🤔About 40,000 of the UK military’s 145,000 personnel have been officially classified as dangerously overweight or obese over the past five years, according to Ministry of Defense (MoD) statistics as cited by a British media outlet.

📊The statistics also revealed that 5,200 obese or overweight British servicemen have been medically discharged since 2010, with scores of soldiers suffering from Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease.

📌The heaviest soldier, who was sacked from the army after failing mandatory fitness tests, weighed more than 420 pounds (over 190 kg).

Over 850 troops have reportedly been prescribed diet pills since 2014, while 60 others have had liposuction surgery to tackle the problem.

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EU Lowers Gas Withdrawal Rates, Almost Doubles Wind Power Generation

The European Union has lowered the extraction rate from its underground gas storage facilities (UGS) because of warm weather and almost doubled the volume of electricity generation from wind power plants, the data from Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE) and the WindEurope association showed on Sunday.

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🚫US crypto traders FTX has been blocked from unwinding its affiliates to pay debts, including units in Japan and Europe and clearinghouse LedgerX, British media reported.

▪️Trustee Andrew Vara filed an objection to plans by bankrupt FTX to sell off the assets, arguing that these companies might have important information for the ongoing investigation.

💬"The sale of potentially valuable causes of action against the debtors' directors, officers and employees, or any other person or entity, should not be permitted until there has been a full and independent investigation into all persons and entities that may have been involved in any malfeasance, negligence or other actionable conduct," the filing states.

📌The collapse of FTX shocked the financial industry and annihilated the $15 bn paper fortune of its founder and ex-CEO Sam Bankman-Fried.

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🇷🇸NATO-led peacekeeping mission Kosovo Force (KFOR) has rejected Belgrade's request to deploy the police and troops to Kosovo and Metohija, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Sunday.

💬"They said in the carefully drafted letter to the Serbian government, which I received, that there was no need to return the Serbian troops to Kosovo and Metohija, and cited the UN Security Council resolution 1244," Vucic told Serbian media.

📌The president added that it was "a predictable answer." Vucic sent a formal letter in the middle of December, asking NATO mission to allow Serbian army and police and Kosovo.

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🇹🇭 📹 Despite the harsh realities, this Thai knows how to stay positive even in the most difficult conditions. Just have a look!

Is your glass half full?

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Italy's Weapons Delivery to Kiev Will Not Take Place Until Parliament Informed

The sixth package of Italy's military assistance to Ukraine is being under discussion, as it is necessary to inform the Italian parliament before the delivery takes place, Italian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said on Sunday.

"The sixth defense package still needs to be finalized. The delivery will not take place until the parliament is informed," Tajani told Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.

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❗️The Russian MoD’s briefing on the progress of the special military operation in Ukraine:

▪️Russian Forces eliminated more than 30 Ukrainian troops, as well as destroyed one infantry combat vehicle, one armored carrier and two other vehicles near Kupyansk;

▪️The Russian Army eliminated two sabotage and reconnaissance groups of the Ukrainian Army in the Kharkov region and in the LPR;

▪️Russian troops eliminated more than 50 Ukrainian servicemen, as well as destroyed three armored combat vehicles, one pick-up truck and one other vehicle near Makevka and Stelmakhovka settlements (LPR);

▪️Russian Forces eliminated two sabotage and reconnaissance groups of the Ukrainian Army near the Artemovka and Serebryanka settlements;

▪️The Russian Army eliminated up to 70 Ukrainian troops, as well as destroyed two armored combat vehicles and one pick-up truck near Donetsk;

▪️Russian troops eliminated more than 40 Ukrainian servicemen, as well as destroyed Ukrainian armored carriers and three other vehicles in the DPR;

▪️Russian servicemen hit 84 Ukrainian artillery units at their firing positions;

▪️Russian Air Forces show down five Ukrainian aircraft in the Kharkov region and in the DPR;

▪️Russian air defenses destroyed five Ukrainian UAVs, as well as intercepted ten HIMARS and Uragan rockets and one US-made anti-radar HARM missile.

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⚡️An update from Russia's MoD:

▪️On January 8, as a result of negotiations with Kiev, 50 Russian soldiers were released. They were in mortal danger in captivity;

▪️All released Russian troops are provided with the necessary medical and psychological assistance;

▪️Released Russian troops will be delivered to Moscow by military planes for treatment and rehabilitation.

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❗️As a result of the criminal attack by the Kiev regime in the first minutes of January 2023 against the temporary deployment site of Russian military personnel near Makeyevka (Donetsk People's Republic), the command of the combined group of troops carried out a retaliatory operation.

▪️ Over the past 24 hours, Russian reconnaissance assets have uncovered and reliably confirmed through several independent channels the temporary deployment points of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Kramatorsk.

▪️ There were over 700 Ukrainian troops in dormitory №28 and over 600 troops in dormitory №47.

▪️ More than 600 Ukrainian soldiers have been eliminated as a result of a massive missile strike on these temporary deployment sites for Ukrainian units.

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🇸🇳 At least 40 people have died and scores were injured in a collision between two buses in the Kaffrine region of Senegal, local media reported.

▪️The incident took place Sunday morning on the road to Kaffrine as one of the buses from the country's capital Dakar smashed into the side of the other. According to the media, the death toll from the bus crash reached 40, while around 70 people were injured.

▪️Following the incident, the country’s President Macky Sall has announced a three-day national mourning. He also stated that the Senegalese officials are expected to hold meetings in the coming days to address road safety in the country.

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West to Demand Serbia Recognize Kosovo If Belgrade Slaps Sanctions on Russia, Vucic Says

The West will require the Serbian authorities to sign an agreement with the partially-recognized republic of Kosovo on its formal recognition once Belgrade agrees to impose sanctions against Russia, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Sunday.

Vucic recalled that Belgrade has withstood external pressure for about 100 days, refusing to impose sanctions against Russia over the special operation in Ukraine.

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📹The Russian Defense Ministry has revealed footage showing how 50 Russian servicemen return from the Urkainian captivity.

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⚽️Prominent French football manager and former player Zinedine Zidane has rejected an offer to become a new coach of the US national men’s team, US media reported on Sunday, citing sources.

▪️The United States Soccer Federation has contacted Zidane to offer him to manage the national team after the contract of current coach Gregg Berhalter is expired, the report said.

▪️Earlier, media reported that Zidane might become a new coach of the French national team after the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, however, the French Football Federation decided to extend the contract of current coach Didier Deschamps until the 2026 World Cup.

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Sputnik Editor's Espionage Charges Aim to 'Cover Up' Latvia Limiting Free Speech: Lawyer

Latvia's espionage accusation of Moscow-based Sputnik Lithuania editor Marat Kasem aims to "cover up" the country's actions to restrict freedom of speech, Anatoly Kapustin, head of the Russian branch of the International Law Association, told Sputnik on Sunday.

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‘Unfit for Office’: Netizens Troll Biden Over Reports of 2024 Campaign Launch

Speaking at a post-mid-term election in November, Joe Biden made it clear that he intends to seek another presidential term, but that it was ultimately a “family decision”, due to be announced “early next year”.

Netizens have hit out at US President Joe Biden amid reports that he is "readying the details around his 2024 re­election campaign."

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⚡️Ukraine's special services have prepared a large-scale anti-Russian provocation in the Kharkov region, opening graves in several cemeteries - Russia's MoD.

📹Russian Terminator BMPT in action as part of the special military operation in Ukraine (video courtesy of Russia’s MoD)

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⚡️A group of supporters of the former Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro has broken a security blockade and invaded the Planalto Palace.

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🇺🇸Texas Governor Greg Abbott said on Sunday that illegal immigrants are being expelled from the streets of the border city of El Paso with their tent camps demolished in preparation for the arrival of US President Joe Biden.

📌Biden is expected to visit El Paso later in the day, where he will familiarize himself with the migration situation on the US southern border for the first time since the beginning of his presidency.

💬"El Paso rushes to remove illegal immigrants and migrant camps that are crowding downtown before Biden arrives. Predictable. Biden does not want America to see the chaos that he has caused on the border. This is just a photo op and a game of pretend," the governor tweeted.

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