🇷🇺🛳 Russia Declares Emergency After Black Sea Oil Spill

Russia declared a regional state of emergency on Saturday in Crimea, which it seized from Ukraine in 2014, as workers cleared tons of contaminated sand and earth on either side of the Kerch Strait following an oil spill in the Black Sea last month.

Mikhail Razvozhaev, the Russia-installed governor of the city of Sevastopol, said new traces of minor pollution required urgent elimination and declared a state of emergency in the city – giving authorities more power to take swift decisions such as ordering citizens to evacuate their homes.

The Kerch Strait runs between the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov and separates Crimea’s Kerch Peninsula from Russia’s Krasnodar region.

Rescue workers have now cleared more than 86,000 metric tons of contaminated sand and soil, the emergencies ministry said on Saturday. The oil leaked from two aging tankers that were hit by a storm on Dec. 15. One sank and the other ran aground.

https://gcaptain.com/russia-declares-emergency-after-black-sea-oil-spill/

🇩🇴🇭🇹 The Dominican Republic deported more than 276,000 Haitians in 2024, the country’s Immigration Directorate said Wednesday.

Haiti’s then-Foreign Minister Dominique Dupuy condemned “brutal scenes of raids and deportations,” and demanded justice for “dehumanizing acts” against her compatriots. Dominican authorities maintain that the deportations are carried out in compliance with human rights.

In October, Reuters footage captured dozens of migrants crammed into caged Dominican Republic law enforcement trucks heading to Haiti. Aid organizations have rushed assistance to the Haitian side of the border to assist the thousands of deportees.

The mass deportations come amid a worsening political and social crisis in Haiti; gangs are estimated to control more than 80% of the country’s capital, Port-au-Prince.

📝 In 2013, the constitutional court of the Dominican Republic announced a decision that stripped an estimated 210,000 Haitians— about 2 percent of the island nation’s population — of their citizenship overnight.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/02/americas/dominican-republic-deport-haitians-intl-latam/index.html

#BREAKING
🇨🇦📝❗️ — Long-standing Liberal Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to announce resignation this week, according to the Globe and Mail

🇰🇵🚀📝 — North Korea's People's Army launched a ballistic missile, according to South Korea Joint Chiefs Staff

🇻🇪🇻🇪⛓ — The Venezuelan military forces are conducting search operations in hotels in Caracas and Vargas, targeting individuals linked to Erik Prince, the former U.S. military officer and founder of Blackwater, as well as other foreigners of interest to the government.

➡️ These operations have created tension and fear among the population, with reports of interrogations and detentions of foreigners, totaling more than 160 individuals. This military deployment takes place in the context of a history of security operations often regarded as state control and repression in Venezuela.

🇻🇪⁉️🪖 — Alleged Venezuelan military personnel have issued a call to the high command to "act as agreed, disavow the tyrant Nicolás Maduro, and support President Edmundo González." They have also sent messages directed at María Corina Machado, Donald Trump, and Erik Prince.

🇵🇾❗️🇻🇪 — In a statement, the government of Paraguay officially recognizes Edmundo González Urrutia as the president-elect of Venezuela and supports his right to take office on January 10, in accordance with the Venezuelan people's will. See the full statement below:

The government of the Republic of Paraguay announces that:

1. It recognizes Mr. Edmundo González Urrutia as the president-elect of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and, as such, affirms his right to assume leadership of his nation on January 10, in accordance with the sovereign will of the Venezuelan people expressed on July 28.

2. It reiterates Paraguay's firm and unwavering support for the Venezuelan people's right to live in democracy, within a rule of law, with absolute respect for their freedoms and fundamental guarantees.

3. It demands that Ambassador Ricardo Capella and accredited diplomatic personnel in Paraguay leave the country within the next 48 hours.

Presidencia Paraguay (@PresidenciaPy) 🖇

🇵🇾❗️🇻🇪 — In a statement, the government of Paraguay officially recognizes Edmundo González Urrutia as the president-elect of Venezuela and supports his right to take office on January 10, in accordance with the Venezuelan people's will. See the full statement below:

The government of the Republic of Paraguay announces that:

1. It recognizes Mr. Edmundo González Urrutia as the president-elect of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and, as such, affirms his right to assume leadership of his nation on January 10, in accordance with the sovereign will of the Venezuelan people expressed on July 28.

2. It reiterates Paraguay's firm and unwavering support for the Venezuelan people's right to live in democracy, within a rule of law, with absolute respect for their freedoms and fundamental guarantees.

3. It demands that Ambassador Ricardo Capella and accredited diplomatic personnel in Paraguay leave the country within the next 48 hours.

Presidencia Paraguay (@PresidenciaPy) 🖇

🇺🇸❌🇲🇽 — President-elected Donald Trump says name of the Gulf of Mexico will be changed to Gulf of America

🔗 BNO News (@BNONews)

🇺🇸❌🇨🇦 — President-elected Donald Trump on Canada:

“Why are we supporting a country 200+ billion a year? They should be a state of America!”