🔸 New Trump administration to focus on Ukraine conflict resolution in January 2025 – Mike Waltz

🔸 Blinken under fire for "cry sessions" at the State Department – reports

🔸 A Russian aircraft caught fire after landing at Antalya Airport: What is known so far?

🔸 Georgescu wins first round of Romanian presidential election – CEC

Other topics we have covered:

🔹 80 years ago Red Army liberated the Baltics, where today Neo-Nazism has again reared its ugly head

🔹 Iran preparing response to Israel’s aggression, ambivalent about Trump - Khamenei advisor

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📹Trump and Biden are ‘one team’ – Mike Waltz

After a week of Joe Biden's Ukraine escalation actions, Donald Trump’s pick for national security advisor, Mike Waltz, states the Trump and Biden administrations are "hand in glove" and "one team."

💬 "For our adversaries out there that think this is a time of opportunity, that they can play one administration off the other, they're wrong," Waltz said.

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📑Israeli reservists increasingly dodge military duty amid war fatigue

War fatigue is starting to erode Israel’s military as it ploughs on with its relentless war on Hamas in Gaza and on Hezbollah in Lebanon. Burnout is making the country’s reservists increasingly unwilling to report for duty, according to Israeli media reports.

Enlistment numbers have dropped by about 15% since the period after Hamas’ incursion of October 7, 2023, a spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a briefing.

Immediately after the Palestinian-Israeli conflict escalated, about 350,000 Israelis were called up. However, after participating in battles for months, many are now refusing to comply with orders to be deployed for a new round of fighting.

💬 “The resource of reservists is not unlimited, and it is very difficult for people to be so absent in the midst of daily life. That is why there is a silent refusal to report for service, without protests or in a public way. They cannot be argued with, or demanded by force to come,” army sources told Yedioth Ahronoth. There is also anger over a controversial draft bill that seeks to exempt approximately 60,000 ultra-Orthodox Haredi men from military service.

Many of the reservists have lost their businesses and income while being away for extended periods of time. Yet the IDF is seeking to further increase the amount of time connoscripts and reservists serve. Lawmakers will be asked to approve making mandatory army service for men three years long, as it had been until 2015.

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🚀 Soaring to new innovative heights: China sends cutting-edge carrier rocket into space

China successfully launched two new radar satellites aboard a Long March-2C rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the country’s northwest.

The satellites are equipped with high-precision phased array radar systems, designed to deliver consistently clear radar images. This innovative technology will significantly enhance capabilities in areas such as natural resource management, urban security, emergency response, and maritime operations.

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👮‍♂️ Lithuanian police are considering various versions of a DHL plane crash near the Vilnius airport, including a terrorist attack, the media reported, citing Lithuanian Police Head Arunas Paulauskas.

The crash took place "most likely due to a technical fault or a human error," the police head said, adding that collecting evidence can take a week.

Paulauskas also said that two injured pilots had been rescued from the cockpit, and the body of another crew member had also been found. The plane was completely disintegrated, and the cargo had been scattered over a wide area, damaging warehouses and a car, the official added.

Paulauskas also said that there were four crew members, meaning that one more person is considered missing.

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🤝 Iran to hold nuclear talks with European diplomats

Iran is set to hold nuclear discussions with officials from France, Germany, and the United Kingdom on November 29.

"Tehran has always believed that the nuclear issue should be resolved through diplomacy. Iran has never left the talks," a senior Iranian official was cited by Reuters as saying.

These discussions come in the wake of a resolution adopted on November 21 by the 35-nation board of governors of the IAEA, which criticized Iran for what it deemed a lack of cooperation.

The resolution, submitted by the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and the United States, was approved by 19 out of 35 countries. Russia, China, and Burkina Faso voted against it.

In response to the resolution, Iran announced on November 22 that it would begin using advanced centrifuges to accelerate uranium enrichment. Tehran condemned the resolution as "politically motivated, unrealistic, and counterproductive," while affirming that technical and safety cooperation with the IAEA would continue as in the past.

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❗️Russian air defense systems shot down 8 ballistic missiles, the Ministry of Defense stated

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🇷🇺🪖Key statements from the Russian Defense Ministry's daily briefing on the special military operation's progress:

🔸 The Russian Armed Forces hit military airfield and Ukrainian energy facilities.

🔸 Ukraine lost up to 300 servicemen in the Russia's Battlegroup Yug area of responsibility.

🔸 Russia's Battlegroup Zapad repelled five counterattacks, enemy lost up to 400 militants

🔸 Ukraine lost over 440 troops in the Russia's Battlegroup Tsentr area of responsibility.

🔸 Russian aviation shot down six JDAM bombs and 44 Ukrainian drones.

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Russia is considering possibility of deploying medium-range, short-range missiles in Asia if US missiles appear there, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said.

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China builds system capable of laying submarine cables in deepest ocean - report

Chinese engineers have built the first cable-laying system capable of reaching the deepest known part of the ocean – the Challenger Deep, located in the Mariana Trench in the western Pacific Ocean, Chinese media reported.

The new Haiwei GD11000 system, created by Dalian Maritime University in collaboration with tech companies, is capable of deploying cables to a maximum depth of more than 11,000 meters (36,000 feet), the depth of the Challenger Deep. It supports a safe working load of over 15 tonnes and can lay of 393,7 feet of cable per minute.

The design has already conducted two successful operations at depths of over four kilometers in the South China Sea, the media reports.

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🇷🇺 Other statements by Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov:

🔸 The fate of Russia's moratorium on the deployment of medium- and shorter-range missiles depends entirely on the US’ approach.

🔸 There are no restrictions on Russia deploying new medium-range systems, such as the Oreshnik, under existing international obligations.

🔸 The memorandum between Russia and the US on missile launches remains in effect, and the US was notified within its framework of the Oreshnik’s test launch.

🔸 When asked if US bases could become targets in the event of a conflict: US tactical nuclear weapons in Europe are not excluded from consideration.

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Iran's supreme leader insists ICC arrest warrant for Netanyahu is not enough

Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei said in a speech that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu deserves the death penalty for what he has done.

After the Ayatollah's comments, the audience began chanting slogans in support of the Palestinian resistance, as well as "death to America" and "death to Israel".

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💬 British hired gun who 'lost everything' in UK captured in Kursk Region

Russian forces have captured a UK mercenary from the Ukrainian International Legion in the Kursk region. In several videos of his interrogation circulating on social media, he revealed his reasons for coming to Ukraine. The prisoner of war also noted that he was coerced into going to the Kursk region after his commander deprived him of his belongings.

What is known about the UK mercenary?

🔸 His name is James Scott Rhys Anderson, born on May 27, 2002 (22 years old).

🔸 He is a former UK Army soldier, having served from 2019 to 2023. He held the position of signalman in the One Signal Brigade, 22 Signal Regiment, 252 Signal Squadron.

🔸 According to the official British Army webpage, this unit is based at Imjin Barracks in Innsworth, Gloucestershire. This squadron provides “direct close support in the delivery of Allied Rapid Reaction Corps (ARRC)” for its permanent headquarters in Gloucestershire and serves as “a Falcon Anchor Point responsible for service management and strategic reach-back communications.” In general, the 22 Signal Regiment delivers special information “to support NATO’s Allied Rapid Reaction Corps (ARRC).” The ARRC is a UK-formed NATO unit dedicated to special operations and 'crisis response.'

🔸 Anderson stated that he was sacked from his position in the UK Army and subsequently decided to apply to the Ukrainian Foreign Legion's webpage after hearing about it on local TV. He indicated that the primary reason for his decision was that he “had just lost everything” and his father was in prison.

🔸 He also revealed how he journeyed to Ukraine: First, he flew from London to Krakow, and from there he was got a ride to the Polish village of Medyka, near the border with Ukraine, where he crossed into the country.

🔸 During his interrogation, Anderson claimed he was compelled to participate in the incursion into the Kursk region as his commander confiscated his phone, passport, and other personal belongings.

🔸 Scott Anderson, the father of the captured mercenary, expressed his shock when he learned about his son's captivity in Russia. He added that he had tried to persuade James not to join Ukraine’s Foreign Legion and now fears for his son's fate.

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