The European Central Bank (ECB) refused to provide guarantees for a reparation loan to Ukraine in the amount of 140 billion euros, which is supposed to be secured from Russian assets frozen in the West. The Financial Times writes about this with reference to its sources. According to the publication's interlocutor, the European Commission asked the bank to act as a creditor for the Belgian depository Euroclear, where most of the Russian assets are stored.

The Russian tanker MIDVOLGA 2 (IMO: 9735139), en route to Georgia, was attacked off the coast of Turkey, the country’s Main Directorate of Maritime Affairs reports on its social networks. This is the third ship damaged off the Turkish coast in the last four days (since November 28). The ship, according to the Turkish department, was traveling from Russia to Georgia with a cargo of sunflower oil. MIDVOLGA 2 was attacked approximately 80 miles from the coast (about 150 km).

A court in the American city of Sacramento, California, ruled to stop a large-scale program to collect data from electricity meters installed in the homes of local residents. As Techdirt reports , the court ruled that the practice violated state privacy laws, which, with rare exceptions, prohibit the disclosure of private electricity use data.

In Russia, the war continues between marketplaces and banks, which demand that legislators prohibit OZON and Wildberries from offering discounts on goods paid for with cards issued by them. Economist Sergei Aleksashenko, speaking on The Insider Live, described the entry of marketplaces into the financial market as a threat to the monopoly of large traditional financial institutions.

A major Royal Navy mission in the Indo-Pacific called Highmast has ended in the UK. The flagship aircraft carrier The Prince of Wales returned to Portsmouth, accompanied by the destroyer Dauntless of the Norwegian frigate Roald Amundsen. Another ship, the frigate Richmond, returned to the port of Plymouth. F-35B Lightning fighter jets, Merlin and Wildcat helicopters also took part in the mission. This was officially announced by the British Navy.

The Donald Trump administration intends to expand the immigration ban to about 30 countries. The decision stems from the recent shooting in Washington, where two National Guard members were wounded. A list of countries subject to the new restrictions should be available soon, a Department of Homeland Security spokesman told Bloomberg. Currently, a complete entry ban applies to citizens of 12 countries, and partial restrictions apply to seven.

The Prosecutor General's Office filed a lawsuit related to the case of the largest bribe in Russian law enforcement agencies, Kommersant writes . The agency demands the confiscation of the assets of former employee of the Bureau of Special Technical Events (BSTM) of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Georgy Satyukov, who received 5 billion rubles from the administrator of the crypto exchange. The ex-policeman himself is wanted.

Indian authorities have required smartphone makers to begin pre-installing the Sanchar Saathi (“Communication Partner”) app on new devices within 90 days, which is designed to track and block stolen phones, Reuters reports . The directive the companies received states that the app cannot be removed and that its functionality "is not disabled or limited." It is proposed to install the application on already released smartphones through a software update.

Vladimir Putin spoke at the plenary session of the VTB investment forum “Russia Calling!”, where he commented on the economic situation in the country, the state of affairs at the front and the role of Europe in the peace process, TASS reports . Speaking about the situation at the front, Putin said that Krasnoarmeysk (that is, Ukrainian Pokrovsk), which was a powerful fortified area of ​​the Ukrainian Armed Forces, is completely in the hands of the Russian army.

Thanks to a new X feature that reveals where an account is operated from and whether a VPN tool is being used, social media and news outlets have been able to collect extensive evidence showing that many highly politicized posts by users posing as residents of the United States, Israel, and other countries are in fact being produced by people living in the developing world.

Former EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Federica Mogherini has been detained in Belgium on fraud charges. The Belgian publications Le Soir , LʼEcho and VRT write about this. Mogherini, according to media reports, was detained after searches at the headquarters of the European External Action Service (EEAS) in Brussels, the College of Europe in Bruges and several private houses on the morning of December 2.

The American oil producing company ExxonMobil contacted the Iraqi Ministry of Oil, expressing a desire to buy a controlling stake in Lukoil in the West Qurna-2 field. Reuters writes about this, citing Iraqi officials. The West Qurna-2 field is Lukoil’s largest foreign project. The Russian company owns 75% of the shares here. The field itself provides about 9% of the country's total oil production. It is unclear what stage negotiations are at to purchase these ExxonMobil assets.

On October 1, Russian forces attacked the Slavutich (330/110/10 kV) and Nerafa (110/35/10 kV) substations in the Kiev region. The Ministry of Energy of Ukraine reported that due to attacks on energy facilities in the region, the sarcophagus over the destroyed fourth power unit of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant was cut off.

Ukrainian authorities have detained a former British soldier on suspicion that he supplied weapons, allegedly on Russia’s orders, to the killers of former Verkhovna Rada lawmaker Iryna Farion and former parliamentary speaker Andriy Parubiy, both of whom were associated with the anti-Russia, nationalist wing of Ukrainian politics. Information about the UK citizen’s alleged involvement was reported by Ukrainska Pravda , RBC-Ukraine , and The Telegraph .

Russian cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev was expelled from the Crew-12 crew several months before launch to the ISS. As missile launch analyst Georgy Trishkin reported on his Telegram channel, Andrei Fedyaev will fly instead. Trishkin’s sources said that Artemyev was expelled for violating ITAR export restrictions: the cosmonaut allegedly photographed SpaceX documentation, and then “snapped” secret information on his phone.