Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will not attend Donald Trump’s inauguration as the next US president on January 20, The Times of Israel reports citing a senior aide.

While Israeli officials had previously indicated that Netanyahu was likely to make the trip, plans for his visit have now been ruled out.

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❗️Putin says plans to hold telephone conversation with Chinese president Xi Jinping soon

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🎤Half a million on the run: Ukraine's draft dodgers in the spotlight

During Russia’s ongoing special military operation, Ukraine's Territorial Recruitment and Social Support Centers (TCC) have issued search warrants for over 500,000 men suspected of evading military service, according to Natalia Kindrativ, a representative of Ukraine's Ground Forces.

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Crisis in Chad: attack on presidential palace sparks questions

Tensions ran high in N'Djamena as an attack near the presidential palace shook the Chadian capital. While the situation is now under control, authorities are still uncertain about who orchestrated the assault, Chadian ambassador to Russia Adam Bechir Mahamoud told Sputnik.

"We do not know who exactly is behind this attack. It is too early to speculate. But in any case, the main thing is that it is fully controlled. There is no problem, I am in N'Djamena right now," the ambassador said.

Despite the incident, Chadian authorities have reassured the public that government institutions and the capital have resumed normal operations.

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🔍Competition for the Arctic heats up: who are the top claimants?

Donald Trump’s Arctic appetites are growing, with Canada added to Greenland in his territorial wish list. Besides reawakening the 19th century vision of a US ‘manifest destiny’ of control over North America, a takeover of Canada and Greenland would add dramatically to Washington’s Arctic possessions, upping the US share of the region’s vast, untapped natural resources, and giving Trump an opportunity to challenge Russia’s Northern Sea Route.

Who controls what in the Arctic right now?

Measured from the North Pole to the Arctic Circle (67° north of the Equator), the Arctic stretches across roughly 20 mln sq. km of sea and land area, with the Arctic Ocean covering 15.5 mln sq. km of that. The region is home to vast, untapped natural resources, opportunities for game changing new trade routes, and prospects for taking existing geostrategic and military competition to new levels. It’s no wonder Donald Trump wants to increase US territorial possessions in the region.

🔸 United States: Current Arctic claims - about 10%*

US Arctic possessions include about 1/3 of Alaska (about 575,000 sq. km), plus a 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zone off the state’s coasts. In 2023, Washington added a cool million sq. km to its continental shelf claims, more than half of that off Alaska, in the Bering Sea and the Arctic Ocean.

🔸 Canada: Current Arctic claims - about 25%*

40% of Canada’s 9.98 mln sq. km land mass and 70%+ of its coastline are situated in the Arctic. Canada’s Arctic shelf claims were extended to 1.9 mln sq. km, all the way to Russian waters, in 2022, and include claims to the North Pole.

🔸 Denmark (via Greenland): Current Arctic Claims - about 20%*

Denmark is an Arctic power thanks to its control of Greenland (although for how long is unknown, given the island’s drift toward independence). About 2/3 of the 2.17 mln sq. km island lies above the Arctic Circle, allowing Copenhagen to lay claim to some 900,000 sq. km of the continental shelf, including the North Pole.

🔸 Russia: Current Arctic claims - about 50%*

About 1/5 of Russia’s 17 mln sq. km landmass lies above the Arctic Circle, and Moscow’s continental shelf claim stretches 2.1 mln sq. km, including the North Pole.

🔸 Norway: Current Arctic claims - about 5%

Norway’s Arctic claims are the comparably modest, with about 1/3 of the country of 385,200 km classified as northern, and Arctic shelf claims stretching some 235,000 sq. km.

* due to conflicting claims and the very rough nature of these estimates, the total adds up to more than 100%.

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🔥 California wildfires and Ukraine: a surprising connection?

As uncontained deadly wildfires ravage southern California, the Los Angeles County Fire Department has dug itself into a hole in its overzealous effort to support Ukraine.

1️⃣ In 2022, the department donated “surplus” equipment to Ukraine, as reported by ABC 7. That gear could have been critical in addressing today’s crisis.

2️⃣ Further compounding the issue, Mayor Karen Bass reduced the Los Angeles Fire Department’s budget by $17.6 million for the 2024-2025 fiscal year, while earlier proposing a $23 million reduction.

3️⃣ The city has also been grappling with federal firefighter shortages since 2020. According to Fox News, fewer than 4,000 LA Fire Department personnel are tasked with serving a population of four million.

“There will be more than a couple of billion dollars remaining in PDA [Presidential Drawdown Authority] assistance for future use after Jan. 20,” a senior defense official recently said during a briefing on Ukraine.

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Labour, Tories, and Britain's grooming gangs scandal: Decades of silence and inaction explored

Prime Minister Starmer’s Labour Party has blocked a Tory-led push for a new probe into the so-called grooming gang scandal afflicting the UK, with a bill on the matter defeated 364-111 Wednesday. What are grooming gangs? Why is the state trying to hide or understate their significance? What’s at stake? Here’s what to know:

◻️ “Grooming gangs” involve groups of Britons, mostly of Pakistani descent, engaging in the systematic sexual exploitation of children, mostly girls, in communities across the UK.

◻️ In 2012, The Times published an explosive report uncovering grooming gang activity in Rotherham, England, unearthing a scandal creating victims for many years, but long hushed up to sidestep uncomfortable questions about Britain's immigration and integration policies.

◻️ A follow-up 2014 study by respected academic Dr. Alexis Jay found that 1,400+ children were ‘groomed’ in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013 alone.

◻️ The national shock from the revelations sparked local inquiries, uncovering evidence of similar exploitation in towns and cities across England, from Oxford and Rochdale to Oldham and Telford.

◻️ In 2015, Dr. Jay was tapped to lead a national probe, which she completed in 2022, uncovering an “epidemic” of abuse. Besides grooming gangs, the probe looked into exploitation by state institutions and the church.

◻️ The report demanded “urgent” action, from mandatory reporting of child sex crimes, to more stringent standards for persons working with children, full-time attention to the problem via a minister for children, etc. Last week, Jay said the report’s recommendations have largely gone unheeded.

◻️ Elon Musk brought attention to the issue last week in a tirade of explosive X posts charging Starmer and Labour of enabling grooming gangs and halting probes into suspected crimes.

◻️ In reality, successive Conservative governments have also taken little action to crack down on the crimes over their 14 years in power.

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Europe imported a record 17.8 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Russia in 2024, an increase of over 2 million tonnes from the previous year. That was despite EU efforts to reduce reliance on Russian fossil fuels, a British newspaper reports, quoting Rystad Energy.

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