For now, links to reports from Agence France-Presse, Reuters and Tass; others are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. — MCM

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Criticism mounts in Russia as Ukrainian strike toll rises. From AFP. KYIV — Russia said today the toll climbed to 89 in its worst single reported loss from a Ukrainian strike, which under-criticism Moscow blamed on troops using mobile phones. But the Ukrainian military’s strategic communications unit has said nearly 400 Russian soldiers were killed in the town of Makiivka in eastern Ukraine. Meanwhile, France’s President Emmanuel Macron told Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky that his country would send French-made light tanks . . . READ MORE . . .

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Russia says drone attack on Moscow thwarted, 3 killed near Ukrainian border. From Reuters. MOSCOW — Russia said today it had thwarted the latest Ukrainian drone attack on Moscow but three people were killed in a drone strike near the Ukrainian border. The governor of Belgorod region, which neighbours Ukraine and has come under frequent attack, said the drone hit a sanatorium in . . . READ MORE . . .

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Russian forces improve positions in Kupyansk advance over past day. From Tass. MOSCOW — Russian forces conducted offensive operations and improved their tactical position in the Kupyansk area over the past day in the special military operation in Ukraine, Defense Ministry spokesman Lt. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said today. “In the . . . READ MORE . . .

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For now, links to reports from the Associated Press, Reuters, the Kyiv Post, Agence France-Presse, National Public Radio, the Kyiv Independent, and Tass; others are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. — MCM

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Ukraine media say Kyiv saboteurs were behind drone attacks on air bases deep inside Russia, by Susie Blann | AP  KYIV — Ukrainian saboteurs coordinated by Kyiv’s military intelligence services carried out a pair of recent drone attacks that hit parked bomber aircraft at air bases deep inside Russia, Ukraine media claimed today. The attacks on Russian airfields on Saturday and Monday destroyed . . . READ MORE . . .

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Ukraine says it gains foothold in strategic southeastern village. From Reuters. KYIV — Ukraine said today its troops had entered the strategic southeastern village of Robotyne, a potentially significant advance in its counteroffensive against Russian forces. Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar said Ukrainian soldiers were organising the evacuation of civilians after entering Robotyne but . . . READ MORE . . .

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‘Is the Robotyne roll on?’ by Pete Shmigel | The Kyiv Post  The Ukrainian roll may be on at Robotyne with reports of “tactically significant” territorial gains, breakthroughs and retreating Russians. But the news is less good from Kupyansk on the northern front where an evacuation is underway. On Tuesday morning, the Ukrainian military published video showing . . . READ MORE . . .

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Russia says it repels border incursion from Ukraine. From AFP. Moscow’s forces have repelled an attempt by Ukrainian “saboteurs” to break into the Russian border region of Bryansk, the region’s local governor said. “Today . . . READ MORE . . .

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Russia says it destroyed Ukrainian military boat in Black Sea. From AFP. MOSCOW — Moscow said today it destroyed a Ukrainian military reconnaissance vessel near Russian gas infrastructure in the Black Sea, in the latest clash in the waterway since Moscow’s withdrawal from a major grain export deal. Attacks by both sides have escalated in the Black Sea since Russia in July pulled out of the United Nations-brokered . . . READ MORE . . .

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Ukraine and Bulgaria say commercial vessels are defying Russia in the Black Sea. Reported by Brian Mann | NPR  Ukraine and Bulgaria sounded a defiant tone on the future of grain and other shipments on the Black Sea. They say Russia’s efforT to strangle Ukraine with an embargo and missile strikes isn’t working. Click HERE to listen and read.

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Zelensky attends Balkan summit, talks F-16s, grain exports, EU accession, by Elsa Court and the news desk | The Kyiv Independent  President Volodymyr Zelensky held a meeting with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen during the Ukraine-Balkan summit in Athens today. He said . . . READ MORE . . .

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Ukraine lost about 100 personnel in attempts to break into LPR territory. From Tass. LUGANSK — Ukrainian forces have lost about 100 personnel as killed and injured in one week of attempts to break into LPR territory, Acting LPR Head Leonid Pasechnik says. “In their breach attempts at. . . READ MORE . . .

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Heavy Ukrainian losses likely cause of reporters being banned from frontline — report. From Tass. GENEVA — The heavy losses of the Ukrainian forces, whose so-called counteroffensive failed to result in a breakthrough, could be the reason behind the ban on foreign reporters visiting the frontline, Switzerland’s Le Temps says. The article . . . READ MORE . . .

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NATO-trained Ukrainian troops contribute to offensive to push out Russian forces. Reported by Joanna Kakissis | NPR  Ukrainian soldiers trained by the U.S. in Germany speak to NPR about using Western tactics — and weapons — in the latest counteroffensive to push out Russian forces. Click HERE to listen and read.

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THERE  MAY  BE  A  DELAY  BEFORE  THE  NEXT ENTRY  BECAUSE  OF  TECHNICAL  DIFFICULTIES.  THANK  YOU  FOR  YOUR  PATIENCE.  —  MCM

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For now, links to reports in English and Spanish from the Associated Press and El País; others are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. — MCM

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Guatemala elects progressive Arévalo as president but there are legal moves to block him from office, by Christopher Sherman and Sonia Pérez | AP  GUATEMALA CITY — A progressive from outside Guatemala’s power structure was resoundingly elected the country’s next president in a reprimand to the governing elite over widespread allegations of corruption. Despite preliminary results Sunday showing a potential landslide for anti-corruption crusader Bernardo Arévalo, the attention immediately turned to whether . . . READ MORE . . .

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A presidential runoff is likely in Ecuador between an ally of ex-president and a banana tycoon’s son, by Regina Garcia Cano | AP  GUAYAQUIL, Ecuador — Ecuadorian voters looking for a new leader to help curb the country’s unprecedented violence will have to head to the polls again in October for a runoff that is likely to see the ally of a convicted former president vie against . . . READ MORE. . .

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Ecuadorians reject oil drilling in the Amazon, ending operations in protected area. From AP. RIO DE JANEIRO — Ecuadorians voted against drilling for oil in a protected area of the Amazon, an important decision that will require the state oil company to end its operations in a region that’s home to two uncontacted tribes and is a hotspot of biodiversity. Yasuni National Park is inhabited by the Tagaeri and Taromenani, who live . . . READ MORE . . .

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El progresista Arévalo se perfila como nuevo presidente de Guatemala, por Sonia Pérez y Christopher Sherman | AP  CIUDAD DE GUATEMALA — La rotunda victoria del progresista Bernardo Arévalo el domingo en la segunda segunda vuelta presidencial de Guatemala encajó en el país como una reprimenda de los votantes a la élite política gobernante en medio de críticas a la corrupción generalizada. Los resultados preliminares mostraron una ventaja abrumadora sobre su oponente de derecha Sandra Torres, per . . . LEA MÁS . . .

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El progresista Bernardo Arévalo gana las elecciones en Guatemala, por Lorena Arroyo y Evelyn Boche Ventura | El País  CIUDAD DE GUATEMALA —  El sociólogo progresista Bernardo Arévalo, del Movimiento Semilla, ha ganado las elecciones de Guatemala. El diputado y diplomático ha obtenido el 58% de los votos frente al 37,2% de su rival, la ex primera dama Sandra Torres, de la Unidad Nacional de la Esperanza (UNE), que . . . LEA MÁS . . .

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Bernardo Arévalo, el atípico candidato ‘antisistema’ que gobernará Guatemala, por Lorena Arroyo | El País  Este político, que se identifica como socialdemócrata, ha sido, entre otros cargos diplomáticos, embajador de Guatemala en España y desde el año 2020 lideró la bancada de Movimiento Semilla, un partido que surgió al calor de las protestas anticorrupción de 2015. Ahora ha. . . LEA MÁS . . .

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Resultados de las elecciones en Ecuador: la correísta Luisa González se enfrentará al empresario Daniel Noboa en la segunda vuelta, por Inés Santaeulalia | El País  QUITO — Ecuador volverá a las urnas el 15 de octubre. La candidata del correísmo, Luisa González (33%), y el joven empresario Daniel Noboa (24%) se aseguraron el domingo un lugar en la segunda vuelta. Una vez que finalice el escrutinio . . . LEA MÁS . . .

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For now, links to reports from Reuters, Agence France-Presse, Tass, and the Associated Press; others are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. — MCM

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Two injured in Ukrainian drone attack in Moscow region, nearly 50 flights disrupted. From Reuters. MOSCOW — At least two people were injured today when parts of a Ukrainian drone destroyed by Russian air defences fell on a house in the Moscow region, the regional governor said. Nearly 50 plane flights in and out of the capital   . . . READ MORE . . .

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Ukraine says recaptured 3 square km near Bakhmut. From AFP. Ukrainian forces have recaptured a clutch of territory around the eastern war-battered town of Bakhmut but made no major advances on the southern front, the deputy defence minister said today. Bakhmut, an industrial town that was once home . . . READ MORE . . .

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Russian recon officers, assault team seize Ukrainian stronghold near Krasny Liman. From Tass. MOSCOW — The Central Military District’s reconnaissance detected the location of a stronghold of Ukrainian nationalists, ensuring its seizure in the Krasny Liman direction, the Russian Defense Ministry said today. The combat task was accomplished . . . READ MORE . . .

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Hiding beneath normality, daily life in Kyiv conceals the burdens of war, by Hanna Arhirova and Jae C. Hong | AP  KYIV — Life in the capital of a war-torn country seems normal on the surface. In the mornings, people rush to their work holding cups of coffee. Streets are filled with cars, and in the evenings restaurants are packed. But the details tell another story. Click HERE for article and 28 photos.

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Volunteers of Project Due Diligence of Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth beg to differ with National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) reports on how the Twin Towers and Building 7 at the World Trade Center collapsed on Sept. 11, 2001. The news release linked below gives an idea of what the volunteers have been up to around the country for the last several years, and how engineers have responded. — MCM

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Jef Bishop delivers WTC 7 evidence at Florida Engineering conference. From AE911Truth. On July 28, engineer and Project Due Diligence volunteer, Jef Bishop, gave a special presentation on World Trade Center Building 7, a 47-story skyscraper not struck by any airplane, to 30 attendees of the Florida Engineering Society and the American Council of Engineering at their 2023 annual conference in Marco Island, Florida. Click HERE to read about it and see Bishop’s presentation including Q&A that followed.

First, links to reports from Agence France-Presse, Reuters, and Tass; others are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. Then, a link to an op-ed article in this weekend’s Berkshire Eagle by its foreign affairs writer, who lived and worked as a journalist in Russia and then Ukraine for a combined 14 years, and links to two articles he mentions. (NOTE: Visitors are encouraged to scroll down for Klare, 8-19-23, Ukraine, 8-19-23, and other previous entries.) — MCM

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UN condemns ‘heinous’ Russian attack on Chernihiv city centre: statement. From AFP.   A Russian missile strike on Ukraine’s northern city of Chernihiv killed seven people including a 6-year-old girl and wounded 148, the regional governor said today, in what the UN denounced as a “heinous” attack. The strike came during the Orthodox holiday of the Transfiguration of the Lord on Saturday, as . . . READ MORE . . .

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Russia says Ukrainian drones attack three regions. From Reuters. MOSCOW — Russia said Ukrainian drones had struck three separate regions today, injuring five people and forcing two of Moscow’s airports to briefly divert flights. Russia’s Kursk and Rostov regions, both of which border Ukraine, reported drone strikes while Russia’s defence ministry said it had jammed a Ukrainian drone in the Moscow region, forcing . . . READ MORE . . .

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Russia ‘thwarts’ Ukraine drone attack on Moscow region. From AFP. Russia said it had thwarted Ukrainian drone attacks on Moscow and its region today, the second such incident in two days as Kyiv presses ahead with a counteroffensive. Both sides have reported regular drone incursions during the conflict, with strikes on Russian territory becoming increasingly regular. READ MORE . . .

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Rostov Region comes under attack of kamikaze drones; they are all downed – governor. From Tass. MOSCOW — An attempted terrorist attack with the use of kamikaze drones was averted in Russia’s southern the Rostov Region, Vasily Golubev, the region’s governor, said today. According to . . .  READ MORE . . .

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Russia’s resistance works in the shadows, by James Brooke | The Berkshire Eagle  In the week after Russia’s parliament voted to raise the military draft age from 27 years to 30, Molotov cocktails were thrown at 28 draft boards across Russia. As in wartime France, Russia today has its own resistance. Whether providing intelligence for Ukrainian drone attacks or . . . READ MORE . . .

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Putin’s age of chaos: The dangers of Russian disorder, by Tatiana Stanovaya | Foreign Affairs  After Russian President Vladimir Putin launched an invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Russian elites acted as if the war had not really changed anything on the home front. Even as . . . READ MORE . . .

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Wait and see: How ordinary Russians are adapting to the new reality, by Andrei Kolesnikov | Carnegie Endowment for Internatonal Peace During the Nazi occupation of Paris, most of the city’s residents neither supported nor opposed the Germans. They were attentistes: waiting it out. As the American historian and essayist Louis Menand wrote . . . READ MORE . . .

Linked below, from Tom Dispatch and recommended by Popular Resistance, is commentary by the author of All Hell Breaking Loose: The Pentagon’s Perspective on Climate Change (2019).* It is introduced by Tom Engelhardt. (Today’s previous entry is HERE.) — MCM

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Collapse 2.0: What a 2005 bestseller tells us about climate change and human survival, by Michael Klare | Tom Dispatch /  Popular Resistance  In his 2005 bestseller Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, geographer Jared Diamond focused on past civilizations that confronted severe climate shocks, either adapting and surviving or failing to adapt and disintegrating. Among those were the Puebloan culture of Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, the ancient Mayan civilization of Mesoamerica, and the Viking settlers of Greenland. Such societies, having achieved great success, imploded when . . . READ MORE . . .

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* Click HERE for bio of the author including list of his previous books and articles.

First, links to reports from Reuters, the Associated Press, Tass, Agence France-Presse, and the Greanville Post; others are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. Then, via The Nation, a link to commentary from Tom Dispatch. (NOTES: Thanks to Eisenhower Media Network for recommendations on two articles. Scroll up or click HERE for a later entry.) — MCM

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Troop deaths, injuries in Ukraine war nearing 500,000 — NYT citing U,S. officials. From Reuters. The number of Ukrainian and Russian troops killed or wounded since the war in Ukraine began in February 2022 is nearing 500,000, the New York Times reported on Friday, citing unnamed U.S. officials. The newspaper reported that Russia’s military casualties are approaching 300,000, including as many as 120,000 deaths, Ukrainian deaths were close to 70,000, with 100,000 to 120,000 wounded . . . READ MORE . . .

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Russian missile attack kills 7 in northern Ukrainian city as Zelenskyy visits NATO candidate Sweden. From AP. KYIV — A missile attack in the center of the northern Ukrainian city of Chernihviv killed seven people and wounded scores of others today, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy traveled to Sweden. A 6-year-old girl was among the dead, while the wounded included 12 children, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said. READ MORE . . .

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Ukrainian army shells DPR 44 times. From Tass. DONETSK — Ukraine’s armed forces bombarded the Donetsk People’s Republic 44 times during 24 hours firing 150 shells, with six people killed and another 11 wounded, the DPR’s mission at the Joint Center for Control and Coordination of Issues Related to Ukrainian War Crimes (JCCC) said today. “During the past 24 hours . . . READ MORE . . .

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Moscow says thwarted Ukrainian drone attack on airfield in northwestern Russia. From AFP. Russia on Saturday said it had thwarted a Ukrainian drone attack on a military airfield in the Novgorod region, an area between Moscow and Saint Petersburg not previously targeted. “Today at about 10 a.m. Moscow time . . . READ MORE . . .

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YouTube deletes Scott Ritter’s channel. From the Greanville Post. Google-owned video hosting giant YouTube has deleted Scott Ritter’s YouTube channel, “due to multiple or severe violations of YouTube’s policy prohibiting hate speech.” The veteran former U.S. Marine Corps intelligence officer, UN weapons inspector, geopolitical observer and Sputnik contributor Scott Ritter has provided incisive . . . READ MORE . . .

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The American military Is truly exceptional — at spending money, by Robert Astore | Tom Dispatch / The Nation In his message to the troops prior to the July Fourth weekend, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin offered high praise indeed. “We have the greatest fighting force in human history,” he tweeted, connecting that claim to the U.S. having patriots of all colors, creeds, and backgrounds “who bravely volunteer to defend our country and our values.” As a . . . READ MORE . . .

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For this evening, reports from National Public Radio, Reuters, and the Associated Press; others are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. (NOTE: Scroll down or click HERE for today’s previous entry.) — MCM

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High stakes elections lie ahead in Guatemala, Ecuador and Argentina. Reported by Carrie Kahn and Eyder Peralta | NPR  Latin American democracies face tests this weekend with elections in Guatemala and Ecuador — and as a far-right candidate starts getting traction for a run for Argentina’s presidency this fall. Click HERE to listen and, later, read.

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How Mexican narcos use remittances to wire U.S. drug profits home, by Diego Ore | Reuters  An army of civilians recruited by the Sinaloa Cartel and other drug syndicates across Mexico help move illicit drug profits earned in the United States south of the border. The criminal scheme essentially piggybacks on the vast legal network of money-transfer firms that help migrant laborers send money home to their families. Remittances to Mexico hit a record $58.5 billion last year, according to . . . READ MORE . . .

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City empties as thousands flee huge wildfire closing in on capital of Canada’s Northwest Territories, by Tammy Webber and Jim Morris | AP  VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Residents heeded warnings to evacuate the capital of Canada’s Northwest Territories as a massive wildfire burned toward the city of 20,000, while firefighters today battled a growing fire that set homes ablaze in a city in British Columbia. Thousands of people in Yellowknife drove hundreds of kilometers (miles) to safety with authorities guiding motorists through fire zones, or . . . READ MORE . . .

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Powerful Hurricane Hilary heads for Mexico’s Baja. Rare tropical storm watch issued for California, by Mark Stevenson and Julie Watson | AP  MEXICO CITY — Hurricane Hilary churned off Mexico’s Pacific coast today as a powerful Category 4 storm threatening to unleash torrential rains on the mudslide-prone border city of Tijuana before heading into Southern California as the first tropical storm there in 84 years. Forecasters warned . . . READ MORE . . .

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Hurricane Hillary will likely be a powerful tropical storm by the time it hits Baja California. Reported by Erik Anderson | NPR  Hurricane Hilary continues her march toward Baja California, and people on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border are getting ready for projected heavy rains and flooding. Click HERE to listen and, later, read.