As we produce journalism that combats authoritarianism, censorship, injustice, and misinformation, your support is urgently needed. Risch has a long history of researching cancer prevention methods. “I am thankful for the opportunity President Trump has given me to transform cancer prevention in the United States,” he said. Risch has previously faced criticism for his views on COVID vaccines. In 2023, Risch postulated a possible link between mRNA-based vaccines, like those used in some COVID shots, and supposed “turbo cancers” — parroting the debunked conspiracy theory that cancer is sped up in people who receive such vaccinations. Risch expressed his views on a conservative podcast, suggesting that rising rates of cancer in young people could be connected to the vaccines. Most experts agree, however, that generational differences in diet, lifestyle, smoking, and alcohol consumption are likely to blame for higher cancer rates. There is no scientific evidence backing Risch's beliefs, and indeed, the rise in cancer diagnoses for young people pre-dates the availability of COVID-19 vaccines. “There is no evidence that COVID-19 vaccines cause cancer, lead to recurrence, or lead to disease progression,” the National Cancer Institute says on its website. In the same interview, Risch claimed that vaccines have done “various degrees of damage to the immune system,” leading to people “getting COVID more often” or “getting other infectious diseases” and “perhaps cancer in the longer term.” Those claims are disputed by studies and experts, who widely agree that the immune system is not detrimentally affected, overall, by COVID shots, and that vaccines reduce the likelihood of a person contracting COVID. At the time, federal health officials opposed using the medication, although President Donald Trump had wrongly claimed it was a “game-changer.” Multiple studies later found that hydroxychloroquine was ineffective at treating coronavirus. Risch's appointment comes as agencies within HHS have pushed numerous questionable claims about vaccines. A recently published internal memo within the FDA, for example, claimed that at least 10 children died as a result of adverse actions from COVID vaccines. A Quinnipiac University poll published in September found that only 33 percent of Americans approve of Kennedy's job performance, while 54 percent expressed disapproval. December is the most critical time of year for Truthout, because our nonprofit news is funded almost entirely by individual donations from readers like you. We are up against a far-reaching, wide-scale attack on press freedom coming from the Trump administration. 2025 was a year of frightening censorship, news industry corporate consolidation, and worsening financial conditions for progressive nonprofits across the board. We can only resist Trump's agenda by cultivating a strong base of support. The right-wing mediasphere is funded comfortably by billionaire owners and venture capitalist philanthropists. This article is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), and you are free to share and republish under the following terms: He can be found on most social media platforms under the handle @thatchriswalker. Get the news you want, delivered to your inbox every day. To confront Trump's fascism in 2026 we will need significant resources. So, we have an ambitious goal — to raise $166,000 by December 31. Please make a tax-deductible donation now to support nonprofit journalism.

The National Center for Atmospheric Research has enabled life-saving predictions of wildfires and extreme weather. As we produce journalism that combats authoritarianism, censorship, injustice, and misinformation, your support is urgently needed. Please make a year-end gift to Truthout today. According to a tweet by Russell Vought, an architect of Project 2025 and current director of the Office of Management and Budget, the administration had determined that the Colorado-based center was a hub for “climate alarmism.” Dismantling it — and farming out its surviving, non-climate-change-related functions to other agencies — would strike a blow against a scientific community that has come to the overwhelming conclusion that global warming is real, caused by human activities, and accelerating. Some commentators also noted that attacking NCAR, which employs 800-plus people, is a stick-in-the-eye to Colorado, a state whose governor has consistently opposed many of Trump's most extreme policies, and where election conspiracist and former county clerk Tina Peters resides in a state prison, after a federal judge ruled that she had to remain incarcerated despite her being pardoned for federal crimes by Trump. Peters was, after all, sentenced on state, rather than federal, charges, rendering Trump's pardon largely pointless. Previous proposals called for its funding to be slashed by 40 percent. As a result, institutions that were once considered among global gold standards for the delivery of accurate scientific information on the climate crisis are now effectively neutralized. Its purpose is to pool institutional resources and expertise to provide researchers with cutting edge super-computers, data repositories, specialized aircraft with extremely expensive, sensitive, on-board measurement equipment, and other tools of the trade. No single lab or university, no matter how flush with money, has the ability to replicate all of this single-handedly. NCAR's whole reason for existing, said University of Wisconsin-Madison Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences Professor Ankur Desai, is to “supersize” the country's research resources. “I can write a proposal to the National Science Foundation saying I need a state of the art modeling system, and I need an aircraft,” said Kenneth Davis, professor of atmospheric and climate science at Penn State. Without NCAR's resources, he continued, “there's no way in hell that happens. These tools serve the U.S. research community in a way that would not be possible without a centralized institution like this.” Davis cannot see any upside to breaking apart NCAR. All it does is take away our ability to do important research work. Desai's colleague at the University of Wisconsin, Liz Maroon, agreed. “Having access to this kind of science is saving life and property. Maroon explained that in addition to providing researchers with access to expensive technologies and providing storage repositories for decades of research data, NCAR also creates teaching materials used in schools and universities around the country. Around the country, scientists have begun pushing back against the administration's proposal, as are members of Colorado's congressional delegation, including Sen. John Hickenlooper, the former governor who has long been a champion of climate change research. Universities are also mobilizing their teams that liaise on federal issues to explain to the public and to Congress the vital importance of this institute and what will be lost if it is shuttered. “This really seems existential for our field and certainly the U.S.,” said Desai. Want to know why there are fewer crash landings of airplanes during episodes of strong wind shear than there used to be?It's because in the 1980s researchers at NCAR designed a low-level wind shear alert system that was installed in airports around the United States to allow pilots to receive advanced warning if they were about to enter a wind shear zone. “We need to hope that the value of NCAR and everything it produces will be realized, and there'll be voices in the decision room that will understand that value,” Ban said. December is the most critical time of year for Truthout, because our nonprofit news is funded almost entirely by individual donations from readers like you. So before you navigate away, we ask that you take just a second to support Truthout with a tax-deductible donation. We are up against a far-reaching, wide-scale attack on press freedom coming from the Trump administration. 2025 was a year of frightening censorship, news industry corporate consolidation, and worsening financial conditions for progressive nonprofits across the board. We can only resist Trump's agenda by cultivating a strong base of support. The right-wing mediasphere is funded comfortably by billionaire owners and venture capitalist philanthropists. We've set an ambitious target for our year-end campaign — a goal of $166,000 to keep up our fight against authoritarianism in 2026. This article is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), and you are free to share and republish under the following terms: Abramsky's latest book, American Carnage: How Trump, Musk, and DOGE Butchered the US Government, is available for pre-order now and will be released in January. Originally from England, with a bachelor's in politics, philosophy and economics from Oxford University and a master's degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, he now lives in Sacramento, California. Get the news you want, delivered to your inbox every day. To confront Trump's fascism in 2026 we will need significant resources. So, we have an ambitious goal — to raise $166,000 by December 31. Please make a tax-deductible donation now to support nonprofit journalism.

It marks a major escalation in President Donald Trump's attacks against offshore wind, a form of energy he has long railed against. Set to be completed by the end of 2026, it would supply electricity to Virginia, the state with the world's largest cluster of power-hungry data centers — and skyrocketing energy costs partially tied to that growing demand. Other wind farms impacted are off the coast of New England. The exact national security risks of concern are unclear. In a news release, the Interior Department cited “national security risks identified by the Department of War in recently completed classified reports,” but didn't say specifically what those risks were. Doug Burgum said the Department of Defense has “conclusively” determined that large offshore wind farms “have created radar interference that creates a genuine risk for the US,” especially “our east coast population centers.” CNN has reached out to the Department of Defense for comment on its new report. Last year, Sweden blocked the construction of new wind farms over concerns they could interfere with military radar, amid heightened tensions between the European Union and Russia. But experts have noted the design of wind farms can be adjusted to account for the issue, and it's something US government officials have been aware of for decades. In his Fox Business interview, Burgum said radar interference can “create real issues for trying to determine what's friend or what's foe in our airspace for our country” and suggested they could also create issues for commercial aircraft “given the proximity to all the large airports” on the East Coast. The Trump administration's move drew critiques from clean energy and fossil fuel groups alike. “Companies with roots in the oil and gas sector have committed substantial capital to participate in the build-out of our offshore wind sector,” Erik Milito, president of the National Ocean Industries Association — a group that represents offshore oil, gas and wind companies. Oceantic Network, a trade group representing offshore wind companies, said its member companies have worked with the Department of Defense for over a decade to address national security concerns. The Department of Defense has “signed off on every offshore wind lease ahead of construction,” said Liz Burdock, the group's president and CEO. “The US needs an all-of-the-above energy strategy, not an all-out assault on renewable energy based on personal preference,” Burdock said. Burgum claimed offshore wind generates the most expensive form of electricity and said New England states should instead rely on Pennsylvania natural gas in his Monday interview. New England states had planned a buildout of offshore wind in an attempt to get more energy to the region, which has limited infrastructure for electricity generation. It is literally the last stop of the nation's natural gas pipelines and gets much of its natural gas shipped on ocean tankers. Meanwhile, mid-Atlantic states including Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland and Virginia have been seeing high electricity bills driven by their own electricity supply shortages. Just last week, the regional grid operator for those states announced prices hit a record high at a regional auction. Glenn Youngkin has led a push toward vast offshore wind buildouts in an attempt to satisfy that state's growing energy needs.

However, in an “editor's note” posted on X late that afternoon, the broadcaster's official account announced that “the lineup for tonight's edition of 60 Minutes has been updated. Our report ‘Inside Cecot' will air in a future broadcast.” She had interviewed some of those recently released about the “brutal and torturous” prison conditions. Bari Weiss, controversially appointed editor-in-chief of CBS News in October despite a lack of experience and fears of politicization at the storied TV network, after owner Paramount acquired her conservative startup the Free Press, addressed the issue on Monday morning. She spoke at the company's morning staff call amid reports that journalists at the news channel were threatening to quit and as parent company Paramount Skydance tweaked elements of its offer in the corporate battle to gain control of Warner Bros Discovery, which owns news rival CNN alongside its movie and streaming assets. Weiss said: “I held that story and I held it because it wasn't ready.” She said the story presented “very powerful testimony” of abuse at Cecot but the issues had already been reported and it needed more. Alfonsi had previously said the administration did not provide comment despite multiple requests and invitations from 60 Minutes. In my view, pulling it now, after every rigorous internal check has been met, is not an editorial decision, it is a political one.” “We have been promoting this story on social media for days.” She had directed those seeking further comment from her to approach Weiss. Weiss's appointment had already prompted concern that she would push news coverage to the right. But also that there was corporate politics at work as the merger of Paramount with Skydance in July had needed regulatory approval and now Paramount Skydance's rival bid to Neflix's for Warner Bros Discovery is a deal that also needs approval from Trump administration regulators. “What is happening to CBS is a terrible embarrassment and if executives think they can build shareholder value by avoiding journalism that might offend the Mad King they are about to learn a tough lesson,” the Hawaii US senator Brian Schatz, a Democrat, wrote on X, with oblique reference to Donald Trump's increasingly autocratic agenda and related opposition. He said in an X post that it's a “sad day for 60 Minutes and journalism”, and added that the Trump administration's involvement in approving Skydance's $8bn deal to buy Paramount had previewed the decision. The media commentator Kara Swisher posted on Threads that: “This is entirely to please Trump, who has voiced criticism of 60 Minutes under the new owners, who are the definition of rank amateurs, emphasis on rank.” And she added a reference to Weiss's push as reported by the New York Times for CBS to interview White House deputy chief of staff and anti-immigration adviser Stephen Miller as part of revising the segment. “This Stephen Miller interview suggestion is idiotic in the context of this story – doing another piece with him later is fine, but to add him here after the administration declines to officially have comment is a suck up gimme,” Swisher wrote. Weiss appealed for newsroom cooperation in her editorial conference comments on Monday. “The only newsroom that I'm interested in running is one where we are able to have contentious disagreements about the thorniest editorial matters and do so with respect and crucially where we assume the best intent of our colleagues. In a highly diffused media environment, 60 Minutes remains a highly-watched news program averaging over 8 million viewers weekly in this, its 57th season, and so remains a prized media vehicle for political forces to seek to influence. Bob Thompson, media professor at Syracuse University, said many are formed from an older, and perhaps always illusory, aspirational idea of journalistic independence. “But before we get too nostalgic for the days Edward R Murrow who should remember that a lot of his best work was in fact advocacy journalism with a heavy dosage of opinion in it.” But the idea that political interests seek spots of high ground in a flooded media plain should hardly come as a surprise. “So of course, that's what those folks are doing.

Bari Weiss was named the top editor at CBS News this fall when its parent company, Paramount, was bought out.PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP/Getty Images CBS News' 60 Minutes on Sunday didn't air a planned story on Trump administration deportations of immigrants to El Salvador, pulling it only hours before airtime at the direction of new editor-in-chief Bari Weiss. In an e-mail sent to some colleagues and reported by multiple media outlets, Alfonsi said she'd learned on Saturday that Weiss had decided not to air it. “In my view, pulling it now – after every rigorous internal check has been met is not an editorial decision, it is a political one.” Paramount settles with Trump over ‘60 Minutes' interview for US$16-million President Donald Trump has been sharply critical of 60 Minutes. He sued the network last fall over its interview with election opponent Kamala Harris, which was settled this summer, and recently complained about the show's interview with former ally turned foe Marjorie Taylor Greene. Holding stories that aren't ready for whatever reason – that they lack sufficient context, say, or that they are missing critical voices – happens every day in every newsroom.” Authors and topics you follow will be added to your personal news feed in Following. © Copyright 2025 The Globe and Mail Inc. All rights reserved.

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab Ariba Shahid is a journalist based in Karachi, Pakistan. She primarily covers economic and financial news from Pakistan, along with Karachi-centric stories. Ariba has previously worked at DealStreetAsia and Profit Magazine. Shahzad is an accomplished media professional, with over two decades of experience. He also reports on politics, economy, finance, business, commodities, Islamist militancy, human rights Two senior Democratic lawmakers on Monday asked the U.S. Commerce Department to disclose details and any approvals of ongoing license reviews for potential sales to Chinese firms of Nvidia's second-most powerful AI chips. Reuters, the news and media division of Thomson Reuters, is the world's largest multimedia news provider, reaching billions of people worldwide every day. Reuters provides business, financial, national and international news to professionals via desktop terminals, the world's media organizations, industry events and directly to consumers. See here for a list of exchanges and delays.

MOSCOW, December 22. /TASS/. Paris and London are upping their nuclear cooperation, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said. "Notably, the United Kingdom and France are demonstratively proceeding to a new level of coordination in the nuclear sphere, which includes joint nuclear planning and, hence, their potential use of nuclear arms as part of a common plan," he said at a panel of the Valdai International Discussion Club. "This, in our opinion, also includes active discussions within the European Union of the idea of forming a kind of a superstructure to the joint NATO nuclear missions in the format of an allegedly alternative, but, in fact, supplementary to the American nuclear umbrella, common European nuclear shield," he emphasized.

“The American people deserve full transparency, and Senate Democrats will use every tool at our disposal to ensure they get it. This Administration cannot be allowed to hide the truth.” Trump's FBI director Kash Patel is using a fleet of armoured luxury BMW X5s that he requested the agency purchase for his travel, MS Now reports, in Patel's latest questionable use of taxpayers dollars. Patel, who is already facing a House investigation for his alleged misuse of taxpayer funds, pressed for the vehicles so he could be less “conspicuous” on his outings, four sources familiar with his transportation told the outlet. FBI directors, who are protected by a security detail, typically travel in Chevrolet Suburbans, though the US government does use the same class of BMWs to protect state department officials and diplomats in high-risk international areas around the world. Former justice department official Stacey Young, told MS Now that the BMW request was another example of Patel putting his public image ahead of concern for taxpayer resources, calling it “an embarrassment”. Without disclosing how much they cost, he said the move was “evaluated partly as a way to save taxpayers millions by picking cheaper selections or making cost structures more efficient”. The White House hasn't provided details, and Reuters is reporting that it'll be a “shipbuilding announcement”. It follows Trump's signing of a $900bn defense policy bill last week and against a backdrop of escalating tensions between the United States and Venezuela. The US military has killed more than 100 people in strikes on alleged drug boats in the region and seized two oil tankers off Venezuela's coast, as part of Trump's campaign to isolate and pressurize Nicolás Maduro's regime. The New York Times reported that Weiss had seen the segment on Thursday and raised questions about it to its producers, asked for new material to be added, and suggested a new interview with White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, the rightwing architect of Trump's anti-immigration policy. In my view, pulling it now, after every rigorous internal check has been met, is not an editorial decision, it is a political one.” “We have been promoting this story on social media for days. When it fails to air without a credible explanation, the public will correctly identify this as corporate censorship. “I care too much about this broadcast to watch it be dismantled without a fight,” she wrote. Weiss, whose appointment sparked controversy among some CBS journalists who feared its owners were taking the network in a more conservative direction, said in a statement: “My job is to make sure that all stories we publish are the best they can be. I look forward to airing this important piece when it's ready.” Furthermore, RADAR online, which filed suit eight years ago after the FBI failed to disclose Epstein investigative files under an April 2017 public records request, noted that the Epstein Files Transparency Act didn't spell out what happens if DOJ officials don't follow the law. Radar online pointed out that court intervention could help with disclosure in some capacity. As Donald Trump's justice department faces ongoing criticism for its lackluster rollout of the Epstein files – and mysterious removal of some documents – public records experts are weighing in. Roy Gutterman, director of the Newhouse School's Tully Center for Free Speech at Syracuse University in New York, said: This document dump, I believe, does little to clear things up and now that files are disappearing or being so heavily redacted that they are useless. “It is not too surprising that things might not be fully released or might be withheld, less out of concern for privacy of the victims, but more for political purposes,” he said. Gutterman initially commented before missing documents were re-released, and said later he believes his statements still stand. Related: US justice department restores photo featuring Trump from Epstein files This slow trickle of Epstein documents, which is in contravention of the law passed mandating that Trump's DOJ release all Epstein files by 19 December, also raises questions about these papers' intersection with the traditional public records laws that protect this right to access. “These documents are a little outside the normal area for traditional public records reporters seek and uncover through freedom of information laws, which are part of the bedrock of our democracy and an important tool for understanding how government operates,” Gutterman said. “When I was a reporter, I frequently used public records laws to get documents for stories, and some agencies were a lot more responsive than others. The Epstein records are different because they are part of a government investigation and include grand jury documents and some documents with legitimately private information about victims. So, this is a very different type of public records case. If an agency doesn't follow through, by abusing claims of exceptions, those seeking records can fight it in court “if the requester has the time and resources to litigate”, he said. The prime ministers of Denmark and Greenland have demanded respect for their borders after Donald Trump appointed a special envoy to the largely self-governing Danish territory, which he has said repeatedly should be under US control. National borders and the sovereignty of states are rooted in international law … You cannot annex other countries,” Mette Frederiksen and Jens-Frederik Nielsen said in a joint statement. The two leaders added that “fundamental principles” were at stake. Landry, a former state attorney general who took office as Louisiana governor in January 2024, thanked Trump, saying it was “an honour to serve you in this volunteer position to make Greenland a part of the US”. Rasmussen said he was “deeply upset by this appointment of a special envoy”, and “particularly upset” by Landry's statement, which he said Denmark had found “completely unacceptable”. Members of Congress slammed CBS's eleventh-hour decision to kill a fully reported 60 Minutes investigation into Trump deportees sent to El Salvador's notorious Cecot prison. Senator from Hawaii Brian Schatz called it “a terrible embarrassment,” writing on X that “if executives think they can build shareholder value by avoiding journalism that might offend the Mad King they are about to learn a tough lesson. Representative from Rhode Island Seth Magaziner said: “Most of the men sent to Cecot had no criminal records. Some never even entered the US illegally (like Andry Hernandez Romero – look him up). Representative from California Doris Matsui connected the cancellation directly to CBS parent company Paramount's pending merger with Skydance, which requires Trump administration approval: “This is exactly what happens when broadcasters bend to political pressure,” she said. We go from an investigative powerhouse to a stenographer for the state. We have a moral and professional obligation to the sources who entrusted us with their stories. Bari Weiss reportedly killed a CBS 60 Minutes investigation into El Salvador's CECOT prison just three hours before it was set to air Sunday night because the White House refused to grant an interview. In an email to colleagues, correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi blasted the decision, saying the segment on Trump deportees was fully vetted and “pulling it now, after every rigorous internal check has been met, is not an editorial decision, it is a political one.” Alfonsi said that Weiss did not discuss the decision with them to spike the story. She warned that CBS had effectively given the government a “kill switch” for inconvenient reporting. The story was replaced with another segment on classical musicians. “The American people deserve full transparency, and Senate Democrats will use every tool at our disposal to ensure they get it. This Administration cannot be allowed to hide the truth.” Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer accused the administration of deliberately hiding the truth and said Senate Democrats would work with victims' attorneys to determine what's being withheld. Before the deadline, five lawmakers from both parties – including Republican senator Lisa Murkowski and Democrat senator Jeff Merkley – had already written to Bondi requesting a briefing on compliance plans. And on Friday evening, representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez posted on social media “Bondi should resign tonight” and “Everyone involved will have to answer for this”. After slow rolling the Epstein file release, and failing to drop them all on the 19 December deadline, representatives Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie are moving towards penalties that would hold attorney general Pam Bondi in inherent contempt of Congress. “We only need the House for inherent contempt, and we're building a bipartisan coalition, and it would fine Pam Bondi for every day that she's not releasing these documents,” he said. The California Democrat added that he'd spoken with survivors who were outraged that their abusers' names remain redacted while their own identities were accidentally released – noting there are 1,200 victims still waiting for accountability.

Residents of mid-Atlantic states like Maryland, New Jersey and Pennsylvania who have spent years plagued by high electricity bills just got some bad news: Relief is not on the way. The energy industry can see that data centers and other customers are going to be pulling a lot more power just a few years from now. There's not currently supply to meet that, so access to the extra electricity that will be needed soon must be secured in advance. In the mid-Atlantic, those purchases are made through regional auctions. Data centers are consuming far more power than currently exists on the grid, driving prices higher amid a scramble to own the rights to future power. Other states in PJM's purview, including New Jersey, are also seeing spiking utility bills. Democratic Gov.-elect Mikie Sherrill campaigned heavily on the issue of energy affordability. That dynamic will continue in the near future, experts said. “I expect the supply scarcity will last a few more years and that most of the 65 million people in the region will be paying higher bills for that long,” said Rob Gramlich, CEO of consulting firm Grid Strategies LLC. “It is a shame that states and PJM failed to insulate consumers from volatile power markets.” PJM acknowledged the drastic imbalance between electricity supply and demand. Already in the past two years, prices have jumped more than 1,000%. “This auction leaves no doubt that data centers' demand for electricity continues to far outstrip new supply,” Stu Bresler, PJM's incoming chief operating officer, said in a statement, adding that “the solution will require concerted action involving PJM, its stakeholders, state and federal partners, and the data center industry itself.” The problem for customers is that prices will stay high until there's more electricity being generated, and the cost of building new power plants and the infrastructure to move electricity will also be expensive. In the past two years, PJM has proposed over $11 billion or more in electrical infrastructure upgrades in the region, primarily to serve new data center load growth, and another $12 billion could be needed in the coming year, said Maryland People's Counsel David Lapp, the state's top official focused on consumer advocacy for utility bills. For now, even these record auction prices aren't enough to make ends meet, from a supply perspective. “Data centers can be built faster than new supply resources, like power plants,” Lapp said. “The market is not competitive because projected demand exceeds supply and new supply can't be timely built to restrain prices.” In a recent filing to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Shapiro said the regional grid operator must reform its system to protect consumers from rising costs. If that doesn't happen in the coming year, “the Commonwealth will be forced to take action to protect its ratepayers from unjustifiable price spikes,” Shapiro wrote. “The PJM region is facing an affordability and reliability crisis.

Ukrainian partisans set ablaze two Russian Su-30 fighter jets during an operation on the night of Dec. 21 in Russia's Lipetsk Oblast, Ukrainian military intelligence (HUR) said on Dec. 22. HUR originally reported an Su-30 and an Su-27 had been damaged in the attack, but later clarified it was two Su-30s. The Su-27 is a Russian twin-engine fighter jet designed for air superiority, while the Su-30 is a two-seat, multirole variant with longer range and upgraded avionics for air-to-air and air-to-ground missions. Russia uses these fighter jets over Ukraine mainly for air patrols, intercepting Ukrainian aircraft, and supporting deadly strikes against the neighboring country. Ukraine routinely carries out operations in Russian-occupied territories and inside Russia to weaken Russian military capabilities. Ukrainian drones struck two Russian Su-27 fighter jets on Dec. 20 at the Belbek military airfield in Russian-occupied Crimea. The strike adds to Ukraine's toll on Russian air power, with a total of 432 aircraft reportedly destroyed since the full-scale invasion began in 2022, according to Ukraine's General Staff. Kateryna Hodunova is a News Editor at the Kyiv Independent. She previously worked as a sports journalist in several Ukrainian outlets and was the deputy chief editor at Suspilne Sport. She holds a bachelor's degree in political journalism from Taras Shevchenko University and a master's degree in political science from the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. "In principle, the ammunition initiative has certainly been a good thing; the question is whether it has occurred without corruption," Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis said. ‌‌‌Earlier this year, the Kyiv Independent launched its “How to Help Ukraine” newsletter — a membership benefit created in direct response to our community's requests for more ways to help Ukraine during Russia's full-scale invasion. "I think that we've made progress, but sitting here today, I wouldn't say with confidence that we're going to get to a peaceful resolution," U.S. Vice President JD Vance said. The Kremlin had earlier signaled it was preparing for Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev's arrival. According to preliminary information, on Dec. 18, Russian forces illegally detained about 50 civilians — residents of the village of Hrabovske — holding them without access to communication or adequate conditions. An explosive device attached to the underside of Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov's car detonated on Yaseneva Street in Moscow on Dec. 22. The talks focused on a revised 20-point plan to end Russia's war in Ukraine, a framework for security guarantees, and economic development, according to Rustem Umerov, the head of the Ukrainian delegation. "If Putin says no, we need to dramatically change the game, including giving Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine to hit the drone and missile factories that exist in Russia. I would go all in if Putin says no," U.S.

The head of the Operational Training Directorate at the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov, was killed in an explosion in southern Moscow on Monday morning, Russian Investigative Committee Spokeswoman Svetlana Petrenko told TASS. "According to an investigation, on the morning of December 22, an explosive device planted under a car was activated on Yasenevaya Street in Moscow. Fanil Sarvarov, head of the General Staff's Operational Training Directorate, has died of injuries from the explosion," Petrenko said. According to her, Moscow's Main Investigative Directorate has opened a criminal case under Part 2 of Article 105 of the Russian Criminal Code (murder committed in a socially dangerous manner) and Article 222.1 (illegal trafficking of explosives). She also noted that investigators are pursuing several theories regarding the murder. "One of them is that the crime was organized by the Ukrainian security agencies," Petrenko stated. Fanil Sarvarov was born on March 11, 1969, in Gremyachinsk in Russia's Perm Region. He held all major command positions during his military career. In 2015-2016, he carried out tasks related to the planning and execution of military operations in Syria. In 2016, he was appointed head of the General Staff's Operational Training Directorate.

South African Police Service officers put up crime scene tape after an attack at a tavern in Bekkersdal on Sunday.EMMANUEL CROSET/AFP/Getty Images Nine people have been killed and 10 injured by gunmen at a township tavern near Johannesburg in the latest in a series of mass shootings that the South African police seem powerless to halt. About 12 gunmen arrived in two vehicles and opened fire in the tavern shortly after midnight on Saturday night, and then continued to shoot randomly as they fled the scene, killing a taxi driver who was dropping off a customer nearby, police said. The shooting took place in Bekkersdal, about 40 kilometres west of Johannesburg, where an increase in illegal gold mining in abandoned mine shafts has triggered a wave of gang warfare as criminals fight for the profits. At least one of the gunmen was firing a Kalashnikov assault rifle, while others wielded 9-millimetre pistols, and some wore balaclava masks, police said. But similar shootings with multiple victims have taken place at taverns across the country for years, including seven mass shootings this year alone. They often happen in townships, which were built outside cities in the apartheid era as segregated housing areas for workers. “These horrific events serve as a stark and undeniable indicator of the escalating levels of lawlessness that are currently plaguing our country,” said Yusuf Abramjee, a prominent South African anti-crime activist, in a social-media post on Sunday. “The frequency and audacity with which these acts of violence are being perpetrated suggest a systemic breakdown in law enforcement and a concerning erosion of respect for human life and societal order,” he said. Police have been unable to reverse the trend, and there is mounting evidence – including from testimony at an official public inquiry this year – that the police are often collaborating with criminals. Sandile Mahlangu, a resident of Bekkersdal and a former member of its community policing forum, said the police sometimes collect bribes from gang members who terrorize the community. The public inquiry, which began its hearings in September, has heard extensive evidence of senior police officers accepting bribes and providing information to help criminals. The government appointed the inquiry after a provincial police commander, Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, called a press conference in July to allege that top officials and politicians were interfering in police operations to protect corrupt associates and criminal syndicates. Testimony at the inquiry has implicated police in a wide range of corrupt activities and criminal rackets, including murder, robberies, hijacking trucks and feeding information to criminals in exchange for payments. One witness, former police officer Marius van der Merwe, described how police had tortured and murdered a robbery suspect and then covered up the crime by cleaning the site and dumping the body at a dam. Authors and topics you follow will be added to your personal news feed in Following.