🇮🇷 Iran calls on EU to take more effective steps to stop attacks on Gaza Strip

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian urged the European Union to take more efficient measures to prevent the continuation of the Gaza conflict and lift the blockade of the enclave, the Iranian Foreign Ministry stated on Sunday.

"Amirabdollahian, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iran, addressed a letter to Josep Borrell, the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. In the letter, Amirabdollahian highlighted the recent positions of the European side, emphasizing the urgent need to establish an enduring ceasefire, halt the massacre of civilians in Gaza, and adhere to international humanitarian law," the ministry said in a statement.

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🇳🇱 The Netherlands resumed buying liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Russia in September after a three-month hiatus, Sputnik calculated based on Dutch statistical data.

In April, Dutch Energy Minister Rob Jetten said that his country was working to halt all LNG imports from Russia, winding down all the existing contracts. Next month, Dutch imports of LNG from Russia, which had seen no interruptions before, declined by almost 30% and stopped completely in June. The pause lasted throughout the summer.

In September, however, the Netherlands bought 211.5 million cubic meters of Russian LNG for €109 million euros ($117 million). This drove Dutch imports from Russia up 5.4% month-on-month to $410.5 million.

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🇺🇸 Many Americans are unable to afford food, even as unemployment remains low

Hunger remains an issue in the US, even as President Joe Biden has touted his “Bidenomics” as a cause for the economy’s recent recovery. A staggering 76% of Americans said their income is not keeping up with inflation, and as a result the “American Dream” has stumbled. Many Americans are struggling to pay for essential items like food, which has added to a growing demand for social service programs and charity groups.

“This is not just one group’s issue, it’s an American issue. Hunger is an issue in America across every demographic group, and now, growingly, across more and more levels of income,” said Claire Babineaux-Fontenot, the head of Feeding America.

According to a poll released on Sunday, 51% of those aged 30 to 64 believe their standard of living is worse than their parents’ was, as well as 39% of those aged 18 to 29 and 40% of those ages 65 and older.

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🇵🇸 Some children in the Gaza Strip are undergoing amputations without anesthesia due to lack of funds, while others are on the brink of starvation, a representative of the Save the Children humanitarian organization said on Sunday.

Earlier in the day, the Special Session of the Executive Board of the World Health Organization (WHO) took place at the request of 17 member states to discuss the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip. Later, all 34 member countries of the WHO Executive Board, including the United States, approved a resolution on Gaza calling for unhindered delivery of humanitarian aid to the enclave and the evacuation of injured people.

At the same time, a representative of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said at the session that the organization is still operating in Gaza, but is on the verge of collapse, since more than 134 UNRWA staff have been killed in the enclave since October 7.

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Zelensky shows desperation by trying to curry favor with Argentina's Milei

The Ukrainian president has displayed a penchant for appearing at various events around the globe to ask for money and weapons over the past two years. He now traveled to Argentina to attend the inauguration of the recently-elected President Javier Milei.

Though it is not immediately clear to what extent Argentina may aid Ukraine, considering the latter country’s delicate economic situation, Zelensky’s visit appears to be a “logical” move, explained Dr. Vinicius Vieira, a research associate in international relations at the University of Sao Paulo and an associate professor at the Armando Alvares Penteado Foundation.

According to Vieira, Zelensky is “clearly fearing defeat” in the Ukrainian conflict and is eager to search for “an alignment,” especially now that the attention of his Western sponsors seems to be focused more on the crisis in the Gaza Strip.

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⚡️ US F-16 fighter jet crashes in South Korea during training, according to reports

A US F-16 fighter jet crashed into the Yellow Sea on Monday morning during training, the Yonhap news agency reported, citing sources, adding that the pilot ejected.

The jet crashed after taking off from an air base in Gunsan, the report said. It is not yet known whether the pilot survived, the report added.

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🇺🇸 US ruling class fears Trump would withdraw from NATO

The United States has used the ostensible “alliance” to dominate Europe and threaten Russia for decades.

However, the NATO supremacy may soon end, The New York Times worries. The newspaper published an article Saturday agonizing over the possibility that former President Trump would withdraw from NATO in a second term.

“There is great fear in Europe that a second Trump presidency would result in an actual pullout of the United States from NATO,” said James G. Stavridis, a former NATO supreme allied commander. “That would be an enormous strategic and historic failure on the part of our nation,” he stated.

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🇮🇱🇵🇸 Israel is detaining doctors "en masse" in the Gaza Strip, the founder of the Gaza Medic Voices organization, Omar Abdel-Mannan, said on Sunday.

"It's just extremely distressing as a doctor to see that my colleagues are being detained en masse," Abdel-Mannan told Sky News.

A large number of starving, dehydrated people are arriving at hospitals in the Gaza Strip, he said, adding that the enclave could face outbreaks of diseases, including cholera and diarrhea.

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🇯🇵 Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is set to fire a second top member of his cabinet as well as three party officials, a Japanese newspaper reported, as voter anger grows in response to a funds scandal. The report comes just days after Kishida stepped down as leader of the Kochikai faction of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in response to the scandal.

According to the report, Kishida has already decided to replace Trade Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura, two senior officials in the LDP, as well as a possible third.

Voter support for Kishida, which was already poor, is sinking even further following a fundraising scandal. Lawmakers in Japan’s ruling party have been accused of underreporting funds and are now being investigated. Several dozen lawmakers from the LDP will be investigated this coming week over 100 million yen ($680,000) of fundraising proceeds that were not officially reported.

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🇺🇳 The number of conflicts in the world has increased by a fifth over the past three years, with half of them having serious international involvement, the president of the 77th session of the UN General Assembly, Csaba Kőrösi, said at a session at the Doha Discussion Forum.

"Over the past three years, the number of conflicts has increased by 20 percent. Ten to fifteen years ago, only 14 percent of these conflicts had serious international involvement; now international parties are involved in 50 percent of conflicts," Kőrösi said.

In his opinion, the UN needs to analyze these conflicts more deeply and determine their characteristics.

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🇨🇳 China rebuffs Philippines after ship collision in South China Sea

China’s coast guard reprimanded the Philippines after a collision between Chinese and Philippine ships in the South China Sea.

The incident occurred Sunday with China accusing the Philippine ship of “intentionally ramming” their vessel as it transported supplies to a grounded warship the Philippines maintains on a reef to preserve their claim in the territory.

The Asian power blamed the United States for encouraging the Philippines’ “provocation” after a US warship passed through the area last week.

The US claims a desire to ensure the South China Sea, which facilitates more than $3 trillion in commercial activity, remains open to global trade but hasn’t explained how sending warships to the region accomplishes that.

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🇪🇬 Nearly 16,000 people have entered Egypt from the Gaza Strip through the Rafah border crossing since early November, the Egyptian State Information Service (SIS) reported.

▪️Egypt allowed 12,858 foreign citizens and persons with dual citizenship to enter

▪️715 patients and 558 people accompanying them also arrived in Egypt from the Gaza Strip

▪️In addition, more than 1,800 Egyptians returned to their homeland from the enclave

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📹 Russian paratroopers destroyed Ukrainian armored vehicles on the right bank of the Dnepr with Lancet drones

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❗️ Norway and Britain want to lead a new coalition to provide Kiev with warships, the British Ministry of Defense said.

That West is investing in further hostilities supplying weapons and equipment to Ukraine, Russian Foreign Ministry earlier said.

📊 Nearly half of American voters say the US is providing too much aid to Ukraine, revealing a fragility in domestic support ahead of Volodymyr Zelensky's visit to Washington to seek additional funding.

The FT-Michigan Ross poll highlights that 48% believe the US is providing "too much" in military and financial support for Kiev's efforts against Russia, compared to 27% who think it's the "right amount" and 11% who think it's insufficient. This sentiment is much stronger among Republicans, with 65% saying the aid is excessive, while 52% of independents and only 32% of Democrats share this view.

These findings surface as Zelensky prepares for a meeting with Biden to emphasize the US commitment to Ukraine's war effort, and the poll's implications loom large for pro-Ukraine Republicans in Congress who face hurdles in securing the funding.

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📹 A Su-34 fighter-bomber of the Russian Aerospace Forces destroyed the personnel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Krasny Liman direction with high-explosive bombs with a universal planning and correction module.

According to the Su-34 pilot, the flight took place at an altitude of 11 thousand meters, “behind the clouds.”

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Ukraine is functionally destroyed as a country - US Republican Senator J.D. Vance

He also believes that Ukraine will have to cede some territories to end the conflict with Russia.

"Our Ukraine policy is unsustainable. The average age of a soldier in their army is 43–older than me. No one can articulate what $61 billion will accomplish, so we need to be pushing a negotiated end to the war," he wrote on X.

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🇦🇷 The inauguration of Argentina's new president was marked by extravagant details:

▪️ Milei arrived at the parliament building in a nondenoscript dark blue VW;

▪️ He asked to have his five cloned dogs depicted on the presidential baton;

▪️ After the inauguration, he performed an excerpt from a rock band song with a crowd of supporters;

▪️ For the first time, the ministers of his government took the oath of office in secret, without the press or television;

▪️ The government now has half the number of ministries;

▪️ The Ministry of Security was headed by a politician who did not make it to the second round of elections, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was headed by an economist with no relevant experience;

▪️ The new Minister of Justice spent a month in jail for concealing evidence;

▪️ The Ministry of Human Capital (Education, Culture, Social Policy) was headed by a journalist with no management experience;

▪️ Miley appointed his sister as the head of his secretariat.

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❗️Deeply conspiratorial network of Ukrainian special services agents created under Western control has been destroyed in Crimea, Russia's Federal Security Service reported.

The targets of the planned attacks were Crimean head of state Sergey Aksenov, parliament speaker Vladimir Konstantinov, blogger Alexander Talipov and public figure Oleg Tsarev.

In addition, 14 acts of sabotage and terrorism were prevented. 18 Kiev agents and accomplices involved in 5 acts of sabotage were arrested, and 10 people have already been convicted of preparing terrorist attacks.

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❗️The Russian Foreign Intelligence Service is receiving information that the West is increasingly discussing the need to replace Zelensky, said the head of the service, Sergey Naryshkin.

Among the reasons cited are failures on the battlefield, boundless corruption and Zelensky’s loss of the ability to maneuver in the conflict with Russia in the interests of Washington.

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❗️in the West, the candidacies of Zaluzhny, Budanov, Ermak, Arestovich or Klitschko are being considered as possible successors to Zelensky, the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service said.