WORLD BRIEFING: January 3, 2024

Russia has attacked Ukraine with at least 500 missiles and drones in the past five days, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Jan. 2 during a phone call with U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak - Kyiv Independent

Russian officials say they have foiled a Ukrainian attack on a border city as the aerial war between the two nations continues to intensify. The officials said a dozen missiles were downed before they could reach Belgorod, where 25 people were killed on Saturday. Ukraine has not commented. Blasts were also heard overnight in Sevastopol - the biggest city in Russian-occupied Crimea - where a missile was shot down over the port, the Moscow-installed governor, Mikhail Razvozhayev, said on Telegram. No casualties or damage were reported - BBC

More than 100 flights to and from Tokyo’s Haneda Airport are expected to be canceled on Wednesday following the fiery runway plane collision the day before, according to two Japanese carriers

The deadly plane collision took place at 5:46 p.m. local time (3:46 a.m. ET) on Tuesday. Five people were killed when a JAL jet, carrying hundreds of passengers from the northern city of Sapporo, collided with an earthquake relief aircraft and burst into flames on landing at Haneda. All 379 people on JAL flight 516, including eight children under the age of two, were safely evacuated from the passenger plane, according to the airline - CNN

The assassination of senior Hamas official Saleh al-Arouri in Beirut is the first time since the war began that it was reported that Israel (which hasn't officially claimed responsibility for it) apparently managed to hit such a key member of the organization's leadership. Though enormous efforts are being made to do so in the Gaza Strip, Hamas leaders there took refuge in their tunnels the moment the assassination attempts began. The assassination will presumably lead to a harsh response from Hamas, mainly from Lebanon. The key question is how Hezbollah will respond to an assassination that took place in its home court – the Shi'ite neighborhood of Dahiyeh in southern Beirut - Haaretz

The commander of Sudan's Rapid Support Forces has held talks with the president of Djibouti to discuss ways to end the Sudanese war - SABC