🇻🇪Nicolas Maduro to be inaugurated as Venezuela’s president for third term on Friday

The ceremony will take place amid opposition protests and rallies in support of the elected president. Here are the key details:

▪️ The elections, held in July, sparked widespread protests from those disputing the official results.

▪️ The opposition claims their candidate, Edmundo Gonzalez, won. After the election, González faced criminal charges and sought asylum in Spain.

▪️ Gonzalez has gained backing from the US, held meetings with regional leaders, and visited Uruguay, Argentina, and Washington.

▪️ The situation with Gonzalez is seen as a repeat of the previous opposition leader Juan Guaido episode, where Guaido led an alternative government for several years.

▪️ Experts predict the inauguration could be unpredictable, with prisons potentially becoming flashpoints for unrest due to possible riots.

▪️ Russia will be represented at the ceremony by the Chairman of the Russian State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin, who has already arrived in Caracas.

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⛔️Trump's motion to halt hush money sentencing denied

US Supreme Court cleared the way for President-elect Donald Trump’s sentencing in his hush money criminal case and ordered him to appear for sentencing on January 10, dealing him a setback as he prepares to begin his second term in office.

"The application for stay presented to Justice Sotomayor and by her referred to the Court is denied for, inter alia, the following reasons. First, the alleged evidentiary violations at President-Elect Trump’s state-court trial can be addressed in the ordinary course on appeal. Second, the burden that sentencing will impose on the President-Elect’s responsibilities is relatively insubstantial in light of the trial court’s stated intent to impose a sentence of “unconditional discharge” after a brief virtual hearing," the court paper said.

In May 2024, a jury found Trump guilty on 34 charges of falsifying business records related to a payment to former adult film actress Stormy Daniels, with whom Trump allegedly had had an affair. Trump rejected the accusations against him, and his lawyers filed a motion to dismiss the indictment.

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🔥Photo of Los Angeles wildfires taken by Russian cosmonaut Alexander Gorbunov from the International Space Station.

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'Buy Greenland': Trump shares a video showing citizens of the island wearing MAGA hats and asking him to “help”.

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Two people were killed and two more injured as a result of a missile strike by Ukrainian forces on a supermarket in the Donetsk People's Republic, Russia’s Investigative Committee reported.

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📹Wildfire exodus: Mountain lion and cubs flee inferno down Topanga canyon

A mountain lion and her two cubs were spotted making a swift escape down Topanga Canyon Boulevard overnight, fleeing the devastation left by the Palisades Fire.

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🗣'There is significant war fatigue within Ukraine itself' - Polish Defense Minister

The topic of yesterday's meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group at Germany's Ramstein Air Base was discussed with Polish Defense Minister Kosiniak-Kamysz during an interview on Polish Morning Talk podcast.

"The mood regarding the war in Ukraine is not optimistic. The situation on the front lines is very difficult. There is significant war fatigue within Ukraine itself. People are tired of it," politician stated.

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📹Roar-some release: rare Amur tiger returns to the wild

One of the world’s rarest predators, the majestic Amur tiger (also known as Siberian tiger), has been safely released back into its natural habitat after being captured in Russia's Primorsky region.

This big cat had been causing trouble in local villages by preying on dogs, but wildlife specialists stepped in to relocate it to a protected reserve near the Khabarovsk region border.

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❗️Russian forces carried out 28 strikes using precision weapons and drones over the past week, targeting military airfield infrastructure and weapons depots in Ukraine, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense.

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

▪️Russia's Battlegroup Zapad repelled 19 counterattacks in its area of responsibility, enemy lost up to 3,350 militants.

▪️Ukraine lost over 3,485 troops and 11 tanks, including four Leopard tanks, in the Russia's Battlegroup Tsentr area of responsibility.

▪️Ukraine lost over 1,100 troops during the week in the Russia's Battlegroup Vostok area of responsibility.

▪️91 Ukrainian servicemen surrendered during the week.

▪️Russia's Battlegroup Yug repelled 16 counterattacks in its area of responsibility.

▪️Russian aviation shot down eight ATACMS missiles, 41 HIMARS missiles and 689 Ukrainian drones.

▪️Russian aviation shot down a Ukrainian MiG-29 aircraft.

▪️Ukrainian forces lost up to 465 servicemen and six warehouses in the Russia's Battlegroup Dnepr area of responsibility.

▪️Russia's Battlegroup Sever repelled two counterattacks in its area of responsibility.

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🐘 Maria Zakharova, spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry, has been spotted feeding elephants with fruit at the Great Moscow Circus following a press conference.

The six baby elephants, now stars of the circus, were gifted to Russia by Myanmar as a gesture of goodwill.

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Denmark’s defense? Donated to Ukraine

If Donald Trump were to decide to take Greenland from Denmark by force, Copenhagen would find itself in no position to protect the island, as the country’s military has run out of defense resources, according to a European media outlet.

The reason? Denmark has generously donated the bulk of its land-warfare equipment to Ukraine.

"That would probably go down as the shortest war in history," quipped Ulrik Pram Gad, a senior researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies.

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Suspect arrested for arson in Los Angeles wildfires

The LAPD has detained a suspect believed to have started the devastating Kenneth Fire, one of several wildfires tearing through California. Officials suspect the fire was intentionally set, with reports that the alleged arsonist was armed with a "flamethrower."

The Kenneth Fire broke out on Thursday, joining the Palisades and Eaton fires in ravaging the region as the death toll climbs to 10.

"Justice will be swift. It will be firm, and the maximum punishment will be sought," Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan Hochman was quoted as saying.

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❗️The United States conducted airstrikes on underground Houthi facilities in Yemen's Amran province, according to Al Arabiya.

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📹Attempted assault on Chad's presidential palace caught on camera

A group of 24 armed individuals attempted to storm the presidential complex in N'Djamena on January 8.

The attackers tried to breach the palace's defenses but were quickly neutralized by security forces.

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Ursula von der Leyen, head of the European Commission, does not plan to go to Donald Trump's inauguration as she was not invited there, the European Commission said.

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🇷🇺 Russian oil transit to Europe will continue – Ukrainian PM

The transit of Russian oil via the Druzhba pipeline will not be stopped, despite the end of gas transit, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmygal stated in the Verkhovna Rada.

"Halting oil transit would violate Ukraine's commitments under the Energy Charter Treaty and the EU Association Agreement," he noted, adding that EU sanctions allow oil supplies to Hungary and Slovakia.

He warned that ending transit could lead to international arbitration by affected countries and the loss of EU financial assistance to Ukraine.

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