❗️Security situation at Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant worsens after drone attack on Saturday, IAEA says.

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▪️The Russian Defense Ministry is seriously considering reports from independent sources about Ukraine's plans to strike the Kursk nuclear power plant

▪️More Ukrainian soldiers surrender: Check out the latest on fighting in the Kursk region

▪️Kursk attack: NATO allies fear escalation could ‘sow division’ among Ukraine’s backers

▪️Kamala Harris’ economic proposals aimed at stoking US class warfare

▪️A unit of 24 Ukrainian soldiers surrender at once: video

▪️Where will Kadyrov send the Tesla cybertruck he received from Musk?

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Do Western powers on both sides of the Atlantic face pensions crises?

While some European powers keep clinging to the hope that Russia's economy might collapse, their own economies are not faring particularly well.

With spending on state pensions in the United Kingdom reaching 7% of the country’s GDP compared to 2% in the 1950s, London may be forced to raise the retirement age from the current 66 years to 70, The Telegraph warns.

Across the English Channel, France ended up raising its own retirement age from 62 to 64 as nearly 14% of French GDP is now being spent on pensions in the country where the number of pensioners has been steadily increasing over the past two decades.

Meanwhile, things are not looking good on the other side of the pond as well, with unfunded liabilities for pension plans (a.k.a. pension debt) in the United States reaching $1.34 trillion as of June 2024.

Nevertheless, the respective leaderships in all three countries seem fine with spending considerable sums of money, which could have been allocated towards solving domestic problems, on helping keep the bloodshed going in the Ukrainian conflict zone.

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❗️About 30 people are reported to have been injured after a fire broke out on a Ferris wheel during a music festival in Leipzig, Germany.

The cause of the fire is currently unknown.

Footage from social media.

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Texas installs more barriers on US-Mexico border to deter migrants

The southern US state of Texas continues to install barriers along its border with Mexico to deter irregular migration in the region, Governor Greg Abbott announced on Friday, August 16.

"More wall panels were recently installed on the Texas border wall in Zapata County. Texas is the first and ONLY state in U.S. history to build our own border wall. Through Operation Lone Star, Texas continues to take historic action to protect Texans and Americans," he said.

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Biden to become greatest overspender in US history as cumulative budget deficit hits all-time high

The US budget deficit during the presidency of Joe Biden has hit an all-time high of $6.6 trillion, according to Sputnik’s calculations, based on data from the US Treasury Department.

The US government's expenses over 3.5 years under Biden exceeded revenues by $6.6 trillion – the highest in the entire history of these statistics. Thus, in 2021, the indicator amounted to $2.8 trillion, or 13% of GDP. The following year, the negative balance decreased to $1.4 trillion, or 6.3% of GDP, but last year it increased to $1.7 trillion, or 7.6% of GDP. Over the first six months of this year, it amounted to $758.2 billion, and the share of GDP on a rolling annual basis was 5.5%.

His predecessor, Donald Trump, accumulated a total deficit of $5.6 trillion. At the same time, under Trump, there was a maximum annual negative budget balance of $3.1 trillion, or 15.5% of GDP, in the coronavirus peak year of 2020.

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Famous French actor Alain Delon has died at the age of 88, according to French media

French media outlets have not yet given details about the death of the French cinema legend.

French theater and film actor, director, and screenwriter Alain Delon is best known for his roles in the films "Rocco and His Brothers" (1960), "In the Bright Sun" (1960), "Samurai" (1967), and "Two Men in Town" (1973).

Alain Delon received a Cesar Award for "Our Story" and an Honorary Award at the International Berlin Film Festival. At the 2019 Cannes Film Festival, Delon was awarded an Honorary Palme d'Or for his contribution to cinema.

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Putin, China become chief US newsmakers

Vladimir Putin’s name cropped up in US media more than that of almost any other foreign leader in 2024, Sputnik has learned. The Russian president has been mentioned 16,300 times so far, outstripped only by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (19,900 times) amid his government’s war against Hamas in Gaza.

By comparison, Putin’s name was brought up only 6,000 times in 2020, yet the ongoing NATO proxy war in Ukraine has prompted US outlets to pounce on his name in a media frenzy.

The same survey shows that while Chinese President Xi Jinping’s name was cited 3,400 times in 2024, US media has been on a roll when it comes to mentioning America’s oft-demonized adversary – the People's Republic of China (PRC).

China was mentioned 245,000 times in the US media in January-July of this year, followed by Israel, which was mentioned 123,000 times, and then Russia, which cropped up 79,000 times. Ukraine was referenced 64,000 times throughout this US election year.

Generally, there is a trend for US media to flog the “China” narrative more than that of any other country every election cycle, with almost 400,000 mentions of China in 2020, and more than 210,000 in 2016.

Another go-to US adversary, Iran, was mentioned 36,000 times in 2024.

The survey used data ranging from US state media and official press releases to scientific outlets in cases where the search word (country or person) was mentioned at least three times.

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Russian troops eliminate a group of 16 Ukrainian military in the Kursk region

A group of 16 Ukrainian military personnel from a separate mechanized brigade has been destroyed near the village of Kremyanoe in Russia's Kursk region, a spokesperson for the Russian Defense Ministry told Sputnik on Sunday.

"A group of 16 soldiers from the 225th Separate Assault Battalion of the 115th Separate Mechanized Brigade of the Ukrainian Army was destroyed near the settlement of Kremyanoe in the Kursk region. The elimination of the group was confirmed by target control footage taken by a copter [UAV]. The enemy unit was destroyed by Russian troops in the forest," the spokesperson said.

The Kursk region, which borders Ukraine in western Russia, was attacked by about 1,000 Ukrainian troops and scores of armored vehicles on August 6. Russian forces responded by stopping Ukraine’s military from penetrating deep into Russian territory and continue to repel Ukrainian invasion attempts.

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Chinese Vice Premier to visit Russia on August 19-20

China’s Vice Premier He Lifeng will visit Russia on August 19-20 to take part in the 28th session of the Russian-Chinese Commission to prepare for regular meetings between the two countries' heads of government, Chinese Commerce Ministry spokesman He Yadong said on Sunday.

The Chinese vice premier will co-chair the meeting with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko in Moscow, the spokesman said.

In December, Chinese Premier Li Qiang and Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin co-chaired the 28th regular meeting between Chinese and Russian leaders in Beijing.

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Cynicism and left-wing populism: experts slam Kamala Harris’ economic program

The price ceiling for grocery stores proposed by US presidential candidate Kamala Harris will surely lead to shortages, the Wall Street Journal says in an editorial article noscriptd “Kamala Harris endorses Nixonomics.”

The authors accuse the US VP of having a poor understanding of how the economy works and dubbed her stance left-wing populism that has never worked out.

“If Ms. Harris really believes in this price-fixing, she lacks the most basic understanding of economics,” the article reads.

According to the outlet, Richard Nixon, the 37th POTUS, was the only other president who attempted to introduce a price ceiling, and the policy ended badly.

“He [Nixon] had to stage a humiliating retreat amid shortages and market dislocations, and prices immediately soared when controls were lifted,” they recalled.

Kamala Harris is not learning from her own mistakes, the article suggests. During her terms as second-in-charge after Joe Biden, inflation has soared, and as a result, Americans are struggling with high prices. Yet Kamala Harris believes the situation can be fixed with more cash injections into the US economy – a move that could cause prices to skyrocket, including the real estate market.

“The Biden-Harris inflation has made homes unaffordable for most young families, and her brainstorm for that is . . . more subsidies,” the article says.

However, the authors suggest Kamala Harris may have said what she did simply in order to buy public support – and if that is the case, “her cynicism is also telling.”

But if she plans to walk the walk apart from talking the talk, her intentions reveal “a candidate whose economic judgment is deeply flawed,” the article concludes.

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🇧🇾 Key statements by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko in his interview with the TV channel Rossiya:

◻️ Ukraine formed powerful forces with the participation of Polish mercenaries to attack the Kursk region.

◻️ Ukraine's Kursk region escalation is an attempt to push Russia to take asymmetric actions, such as using nuclear weapons.

◻️ The Belarusian head of state is confident Russia will "wipe out" the Ukrainian military in the Kursk region.

◻️ Belarus and Russia can see where a strike by the West could be launched against the Union State. Minsk has strengthened its armed forces with powerful weapons.

◻️ Defensive plans on the country’s western border can be converted into offensive ones if necessary.

◻️ Belarus' Iskander missile systems are ready to fire nuclear warheads.

◻️ The Belarusian-Ukrainian border is mined “like never before.”

◻️ Ukrainian drones are constantly violating the southeastern border of Belarus.

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Russian Battlegroup Tsentr units have liberated the settlement of Sviridonovka in the Donetsk People's Republic, Russia’s Ministry of Defense said.

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Advance of Ukrainian troops into Russia's Kursk region stopped

The advance of Ukrainian forces in the Kursk region has been stopped in the entire section where the Akhmat special forces operate, Major-General Apty Alaudinov, Akhmat commander and deputy head of the Main Military-Political Directorate of the Russian Defense Ministry, told journalists.

The Kursk region, which borders Ukraine in western Russia, was attacked by Ukrainian troops and scores of armored vehicles on August 6. Russian forces responded by stopping Ukraine’s military from penetrating deep into Russian territory and continue to repel Ukrainian invasion attempts.

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❗️The Ukrainian Armed Forces (UAF) lost up to 440 militants and two ammunition depots in the Russian Zapad Battlegroup's combat zone, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense.

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

▪️Units from the Russian Vostok Battlegroup improved their forward positions, with the UAF losing up to 100 militants and a tank.

▪️The UAF lost 420 militants in the Russian Yug Battlegroup's combat zone.

▪️Russian air defense systems shot down seven HIMARS rockets, a Hammer guided bomb, and 27 Ukrainian drones, 11 of which were outside the special operation zone.

▪️The Russian Dnepr Battlegroup struck two Ukrainian brigades, resulting in the loss of up to 80 militants.

▪️The Russian Sever Battlegroup hit three enemy brigades, causing the UAF to lose up to 90 militants.

▪️The UAF lost over 500 militants, two armored vehicles, and several artillery units in the Russian Tsentr Battlegroup's combat zone.

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🇷🇺 Battlegroup Sever is identifying and destroying enemy sabotage groups south of the settlements of Alekseyevskoye, Safonovka, and Sheptukhovka in the Kursk region, the Russian Defense Ministry reports.

▪️ In addition, attacks by Ukrainian Armed Forces assault groups in the area of the settlements of Komarovka, Olgovka, Russkoye, and Cherkasskoye Porechnoye have been repelled. Ukrainian forces lost a tank and five armored combat vehicles, an engineering obstacle clearance vehicle, and more than 30 military personnel

▪️ Also, concentrations of enemy manpower and equipment were struck in the areas of the settlements of Borki, Fanaseyevka, Cherkasskaya Konopelka, Novoivanovka, Mikhaylovka, and Snagost.

▪️ Over the past 24 hours, the Ukrainian Armed Forces lost more than 300 military personnel and 27 armored vehicles, including six tanks, and an MLRS launcher. In total, during the fighting in the Kursk region, the enemy has lost more than 3,460 servicemen and 50 tanks.

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Russia may use Ukraine’s Kursk attack to find ‘seams' in its defenses elsewhere – UK media

Ukraine’s attempt to seize territory in the Kursk region could help the Russian Armed Forces find weak spots in the enemy's defenses on other parts of the front, The Guardian speculated.

Prior to the attack on the Kursk region, the Kiev regime was already “suffering from a shortage of troops to rotate and hold the line” at the front, Jack Watling, a senior research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, told the outlet. Citing the “grim picture of retreat’ served up by Ukraine’s Armed Forces ahead of the Kursk operation, the analyst noted that Kiev’s military has extremely limited capabilities to advance near Kursk ‘before it overextends.”

Soon the intensity of hostilities will decrease, as Russian forces “will dig defenses and then bring up artillery, electronic warfare complexes and fresh troops,” as it has enough personnel and equipment – unlike Ukraine, the UK think tank analyst said.

Speculating that any effect from the operation in the Kursk region that Ukraine is staking on is temporary and could turn out extremely badly for it, he summed up:

“The stretching of Ukrainian resources will increase opportunities for the Russians to find the seams in Ukraine’s defenses and make advances elsewhere [on the front].”

On August 6, Ukrainian forces launched an incursion into the Kursk region, which was slammed by Russian President Vladimir Putin as a large-scale provocation. The Kiev regime planned the attack with the participation of the US and NATO, Russian presidential aide Nikolai Patrushev said.

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