Elon Musk comments on Biden's jibe about "smacking" Republicans "in the ass"
 
"He called me ‘gay’* and now he wants to touch my ass 🤣🤣🥲🥲," he writes on X.
 
*LGBT movement is banned in Russia as extremist.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🔸Key takeaways from Sergey Lavrov’s interview on the BRICS summit outcomes

🔸UK journalist praises US citizen's aid to Russian forces as heroic feat

🔸US bombers arrive in Middle East – CENTCOM

🔸Harris' contradictory ads tailored for votes

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Commander of Hezbollah rockets array eliminated - IDF

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said that it had eliminated the commander of the Hezbollah Nasser unit's missiles and rockets array, Jaafar Khader Faour, by a precision strike on southern Lebanon.

"An IAF [Israeli Air Force] fighter jet conducted a targeted strike in the area of Jouaiyya in southern Lebanon and eliminated the commander of Hezbollah's Nasser Unit missiles and rockets array, the terrorist Jaafar Khader Faour, as well as the commander of the drones array in the unit," the IDF wrote on X.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

😡Farmers slam UK Environmental Secretary for his £420 wellies
 
Against the background of increasing inheritance tax for farmers, the British people are chastizing the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Steve Reed, for his choice of boots: he wore not ordinary wellies but leather-lined Le Chameau “Chasseur” boots, priced at a whopping £420, the Telegraph reports.
 
At the same time, among the directors of Le Chameau is a donor who has pledged tens of thousands of pounds to Labour ministers, including the prime minister himself.
 

"Reed’s boots have become a symbol of a government completely detached from rural reality," the newspaper writes.

 
Agricultural workers did not appreciate the minister's attempts to be close to the people amid the cuts in benefits for farmers under the new budget of the British government.
 

“You’ll never see a farmer who wears £400 wellies, because we’re getting them covered in muck every day,” says Aled Thomas, a farmer and Conservative councillor in Pembrokeshire, Wales.

 

“They’re absolutely not the kind of wellies a farmer would wear,” says Andrew Court, a farmer from Staffordshire. “Anything above £100 is not really appropriate for farming. If you want to make the right impression with people, you probably want a more practical, down-to-earth welly.”

 
Earlier, the chancellor announced plans to scale back the agricultural relief on land valued at more than £1mln.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇻🇪US elections: What should Venezuela expect?
 
The US approach to Venezuela could follow a line of continuity regardless of who wins the election, Sergio Rodríguez Gelfenstein, expert in international and global relations, told Sputnik.
 
🔴 Trump's possible policy:
 
However, Donald Trump could open a “little window of opportunity” for Venezuela, Gelfenstein believes.
 
This possible opening does not arise from a change in perception towards Venezuela but rather from Trump's pragmatic nature, who, as a businessman, makes decisions based on immediate economic interests.
 
As per Gelfenstein, Venezuela could be seen by Trump as an attractive option due to its geographical proximity and the possibility it provides for the US to obtain oil without incurring high military security costs.
 
🔵 Kamala Harris' approach:
 
As for Kamala Harris, Gelfenstein foresees continuity without major changes in the policy towards Venezuela.
 
In his opinion, Harris would probably follow Biden's approach in preserving sanctions and maintaining a rigid stance in relation to the government of Nicolas Maduro.
 

“If Kamala Harris wins, everything will continue the same,” he says.

🌏 The US and the influence of other global powers in Latin America:
 
Gelfenstein perceives the US claims about the expanding influence of Russia, China, and Iran in Latin America as America's unwillingness to reduce its military presence in the region.
 
The expert considers it unlikely for Venezuela to yield to US pressure and reduce its ties with these strategic allies.
 

"Venezuela is not going to limit its relations with China, with Russia, and with Iran, (simply) because the United States wants it. Venezuela has an independent foreign policy; it decides who its strategic allies are,” Rodríguez Gelfestein concluded.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

❗️Russian troops liberated the village of Vishnevoye in the Donetsk People's Republic, the Russian Defense Ministry announced

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇷🇺🪖Key statements from the Russian Defense Ministry's daily briefing on the special military operation's progress:

▪️Daily losses of Ukrainian troops in the area of responsibility of the Zapad Battlegroup amounted to 460 militants;

▪️ Ukrainian losses amounted to more than 520 militants in one day in the area of responsibility of the Yug Battlegroup;

▪️ Ukrainian losses amounted more than 105 militants and a French-made self-propelled Caesar gun in the area of responsibility of Russia's Vostok Battlegroup;

▪️Russian air defenses shot down four ATACMS missiles, a HIMARS missile and 47 Ukrainian drones in one day;

▪️Due to the actions of the Tsentr Battlegroup, Ukrainian losses amounted to more than 500 militants, a tank and a UK-made Spartan armored personnel carrier in one day;

▪️Ukrainian losses amounted to more than 30 militants in the area of the Sever Battlegroup in the Kharkov region in one day;

▪️Ukrainian losses amounted to more than 60 militants in the area of responsibility of the Dnepr Battlegroup.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

❗️Ukrainian forces lost more than 150 soldiers in Russia's Kursk region in one day, and more than 29,250 militants during the entire period of military operations in this region, the Russian Defense Ministry reported.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt