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.

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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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🗣 “Netanyahu is in real trouble,” said analyst Elijah Magnier on Sputnik’s Political Misfits program Monday, noting the Israeli Prime Minister faces growing divisions within his political coalition.

“The finance minister [Bezalel] Smotrich and the security minister [Itamar] Ben-Gvir warned him if he stopped the attack on Gaza, saying that they want the [Israeli] settlers to return to Gaza,” the analyst stated. “This objective contradicts with the American announcement that the Palestinians will go nowhere and will remain in Gaza, and any ethnic cleansing is not permitted, which means that the coalition and Netanyahu's government is not going to hold.”

Discussion then shifted towards South Africa’s bringing of charges against Israel in The Hague, with Magnier noting the exhaustive detail of South Africa’s 80-page statement documenting numerous comments from Israeli officials suggesting genocidal intent.

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Germany was rocked by protests from farmers Monday over a planned cut in agricultural subsidies. Analyst Elijah Magnier says the continent’s mounting economic problems stem from failed Western sanctions against Russia.

“All the decisions that have been made by the European leaders were incompatible with the necessity of the European population, and will have a boomerang effect.” he added, noting the skyrocketing energy prices throughout the continent. “The first that was hit is the diesel that the farmers use in their machines because, again, of the Nord Stream 2, because we stopped buying the oil and gas from Russia.”

“We're buying it from India, that buys it off Russia, and we buy from Norway and America with… increase of price,” the analyst explained.

Magnier stated that economic difficulties throughout Europe are leading to the election of “right-wing leaders,” as voters are “fed up” with government policy.

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Russian paratroopers eliminate enemy infantry by dropping munitions from quadcopters

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US finance giant JPMorgan has likened the US economy to a slow-boiled frog thanks to its $34-trillion national debt.

The 2024 outlook from the New York-based firm evoked the popular myth that a frog will calmly boil in a pot of gradually-heated water until it is cooked alive — but would hop out if thrown into already boiling water.

As the US government’s debt portfolio keeps swelling, hitting an unprecedented $34-trillion, economists' concerns have amplified urgent calls for intervention.

Predictions from the Congressional Budget Office have painted a bleak picture, suggesting that by the early 2030s, the US will spend more on ennoscriptments, mandatory programs, and debt interest than it earns in revenue.

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🇦🇪🇮🇱 UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan has rejected Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's request to pay wages to Palestinian workers who were banned from entering Israel, Axios reports, citing a source.

Several weeks ago, the Israeli prime minister reportedly asked the UAE leader to pay unemployment benefits to Palestinian workers from the West Bank, whom Israel had banned from entering its territory following the October 7 attack by the Palestinian Hamas movement.

“Ask Zelensky for money,” Al Nahyan responded sarcastically to Netanyahu’s request, according to the outlet’s sources.

The UAE president was shocked that the Israeli prime minister thought he would be willing to pay for the problem that had arisen due to the Israeli decision not to let the workers in, the outlet’s source notes.

According to Axios, the UAE president said Zelensky receives a lot of money from other countries, "so maybe he could help" Netanyahu.

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The Pentagon has initiated an internal review following criticism from the US Congress and public scrutiny over the transfer of Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin's powers to his deputy, Kathleen Hicks from January 2 to 5, 2024.

The examination aims to ensure clarity and transparency in decision-making processes, specifically concerning the transfer of certain powers, proper and timely notification to the president, the White House, Congress, and the American public. It will encompass a timeline of events, evaluations of the defense secretary's capacity to perform duties, and recommendations to enhance the notification process for the president and high-ranking officials, among others.

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🇷🇺 Russian Battlegroup Yug assault detachments undergo drills at unique training ground

Servicemen from assault detachments hone skills of close-quarters combat, train to use new types of small arms, large-caliber machine guns, and man-portable grenade launchers. Particular attention is paid to cohesion and establishing communications with the command post.

Enhanced training of personnel is conducted continuously on a rotational basis. All instructors have extensive experience of combat operations in the special military operation zone and other armed conflicts.

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💰 A possible military conflict over Taiwan could cost the global economy an estimated $10 trillion, eclipsing both Ukraine and COVID.

Bloomberg made the estimate, noting that the indicated amount is about 10% of world GDP.

A potential risk factor is the election of Taiwan's chief executive, which will be held on January 13. Tsai Ing-wen, who has held the position for two terms, will not be able to run again.

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