The British government wanted to protect vulnerable minorities from attacks and insults, but instead severely restricted freedom of speech. Hundreds of thousands of citizens of the country began to be persecuted for allegedly offensive posts on the Internet. Anyone can complain about them, anonymously and without explaining any reasons. The police even come to schoolchildren who insult their classmates online. The British are already calling these measures censorship and recalling George Orwell.

In Russia, calls via the Internet to mobile and landline phones have been limited. The government explained such measures as the fight against telephone fraud. According to a government decree, Russia is no longer issuing licenses for the transmission of Internet data with the overlay of voice information. This allowed people to use the Internet to communicate with a subscriber using landline telephone and mobile communication networks.

The Ukrainian armed forces have lost about half of the territory captured since August in the Kursk region, but will be able to hold the rest until the spring of 2025. RBC writes about this with reference to Bloomberg. According to unnamed American officials, the withdrawal of the Ukrainian Armed Forces from the Kursk region will occur due to a shortage of soldiers and uncertainty about future supplies of weapons from the United States and other allied states.

The current world champion in rapid chess and blitz, Magnus Carlsen, was removed from a tournament in New York because he came to the competition in jeans and refused to immediately change his clothes. The BBC reports this. The chess player said he wore jeans to a business meeting and “didn’t even think” about changing them to other trousers when heading to the tournament.

Sweden's funeral associations are seeking to acquire enough land to be able to bury tens of thousands of people in the event of war. Associated Press reports . According to the publication, the search for additional land plots began in accordance with the recommendations of the national secretariat of the Church of Sweden. These recommendations, in turn, reflect instructions from the Swedish Civil Defense Agency (MSB) and the country's armed forces.

Home births are becoming increasingly popular . In the USA in 2022, for example, about 47 thousand were registered - which is 56% more than in 2016. However, childbirth without qualified medical care can lead to serious consequences - disability or infections in the child and mother, and even death. For example, in February 2023 in Crimea, a baby died during a home birth.

Service traffic reached a minimum by the end of 2024 YouTube traffic in Russia continues to fall. Experts call what is happening an actual blocking of the service. This began in August 2024, when users first encountered a slowdown in the service - Roskomnadzor explained this by the fact that the service allegedly violated Russian law. “Kholod” has collected current ways to bypass YouTube blocking, which are suggested by experts.

Vladimir Putin telephoned Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and apologized for the fact that the “tragic incident” with the Azerbaijan Airlines plane occurred over Russian territory. This was reported on the Kremlin website. The press release said that Putin once again expressed condolences to the families of the deceased passengers and crew members, and also wished a speedy recovery to the injured.

From eight in the morning Moscow time on January 1, 2025, Gazprom will stop gas supplies to Moldova. The restrictions will remain in effect until Gazprom makes a different decision. This is stated in the company's press release. Gazprom claims that JSC Moldovagaz “regularly fails to fulfill its payment obligations under the current contract, which is a significant violation of its terms.” Gazprom sent a corresponding notification to Moldova.

In Europe, they began to block access to Telegram channels of Russian state media, in particular to RIA Novosti, Izvestia, NTV, Channel One and Rossiya 1. This was reported by the telegram channel “Caution, News”. RIA Novosti , Izvestia and Rossiya 1 confirmed the blocking. “When you try to watch the channel’s materials, an inscription appears stating that it allegedly violated local legislation; no specific examples are given,” RIA Novosti said in a statement.

Vladimir Putin signed a law renaming the city of Rostov, returning to it the name mentioned in The Tale of Bygone Years. Now the city, located in the Yaroslavl region, is called Rostov the Great. The renaming law was adopted by the State Duma on December 17 and approved by the Federation Council on December 20.

The oldest political party in Azerbaijan, Musavat, the largest opposition structure in the country, announced that Russia is responsible for the crash of an Azerbaijan Airlines passenger plane. The party demanded an apology from the Russian leadership, as well as an end to the war with Ukraine. The opposition statement was published by the Turan news agency.

Press Secretary of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry Aykhan Hajizade said that in the next few days the rules for the stay of Russians in the country will be changed. The changes will affect the length of stay and will be a reaction to the tightening of the rules for the stay of foreigners in Russia. This is reported on the department's website. Hajizadeh did not specify what changes would be made to the legislation and how long Russians would be allowed to stay in Azerbaijan.

The Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) said that American and British intelligence services are preparing a series of terrorist attacks on Russian military bases in Syria. According to the SVR, Washington and London expect that these actions will prompt Russia to evacuate its troops from the region.

The weather in Moscow and the region in the last days of 2024 will be far from winter. The air temperature will remain around zero degrees, but New Year's Eve promises to be “fabulous” - weather forecasters predict light frosts and snow. Vedomosti writes about this. The chief specialist of the Meteonovosti news agency, Tatyana Pozdnyakova, said that on December 29, the air temperature in the region will fluctuate from plus 1 to minus 1 degree, and no precipitation is expected.