BERLIN, December 26. /TASS/: The current material and technical condition of Germany’s armed forces, the Bundeswehr, has deteriorated sharply over the past two years, Colonel (Ret.) Ralf Thiele, a retired Bundeswehr officer told the Focus Online publication.

"At the beginning of the attack (the start of Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine - TASS), the Bundeswehr was already understaffed. Now it is even worse," he contends.

SYDNEY, Dec 26 (NNN-AAP) – More than 100,000 properties were left without power last night, in Australia’s eastern state of Queensland, after more severe storms hit the area, local media reported.

South East Queensland was pounded by more severe storms, with the Gold Coast, Scenic Rim and Logan areas copping the brunt of the storms, according to local newspaper, The Courier-Mail.

Emergency services were kept busy with fallen trees and powerlines, with more than 100,000 properties left without electricity, the report said.

BAGHDAD, Dec 26 (Reuters) - Iraq's government on Tuesday condemned overnight U.S. air strikes on Iraqi military positions that it said killed one serviceman and wounded 18 people, calling them a "clear hostile act".

The United States carried out retaliatory air strikes on Monday in Iraq after a one-way drone attack earlier in the day by Iran-aligned militants that left one U.S. service member in critical condition and wounded two others.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A Russian naval ship in Crimea was damaged in an airstrike by Ukrainian forces, Russia’s Defense Ministry said Tuesday.

The landing ship Novocherkassk was hit at a base in the city of Feodosia by plane-launched guided missiles, the ministry said, adding that two Ukrainian fighter jets were destroyed by anti-aircraft fire during the attack.

MOSCOW, December 26. /TASS/: Ukrainian troops have retreated from the town of Maryinka in the Donetsk People's Republic, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valery Zaluzhny said at a televised news conference.

"Ukrainian troops have withdrawn. In some places they have entrenched themselves in the vicinity of Maryinka, and in other places - a little further away," he said.

Zaluzhy also said that "the city of Maryinka no longer exists".

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 26 (NNN-Bernama) — The flood situation in three Malaysian states — Kelantan, Terengganu and Pahang — continued to worsen, with more evacuees placed in temporary relief centres this morning compared to Monday night.

In Kelantan, the number of flood victims rose to 12,572 people from 3,860 families as of 8 am Tuesday compared to 9,721 people from 2,962 families Monday night.

Dec 26 (Reuters) - Ukraine's armed forces chief on Tuesday expressed frustration with the performance of military draft offices, in remarks suggesting they should mobilise more troops for the war against Russia.

General Valeriy Zaluzhnyi spoke at his first wartime news conference a day after Ukraine's parliament published the text of a draft law containing reforms to the army draft programme, including lowering the age of men who can be mobilised to 25 from 27.

TOKYO, Dec 26 (NNN-NHK) – Japan’s Okinawa prefectural government, yesterday, rejected a high court order to approve a revised plan for a key U.S. base relocation, within the southernmost prefecture, local media reported.

Okinawa will appeal the high court ruling to the Supreme Court, Kyodo news reported, citing a prefectural government official.

JAKARTA, Dec. 25 (Xinhua) -- The Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed Railway (HSR), the first HSR in Indonesia and Southeast Asia, has handled more than 1 million passenger trips since its commercial operation was officially launched on Oct. 17, according to the China State Railway Group Co. Ltd. on Monday.

The railway's passenger trips hit the 1-million mark in number on Sunday.

MOSCOW, December 26. /TASS/: The probability of Russia inviting poll watchers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Parliamentary Assembly to observe the 2024 presidential election is "next to zero," because the OSCE is "occupied by Western states" that have already made clear their intention to shun recognizing the vote as legitimate, Russian Federation Council (upper house of parliament, or "senate") Deputy Speaker Konstantin Kosachev said.

MOSCOW, Dec 26 (NNN-TASS) – Russian President, Vladimir Putin, attended a flag-raising ceremony, for three new warships that are set to join the country’s navy, the Kremlin reported, yesterday.

The Admiral Golovko frigate will join Russia’s Northern Fleet, while the Naro-Fominsk small-rocket ship and the Lev Chernavin minesweeper will serve in the country’s Baltic Fleet, the Russian leader said, during the ceremony he attended at the Severnaya Verf shipyard, in St. Petersburg.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump was acting within his role as president when he pressed claims about “alleged fraud and irregularity” in the 2020 election, his lawyers told a federal appeals court in arguing that he is immune from prosecution.

The attorneys also asserted in a filing late Saturday night that the “historical fallout is tremendous” from the four-count indictment charging Trump with plotting to overturn the election he lost to Democrat Joe Biden.