US President Donald Trump signed a decree “to ensure US superiority in space.” Among other things, it envisions a new landing of American astronauts on the Moon in 2028 as part of the Artemis program, and by 2030, “the creation of the initial elements of a permanent lunar outpost” and the launch of a lunar nuclear reactor.

Vladimir Putin is ready to resume negotiations with French President Emmanuel Macron, Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov told RIA Novosti. Earlier, on December 19, the French leader said in Brussels that Europeans would “useful again” to talk to Putin, rather than leaving negotiations with Moscow entirely to the United States. “He [Macron] said he was ready to talk with Putin. It is very important here, probably, to remember what the president said on the direct line.

In the Moscow region, 69-year-old businessman Viktor Averin, who in the past was linked by the media with the Solntsevo organized crime group, died while walking on the water. Kommersant writes about this; the businessman’s widow confirmed to the media the fact of his death. The incident occurred on Saturday evening in the waters of one of the yacht clubs on the Klyazma Reservoir. According to preliminary data, Averin was on the boat in the company of five other people.

At least 16 files disappeared from the archive of documents from the Jeffrey Epstein case less than 24 hours after publication on the US Department of Justice website. The Associated Press reported this, noting that the documents were removed from the ministry’s website without notice or explanation. The missing files include a series of photographs of Epstein's desk drawers, which reveal paper photographs.

Human rights organization noyb (None of Your Business) has filed complaints with the Austrian Data Protection Authority against TikTok, LGBT dating app Grindr and analytics company AppsFlyer, accusing them of violating European data protection laws. Reuters reports this. According to noyb, the companies illegally tracked users' activities across different applications without their consent, which is a violation of GDPR requirements.

At the Forgotten Hearts animal shelter in Bataysk, Rostov region, animal rights activists discovered a mass death of animals. According to them, there are at least 200 corpses of dogs, cats and individual wild animals on the territory of the shelter. Activists reported this on the Telegram channel “Aksai – Animal Helpers.” “More than 200 animal corpses. I’m sorry, I just can’t come to my senses yet. In general, what did they die from? I don’t know, from hunger, from illness, from infection.

When transferring large sums, Russian banks began to require clients to confirm their relationship with the recipients. According to RIA Novosti, when an attempt is made to carry out such a transaction, it is blocked, then a bank employee contacts the sender and asks several questions, including asking for the full details of the recipient and to explain the degree of relationship. In addition, a bank representative may ask what the money is planned to be spent on, RIA Novosti writes.

The United States intercepted another oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, Bloomberg reports , citing informed sources. The Panama-flagged Bella 1 (IMO: 9230880) was en route to a Venezuelan port to load and was under US sanctions. Bloomberg does not specify when the ship was intercepted, however, according to data from the Starboard Maritime Intelligence database provided to The Insider, strange movements in the tanker began on December 15.

Journalists from the publication Ukrayinska Pravda discovered businessman Timur Mindich in Israel, who is suspected of corruption in the energy sector and against whom sanctions have been imposed. This was reported by a correspondent for the publication in Israel. According to the publication, journalists managed to record Mindic’s presence in the country and film him. The media promises to publish details later.

The American space company Blue Origin sent a person in a wheelchair into space for the first time in history. According to the company's website, 33-year-old German woman Michaela Benthaus, paralyzed from the waist down, joined the New Shepard mission. On December 20, she spent 11 minutes at an altitude of 65 miles (104.6 km) - that is, just above the Karman line (100 km above sea level), which is conventionally considered the boundary between the Earth's atmosphere and space.

Swedish Customs said agency officials boarded the Russian cargo ship Adler , which has been anchored in Swedish waters since December 19. According to Reuters, customs officers boarded the plane to conduct an inspection with the support of the coast guard and police. A customs spokesman declined to tell the agency what was found on Adler, noting that the inspection was still ongoing. According to the Starboard Maritime Intelligence service, the ship left the port of St.

The oil tanker intercepted earlier by the US Coast Guard is the Centuries vessel (IMO: 9206310), Lloyd's List noted . Centuries was not on any US sanctions list at the time of the interception . The owner is Centuries Shipping Limited, a company registered in Hong Kong, according to data from Starboard Maritime Intelligence. The tanker loaded about 1.8 million barrels of oil at the Venezuelan Jose terminal between December 9 and 12, Lloyd's List reported.

About 50 residents of the village of Grabovskoye, Sumy region, were taken to Russian territory on December 20. The village head Larisa Kremezna told Suspilny about this: “There were fifty people left there. They were taken to the territory of the Russian Federation.” Co-founder of the DeepState project Ruslan Mikula confirmed that Russian military activity was recorded in the Grabovsky area.