## US confirms that Russia uses banned chemical weapons against Ukrainian Armed Forces

Authored by pravda.com.ua

The US State Department, in justifying the new sanctions against Russia, has indicated that Russian troops used the banned chemical substance chloropicrin against the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Source: European Pravda; statement by the State Department.

Details: The US State Department states that Russia used chloropicrin against Ukrainian troops and also used riot control agents, violating the Convention on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.

"The use of such chemicals is not an isolated incident, and is probably driven by Russian forces’ desire to dislodge Ukrainian forces from fortified positions and achieve tactical gains on the battlefield," the State Department notes.

Speaking about Russia's disregard for its obligations to ban the use of chemical weapons, the United States drew parallels with the poisoning of opposition politician Alexei Navalny and Sergei and Yulia Skripal with the Novichok nerve agents.

In this regard, the US State Department imposed sanctions on the radiation, chemical and biological protection troops of the Russian Defence Ministry, the Russian Research Institute for Applied Acoustics and the 48th Central Research Institute of the Russian Defenсe Ministry, which are engaged in the development of chemical weapons.

Four companies involved in Russia's chemical weapons programme were also sanctioned. »

### "Number of different devices" fail to keep Trump awake in court

Authored by salon.com

The former President can’t stop sleeping in court, per reporters at the trial.

Lisa Rubin, a legal correspondent for MSNBC, told Chris Jansing that Trump’s lawyers have gone to great lengths trying to keep him from snoozing during arguments.

Rubin told Jansing that attorneys have deployed “a number of different devices” to keep Trump alert, making efforts to distract or babysit him. »

### 2-year-old boy dies after bounce house carried away by wind gusts

Authored by abcnews.go.com

A 2-year-old boy was killed and another child was injured when a strong gust of wind sent a bounce house they were playing in flying into the neighboring lot, according to police.

“That afternoon, several children were playing in a bounce house when a strong gust of wind sent it airborne into the neighboring lot,” Pinal County Sheriff’s Office said.

The boy, who currently remains unnamed, was transported to a local hospital where he died while the other child was found to have non-life-threatening injuries. »

### TopSpin 2K25 players furious at server issues impacting single-player career mode

Authored by eurogamer.net

TopSpin 2K25 players are furious at 2K as online server issues have hampered the game's single-player career mode since launch.

The career mode allows players to create and customise their own tennis player and compete in world famous tournaments.

Over on the TopSpin2K reddit, the community has been dominated by posts demanding an offline option for the career mode and lamenting the server issues. »

### Yakuza lieutenant arrested in Tokyo for stealing Pokémon cards

Authored by soranews24.com

But here in the real world, a yakuza lieutenant has just been arrested for a crime that doesn’t have much in terms of panache: stealing Pokémon cards.

During the break-in, 29 pieces of property with a total value of roughly 252,000 yen (US$1,625) were stolen, with the haul including 25 Pokémon cards.

“So does that mean there’s someone in the yakuza whose job is to appraise Pokémon cards?”. »

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