Category: World

Salome Zurabishvili criticized the Tbilisi mayor's plans to light the Christmas tree during protests near the parliament. The President proposed to postpone the celebration to December 17 and change the location.

Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili called the plans of Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze to hold the lighting ceremony of the main Christmas tree in the capital in parallel with a protest action at the parliament a provocation, UNN reports citing Novosti Georgia.

"This is a clear provocation, because there has been a continuous protest in this place for two weeks now, and tomorrow the protest will undoubtedly be very big, as the parody (of the presidential election) will be held in the parliament… I want to warn the mayor that his provocation will lead to nothing, because the protest will continue tomorrow, and it will be peaceful," Zurabishvili said in her TV address today.

The President noted that she considers Kaladze's calls to bring children to the holiday to be wrong, as, according to doctors, "the facades of buildings and trees on Rustaveli Street are saturated with gas" after the demonstrators were dispersed.

Zurabishvili suggested that the capital's authorities organize a New Year's celebration on December 17, the day of St. Barbara, who is considered the patron saint of children in Georgia.

As an alternative venue, the President named Orbeliani Square, not far from her residence, as a possible location. The equipment for the New Year's village is almost complete there.

Previously

Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze promised to light the main Tbilisi Christmas tree on December 14.

Add

For two weeks now, thousands of citizens have been gathering every night on Rustaveli Street, outraged by the decision of the Georgian Dream to abandon negotiations on EU membership. On the morning of December 14, the parliament, where only the ruling party is represented, will elect a new president of Georgia.

The opposition is boycotting the process. Opponents of the government will protest in the street. At the same time, a protest on Rustavel Street is scheduled for the evening.

Georgia's State Security Service earlier announced an attempt to disrupt the presidential election. According to the agency, the opposition is allegedly planning a "sacrifice" – the deaths of 2-3 people – to intensify protests and cause a crisis in the government. Kaladze ignored the statement of the State Security Service, which reads more like a political thriller scenario.

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha has said that even if Ukraine is not invited to join NATO, it must continue to work towards future membership.

Source: LB.ua citing Sybiha speaking during a public discussion, as reported by European Pravda

Details: Sybiha had been asked what Ukraine should do if it does not receive an invitation to join NATO, which it is insisting on to guarantee its security.

The minister answered that it was necessary "to do our job to ensure that Ukraine becomes a member of NATO".

Quote: "You know, when I went to the NATO foreign ministerial meeting, my team and I brought the text of the Budapest Memorandum with us… It failed to fulfil its purpose as a security guarantee for our country and a means of protecting our territorial integrity and sovereignty. Such mistakes will no longer be allowed to happen. As a result, the sole effective guarantee for Ukraine is NATO membership," he asserted.

Sybiha stressed that the allies have not taken Ukraine's invitation off the agenda.

In this context, the minister also emphasised the importance of the security agreements signed with 27 countries and the growth of Ukraine's defence sector, "so that we become more self-sufficient, less dependent on our partners".

Background:

• As of November 2024, about 70% of Ukrainians were supportive of the idea of Ukraine joining NATO in stages, as a divided Germany did.
• Unofficially, it has been reported that this idea has been discussed for a long time in the West when considering possible formats for ending the current phase of the Russo-Ukrainian war and preventing renewed Russian aggression.

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The Jamaican government has submitted a bill to remove King Charles from the post of head of state. The country plans to move to a republican form of government through a referendum.

Jamaica's government has begun the process of transition to a republic by submitting a bill to remove King Charles from the post of head of state. Writes UNN with reference to The Guardian.

Jamaica has begun the process of abandoning the constitutional monarchy by submitting a bill to the parliament to remove King Charles from the post of head of state and transition to a republic.

After gaining independence in 1962, Jamaica, like many former British colonies, retained the British monarch as a symbolic head of state. His functions are performed by the Governor General, but the position is largely ceremonial and is perceived as a legacy of the colonial past. If the new legislation is adopted, the President of Jamaica with the same symbolic powers will become the head of state.

The Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Marlene Malahoo Forte, who presented the draft law, noted that the initiative is a response to numerous calls from citizens to amend the country's constitution.

“Every year, when we celebrate independence on August 6, the nation is invited to reflect on its achievements since independence and what remains to be done, and every year the question is asked when we will abolish the monarchy and have a Jamaican head of state,” she said in an interview with the Guardian.

The bill will also affect the definition of Jamaican citizenship and change the country's political structure, in particular by expanding the Senate to include senators independent of political parties.

The draft law needs to go through several stages, including consideration by joint committees, a vote in parliament, and a national referendum. However, the initiative may face obstacles. Opposition parties have already expressed concern about the timing of the bill ahead of next year's national elections and the lack of provisions to replace the British Privy Council with the Caribbean Court of Justice as Jamaica's highest court of appeal.

“We don't think you can say that you are fully decolonized if you still have the Privy Council as the highest court. You can't get away from the king, but you still have to go to him when you want justice done for your people – and in that context, the Privy Council as the highest court is an anachronism,” said Senator Donna Scott-Mottley, justice spokesperson for the main opposition People's National Party.

She also noted that the opposition is ready to work on the bill in cooperation with the government. “This is not about political parties, it is about our nation, our people and the completion of the path to full independence for Jamaica,” she emphasized.

Malahoo Forte noted that the government of Prime Minister Andrew Holness is taking a step-by-step approach to reforms, and the next step will be issues related to the judiciary.

“Over the years, a lot of work has been done, but we have not been able to submit the draft law to the parliament. Adoption of the amendments requires the adoption of a draft law on judicial reform,” she explained.

In Kingston itself, the news of the bill caused a mixed reaction among local residents.

“The British don't really do anything significant for our country, so there's no point in having them as the head of state. Besides, it's harder for us to travel to England than to any other country… so by all means, end the monarchy,” said Maureen Brammer.

To recap

Indigenous senator Lydia Thorpe expressed her anger over the visit of the British monarch to the Australian parliament.

The Ministry of Agrarian Policy of Ukraine, the Canadian non-governmental organisation SOCODEVI, and the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast NGO Agricultural Advisory Service will cooperate to develop the entrepreneurship of the rural population affected by the hostilities.

Source: Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine

Details: The parties agreed to potential cooperation in agriculture and to implement the Entrepreneurship Development for the Conflict-Affected Rural Population in Ukraine (WeProsper) project.

This project aims to increase agricultural producers' involvement in business activities in Poltava, Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia and Mykolaiv oblasts.

It is also planned to ensure the economic empowerment of women in the agricultural sector by creating opportunities for the development of individual production activities, the establishment of agricultural cooperatives and more active participation in the socio-economic development of the region.

This project will be implemented with the financial support of the Government of Canada through a non-refundable grant.

The Entrepreneurship Development for the Conflict-Affected Rural Population in Ukraine (WeProsper) project focuses on three main value chains: dairy, vegetable/berry, and grain. As part of the project, more than 700 people (75% of whom are women) have been trained in climate-smart agriculture, and 492 cooperative members are benefiting from new services. 144 board members and employees of cooperatives have been trained.

Background: The Canadian Parliament approved CA$764 million (US$587 million) for military aid to Ukraine.

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Jimmy Kimmel analyzed Trump's changing attitude toward Time magazine over the years. From criticism and predictions of the publication's closure in 2013 to rave reviews after being recognized as “Person of the Year” in 2024.

US President-elect Donald Trump, who was named Time's Person of the Year, has had "a lot of ups and downs" with the magazine in recent years, American comedian and host of popular comedy shows on television Jimmy Kimmel said on Thursday, UNN reports citing HuffPost.

Details

The comedian reviewed the US president-elect's past tweets about the publication on Thursday, after Trump was named Time's Person of the Year.

As noted, for example, in 2013, Trump said the magazine was "going to die soon" and called its Time100 list of influential people a "joke." He also said that the magazine "looks very frail, like a free handout in a parking lot!

In 2015, he complained that Time had chosen then-German Chancellor Angela Merkel over him, saying she was "destroying Germany.

A year later, after he won the 2016 election and became Time's "Person of the Year," he thanked the magazine for the "great honor!

Then, in 2017, he said he turned down an offer to "probably" receive the honor again because he would have to give an interview and do a photo shoot. "I said it was probably not good and declined. Anyway, thank you!" he wrote on Twitter on the platform now known as X.

And that brings us to today. Trump called it a "tremendous honor" as he rang the bell Thursday for the opening bell on the New York Stock Exchange after Time announced its news.

"He jammed his little finger on that bell like it was the Diet Coke button in the Oval Office," Kimmel quipped. "That’s how long my son would ring a bell. He’s seven years old. Just a very stable, very, even, some say, stable genius of a man."

Time magazine announced Donald Trump as the man of the yearDec 12 2024, 12:48 PM • 13372 views

The former head of Damascus Central Prison is accused in the United States of torturing prisoners in 2005-2008. Samir Usman Alsheikh, 72, arrived in the United States in 2020 and was arrested in Los Angeles.

A Syrian citizen who was in charge of a prison in the Syrian capital Damascus in 2005-2008 and later stayed in the United States for 4 years is accused of causing mental and physical pain and suffering to political and other prisoners.

Transmits UNN with reference to BBC.

A former Syrian government official has been charged with torture in the United States, authorities said on Thursday.

Samir Usman Alsheikh, who ran Damascus Central Prison from 2005 to 2008, was indicted by a U.S. federal jury on several counts of torture and conspiracy to commit torture.

A broken portrait of Putin and a burned-out hall: BILD photo from Assad's defeated palaceDec 12 2024, 05:58 PM • 15989 views

The 72-year-old man is accused of sending prisoners to a certain wing of the prison, where they were suspended from the ceiling and beaten at the same time, or subjecting them to the “German chair,” which involves the amputation of a prisoner's limbs.

The US authorities said that the charges against Alsheikh are “chilling.

For reference

Alsheikh arrived in the United States in 2020 and applied for American citizenship in 2023. Last July, he was arrested in Los Angeles and charged with lying to authorities about his past. This year, he was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) on two counts of immigration fraud.

Recall

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) captured Captagon distribution centers, allegedly run by Bashar al-Assad's brother. A huge amount of the narcotic stimulant was found .

In Syria, drunken Russian soldiers looting bases in Tartus and Hmeymim in preparation for evacuation .

Rebels in Syria may have received help from Ukraine to topple Assad regime: intelligence agencies have yet to commentDec 11 2024, 09:46 AM • 15157 views

A Russian missile attack on the morning of 13 December has targeted the Ukrainian energy sector, attacking facilities in the country’s western oblasts, particularly in Lviv and Ivano-Frankivsk oblasts. Strikes have been reported.

Source: heads of Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk and Kirovohrad oblasts military administrations on Telegram

Details: Svitlana Onyshchuk, Head of Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast Military Administration, said that Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast had suffered "the largest attack during the full-scale war".

Quote from Onyshchuk: "At dawn, the enemy used attack drones and cruise missiles. They targeted critical infrastructure facilities. There are strikes! As of now, fortunately, there are no casualties."

Details: Onyshchuk said that air defence forces were responding in the oblast. The appropriate services are currently working at the scenes of the strikes to deal with the aftermath of the attack.

Maksym Kozytskyi, Head of Lviv Oblast Military Administration, also said that the Russians had attacked energy facilities in the region.

"Fortunately, as of this moment, there is no information about casualties. However, due to the attack, there will be changes to the schedules of power outages. More details to follow," Kozytskyi wrote.

Andrii Raykovych, Head of Kirovohrad Oblast Military Administration, said that the night and morning had been challenging in Kirovohrad Oblast as well.

"It was a tough night and morning. Another large-scale enemy attack. In Kirovohrad Oblast, the defenders of the sky destroyed an enemy drone. Minor damage was recorded at a house in Novoarkhanhelsk. Relevant services are at the scene,’ he wrote.

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HTS rebels seized military bases and Captagon distribution centers, allegedly run by Bashar al-Assad's brother. Huge quantities of narcotic stimulants were found. They plan to destroy them.

Led by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group, the rebels say they have found a huge amount of drugs and have promised to destroy them.

Transmits UNN with reference to Agence France-Presse and ABC.

The rebels, led by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group, have seized military bases and distribution centers for the amphetamine-type stimulant that has flooded the hidden market across the Middle East. After the Islamist-led victors found a huge shipment of drugs, they vowed to destroy them.

A black-masked militant, Abu Malek al-Shami, said that the captured factory producing psychostimulant drugs Captagon was linked to Maher al-Assad and Amer Hiti.

Kurds in Syria doubt future US supportDec 13 2024, 09:30 AM • 3339 views

Maher al-Assad, the brother of Bashar al-Assad, was a military commander and is now believed to be on the run. He has often been accused of being the force behind the lucrative captagon trade.

We found a large number of devices that were filled with packages of Captagon tablets intended for smuggling out of the country. This is a huge number. It is impossible to count

– Shami said.

For reference

There is now information circulating online that Bashar al-Assad's regime has earned billions of dollars by exporting highly addictive amphetamine from Syria to the oil-rich Gulf countries.

Captagon was born as a drug in Germany in the sixties, and was used recreationally, in particular to interfere with sleep for certain purposes. But the drug was banned. Nevertheless, Captagon was produced in Syria and circulated in Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan, and in European countries.

The drug has been called “cocaine for the poor” (a tablet costs about twenty dollars) and “the drug of jihadists” because it was believed to have been used by the terrorists who attacked Paris during the November 2015 attacks.

russian military in Syria: engaged in looting and preparing for evacuationDec 12 2024, 11:39 PM • 12532 views

It has also been reported that the drug was used by ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) and Hamas terrorists, including those who committed the October 7 massacre, which is why Captagon was nicknamed the “ISIS drug.

The consumption of Captagon is still growing, ABC writes: there are British sources who even claim that its turnover is similar to or even higher than that of Mexican drug cartels.

Besides the price, the key to its success is that it increases activity and eliminates hunger.

For example, students use it to increase their productivity; taxi drivers, truck drivers, and even soldiers use it to stay awake and work on the job; others use khat to avoid eating, explains Caroline Rose, director of the New Lines Institute.

Syrian rebel leader to disband Assad's security forcesDec 12 2024, 12:57 AM • 16567 views

Captagon has fueled an epidemic of drug abuse in the wealthy Gulf states, threatening social peace, Carnegie researcher Hesham Alghannam wrote.

Assad allegedly used the captagon trade as a means of putting pressure on the Gulf states, particularly Saudi Arabia, to reintegrate Syria into the Arab world, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace researcher Hesham Alghannam said.

Addendum

It is now known that although the rebel-announced discovery of captagon in a warehouse was large, smaller but still impressive stockpiles of the substance were also found at military facilities associated with units under Maher al-Assad's command.

“When we entered the area, we found a huge amount of captagon. That's why we destroyed it and burned it,” says an HTS fighter with the military nickname ‘Khattab’.

G7 reaffirms support for Syria and calls for an inclusive political transition: what awaits the Assad regimeDec 12 2024, 10:23 PM • 12740 views

Because of a new Russian large-scale attack on energy infrastructure, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha reminded partners about Ukraine's request for at least 20 additional medium-range air defence systems.

Source: European Pravda with reference to Sybiha on X (Twitter)

Details: Sybiha reported that Russian missiles are again flying at Ukraine and that most of them are targeting power system facilities.

Quote: "Russia aims to deprive us of energy. Instead, we must deprive it of the means of terror. I reiterate my call for the urgent delivery of 20 NASAMS, HAWK, or IRIS-T air defence systems."

Massive Russian missile attack on Ukraine this morning, primarily targeting the energy system. Russia aims to deprive us of energy. Instead, we must deprive it of the means of terror. I reiterate my call for the urgent delivery of 20 NASAMS, HAWK, or IRIS-T air defense systems.

— Andrii Sybiha 🇺🇦 (@andrii_sybiha) December 13, 2024

Background:

• Before the NATO ministerial meeting in early December, Sybiha said that Ukraine was asking the allies to find at least 20 air defence systems to continue to effectively repel Russian air attacks.
• Shortly before that, Canada confirmed that the NASAMS system it had ordered from the United States for Ukraine was already in Ukraine.
• During his visit to Kyiv, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced that the sixth IRIS-T system, Patriot launchers and Gepard anti-aircraft systems would be among the weapons Germany would send in December.

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