WORLD BRIEFING: January 7, 2024
Millions of Orthodox Christians attended midnight masses marking the Christmas holiday, a celebration overshadowed for many by the conflict in Ukraine. In Russia, home to the largest number of Orthodox Christians, believers joined overnight services January 7 at churches in Moscow and across the country. In Ukraine, where a majority of Christians identify as Orthodox, this was the first Christmas that was officially designated by the government to be observed not on January 7, but on December 25, in line with Roman Catholic and Western Christian traditions. Despite the official designation, made by President Volodymr Zelenskiy in July, thousands of Ukrainians crowded church sanctuaries across the country, including at the renowned Kyiv-Pechersk Monastery, for midnight services - RFE/RL
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The IDF says it has completed the dismantling of Hamas' command structure in northern Gaza and will now focus on central and southern Gaza. Meanwhile, scores of people have been killed or wounded in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza over the past 24 hours, the Hamas-run health ministry said Saturday. Video from a hospital in central Gaza shows staff urgently trying to treat severely wounded victims - CNN
The eldest son of Al Jazeera's Gaza bureau chief has been killed in an Israeli strike in southern Gaza. Hamza al-Dahdouh, an Al Jazeera network journalist and cameraman, was with other journalists on a road between Khan Younis and Rafah when a drone strike hit. Freelance journalist Mustafa Thuraya was also killed. Four other members of bureau chief Wael al-Dahdouh's family were also killed in October - BBC
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement on Saturday that he took "full responsibility" for secrecy surrounding an ongoing, week-long hospitalization for a still unspecified medical condition, Reuters reported. And according to BBC, the White House was also left in the dark about Austin’s hospitalisation.
Eleven people were killed on January 6 when Russian forces shelled the eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region, the governor of the Ukrainian-controlled part of the region said. Vadym Filashkin said five children were among those killed in the missile strike on Pokrovsk, a city in Ukrainian-held territory about 80 kilometers northwest of Donetsk city, which lies in the Russian held center of the region. “The Russians hit the region with S-300 missiles, killing 11 people and wounding another eight," Filashkin said on Telegram. The main strike hit Pokrovsk and nearby villages, he said, adding that the attack showed Russian forces were "trying to inflict as much grief as possible on our land." - RFE/RL
Orthodox Christmas midnight masses in the city of Belgorod near the Russia-Ukraine border have been canceled, authorities in the city said on January 6, a day after officials offered to evacuate worried residents amid increasing attacks. The mayor of Belgorod, Valentin Demidov, said on social media he agreed with local church leaders that "night masses in Belgorod would be canceled in connection to the operational situation." Ukrainian forces have hit Belgorod with near daily attacks in recent days, the deadliest of which killed 25 people on December 30.
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina cast her vote on Sunday soon after polls opened in a general election boycotted by the main opposition party and which is set to give the ruling Awami League-led alliance a fourth straight term in power. At least four people were killed late on Friday night in a passenger train fire that the government called arson, after several polling booths, schools and a Buddhist monastery were set ablaze days before the election - Reuters
North Korea conducted a new round of artillery drills near the disputed sea boundary with South Korea on Saturday, officials in Seoul said, a day after the North's similar exercises prompted South Korea to respond with its own firing drills in the same area. The North's back-to-back firing exercises come after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un repeatedly called for stronger war readiness to cope with what he called deepening confrontation led by the U.S. Experts say North Korea is likely to continue its provocative run of weapons tests to boost its leverage in potential future negotiations with Washington as the U.S. heads into November elections - AP
Days after the United States removed Uganda from an economic assistance program due to human rights concerns, Uganda's president harshly criticized the West. In a speech Thursday, President Yoweri Museveni urged lawmakers from the Commonwealth of Nations to reject what he called the evil tendencies of Western countries toward societies different from them. Museveni told the 33 parliament speakers from Commonwealth countries meeting in Kampala that the West’s oppression takes the form of aggression, looting, enslavement, displacement, ethnic cleansing, colonization and indirect domination without occupying one’s territory. “If you want freedom, if you value freedom, then you should value the freedom of everybody,” he said. “If you value independence, if you value dignity, then you must respect the dignity of everybody. Stop manipulations and lectures to the societies that are different from yours.” - VOA
When Beijing won the right to host the 2022 Winter Olympics, Xi Jinping, China’s leader, called on people to show their passion for winter sports. New resorts were built. According to the government, some 300m Chinese (out of a population of 1.4bn) have taken part in a winter sport since 2015 - EconomistL
The papers…
