Security forces in St. Petersburg are monitoring former prisoners who were pardoned after their participation in the war in Ukraine. Yuri Yashkov, head of the first department for the investigation of especially important cases of the Investigative Committee for St. Petersburg, told Fontanka about this. According to Yashkov, he personally knows two ex-prisoners who returned from the war. The investigator claims that sooner or later these people will commit another crime.

In the first half of 2024, 5.9 million hectares of forest burned in Russia. At the same time, the area of ​​the continental part of Croatia is 5.6 million hectares. In total, 9.4 million hectares of Russian territory were damaged by fires. This is reported by "Important Stories". The publication notes that this is a record figure for the past five years. Most of the burned forest — about 90% — is located in the Far East.

Businessman Alexander Kovalchuk, convicted of organizing cocaine smuggling through the Russian embassy in Argentina, is looking for a private military company with the help of which he could leave the colony and go to the front in Ukraine. Human rights activist Eva Merkacheva wrote about this in the newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets. According to her, Kovalchuk faced difficulties in prison. For example, he was forbidden to communicate on the phone, even with his lawyers.

State Duma deputies have submitted for consideration a draft amendment to the Federal Law "On Physical Culture and Sports", according to which Russian athletes who are applying for a place on the national team must take an oath.

Employees of the five-star Hôtel du Collectionneur in Paris, which the International Olympic Committee delegation bought for 22 million euros for the duration of the Olympics, staged a protest, The Guardian reports . A group of chefs, waiters and maintenance staff staged a two-hour strike around 7am on Thursday, disrupting service. Staff at the luxury hotel say they have not received a pay raise in seven years.

The start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and the Western sanctions that followed have led to an unexpected wage explosion and a consumption boom in Russia, the Financial Times reports , claiming that Russians are "swimming in money." As the publication explains, the growth of wages in the defense sector, to the support and development of which the Russian authorities have allocated a significant part of the country's budget, has led to an increase in wages in all

Dmitry Bulgakov, the arrested former deputy of Sergei Shoigu and Hero of Russia, is suspected of receiving kickbacks when concluding contracts for food supplies for the military, including in the SVO zone. RIA Novosti reports details of the case, citing a source in law enforcement agencies. The general created an entire system of delivering low-quality products to Russian troops at inflated prices.

North Korea's economy has begun to recover thanks to trade ties with Russia. Agreements between Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un on arms and food supplies have helped stabilize prices and boost production in the DPRK, Bloomberg writes . South Korea's central bank has released a report on North Korea's gross domestic product (GDP). The bank collects data on its neighbor from various institutions, and its figures are considered reliable.

A man tried to commit self-immolation near the mausoleum on Red Square. This was reported by the Telegram channels Mash and Baza . The incident was not officially reported. Mash, citing eyewitnesses, writes that the man doused himself with flammable liquid and set himself on fire. According to the channel, the police knocked him to the ground and put the fire out. As a result, the man was reportedly almost unharmed.

A "legal war" has begun between the children of media mogul and billionaire Rupert Murdoch after he changed his will, the Financial Times reports . According to the publication, Murdoch changed his mind about dividing his media empire between his children and decided to give his eldest son Lachlan full control over the irrevocable trust, including the right to vote and make decisions, after his death.

The Bank of Russia has raised its key rate for the first time in seven months. The regulator has raised it by two percentage points at once - from 16 to 18% per annum. "Inflation has accelerated and is significantly higher than the April forecast of the Bank of Russia. The growth of domestic demand continues to significantly outpace the possibilities of expanding the supply of goods and services.

NASA's Perseverance rover has discovered a rock about half a square metre in size on the planet's surface that may contain fossils indicating the existence of microbes on Mars billions of years ago, The Guardian reports . The rock was discovered on July 21 as the rover moved along the northern edge of the Neretva Valley.

The life of a poor Indian man, Raju Gond, was transformed after he found a huge diamond, CNN reports . Gond, 40, took on any job to support his family. He drove a tractor, worked in the fields and diamond mines, earning about four dollars a day. That is until one day, while working in a mine, he found a precious stone. An appraiser later confirmed that it was a 19.22-carat white diamond, with an estimated value of over $95,000.

Other countries and anti -war position helped athletes In 2023, the International Olympic Committee disqualified the Olympic Committee of Russia for an indefinite period, which is why the Russians retained the possibility of participating in Parisian games only in neutral status. To do this, they needed the approval of a special IOC commission, which 36 athletes received , and decided to participate in games as a result only 15.

The US Department of Defense has admitted that it spread propaganda in the Philippines aimed at discrediting China's Sinovac vaccine during the coronavirus pandemic, Reuters reported , citing unnamed sources. The agency says it reviewed a June 25 document that references information sent by the U.S. Department of Defense to the Philippines' Department of Foreign Affairs and Department of National Defense. The document has not been publicly released by the US or Philippine governments.