In the southern part of Bali, 33-year-old Russian citizen Evgeny Karamyshev was detained. The local drug enforcement agency accuses him of attempting to sell more than 223 grams of hashish. According to Indonesian law, the Russian faces imprisonment for up to 20 years or the death penalty, the Indonesian portal Jakarta Globe reports .

The official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, said that due to the actions of the Estonian border service and the “artificial escalation of the situation,” hours-long queues began to form at checkpoints there. According to Zakharova, there are three checkpoints with Estonia in the Pskov region, through which people began to travel more often on the eve of the New Year holidays.

Three large Russian landing ships and two vessels previously used to deliver cargo to the military base in Tartus are sailing across the Mediterranean towards Syria. OSINT analysts believe that this is a caravan for the removal of Russian military and equipment, Mediazona reported . The landing ships "Ivan Gren", "Alexander Otrakovsky" and "Alexander Shabalin", the cargo ship "Sparta" and the cargo ship with two port cranes "Ursa Major" entered the Mediterranean Sea through Gibraltar.

Over the past week, Russians have begun to look for information about VPNs two and a half times more often, the Agency reported , citing data from the Yandex Wordstat service. Journalists associated the reason for the sharp increase in demand for VPN services with a new wave of slowdown, which resulted in an almost complete blocking of YouTube video hosting. On December 21, the number of requests in Yandex increased to 353 thousand, while the week before, on December 16, it was 191 thousand.

Ukraine received one billion dollars from the United States from frozen Russian assets. This is the first tranche of the planned $20 billion. Prime Minister of Ukraine Denis Shmygal announced this. The Ukrainian prime minister thanked his US partners and the World Bank for “an important step towards justice.” He hoped that all Russian assets, the use of which the G7 countries agreed on, would be used to restore Ukraine.

In the middle of the last century, the US Central Intelligence Agency experimented on people using drugs, hypnosis, isolation, sensory deprivation, electric shock and “other extreme methods of behavior control.” Declassified documents about attempts to find “special interrogation techniques” were published by the US National Security Archive. Girl against demons A young girl suffered from a strange illness since childhood.

The Lidl supermarket on the Russian-Finnish border announced its closure. According to 47news, this store was popular among Russians who entered the country only to obtain a Schengen visa. We are talking about a supermarket, which is located on the Finnish side after the Vaalimaa - Torfyanovka checkpoint, which is located in the Leningrad region.

The Spiritual Administration of Muslims of Russia withdraws the fatwa allowing “religious polygamy.” Chairman of the Council of Ulema of Spiritual Administration Shamil Alyautdinov reported this on his Telegram channel.

The Ministry of Digital Development and Roskomnadzor may introduce restrictions on calls in instant messengers, citing the increase in the activity of telephone scammers. Kommersant reports that the authorities are considering this option, citing anonymous sources among telecom market participants. According to the publication’s interlocutors, two options are now being considered: the authorities can block only calls in instant messengers from abroad or completely all voice traffic.

Alexander Lukashenko wants to convince Western countries to ease the sanctions imposed against Belarus. It is because of this that he decided to pardon more than two hundred people convicted of participating in rallies against the results of the presidential elections in 2020. The New York Times (NYT) writes about this, citing analysts. Lukashenko is gradually returning to his tactics of maneuvering between the interests of Russia and Western countries, the newspaper writes.

The founder of the Russian game design studio Ice-Pick Lodge, Nikolai Dybovsky, found himself at the center of a scandal. His wife Renata Kurlyandtseva accused him of beatings and alcoholism, announced her decision to divorce and left with their four-year-old son to live with her parents in Crimea. After that, according to her, Dybovsky tried to get her back and even blackmailed her with money, and at the next meeting he kidnapped the child.

Dostarlimab, a drug that has shown 100% effectiveness in treating colon cancer, has been approved in the United States. This decision was made by the American Food and Drug Administration (abbreviated as FDA), writes New Atlas. FDA approval means dostarlimab has been granted Breakthrough Therapeutic Designation. This status could speed up the drug's entry into the market - the drug could be sold under the Jemperli brand if it passes further approval stages.

Director Christopher Nolan is adapting Homer's ancient Greek poem The Odyssey. The film company Universal Pictures announced this on the social network X. “This is a mythical action film that was filmed all over the world using brand new IMAX technology,” the release said. It also notes that The Odyssey will be released in theaters worldwide on July 17, 2026.

Iranian oil magnate Hossein Shamkhani has become one of the main arms suppliers to Russia. Moscow pays in oil for the supply of missiles and components for drones, which are then used in Ukraine. Bloomberg writes about this with reference to American officials and documents. Shamkhani transports weapons and dual-use goods across the Caspian Sea using a network of several ships. Supplies are handled by companies supervised by an Iranian businessman.

A sauna worker in the Kazakh city of Kyzylorda, who, at the request of clients, called a 16-year-old schoolgirl who was engaged in prostitution under pressure from classmates to provide sex services, was found guilty of pandering (Article 309 of the Criminal Code of Kazakhstan). The court sentenced her to 4 years and 6 months in prison, human rights activist and head of the Don’t Be Silent Foundation Dina Tansari told Kholod.