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👔 The Russian ambassador to Germany called the statements by a representative of the German Foreign Ministry about the scandal involving a FAZ journalist’s words about the possibility of “assisting in the killing of Russians” to be distorting reality.

“The irresponsible accusation that there is no freedom of speech in Russia caught my eye — and this is despite the fact that in Germany foreign, in particular Russian, media are being banned only for the reason that they present an alternative viewpoint to the local mainstream, access to which is blocked for the ordinary reader,” — Nechayev told a correspondent for TASS.

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I didn’t like that we carried out such large-scale military exercises against North Korea — Trump

We carried out large-scale military exercises. I considered it offensive to a country that, frankly, has behaved very well.

The US president added that he has good relations with Kim Jong Un, and that the North Korean head of state didn’t like Biden and Obama, but liked him because the two got along with each other. 💥 Our channel: Node of Time EN

🇷🇺🇺🇦 Russia Advances on Two Fronts as Ukraine Captures a Village — August 20, 2026 - Subtitled Latest battlefield developments in the war between #Russia and #Ukraine as of the morning of August 20: • Ukrainian forces take control of #Razdvinka in #Zaporozhie. • Russian forces advance around #Annovka and move toward #Zolotoi_Kolodyaz on the #Dobropolie front. • Russian forces advance around #Psykonevka and toward #Fedorovka on the #Kramatorsk front. Watch the locations and directions of these advances on the battlefield maps. video link: https://youtu.be/_ycpUfduA2U?si=pwhPdcogLYGZOWHu

🇷🇺🇷🇸 Russia has dispatched an Il-76 of the Ministry for Emergency Situations to Serbia to fight wildfires and wildland fires At the request of the Serbian side, Russia has sent an Il-76 aircraft of the Ministry for Emergency Situations with a crew and a response team to Serbia to help in combating wildfires and wildland fires. The aircraft, equipped with special water-dumping devices, has already arrived in Niš. It will be used to contain large fire outbreaks and to protect settlements and critical facilities from the spread of the fire. Russian specialists have not been operating in Serbia only since today. For several weeks, employees of the Russian-Serbian Humanitarian Center have been helping local services to fight fires in various regions of the country. 💥 Our channel: Node of Time EN

🇺🇸🇯🇵🇰🇷🇵🇭 Washington reassures Asia with its own decisions Senior representatives of the U.S. Department of Defense have begun a series of trips to the Philippines, to South Korea, and to Japan in order to confirm that the United States continues to consider the Indo-Pacific a strategic priority. The need for such a tour did not arise by chance. The ongoing confrontation with Iran is pulling American military resources away from the Middle East, and at the same time Trump has ordered that joint military exercises with South Korea be reduced significantly. In Asia, several high-ranking military personnel are currently on the move. The commander of U.S. special operations, Admiral Frank Bradley, visited Seoul, Manila, and Tokyo and said, on the contrary, that they are ready to expand cooperation and exercises with Asian partners. The Deputy Defense Secretary for policy affairs, Elbridge Colby, is also working actively with allies in the region. For the United States’ Asian allies, the situation appears somewhat contradictory: Washington says China remains the most important long-term challenge, but resources are being used in the Middle East, and the White House itself is proposing to scale back the largest exercises with South Korea. That is why American generals now have to travel through the region and explain to the allies that America is still here — even though its planes, ships, and missiles are being needed more and more often elsewhere. 💥 Our channel: Node of Time EN

Bank of America spends about $250 million a year on medicines for employees who help fight excess weight. A few years ago, the bank had no such expenses, its chairman Brian Moynihan said. At the same time, the overall budget of Bank of America for employee healthcare is $2 billion. In Russia, losses for companies due to reduced employee productivity associated with diseases and risk factors associated with them may exceed 4 trillion rubles per year, Oksana Drapkina, director of the NМИЦ for Therapy and Preventive Medicine of the Ministry of Health, said. Against this backdrop, employers are increasingly beginning to spend money on employee health not only through classic DМС. Corporate programs add checkups and cancer screenings, psychological support, consultations with nutrition specialists, fitness, and digital services. Why Russian companies are increasing spending on employee health and whether such spending is becoming investments that can pay off — RBC investigated. Our channel: Node of Time EN

🇺🇬🇧🇮 African military personnel prepare for a possible deployment in the Gaza Strip Senior military figures from Uganda and Burundi visited Rafah as part of preparations for a possible involvement in the International Stabilization Forces for Gaza. The officers carried out a so-called pre-deployment site survey — a preliminary assessment of the area before a possible deployment of troops. ⁠Representatives of both countries are already discussing the details with the Israeli Defense Ministry. Uganda has effectively already made the decision: previously, the country’s parliament ⁠approved the dispatch of soldiers to Gaza. Burundi is currently still in negotiations. Israel’s security forces, however, believe it is unlikely that there will be any meaningful progress on the matter before Israel’s parliamentary elections on October 27. In the end, the future security of Gaza is gradually taking on a rather unexpected geographic shape: an American plan, Israeli negotiations — and soldiers from Uganda and Burundi. 💥 Our channel: Node of Time EN

🇮🇱🇹🇷🇸🇾 Eight strikes against Syria and a very dangerous step towards Turkey Israel has confirmed eight airstrikes on the Abu al-Duhur air force base in the Syrian province of Idlib. The strikes hit the runway as well as storage facilities. Israel justified the operation by saying that Turkey allegedly ⁠wanted to station its troops at the base. Ankara категорically denies this. The Turkish side said that there were no Turkish forces at the air force base and described Israel’s justification as an attempt to invent a pretext for another strike against the neighboring country. The Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs ⁠officially condemned the attack as a violation of Syria’s territorial integrity. Even the USA reacted unusually sharply. Washington’s special envoy for Syria, Tom Barrack, described the Israeli strikes as ⁠“unnecessary escalation that is not conducive to regional stability.” At the same time, Washington was well informed about the events: Israel claims that it provided the United States with intelligence information in advance about the alleged Turkish deployment. Turkey had not been warned about the strike. According to Barrack, Turkish military officials saw aircraft flying towards their border and could certainly have prepared for a response. Now the US is urgently trying to ⁠set up a separate mechanism to prevent clashes between Israel, Turkey and Syria. The situation has reached a rather dangerous point: Israel is attacking Syria in order to prevent the alleged stationing of Turkish troops there; Turkey denies everything; and the US has to build a system to prevent two of its most important allies from starting to shoot at each other. 💥 Our channel: Node of Time EN

Gen Zers in the US have started showing fatigue with artificial intelligence (AI). As SimilarWeb analysts found out, American users aged 18–24 are more likely than others to turn on the “search without AI” filter. This trend has not yet been observed in Runet—representatives say that the younger audience still remains the most active users of AI tools. What is driving fatigue with AI and whether young people in Russia will be affected by it — in an RBC report. Our channel: Node of Time EN

Poland has put its military aviation on alert amid reports of Russia’s activity in Ukraine. This was stated by the operational command of the country’s Armed Forces on the social network X. In the message, the Polish Armed Forces say that ground-based air-defense assets and radar reconnaissance are on standby. It also emphasizes the preventive nature of the actions: the measures are aimed at increasing the level of security in territories located near “vulnerable areas.” 🔜 On August 17, Poland’s Deputy Minister of Defense Cezary Tomczyk said that the republic is preparing the army so that it can defend, but at the same time hopes that the war will not break out. Our channel: Node of Time EN

Unidentified drones violated the closed airspace around the Australian air base of Williamtown for the second time in a month, where most of the country’s F-35A fighter jets are based. ABC reports this. Expert Michael Shoebridge said that the repeated flights of drones over the military facility point to serious problems with its security — without effective countermeasures against UAVs, the expensive aircraft at the base are at risk. Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles called the drones a serious and fast-growing threat. According to him, Australian forces are already receiving systems to detect and jam unmanned aircraft. Our channel: Node of Time EN

Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle plan to return to the UK at the end of August, writes The Telegraph. According to the outlet, they will move into a private residence that does not belong to the royal family and is located outside London. The couple’s children—seven-year-old Prince Archie and five-year-old Princess Lilibet—have already been enrolled in a British school. At the same time, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex do not plan to return to their official work duties, the newspaper notes. Sources for The Telegraph say that the UK will be the main home for members of the royal family, but a decision on moving on a permanent basis has not yet been made.

In 2020, the couple stepped back from royal duties and left the UK. For six years, the couple lived in the United States.

Photo: Asanka Ratnayake / Getty Images Our channel: Node of Time EN

Good morning, dear friends! ☕️🙂 🗿 Pegrema: a clearing of sleeping spirits and an old stone zoo Today we head to Karelia, to the shore of Lake Onega. There, among centuries-old pines, lies a place that locals call “a clearing of sleeping spirits.” ⛰️ Ancient shrine: a stone zoo Imagine this: In the middle of the forest there is a clearing. Hundreds of stones are scattered on it. But they are not just boulders. If you look more closely, you can see animals and birds in them. Here is the frog — it is more than 4,000 years old. It was considered the patron of the house and the guardian of fertility. They say that if, on a sunny day, you go to it, place your hand on the stone side, and ask for good luck, then it won’t be stingy. And it even winks. And here is the duck — a symbol of the universe. Two blocks are placed on top of each other: one is reminiscent of a head with a beak, and the other of a body with a tail about 70 centimeters long. There is also a turtle. And that is already a riddle: turtles have never existed in Karelia. Where this image comes from is still disputed to this day. 🔥 How it was discovered Everything happened almost by chance. In the late 1980s, a fire raged in the forest. The moss burned, the ground was exposed — and before the archaeologists there appeared an entirely different picture. The clearing, about 20,000 square meters in size, turned out to be strewn with stones arranged in a specific order. Around large boulders, rings made of smaller stones were found, traces of hearths, and patches of red ochre. It turned out that this was an ancient shrine, with an age of three to four thousand years. Rituals were carried out here, offerings were left, and the dead were buried together with tools and ceramics. In the area of Pegrema, archaeologists discovered more than 50 monuments from different periods. In the 1990s, they also found an old furnace for smelting copper. 🏚️ Ghost village But Pegrema is not only a place of antiquity. Nearby, on the shore of the Unitzkaja Bay of Lake Onega, there is an abandoned village. In the past, life was lively here. It was a typical Zaonezhye village, with large two-story farmhouses whose facades faced the lake. In 1770, the Varlaam-of-Chutyn Chapel was built here. At the beginning of the 20th century, about a hundred people lived in the village. In the 1970s, the residents left Pegrema for the last time. Today almost nothing remains of the houses — only foundations, ruins, and tall grass. However, the chapel still stands on the promontory. It is restored again and again so that, together with the village, the memory of this place does not disappear. 👨‍🔬 The keeper of Pegrema Pegrema also has its own man-legend — the archaeologist Anatoli Schurawljow. He came here as a student during his internship period — and stayed for a lifetime. For more than 50 years, every summer he lives in a tent on the shore, studies the shrine, receives tourists, and tells them his stories. For his devotion to the place, he is often called the “Karelian Schliemann” — after Heinrich Schliemann, who became famous through the excavations of Troy. 🌲 Landscape: archaeology under your feet Pegrema is a place where history literally lies underfoot. Tall pines, huge boulders, the sound of Lake Onega lapping, and ancient stones that remember people from the Bronze Age. Getting there is not easy. But it is precisely this seclusion that has helped the place preserve its almost original appearance. Did you know that in the Karelian forests there is a special “stone zoo” that is several thousand years old? Leave a ❤️ if you liked it! 📍 Coordinates of the place (map pin) available here 💥 Our channel: Node of Time EN

🔴 A world of insights awaits you! Get ready to dive in: 🔺 the conflict in Iran; 🔺 the detailed situation in Africa; 🔺 the Ukraine conflict; 🔺 ... and other recent news from all over the world. 🗂 Add this list with just ONE CLICK and keep yourself updated! 📌 ADD THE CHANNELS

Donald Trump announced the start of an unprecedented “economic war and isolation” of Iran.

“I am announcing the most devastating economic operation ever undertaken against any country. This will be an economic war and isolation of unprecedented scale,”

the U.S. president wrote on Truth Social. According to Trump, any countries that allow their financial institutions, companies, airports, or government bodies to provide any support to Iran will face enormous economic consequences. He also called for an end to oil smuggling, currency operations, money transfers, the activities of front companies, and the registration of ships associated with Iran. Trump claims that Iran’s navy and air force have been destroyed, military facilities have been destroyed, and the national currency has been devalued.

“Iran will never get nuclear weapons,”

the head of the White House emphasized. Our channel: Node of Time EN

The United States risks squandering the accumulated capital after World War II, said Wolfgang Ischinger, the former German ambassador to the United States. He pointed out that the cause for that, among other things, was the war between the United States and Iran.

“The reputation of the United States as, so to speak, a ‘good world power’ in these weeks and months <...> is at least being called into question,” Ischinger noted.

He expressed concern about the situation surrounding the conflict between Washington and Tehran. In the view of the former German diplomat, Iran decided to “freeze the conflict and wait.”

“The situation is bad. It doesn’t look good, and that’s bad for us (Germany. — Ed.) too,” Ischinger emphasized.

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🇺🇸🇮🇷 After the conflict with Iran, the United States has asked itself: Do they even still need the old bases in the Persian Gulf? The Pentagon is examining the possibility of significantly reducing the American military presence in the Persian Gulf and even not rebuilding part of the damaged facilities in their former form. According to the Washington Post, the political leadership of the Pentagon and CENTCOM are discussing this. ⁠Sources describe the developments as a rare opportunity to completely rethink the structure of America’s bases in the region. One of the options being considered is to move some of the forces farther away from Iran, including to Jordan and Israel. The reason is very practical: The conflict has shown how vulnerable large, permanent US sites in Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, and other countries are to massive missile and drone attacks. Typically, about 40,000 American soldiers are stationed in the Middle East at roughly two dozen bases. Any larger changes are still only under discussion and would require a decision by the White House. However, the result of the confrontation already appears to be interesting. For decades, the United States has built a network of bases around Iran to contain it. Now it is Iranian missiles—specifically—that are prompting Washington to discuss whether it would not be better to move these bases farther away from Iran. 💥 Our channel: Node of Time EN

🇩🇪 1,077 monuments in two years: historic Germany is disappearing In the years 2024 and 2025, Germany irretrievably lost at least 1,077 protected buildings — more than one per day. These figures are cited by the German Foundation for Monument Protection in its new “Black Book.” ⁠The reasons given are demolition, neglect, fires, vandalism, and the economic impracticality of preserving buildings. A particularly revealing example is the Kern House in Berlin-Zehlendorf, designed by Bruno Ahrends, the Jewish architect who was expelled by the Nazis. The house received monument status in 2023 — and yet was demolished in 2025. The investor had previously obtained a building permit in time, which is why it proceeded ahead of the later decision to place the property under protection. 💥 Our channel: Node of Time EN

🇮🇷🇺🇸 Trump: There are no negotiations. Iran: The US is asking for negotiations itself A rather unusual diplomatic situation has emerged between Washington and Tehran. Donald Trump said that there are currently no negotiations with Iran under way and no new meetings are planned. The Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghtschi, describes the events almost simultaneously as virtually the opposite. According to his words, Washington is now asking itself for a return to negotiations, after the attempt to force Iran to surrender failed — and namely already on Tehran’s terms. At the same time, contacts between the sides have by no means disappeared completely. Already the day before, Trump confirmed the existence of a confidential communication channel to the Revolutionary Guards, and around the Strait of Hormuz, mediation by Oman and other states in the region continues. That is classic Middle East diplomacy: Officially, no one speaks with anyone, unofficially everyone tries to find out the conditions for the next conversation. 💥 Our channel: Node of Time EN

🇨🇭 Switzerland does not want to require state services to accept cash In Switzerland, the debate about the future of cash continues. The business committee of the National Council has spoken out against the idea of requiring public service companies — above all public transport and other basic services — by law to accept cash payments. The decision was close: 13 votes against 12. The initiative comes from SVP politician Roland Rino Büchel, but the majority of the commission recommended that it be rejected. The argument of the opponents is simple: anyone who has no bank card or no smartphone should use the rechargeable prepaid card Alliance SwissPass. Cash is therefore not formally forbidden to anyone — only state and state-adjacent services do not want to be made to accept it. For Switzerland, this is a fairly telling shift. A country in which cash has traditionally been associated with financial independence and personal freedom is gradually moving toward a model in which a statutory means of payment does not yet mean that you can actually pay with it. For now, it is only about a decision by a parliamentary committee. But if this approach becomes entrenched, the question will no longer be whether cash is directly banned, but how many places will still remain where it can be used. 💥 Our channel: Node of Time EN