December 2024
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Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko discussed “regional security and bilateral relations” during a one-on-one meeting on Christmas Day, a spokeswoman for the Belarusian leader says. The pair spoke in private before today’s Supreme Eurasian Economic Council meeting near St Petersburg (see 16.00 post). “You and I understand that presidents can never sidestep security issues, said…
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Israeli airline El Al is suspending its operations on the Tel Aviv-Moscow route for the coming week, citing “developments in Russia’s airspace”. “Over the next week, a renewed assessment of the situation will be carried out to decide whether the route will be resumed,” it said in a statement. Earlier today, four sources told Reuters…
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Vladimir Putin says there is no time left this year to sign a new Ukrainian gas transit deal, blaming Ukraine for refusing to extend the agreement. The current five-year deal that supplies Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Austria with Russian gas via Ukraine expires at the end of the year. Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said Kyiv…
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Slovakia is ready to host peace talks between Russia and Ukraine, says Vladimir Putin. The Russian president said the Slovakian authorities “would be happy to provide their own country as a platform for negotiations”. “We are not opposed, if it comes to that,” he added. “Why not? Since Slovakia takes such a neutral position.” For…
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Holes can be seen on the side of the Azerbaijani Airlines plane reportedly shot down by Russian air defence systems yesterday. Images from the crash site show what appears to be shrapnel damage littered across the tail section of the plane, which went down in the Kazakh city of Aktau. ‘Early indications’ that Russian air…
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Vladimir Putin has spent his Boxing Day at an economic council meeting in Russia alongside Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. The two heads of state were joined by the leaders of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Armenia for the bi-annual meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council (EAEU). The meeting, held at the Igora ski resort near St…
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The Kazakh government says there is currently no official explanation for the crash of the Azerbaijan Airlines plane that killed 38 people yesterday. Four sources told the Reuters news agency today that the plane was downed by a Russian air defence system The Kazakh vice premier said the government can neither confirm nor deny that…
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All four of Moscow’s airports have been temporarily closed down, according to Russia’s aviation watchdog. The airport in Kaluga, which is 160km southwest of Moscow, has also been closed. “Aircraft crews, air traffic controllers and airport services are taking all necessary measures to ensure flight safety,” Rosaviatsia said in a statement. No reason has been…
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Reform UK now has more members than the Conservative Party and is “the real opposition” according to Nigel Farage, while Kemi Badenoch has called his numbers “fake”. According to a digital counter on the party’s website, Reform UK had gone past 131,690 members – the amount the Conservative Party declared before its leadership election in…
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The Azerbaijan Airlines plane that crashed killing 38 people was downed by a Russian air defence system, according to four Reuters sources. The Embraer 190 passenger jet was en route from Azerbaijan’s capital of Baku to the Russian city of Grozny in the North Caucasus on Wednesday when it changed course. It crashed around two miles from Aktau in…
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The House vote to determine the next speaker is scheduled for Jan. 3, three days before a joint session of Congress is set to certify President-elect Donald Trump’s election victory. However, a protracted battle for the former could delay the latter, Politico reported. That’s because Congress can’t do anything else until it elects a speaker. Republicans…
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Elon Musk shot down “wrong-headed economic thinking” on X, saying there’s “infinite potential” for job creation, the New York Post reports. “Think of all the things that didn’t exist 20 or 30 years ago!” Musk’s comment came in a back-and-forth with Palantir founder and venture capitalist Joe Lonsdale and his positive remarks on Sriram Krishnan, who…
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Migrant families will return to being put in detention centers after President-elect Donald Trump is sworn in, and the government will not hesitate to deport parents with U.S.-born children, according to Tom Homan, the incoming White House “border czar.” “Here’s the issue. You knew you were in the country illegally and chose to have a…
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Voters in California’s Central Valley, the agricultural center of the state, are grappling with the potential for mass deportations under President-elect Donald Trump, which could gut their workforce. The Central Valley voted for Trump in November, a red bastion in a deep blue state, despite Trump’s vow to deport undocumented immigrants, which make up half…
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For 30 years Mariah Carey’s All I Want For Christmas Is You has been the soundtrack to Christmas. Released as part of the singer’s fourth studio album, Merry Christmas – her first festive-themed collection of songs – the track had modest beginnings, peaking at number two in the UK singles chart and number 12 in…
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Olympic snowboarder Sophie Hediger has died following an avalanche in Switzerland, the country’s skiing federation has said. Hediger, 26 and a member of Switzerland’s snowboard cross team at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, was in the mountain resort of Arosa when the incident occurred on Monday. Hediger competed at the Beijing Games in the women’s…
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