Russia and US avoid escalation as Washington gets signal from Moscow’s military leadership

Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov has delivered a “signal” to US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, and the sides have managed to avoid another escalation, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said on Sunday.

Belousov and Austin held a phone conversation about the situation in Ukraine on July 25.

"The signal that was sent from the Russian side to Washington and, I take it, not only to Washington but also to some other capitals controlled by Washington, has reached Washington. We have avoided a new escalation," Ryabkov told Russian media.

At the same time, Russia does not rule out the deployment of nuclear-armed missiles in response to the US deployment of long-range missiles in Germany, the deputy foreign minister stressed.

Russia will elaborate on retaliatory military measures towards the US, choosing from a wide range of possible options, Ryabkov added

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❗️Russia's Tsentr Battlegroup liberated the village of Novoselovka Pervaya in the Donetsk People's Republic – Russian Defense Ministry

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❗️Ukraine lost up three tanks, including two Leopards in combat with the Russian Zapad Battlegroup. A US-made Patriot surface-to-air missile system radar station was hit – Russian Defense Ministry

🇷🇺🪖 More statements from the Russian Defense Ministry’s daily briefing on the progress of the special military operation in Ukraine:

▫️ Ukraine lost up to 490 militants in the Russian Zapad Battlegroup's combat zone;

▫️ The Russian Sever Battlegroup struck four enemy brigades, repelled two counterattacks and inflicted losses of up to 190 militants on the Ukrainian Armed Forces;

▫️ Ukraine lost up to 690 militants in battle with the Russian Yug Battlegroup;

▫️ Russian forces hit a fuel depot and a UAV depot of the Ukrainian Armed Forces;

▫️ More than 160 drones, including 82 outside the special military operation zone, were destroyed by air defenses.

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Biden asked Netanyahu to ‘stop bullsh*tting’ him during call on ceasefire talks after Haniyeh killing

Joe Biden asked Benjamin Netanyahu to stop putting him on during their Thursday phone after the Israeli prime minister told him Tel Aviv was preparing to send a delegation to resume talks with Hamas following Wednesday’s assassination of the Palestinian militia’s chief negotiator, Ismail Haniyeh.

“Stop bullsh*tting me,” Biden said, according to Israel’s Channel 12 News. “Don’t take the president for granted,” Biden reportedly added at the end of their conversation.

The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office did not comment on the report, except to say that Netanyahu “does not intervene in American politics and will work with whoever is elected president, and expects Americans to also not intervene in Israeli politics.”

According to the New York Times, Biden told the Israeli leader the Haniyeh killing was “poorly timed,” with Washington seeking an “endgame” to a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release. Axios said Biden communicated to Netanyahu that he should not expect the US to keep bailing Israel out if it continues to escalate tensions in the region.

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75-year-old woman killed in Shebekino when Ukrainian UAV flew into her window

The town near Belgorod was attacked twice on Sunday morning. As a result of the shelling, two men were wounded and a woman was killed, regional Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov reported.

Gladkov said the grounds of a social facility and a residential area were hit by drones.

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Destruction of ageing NATO F-16s delivered to Ukraine will boost Russia's image

Deliveries of ageing F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine will play into Russia's hands and improve its image, and Russian President Vladimir Putin “would savor the image that destroying F-16s from NATO countries would bring,” The Independent reported.

Russia’s Armed Forces will likely “destroy the F-16s on the ground with long-range missiles,” predicted the news site, while Russia’s Su-35 fighter jets would be “one of the biggest threats” to the US-made aircraft, as well as sophisticated air surveillance radars.

Russia’s advanced air defense systems would also make it too risky for Ukraine to try to use the jets to support its troops on the front line, analysts quoted by the website acknowledged.

The fact that Kiev’s pilots have only had a nine-month training “crash course” on flying the F-16, compared to the typical three-year conversion Western pilots receive, also has raised concerns.

Ukraine recently received a handful of F-16s from the Netherlands. Although Europe promised to provide Kiev with more over the next few months, every previous so-called ‘game-changing’ weapon failed to turn the tide, as Russia had an effective countermeasure ready and waiting for each of them.

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Russia has the lowest unemployment rate among G20 countries

Sputnik's analysis of the latest data from the G20 countries showed that Russia had the lowest unemployment rate among the world's largest economies in June.

Russia's Federal State Statistics Service Rosstat reported this week that the unemployment rate hit a historic low of 2.4 percent in June, falling by 0.2 percentage points over the month.

Joblessness rates in other G7 countries were much higher, rising by 0.1 percent to 4.1 percent in the US and Australia, six percent in Germany, seven percent in Italy. In Canada, unemployment increased from 6.2 percent to 6.4 percent.

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Itsy-bitsy living space: what are the world’s smallest apartments?

A ban on building one-room apartments smaller than 301 ft (28 m2) and two-room ones under 474 ft2 (44 m2) has entered force in Russia's capital Moscow.

Shrinking living space can present a threat to demographics, experts claim. While Russia’s demographic policy sets out to promote increased birth rate, not all countries share those concerns. Tiny homes dubbed ‘human anthills,’ ‘coffin homes’ and ‘cage beds’ exist all over the world.

⚡️ Across the US, apartments, particularly rental ones, have been shrinking for the past decade as urban living costs surge. The average size of studio apartments has decreased by 54 ft2 (5 m2), and averages just 445 ft2 (41 m2), according to a RentCafe report. In New York, always expensive to live in, people are ready to live in rooms of 65 ft2 (6 m2), some of which have no bathroom.

⚡️ In the UK, where people have been feeling the pinch of a sky-high cost of living, even Londoners have embraced the micro-apartment trend. The broom-closet size living spaces can range from 200 to 400 ft2 (19 to 37 m2).

⚡️ Tiny revamped studio apartments with minimal facilities – typically the former servants' quarters in large houses – are all the rage in France. These are around 65 to 129 ft2 (6 to 12 m2).

⚡️ Germany has witnessed a micro-apartment boom over the past years amid surging living costs. Such spaces boast a floor area of 215 to 323 ft2 (20 to 30 m2). Students at the University of Kiel and a local charity have turned shipping containers into homes for students and the homeless, rented out at about $320 a month.

⚡️ In Asian countries, with their acute shortage of space, homes of 161 ft2 (15 m2) is the norm. It is estimated that some 200,000 people in China reside in Hong Kong’s ‘coffin homes’, unable to even stretch out their legs fully in apartments of 22 ft2 (2 m2). In Japan’s capital Tokyo, affordable tiny apartments measure 108 ft2 (10 m2).

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Euro 2024 and Taylor Swift spur consumer confidence in Germany amid structural economic problems

German consumers display higher level of confidence, compared to the rest of Eurozone, showed the research by European Commission. The indicator stands at -7.7 points for Germans, while for other Europeans it is -13 points.

🔹 Euro 2024 at work?

“It is highly likely that the euphoria triggered by the European football championship in Germany in large parts of the population plays a role,” Rolf Buerkl from the Nuremberg Institute for Market Decisions told Bloomberg.

According to the most modest estimates, about 2.5 million football fans travelled to Berlin alone, boosting local business.

🔹 Swiftonomics on the March
Consumer confidence surge also could be spurred by Taylor Swift’s concert tour of German cities. Experts long have agreed that the pop singer has an economic impact comparable to the GDP of a small country.

“The seven Taylor Swift concerts increased consumption while not necessitating high state contributions,” stressed economis Christiane von Berg to Bloomberg.

🔹 Grim Outlook

But experts seriously doubt that consumer euphoria will last long, given the severity of German economic problems.

“It remains to be seen whether this effect is sustainable,” cautioned Buerkl.

Currently, Germany faces the highest number of bankruptcies since the summer of 2016, while industrial production plummets. Leading national economic research institutions have lowered the country’s GDP growth forecast from 1.3% to 0.1% for 2024.

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British troops living in moldy, rat-infested housing as top brass sits on multi-million pound pensions

The UK’s Armed Forces are facing a new scandal amid revelations that top defense officials have seen their pensions hiked by as much as 50% with their nest-eggs ballooning to over £11 million (about $14 million) as the military faces equipment shortfalls and a recruitment crisis, and many military families are forced to live in unsanitary and dangerous housing.

Armed Forces chief Admiral Sir Tony Radakin alone is in line to receive a pension worth some £4.5 million ($5.76 million) “the biggest public sector pot ever,” The Daily Mail calculated, including a £470,000 ($602,000) cash payout when the 57-year-old retires.

Ministry of Defense Permanent Secretary David Williams, the government’s principle civilian advisor on defense, has a pension coming to him of nearly £2 million ($2.56 million). His job, incidentally, includes a responsibility for finances and planning as the MOD’s departmental accounting officer, including “personal accountability to Parliament for the economic, efficient and effective use of defense resources.”

Poor housing, with mold, rat and other pest infestations and maintenance issues adds to a series of other problems ranging from a recruitment crisis and weapons shortages to reports the armed forces have been “hollowed out” – partly by the transfer of equipment to Ukraine.

Britain lost its status as a “top-tier” military thanks to budget shortfalls and due to the gifting of equipment to Ukraine “with no plans to replace [it],” defense sources told the media last year.

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