It works, but it’s not always useful. The Hinge is one of a suite of products that aim to keep phones and other devices running while their owners are out and about, but it’s the only one that doesn’t look completely ridiculous when it’s in use. The rest are small boxes with varying numbers of jacks to feed in the power, and while they look fine sitting on a desk, they simply never look cool while you’re out using your phone....
“I believe in the First Amendment. I say unfortunately because I do believe in it, and I think everyone on this program believes in it,” Donaldson said in his conversation with host Brian Stetler, who was joined by fellow guests Carl Bernstein and former Fox News contributor Julie Roginsky. “But how do you stop these organizations that can make money and also propagate the falsehoods to viewers and listeners who want it?...
Foakes was named player of the series in Sri Lanka, averaging 69.25 after scoring a century on debut in Galle and impressing with the gloves. The wicketkeeper-batsman was dropped for the third and final Test in the series defeat to West Indies as Keaton Jennings was surprisingly recalled and Jonny Bairstow went back behind the stumps. Former England wicketkeeper Russell believes Foakes was hard done by but says Bairstow can go from strength to strength if he retains the role....
Russell Wilson is taking his cringe tour to London. While Denver had an eight-hour flight to London this week ahead of its game with the Jaguars, Wilson reportedly spent half of the time stretching up and down the aisle while his teammates tried to sleep. And they weren’t lunges, either. Per Zac Stevens, Wilson was doing “high knees” in the aisle. Russell Wilson confirmed as much when speaking with the media....
Just as the Taliban was getting settled in the capital, Russian ambassador to Afghanistan Dmitry Zhirnov met with the group on Tuesday to discuss embassy security. Following his talks, he spoke highly of a group he said was conducting itself “in a responsible and civilized manner” since its largely peaceful capture of Kabul. “They want to be sure there will be no provocations, to avoid shooting,” Zhirnov said in an interview with the Rossiya-24 outlet....
The war of Russian aggression enters its 306th day on Monday in a frigid Eastern Europe. Zelensky said that even though Christmas is now behind and the new year lies straight ahead, this final week of the year could be tough if Russia has its way. “Russia has lost everything possible this year,” Zelensky said. “But [Russian President Vladimir Putin] is trying to compensate for his losses with the cunning of his propagandists following missile strikes on our country, on our energy sector....
According to OVD-Info, a media organization that monitors human rights and political persecutions in Russia, as of Sunday morning at least 4,366 people are being detained across 55 cities. “Each police department may have more detainees than published lists. We publish only the names of those people whom we know for certain and whose names we can publish,” OVD-Info states on its website, according to a translation. Sunday’s detainee count marks a sharp uptick from reported numbers in recent days, and marks the highest daily count recorded by the organization so far since the war in Ukraine began....
Both Russia and Ukraine have committed “significant forces” to the area around the towns of Pavlivka and Vuhledar in south-central Donetsk Oblast, the U.K’s defense ministry said in its daily intelligence update posted on Twitter. Although the area “has been the scene of intense combat” in the past two weeks, little territory has changed hands, according to the ministry. “This area remains heavily contested, likely partially because Russia assesses the area has potential as a launch point for a future major advance north to capture the remainder of Ukrainian-held Donetsk Oblast,” it said....
The new report from Saturday indicates that out of the 15,000 children that have received these medical examinations, 70 percent were told they are in need of “special medical care” and need to be relocated to Russia for treatment. According to the Ukrainian Resistance Center, Russian officials hope that these forced deportation schemes lure children’s families to Russia to take their children back home after medical treatment. But Russian officials will prevent families to return home to Ukraine, forcing them to stay in Russia, the center said....
The agency have given Russia three weeks to explain why numerous cases of positive drug tests at the Moscow Laboratory were deleted from results sent to the group, or face a possible ban from next year’s Tokyo Olympics. In a statement Monday, WADA said that the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) “have been given three weeks to provide their comments, together with answers to a list of specific questions” concerning the inconsistencies that had been found in the data....
Putin ally and Russian TV presenter Vladimir Solovyov, nicknamed “Putin’s voice” for his stridently pro-Kremlin views, used the word “war” to describe events in Ukraine on his Russia-1 show, Evening with Vladimir Solovyov, on Wednesday. State propaganda has so far echoed the Kremlin line that conflict that began on February 24 is a “special military operation” and not an “all-out war.” However, Putin has recently raised the stakes, announcing a partial mobilization on September 21 to send 300,000 reservist troops to fight in Ukraine, and formally annexing four partially occupied regions of Ukraine following referendums that have been decried by the international community as illegal....
The eight mayors have all been allegedly abducted in the four months after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the “special military operation” in Ukraine in late February under the guise of “liberating” the Donbas region, an eastern region with a high concentration of Russian speakers. Many of the mayors are from cities, villages and settlements that remain under occupation in the southern and eastern part of Ukraine, according to the Association of Cities of Ukraine....
On Sunday, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a Washington D.C.-based think tank, released a report on the battles between Russia and Ukraine over the weekend. Ukrainian forces had success in repelling Russian troops in and around Bakhmut on December 4 as Russian soldiers attempted to capture the entirety of the Donetsk region. “The Ukrainian General Staff reported that Ukrainian troops repelling Russian attacks northeast of Bakhmut near Berestove, Bilohorivka, Yakovlivka, Soledar, and Bakhmutske and south of Bakhmut near Opytne, Klishchiivka, Andriivka, and Kurdiumivka,” according to the ISW report....
Although not verified, the figures could signify a trend of ever-increasing losses by Moscow’s forces. In an update on Saturday, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said that over the previous 24 hours, 860 Russian troops had been “liquidated,” taking the total number of losses since the start of the invasion on February 24 to 120,160. On December 21, Ukraine’s General Staff said that the Russian death toll had surpassed 100,000, and calculated that Moscow’s forces had lost an average of around 10,000 troops each month....
While speaking virtually to Japan’s parliament, Zelensky said, “I’m receiving reports that Russia is preparing attacks using chemical weapons such as sarin, just like Syria.” According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), sarin is a human-made nerve agent that was originally developed as a pesticide. Sarin was utilized in 1995 when members of a Japanese cult attacked a subway system in Tokyo, resulting in 14 deaths....
The Russian Foreign Ministry said the EU is seeking to punish the nation for its “independent foreign and domestic policies” and moved to blacklist eight EU officials. “All our proposals for settling problems between Russia and the EU through a direct professional dialogue have been consistently ignored or rejected,” the ministry said. The EU issued sanctions on Russian officials connected to opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s imprisonment. Navalny is widely known as one of President Vladimir Putin’s top critics....
If there’s a whiff of cold war in the geopolitical air these days, it clearly has something to do with Moscow’s cherished ambition to restore Russia’s standing as a great power. And that, in turn, requires a world-class military—or at least the semblance of it. After all, the United States has been encroaching on Russia’s turf for a decade, expanding NATO to include former Soviet satellites and, now, unveiling plans for an ABM defense on its borders....
But the images also reveal that Moscow appears intent on keeping major military assets such as airfields intact for future use, at least in the earliest stages of the Russian operation. Early Thursday morning, Russia launched an unprecedented attack on its southern neighbor following Russian President Vladimir Putin’s announcement that Russia would be carrying out a “special military operation” in Ukraine. Putin claimed the operation was necessary to eliminate what he identified as a serious threat to Russia’s national security in the form of Ukraine’s bid to joint the U....
Moscow’s military and economic aggression toward Ukraine is at a new high. In addition to the not-so-frozen conflict in the Donbass region and the illegal seizure of Crimea, the Kremlin is amassing troops for a potential winter campaign. More than 100,000 Russian troops have amassed on Ukraine’s border. Just weeks ago, the Russian and Belarusian militaries conducted joint exercises near the Polish border. The threat of invasion looms. Russian economic pressure is also mounting....
The comments by a senior U.S. military official on Monday come as Russian President Vladimir Putin’s forces continue their focus on the city of Bakhmut in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, which is at the center of fierce fighting. The U.S.-based think tank the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said on Monday that Russian forces “are engaged in intense battles for Bakhmut and committing significant resources to maintain the pace....
