NATO to urge UK to boost air defense spending over country's vulnerability

NATO will urge the United Kingdom to sharply increase spending on air and missile defense amid concerns that the British military will not be able to repel attacks on cities and outposts in 15 years, the Times reported citing sources.

As military sources told the newspaper, a number of NATO members have recently expressed disappointment that London was not doing enough to protect Europe from long-range missiles.

A draft NATO plan called Capability Target 2025 will raise the need for the UK to invest in land-based air defense systems, to protect nuclear power plants and military bases, the newspaper said.

The UK had failed to invest in missile defense systems for decades, experts told the outlet.

Thus, British ships could be attacked by more modern ballistic missiles if they are transferred to players such as the Yemeni Houthis.

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Germany to tighten policy on Syrian refugees, while Baerbock builds bridges with new gov't - report
 
In less than 24 hours since the visit of German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock to Syria to get acquainted with the new leadership, the German authorities decided to complicate the rules of staying in the country for Syrian refugees, encouraging them to return home.
 
The action plan presented by German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser in case of stabilization of the situation in Syria provides for:
 
▪️ depriving refugees of the status of protected persons and subsidies for protection, as a result of which they will be forced to leave the territory of Germany.
 

She noted that the deprivation of the status of protected persons will apply to those who "do not have the right to reside (in Germany) for other reasons, such as work or education, and do not want to return to Syria voluntarily."

 
▪️supporting refugees who want to return to their homeland. Faeser noted that the state program aimed at those who want to voluntarily return to Syria will be expanded.
 
▪️speedy deportation of criminals and Islamists.

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🏄‍♂️🥇🌊23-year-old surfer Alessandro Slebir broke the world record by conquering a 32-meter wave off the coast of California

The previous world record was set on a 26-meter-high wave by German surfer Sebastian Steudtner in Nazare, Portugal, in 2020.

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🟠Another brutal crime by the Zelensky regime: Russian Foreign Ministry comments on attacking journalists in Donbass

🟠Austria’s Nehammer steps down as chancellor

🟠Italian PM Meloni travels to US to meet Trump

🟠Israel intercepts Houthi rocket near Hadera

🟠Germany to tighten policy on Syrian refugees, while Baerbock builds bridges with new gov't

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📹Sputnik journalists Maxim Romanenko and Mikhail Kevkhiev, who were injured in the Donetsk People's Republic, shared the moment when the Ukrainian drone attacked their car

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Israel may slash Gaza aid after Trump takes office

Tel Aviv considers cutting humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip after US President-elect Donald Trump enters office, an unnamed Israeli official has been cited by CNN as saying.

“The humanitarian aid is not reaching the right hands,” the official claimed, in an apparent nod to Hamas. The source added that limiting aid to deprive Hamas of resources was one of “several” options currently being considered.

UN, Israel at odds over Gaza aid trucks

The claims come after the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that only 2,205 aid trucks had entered Gaza in December.

Israel insists that more than 5,000 such vehicles arrived in the Palestinian enclave last month, whereas the OCHA says at least 91% of the population are facing high levels of acute food insecurity.

Russia provides humanitarian support to the Gaza Strip, Russian Foreign Ministry said in May noting that Moscow would expand this assistance. However, it could be effectively implemented only with a complete ceasefire, the ministry added.

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❗️Ukrainian forces lost two Leopard tanks and up to 410 militants and in the Russian Tsentr Battlegroup's area of responsibility

🇷🇺🪖More statements from the Russian MoD daily briefing on the special military operation's progress:    
 
▪️Russian troops hit the infrastructure of military airfields and concentrations of manpower and military equipment of the Ukrainian armed forces in 137 districts;
 
▪️Ukrainian losses in the Russian Zapad combat group's zone of responsibility amounted to 450 fighters;
 
▪️Russia's Yug Battlegroup eliminated 230 Ukrainian militants;
 
▪️Ukrainian forces lost up to 150 soldiers in the Russian Vostok combat group's area of responsibility;
 
▪️Due to the actions of the Russian Sever and Dnepr groups, Ukrainian losses amounted to 120 fighters.

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Russian fighter aircraft shot down a Ukrainian MiG-29, the Russian Defense Ministry added.

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Railway bridge collapses in Oregon, fallen wagon contaminates river
 
In the city of Corvallis, an overpass bridge upon which a freight train was passing collapsed. One of the wagons carrying urea, a chemical compound used in skin care products and fertilizer, fell into the Mary River, Yahoo News reports.
 
According to the article, no one was injured. The cause of the collapse has not been disclosed at the moment. The Corvallis police have claimed that the structure of the overpass, which was damaged during a fire several years ago, has collapsed.
 
The local police asked residents not to enter the water, as there is a possibility of carbamide contamination of the river.

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South Korea protesters rally for Yoon's arrest as deadline looms
 
Thousands of people rallied for and protested the arrest of impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol, as the arrest warrant over his failed attempt to impose martial law expires at midnight (15:00 GMT) on Monday.

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❗️A criminal case has been opened into the death of Izvestia newspaper correspondent Alexander Martemyanov and the wounding of four other Russian journalists in a drone attack in the Donetsk People's Republic, the Russian Investigative Committee told Sputnik.

The committee added that it was taking all possible measures to identify and hold criminally responsible individuals from among the Ukrainian armed formations involved in the crime.

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❗️Russian forces hammered a Ukrainian assault group consisting of 2 tanks and 7 armored vehicles carrying troops near the Berdin settlement in the Kursk region, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

▪️Ukrainian forces lost up to 340 personnel and 4 tanks in the Kursk region over the past day.

▪️Russian Armed Forces repelled two counterattacks by assault groups of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Kursk region.

▪️Since the beginning of combat operations in the Kursk region, Ukrainian forces have lost more than 49,010 soldiers.

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Video of two trucks colliding in Mexico went viral online

At least two people are dead as a result of the accident.

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📕DID YOU KNOW? The world's rarest and most expensive metal costs millions of dollars per gram!

Californium is considered the world's rarest and most expensive metal, with a price tag of tens of millions of dollars per gram. It's only produced in Russia and the United States.

This extraordinary metal is created by irradiating another element, curium, in a nuclear reactor over a long period of time and then isolating californium through chemical processes.

Its uses are equally remarkable - it plays a key role in nuclear energy, cancer radiation therapy, and advanced materials research!

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