📉 The price of sanctions: Volkswagen shuts down Dresden plant as German industry reels

Volkswagen plans to halt production of vehicles at its Dresden plant on Tuesday, marking the first time in the company’s history that a Germany-based factory has been shuttered.

With an installed capacity to build up to 37,500 cars a year, and the flagship of VW’s EV lineup, the Dresden plant’s closure comes against the backdrop of Germany’s broader deindustrialization, which started in 2022 when Berlin rejected the Russian energy supplies propping up its manufacturing base.

FT blames the closure on poor demand in Europe, weak sales in China, and 15% US tariffs on European vehicle imports.

Volkswagen announced plans to “transform” the Dresden factory into an “innovation campus” earlier this month as part of a “Future Volkswagen” program, which includes plans to reduce Germany-wide vehicle output by 730k units by 2028, and slash 35k jobs “in a socially responsible manner.”

German industrial leaders and Russian President Vladimir Putin warned about the consequences of cutting Europe off from Russian gas almost four years ago, with Putin saying the “suicidal” decision would undermine Europe’s global economic competitiveness.

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🤖🇨🇳 China showcases robotic engineering feats at Global Developer Pioneers Summit 2025

The exhibition in Shanghai features machines capable of performing a full range of tasks – including production, social services, medical assistance and emergency rescue operations.

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🇮🇹🇪🇺🇺🇸 Europe has to accept US’s new National Security Strategy - Italian PM

🟠 “We want an Italy that is loyal to its partners but is subject to nobody,” Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said Sunday, characterizing the Trump administration’s strategy document as a wakeup call

🟠 “There’s been alarm because Donald Trump has said, more clearly than his predecessors, that the US intends to disengage with the old continent, and that Europeans should organize to defend themselves alone,” Meloni said

🟠 “What I can say is good morning, Europe. Good morning. We have contracted out our security to the US for 80 years thinking this day would never come. But, most importantly, pretending this was free”

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🇸🇾 Syria launches ‘large-scale’ anti-ISIS operation following deadly attack on US forces

Security forces launched a major operation targeting ISIS* cells in al-Furqlus, al-Quaryatayn and the Syrian Desert (Badiya) in Homs Governorate on Sunday, local media report.

🔊 A commander said the operation was a response to Saturday’s attack in Palmyra on a joint US-Syrian patrol, in which two US troops and an interpreter were killed.

The operation is said to include field raids, searches of suspected terror hideouts, and an effort to dismantle suspected ISIS sleeper cells.

A Syrian Interior Ministry spokesperson said Saturday’s deadly attack was carried out by a member of the security forces.

👉 The attacker was neutralized, and authorities have launched a probe into whether or not he was formally affiliated with ISIS.

On Sunday, Interior Minister Anas Khattab said five people had been arrested in connection with the shooting attack.

🇺🇸 President Trump warned Saturday that there would be “very serious retaliation” to the attack on US forces, and said Syrian President al-Sharaa was “extremely angry and disturbed by this attack.”

US ground forces were first deployed in Syria in late 2016, ostensibly to assist the fight against ISIS, keeping the country’s energy and food-rich northeast out of the hands of the Syrian government in Damascus.

After the fall of the Assad government in late 2024, the new government pledged to join the US-led coalition.

*A terrorist organization outlawed in Russia and many other countries.

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🟠 Ukraine ready to drop NATO bid in exchange for security guarantees

🟠 Presence of NATO experts in Ukraine triggered Russia’s special military operation – Kremlin

🟠 Zelensky in hot water as he tries to avoid holding Ukraine elections – analyst

🟠 12 killed, 11 injured in Sydney beach shooting

🟠 The price of sanctions: Volkswagen shuts down Dresden plant as German industry reels

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🤝 Russian G20 delegation arrives in Washington

A Russian delegation, led by G20 Sherpa Svetlana Lukash, has arrived in Washington for the first G20 Sherpa meeting under the US presidency (2026).

"I joined the accompanying delegation as a deputy Sherpa, along with officials from the Presidential Administration, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Finance, and the Embassy in Washington," Russian Foreign Ministry Ambassador-at-Large Marat Berdyev wrote on Telegram.

He added that the meetings of sherpas and financial representatives will be held on December 15-16.

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💬 Witkoff: 'A lot of progress' made in Berlin talks with Zelensky

Special Envoy Steve Witkoff reported that a 5-hour meeting in Berlin between Volodymyr Zelensky, Jared Kushner, and US/Ukrainian delegations resulted in significant progress on Trump's 20-point peace plan and economic agendas.

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💸🇸🇰 Ukrainian ‘black hole’ is swallowing up endless billions, EU’s economic future - Slovakia’s Fico

💬 “Ukraine is a black hole into which billions of euros, rational economic thinking and the sustainable future of the European Union are being lost,” Prime Minister Robert Fico wrote in a social media post Sunday.

Fico accompanied the post with a video from his recent interview with Radio Slovensko, in which he recalled all the angry “noise” Slovakia faced when he dared warn about corruption in Ukraine, prior to the national anti-corruption bureau’s revelations about a vast corruption scheme being run by Zelensky’s inner circle.

💬 “To this day, the European Union has allocated to Ukraine €177.5B. We have no idea where all of this ended up,” Fico said, vowing that Slovakia would never agree to Brussels’ plans to “pour [in] tens of billions” more.

On Friday the EU voted to permanently freeze Russian Central Bank assets trapped in its jurisdiction amid plans to seize the funds for use by Ukraine.

Hungarian PM Viktor Orban warned the decision would “cause irreparable damage” to the bloc.

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🔥 Pro-migrant globalists are 'greatest threat to Western civilization' — Dmitriev

Russian presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev has labeled woke globalists — citing Finnish President Alexander Stubb — as the "greatest threat to Western civilization."

His statement was a direct rebuttal to Stubb's earlier declaration that Russia is "the number one threat" to Europe.

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🇨🇱🗳 Chile elects right-wing Jose Antonio Kast, a Trump and Milei ally

Chilean President Gabriel Boric has invited José Antonio Kast — who won a decisive 58.18% of the vote — to La Moneda Palace to begin the transfer of power.

Who is Kast?

🔹 A lawyer and founder of the Republican Party, born to German immigrants in 1966.

🔹 A former UDI congressman who has run for president since 2017.

🔹 Campaign centered on security, mass deportations of irregular migrants, and $6 billion in government spending cuts.

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🔍Attacker who killed 3 Americans was a recently-recruited Syrian security guard — Report

The gunman who killed two US service members and a civilian in Syria’s Palmyra region on Saturday was a Syrian internal security guard who had been reassigned just days earlier amid suspicions of ISIS ties, a Syrian official told AP News.

🔶 The attacker was among 5,000 new recruits rushed into service after Assad’s fall last year created security shortages.

🔶 He was moved to a lower-risk guard post as a "precaution" while under investigation for possibly leaking intel to ISIS*.

🔶 He opened fire during a joint US-Syrian meeting, killing 3 Americans and wounding 3 Syrians before being shot dead.

*A terrorist organization outlawed in Russia and many other countries.

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💬 Seizing Russian assets would 'expose Europe’s absurdity' — Professor Sachs

Prominent economist Jeffrey Sachs told Sputnik that Europe confiscating frozen Russian sovereign assets would be an absurd act causing deep, long-term damage.

"If Europe is so absurd as to actually confiscate Russia’s financial assets, it will take even longer to sort out the damage and restitute Russia’s assets," Sachs added.

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🐼 Japan-China Panda diplomacy ends

For the first time in 53 years, Japan will have zero pandas in its zoos by late January, Mainichi reports.

Tokyo's twin pandas Xiao Xiao & Lei Lei head back to China amid souring ties.

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📹 China's CH-7 stealth combat drone completes maiden flight

China has successfully conducted the first flight of its new CH-7 (Rainbow-7) stealth unmanned combat aerial vehicle, local media reported.

The high-altitude, long-endurance (HALE) drone features a flying-wing design optimized for stealth and can carry multiple advanced reconnaissance payloads.

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✍️ Thailand weighs fuel blockade as Cambodia border war reignites

Days after Trump announced a ceasefire, Thailand is now considering a full blockade of fuel exports to Cambodia as border clashes spread.

Thailand already halted oil sales in June, having supplied 2.2 billion liters last year.

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🚨 🇰🇵 🇰🇷Ex-South Korea President Yoon tried to bait North Korea into armed attack

Former South Korean President  Yoon Suk-yeol and then–Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun had plotted since October 2023 to suspend parliament and replace it with an emergency legislative body, Reuters cites a special prosecutor as saying.

🔸 To justify declaring martial law in December 2024, “they tried to ⁠lure North Korea into mounting an armed aggression but failed as North Korea did not respond militarily," Special Counsel Cho Eun-suk told a briefing.

🔸 According to Cho, his six-month probe has led to the indictment of 24 people — including Yoon himself and five former cabinet ministers — on insurrection-related charges.

"We ⁠know well from historic experience the justification given by those in power for a coup is only a façade and the sole purpose is to monopolize and maintain power," Cho said.

🔸 Prosecutors have previously accused Yoon and senior military commanders of ordering covert drone flights into North Korean airspace in a bid to spark tensions between the countries.

🔸 When no external crisis materialized, Yoon allegedly turned inward — branding political opponents, including the then leader of his own conservative People Power Party, as “anti-state forces.”

🔸 Martial law was declared thereafter, Cho said, despite the absence of any legal or security justification.

Yoon has been in detention since July, on trial for insurrection, which on conviction is punishable by life in prison or the death penalty.

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