"US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday threatened action against Panama without immediate changes to reduce Chinese influence on the canal, but the country's leader insisted he was not afraid of a US invasion and offered talks.On his first trip overseas as the top US diplomat, Rubio took a guided tour of the canal accompanied by its Panamanian administrator as a South Korean-affiliated oil tanker and Marshall Islands-flagged cargo ship passed through the vital link between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
But Rubio was said to have had a firmer message in private, telling Panama that President Donald Trump had determined that the country had violated terms of the treaty that handed over the canal at the end of 1999.
He pointed to the "influence and control" of China over the canal, through which some 40 percent of US container traffic passes.
Meeting President Jose Raul Mulino, Rubio "made clear that this status quo is unacceptable and that absent immediate changes, it would require the United States to take measures necessary to protect its rights under the treaty," State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said." MS
"'The difference between 1.2 percent and 1.3 percent doesn't matter,' he said. 'Until the data are sufficient to pinpoint which of these two final answers is correct, we can expect the probability numbers to wobble around a bit. This is simply how scientific data measurements play out,' he added." Astronomers have also calculated a predicted impact zone that stretches from South America across the Atlantic Ocean to sub-Saharan Africa. The asteroid has the potential to cause significant damage, especially if it lands in a densely populated area like a major city due to it being the size of another space rock that hit Earth in 1908 with a blast equivalent to detonating 50 million tons of TNT." MS
“Independent Ukrainian media is a key element distinguishing us from Putin’s Russia,” wrote Detector Media shortly after Trump’s bomb fell. Indeed, Putin isn’t willingly funding his own country’s media via the US State Department and calling it independent, so that certainly sets Ukraine apart. They go on to say that, in the absence of the USAID media funding,Ukrainians now “will be left without a tool that ensures control over power and boosts the stability of democratic institutions.” Ensures control over Ukrainians by US power, you mean. Because nothing says “truth to power” like being this reliant on funding from the government that acts as sugar daddy to your own. They’re right about one thing, though: knee-jerk anti-Russian groupthink sure does boost stability, unlike dissent.
And well, well, lookie here, even the podcasters and influencers are whining. “There will be no podcasts with Karas now either due to the suspension of grants, sadly :(,” activist Melania Podolyak wrote on social media, highlighting the USAID logo on the page of the leader of the neo-Nazi group C14, Yevhen Karas." RT
"China will file a lawsuit at the World Trade Organization (WTO) and take other retaliatory measures against US President Donald Trump’s new tariffs on its goods, the Commerce Ministry said in a statement on Sunday. According to the statement, Beijing sees Washington’s unilateral tariff increase as “seriously violating” WTO rules.
Trump announced new tariffs on China, Mexico, and Canada on Saturday, citing concerns over the three countries’ failures in stemming the flow of migrants and illegal drugs, such as fentanyl, into the US." RT
"The Russian Defense Ministry released a video on Friday, showing a drone attack on aUkrainian military communications antenna in Kursk Region. Kiev’s troops invaded the Russian region in August and have suffered heavy losses trying to hold on to part of the territory, according to the ministry.
Filmed from a first person view (FPV) drone, the footage shows the aircraft darting towards a dish mounted on a metal frame tower. The ministry said the strike disrupted communications for Ukrainian forces in the vicinity." RT
"A Russian oil refinery in the southern Volgograd region caught fire after being hit by debris from a Ukrainian drone attack.
Regional Governor Andrei Bocharov confirmed the overnight attack, saying that the blaze was “promptly extinguished” and one injured worker was hospitalized." NV
“The vice governor of Russia’s Primorsky Krai, Sergei Yefremov, was blown up in Kursk Oblast while returning from a combat mission." Sputnik
"Ukrainian Defense Forces engaged in 110 combat clashes with the Russian invaders, 40 of which took place in the Pokrovsk sector.
In the Kharkiv sector, the enemy did not conduct offensive actions.
In the Kupiansk sector, the Russian forces launched 17 attacks, which were repelled by the Ukrainian defenders in the areas of Topoli, Dvorichna, Petropavlivka, Stepova Novosilka, Hlushkivka, Zahryzove, and Lozova.In the Lyman sector, the enemy attempted 15 assaults, trying to advance near Novoyehorivka, Terny, Yampolivka, Kolodiazi, Torske, and toward Novomykhailivka.
In the Siversk sector, the Ukrainian forces repelled four Russian attacks near Verkhniokamianske and Bilohorivka.
In the Kramatorsk sector, seven combat clashes occurred near Chasiv Yar, Stupochky, and Bila Hora.
In the Toretsk sector, the Russian forces launched seven attacks near Toretsk and Krymske.
In the Pokrovsk sector, the Ukrainian defenders halted 40 Russian assault and offensive operations near Zelenyi Hai, Yelyzavetivka, Promin, Zvirove, Udachne, Uspenivka, Novooleksandrivka, Sribne, and Dachne.
In the Novopavlivka sector, the Russian troops carried out two attacks, attempting to advance towards Kostiantynopil and Rozlyv.
In the Huliaipole sector, the enemy tried twice to dislodge the Ukrainian defenders from their positions near Novosilka.
In the Orikhiv sector, two engagements occurred near Shcherbaky and Nesterianka.
In the Prydniprovske sector, the Russian forces unsuccessfully attempted to storm the Ukrainian positions once.
In Kursk region operational zone, the Ukrainian Defense Forces repelled eight Russian attacks. The enemy also launched 19 airstrikes using 24 guided bombs and carried out 351 artillery attacks, including five with multiple rocket launchers." Ukrin
