The White House will announce a new military aid package for Ukraine on January 9, Associated Press reports, citing two sources. The official announcement, according to the agency, will take place during the visit of US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to Germany. This package will be the last for the outgoing Joe Biden administration.

Trump's first briefing since his election victory was confirmed. The shortest retelling Biden is to blame for the Russian-Ukrainian war. It was he who said that Ukraine should have the opportunity to join NATO. And Russia said long before Putin that it would not allow this. I can understand their feelings on this matter. Putin would like to meet with me, but I don’t think it’s appropriate before my inauguration. I hope this will happen in the next six months.

This is not only a consequence of the official turn to the East, but also a global trend Mikhail Metzel / TASS / Profimedia RUSSIA, MOSCOW — FEBRUARY 9, 2024: Artists perform in Kamergersky Lane during the Moscow Festival of Chinese New Year. Mikhail Metzel/TASS In 2024, there is an unusual amount of Chinese culture in Russia.

Your browser does not support the audio element. In Iran, WhatsApp was unblocked and the tightening of the dress code for women was suspended. What is the reason for this sudden “thaw”? In December 2024, Iranian authorities suspended the entry into force of new, significantly tightened hijab rules, and also unblocked WhatsApp and Google Play. It seems that the regime in Tehran is trying to reduce tensions in society and protect itself after a series of internal and foreign policy failures.

Meta Corporation will refuse the services of fact checkers on its platforms - Facebook, Instagram and the microblogging service Threads. Its founder Mark Zuckerberg stated this in a video message. According to Zuckerberg, the current system has "reached a point where there are too many bugs and censorship." “We will simplify the rules and restore freedom of expression on our platforms,” he said.

Alexander Lukashenko responded to the statements of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, who said that Lukashenko apologized to him at the beginning of the war. Belta reports this. Lukashenko, in particular, said that some ill-wishers from abroad are trying to drag Belarus into the war, and for this they are also using Zelensky. It’s tough there [abroad]. So we need to be drawn into this war. Why does Volodya Zelensky behave this way? We were fine with him, on good terms.

The transit agreement between Russia and Ukraine has ended. Gazprom has claims against Moldova Dumitru Doru / EPA / Scanpix / LETA An employee of the gas company Chisinau-Gaz in Chisinau, January 6, 2025 Since the beginning of January, gas supplies to Transnistria have ceased. The result is massive shutdowns of heating and hot water. Gas to Transnistria came from Russia through the territory of Ukraine - while the unrecognized republic itself did not pay for it (and Gazprom did not demand this).

In the United States, two death row inmates whose sentences were commuted to life imprisonment without parole by President Joe Biden refused to sign the relevant documents. NBC News reports this. Lawyers for the prisoners filed a lawsuit demanding that Biden's order against them be overturned. Those convicted maintain their innocence and believe commuting their sentences from death to life imprisonment will reduce their chances of success in their cases on appeal.

One thousand forty-ninth day. Recruits desert from the Ukrainian Armed Forces brigade trained in France. Patriarch Kirill consecrates crosses for the military with Putin's initials Vincenzo Circosta / Anadolu / Getty Images Ukrainian Armed Forces mortarman at a combat position in the Pokrovsk direction in Donbass, January 6, 2025 Since February 24, 2022, Meduza has been broadcasting live about the Russian-Ukrainian war.

In France, the founder of the right-wing National Front party Jean-Marie Le Pen has died, Le Monde reports. The politician was 96 years old. Joel Saget / AFP / Scanpix / LETA Jean-Marie Le Pen founded the National Front in 1972. He participated in French presidential elections five times and came second in 2002. Le Pen left the post of head of the party he founded in 2011, giving the post to his daughter Marine Le Pen.

Singer Jennifer Lopez and actor Ben Affleck have reached an agreement on divorce and will officially dissolve their marriage in a month and a half, writes TMZ. Each party is left with what they acquired or earned during the marriage. Neither Affleck nor Lopez will pay any child support. An agreement has also been reached on the $61 million home Affleck and Lopez bought together, but terms are unknown. The house was put up for sale, while there were no people willing to buy it.

They can even help in the fight against cancer and alcohol addiction Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto/Getty Images At the end of 2023, Science magazine named semaglutide, better known under the trade name Ozempic, the scientific breakthrough of the year. The drug managed to show previously unprecedented results in the treatment of obesity, and the capitalization of the company producing it, Novo Nordisk, at one point exceeded the GDP of its native Denmark.

McDonald's is the latest major American corporation to abandon its goals to increase inclusivity and diversity among employees - this is due to the US Supreme Court decision banning positive discrimination in college admissions, CNN , Associated Press and NBC News write. McDonald's also dropped its requirement for its suppliers to commit to diversity goals and said it would stop external surveys measuring corporate diversity.

Researcher Russell Fielding answers Alfredo Martinez/Getty Images A humpback whale off Mexico's Revilla Gijedo island group in the Pacific Ocean. January 27, 2024 The employees of Meduza love animals very much, and even more so the marine ones. The founders of Meduza even launched the KIT newsletter - that is, whale - about how to live in this broken world (by the way, you can subscribe to it here ).

Prequel to "Mafia" - 💣 New project by Hideo Kojima - 🧠 GTA VI - 🙏 In 2025, sequels to Assassin's Creed and Borderlands, prequels to Doom and Mafia, and hundreds of other good games will be released. True, there are no guarantees that some of them will not be rescheduled at the very last moment. For example, everyone is wondering whether the developers of the new GTA will be able to meet the deadline and release the long-awaited crime action game in the fall, as planned.