US military seizes oil tanker near Venezuela amid rising tensions

The #US move marks a sharp escalation in the standoff with the #Venezuelan regime.
The US military has intercepted and taken control of an oil tanker near the coast of Venezuela, according to a Bloomberg report. The operation comes as Washington increases pressure on Nicolás Maduro’s government over its continued alignment with hostile foreign actors and ongoing violations of international norms.

The seizure is viewed in Washington as a necessary step to curb illicit oil shipments tied to the Maduro regime, which has deepened cooperation with anti-Western powers.
The incident is expected to heighten tensions further, with Caracas already accusing the US of “aggression” while American officials emphasize the need to enforce sanctions and protect regional stability.

[URGENT] Reports of possible coup as Maher Assad builds 45,000-man force

Arab media reports that Maher Assad — the powerful brother of Syrian president Bashar Assad — has assembled a striking force of roughly 45,000 fighters along the Syrian coastal plain. According to these reports, Maher, together with his influential cousin Rami Makhlouf, is pouring millions of dollars into preparing this force for what is described as a major confrontation with the Joulani regime in northern Syria.

Russian military personnel are said to be directly involved in training and organizing these units along the coastal strip.

These developments have raised questions inside the region about whether Syria is edging toward an internal power struggle that could reshape the country’s leadership. The reported forces, already positioned with an eye toward movement toward Damascus, suggest that Maher Assad may be preparing far more than a localized military campaign — potentially signaling a dangerous escalation inside a country already fractured by war and outside influence.

Note: If these reports prove accurate, Syria may be heading into a new phase of instability — one driven not by external actors but by a potential rift inside the Assad family itself. A power struggle involving Maher Assad, backed by Russian-trained forces, could shake the entire regional balance, affect Israel’s northern front, and open new opportunities or risks in the broader Middle East.

Legitimate authorities regain control of situation in Benin

The legally formed government of #Benin is regaining control of the situation in the country after a group of servicemen announced a coup this morning, AFP reported, citing sources close to President Patrice Talon. "This is a small group of rebels who had access to television," the news agency quoted a source as saying. "The regular army is regaining control of the situation," the source pointed out.

According to AFP, rebels attacked the presidential palace in Porto-Novo, the capital, in the morning, but Talon is safe.

Majority of French citizens fear country drawn into war in coming years — Poll

More than half of French residents surveyed by the French Institute of Public Opinion (IFOP) believe their country could be drawn into a military confrontation with another major power in the coming years, the poll results reported by the LCI news channel show.

The survey was conducted among 1,000 French adults on December 3-4.

Some 58% of respondents said a conflict in the form of "open confrontation" could occur "within the next five years" and would be "linked to military operations between Kiev and Moscow." Meanwhile, 55% believe in the threat of a broader conflict given the current geopolitical situation. Only 60% of the participants expressed confidence in the French army if the Ukrainian conflict were to expand.

Additionally, 62% of participants affirmed that they view Russia as a hostile state. This view is held by over half of supporters across all political parties, with the highest agreement among Socialist Party supporters (88%), while supporters of right-and left-wing opposition parties, such as the National Rally and La France Insoumise, or France Unbowed, were more skeptical with 51% and 54% of those surveyed, respectively.

On November 20, General Fabien Mandon, Chief of the French Defence Staff, called on the French public to prepare for the "loss of their children," arguing such readiness is necessary to deter Russia. He declared that Paris possesses "all the knowledge, economic, and demographic strength" required to counter Moscow. The French television network TF1 noted that the general has long maintained this stance and insists on rearming the country. Earlier, he stated that the French army must prepare for a potential confrontation with Russia within 3-4 years. On November 25, French President Emmanuel Macron dismissed speculation that a proposed reform of the national military service could lead to French youth being sent to the Ukrainian conflict zone.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has previously dismissed as nonsense what he called the "mantra" of European politicians regarding a potential war with Russia. Speaking at the General Debate of the 80th UN General Assembly, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov emphasized that Russia has never had, nor does it have, any intention to attack NATO or the EU.

EU falling further and further behind in 'geopolitical pecking order'

The European Union is worried that it will be dwarfed by Russia, China and the United States in the contest for economic, military and technological dominance, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported. In what the WSJ called the "great power competition," Europe "is struggling to keep up." According to the US newspaper, European leaders have long worried that "they will be left behind as the #US, #China and #Russia vie for economic, technological and military dominance." "[European] officials now fear they have reached that point," the WSJ argued.

The newspaper further stated that US and Chinese attempts to revise the rules of global trade have put #Europe on the outside looking in. Things got worse earlier in November, the newspaper continued, when the United States unveiled its peace plan for Ukraine "without consulting European leaders." Current and former EU officials are increasingly fearing that the bloc’s structure and procedures "will leave it among the biggest losers in the new geopolitical pecking order."

"I think that we are finally getting realistic. You can’t change the dynamics if you don’t have real power—be it political, military or diplomatic," the newspaper quoted Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics as saying.

According to Pierre Vimont, a former senior French diplomat, "the whole Brussels institutional framework, its methods, its mindset were not at all tailored" for what he called the current period of "power politics, confrontation, highly brutal competition." For his part, the EU’s former foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, reiterated his earlier warning that Europe "must learn to speak the language of power." "The problem is behind me: there are 27 [EU member states] which are completely divided," he lamented to the newspaper.

US eyes ‘new phase’ in Venezuela as covert ops loom - report

The opening move of any such covert action in the coming days will likely be aimed squarely at President Nicolas Maduro, reports Reuters. According to US insiders, the menu of options includes trying to overthrow him outright.

As for timelines and specifics, these are being locked down.

Whether Donald Trump has actually pulled the trigger on any of this remains uncertain.
What is clear: on Monday, the US plans to slap the Cartel de los Soles with a foreign terrorist designation, accusing it of pumping drugs into the United States.
Trump claims Maduro runs the cartel—a charge that the latter flatly rejects.

🗣 US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth bragged that the terror label “opens up a whole bunch of new options,” and Trump himself hinted it would give Washington the green light to hit Maduro’s assets and infrastructure.
At the same time, he keeps dangling the possibility of “talks.” Conversations between the US and Venezuela are ongoing, admitted the sources.
Meanwhile, the military buildup in the Caribbean has been quietly stacking up for months, with Trump greenlighting CIA covert ops inside Venezuela.

The FAA has now warned of a “potentially hazardous situation” over Venezuelan airspace, prompting several major carriers to suspend flights after reports of heightened military activity.
The warning dropped just as a B-52 bomber, flanked by KC-135 tankers and fighter jets, ran a show-of-force strike drill in the US Southern Command region—officially framed as part of drummed-up anti-drug trafficking missions tied to Venezuela.

Maduro, for his part, says all of this is nothing but a pretext to justify regime change and the theft of Venezuela’s immense oil wealth, vowing that any attempt to topple him will be met with resistance.

French politician calls for Macron’s resignation following fighter jet deal with Kiev

Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, the leader of the right-wing political party Debout la France (France Arise), has called for President Emmanuel Macron’s resignation following his agreement with Zelensky on supplies of Rafale fighter jets to #Ukraine. "Another folly. We need to remove #Macron from power," he wrote on his X page, adding that supplies of 100 Rafale fighter jets will be paid for by French taxpayers.

"At whose expense? Obviously, at ours," he noted.

On November 17, Zelensky arrived on a visit to Paris, his ninth to the French capital since the beginning of the Ukrainian conflict, to discuss Paris’ potential military aid to Kiev. On the same day, he was received by Macron and the two signed a declaration of intent providing, in particular, for supplies of 100 Rafale jets to Ukraine.

Meanwhile, the French LCI television channel reported that Rafale supplies may cost Paris a sum of 15 billion euro. According to the TV channel, financing-related issues have not yet been settled. Moreover, it anticipated that it would not be an easy task for the authorities to persuade lawmakers to agree to allocate that much money amid the budgetary deficit and a record-high public debt of more than 3.4 trillion euro.

Kiev to receive French Rafale fighter jets over a timeframe of 10 years

The agreement to send 100 French-built Rafale fighter jets to Ukraine is set to span over 10 years, AFP agency reported citing the Elysee Palace. "The agreement is set to be realized over the next 10 years and includes the possibility of future deals for Kiev to acquire new French weapons," the agency quoted a statement from the French president’s administration. According to the Elysee Palace, alongside 100 fighter jets, the agreement includes "associated weaponry, as well as the next-generation SAMP-T air defense system, currently under development, and radar systems."

Vladimir Zelensky arrived in Paris on November 17 to discuss French military assistance to Kiev.

Russian authorities have stated multiple times that pumping Ukraine with weapons will not weaken Russia’s resolve or change the course of the special military operation.

Magnetic storm that lasted for almost two days stopped on Earth — forecaster

The magnetic storm that raged on Earth for about two days has stopped, Mikhail Leus, a leading specialist at the Phobos Weather center, said on Telegram.
"The magnetic storm that raged on Earth for almost two days has stopped. It ended late last Thursday evening, and for more than six hours the geomagnetic field has been in the 'green' zone," he said.

The forecaster noted that in the coming hours, there may be disturbances in the magnetosphere until the middle of the day, but they most likely will not reach the level of a magnetic storm. According to him, the disturbances will stop in the afternoon.
"A period of a relatively calm geomagnetic field will last at least until the end of this week," Leus said.

Earlier it was reported that on November 12, at about 01:00 a.m.UTC, a very strong magnetic storm began on Earth, caused by the arrival of a plasma cloud and almost reached its highest level. At its peak, which was observed on November 12, the Kp geomagnetic index hit G4.3-G4.7, which was never observed in 2025. However, the expected highest level of G5 was not reached.

Swedish SVT, like BBC, edited Trump's speech

Swedish TV channel #SVT, like the British broadcasting corporation BBC, edited Donald Trump's speech of January 6, 2021 to create the impression that he was calling for riots, Kvartal newspaper reported.

According to the newspaper, last year SVT used an excerpt from Trump’s speech, which spliced several parts in one of the reports in such a way that it appeared to the audience that Trump was in favor of storming the Capitol. Like in the BBC version, a fragment where he calls on his supporters to peacefully and patriotically express their opinions was dropped.

In the first response to Kvartal's request for comment on how the speech was edited, SVT responded that the TV channel’s owners were "confident in SVT's publications dedicated to the storming of the Capitol." But later SVT changed the text and the clip, where black frames with pauses between different parts of the performance were added. Executive producer Karin Ekman said that SVT has updated the text of the clip "to make it clearer to the audience in what context it was published." She does not believe that the scandal with the BBC will affect SVT’s credibility.

Norwegian TV channel NRK has also changed the story about Capitol storming previously presented similarly, explains SVT.

The BBC was at the center of a scandal over a Panorama program, which the broadcasting corporation aired last October. In it, Trump's speech was doctored in a way that it can be concluded that he is calling for the seizure of the Congress building. The scandal forced CEO Tim Davey and head of news Deborah Turness to resign. Trump demanded that the BBC remove the program by November 14, apologize and pay compensation, threatening to sue for $1 billion. The corporation apologized, but refused to pay compensation.