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Brazil Pushes Back Against US Probe Into Its Trade Practices

Brazil Pushes Back Against US Probe Into Its Trade Practices

Bloomberg19 hours ago
Brazil is forcefully rejecting Washington's allegations of unfair trade practices, describing an investigation launched by the US Trade Representative into the matter as an illegitimate use of unilateral US trade law.
In a 91-page response to the so-called Section 301 probe, Brazil said its digital, intellectual property, ethanol and environmental policies are consistent with international trade rules. Brazil's comments were submitted to the USTR earlier on Monday and published on its website a few hours later.
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What we know about video allegedly showing captured US tank flying Russian and American flags
What we know about video allegedly showing captured US tank flying Russian and American flags

Yahoo

time20 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

What we know about video allegedly showing captured US tank flying Russian and American flags

In August 2025, as U.S. President Donald Trump prepared to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Russian broadcaster RT circulated a video that claimed to authentically show a captured U.S. tank in Ukraine flying both U.S. and Russian flags. Days before the video started circulating, Trump met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska in an unsuccessful bid to secure a peace deal in the war in Ukraine. RT said the footage showed a captured U.S. M113 armored personnel carrier near Mala Tochmacka, an embattled village in Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia Oblast. The broadcaster claimed it had received the footage from a soldier in the field. Though RT's report reflected verified details about which Russian forces were fighting near Mala Tochmacka, the video also displayed signs of the use of artificial intelligence. Due to a lack of corroborating evidence, Snopes could not confirm the video's authenticity. In August 2025, days after U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin's unsuccessful bid to end the war in Ukraine through a summit in Alaska, a video (archived) circulated online that claimed to authentically show a captured U.S. tank in Ukraine flying U.S. and Russian flags. One version of the video, posted on a pro-Ukraine X account, had more than 690,000 views at the time of this writing. The video also circulated on Facebook (archived), Threads (archived), Instagram (archived), Bluesky (archived) and TikTok (archived). Additionally, Snopes readers wrote in asking whether the video was authentic. The video quickly drew ire from Ukrainian officials. Andriy Yermak, the head of the office of the president of Ukraine, posted (archived) the video on Telegram, describing it as the work of "propagandists" and "the height of insolence." Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with Trump on Aug. 18, the date the video started circulating, to continue discussions about how to end the war. Snopes could not independently verify where or when the video was recorded. The footage came from RT (archived), previously known as Russia Today, a broadcaster that the European Union suspended shortly after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 for practices of "disinformation and information manipulation." RT said it got the footage from soldiers operating near Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, where fighting had been ongoing since 2022. Snopes, which does not rely on anonymous sources, could not independently verify RT's source. The footage also showed signs of possibly having been created or manipulated by artificial intelligence. The flags on the tank appeared unnaturally bright compared with the rest of the footage. In one clip, the Russian flag appeared to suddenly morph in and out of existence. Given the lack of verifiable information about this video, we could not give it a rating at the time of this writing. We reached out to Vlad Andritsa, the journalist who RT said initially received the footage from Russian soldiers in the field, for information about how he verified it and await a reply. Morphing flags raised AI suspicions Three clips in RT's 46-second video showed a tank, reportedly a captured U.S. M113 armored vehicle, flying Russian and U.S. flags. In the first clip, the vehicle drove along a paved road lined by electricity wires. The flags waved as they would be expected to if they were attached to a moving vehicle but appeared very bright compared with the surrounding green, gray and brown landscape. In the second clip, the Russian flag suddenly appeared to morph in and out of existence. Frame-by-frame analysis of this clip (around time code 0:21) showed the Russian flag change shape from a white blob to a blue-and-white blob and back to a white blob. The American flag remained fully suspended throughout this time. (Telegram @rt_russ) That movement — the sudden shape-shifting of an element of a video — was a characteristic tell of other viral AI-generated videos. The RT video included a third clip that appeared to be a zoomed-out version of the second, where the Russian flag again appeared to morph in and out of existence. RT post reflected real movements in war in Ukraine Though Snopes could not independently verify the authenticity of the video, RT's accompanying report did contain authentic or plausible details about the ongoing war in Ukraine. According to RT, the footage showed a captured M113 armored vehicle near Mala Tochmacka, Ukraine. The U.S. has supplied M113 armored personnel carriers to Ukraine since 2022. RT said the footage showed a vehicle operated by the 70th Guards Motorized Rifle Regiment, a regiment of the Russian ground forces originally from Chechnya, a semi-independent autonomous region of Russia. Ukrainian officials and Russian war-focused Telegram channels (archived) said fighting occurred near Mala Tochmacka in early August, around a week before RT posted the video of the tank allegedly carrying the U.S. and Russian flags. According to both the above information and geolocated footage published by Ukrainian (time code 0:34, archived) and Russian (time code 2:48) military channels, Ukrainian forces struck Russian armored vehicles near Mala Tochmacka on Aug. 10. However, none of this footage appeared to show the alleged M113 carrying the U.S. and Russian flags. According to the Institute for the Study of War, a nonpartisan public-policy research organization documenting armed conflicts around the world, fighting near Mala Tochmacka continued until Aug. 18, the most recent report at the time of this writing. The ISW reported that the 70th Guards Motorized Rifle Regiment was involved in these clashes. Given the above, it was not impossible that the footage authentically showed a recording by a Russian soldier from the 70th Guards Motorized Rifle Regiment of a captured U.S. tank operated by Russian soldiers near Mala Tochmacka, though Snopes could not independently verify this fact. Ultimately, the video did not contain enough information for Snopes to determine its date or recording location. While Russian troops were no doubt present near Mala Tochmacka around the time the video circulated and could have captured a U.S.-donated M113 armored vehicle, several aspects of the video gave rise to suspicion. RT, a Russian broadcaster that the European Council suspended for its practice of "disinformation and information manipulation," spread the footage from an anonymous source. Additionally, the footage itself showed a Russian flag that appeared to disappear and reappear, a common sign of AI use. provided translations from Russian and Ukrainian to English. COLVIN, JILL, and MICHELLE L. PRICE. "For Trump and Putin, Handshakes on a Red Carpet and a Joint Limo Ride, Then an Abrupt Ending." AP News, 15 Aug. 2025, CORBET, SYLVIE, et al. "Trump Begins Planning for Putin-Zelenskyy Meeting While Affirming US Help with Security Guarantees." AP News, 18 Aug. 2025, Council of the EU. "EU Imposes Sanctions on State-Owned Outlets RT/Russia Today and Sputnik's Broadcasting in the EU." Council of the European Union, March 2, 20222, Harward, Christina, et al. "Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, August 13, 2025." Institute for the Study of War, 13 Aug. 2025, "M113 Family of Vehicles." BAE Systems, Accessed 19 Aug. 2025. Malyasov, Dylan. "Vietnam-Era M113s Save Lives in Ukraine War." Defence Blog, 10 Jan. 2025, Sobieski, Jessica, et al. "Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, August 18, 2025." Institute for the Study of War, 18 Aug. 2025, "Влад Андрица." Telegram, Командование Мотострелкового Полка Из Чечни Пытается Скрыть Саботаж Среди Военных в Украине. 14 Jun. 2022, "Рапортували, що закріпилися в тюрмі" — поблизу Оріхового три години відбивали штурм російської "броні". Accessed 19 Aug. 2025.

Trump says the Smithsonian focuses too much on 'how bad slavery was'
Trump says the Smithsonian focuses too much on 'how bad slavery was'

NBC News

time22 minutes ago

  • NBC News

Trump says the Smithsonian focuses too much on 'how bad slavery was'

President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he has ordered his attorneys to conduct a review of Smithsonian museums, calling their portrayal of U.S. history too negative and focused too much on 'how bad Slavery was.' The president said he would subject the museums to 'the exact same process' his administration has conducted of universities, with the goal of making the Smithsonian less 'woke.' A White House official told NBC News Tuesday night that Trump plans to extend his review of museums beyond the Washington-based institution, saying he will start to 'get the woke out of the Smithsonian' and then go from there. 'The Smithsonian is OUT OF CONTROL, where everything discussed is how horrible our Country is, how bad Slavery was, and how unaccomplished the downtrodden have been — Nothing about Success, nothing about Brightness, nothing about the Future,' Trump wrote on Truth Social. 'We are not going to allow this to happen, and I have instructed my attorneys to go through the Museums, and start the exact same process that has been done with Colleges and Universities where tremendous progress has been made,' he added. The Smithsonian did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The White House has waged war on several colleges and universities, pulling millions in federal funding from schools like Harvard, Columbia and Brown alleging the schools fostered antisemitic climates and lowering the hammer on their diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. Some of the schools have reached agreements with the administration walking back some of their DEI efforts, pledging to comply with federal policies and in some cases paying the government hundreds of millions of dollars. Trump's post comes a week after his administration began conducting an unprecedented review of exhibits at the Smithsonian ahead of the country's 250th anniversary, in an effort to make sure they comply with Trump's vision of history. The Smithsonian received a letter signed by White House Office of Management and Budget director Russ Vought last week instructing officials at eight of its museums to turn over information about exhibits and plans to commemorate the country's 250th within 30 days. It instructed the officials to implement 'content corrections' where necessary, including replacing 'divisive' language. NBC News found in May that at least 32 artifacts once on display at the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture on the National Mall were removed, prompting questions from historical leaders. One artifact included a book belonging to Harriet Tubman, which was filled with hymns she was believed to have sung when leading enslaved people to freedom. The Smithsonian, which comprises 21 museums, 14 education and research centers and a zoo, is the world's largest complex of its kind. The bulk of its funding comes from Congress, but its curatorial process is independent.

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