Danish police are investigating after 20 drones were reportedly spotted over the port of Køge, southwest of Copenhagen, the Associated Press reported quoting local authorities.

A witness called the police, claiming to have seen about 20 drones which then rapidly disappeared into the Køge Bay, the agency said. The police stated that they are trying to determine the total number of drones and their owners, as no drone flight permits had been issued for the area at the time of the sighting.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Baerbock’s Syria trip focused on energy, support for Kurdish separatists: analyst

Berlin’s modern-day foreign policy is focused on two things: antagonizing Russia and a search for energy, and German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock’s Syria trip was aimed primarily at “trying to secure relations with parties that hold a good grasp on energy resources,” Sakarya University security policy expert and researcher Furkan Halit Yolcu told Sputnik.

Pointing to long-standing German support for Kurdish separatist movements across the region, from Syria and Iraq to Turkiye, Yolcu pointed out with the YPG militias controlling “a good amount of energy reserves” in Syria, Germany is looking to avoid losing “its leverage on that side,” while trying to get a sense of where Transitional Government head Abu Mohammad al-Julani stands, and convince him of Germany’s potential support in the coming years.

Accordingly, whether the trip has a positive or negative outcome depends whether or not Berlin can convince Damascus not to attack YPG positions, the observer said.

As for Baerbock’s comments about keeping Syria “out of the hands” of Russia and China, Yolcu said that in his estimation, German foreign policy simply doesn’t have “such a macro level understanding of the international system,” or ability to influence it, with the country focused on saving its economy and maintaining its top spot among European economic powers amid the ongoing crisis facing the EU.

Ultimately, Yolcu doesn’t expect Berlin to give up on its support for Kurdish groups in Syria, Iraq or Turkiye, with such support giving them the means to pressure all three countries, as “leverage for them, mainly against Turkiye.” Accordingly, as far as Syria is concerned, the Kurds are what’s most important for Berlin, the analyst said.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

❗️A Ukrainian drone attacked a car on a highway in the Zaporozhye region, killing a 10-year-old child and injuring the child's parents, said the region's governor, Yevgeniy Balitsky.

"The Kiev terrorists intentionally directed the UAV at a civilian vehicle. The vehicle was carrying a family — parents and a child," said the governor.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

⚡️A Sputnik correspondent and four other media employees were injured in a Ukrainian strike on a civilian vehicle on the Donetsk-Gorlovka highway.

The second journalist from Sputnik, Mikhail Kevkhiev, was also injured in the strike.

Freelance correspondent of Izvestia Alexander Martemyanov was killed in the attack.

Ukrainian forces intentionally targeted a civilian car, which was far from the frontline.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

How the US dollar could be dethroned by BRICS national currencies

Critics of de-dollarization argue that no viable alternative to the greenback has emerged as a major reserve currency. They insist that the dominance of the US dollar will persist for the foreseeable future. But are they right?

Former Ronald Reagan official and renowned US economist Dr Paul Craig Roberts believes that ending dollar hegemony does not require a single competing currency but rather several national ones.

"The dollar as a reserve currency is the main basis of US power," Roberts wrote. "It means the US can always finance its debt."

Other countries strive to export goods to the US to obtain dollars for their central bank reserves, he noted. The foreign exchange earned from exports is then invested into US treasury bonds, which pay interest while also serving as reserves for central banks.

"Today, there is no need for a reserve currency," argues Roberts. "Countries should trade in their own currencies. This gives every country an incentive to maintain a strong currency."

The economist explained that the US dollar became the global reserve currency after the Second World War not because it was inherently indispensable, but because all other industrialized nations had been devastated by the war.

Roberts suggests it is time to move on and explore new alternatives, especially given that the dollar has been weaponized by the US.
The BRICS+ bloc is increasingly using national currencies for trade and investments within its framework.

The group "should develop trade relations among BRICS members, which have the potential to expand into Asia, Africa and South America. The world is ready for a non-weaponized system," Roberts advised.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🔸 Blinken admits US was pumping Ukraine with arms long before conflict with Russia escalated

🔸 That’s why US military-industrial complex wants Ukraine bloodbath to continue

🔸 Baerbock’s Syria trip: focus on energy and support for Kurdish separatists

🔸 Seriously? Biden awards Medal of Freedom to Hillary Clinton and George Soros

🔸 Who are CEOs donating millions to Trump’s inauguration after snubbing his campaign?

🔸 How the US dollar could be dethroned by BRICS national currencies

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Austria’s Nehammer steps down as chancellor, leader of People’s Party as coalition talks crumble

“We have negotiated long and hard. Agreement with the SPOe (Social Democrats) is not possible on key issues. The People’s Party stands by its promises: we will not agree to measures that are anti-performance or anti-business, or new taxes. We are therefore ending negotiations with the SPOe,” embattled Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer announced Saturday.

Nehammer said he would resign as head of the government, and as leader of the People’s Party, in the wake of the negotiations’ failure.

Austria’s political future has been in limbo since September’s parliamentary elections, where the populist anti-mass immigration, anti-Brussels, pro-neutrality, anti-Ukraine conflict Freedom Party of Austria (FPO) nearly doubled its standing, garnering over 29% of the vote and causing Nehammer’s ruling People’s Party/Green coalition to lose its parliamentary majority.

Nehammer refused to form a coalition with the Freedom Party, and has sought to cobble together a new government with the New Austria and Liberal Forum (NEOS) and the SPOe, respectively, with both attempts ending in failure.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Italian PM Meloni will travel to US to meet Trump — reports

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is expected to meet President-elect Donald Trump in Mar-a-lago, European media reported.

On Jan. 9, President Joe Biden scheduled his final presidential trip overseas to meet with Meloni in Rome.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇹🇷☢️ Rosatom will sue Siemens over Akkuyu NPP equipment delay

Rosatom plans to sue Siemens for "demonstratively refusing" to deliver prepaid equipment for Turkiye's Akkuyu nuclear power plant, CEO Alexey Likhachev said.

"There will be a court case, of course. The prepaid equipment has not been delivered. This resulted in additional costs for us, as we had to buy the equipment elsewhere and adjust the installation deadlines. These claims will be filed," the Rosatom CEO said.

The replacement was quickly found and ordered from friendly countries. The launch of the first unit is planned for 2025.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

⚡️ Russian Foreign Ministry comments on the killing and wounding of journalists in the Donetsk Republic:

🔶 Media representatives were consciously chosen as targets for a deadly attack by the Ukrainian military.

🔶 The incident is yet another brutal crime by the Zelensky regime, which openly resorts to terrorist methods to eliminate its ideological opponents.

🔶 Russian foreign ministry calls on UNESCO and other international bodies to respond to the attack by the Ukrainian military.

🔶 All those responsible for the attack on Russian journalists in the DPR will be identified and inevitably punished.


📹 The video was filmed at the scene of the Ukrainian attack on a car carrying journalists.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

✋ China calls on US to stop cyber attacks around the world

The United States is an "initiator and master of cyber attacks" worldwide, said a spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, Liu Pengyu.

"We urge the United States to stop engaging in cyber theft and attacks around the world and stop using cyber security issues to smear other countries," he said.

Liu also denied accusations of Chinese government involvement in hacking attacks on the Treasury Department, saying the US is using cybersecurity to "smear" other countries.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🐦 Sourced locally: NYC food truck worker filmed catching pigeons

Social media footage shows a Queens food truck worker using a plastic bag to catch a pigeon.

Coworkers claim he was rescuing a bird with tied legs, and the Health Department reported no evidence of pigeons after an inspection, the NY Post reported.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Biden will deliver two major speeches before leaving office - reports

President Biden plans to deliver two major speeches in his final days in office to outline his legacy, NBC reports, citing sources familiar with the plans.

Biden also is expected to issue additional pardons before January 20.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🏮📹 Lantern festival lights up Nanjing, China

Tourists and locals marvel at Nanjing's Lantern Festival, featuring stunning light installations and drone shows. This year's event celebrates the Year of the Snake, blending tradition with technology. Dazzling displays run until the end of April.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🐟📈 Tuna auction signals positive outlook for Japan in 2025

At Tokyo's Toyosu market, a 276 kg tuna sold for 207 million yen in the first auction of 2025, the second-highest price after the record set in 2019.

The tuna auction is traditionally seen as an unofficial economic forecast for the coming year.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt