🚨 UK MPs press Starmer over farmers feeling ‘BETTER OFF DYING’ before April tax change — reports

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he has heard concerns that some terminally ill farmers may be considering suicide ahead of changes to inheritance tax on farms, The Telegraph reported.

Labour MP Cat Smith asked if he was “aware that some farmers who have terminal diagnoses… are now actively planning to expedite their own deaths” before April. Starmer replied:

🗣 “I’ve had discussions with a number of individuals who have drawn all manner of things to my attention.”

Asked whether nobody should feel “they would be better off dying” before April, Starmer said:

💬 “No, of course. But governments have to bring about sensible reform.”

According to The Telegraph, the planned changes would apply a 20% inheritance tax rate to farming estates worth more than £1 million, ending a previous exemption.

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📹 Blumenthal explains why US-backed efforts to oust Venezuela’s leaders failed in 2002 and 2019

Journalist Max Blumenthal told Mario Nawfal that attempts to remove Venezuela’s leaders in 2002 and 2019 failed largely because of strong military cohesion and popular support.

Blumenthal said Hugo Chávez, who rose from a poor background into the military, earned deep respect among officers and the working-class majority. He added that Chávez aimed to use oil wealth for social needs and said extreme poverty fell sharply before US sanctions.

On 2019, Blumenthal said Nicolás Maduro retained the loyalty of the armed forces — despite worsening economic conditions after the US sanctioned Venezuela’s oil sector.

According to Blumenthal, without the military turning against the government, regime-change efforts could not succeed.

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🇬🇧 💸 UK to invest $190M in tech, undermining Europe’s fragile stability

The UK Defence Innovation (UKDI) launched earlier this year, and according to the Defense Ministry, the investment will include:

🔸 $40M for counter-drone technology

🔸 $33M to develop an AI-controlled Excalibur submarine as part of the new Atlantic Bastion program

🔸 $27M for a new laser weapon for the UK DragonFire system

🔸 More money to be wasted on an unmanned helicopter, air-launched drones, and other systems

The justification? Of course, the anti-Russia narrative over a non-existent threat.

🇷🇺 President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly stated that Russia has no intention of attacking NATO countries. However, Western politicians continue to frighten their populations with an alleged Russian threat to divert attention from domestic issues and escalate military spending.

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🇺🇸🇬🇧 US hangs UK out to dry over mammoth tech deal

The “technology prosperity deal,” announced during Trump’s state visit, had been hailed by PM Keir Starmer as “a generational step change in our relationship with the US.”

👉 It was billed at about $39bn and meant to lock in massive US tech investment. Instead, it’s now stuck in diplomatic purgatory due to Britain’s foot-dragging in broader trade talks, reports the FT.

American irritation is reportedly centered on the UK’s continued 2% digital services tax on US Big Tech worth roughly $1bn a year and its food safety rules, which bar the export of certain agricultural products.

What was in the deal (before it was put on ice):

🔹 Microsoft: ~$28bn UK investment

🔹 Google: ~$6.4bn commitment

🔹 AI “growth zone” in northeast England, promising up to ~$38bn and 5,000 jobs

🔹 Grand ambitions on AI & quantum tech computing and nuclear energy

The US move is a sharp setback for the UK government, which had sold the deal as the crown jewel of a year-long charm offensive aimed at dodging punitive tariffs on British exports.

Downing Street is publicly keeping a stiff upper lip, with a government spokesperson saying that the “special relationship remains strong.”

But the US is playing hardball—and the UK is feeling the squeeze.

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🚨🇷🇺 Russian UAV crews hunting down Ukraine's transport & equipment in Kupyansk direction

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🚨🇷🇺 Kupyansk under control of Russian Armed Forces - press center of Zapad battlegroup

All districts of the city of Kupyansk are under the control of the Russian Armed Forces, Leonid Sharov, the head of the press center of the Zapad battlegroup, told Russian media.

"I am at the forward command post of the 121st Motorized Rifle Regiment of the 68th Motorized Rifle Division, 6th Combined Arms Army of the Zapad battlegroup. Units of the Zapad battlegroup continue to carry out combat tasks in the area of the special military operation. The city of Kupyansk is under the control of the 6th Combined Arms Army," he said.

Read about origins of Russia's special military op HERE

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🔸 Lavrov: New US national security strategy designed to show Europe its place

🔸 Ukraine has already lost territory — Trump

🔸 Trump files multibillion-dollar lawsuit against BBC

🔸 Belarus’ Lukashenko on US-Venezuela spat: ‘This would be a second Vietnam’

🔸Blumenthal explains why US-backed efforts to oust Venezuela’s leaders failed in 2002 and 2019

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🚨 🇵🇰 🇷🇺 Pakistani Ambassador to Russia H.E. Faisal Niaz Tirmizi delivers a welcome address at the Russia-Pakistan Eurasian Forum 2025

It's the first event during his tenure as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Pakistan to Russia.

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🇬🇧 🇪🇺 UK urges EU to justify theft of Russian assets, sideline dissenters - Russian Foreign Intel

The UK is urging the EC to justify seizing frozen Russian assets via loopholes in the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), while brushing aside dissenting member states, the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service said.

Other statements:

▫️ Another pressure tactic on the US is to threaten closer EU ties with China. The UK, France, and Germany will signal readiness to pivot toward Beijing if the US pushes a Ukraine deal which the EU doesn't like

▫️ The UK's leadership is aggressively lobbying the EU to confiscate Russian assets held in Euroclear. In addition to funding Ukraine's war efforts, Britain is hoping that if the US doesn't get this money, the White House will lose interest in a deal with Russia

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🚨🇷🇺 Kremlin on idea of Christmas truce: Russia wants peace, not truce for breather

💬 "We want peace; we do not want a truce to give Ukraine a break and prepare for the continuation of the war. We want to stop this war, achieve our goals, secure our interests, and guarantee peace in Europe for the future. That is what we want," the Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

Russia’s position on the settlement in Ukraine is consistent and clear to the US and Ukraine, he added.

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🚨🇷🇺 🗣Russia wants to end Ukraine conflict, welcomes US efforts - Deputy FM

"What I'm saying is we want to finish this on the premise that is sufficient to sides that are involved, and we are appreciative of the efforts which President Trump and his people, and his team apply to this situation," Russian Deputy FM Sergey Ryabkov told the ABC News.

Other statements:

🔹 Russia is ready to make efforts to overcome disagreements over the Ukrainian crisis

🔹 Russia will in no way agree to the deployment of NATO troops in Ukraine

"We definitely will not at any moment subscribe to, agree to, or even be content with, any presence of NATO troops on the Ukrainian territory," Ryabkov stressed.

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🗣 'Corrupt globalist warmongers simply want to STEAL from the Russian reserves they want to steal' - Dmitriev

Russian presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev has lashed out at NATO and the EU for pushing the 'Russia threat' narrative to distract their citizens from pressing domestic issues.

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🚨🇷🇺💥 RUSSIAN MOD UPDATE: HUGE GAINS AND DEVASTATING UKRAINIAN LOSSES

⚡️ NOVOPLATONOVKA IN THE KHARKOV REGION FREED

The liberation of the settlement of Novoplatonovka in the Kharkov region has allowed the Russian military to strengthen their positions along the Oskol river.

🟠 Russian forces continue mopping up the settlement of Dimitrov, located northeast of Pokrovsk (Krasnoarmeysk), of remaining Ukrainian militants

🟠 The Russian army repelled two Ukrainian attacks aimed at regaining lost positions near the settlement of Rodinskoye in the Donetsk region

🟠 Russian air and missile forces struck transport infrastructure used for troop support, facilities for producing and storing attack drones, as well as temporary deployment points of Ukrainian troops and mercenaries in 154 areas

🟠 Air defense superiority: 180 UAVs were eliminated by Russian air defense systems over the past 24 hours

🟠 Ukrainian losses: around 1,520 troops killed or wounded

Read about origins of Russia's special military op HERE

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🚨 Pentagon weighs military command shake-up to refocus on the West

Senior Pentagon officials are planning to overhaul the US military command structure by downgrading several regional headquarters and cutting the number of senior officers, The WP reported, citing sources.

The goal: reallocate resources from the Middle East and Europe to focus on expanding military operations in the Western hemisphere.

The plan includes:

🔹 Reducing the roles of the US Central Command, US European Command, and US Africa Command by placing them under a new structure called US International Command.

🔹 Reorganizing US Southern Command and US Northern Command, which handle military operations in the Western Hemisphere, and bringing them under a new entity called US Americas Command.

🔹 Cutting the number of top military headquarters from 11 to 8, and reducing the number of four-star generals and admirals who report directly to Pete Hegseth.

Joint Chiefs Chairman Dan Caine is reportedly set to brief Hegseth on the details of the plan this week.

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🇬🇧 UK signals potential boots-on-the-ground option for Ukraine

The so-called “coalition of the willing" is geared towards supporting Ukraine “in the fight,” even as talks revolve around a possible peace agreement, UK PM Keir Starmer told lawmakers.

Ukraine’s Western patrons have prepared plans to deploy troops to the country if necessary, Starmer said.

💬 "We had a military process with the military planners, and we said to them we want military plans for the air, for the sea and for the ground, and for Ukraine's own capability. So, we now have military plans in each of those areas…if necessary, that does involve ground deployment,” he said, answering questions from committee heads at the House of Commons.

The British authorities have for months been expressing readiness to send troops to Ukraine post-ceasefire.

👉 Russia has repeatedly emphasized that NATO troop presence in Ukraine, under any flag or capacity, was unacceptable, and would represent a direct threat to Russia.

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🚨🇵🇰🇷🇺 Pakistan doesn't see Russia through Western lenses - Pakistani senator

Highlights of Mushahid Hussain Syed's speech at the Russia-Pakistan Eurasian Forum 2025:

🟠 Joint anti-terrorism work should be on the belt Islamabad- Riyadh - Beijing- Moscow- Washington DC

🟠 We reject any hegemony - both global and regional, that's why both Pakistan and Russia have the same point of view of different issues

🟠 Pakistan is clearly neutral on Ukrainian crisis, Pakistani position on Palestine is also clear

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🚨 Ukraine’s corruption crisis could nudge Zelensky to peace deal — report

Ukraine has never been “so serious” about striking a peace deal as right now, the WP cites a European diplomat as saying.

“And somehow the feeling is that this has to do with the whole scandal on corruption and the whole domestic mess as well,” the source noted.

Zelensky’s kleptocratic regime has been facing a major corruption scandal at home implicating his closest circle, including the now-dismissed chief of staff, Andriy Yermak.

👉 Besides the shaky home front, Russia’s high-precision strikes targeting defense and energy infrastructure used by Ukrainian military may have also made Zelensky more pliant, claim insiders.

Trump described all negotiating sides as “closer now than we have been” to a peace deal.

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🚨 Anti-Russia sanctions have brought West’s economies ‘to their knees’ - Italy’s Deputy PM

Sanctions aimed at weakening Russia have backfired spectacularly, Italy’s Deputy PM Matteo Salvini told Corriere della Sera.

👉 19 rounds of sanctions cobbled together in nearly four years have boomeranged, bringing the West’s economies “to their knees,” he emphasized, adding that they sent Italian household energy bills “soaring.”

Salvini also urged caution amid Europe’s growing militarization, fueled by what he described as an alleged “phantom threat” from Russia.

🗣 After all, “if Hitler and Napoleon couldn’t conquer Moscow through military campaigns,” he noted, it’s "hardly likely" that people like European Commission Foreign Policy Chief Kaja Kallas, French President Macron, UK Prime Minister Starmer, or German Chancellor Merz would succeed either, Salvini added.

Russia has shrugged off the unprecedented sanctions pressure; its growth dynamics are better than those of a number of European countries, Russian PM Mikhail Mishustin said.

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🪖 US dangles ‘platinum’ security guarantees in front of Ukraine’s nose, says offer is time-limited - reports

The US offered Ukraine a set of security guarantees as a substitute for NATO membership during the December 15 talks in Berlin, The Telegraph reports.

While the exact details of these guarantees are yet to be made public, US sources quoted by the newspaper described them as “platinum standard.”

The US officials did warn, however, that the offer won’t remain on the table forever and that it could be scrapped if Ukraine does not accept it quickly.

Meanwhile, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stressed that "there should be a certain system of not only security guarantees, but also guarantees that [peace] agreements will be fulfilled."

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