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Shelling has killed three people, including two children, with almost 100 injured, the local governor has said

The Ukrainian military has launched several US-made ATACMS long-range missiles armed with highly controversial cluster munitions on Russia’s Crimea, resulting in numerous civilian casualties, the Defense Ministry in Moscow has said.

The strike was first reported by Sevastopol Governor Mikhail Razvozhaev on Sunday, who said that the attack killed at least three people, including two children. He also estimated the number of injured at almost 100 people.

The Russian Defense Ministry has confirmed the Ukrainian attack, which it said took place at around noon local time. Officials said that the shelling involved five ATACMS missiles, four of which were destroyed mid-air.

The remaining one, however, was damaged by air defenses, veered off course and detonated over the city of Sevastopol. As a result, the falling fragments of cluster munitions led to numerous civilian casualties, the statement read.

Сluster munitions – which scatter dozens of smaller bombs when denotated – are banned in more than 100 countries, including the UK, France, and Germany. This type of weapon is considered extremely dangerous to civilians, as the munitions typically spread over large areas and can remain unexploded in the ground for many years.

Neither the US, Ukraine, nor Russia has signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions. However, in the summer 2023 then-Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said that Moscow would not deploy this type of weapon against Kiev for humanitarian reasons. He warned, however, that Russia might potentially reverse this policy.

The US announced in July 2023 that it would provide Ukraine with cluster munitions, sparking outrage in Moscow. At the time, US President Joe Biden called the decision “very difficult” but justified, arguing that the deliveries were needed to fuel a Ukrainian counteroffensive that subsequently failed with heavy losses for Kiev.

Ukraine has previously attempted to target the peninsula with ATACMS missiles, with one of the most notable attacks taking place in late May. Russian Defense Minister Andrey Belousov said that a total of ten ATACMS aimed at the strategic Crimean Bridge were shot down, saving hundreds of lives.

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Government Contractor Exposes Planning of Profitable Lethal Injections

“Certain items arrived sporadically but the munitions at large remained behind,” Israeli PM claims

The United States significantly decreased supplies of munitions to Israel four months ago and has remained unresponsive to Israel’s requests to supply more, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday, adding that he hoped that speaking up about the issue publicly would help resolve it.

“Four months ago, there was a dramatic decrease in the munitions coming to Israel from the US. For long weeks, we turned to our American friends and requested that the shipments be expedited … We received all sorts of explanations, but one thing we did not receive; the basic situation did not change,” Netanyahu said at a cabinet meeting.

Israel’s prime minister added that “certain items arrived sporadically but the munitions at large remained behind.”

“After months in which there was no change in this situation, I decided to give this public expression. We did so out of years of experience and the knowledge that this step was vital to opening the bottleneck,” Netanyahu said.

He also said that he was “willing to absorb personal attacks on behalf of the State of Israel” that he believes could follow after his remarks.

In May, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin confirmed the pause in arms deliveries to Israel, adding that this concerned only one batch. US President Joe Biden later told CNN that he would stop aviation bomb and artillery munition deliveries if the operation in the Gaza Strip was extended to the southernmost city of Rafah. But the United States would continue to provide defensive weapons to Israel, including air defense systems, he added.

On Tuesday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the US continues shipping weapons to Israel, but for the only batch of aviation bombs that remains under consideration.

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Government Contractor Exposes Planning of Profitable Lethal Injections

“Before I even arrive at the Oval Office… I will have the horrible war between Russia and Ukraine settled.”

Former US President Donald Trump has vowed to settle the military conflict between Russia and Ukraine even before his inauguration in case he wins the 2024 presidential race.

“Before I even arrive at the Oval Office, shortly after we win the presidency… I will have the horrible war between Russia and Ukraine settled,” Trump said on Saturday during a rally in Philadelphia.During his speech, Trump also vowed to prevent World War III.

The US presidential election will be held on November 5. The main rivals in the race are US President Joe Biden, a Democrat, and his Republican predecessor, Donald Trump.

Earlier in the week, Trump said in an interview with the All-In podcast that it is understandable that Russia would be bothered by NATO troops on its border, adding that NATO’s eastward expansion was a key reason for the Ukraine conflict. Trump vowed to not put US troops on the ground in Ukraine if he returns to the White House.

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Government Contractor Exposes Planning of Profitable Lethal Injections

Trump never said the tiki-torch-wielding marchers were “very fine people”

Regime fact-checkers at Snopes.com have issued a rare positive clarification for former president Donald Trump.

In a fact-check released on Thursday, Snopes rated as “false” the persistent claim that Trump said the marchers at the infamous Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville were “very fine people.”

The usually anti-Trump website explains that Trump’s remark was actually directed towards peaceful protestors who were in Charlottesville to protest the removal of Robert E. Lee’s statute.

“In a news conference after the rally protesting the planned removal of a Confederate statue, Trump did say there were ‘very fine people on both sides,’ referring to the protesters and the counterprotesters,” Snopes explains.

“He said in the same statement he wasn’t talking about neo-Nazis and white nationalists, who he said should be ‘condemned totally.’”

Snopes notes that Trump’s remark was seized upon and twisted from the moment he made it, at a press conference on 15 August 2017.

“This claim spread like wildfire, with then-presidential candidate Joe Biden making Trump’s comments on Charlottesville a cornerstone of his campaign.” 

Chuck Schumer mangled the slur in a speech on the floor of the Senate this year, calling for universal condemnation” of President Trump after he apparently criticized “dual loyalties” to America and Israel. Schumer also criticized Trump for having dinner with Nick Fuentes at Mar-a-Lago, in 2022. Fuentes was apparently brought to the dinner unannounced by Kanye West. President Trump later said he had no idea who Fuentes was prior to the dinner.

The fact-check notes that “Trump’s supporters have consistently claimed that he actually condemned the neo-Nazis and white supremacists at the rally.”

The precise reason for the issuing of this fact-check now, nearly seven years later, is unclear.

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Government Contractor Exposes Planning of Profitable Lethal Injections

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“If his name was not Donald Trump and if he wasn’t running for president… that case would have never been brought.”

Former governor of New York from 2011 to 2021 Andrew Cuomo appeared on Real Time With Bill Maher on Friday where he discussed the implications of the New York City Trump trial with host Maher. 

Maher’s mostly liberal audience is caught quiet when Maher and Cuomo start frankly discussing whether or not the trial was helpful for the Trump campaign. 

“The trial in New York, the one he [Trump] got convicted for, was the greatest fundraising bonanza ever. He was lagging behind Biden, and now he’s pulled quite a bit ahead,” Maher said to Cuomo during the show. 

“That trial was the greatest reason people had to send their checks for $5, $10, 2$5, whatever dollars to Donald Trump. So I was always with you [Andrew Cuomo] on the one in New York, the hush money trial. I don’t think they should have brought that one,” he continues. 

To which Cuomo, who was elected as New York State Attorney General in 2006, replied: “That case, the attorney general’s case in New York, frankly, should have never been brought.”

Cuomo continued: “If his name was not Donald Trump and if he wasn’t running for president. I’m the former AG in New York. I’m telling you, that case would have never been brought. And that’s what is offensive to people. And it should be!”

“Because if there’s anything left…it’s belief in the Justice system!”

In the same episode, Maher also asks how Joe Biden could be ahead in the polls when he is losing votes with so many key demographics.

“And yet I read in the polls he pulled ahead this week. Explain that to me,” Maher says.

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Government Contractor Exposes Planning of Profitable Lethal Injections

US officials are worried that the Israeli leader could stage a “politically dicey spectacle” just months ahead of the election

The White House is reportedly becoming increasingly concerned that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could use his upcoming speech in the US Congress to publicly criticize President Joe Biden and his administration’s response to Israel’s war in Gaza. 

Netanyahu is set to address a joint session of Congress next month, and “no one knows what he’s going to say,” an unnamed US official told Politico on Saturday. 

Earlier this week, the Israeli leader posted a video accusing Washington of “withholding weapons and ammunition to Israel” for several months, calling it “inconceivable.” Netanyahu defended his public criticism as “absolutely necessary after months of quiet conversation that did not solve the problem,” in an interview published on Friday.

The claim “was not helpful at all,” and Netanyahu “could make it far worse up there in front of Congress,” another senior official reportedly told the outlet. Politico added that the speech could create a “diplomatically complicated and politically dicey spectacle for a president running for reelection.”

Biden has yet to officially invite Netanyahu to the White House during his visit, but officials who spoke with Politico noted that a face-to-face meeting is likely to take place, since refusing would be a major slap in the face.

The White House is concerned that Netanyahu’s rhetoric is deepening the rift between the two allies, according to Axios. While US officials have publicly stated that they “do not know what [Netanyahu] is talking about,” privately, Biden’s team is reportedly “angry and shocked” at the prime minister’s “ingratitude,” with some officials describing him as “unhinged.”

The US paused the delivery of 3,500 bombs to Israel in early May amid calls for it to scale back its assault on the densely-populated city of Rafah in southern Gaza. However, despite Biden’s public warnings he would halt arms shipments, the US reportedly kept the majority of other weapons and ammunition flowing. According to a Wall Street Journal report, the US proceeded with a transfer of $1 billion worth of arms for Israel in May, the same month it stopped the delivery of bombs.

Israel declared war on Hamas after militants killed around 1,200 people and took more than 200 hostages in a surprise attack on October 7. More than 37,000 Palestinians have been killed in the months of fighting that followed, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. 

Last week, CBS News reported that Washington was growing “increasingly concerned” over the possibility of the Israel-Hamas war spiraling into a larger Middle East conflict involving Hezbollah and potentially American troops.

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Government Contractor Exposes Planning of Profitable Lethal Injections