Jeffrey Epstein recorded sex tapes of the US ex-President Bill Clinton, Prince Andrew, and businessman Richard Branson, victim claims in unsealed court documents.

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🇮🇱 Israel attacked a refuge for Doctors Without Borders workers and their families in Gaza. Four people were injured, the organization said.

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

The number of people killed by Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip has increased to 23,084, with 58,926 more injured, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.

UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan has rejected Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's request that Abu Dhabi pay unemployment benefits to Palestinian workers banned from entering Israel, advising him to redirect the call to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Axios news website reported on Monday, citing sources.

A field commander of Lebanon's Hezbollah movement has been killed during an Israeli air attack on southern Lebanon.

Physical and sexual violence committed against Israeli civilians during the October 7 attacks may amount to crimes against humanity, two UN experts said.

Iran supports South Africa's decision to use international mechanisms and file a case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to prosecute Israeli officials for their actions in the Gaza Strip, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said.

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The Ukrainian Armed Forces (UAF) have enough weapons, but they don’t have enough people, - New York Times, citing the reconnaissance commander of the 117th separate military defense brigade of the UAF

Other key statements of Ukrainian servicemen:

▪️The attacks of the Russian troops were so intense in areas of the central and eastern flanks that operating close to the front line has never been so dangerous.

▪️Plots of land with an area of 100 to 200 meters always have to be conquered: “It’s something like a game of ping-pong.”

▪️Russian soldiers allegedly began to use some tricks: they play old recordings of shooting on UAVs. They want to make the Ukrainians think that they are now being attacked - they are pushing them so that the UAF will leave the trenches and reveal their positions.

▪️The use of FPV drones by the Russians makes the UAF to mainly abandon equipment in front-line zones and act on foot.

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❗️ The Russian armed forces have prevented Ukraine's attempt to carry out a terrorist attack with the use of the RM-70 Vampire multiple launch rocket system (MLRS) by successfully destroying 10 rockets over Russia's Belgorod Region, the Russian Foreign Ministry reported on Monday.

"On January 8, at about 9.30 p.m. [18:30 GMT], an attempt by the Kiev regime to carry out a terrorist attack using the RM-70 Vampire MLRS against targets on Russian territory was intercepted. Air defense systems on duty destroyed 10 rockets over the Belgorod Region," the ministry said.

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❗️ Three people injured as a result of a Ukrainian shelling of Russia's Belgorod on Monday evening, Belgorod Region Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.

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French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne resigned on Monday ahead of the expected cabinet reshuffle, the French presidency stated, adding that President Emmanuel Macron had accepted the resignation.

"Ms Elisabeth Borne today submitted the resignation of the government to the president, who accepted it," the presidency was quoted as saying by the France 24 broadcaster.

Macron thanked the outgoing prime minister for her service.

"Madam prime minister, dear [Elisabeth Borne], your work in the interest of our nation was exemplary every day. You implemented reforms with courage, commitment and determination. I thank you with all my heart," the president wrote on X.

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🇮🇷 🇿🇦 Iran supports South Africa's Gaza genocide case against Israel, Foreign Ministry says

"We support the use of international mechanisms to legally prosecute the officials ... of the Israeli regime by law as well as the implementation of internationally recognized legal norms against ... the Israeli regime," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani told reporters on Monday, while paying special attention to mechanisms of the ICJ.

In late December 2023, South Africa filed a case with the ICJ seeking provisional measures against Israel's actions against Palestinians in Gaza, calling them a violation of the Genocide Convention.

Israel responded that Pretoria's claims had no factual basis and were an "exploitation" of the court, adding that the country was allegedly collaborating with "terrorists". The ICJ is expected to hear the case on January 11 and 12.

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The name of new French prime minister will be announced on January 9, French broadcaster BFMTV reported on Monday, citing people close to President Emmanuel Macron.

Earlier in the day, French PM Elisabeth Borne resigned, with Macron accepting her resignation and thanking her for "exemplary work."

However, some French politicians have not been so appreciative of Borne's accomplishments. Mathilde Panot, the president of the La France Insoumise left-wing group in the French parliament, said that the prime minister's legacy were 23 instances of invoking the 49.3 constitutional clause, which allows to push a bill through the parliament with no vote, and a "stained democracy."

A member of the French Socialist Party, Boris Vallaud, said that "Borne [would] forever remain a prime minister of the imposed pension reform and the immigration law in the spirit of the National Front [the former name of the far-right Rassemblement National (RN) party]."

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🇭🇺🇪🇺 Could Orban assume European Council presidency?

"The presence of an anti-system leader at the helm of the Council - even on an interim basis - would constitute a first anticipation of polarization within the European Union," Tiberio Graziani, a Rome-based international affairs observer, told Sputnik.

Charles Michel announced that he will run for European Parliament in June, and vacate the presidency of the European Council if elected. Under bloc rules, the presidency could be given to an official from the member state holding the Council's rotating presidency. Hungary is slated to assume the latter on July 1, making Prime Minister Orban a potential candidate to take the reins of the body.

"Orban is the one who obviously does not support a firm stance against Russia under [President] Putin, but would rather want a cooperative stance. So that rules him out," Christian Schweiger, visiting professor at the Chemnitz University of Technology in Germany, told Sputnik.

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Reports emerged over the weekend claiming US intel services fear Israel losing a two-front conflict in the event that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launches war against Hezbollah in Lebanon.

“In private conversations, the [Biden] administration has warned Israel against a significant escalation,” read one report in US media.

Key to Hezbollah’s might is a greatly-expanded arsenal since the group’s 2006 battle with Israel. The group possesses tens of thousands of weapons capable of striking ships, tanks, aircraft, and ground installations.

👉 Check the link to get the details

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🇺🇳 The UN General Assembly will hold a plenary meeting on January 9 following the United States’ veto of a Russia-drafted amendment to a resolution on Gaza at the UN Security Council, according to the UN program of work.

The meeting will start at 10:00 a.m. EST time and it is expected to continue until the afternoon.

On December 22, the UNSC adopted a resolution to facilitate humanitarian aid to Gaza.

Before the vote, Russia proposed an amendment to the resolution calling for an immediate cessation of hostilities in Gaza. The only country that voted against the amendment was the United States.

The UNGA session will provide a forum for the United States to explain the reasoning for vetoing the amendment.

The US has regularly impeded any resolution on Gaza that may hinder Israeli military operations. On December 8, Washington blocked a United Arab Emirates-drafted resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and a Brazil-drafted resolution on October 18.

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🛡Russia Aims for ‘Net Guarantor of Maritime Safety’ Status in Indian Ocean: Expert

Russia has recalibrated its foreign policy focus on the Asia-Pacific region to a more proactive approach in 2021, recalled Alexey Kupriyanov, an expert on the Indian Ocean Region (IOR).

🤝 He noted that India’s own Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative (IPOI) viewed the region as a “sphere of cooperation and free trade without making any exceptions”.

Russia was expanding its trade with both China and India since last year, and thus a presence in the Indian Ocean and South China Sea was in line with its economic ambitions, Kupriyanov noted.

🇷🇺 Russia’s Economic Interests in the Indian Ocean

“We have had some unpleasant experience on the Northern Sea Route in 2021, when our ships were detained by Denmark. We don't want a repeat of that here in Asia-Pacific,” he said.

🪨 Moscow viewed New Delhi as a “major potential investor” in its plans to develop the Far-East region which has huge deposits of coal and other energy deposits, Kupriyanov said.

🔀 India could benefit from increasing its coal intake from Russia to satisfy its energy demands via Chennai-Vladivostok trade corridor as a possible major route, Kupriyanov stressed.

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Israel refuses to allow Palestinians to return to northern Gaza until more hostages released, according to reports.

The Israeli government will tell US Secretary of State Antony Blinken during meetings on Tuesday that Hamas must agree to a new hostage deal before Palestinians are allowed to return to northern Gaza, Axios reported, citing two senior Israeli officials.

Blinken is set to visit Israel as part of a broader trip around the Middle East, during which he also met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Emirati President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

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🇷🇺🇮🇷 Russian and Iranian exporters are able to handle transactions in national currencies after the two countries integrated their financial message transfer systems, allowing banks to make direct payments without using the SWIFT payment system, Deputy Head of Iranian Central Bank Mohsen Karimi said.

"We have connected the two countries' message transfer systems to each other. This means that the banks of the two countries no longer need Switzerland to connect to each other and commercial banks of both countries can establish intermediary relations. The exporter can issue an invoice in rials to the Russian side and receive money from Russian banks in Iran," Karimi was quoted as saying by Iranian news agency Fars.

Transactions can now be made in the national currencies of Russia and Iran, the deputy chief of the Iranian central bank said.

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🇮🇱🇵🇸 The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) stated on Monday that it had discovered the largest weapons production site of Palestinian movement Hamas found since October 7 in the Gaza Strip.

"In recent weeks, the 36th Division has been operating in Bureij in the central Gaza Stri … Soldiers of the 188th and Golani brigades uncovered several tunnel shafts reaching a depth of approximately 30 meters… The Golani Brigade located the largest weapons production site discovered since the beginning of the war," the IDF said on Telegram.

Israeli soldiers found components for long-range rockets capable of hitting northern Israel, as well as mortar shells, explosives, ammunition, small arms, and drones, the statement added.

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⚓️ US’ Red Sea coalition’s flop signals political problems in NATO - Italian Admiral

“France and Italy won’t join the US-led coalition in the Red Sea. This will have no impact from an operational point of view…but politically it’s proof of our weak cohesion as NATO as well as EU partners,” Luigi Binelli-Mantelli, a retired Italian admiral and former chief of staff of the Italian Navy, has said.

“We must cope with [the Red Sea crisis] because this is not simply aimed against Israel, it’s a direct challenge to all Western countries, testing our determination and cohesion to protect our economy and our common values and way of life,” Binelli-Mantelli suggested.

The admiral’s comments come amid the failure of the US to assemble more than a handful of allied warships to ensure security and ‘freedom of navigation’ in the Red Sea amid relentless Houthi attacks on Israeli-affiliated commercial shipping operations.

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