Leading Russian documentary filmmakers have not received funding from the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, Ekaterina Vizgalova, deputy editor-in-chief of the Kino-Teatr.ru portal, drew attention to this on her Facebook. “It’s amazing, but almost all documentary filmmakers with names did not receive money (even with all the controversy - for me - of some projects). But that’s all our documentary has in principle!!!

One of Spain's richest businessmen, Isak Andik, died in an accident; he was 71 years old. Mango Corporation reported this on its website. El Pais, citing sources, writes that Andik died in the mountains of Catalonia, near Barcelona. He fell into a gorge near the Salnitre caves, located on the way to the Montserrat monastery. The businessman slipped on one of the paths during an excursion and fell down. Andik was accompanied by his son Jonathan and his wife .

Russia has begun withdrawing its military contingent from Syria. This is evidenced by media reports and satellite images. Reuters, citing an anonymous representative of the Syrian security forces (it is not specified whether we are talking about an employee of Assad’s special services or those controlled by the new government) reports that on Saturday a cargo plane took off from the Russian Khmeimim airbase in the province of Latakia to Libya.

The AFU Air Force Command reported ( 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 ) intercepting 133 drones, including Shahed-type UAVs, out of the 318 that Russia launched during the week (another 175 were radar lost under the influence of electronic warfare tools or turned out to be decoys). Ukraine also reported intercepting 85 out of 100 Russian missiles of various types. No UAV raids were reported from Dec. 10 to Dec.

Russia is leaving troops at the Khmeimim airbase in Latakia province and the Tartus naval base on the Mediterranean coast, Reuters writes , citing four Syrian officials. Sources told the American agency that Moscow has not withdrawn forces from these bases and does not intend to do so. A Russian source confirmed that negotiations with the new Syrian authorities are underway. Including regarding the preservation of part of the contingent.

This past week, the Russian Armed Forces seized 90 square kilometers of territory in Ukraine, according to DeepState data analyzed by the Russian independent media outlet Agentstvo . This is the slowest progress the Russian forces have made since late October. The indicator decreased for the second week in a row . Agentstvo 's findings were confirmed by the estimates of Ukrainian OSINT channel Oko Gora , which asserts that the Russian forces captured 72 square kilometers from Dec. 2 to Dec.

On Nov. 26, the Ukrainian guerrilla movement Atesh sabotaged a rail track in a Russian-occupied area just north of Crimea, disrupting the logistics of the enemy’s armed forces. The act was not an isolated incident: a multi-thousand-strong underground movement, ranging from large organized networks to individual activists, operates in the occupied territories of Ukraine.

The National Assembly of South Korea has decided to impeach the country's President Yoon Seok-yeol for attempting to impose martial law. This was reported by the Korean news agency Yonhap. The decision was made by 204 votes to 85, with three abstentions and eight invalid ballots. Yoon Seok-yeol was impeached on the second attempt — earlier, the ruling party managed to disrupt the vote: 105 of its 108 deputies left the parliamentary meeting, depriving the initiative of the necessary quorum.

News The Insider December 14, 2024 Vladimir Putin awarded Ramzan Kadyrov the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, II degree, with the wording “for his significant contribution to the strengthening of Russian statehood, the country’s defense capability and the socio-economic development of the Chechen Republic.” Read about how Kadyrov and his army are strengthening the country's defenses in The Insider's review.

The Central Election Commission of Georgia announced the new president of the country, a candidate from the ruling Georgian Dream party, former football player Mikheil Kavelashvili. He was the only candidate. Echo of the Caucasus reports this. Georgian Dream announced that the inauguration will take place on December 29.

Kyzyl police detained at least 14 people. They were given protocols for participation in an unapproved rally (Part 5 of Article 20.2 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation) and were already released. This was reported by Mediazona with reference to the press service of the republican Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Last week the Russian Armed Forces occupied 90 square meters in Ukraine. km, according to data from DeepState , which was analyzed by the Agency. This is the slowest pace of progress since late October. The indicator has decreased for the second week in a row . The Agency’s findings confirm the weekly calculations of the Eye of Horus resource (according to them, the Russian Armed Forces captured 72 sq. km, or 10 sq. km per day, from December 2 to December 8, 2024).

The governor of the Oryol region, Vasily Klychkov, said in his Telegram channel that the fire has already been localized, there are no dead or injured. According to him, 11 UAVs were shot down over the region overnight. “Once again I remind you of the inadmissibility of distributing photo and video materials from incident sites. This is how you help the enemy!” - he wrote.

Former OpenAI employee Suchir Balaji was found dead in his San Francisco apartment. According to The Times of India, according to a forensic examination, the cause of death was suicide. Suchir Balaji left the company in the summer of 2024, and in October he accused the ChatGPT developers of violating copyright laws. He claimed that OpenAI was using other people's content without permission. At the end of 2023, The New York Times filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft.

In Yekaterinburg, law enforcement officers detained a man who tried to set fire to the regional military registration and enlistment office on the evening of December 13, throwing burning Molotov cocktails at the building, writes E1.ru. An E1.RU source close to law enforcement agencies cited the version of what happened that the detainee told investigators. According to him, the man claims to have become a victim of a fraudulent scheme.