NOTE: Please see access note on any Dec. 12 entry below.

For today, links to four reports: from Agence France-Presse, Reuters, and the Associated Press; others or at least headlines are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. (Scroll down for UKRAINE 12-13-25 and up or down for today’s LEBANON and GAZA.) — MCM

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Zelensky says will seek U.S. support for freezing front line at Berlin talks. From AFP. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said today he hoped the United States would back the idea of freezing the front line in Ukraine along its current shape at their meeting in Berlin. READ MORE . . . Click HERE for related AFP report in French, and HERE for headlines of others.

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Ukraine’s Zelenskiy ditches NATO membership ahead of peace talks. From Reuters. BERLIN / KYIV — Ukraine has relinquished its ambition of joining the NATO military alliance in exchange for Western security guarantees as a compromise to end the war with Russia, President Volodymyr Zelensky said ahead of talks with U.S. envoys in Berlin. READ MORE . . .  Click HERE for report from AP, and HERE for same AP report in Spanish and HERE later for others.

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