🇦🇷 Argentine President Javier Milei said entrepreneur Elon Musk and the US government expressed their interest in the country's lithium reserves.

"I got a call from Elon Musk. He is very interested in lithium, as is the US government and many American companies. But they need a legal framework to guarantee that property rights are respected," Milei said in a television program on the Canal 13 broadcaster.

Argentina, Chile and Bolivia account for 56% of global lithium reserves, with Argentina and Chile responsible for some 32% of its global production, according to the US Geological Survey.

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❗️Thousands of Australians including protestors as young as 6 years old spent their Christmas marching for Palestine.

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🇷🇺 A business card from Putin from when he was working in the Leningrad City Council of People's Deputies in the 1990s is being sold at auction in St. Petersburg. The highest bid for Putin's business card is 200,000 rubles, organizers say. The auction will take place in 4 hours.

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US resolve to grant Israel ‘license’ in Gaza war will hurt it in long term

The US is determined to go on record as a pro-Israel country in the current Gaza crisis, even if it hurts the United States in the long term, independent journalist Caleb Maupin told Sputnik.

That explains why Washington has been adamant that no resolution pass the UN Security Council that would in any way “tie Israel's hands,” the political analyst said. The UN Security Council finally adopted a UAE-drafted resolution on the ongoing crisis in Gaza that was “watered down to almost nothing,” he noted.

“The US will not stop Israel. They will not oppose Israel. They will give Israel license... Biden now wants 14 billion more dollars for Israel. The whole world is looking on in horror at what Israel is doing. And the United States is saying, ‘make sure that we're involved, make sure that we're complicit.’”

According to the pundit, “This is going to cause more division in the world. This is not a good situation at all. But this is where the Biden White House wants us to be.”

👉 Check out his full analysis

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🇷🇺🪖 Key points of Russian MoD briefing on progress of special military op in Ukraine:

▪️ Foreign-made air defense missile launchers were hit at an airfield in the Khmelnitsky region. Ukrainian aircraft were also hit at the Kanatovo and Dnepr Airfields;

▪️ Air defense systems shot down three Ukrainian Su-27s and one Su-24 in the Zaporozhye and Dnepropetrovsk regions;

▪️ In the Kupyansk direction, four attacks by Ukrainian forces were repelled near Sinkovka. Kiev lost over 40 military personnel, and an ammunition depot of the 113th Territorial Defense Brigade near Liptsy was also hit;

▪️ In the Krasny Liman direction, two attacks by Ukrainian forces were repelled. Enemy losses amounted to up to 100 military personnel;

▪️ In the Donetsk direction, eight attacks by Ukrainian forces were repulsed, with Kiev’s losses amounting to up to 350 military killed and wounded. A US-made M777 artillery mount was also hit;

▪️ In the South Donetsk direction, a blow was struck against Ukrainian forces near Novomikhailovka. Kiev lost up to 110 military personnel, and as part of a counter-battery battle, M109 Paladin, Akatsiya, and Gvozdika self-propelled guns were hit;

▪️ In the Kherson direction, Ukrainian losses amounted to up to 80 military personnel, and US-made M109 Paladin self-propelled gun was also hit;

▪️ In the Zaporozhye direction, Kiev lost up to 70 military killed and wounded.

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Iran’s Navy boosted with new cruise missiles, electronic warfare system-equipped choppers

The Navy got weapons and equipment including:

▪️ Talayieh strategic smart cruise missiles with a 1,000+ km range

▪️ Nasir short-range cruise missiles with a 100+ km range and a 130 kg warhead

▪️ Sanjar smart loitering munitions fitted to Iran’s Jamaran destroyer

▪️ A multipurpose drone-based electronic warfare system

▪️ Helicopters equipped with optical and intelligence-gathering systems and a brand new electronic warfare platform with the ability to deceive enemy missiles.

The upgrade comes amid escalating regional tensions in the face of the ongoing Gaza conflict and the Houthi campaign of hijackings, drone and missile strikes against Israeli-affiliated commercial cargo vessels traversing the Red Sea, with the US assembling a coalition to counter the Houthis and accusing Iran of supporting them militarily. Tehran has denied the claims.

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Russian military successfully counters Ukrainian attack drones

Military personnel from the BARS-8 volunteer detachment regularly repel attacks by Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles in the Zaporozhye direction.

In addition to air defenses and electronic warfare systems, Russian military personnel actively use layered defense and air surveillance posts.

Having discovered an aerial target, the detachment quickly “lands” it using anti-drone guns, or shoots it down with small arms fire. After clearing the munition, the drone can be used as a spare parts “donor” for similar UAV models available to Russian military personnel.

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Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister has rejected US accusations that his country was "deeply involved" in attacks by Yemeni forces on Israel-linked commercial ships travelling across the Red Sea.

"The resistance has its own tools... and acts in accordance with its own decisions and capabilities," Ali Bagheri was cited by Mehr news agency as saying.

"The fact that certain powers, such as the Americans and the Israelis, suffer strikes from the resistance movement... should in no way call into question the reality of the strength of the resistance in the region," he added.

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🪖 The Ukrainian Armed Forces have said they do not know how to mobilize 500,000 more troops, as volunteers have "run out"

"The volunteers who wanted to join the ranks of the Ukrainian Armed Forces have run out... To say exactly when mobilization will be and how qualitatively, it is difficult to say... how to implement it physically, there is no understanding," said Major General of Ukrainian forces Dmitry Marchenko in an interview with Deutsche Welle.

According to Marchenko, only 20 people will be mobilized to replace every 100 military personnel lost at the front. At the same time, he reacted positively to the proposal to lower the age limit from 27 to 25 years and attempt to extradite those who had fled the country, adding that "it is not worthwhile to fill the holes at the front with women when the mass of men are hiding abroad."

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🇷🇺 Margarita Simonyan, the editor-in-chief of RT and Rossiya Segodnya, Sputnik's parent media group:

"To understand that Russia has no intention of attacking any NATO member, but vice versa, it is entirely possible, where it is enough to look at simple arithmetic statistics from history. How many times in history have the nations, currently part of NATO, the peoples and representatives of nations now NATO members, attacked Russia? It would be difficult for me to count: starting from Alexander Nevsky and onward, both France, and Britain in the Crimean War, and many others — countless times.

How many times has Russia attacked any country currently in NATO? For example? Remember! Only in response. Retaliating in response is not attacking. Retaliating — is defending. These are different things — to attack and to defend. Russia defended itself and defeated you — those who attacked — many times. But Russia never attacked first."

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🗣 Syrian Girl about her Russia trip and impression of the Russians

"I see a resurgence of the Orthodox Church and of patriotism. People are very patriotic. They're very proud to be Russian. And they feel that their country has had enough, I would say. They've been marginalized enough by the West and they're ready to embrace the East. And the fact that they're Eurasian. I see a Eurasian pride in Russia, and an acceptance of that. And a look to the East for the future, without closing the door on the West. They want to still be friendly with the West," - Maram Susli (@syriangirlpartisan), Journalist and Think tank Analyst based in Australia, told Sputnik.

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🇮🇱 Israel's Netanyahu announces the expansion of military operations in the Gaza Strip and calls it the 'only way' to free hostages and destroy Hamas.

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Sputnik correspondent Russell Bentley (@TXDPR) gives his geopolitical year in review. Here are his main takeaways:

▪️ Russia is winning the economic war against the West

▪️ Drones and AI are changing the face of modern warfare at a dizzying pace

▪️ Houthis in Yemen pose a much bigger problem for the US Navy than most people realize

▪️ The people of Donbass still face a challenging battle ahead, but Russian troops are making progress

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🗺 US authorities have published maps of the extended continental shelf, which extends beyond 200 nautical miles from the coast in the Arctic, Atlantic, Bering Sea, Pacific Ocean, two sections of the Gulf of Mexico and the Mariana Islands.

The State Department claims that the borders determined by the United States do not create territorial disputes with Russia, but will require settlement with Canada and Japan.

The head of the Russian Parliament Committee on the Arctic, Kharitonov, told Sputnik that it is unacceptable to unilaterally expand boundaries on the shelf; this could lead to increased tension.

Russia is taking all measures necessary to protect national interests in this zone, and will continue to take them, Karasin, head of the international committee of the Russian Senate, told Sputnik.

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🇮🇱🇵🇸 The latest updates on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict:

▪️Israel's Netanyahu announces the expansion of military operations in the Gaza Strip and calls it the "only way" to free hostages and destroy Hamas.

▪️The US is impeding the establishment of a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and "tying the hands" of the international community by using its veto power in international organizations, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani told Sputnik.

▪️ The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it had struck about 200 targets of Palestinian group Hamas in the Gaza Strip over the past 24 hours.

▪️Israeli strikes have killed 166 people in the Gaza Strip and injured 384 others over the past 24 hours, the Al Jazeera broadcaster reported, citing the enclave's health ministry.

▪️The number of Israeli soldiers killed in the escalation of conflict with Palestinian movement Hamas since October 7 has reached 485, the IDF said.

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Vladimir Putin's business card from the 1990s sold at an auction in St. Petersburg for 2 million rubles (21 754 dollars)

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During the unrest in Serbia, protesters attempted to break into the Belgrade administration as President Vucic addressed the nation.

The protesters tried to break one of the doors of the Belgrade city administration, broke a window, threw stones and started clashes with law enforcers. They failed to enter the building, as the entrance is protected by police officers with shields.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic addressed the nation from the parliament building, emphasising that "the law enforcement agencies are in control of the situation" and "the instigators of the unrest and hooligans will be punished".

Vucic also thanked the foreign intelligence services that warned the Serbian leadership about the attempted "colour revolution".

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Today's rally, the seventh of its kind, was organised by the opposition, dissatisfied with the outcome of the parliamentary and regional elections on 17 December. Opposition's demand is to cancel the elections and declare new ones, due to alleged vote rigging by ruling party.

President Vucic reported that only 2,490 people took part in the rally, which was claimed by the opposition as the largest ever.