Turkish President Erdogan:

The recent reciprocal attacks pose a serious threat to the safety of navigation in the Black Sea.

Targeting commercial and civilian vessels brings no benefit to anyone.

We are clearly conveying our warnings to both sides on this matter.

Turkish President Erdogan:

We are advancing our normalization processes with Armenia.

Starting from the beginning of next year, we will take some symbolic steps.

NEW: Russia rejects a proposed “Christmas ceasefire,” as well as earlier ideas for an energy truce and an election-related pause, saying it wants a full peace on its own terms, not temporary breaks that would help Ukraine regroup.

This marks the third ceasefire proposal in a week.

Russia also points out that in 2023 the West and Ukraine mocked its own Christmas truce proposals, but are now calling for one themselves.

Zelensky:

Every Russian war crime must have consequences for those who committed them, we hope the Tribunal for Russian Aggression will truly begin its work.

Indian officials have identified Sajid Akram (50), one of the two attackers in the Bondi Beach shooting in Sydney that killed at least 16 people, as a Hyderabad native who last visited India in 2022.

He migrated to Australia in 1998 on a student visa and made only a few brief visits to India, officials said.

Nigeria: ISWAP says it executed eight people accused of spying for the army and CJTF, including a police officer, in Borno State.

Zelensky:

The Russians always blame others and always try to explain their wars through someone else’s actions.

As if the reason for their aggression is never in Moscow but always in their neighbours’.

Despite the announced withdrawal from Uvira, reports say AFC/M23 is moving reinforcements along the Kipese–Kirumba axis in Lubero territory.

Zelensky:

Let’s look at Russia’s history since 1991. From then until today, Russia has changed: it has been poor and rich, and it has gone from oligarchy to dictatorship.

But one thing has remained the same — it keeps bringing war and hatred. From Chechnya to the Balkans, from Moldova to Syria, from countries in Central Africa to Ukraine.

Russia chooses conflict over peace.

WATCH: High-resolution footage of Israel’s massive airstrikes on Tehran’s Tajrish Square on June 15.

Zelensky:

Putin publicly lied, claiming that Russian forces had already taken Kupiansk.

So I went to Kupiansk to show the world that Putin is lying.

Zelensky:

I will continue to destroy every Russian lie on the frontline and around the world.

Zelensky:

Putin does not believe in people; he believes only in power and in money.

He spends around 40,000 soldiers’ lives on the front every month — not wounded, 40,000 each month killed.

Russian assaults are always insanely bloody, but Putin does not care.

Zelensky:

Russians don’t count their dead, but they do count every dollar and every euro they lose.

Zelensky:

During this war, there is hardly a crime against humanity that Russia has not committed.

MI6 Chief Warns of Tech Power Shift

Britain’s new MI6 chief Blaise Metreweli warns that power is shifting from governments to tech companies, with algorithms increasingly shaping global security.

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Russian oil prices have fallen to their lowest levels since the war in Ukraine began, as Western sanctions deepen discounts and global crude prices slide.

Exporters are receiving just over $40 a barrel—down 28% in three months—after new restrictions on major firms like Rosneft and Lukoil.

Source: Bloomberg

China’s Y-30 Transport Aircraft Makes Maiden Flight

China’s new medium military transport aircraft, widely referred to as the Y-30, conducted its maiden flight.

The aircraft is intended to replace the aging Y-8/Y-9 family and fill the gap between the Y-9 and the Y-20.

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MI6 Chief Blaise Metreweli:

AI-powered robots and drones are brilliant for scaled manufacturing, but devastating on the battlefield.

Discoveries that cure disease can also create new weapons.

Power itself is becoming more diffuse, more unpredictable as control over these technologies is shifting from states to corporations and sometimes to individuals.