How did they know about shooting bid but failed to stop it?

The US Secret Service learned back in June that Iran was allegedly preparing an assassination attempt on former president Donald Trump. After that, the ex-president’s security was reinforced with drones, robot dogs and anti-assault and counter-sniper teams, CBS reports.

But how they still failed to stop Saturday’s assassination attempt on Trump the news network did not say. Iran has rejected all accusations against it as “baseless and biased.”

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Russia is ready for talks on Ukraine and European security issues, Russian FM Sergey Lavrov said.

However, according to him, Moscow will insist on including safeguards against double interpretation in any future European security agreement.

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❗️Key statements from Russian FM Sergey Lavrov's press conference after the UNSC meeting:

◻️ Russia does not interfere in the affairs of other states, including the USA, Lavrov said.

◻️ Russia and the US have engaged in undisclosed "second-track" contacts involving political analysts, discussing issues related to the conflict in Ukraine.

◻️ Russia will be ready to work with any US president chosen by the American people, he stated.

◻️ It was under Trump that the sanctions war against Russia began, but dialogue between Moscow and Washington continued, Lavrov noted.

◻️ Lavrov pointed out the double standards of UN representatives regarding the situations in Gaza and Ukraine.

◻️ The resolution of the conflict in Ukraine must take into account the realities on the ground, he emphasized.

◻️ The West must stop supplying Ukraine with weapons, and then the conflict will end, Lavrov asserted.

◻️ Russia will seek the truth regarding the Nord Stream sabotage, Lavrov said.

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Migrants are still being relocated en masse from Paris to other parts of France ahead of the Olympic Games, according to posts online sharing the footage.

Earlier, the media reported that thousands of homeless people, including many from Africa, were put on buses and taken out of the capital. They were promised housing elsewhere but were ultimately abandoned on unfamiliar streets and threatened with deportation.

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Will European powers return to Afghanistan and recognize the Taliban?

Several European countries could reopen their embassies in Afghanistan — thereby establishing diplomatic relations with the Taliban*, Bloomberg reported quoting un-named sources.

"After the disastrous retreat of the US, a certain European interest in Afghanistan has been reborn, an interest currently mainly oriented towards the reconstruction of the country,” Tiberio Graziani, chairman of Rome-based think tank Vision and Global Trends, told Sputnik. “Rome and Madrid aspire to play a greater role in international dynamics."

Italian intelligence services reportedly made a "reconnaissance mission" in Kabul in the past few weeks, according to Bloomberg.

"In particular, Rome shows a particular interest in Central Asia," Graziani said. "Afghanistan borders three countries in the Central Asian region: Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan. Italy therefore has every interest in facilitating relations between these countries and Afghanistan, both for security and economic reasons.”

Graziani believes that rapprochement between Kabul and European capitals is possible, arguing that Europe wants to draw Afghanistan away from Russia and China's sphere of interest.

In May, Moscow signaled it may de-list the Taliban as a terrorist organization, paving the way for the recognition of the new Afghan government and deepening economic, political and security ties with the country. The movement maintains "real power" in Afghanistan and recognizing that fact reflects the reality on the ground, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated at the time.

Earlier this year China became the first country to accredit a Taliban-nominated official as Afghanistan's ambassador to Beijing. International observers noted that the move was still short of formal diplomatic recognition, but showed a trend of growing engagement between Kabul and Beijing.

*Under UN sanctions for terrorist activities

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The media released new footage of the Secret Service rushing Trump to a car after the assassination attempt.

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With friends like these: What’s known about US nonprofit Ford Foundation accused of funding Kenya unrest

Kenya has been engulfed in mass protests over proposed tax reforms. On Monday, President William Ruto, a key US ally in Africa, accused the Ford Foundation, a leading American philanthropic organization, of funding forces behind the unrest. Here’s what we know about it.

🔸 Created in 1936 by Henry Ford in response to FDR’s 70% taxation scheme on large inheritances, the NYC-based foundation initially limited its activities to the US, providing funding for the Henry Ford Hospital, the Henry Ford Museum, and the National Educational Television (NET) broadcaster.

🔸 In 1952, the foundation opened its first foreign office in New Delhi, India, providing grants for NGOs and educational institutions, social research and 'leadership training'.

🔸 During the Cold War, the foundation served as what US sociology professor James Petras has described as a “CIA front,” providing grants to the US intelligence cutout Congress for Cultural Freedom, and sponsoring the NYC-based Russian-language Chekhov Publishing House.

🔸 The Ford Foundation entered Eastern Europe and the ex-Soviet space in the 1980s and 1990s, ostensibly to ‘promote democratic and economic reforms’.

🔸 The foundation has been active in developing countries as well, providing seed money for Muhammad Yunus’s microcredit scheme in Bangladesh, and supporting LGBTQ+ rights in Uganda, getting a reprimand from President Yoweri Museveni in 2019 for “funding activities that are against our culture and values.”

🔸In Nigeria, the foundation was attacked in 2021 for its alleged role funding separatists and “attempting to destabilize the country by fueling division,” as then-Minister of Information Lai Mohammed put it.

🔸 In South Africa in 2017, then-President Jacob Zuma accused the foundation of pursuing a “political agenda” and of providing “financial support to opposition groups and NGOs that are working tirelessly to destabilize our government.”

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🇷🇺🇨🇳 How Russian-Chinese military cooperation can help Beijing battle collective West

A US Congressional committee’s recently expressed concerns about possible Russian-Chinese information sharing on how to defeat US arms based on Russia's experiences in Ukraine and the West’s efforts to pressure Beijing using the same weapons types in its backyard is understandable, Bureau of Military-Political Analysis chief Alexander Mikhailov has told Sputnik.

“It’s no secret that America and its allies plan to exert military pressure on China and prevent it from expanding its influence throughout the Asia-Pacific region. Therefore, China now has a great opportunity to study the combat capabilities, tactical and technical characteristics of US-made equipment [used by the Kiev regime], and those NATO standards that the alliance is constantly talking about being guided by in its military support for Ukraine,” Mikhailov explained.

In Ukraine, China can observe almost every facet of NATO’s non-nuclear or aviation-related tactics and equipment, and Moscow doesn’t need to explicitly hand information over, Mikhailov says.

Presidents Putin and Xi agreed to strengthen military cooperation in May. Russia and China have already enjoyed decades of defense cooperation, including:

◻️ technology transfers by Russia (particularly in the 1990s and 2000s after the Soviet collapse),

◻️ cooperation at multilateral venues, including through the Shanghai Cooperation Organization,

◻️ joint training and patrols by the Russian and Chinese navies,

◻️ and that’s not to mention the energy, industrial, and logistics partnerships, Mikhailov says.

◻️ The powers now have the opportunity to expand cooperation in space, through things like a joint lunar program, joint orbital satellite groupings, and cooperation in the nuclear sphere, according to the observer.

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Russia’s three-ton FAB-3000 bombs powerful enough to saturate 11 football fields with explosion

“FAB-3000 bombs have an explosive charge of about one and a half tons,” Russian defense conglomerate Rostec has told Sputnik. “In terms of territory, such a bomb, in the absence of significant obstacles to the damaging factors of the explosion, can cover 11 football fields.”

Developed during the Soviet period and fitted with dumb-to-smart bomb ‘Universal Planning and Correction Modules’, the FAB series of heavy air-dropped bombs (FAB is the Russian acronym for ‘High-Explosive Aviation Bomb’) are designed to target everything from troop and vehicle concentrations to bunkers, underground structures, airfields and fortified industrial areas.

The weapons proved highly effective earlier this year during the Russian military’s push to punch through heavily fortified Ukrainian defenses in the Donbass.

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Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova on the incident with shouters during the UN Security Council meeting:

"After the Israeli Ambassador to the UN concluded his speech during the Security Council meeting on the Middle East, including the Palestinian issue, several people in the gallery, usually occupied by journalists and guests, started yelling loudly," she said.

"Half of the audience thought the shouts were in support of Palestine, while the other half believed they were about the release of Israeli hostages. If you think troublemakers had stormed the UN headquarters, you are mistaken. It turned out these were claqueurs specially invited by the Israeli delegation. This was confirmed by the UN Secretariat, which referred to the troublemakers as 'guests of the Israeli delegation.' The action ended up not just being foolish but achieving the opposite effect – many mistook them for pro-Palestinian activists," Zakharova stated.

"The behavior of the Israeli delegation at the UN has long raised questions among many: the staff of this country's mission regularly turn diplomatic work into a farce," she added.

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◻️ US Intel’s attempt to 'scapegoat' Iran with Trump assassination plot claim smells like Iraqi WMDs 2.0

◻️ How Russian-Chinese military cooperation can help Beijing battle collective West

◻️ Will European powers return to Afghanistan and recognize the Taliban?

◻️ NATO moves to sink its tendrils into MidEast by opening office in Jordan

◻️ Russia’s three-ton FAB-3000 bombs powerful enough to saturate 11 football fields with explosion

◻️ Financial Trojan Horse: Soros' Open Society Foundations stealthy sneaking into Global South

◻️ With friends like these: What’s known about US nonprofit Ford Foundation accused of funding Kenya unrest

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Hungary and Russia seek legal solutions to resume oil supply bypassing Ukrainian sanctions

Hungary and Russia are collaborating to restore oil deliveries following Ukraine's sanctions against Russia’s Lukoil, which prevent the company from using Ukraine as a transit route.

"There is now a legal situation in Ukraine on the basis of which Lukoil is currently not delivering to Hungary," Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto stated after his meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Tuesday. "Now we're working on a legal solution."

Since 2018, Lukoil has faced measures by Ukraine that restrict capital withdrawals, trade transactions and participation in the privatization or leasing of state property. In June 2024, Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council further tightened those sanctions, effectively banning Lukoil from transiting oil through Ukraine.

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US Army contracting personnel bungled their reviews of 53 invoices last year worth $20 million on a contract dealing with Ukraine and also approved improper payments, the Defense Department Inspector General said in a new report on Wednesday.

"During our audit of the RDC‑U [Remote Maintenance and Distribution - Ukraine] contract, we identified that Army contracting personnel did not properly review 53 contractor invoices as of July 26, 2023, totaling $20 million, to ensure compliance with the contract, despite established requirements and best practices to review invoices," the report said.

The problems occurred because the contracting officer inappropriately waived the contracting officer's representative review and approval of invoices, the report said.

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BRICS should be a radical revolutionary step to overthrow the Western-oriented international order - expert

Speaking to Sputnik, Pramod Rai, Research Fellow at the Centre for Central Eurasian Studies, Mumbai University and Assistant Professor of Political Science at Raja Rammohun Roy Mahavidyalata, Hooghly, West Bengal, shared his views on the building new world order, future of Eurasian cooperation and the new multilateral-multipolar global order.

"BRICS+ in 2024 unites 45% of the earth’s land, 46% of the global population, approximately 46% of the global GDP, not less than 25% of global trade, 32% of the world output of natural gas, 43% of crude reserves, and 38% global petroleum imports. BRICS as an Organization is on an evolutionary processes of building new world order through, which is of course inclusive and without confrontation. There’s debate going on that BRICS should be a radical revolutionary step to oust the present West oriented international order. In my view, although the BRICS has been emerging as a trusted Organization, where the desire for its membership is growing, especially from the countries of global south; it still has to do much to demonstrate its full capabilities and rationality. Of course, the biggest challenge for the BRICS is not to follow or become the typical western model and mechanisms in its functioning. Not only expanding through numbers, but showing the pragmatism and getting results should be the highest goal at the present juncture,” Pramod Rai said.

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How US blue states expose minors to gruesome gender experiments

This week, Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom of California signed a law that ensures schools can't require teachers and staff to notify parents of their children's sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression. California is now the first state to implement such a policy.

Republicans have criticized sex reassignment surgery for minors as "irreversible mutilation" and accuse blue states of causing harm to American families.

The American College of Pediatricians (ACPeds) and a number of other healthcare organizations concluded in February that "gender-affirming" therapies did not benefit youth and left deep psychological scars.

What gender policies do blue states promote?

◻️ In April, Maine passed the LD 227 bill aimed at protecting abortion and gender transition surgeons from lawsuits when providing services to minors. The bill was signed into law by Governor Janet Mills on April 22nd.

◻️ In July 2023, Governor Kotek of Oregon signed House Bill (HB) 2002 into law, requiring Medicaid and private insurance companies to cover procedures deemed medically necessary by healthcare providers including abortion and sex reassignment surgeries. In Oregon, the medical age of consent is 15, meaning parental consent is not required.

◻️ By June 2023 over a dozen of Democratic states, including Illinois, New Mexico, Colorado, Washington state and Vermont declared themselves "havens" for health care providers, who provide sex reassignment surgeries, and shield transgender people and their supporters from lawsuits and criminal penalties.

◻️ In May 2023 Governor Jay Inslee of Washington state signed Senate Bill (SB) 5599 into law to "protect" transgender children from what it called the intervention of estranged parents. Prior to that, Washington state required organizations providing services to homeless or runaway minors to notify their parents of their location within 72 hours.

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Vaccine contract secrecy puts von der Leyen’s leadership in jeopardy

The EU General Court ruled today that the European Commission chaired by Ursula von der Leyen withheld crucial information about COVID-19 vaccine purchase agreements with pharmaceutical firms during the pandemic.

The verdict arrives just as von der Leyen faces a potential battle for re-election as European Commission president, requiring the votes 361 out of the 720 members of the European Parliament.

According to the European Court of Auditors, the Commission signed contracts worth €71 billion for up to 4.6 billion vaccine doses.
Von der Leyen’s husband Heiko is a director at Orgenesis, a biotech company owned by vaccine-maker Pfizer.

The Commission president’s decision to centralize control of COVID-19 vaccine procurement for all 27 EU member states drew criticism, even from former Belgian prime minister and senior MEP Guy Verhofstadt.

The Commission’s refusal to fully disclose contract details, claiming commercial interests and privacy concerns, led to legal action by Green MEPs. Ironically, von der Leyen has sought support from the Greens.

"It is important that the court has confirmed the importance of proper justifications for protecting commercial interests," said Green MEP Tilly Metz, stressing the ruling's significance for future joint procurements in health and defense.

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