Tajik President Emomali Rahmon signed the law "On Celebrations and Ceremonies" banning the wearing of clothing "alien" to the country's culture. This was reported by the press service of the Tajik president, as reported by RIA Novosti. The law provides for a fine of over $700 for violating the ban on wearing, importing, and selling such clothing.

Farmers in Afghanistan may begin growing opium poppies again despite the country's ban because of climate change, The Washington Post reports . The publication notes that a ban on the cultivation of opium poppies was introduced in Afghanistan after the Taliban took power in the country in 2021. At that time, poppy cultivation was banned for religious reasons.

A beach that was destroyed by the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD has opened in the archaeological park of the city of Herculaneum on the shores of the Gulf of Naples in southern Italy, The Washington Post reports .

Since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, regional payments for signing a contract with the Ministry of Defense have already been increased 80 times. In some Russian regions, the one-time regional bonus together with the federal payment exceeded one and a half million rubles, Novaya Gazeta Evropa writes , citing its own calculations.

The German Armed Forces have signed the largest-ever contract for 155mm artillery shells with German defense company Rheinmetall. The deal is worth 8.5 billion euros, the company said in a press release. In addition to the German military, the Netherlands, Estonia and Denmark are also participating in the order. The ordered shells are reportedly intended not only to replenish the stocks of the armies of these countries, but also to help Ukraine repel Russian aggression.

The Ustinovsky Court of Izhevsk sentenced Artem Egorov, a Wagner PMC fighter who returned from the war in Ukraine, to 15 years in a maximum security penal colony for the murder of his friend and the attempted murder of his girlfriend. This was reported by Verstka. The publication notes that Yegorov had previously been sentenced for murder. In 2020, he was sentenced to eight years in prison. At that time, Yegorov had a fight with his friend over a girl and killed him with a knife and a decanter.

Washington has relaxed restrictions on Kiev's use of American weapons to strike Russian territory, Politico reports , citing sources. According to him, the US authorities have allowed Ukraine to use American weapons supplied to it to strike any Russian units attacking targets on Ukrainian territory.

A reindeer named Afonya escaped from the Shikhovo Zoo Farm in Dmitrov, Moscow Region. The animal was scared by a thunderstorm. This was reported by the Moscow 125 Telegram channel and the Regions.ru portal . The Moscow 125 Telegram channel, citing zoo workers, claims that the deer is "tame and harmless." "It was spotted in the villages of Levkovo and Staro in the Dmitrovsky District, and in the evening near Dmitrovskoye Highway (exit to the Central Ring Road).

A mother of many children, Yulia, from the town of Gulkevichi in the Krasnodar region, accused doctors at the mental hospital in the village of Zarechnoye of abusing her daughter. This was reported by the Telegram channel "Beware, News" with reference to Yulia herself. According to the channel, Yulia's 13-year-old daughter Veronica became disabled in childhood because the girl did not speak, and in 2019 she was diagnosed with mental retardation.

Russia could monitor critical infrastructure in European countries and NATO exercises in the North Sea using about 200 civilian vessels, according to a joint investigation by Follow the Money and the Belgian newspaper De Tijd. According to former FBI counterintelligence analyst Kevin Riehle, such practices have not been used since the Cold War.

The new NATO Secretary General drives a bicycle, walks with Nokia, is friends with Trump and does not like Putin. What else is known about him The new NATO Secretary General will be the current Prime Minister of the Netherlands Mark Rutte. His candidacy was approved by all 32 members of the alliance. 57-year-old Rutta is one of the most stylish politicians in Europe, who prefer to ride a bicycle.

The expansion of BRICS to include Iran, Ethiopia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) could make the alliance a counterweight to the G7, according to analysts at Bloomberg. BRICS was founded in 2006 at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF). The union initially included four countries: Russia, China, India, and Brazil. Later, South Africa joined. Four new states joined the alliance in January of this year.

The Moscow Prosecutor's Office has sent materials to the Investigative Committee to initiate criminal cases against singer Monetochka (Elizaveta Gyrdymova), historian Tamara Eidelman and actress Yana Troyanova. This is stated in a statement from the department.

The Russian army has for the first time used a FAB-3000 high-explosive aerial bomb with a controlled planning and correction module, which weighs more than three tons. This was reported by TASS, citing security agencies. Videos of the aerial bomb also spread in pro-war Telegram channels. The agency claims that the bomb was dropped on a temporary deployment point of the Ukrainian army in the town of Liptsy in the Kharkiv region.

Power outages affected almost all of Montenegro, the Bosnia and Herzegovina capital Sarajevo, Albania and much of Croatia's Adriatic coast, Reuters reported . According to the publication, an interconnector, a structure that allows power exchange between power grids, has failed in Montenegro. However, there has been no official confirmation of this information. In Croatia, power outages left large businesses without electricity and traffic lights stopped working.