🇭🇳🗳 Trump-backed candidate wins Honduras election after recount

Nasry Asfura, the conservative National Party candidate endorsed by President Trump, has been declared the winner of Honduras’ presidential election after a razor-thin margin and weeks of delays, technical failures, and fraud allegations.

The electoral authority, known as the CNE, said Asfura had won 40.3% of the vote, while Salvador Nasralla garnered 39.5%.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🤝 Vladimir Putin sends New Year message to Kim Jong-Un

Russian President Vladimir Putin thanked Kim Jong Un for North Korean soldiers' "heroic entry" into the battle for Kursk and for their engineers' work in Russia, calling it proof of their "invincible friendship."

"The past one year was of special significance in the relationship between Moscow and Pyongyang," the message reads.

Putin pledged to deepen their strategic partnership and strengthen the "relations of friendship and alliance" between their countries.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

⚔️ Syria and US-led coalition arrest senior ISIS* leader in Damascus

Taha Al-Zoubi (aka "Abu Omar Tibiya") was captured in a raid in Damascus, the Syrian Internal Security announced.

An explosive belt and military-grade weapon were seized during the operation. Syrian officials called it a "decisive blow" to the terrorist organization.

*A terrorist organization outlawed in Russia and many other countries.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🔊 Trump's call to troops cut short — "The enemy doing it"

A Christmas Eve video call between Donald Trump and service members ended abruptly due to a technical failure, according to reports.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🎤 No signs of nuclear powers preparing tests — IAEA

The International Atomic Energy Agency observes no indications that nuclear states are preparing to resume testing, IAEA Director Rafael Grossi told Sputnik.

"What we tend to do is we look at the facts. And in terms of nuclear testing, we don't see any for the moment," Grossi said.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

📑 White House orders military focus to 'quarantine' Venezuelan oil — Report

The White House has directed US forces to concentrate almost exclusively on enforcing an oil quarantine against Venezuela for at least the next two months, a US official told Reuters.

US military buildup in the Caribbean started in support of anti-narcotics operations against Venezuela.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

⚔️ US amphibious assault group heads toward Venezuela — Satellite imagery

Satellite data shows a major US naval convoy moving toward Venezuela, including the special operations command ship Ocean Trader and the USS Iwo Jima.

The movement follows the White House order to focus on a Venezuelan oil "quarantine," with over 15,000 troops, 11 warships, and F-35s now deployed in the Caribbean.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

👀 ‘Strip poker’ politics: In-denial Zelensky is world’s ‘highest-paid actor’ - Ex-CIA officer

Volodymyr Zelensky is proving time and again just how detached from reality he is, says former CIA officer Larry Johnson says.

He’s grown so accustomed to backing from his European patrons that he is blind to the objective situation in the country and on the battlefield.

💬 “Zelensky reminds me of the guy playing strip poker who's sitting there in his underwear… I mean, he's just he's divorced from reality... Look, he understands he's the highest paid actor in Europe, in the world, in fact. And his job has been simply to be the front man to convince the west to pump billions of dollars into Ukraine.”

For him, his clique, and those in the West pulling the strings “it’s all about money… It's the Benjamins,” says Johnson.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇮🇳 🇷🇺India stands firm on Russian oil as US tariffs hit

Indian companies are buying oil from Russia based on commercial viability and its attractive price, Indian Ambassador to Russia Vinay Kumar told Sputnik.

💬 "It is obvious that the price is an important commercial consideration. That is why the companies buy crude oil in this market. But I am not aware of the current commercial negotiations," Kumar said.

When asked whether US sanctions against Russian oil intimidated Indian companies, Kumar said that "they will take the decisions which is in their best commercial interest."

On August 27, an additional 25% tariff on imports from India, imposed by US President Donald Trump, went into effect, bringing the total tariff rate to 50% - one of the highest rates set by Washington. This decision is linked to an alleged sharp increase in India's oil purchases from Russia and the failure of trade negotiations.

India considers these actions unfair and unjustified, but it emphasized readiness for dialogue and further search for compromise. Indian authorities have also said that US criticism was selective, as similar purchases of Russian oil continued by China and the European Union.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🔥 Frontline firestorm: Russian Grad, Tulip & Msta-S systems in action

Watch as fortified positions, UAV control points, and ammo depots of the Ukrainian forces are eliminated in Zaporozhye, Kharkov, Sumy, and Donetsk regions.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🔸 No signs of nuclear powers preparing tests — IAEA

🔸 Ukrainian conflict could end within 90 days — US NATO envoy

🔸 Israeli forces launch major West Bank raids during Christmas

🔸 North Korea is building new nuclear-powered submarine — Report

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🔍 Europe’s war hawks want Ukraine bled dry so they can feast on the carcass - retired US Lt. Col.

Europe’s elites are not invested in ending the Ukraine conflict, points out retired US Army Lt. Col. Daniel Davis.

Behind all the rhetoric about support and “enduring peace,” they are perfectly content to see the war drag on.

They know full well where everything is going, and “they'll use the carcass of whatever's left of Ukraine and then they'll say, that's more reason why we're going to continue to paint Russia as this evil empire… and say that now we need to spend even more,” he says.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🔥✈️ Russia’s Su-35S jet dominates the skies as special military op’s top warplane

Rostec's United Aircraft Corporation has delivered another batch of Su-35S multirole fighters to the Russian Ministry of Defense.

👉 This fighter jet stands out as one of the most highly sought-after aircraft within the Russian military.

According to reports, the warplane holds the distinction of having destroyed the highest number of targets throughout the course of the special military operation.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt