🇮🇶⚡️- An Iraqi Kurdish follower of ours is referring to this as a "civil war" in Iraqi Kurdistan.

🇷🇺🇺🇦🇨🇳⚡- "China is ready to play a constructive role in the political settlement of the Ukrainian crisis," - China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

🇵🇰⚡- Pakistan's Supreme Court grants political prisoner Imran Khan bail.

🇨🇳🇵🇭⚡- China has deployed over a dozen small armed militia boats to be disputed Second Thomas Shoal, South China Sea.

🇨🇳🇵🇭⚡- A high-speed chase was underway in the early hours of Friday morning in the disputed Second Thomas Shoal, South China Sea. Two small boats were deployed from the grounded Philippine vessel, BRP Sierra Madre, in the Second Thomas Shoal to travel to mainland Philippines.

🇮🇷⚡- Gunmen in Sistan-Balochistan region, southeast Iran, opened fire on a security forces patrol, killing five police officers. Iranian outlet Fars News has confirmed the incident.

🇺🇸⚡️- BREAKING: Earlier this morning, the Federal Bureau of Investigation launched a raid against the home of former Trump National Security Advisor John Bolton. The raid concerns matters of “classified documents,” per an FBI statement to FOX News.

🇺🇸 - Minor correction: MULTIPLE homes owned by Bolton were raided by the FBI this morning.

🇬🇧🇪🇺🇮🇷⚡- The E3 and Iran have agreed to resume negotiations on Iran's nuclear program. The first round of talks are scheduled for next week Tuesday.

🇷🇺⚡- Russian President Putin makes a rare visit to the closed-town of Sarov, Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, Russia. Sarov is home to Russia's first and primary nuclear weapons research and development center known as 'KB-11'.

🇾🇪🇮🇱⚡️- Ballistic missile launches detected from Yemen by Ansarullah towards central Israel.

🇾🇪🇮🇱⚡️- Red alerts across Tel-Aviv, central Israel. Ballistic missile launched from Yemen by Ansarullah detected.

🇾🇪🇮🇱⚡️- Ben-Gurion International Airport ceases operations due to the missile threat.

🇾🇪🇮🇱⚡️- Ballistic missile intercepted.

🇷🇺🇺🇦⚡- Ukraine's Kramatorsk city council says Russia is 'wiping out the city', after Russia launched 30 air, drone and missile strikes in just one hour.l

🇨🇳🇹🇼⚡- 11 Chinese Coast Guard vessels active in the Taiwan Strait waters.

🇨🇳⚡- The five Bohai-class ferries have arrived near Shanwei, south China. China's Maritime Safety Administration have issued a travel warning for Sanmujiao and its islands, prohibiting all travel in the waters on August 23rd. The amphibious and landing exercises are therefore

🇷🇺🇪🇪⚡- Russian state-run channel 'Russia 1' says Estonia is preparing to attack Russia.

🇺🇸⚡️- The US Army Corps of Engineers has awarded a $399.4M contract for the first phase of the Port of Nome deepwater expansion. As the gateway to the Arctic, this is a major step in developing and hardening the Bering Strait, a maritime chokepoint the US has long neglected. The