Some news and videos from Russia’s special military operation.

A Russian drone strike recently eliminated another British mercenary (and former British soldier) in Zaporozhye oblast: https://www.rt.com/russia/610601-british-mercenary-killed-ukraine/

Russian ‘hellish backpack’ destroys Kiev regime position (video): https://news-pravda.com/world/2025/01/09/965938.html

Recent Russian drone strikes in and near the partially Kiev-occupied DPR city of Dzerzhinsk, AKA “Toretsk” (videos): https://odysee.com/@Support4Z:b/%F0%9F%93%BD%EF%B8%8F-A-%F0%9F%87%AC%F0%9F%87%A7-%F0%9F%87%AB%F0%9F%87%B7,--Destruction-of-enemy-vehicles-by-drones-in-Toretsk!!:3

Plus, a special bonus video: Iran has released footage of its latest, impressive underground missile base: https://news-pravda.com/world/2025/01/10/968652.html

Vatican approves guidelines allowing gay men to become priests, as long as they don't have sex

Adjustment, considered unexpected, applies only to Italy. The new guidelines will be valid for a trial period of three years. Pope Francis, leader of the Catholic Church since 2013, has been credited with adopting a more welcoming approach towards the LGBTQIA+ community. He recently allowed priests to bless same-sex couples in specific cases.

However, the admission of gay men to the priesthood remains a taboo subject. Gay priests often express fear of discussing their sexuality. Francis also allegedly used a derogatory word to describe gay people when discussing homosexuality in seminaries during a closed-door meeting last year. The case prompted the Vatican to issue a rare apology.

The top headline on my google news tonight:

So i guess we are just gonna turn the fires into crime panic huh. Dont pay attention to the profit-seeking corporations that causes this or the lack of funding for public services that could mitigate or prevent a tragedy. Please bro just pay attention to the looters pleaseeeee

So i gave in and actually read this trash. And whats worse is they are also arresting people for "possession of burglary tools" and ofc "possession of narcotics" fuck these pigs

General who led 2009 coup d'état arrested in Honduras. The former head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of Honduras, General Romeo Vásquez, was arrested Sunday as allegedly responsible for the murder of a protester by military officers in 2009, days after leading the coup against former President Manuel Zelaya (2006-2009).

It's like an addiction to nonsense. After having more than 24 hours to come up with a convincing explanation for her (non-existent) "kidnapping", Machado managed to make it even more ridiculous. Somehow, in an age where everything is livestreamed, there is no evidence, nor even a minimal description of who was involved. And also, according to Machado, she was detained by armed men who then released her in exchange for her recording a video saying she had not been detained. No further questions, your honor!

Honestly, Machado should have stayed offline for longer and then come up with a heroic escape tale, given how her supporters and the corporate press will just believe anything. But there is more nonsense. Machado said former candidate Edmundo González did not come because the government turned on air defense systems! When in the past it simply barred planes from taking off without authorization. It also would have been easier to just shut down airspace, or even arrest González once he landed

The bottom line is that the US-backed opposition once again created the illusion that it had plans and means to make something happen to stop Maduro from taking office today, when in fact (and all the evidence suggested it) they really had no cards to play

Interviews with locals in Nuuk has revealed that many of the Greenlanders who had lunch with Trump Jr. were not in fact supporters of the idea of an American annexation. Instead many of them were homeless and socially disadvantaged locals who had been bribed with the fancy dinner at the best restaurant in town, some of them without knowing exactly what the point of the event was.

Leading up to the First Son's bizarre visit, collaborators of his had approached locals on the parking lot in front of the Brugseni supermarket where socially disadvantaged people often meet.

The Trump organisation has not replied to questions about the story but the local collaborator who organised the event has claimed that everyone at the event were there "voluntarily" and that "people from all walks off life" were present.

• Source: DR (state media), January 9th 2025

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4g9ezyw0keo US announces $25m reward for arrest of Venezuela's Maduro wait what

New lancet paper

than official number, Lancet study finds

Analysis estimates death toll by end of June was 64,260, with 59% being women, children and people over 65 Guardian staff and agencies Fri 10 Jan 2025 18.47 GMT

Research published in the Lancet medical journal estimates that the death toll in Gaza during the first nine months of the Israel-Hamas war was about 40% higher than numbers recorded by the Palestinian territory’s health ministry.

The peer-reviewed statistical analysis was conducted by academics at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Yale University and other institutions, using a statistical method called capture-recapture analysis.

The researchers sought to assess the death toll from Israel’s air and ground campaign in Gaza between October 2023 and the end of June 2024, estimating 64,260 deaths due to traumatic injury during this period. The study said 59.1% were women, children and people over the age of 65. It did not provide an estimate of Palestinian combatants among the dead.

Up to 30 June last year, the health ministry in Gaza reported a death toll of 37,877 in the war, which began on 7 October 2023 after the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel in which 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 taken hostages.

According to Palestinian health officials, a total of more than 46,000 people have been killed in the Gaza war, from a prewar population of about 2.3 million.

It has not been possible for international media to independently verify the death toll in Gaza as Israel does not allow foreign journalists into the territory.

A senior Israeli official, commenting on the study published on Friday, said Israel’s armed forces went to great lengths to avoid civilian casualties. “No other army in the world has ever taken such wide-ranging measures,” the official said.

“These include providing advance warning to civilians to evacuate, safe zones and taking any and all measures to prevent harm to civilians. The figures provided in this report do not reflect the situation on the ground.”

The Lancet study said the Palestinian health ministry’s capacity for maintaining electronic death records had previously proven reliable, but deteriorated under Israel’s military campaign, which has included raids on hospitals and other healthcare facilities and disruptions to digital communications.

Israel accuses Hamas of using hospitals as cover for its operations, which the militant group denies.

The study used death toll data from the health ministry, an online survey launched by the ministry for Palestinians to report relatives’ deaths, and social media obituaries to estimate that there were between 55,298 and 78,525 deaths from traumatic injuries in Gaza up to 30 June 2024.

The study’s best estimate was 64,260 dead, which would mean the health ministry had under-reported the number of deaths to that point by 41%. The estimate represented 2.9% of Gaza’s prewar population, “or approximately one in 35 inhabitants”, the study said.

The figure is only for deaths from traumatic injuries and does not include deaths from a lack of healthcare or food, or the thousands believed to be buried under rubble.

The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) estimates that, on top of the official death toll from the health ministry, another 11,000 Palestinians are missing and presumed dead.

The researchers scoured the three lists, searching for duplicates. “We only kept in the analysis those who were confirmed dead by their relatives or confirmed dead by the morgues and the hospital,” said Zeina Jamaluddine, an epidemiologist at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and the lead author of the study.

“Then we looked at the overlaps between the three lists, and based on the overlaps, you can come up with a total estimation of the population that was killed,” Jamaluddine told Agence France-Presse.

However, the researchers cautioned that the hospital lists did not always provide the cause of death, so it was possible that people with non-traumatic deaths could have been included, potentially leading to an overestimate.

Patrick Ball, a statistician at the US-based Human Rights Data Analysis Group not involved in the research, has used capture-recapture methods to estimate death tolls for conflicts in Guatemala, Kosovo, Peru and Colombia.

Ball told AFP the well-tested technique had been used for centuries and that the researchers had reached “a good estimate” for Gaza.

Kevin McConway, a professor of applied statistics at Britain’s Open University, said there was “inevitably a lot of uncertainty” when making estimates from incomplete data, but it was “admirable” that the researchers had used three other approaches to check their estimates.

Agence France-Presse and Reuters contributed to this report

Link to lancet https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(24)02678-3/fulltext

Am I being overly conspiratorial in wondering why Al-Sharaa’s Wikipedia is now automatically condensing any of his military history before 2017 aka when he was in Al-Qaeda? It’s not explicit censorship because the history is still there, but it seems to add one extra step to finding the truth

For context, this is how it’s typically displayed

Being sworn in again.

Trump was “sentenced to unconditional acquittal for his office as president”, according to Judge Juan Merchan. Trump will not pay fines, be imprisoned or remain on probation. He will be free and clear of any legal damages.

Judge Juan Merchan cited Trump's return to the White House to acquit him, stating that despite the seriousness of the crimes, the court must respect the hierarchy of Powers. Juan also stated that it was US “citizenship” that gave Trump back these legal protections, which include, among others, supremacy and presidential immunity.

Thus, Trump will avoid jail time and fines in the case of sexual extortion to silence porn actress Stormy Daniels, with whom he had an affair. The case involves accusations that Donald Trump paid $130,000 to actress Stormy Daniels to silence her about an alleged extramarital affair before the 2016 election. The payment was made via his lawyer Michael Cohen.

Juan Guaidó: It is the first time and it will be the last time that a clown speaks from the elliptical hall of the federal palace. There is going to be justice.

I guess Juan Guaido is going to delete his twitter account?

President Nicolás Maduro is sworn in for his third term before the National Assembly of Venezuela. Nicolás Maduro receives the presidential sash, presented by President of the National Assembly, Jorge Rodriguez. President Daniel Ortega, Nicaragua, was present and hugged President Nicolas Maduro.

Nicolás Maduro has entered the National Assembly for the swearing-in ceremony. Today he begins a new mandate for the period 2025-2031. Cheers outside of the National Assembly. President Nicolás Maduro was sworn in on Friday (10) in Caracas and said that his next six years in office will be “marked by peace”. Amid pressure from the opposition, which threatened to interfere in the ceremony, the president said that he “promised peace and delivered peace”.

“We had strength against a public and media articulation by the US, which turned Venezuela's election into a global dispute. It's not Maduro, it's a people growing into a man. If Maduro has meaning, it's because Chávez has meaning. They tried to turn the election into a peaceful country, but the oligarchy is defeated, the US is defeated,” he said.

Maduro will be the longest-serving president in Venezuelan history. If he finishes his term in 2031, he will have been in charge of the country for 18 years and will surpass the liberator Simón Bolívar, who headed the Venezuelan government for 15 years. He was elected on July 28, 2024 with 6.4 million votes (51.97%) against 5.3 million (43.18%) for his opponent Edmundo González Urrutia.

The Venezuelan once again said that Venezuela will develop in the coming years together with the BRICS. According to him, the country has been part of the bloc “for 200 years, because we are part of the world that is pushing for a new history”. The Brazilian government sent the Brazilian ambassador in Caracas, Glivânia Maria de Oliveira. Colombia is represented in Venezuelan territory by Milton Rengifo Hernández, while Mexico has Ambassador Leopoldo de Gyvés de la Cruz in the Venezuelan capital.

Maduro's third term inauguration has seen a number of foreign dignitaries and delegations arrive to participate in the official ceremonies. Seen were also the Bolivian Foreign Minister Celinda Sosa, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, St Vincent PM Ralph Gonsalves and the delegation from Nigeria. As well as Russian, Chinese, Honduran, Belarussian and Ugandan diplomats.

Nicolas Maduro: “I do not come to offer anything, I come to do”.