"The UK is reportedly trying to convince the European Union to take control of frozenRussian assets, aiming to undermine US President Donald Trump’s efforts to advance peace initiatives that could end the Ukraine conflict, according to Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR).
In a statement released on Tuesday, the SVR claimed that the UK’s leadership was “desperately pushing for Brussels’ decision to seize Russian assets.” Aside from the clear goal of providing financial support to Kiev, London is also seeking to diminish US interest in facilitating any peace mediation between Ukraine and Russia, according to Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service." RT
"A strong magnitude 5.3 earthquake occurred in the Coral Sea 134 km (83 mi) from Solomon
Islands in the evening at 8.18 pm local time (GMT +11). The depth of the quake could not be determined, but is assumed to be shallow." VD
"A levee breach along the White River prompted evacuation orders and Flash Flood Warning for the city of Pacific. The National Weather Service (NWS) issued a Flash Flood Warning around 01:39 PST, reporting a levee breach on the White River in the city of Pacific in King County." W
"President Donald Trump on Tuesday announced that the United States has enacted a full
blockade on sanctioned oil tankers leaving Venezuela, marking a major escalation following months of tensions with Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro’s regime.
“Venezuela is completely surrounded by the largest Armada ever assembled in the History of South America. It will only get bigger, and the shock to them will be like nothing they have ever seen before — Until such time as they return to the United States of America all of the Oil, Land, and other Assets that they previously stole from us,” Trump posted on Truth Social." TP
"Ukrainian Defense Forces engaged in 278 combat clashes with Russian troops on the frontline.
Airstrikes targeted settlements such as Ivanivka in Dnipropetrovsk region, and Vozdvyzhivka, Zaliznychne, Ternuvate, Zorivka, Nove Pole, and Huliaipole in Zaporizhzhia region.In the Northern Slobozhanshchyna and Kursk sectors, Ukrainian defenders repelled 15 Russian attacks. The enemy carried out three airstrikes, dropped eight glide bombs, and conducted 138 shellings, including eight with MLRS.
In the Southern Slobozhanshchyna sector, nine enemy assaults were stopped near Prylipka, Synelnykove, and toward Izbytske, Obukhivka, and Kolodiazne.
In the Kupiansk sector, 24 attacks were repelled near Kupiansk, Petropavlivka, Kucherivka, Pishchane, Novoplatonivka, Holubivka, and Nova Kruhliakivka.
In the Lyman sector, the Russians carried out 27 assaults near Torske and toward Lyman, Stepove, Korovii Yar, Zarichne, Drobysheve, Novoselivka, Stavky, and Hlushchenkove.
In the Sloviansk sector, Ukrainian defenders repelled six attacks near Siversk, Serebrianka, and toward Pazeno.
In the Kramatorsk sector, one attack occurred near Bondarne.
In the Kostiantynivka sector, 24 Russian attacks were repelled near Pleshchiivka, Ivanopillia, Rusyn Yar, Yablunivka, and toward Sofiivka and Kostiantynivka.
In the Pokrovsk sector, Ukrainian forces stopped 82 enemy assaults near Kotlyne, Udachne, Pokrovsk, as well as toward Rivne, Myrnohrad, Rodynske, Hryshyne, Zvirove, Serhiivka, Novopavlivka, Filiia, Nove Shakhove, Dorozhne, Sukhetske, Vilne, and Ivanivka.
In the Oleksandrohrad sector, Russian forces carried out 20 attacks near Zelenyi Hai, Sichneve, Krasnohirske, Zlahoda, Rybne, and toward Ivanivka, Iskra, Oleksandrohrad, Verbove, Pryvilne.
In the Huliaipole sector, 28 attacks were repelled near Solodke and toward Varvarivka, Huliaipole.
In the Orikhiv sector, eight enemy attempts to breach Ukrainian defenses near Shcherbaky, Stepove, and toward Mala Tokmachka, Novoandriivka, and Prymorske failed." Ukrin
"Kyiv and Washington made "real progress" toward peace in Ukraine during two-day talks in Berlin, top security official and negotiator Rustem Umerov said on Dec. 15, even as other officials signal that a final agreement on territorial issues remains elusive.
The statement comes after a delegation led by President Volodymyr Zelensky held two rounds of discussions with U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner on a plan for ending the Russia-Ukraine war.
Zelensky later commented on the talks, providing his assessment of the negotiations and outlining Kyiv’s priorities.
He acknowledged that while the Washington is pushing for a rapid end to the war, Kyiv is more focused on ensuring the quality of any agreement." KI
"China continues to squabble and get in maritime incidents with US allies in regional waters of the Western Pacific. Lately it has been locked in a heightening dispute with Japan over Tokyo's pro-Taiwan stance, but there's been a new recent incident with The Philippines.Beijing on Monday accused Manila of staging a "deliberate" provocation and carrying out hazardous and aggressive actions near a contested reef in the South China Sea following a tense weekend incident. China has further blamed Washington for issuing what it labeled as misleading statements that have set the region on edge.
The Philippines said Chinese coast guard vessels used water cannons against Filipino fishing boats near Sabina Shoal during an incident Friday. This led to a weekend of tit-for-tat accusations and denunciations." ZH
"Ukraine's air defense forces neutralized 57 out of the 69 drones launched by Russia against Ukraine starting in the evening....., the invaders launched 69 attack UAVs, including Shahed-type drones, Gerberas, and other types of drones, from the directions of Oryol, Primorsko-Akhtarsk, Millerovo (Russia), and Hvardiiske (temporarily occupied Crimea). About 40 of them were Shahed-type drones." Ukrin
"A strong magnitude 5.1 earthquake occurred in the North Pacific Ocean 117 km (73 mi) from Aomori, Japan, in the early afternoon at 2.38 pm local time (GMT +9). The depth of the quake could not be determined, but is assumed to be shallow." VD
"A strong magnitude 5.6 earthquake occurred in the North Pacific Ocean 345 km (214 mi)
from Russia in the morning at 7.33 am local time (GMT +12). The quake had a very shallow depth of 34 km (21 mi) and was felt by many near the epicenter. The shallow depth of the quake caused it to be felt more strongly near the epicenter than a deeper quake of similar magnitude would." VD
"A strong magnitude 5.7 earthquake occurred in the North Pacific Ocean near the coast of
Northern Mariana Islands in the morning at 9.06 am local time (GMT +10). The quake had a moderate depth of 100 km (62 mi) and was felt over a large region." VD
"Ukraine's Defense Forces engaged in 151 combat clashes with Russian invaders along the front lines.
The Russian army carried out airstrikes on the areas of Ryzhivka in the Sumy region, Havrylivka in the Dnipropetrovsk region, and Huliaipole and Zaliznychne in the Zaporizhzhia region.Ukrainian aircraft, missile troops, and artillery units struck two concentrations of enemy personnel and equipment, one artillery system, and two Russian command posts.
One combat engagement occurred on the Northern Slobozhanshchyna and Kursk axes. The enemy carried out 121 shelling attacks, including two from MLRS.
On the Southern Slobozhanshchyna axis, Ukrainian forces repelled four Russian attacks near Prylipky and toward Obukhivka.
On the Kupiansk axis, Ukrainian forces repelled one Russian assault near Pishchane.
On the Lyman axis, the enemy attacked Ukrainian positions 12 times, attempting to break into Ukrainian defenses near Novoselivka, Serednie, Zarichne, and toward Drobysheve and Lyman.
On the Sloviansk axis, Ukrainian defenders repelled seven Russian attacks near Serebrianka, Dronivka, Siversk, and toward Sviato-Pokrovske.
On the Kramatorsk axis, the enemy conducted no offensive operations.
On the Kostiantynivka axis, Russian forces carried out 20 attacks near Oleksandro-Shultyne, Pleshchiivka, Kleban-Byk, Rusyn Yar, and toward Kostiantynivka, Novopavlivka, Ivanopillia, and Sofiivka.
On the Pokrovsk axis, Ukrainian defenders repelled 40 Russian assault operations near Rodynske, Myrnohrad, Pokrovsk, Kotlyne, Udachne, Molodetske, Filiia, and toward Hryshyne, Toretske, Bilytske, and Novopavlivka.
On the Oleksandrohrad axis, the invaders carried out 24 attacks near Yalta, Sichneve, Sosnivka, Verbove, Zlahoda, Pryvilne, Rybne, Zelenyi Hai, Andriivka-Klevtsove, Oleksandrohrad, Solodke, Yehorivka, and toward Oleksiivka.
On the Huliaipole axis, Ukrainian forces repelled 13 Russian attacks toward Huliaipole, Dobropillia, and Varvarivka.
On the Orikhiv axis, the enemy made three unsuccessful attempts to break through the defenses toward Novoandriivka, Pavlivka, and near Shcherbaky.
On the Dnipro River axis, one attempt by the invaders to approach Ukrainian positions near Antonivka ended in failure." Ukrin
"Russian forces attacked a supermarket in the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia injuringat least 14 people, including a six-year-old child, Governor Ivan Fedorov reported.
According to Fedorov, the supermarket is located in a residential neighborhood. Footage from the scene shows the building's severe damage." KI
"A political crisis continues to engulf Cameroon just a few weeks after the West African country held its presidential election.
Around 30 protesters were detained overnight from Friday, December 12th, to Saturday, December 13th, at the Yaoundé-Nkondengui Central Prison.At the same time, the military court prosecutor's office released about twenty others.
Fifty people, including a minor, arrested during the post-election protests, were brought before the military court prosecutor. Around thirty were remanded in custody at Yaoundé's Kondengui prison.
The group of lawyers representing the defendants is calling for their outright acquittal.
According to civil society and government sources, more than 1,000 people remain in detention following the unrest that has shaken Cameroon after the dispute over the re-election of President Paul Biya .
Cameroon’s top court on October 27 declared Biya the winner of the election, with 53.66% of the vote, ahead of his former ally-turned-challenger Issa Tchiroma Bakary, who scored 35.19%.
There were protests in several parts of Cameroon days after the October 12 vote, followed by a three-day lockdown this week after Tchiroma claimed victory and alleged vote tampering.
The government has confirmed that at least five people were killed during the protests, although the opposition and civil society groups claim the figures are far higher.
Tchiroma insists Biya was awarded a “fraudulent” victory in the election." AfticaNews
"The United Nations has condemned a recent drone attack that targeted its Sudanese logistics in the central region of Kordofan base in Kadugli, resulting in fatalities & injuries of members of the Bangladeshi Peacekeeping contingent.
The UN's Secretary General António Guterres said in a statement that attacks against UNpeacekeepers like this one are unjustifiable & may constitute war crimes. He further reminded the parties to the war of their obligation to protect UN personnel & civilians, while also calling for accountability.
A drone strike hit the UN facility in war-torn Sudan on Saturday, killing six peacekeepers, according to the U.N.
Eight other peacekeepers were wounded in the strike.
All the victims are Bangladeshi nationals, serving in the U.N. Interim Security Force for Abyei, UNISFA.
“Attacks targeting United Nations peacekeepers may constitute war crimes under international law,” said Guterres, who called for those responsible for the “unjustifiable” attack to be held accountable.
The Sudanese military blamed the attack on the Rapid Support Forces, RSF, a notorious paramilitary group at war with the army for control of the country for more than two years.
There was no immediate comment from the RSF." AfricaNews
