🗣Lavrov: Instead of preserving Syria’s unity, West selfishly scrambles for influence there

Instead of working to preserve Syria’s unity, the West wants to secure influence or maybe territory there, noted Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

It is emblematic how their representatives stoop to “habitual diplomatic rudeness,” he said, demanding that Syria stop cooperating with Russia, and threatening to deny Damascus support unless the new authorities oust Russia’s military bases from Syria.

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🎄Christmas even in space!

NASA shared stunning image of cosmic 'Christmas Tree' formed by Young Stars. The image is a composite visualization based on data from two telescopes.

The "Christmas Tree" cluster, first discovered in 1784, is a nebula made up of dust and gas located approximately 2,500 light-years from Earth.

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South Korea's acting president refuses to appoint judges to the Constitutional Court

Acting South Korean President and Prime Minister Han Duck-soo refused to appoint the missing judges to the Constitutional Court on Thursday in the absence of a political consensus, saying it was beyond his mandate as acting president.

Han said the ruling and opposition parties have "diametrically opposed positions" on the appointment of Constitutional Court judges.

On Tuesday, the opposition Democratic Party vowed to impeach Han over his refusal to ratify two bills to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate allegations against suspended President Yoon Suk-yeol and his wife Kim Keon-hee.

South Korea's parliament voted on December 14 to impeach Yoon over his controversial declaration of martial law. The Constitutional Court will make a final decision on the matter by June 11, 2025.

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🎄Amber wonderland: 200,000 shimmering 'needles' shape stunning Christmas tree

Craftsmen from Rostec's Amber Plant in Russia's Kaliningrad region have been working on the decorative tree since July, using a total of 43 kg of amber to complete the masterpiece.

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📉 CNN loses chunks of viewership as ratings dive into death spiral

CNN, just like a bunch of other liberal news networks, has been hemorrhaging viewership at lightning speed since Donald Trump’s electoral victory.

◾️ The Cable News Network has seen overall prime-time viewership plummet by 45% scooping up only 394,000 total viewers since November 5, according to Nielsen Media Research.

◾️ When it comes to the prime 25-to-54 age demographic, CNN suffered a 52% decline, with just an average audience of 77,000 having tuned in after Trump’s win. Overall, CNN witnessed its worst-ever performance among viewers in this key demographic.

◾️ Audiences feel that CNN “didn’t meet the mark” when covering Trump during the campaign, The Washington Post cited one journalist as saying.

◾️ Trump’s campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt had repeatedly criticized the “hostile environment” the network offered to the Republican contender.

◾️ CNN is also reportedly heading for major layoffs as part of an overhaul by its corporate parent Warner Bros. Discovery, which is up to its eyeballs in debt after its Warner Brothers and Discovery merger deal in 2022. By the end of the third quarter of 2023, WBD's gross debt stood at $45.3 billion, according to Forbes.

◾️ MSNBC’s ratings have also collapsed post-election, with the audience down 46% compared with the first 10 months of 2024, according to Nielsen.

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✨ Shenzhen’s sky-high extravaganza: Check out how Chinese drones perform their stunning aerial artistry

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❓What caused the unrest in Mozambique?

The Russian Embassy in Mozambique has called on fellow citizens to postpone or cancel their trips to the country due to the "difficult socio-political situation" in the region.

What happened in Mozambique?

▪️More than 1,500 prisoners have escaped from the main maximum-security prison in Mozambique's capital Maputo, taking advantage of ongoing political unrest over disputed election results

▪️Thirty-three people were killed and 15 injured in clashes with guards; about 150 fugitives have been recaptured, police said

▪️ The protests erupted earlier this week after the country’s highest court confirmed that the ruling Frelimo party, in power since 1975, won October’s presidential election

▪️ The opposition insists that the elections were rigged

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🗣The bodies of ten victims from the Aktau plane crash have been identified. Among them are three citizens of Russia, three citizens of Kazakhstan, and four citizens of Azerbaijan.

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📹FSB prevents terror attack on head of project that trains UAV instructors

The Russian special services (FSB) has prevented an assassination of the head of project Archangel, which trains UAV operators, in Moscow.

A booby-trapped diploma was hidden in a backlit frame. FSB thwarted the explosion, the perpetrator and the courier who delivered the letter were detained. There are no casualties, a spokesperson for project said.

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🔍Big business goes from disowning Trump to lavishing him with cash: what do they want?

Major companies that walked lockstep with the establishment in denouncing Donald Trump after the January 6, 2021 chaos at the Capitol have pulled an about-face amid his comeback, giving lavishly to his inauguration ceremony and hoping he’ll forget their statements about the “threat to democracy” he and his supporters purportedly posed four years ago.

Who are the biggest corporate flip-floppers, and what do they want from Trump?

📍PhRMA: Big Pharma trade group donating $1 mln (which means access to exclusive VIP events, including black tie ball and personal “candlelight dinner” with the Trumps). In 2021, PhRMA CEO Steve Ubl said the events of January 6 “violate the values of our nation” and paused donations to Republicans rejecting the 2020 vote’s outcome.

📍Ford and Toyota: Ford briefly froze political donations after January 6, and promised to vet politicians. Now they’re giving Trump $1 mln. Toyota, also pledging $1 mln, similarly halted donations to those refusing to certify Biden’s 2020 victory.

📍Stanley Black & Decker: Giving Trump $1 mln this time, up from an insulting $25,000 in 2017.

📍Intuit: Maker of popular DIY tax software has pledged a cool million amid reports Elon Musk’s DOGE is brainstorming a free tax filing app.

📍Kraken and Coinbase: Crypto trading platforms donating $1 mln in hopes of loosened regulations.

📍Charter Communications: Telecom giant pledging $1 mln – four times what it gave Trump in 2017, and nearly three times the $350,000 it gave Biden in 2021.

📍Uber: Another $1 mln pledge maker, which gave the Biden inauguration $1 mln four years ago.

📍Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, GM and AT&T also made generous (but undisclosed) donations. In 2021, Goldman and BoA’s CEOs expressed outrage over the “squandering” of US democratic goodwill and demanded a peaceful transfer of power to Biden. GM cancelled collaboration with Trump on legislation. AT&T CEO John Stankey called on Congress to “unite” around Biden.

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🇷🇺 🪖 Key statements from the Russian Ministry of Defense's daily briefing on the situation in the Kursk region:

◻️ Russia’s Battlegroup Sever hammered 14 Ukrainian formations in its combat zone.

◻️ In total, Ukrainian losses over the day amounted to more than 230 militants, with eight armored vehicles destroyed.

◻️ Since the beginning of combat operations in the Kursk region, Ukraine has lost more than 43,970 troops.

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Israel attacks airport and airbase in Yemen's Sanaa

◻️ Israel launched six strikes at an airbase and airport in the north of the Yemeni capital Sanaa, the runway and departure hall were damaged – local Sputnik source

◻️ The Al-Daylami military air base and its surroundings in the north of the Yemeni capital were hit, a source in local authorities reported to Sputnik

◻️ Israeli strikes also hit Hodeidah province in western Yemen, a source in local authorities reports

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🇧🇾 Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said the country will deploy "a dozen" ‘Oreshnik’ ballistic missile systems, but if Russia wishes to place more on its territory then Minsk is ready.

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🛩 What snags & hurdles will Ukraine’s pilots face operating French Mirage 2000 fighters?

France has completed training Ukrainian pilots and mechanics needed to operate Mirage 2000-5F fighter jets, French media reported. The fighters are to be delivered in the first quarter of 2025, yet operating them won’t be a breeze for Ukraine. Here’s why:

🔘 Integration and operating skills:

To effectively integrate the Mirage jets with Soviet-era aircraft and the US F-16s being supplied to Ukraine, pilots must boost their proficiency, adapt tactics, and coordinate closely with ground forces. Military expert Dmitry Kornev told Sputnik that the Mirage "will require careful handling and time to learn how to operate."

🔘 Basing concerns:

The Mirage's high landing speed and delta wing design necessitate runways of at least 700 meters, so Ukraine's current aerodromes may need to be reconfigured, as indicated by open-source data.

🔘 Service support:

There may be a shortage of trained personnel in Ukraine to maintain operational readiness, as expertise in Mirage jets is currently limited to France and Greece.

🔘 Language barriers:

Despite completing a six-month training course, pilots may face challenges in brushing up on their skills due to language barriers, as most technical manuals are in French.

🔘 Legitimate targets for Russia:

The operational and maintenance costs associated with the Mirage jets are expected to soar, says Dmitry Kornev. Additionally, Russia has indicated that its early warning and jamming systems are specifically designed to target airborne threats from NATO aircraft.

An array of long-range Russian missile systems, including the S-200, S-300, S-400, and S-500 series, could effectively neutralize NATO jets.

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Israeli airstrikes on Yemeni capital during Houthi leader’s speech: what’s known so far

◾️Israel carried out a series of airstrikes targeting Houthi targets in Yemen on Thursday, Israeli and Houthi-affiliated Yemeni media reported.

◾️In a statement, the IDF said its jets attacked “military targets belonging to the Houthi terrorist regime.” The military confirmed targeting Sanaa’s airport and power stations, as well as “military infrastructure in the Hodeidah, Salif, and Ras Kanatib ports on the western coast."

◾️A Yemeni government source told Sputnik the strikes targeted the international airport in Sanaa and the al-Daylami airbase, and that additional attacks had been carried out in Hodeidah province.

◾️A separate informed source told Sputnik that Israeli jets had launched two separate strikes on Hodeidah’s port and its environs, coinciding with the bombing of Sanaa, the capital, which involved six strikes.

◾️The first source said the aerial attack took place amid Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi’s weekly speech.

◾️Houthi-aligned media said the attacks on Sanaa and Hodeidah targeted civilian infrastructure, and were coordinated and supported by the US and Britain. The attacks disrupted the operation of Sanaa’s international airport, destroying the control tower and several facilities, reports indicate.

◾️The strikes come days after a series of threats by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz to step up attacks on Yemen. In his Chanukah address on Wednesday, Netanyahu warned that “the Houthis will also learn what Hamas, Hezbollah, the Assad regime and others have learned, and this will also take time. This lesson will be learned across the Middle East.”

Israel’s bellicose statements come amid growing Houthi ballistic missile attacks on Israel – which have become increasingly effective in recent weeks in evading Israeli air defenses.

◾️The Houthis launched a missile and drone campaign targeting Israel, and another in the Red and Arabian Sea targeting Israeli and Israel-linked merchant shipping, in the fall of 2023 in solidarity with Gaza. The Houthi campaign has cost Israel billions of dollars in lost income, and forced the US and its allies to tie up considerable naval resources in the region to try to halt the Houthi campaign, so far unsuccessfully.

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The head of the World Health Organization was at Sanaa's airport at the time of the Israeli airstrike.

According to preliminary information, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is alive, a source at the airport told Sputnik.

Two people were reportedly killed in the Israeli raid on the airport in the capital of Yemen, a source in the airport’s management told Sputnik.

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Frenchwoman on her reasons for moving to Russia

Gabrielle Duvoisin, a French research engineer in biology, explained on her YouTube vlog why she feels free and happy in Moscow

🔸 High level of service

🔸 Delivery services are extremely efficient

🔸 The restaurants are open at all hours of the day, and most of them are very good quality

🔸 Russia doesn't stop living on Sundays like France

🔸 Clean and efficient transport system

🔸 Responsive, disciplined and civil people

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Russia's economy grew by nearly 4% in 2024, Russian President Vladimir Putin told a press conference after the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council meeting.

🔸 Russia is striving to end the conflict in Ukraine, Putin said.

🔸 On the possibility of ending the conflict in Ukraine in 2025, Putin remarked: "If only it were true, it would be sweet to hear."

🔸 Putin revealed that US President Joe Biden suggested in 2021 that he would postpone Ukraine’s accession to NATO.

🔸 Russia always responds in kind to strikes on its territory, Putin warned.

🔸 Russia can use the "Oreshnik" ballistic missile again if necessary, but it is in no hurry to do so, Putin added.

🔸 "Russia has a few 'Oreshnik' systems, but we do have them," said Putin.

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