📄 Biden creates task force to combat 'coercive economic practices of countries of concern,’ including China – statement

💬 The newly established task force will work "to assess potential vulnerabilities of countries, including within their private sectors, to such coercion, and to develop concrete recommendations for a comprehensive, effective, and, as appropriate, multilateral response, including deterring future coercive economic behavior," according to the White House, citing the president’s memorandum.

Biden stated that the task force will coordinate efforts across various US agencies and offices to implement government strategies for countering coercive practices.

💬 "The Task Force shall also consolidate any input received and submit periodic recommendations to the President on policies and regulatory actions to address systemic harms from PRC economic coercion," the memorandum further noted.

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💸 Blinken announces new $500 million military aid package for Ukraine

The package will include artillery munition, Counter-Unmanned Aerial Systems (c-UAS) munitions, ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), as well as protection equipment for chemical, biological, and nuclear threats, State Secretary Antony Blinken said in a statement.

Russia has repeatedly stressed that Western military aid for NATO’s proxy war in Ukraine will only serve to prolong the crisis, and warned that arms shipments are legitimate military targets.

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Moldovan opposition lacks votes to dissolve gov't – parliament speaker

The Moldovan opposition failed on Friday to gather enough support from lawmakers to issue a no-confidence vote against the country's government, Moldovan Parliament Speaker Igor Grosu said.

"The no-confidence vote gained 18 votes," Grosu said, adding that 51 votes were needed for the vote to pass.

The lawmakers also accused Prime Minister Dorin Recean, who was present at the vote, of treason as he allegedly attempted to destabilize the situation in the country.

On December 6, members of the opposition Bloc of Communists and Socialists put forward a vote of no confidence in the government, as the country is still dealing with a deep energy crisis, and the government does not have a clear policy and strategy to ensure the country's energy security and protect citizens from the consequences of the energy crisis.

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US imposes visa bans on Georgian officials for 'undermining democracy' – State Dept.

The United States has imposed visa restrictions on about 20 Georgian individuals, including ministers and lawmakers, for "undermining democracy" in the country, the State Department said on Friday.

The US condemns acts of violence against protesters, human rights activists, opposition members, and journalists, the statement added.

"We are preparing additional actions, including sanctions, to hold to account those who undermine democracy in Georgia," the statement read.

A new wave of opposition protests rocked Georgia in the past two weeks after the Georgian government decided to suspend European Union accession talks until the end of 2028. The Georgian State Security Service said on Tuesday that protests were being coordinated by state actors from abroad in an effort to disrupt the December 14 presidential election.

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🌍🌍🌍 Bolivia, Cuba to become BRICS partner states starting January 2025 – Russian Foreign Ministry

Bolivia and Cuba will join BRICS as partner countries starting January 1, 2025, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said on Friday.

💬 "[Bolivia and Cuba] are part of the group that has received an invitation. We are confident that everything will work out in terms of their joining [BRICS] as partner states," Ryabkov told a Russian newspaper.

The deputy minister also mentioned that the coordination process with the invited states is still ongoing but will be completed by the end of Russia's presidency in the organization.

💬 "For all invited countries, this is a big, serious prospect, so only a few days remain before the relevant list will be made public," Ryabkov added.

BRICS leaders finalized the list of partner countries during the summit in the Russian city of Kazan in October. Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov said that the list includes 13 countries.

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Moldovan parliament introduces state of emergency due to energy crisis

The Moldovan parliament approved the introduction of a 60-day state of emergency due to the energy crisis in the country during a meeting on Thursday, parliament speaker Igor Grosu said.

On Wednesday, the Moldovan government announced that it would request parliament to impose a 60-day state of emergency, citing concerns about the cessation of gas transit through Ukraine.

According to Prime Minister Dorin Recean, 300,000 Moldovan citizens in Transnistria may be left without gas and electricity in the middle of winter, as the left bank of the Dniester River is solely dependent on Russian gas supplies via Ukraine for its energy needs.

Gazprom has suggested that Moldova negotiate gas transit with Ukraine beyond 2024, after the five-year deal between Ukraine and Russia expires in December. Kiev has repeatedly refused to extend the deal.

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Chinese President Xi Jinping will not attend Trump's inauguration, CBS reports, citing sources.

According to the TV channel, China’s ambassador to the United States and his wife are expected to attend the event.

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▫️Bolivia, Cuba to become BRICS partner states starting January 2025

▫️Blinken announces new $500 million military aid package for Ukraine

▫️US imposes visa bans on Georgian officials for 'undermining democracy'

▫️Biden creates task force to combat 'coercive economic practices,’ including China

Have a look at Sputnik analysis:

▫️Could the Syrian crisis threaten the Iraqi-Turkish Development Road trade route?

▫️Did infamous Blackwater take part in US plundering of Syria?

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Get ‘woke’, turn education into a joke: Biden poured $1 billion into DEI agenda since 2021 — report

President Biden’s Department of Education has allocated $1 billion on various diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives since 2021, The New York Post reports referring to a study from the Parents Defending Education (PDE) organization that opposes what it considers “harmful programs” in the classroom.

🔺 $490 million went into DEI hiring efforts,
🔺 $343 million went into DEI programming,
🔺 $170 million went into DEI-related mental health, PDE unearthed.

“This needs to change by placing children’s learning at the forefront of education, instead of prioritizing race-based policies and DEI,” the New York-based newspaper quotes PDE researcher Rhyen Staley as saying, adding that the only people who benefit from this lavish funding are universities and DEI consultants.

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Mobilization crisis and production cuts: Ukraine’s biggest steelmaker halts coal mining operations

Ukraine's largest steel producer, Metinvest, has suspended coal mining at its site near Pokrovsk (Krasnoarmeysk) in the Donetsk People's Republic due to ongoing hostilities in the region, according to a report by Bloomberg. This site is responsible for approximately half of the company's total coal production.

🔸Mobilization Impact: As of December 6, Metinvest reported that over 9,000 of its employees have been mobilized for military service. The ongoing mobilization efforts have led to significant personnel shortages for all Ukrainian companies.

🔸Production Decline: Steel manufacturing in Ukraine has plummeted to 6.2 million tons last year, down from more than 21 million tons prior to the onset of the conflict, as estimated by Bloomberg.

🔸Import Considerations: To address the anticipated coal deficit, Metinvest may explore importing coal at elevated prices, according to Dennis Sakva, an analyst at the Kiev-based investment bank Dragon Capital.

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❗️Strikes were unleashed toward the Burshtyn thermal power plant in the Ivano-Frankovsk region, the pro-Russian resistance told Sputnik.

Explosions were also reported in the Kiev, Khmelnytsky, Cherkassy, Vinnitsa, Kharkov and Poltava regions.

In Odessa, the Ukrainian media reported that electric vehicles stopped working after the blasts, and the water supply was shut off.

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⚡️Russian troops inflicted a massive strike on Ukraine's fuel and energy facilities that ensured the work of its military-industrial complex in response to the recent attack on Russia's Taganrog, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

The target of the strike has been successfully hit.

On December 11, six US-made ATACMS tactical missiles were launched from Ukraine at a military airfield near the Russian city of Taganrog.

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🗣 Latest statements by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov:

▪️Russia remains open to negotiations on Ukrainian settlement and considers them necessary;

▪️Russia is not seeking a truce, but peace, which will come after Moscow's conditions are met;

▪️The arguments that with the arrival of Donald Trump, the settlement in Ukraine will be easier are premature, we should not forget about the sanctions of the Trump administration;

▪️Trump's statements that permission to strike deep into Russian territory escalates the conflict coincide with the Kremlin's position;

▪️The destruction of Ukrainian energy facilities is, among other things, a response to the strikes on Taganrog by Ukrainian forces.

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😧China threatens US with a new weapon... GARLIC!!!🧄

US Senator Rick Scott claimed that Chinese garlic is grown in sewage and harvested using slave and child labor, the Independent reports. He also asked American agencies to investigate and expressed concern about the importing of Chinese garlic on the United States.

In response, the Chinese Foreign Ministry called the US politician's theories absurd.

"I am sure that garlic did not even imagine that it could pose a great threat to the United States," said a representative of the ministry.

Picture by China's Global Times

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📹🇷🇺 The Donetsk People's Republic flag was flown in the stands of Real Sociedad in San Sebastian, Spain.

The Basques played in the Europa League with Dynamo Kiev. The match ended 3-0 in favor of the Spanish team.

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'Nazi Pelosi' gets booed at her book presentation in New York

Members of the audience roasted the former US House speaker on her position on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict during her speech. The event had to be temporarily suspended.

All Pelosi could do was smile and wave.

Smile and wave🙂👋🐧

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❗️73 year–old centrist Francois Bayrou appointed new prime minister of France - Elysee Palace

Bayrou served as minister of education and was a presidential candidate in the 2002, 2007 and 2012 elections.

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📹 THROWBACK: In 1990, then Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat chose an interesting way to suggest that Israel had expansionist plans and - among other territories - was going to claim “half” of Syria.

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❗️The Russian Army liberated seven settlements this week, the Russian Defense Ministry has said.

🇷🇺🪖More statements from the Russian MoD's weekly briefing on the special military operation's progress:    

▪️The Ukrainian Armed Forces lost more than 12,000 soldiers in a week in all areas of the special operation;

▪️Over the past seven days, 15 group strikes were carried out on energy facilities that ensure the operation of the Ukrainian military-industrial complex, as well as airfields, arsenals and deployment points;

▪️Russia's Black Sea Fleet aircraft and boats destroyed eight unmanned boats in a week;

▪️Ukraine lost up to 1,830 soldiers in Russia's Yug Battlegroup's combat zone;

▪️Ukraine lost up to 2,230 soldiers, seven tanks, and 33 armored vehicles in the Sever Battlegroup's combat zone;

▪️Ukraine lost up to 290 soldiers in the Dnepr Battlegroup's combat zone;

▪️Russian air defenses shot down 279 drones over the week.

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Six Syrian Druze villages want to become part of Israel - reports

The heads of six Druze communities in southern Syria held a meeting near Hermon earlier this week to propose that their villages be annexed by Israel, local media reported.

The Druze have made such a decision out of fear that Sunni-led armed opposition would oppress them as a national and religious minority.

Moreover, there is a Sunni bias in Syria that the Druze are collaborating with Israel, since Syrian and Israeli Druze are related by family ties.

The majority of Druze villages in southern Syria are in the buffer zone currently occupied by the Israel Defense Forces.

In a separate development, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu recently met with Sheikh Mawafek Tarif, the leader of Israeli Druze community, to discuss the safety of the Druze people in Syria.

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💬 Israel alone won’t be able to decide the fate of Druze community in Syria – ex-Knesset member

“There is great concern throughout Syria because there is uncertainty about the future and future relations with all the groups in Damascus. The Druze are loyal to their homeland and their state, so I don't think this is possible. Also, Israel alone will not be able to decide this fateful issue,” Akram Hasson, an Israeli Druze politician who served as a member of the Knesset in several spells from 2012 to 2019, told Sputnik.

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