On the evening of July 26, the rebels announced on national television the resignation of President Mohamed Bazum, the closure of the republic's borders, the imposition of a curfew, the suspension of the constitution and the ban on political parties | On the evening of July 26, the rebels announced on national television the ousting of President Mohamed Bazoum, the closure of the republic's borders, a curfew, the suspension of the constitution, and a ban on the activity of political parties. ● On July 28, they declared that General Abdurahmane Tchiani had become the head of state. During the coup, he led the presidential guard, whose units detained Bazoum and continue to keep him in custody. ● On Monday, BBC reported that Niger’s new authorities had suspended uranium and gold exports to France. ● Niger is the seventh-largest uranium producer worldwide accounting for 5% of global production. According to French mass media, Niger accounts for 15% - 17% of the uranium used to generate electricity in France.

Similar headlines or sentiments will be found in pretty much any other 'western' magazine that still has some integrity. The catastrophic consequences of sanctioning Russia without any realistic assessment of its, and one's own economies should have led to a serious clean-up of all state and international bureaucracies involved in it. Alas, we have yet to see that anyone who was involved has been punished for these horrendous mistakes. The very same people are now involved in finding 'solutions' for the mess their shortsightedness created. It is no wonder then that people will vote for anyone other than those in charge. (© Image)

Gonzalo Lira is alive and he said this today: "Right now, I'm about to try to get out of Ukraine and seek political asylum in Hungary. Either I'll cross the border and make it to safety, or I'll be disappeared by the Kyiv regime. This is what's happened to me over the past three months. On May 1, I was arrested for my YouTube videos. The photos of my arrest are pretty funny—morning bed-head made me look like a character out of Dr. Seuss. My crime was making videos critical of the West and their proxy regime in Kyiv—and how they are destroying Ukraine. [E]ven the prosecutor admits I committed no crime against property or any person. And I certainly provided no aid or intelligence to the Russians. My indictment explicitly states that all I did was discuss publicly known facts about the war—the epitome of free speech in a democracy."

■ US-Chilean journalist describes torture in Ukrainian prison (RT.com) + VIDEO