Reuters: World

Israel launches more Gaza strikes as Netanyahu says Hamas must be destroyed Israeli shellfire slammed into central Gaza on Tuesday after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged no respite in attacks on Hamas, as residents of the coastal enclave mourned more dead in a war that has cost more than 20,000 Palestinian lives. Israel is determined to pursue its goal of destroying Hamas despite global calls for a ceasefire in the 11-week-old war, amid concerns the conflict could spread with U.S. and Iran-aligned forces attacking each other elsewhere in the region. Since Hamas made the deadliest Palestinian militant attack on Israel in the country's 75-year history, Netanyahu has responded with an all-out assault on Hamas-ruled Gaza. On Tuesday, the Israeli military said 160 soldiers have so far been killed in Gaza since ground operations began on Oct 20. read more

Ukraine strikes Russian naval landing warship, Moscow admits damage Ukraine struck a large Russian landing warship in Crimea with cruise missiles in an overnight attack that killed at least one person and could hinder any Russian attempt to seize more Ukrainian territory along the Black Sea coast. The Russian defence ministry, cited by the Interfax news agency, said Ukraine had used air-launched missiles to attack the Crimean port of Feodosia and that the Novocherkassk large landing ship had been damaged. read more

Israeli airstrikes kill 100 in one of war's deadliest nights, Gaza officials say At a funeral in Gaza on Monday a line of Palestinians touched white shrouds containing the bodies of at least 70 people who Palestinian health officials said were killed by an Israeli airstrike targeting Maghazi in the centre of the besieged strip. It followed one of the enclave's deadliest nights in the 11-week-old battle between Israel and Hamas. One man hugged a dead child and others were hysterical. "The walls and the curtains fell on us," said one man. "I reached down to my four-year-old child but all I found were rocks." read more

Israeli airstrikes kill dozens in one of war's deadliest nights, Gaza officials say Israeli airstrikes killed at least 78 people in Gaza, Palestinian health officials said, in one of the besieged enclave's deadliest nights of Israel's 11-week-old battle with Hamas. Strikes that began hours before midnight persisted into Christmas Day on Monday. Residents and Palestinian media said Israel stepped up air and ground shelling against al-Bureij in central Gaza. Pope Francis lamented that Jesus' message of peace was being drowned out by the "futile logic of war" in the very land where he was born. read more

Yekaterina Duntsova barred from running against Putin in election Former TV journalist Yekaterina Duntsova was disqualified on Saturday from running against President Vladimir Putin in an election next March because of alleged flaws in her application to register as a candidate. Video from a meeting of the central electoral commission showed members voting unanimously to reject the candidacy of Duntsova, who had wanted to run on a platform to end the war in Ukraine and release political prisoners. read more

Biden 'heartbroken' that American believed kidnapped by Hamas is dead U.S. President Joe Biden said on Friday he was "heartbroken" by the news that an American named Gadi Haggai is believed to have been killed by Palestinian Islamist group Hamas on Oct. 7 when it attacked Israel. Haggai, a 73-year-old Israeli-American man, was previously thought to have been taken hostage in the attack, along with his wife. A group representing hostages' families had said earlier on Friday that Haggai died in captivity. "Jill (Biden) and I are heartbroken by the news that American Gadi Haggai is now believed to have been killed by Hamas on October 7. We continue to pray for the well-being and safe return of his wife, Judy," the U.S. president said in a statement released by the White House. read more

Migrants, Roma evicted from squats ahead of Paris 2024 Olympics Camelia Toldea has packed her family's suitcases ready for a quick exit from an abandoned building where she and dozens of other Roma live, fearful the squat will be next in a wave of evictions near Paris' 2024 Olympic Games facilities. Romanian-born Toldea, her husband and three children are among thousands of migrants, asylum seekers and Roma caught up in evictions in the north Paris suburb of Seine-Saint-Denis that are aggravating the city's homelessness problem ahead of the games. read more

Gunman kills 14 in unprecedented attack at Prague university A 24-year-old Czech student shot dead his father, then killed 14 people and wounded 25 others at his Prague university on Thursday before possibly killing himself, police said, marking the country's worst-ever mass shooting. The government declared a day of mourning across the central European country for Dec. 23 to remember the victims, decided at a special cabinet meeting with President Petr Pavel. "I would express my great sadness along with helpless anger at the unnecessary loss of so many young lives," Pavel said. read more

China wields Mazu 'peace goddess' religion as weapon in Taiwan election The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is ramping up exchanges with folk religious groups in rural Taiwan in an attempt to manipulate political opinion in Beijing's favour ahead of elections next month, according to Taiwan government documents and security officials. Religious trips across the Taiwan Strait increased this year after the end of China's years-long zero COVID policy, according to a review of the websites of the Chinese government, CCP-run religious groups and state media. Dozens of the trips were focused on worship of Mazu, a sea goddess whose 10 million Taiwanese worshippers make her the island's most popular deity. read more

Houthi leader threatens to attack US warships if Washington targets Yemen The leader of Yemen's Houthis warned on Wednesday they would strike U.S. warships if the Iranian-backed militia was targeted by Washington, which this week set up a multinational force to counter Houthi attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea. The Houthis, which control vast amounts of territory in Yemen after years of war, have since last month fired drones and missiles at international vessels sailing through the Red Sea, attacks it says respond to Israel's assault on the Gaza Strip. read more

Hamas leader visits Egypt amid intensive talks on new ceasefire The leader of Hamas made his first visit to Egypt for more than a month on Wednesday, a rare personal intervention in diplomacy amid what a source described as intensive talks on a new ceasefire to let aid reach Gaza and get hostages freed. Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, who normally resides in Qatar, typically intervenes in diplomacy publicly only when progress seems likely. He last travelled to Egypt in early November before the announcement of the only agreement on a ceasefire in the war so far, a week-long pause during which more than 100 hostages were released. read more

Russia tells Finland it will respond to defence pact with U.S. Russia summoned Finland's ambassador on Tuesday to object to a new defence agreement granting the United States broad access to the vicinity of the new NATO member's long border with Russia, Moscow's foreign ministry said on Tuesday. The ambassador was told Moscow would "not leave unanswered the buildup of NATO military potential on our border, which threatens the security of the Russian Federation, and would take the necessary measures to counter the aggressive decisions of Finland and its NATO allies," spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement. read more