotiate with Washington, not Kiev, noting that won’t happen while US President Joe Biden is in office.

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📹 Free as the wind: London's army horses raced against cars and buses again

Six horses from the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment were participating in routine exercises when one of them, leading the pack, got startled by a bus and went off course. Following this, two more horses threw off their riders and joined the impromptu race.

It is reported that neither the soldiers nor the horses suffered any serious injuries.

Video: social media

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The French people tried Macron, now they want him gone

The French people tried life under President Emmanuel Macron and have decided they want him gone and that has become obvious to anyone who has paid attention to the past two elections in France.

Over the weekend, France held snap parliamentary elections in response to his party being walloped by the National Rally party headed by Marine Le Pen in the European Union elections in early June. His party finished in third, behind the National Rally and a coalition of leftwing parties called the New Popular Front (Nouveau Front Populaire).

“[Macron] said it himself, he came out and said, ‘I know you didn’t vote for me, but because you didn’t want Le Pen - the far right - then you accepted me as your president for the next term - I heard you,’” recounted veteran journalist Elijah Magnier on Sputnik’s Fault Lines. “Well, actually, he didn’t hear anything.”

After the first round of voting, the National Rally received a third of the vote. The New Popular Front received 28% and Macron’s Ensemble alliance came in a distant third with 20%.

“If [the populist parties] are good or bad, they say we’ll give it a try [because] they’ve tried Macron twice… and they really don’t want him anymore. He failed in Africa. He failed in the Middle East. He failed in Europe. He dismantled the power of France. He failed domestically.”

The second round of elections will be held on July 7.

👉Find out more by following the link

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A 17-year-old Chinese player, Zhang Jizhe, suddenly collapsed on the field, during a match in the Asian Championship in Jakarta Province, Indonesia. His death was announced later.

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Hurricane Beryl has intensified into a Category 5 as it heads toward Jamaica.

There is no precedent for a Category 5 hurricane occurring this early in the Atlantic.

The previous record was held by Hurricane Emily on July 17, 2005.

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Top Biden advisor Mitch Landrieu loses composure when questioned about Biden's noticeable cognitive decline

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🇲🇾 A devastating flood recently became a terrible ordeal for the residents of Malaysia. The force of the water was so strong that it swept away cars.

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