⚡️OSCE urges Tbilisi to institute reforms in final report on Georgian parliamentary elections. “To safeguard the democratic principles currently at stake in Georgia, it is imperative that the authorities urgently address all concerns.” https://kyivindependent.com/osce-urges-tbilisi-to-institute-reforms-in-final-report-on-georgian-parliamentary-elections/

🐦🔗: https://nitter.oksocial.net/KyivIndependent/status/1870335249697137139#m

[2024/12/21 05:07]

The Russians hit the Oncology Hospital building in #Kherson with two missiles and published footage of the strike.

https://t.me/kievreal1/75903

#Ukraine #Russia

From 24.02.2022 to 21.12.2024 (Day 1032), estimated losses #Russia suffered in #Ukraine.

Highlights:
+1860 Personnel
+10 Tanks
+32 Artillery
+85 UAVs
+98 Other Vehicles

Statistics: https://www.reddit.com/r/RussianLosses/comments/1hj35ox/estimated_russian_losses_from_24022022_to/

#RussianLosses

Russian base in the village of #Petrivka in the #Donetsk region being hit by Ukrainian air strike.

https://t.me/WarArchive_ua/23801

#Ukraine #Russia

#Ukraine will stop the transit of Russian gas at 7:00 a.m. on January 1, 2025.

This was stated by Ukraine's Prime Minister Denys #Shmyhal.

https://youtu.be/d7TrLUXUTIU?t=2775

#Russia #EU #Hungary #Slovakia

#Ukraine provided the #US with evidence of the use of Western technologies in Russian weapons, including serial numbers and manufacturer information.

Western technology found in the Orlan-10 UAV:

- Guidance systems
- Navigation modules
- Control units
- Computing devices

https://t.me/ministry_of_defense_ua/11309

#Russia

#Lithuania plans to invest in #Ukraine’s long range #Palianytsia drone missile, Ukraine's Prime Minister Denys #Shmyhal said.

https://t.me/Denys_Smyhal/9167

#EU #Russia

Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem #Umerov is facing questions over procurement problems that risk undermining the country's efforts to supply troops with arms and ammunition.

https://www.politico.eu/article/ukraines-defense-problems-warfront-corruption-poland-defense-production-dpa-weapons/

#Russia #Ukraine

Всё что нужно знать об интеллекте населения гетто

⚡️Russian drone attack in Kharkiv injures 6, including child. The drone hit a 9-story residential building in the city’s Saltivskyi district, authorities said. A 12-year-old child was among the injured. https://kyivindependent.com/russian-drone-attack-in-kharkiv-injures-6-including-child/

🐦🔗: https://nitter.oksocial.net/KyivIndependent/status/1870280812601782508#m

[2024/12/21 01:31]

TRUMP'S MONSTER!!!

Dr. Frankenstein has nothing on Donald Trump!

The lure of Elon Musk's $250,000,000 donation compelled Trump to build his own monster to set loose on the townsfolk!
#AureFreePress #News #press #headline #GOP #Politics #uspolitics #uspol #Musk #Twitter #Fediverse #socialmedia #x

⚡ELONITIS LIVES⚡

⚡️Russian attack on Zaporizhzhia injures 4, including child. The attack damaged a 9-story apartment building in the city, Governor Ivan Fedorov said. Three women and a 12-year-old boy sustained injuries. https://kyivindependent.com/russian-attack-on-zaporizhzhia-injures-4-including-child/

🐦🔗: https://nitter.oksocial.net/KyivIndependent/status/1870342450553762124#m

[2024/12/21 05:36]

Russian and Kazakh oil flows to #Hungary, #Slovakia, the #Czech Republic and #Germany via the #Druzhba pipeline have stopped since Thursday due to technical problems at a Russian pumping station.

https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/oil-via-russias-druzhba-pipeline-halted-by-technical-problems-sources-say-2024-12-20/

#Ukraine #Russia #Eu

Friendly fire, North Korean soldiers shooting another North Korean soldier while trying to hit a drone.

https://t.me/operativnoZSU/166597

#Ukraine #Russia #NorthKorea

BREAKING NEWS 🚨

The House is voting now on a bill that would avert a government shutdown that’s otherwise set to start at midnight.

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) said earlier Friday that the new spending plan does not include President-elect Donald Trump’s demand to suspend the debt limit.
#AureFreePress #News #press #headline #GOP #Politics #uspolitics #uspol #Breaking #BreakingNews

As the future of warfare pivots towards artificial intelligence, #Ukraine is sitting on a valuable resource: millions of hours of footage from drones which can be used to train #AI models to make decisions on the battlefield.

https://www.reuters.com/technology/ukraine-collects-vast-war-data-trove-train-ai-models-2024-12-20/

#Russia

⚡️Ukraine, US agree on date of peace envoy Kellogg’s visit to Kyiv, official says. Ukraine and the U.S. have reached a preliminary agreement on the date of a visit to Kyiv by Keith Kellogg, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for Ukraine peace envoy, Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi said on Dec. 20. Tykhyi did not disclose the specific date of the visit for security reasons. President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Dec. 19 that Kellogg would visit Ukraine before Trump’s inauguration in January.

🐦🔗: https://nitter.oksocial.net/KyivIndependent/status/1870214849269248201#m

[2024/12/20 21:09]

#Lithuania's authorities said Friday that police investigators had found no evidence of "unlawful interference" in the deadly crash of a #DHL cargo plane last month, which had triggered suspicions of foul play.

https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2024/12/20/lithuanian-investigators-find-no-unlawful-interference-in-dhl-cargo-plane-crash-a87415

#Ukraine #Russia #EU

⚡️Druzhba pipeline disruption halts Russian, Kazakh oil shipments to Europe, Reuters reports. Russian and Kazakh oil shipments to Hungary, Slovakia, Czechia, and Germany via the Druzhba pipeline have been halted since Dec. 19 due to technical issues at a Russian pumping station, Reuters reported, citing anonymous sources. https://kyivindependent.com/druzhba-pipeline-disruption-halts-russian-kazakh-oil-shipments-to-europe-reuters-reports/

🐦🔗: https://nitter.oksocial.net/KyivIndependent/status/1870223516592943353#m

[2024/12/20 21:43]

The Central Bank of #Russia decided that discretion was the better part of valor Friday, suspending its campaign of interest rate hikes against a backdrop of increasingly sharp criticism from businesses and politicians.

The key rate was left unchanged at 21 percent.

https://www.politico.eu/article/russia-central-bank-interest-rates-inflation-governor-elvira-nabiullina-political-opposition/

#Ukraine

A CLOGGED PIPELINE!

Ukraine announces it will stop all transit of Russian gas to Europe through Ukraine from January 1st

More screws tighten on Putin!
#AureFreePress #News #press #headline #Ukraine #Russia #Putin #EU #NATO #Zelensky #war

Russian athletes will be able to qualify for the ice skating competition at the 2026 Winter Olympics as neutrals, the sport's governing body said Friday.

https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2024/12/20/russian-skaters-allowed-to-compete-as-neutrals-in-2026-winter-olympics-a87417

#Ukraine #Russia #Belarus #IOC #Olympics

Donald #Trump’s team has told European officials that the incoming #US president will demand #Nato member states increase defence spending to 5 per cent of GDP, but plans to continue supplying military aid to #Ukraine.

https://www.ft.com/content/35f490c5-3abb-4ac9-8fa3-65e804dd158f

#Russia #EU #UK

Analysis: Gaza v. Blinken

"Palestinians Sue Secretary of State Over Failure to Follow US Law on Sending Military Aid to Israel"

"For too long, the State Department has acted as if there’s an Israel exemption from the Leahy Law."

"This lawsuit demands one thing and one thing only: for the State Department to obey the law requiring a ban on assistance to abusive Israeli security forces."

~Sarah Leah Whitson, DAWN

https://zeteo.com/p/gaza-v-blinken-palestinians-sue-secretary

#Blinken #USPol #GazaGenocide #USEnablement #BDS .

Interview: Tim Snyder: “Do Not Obey in Advance”: How Corporate America Is Bending to Trump

"It’s textbook anticipatory obedience" - the most monied are the ones setting "the example by yielding to power first."

Eg, ABC News settles a Trump defamation case by donating $15 million.

And tech leaders have also cozied up, with major donations to Trump.

Snyder is an expert on how authoritarianism works.

https://www.democracynow.org/2024/12/20/trump_defamation_suits

#Trump #CorporateObesiance #USPol #Fascism #Project2025 .

Quick guide to installing raspi-config on Ubuntu for seamless Raspberry Pi configuration.

https://itsfoss.com/install-raspi-config-ubuntu/

Air raid sirens were activated again across Ukraine.

#Ukraine️ #UkraineRussiaWar #Russia

🇷🇺 🇺🇦 #Russia attacked the city of #Zaporizhzhia the evening of Dec. 20, injuring four people, including a 12-year-old boy, regional Governor Ivan Fedorov reported.

https://kyivindependent.com/russian-attack-on-zaporizhzhia-injures-4-including-child/

#ukraine #RussianWarCrimes

🇺🇦 The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved the disbursement of $1.1 billion in funds for #Ukraine via the Extended Fund Facility, the IMF announced on Dec. 20.

https://www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2024/12/20/pr-24493-ukraine-imf-completes-6th-rev-of-extended-arrangement-under-eff

🗣 #Ukraine said on Friday that Colonel General Alexei Kim, a deputy chief of #Russia's General Staff, ordered a missile strike on a hotel in eastern Ukraine in August that killed Reuters safety adviser Ryan Evans and wounded two of the agency's journalists.

https://www.reuters.com/world/china/ukraine-names-russian-general-suspect-missile-strike-that-killed-reuters-safety-2024-12-20/

#RussianWarCrimes

⛸️ #Russian athletes will be able to qualify for the ice skating competition at the 2026 Winter #Olympics as neutrals, the sport's governing body said Friday.

https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2024/12/20/russian-skaters-allowed-to-compete-as-neutrals-in-2026-winter-olympics-a87417

#russia #sports

🇺🇦 🇷🇺 Four Ukrainian drone strikes have hit #Chechnya since late October, but not a single drone has been shot down so far despite Kadyrov’s assurances that air defence systems in the republic are operational 😁

https://novayagazeta.eu/articles/2024/12/20/reputation-under-attack-en

#ukraine #russia

🇺🇲 US authorities on Friday said they charged a dual Russian and Israeli national in connection with his alleged participation with the LockBit ransomware group and are seeking his extradition.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-12-20/us-charges-israeli-national-with-working-for-lockbit-ransom-gang

Archive: https://archive.is/q4AZo

#usa

🛢 Russian and Kazakh oil flows to Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Germany via the Druzhba pipeline have stopped since Thursday due to technical problems at a Russian pumping station, Reuters reports.

https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/oil-via-russias-druzhba-pipeline-halted-by-technical-problems-sources-say-2024-12-20/

#russia #oilandgas

🇺🇦 #Ukraine is already receiving U.S. funds under the framework of the G7's $50 billion loan covered by profits from frozen #Russian assets, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said on Dec 20.

https://kyivindependent.com/ukraine-begins-receiving-first-funds-covered-by-frozen-russian-assets-proceeds/

#russia

🇪🇺🇷🇺 The EU purchased a record amount of Russian #LNG this year, according to ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg. Among top byers, #France has already hit its highest-ever volumes and #Spain is closing in on records seen last year.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-12-20/europe-still-clings-to-russia-gas-with-record-lng-flow-this-year

Archive: https://archive.is/qTfBs

#russia #oilandgas

Zuma Deluxe for Windows 98 is proof that “gamers” have no idea what they’re talking about.

Back in the early ‘00s, they wailed against casual gaming like it was the end of civilization. Everything by PopCap games was apparently an affront to the sacredness of video games.

“Zuma is stupid,” they said.

“Casual games are a fad!”

Fast forward 21 years: I’m still gleefully blasting marbles while those same gamers are rage-quitting Call of Duty lobbies.

At the end of the day, Zuma is a puzzle game – and it’s awesome. It’s not that much different from Tetris, Puyo Puyo, or Bejeweled.

What sets Zuma apart is that all the marbles are on a track moving towards a skull. Your goal is to remove all the pieces from the track before they roll into the skull. You clear them out by rotating a frog who shoots marbles, and matches them to three or more similarly coloured marbles in a row – thus eliminating them.

There are two modes:

• Adventure - a campaign where you visit different temples, reaching a new one each time the track is cleared, in search of the secrets of Zuma.
• Gauntlet - where you try to level up from Rabbit to Sun God. All levels must be first unlocked in Adventure mode.

Now for the controversy. People have accused Zuma of ripping off Ballistic. I have not played Ballistic, but from screenshots, the two games look similar. Nevertheless, if this is a case of plagiarism, Mitchell Corporation and Capcom should have taken PopGames to court.

What Zuma does have is style. The game’s bright, vibrant colours and Meso-American-inspired aesthetic slap harder than a pinata at a party. This is all tied together with animations that are pleasing to the eye. My only complaint is that you can’t play this game in higher resolutions. You’re stuck at 640x480, and can’t increase it. I wish EA would do a re-master of this game.

The sound is even more pleasing. The soundtrack? Incredibly memorable, and really gets into your head. The sound effects, particularly when the marbles clink against each other, are oddly satisfying, like bubble wrap for your ears.

Control is easy as pie. You literally point-and-click with your mouse. If you can use a mouse, you can play this game.

PopCap Games developed Zuma Deluxe, and they’re legendary. They’re the same folks who brought us Peggle, Chuzzle, and Plants vs. Zombies. They haven’t made a new game since 2022, and I hope they drop something fun next year.

So, if you’ve never played Zuma, stop what you’re doing and fix that. Just don’t tell “hardcore gamers” you’re enjoying yourself – they might cry.

Scholz's at it again 🤦‍♂️

🇩🇪🇷🇺 #Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Friday he would speak with #Putin again after reinitiating contact with the Kremlin chief last month.

https://www.barrons.com/news/germany-s-scholz-says-he-will-speak-with-putin-again-0b041cd0

#russia

The Russian government will not cover all the costs of rebuilding facilities destroyed in the fighting between Russian and Ukrainian troops, the governor of the partially occupied Kursk region told residents at a recent meeting.
https://buff.ly/3VPVkzH