Israel orders evacuations in Gaza City, as U.N. suspends food deliveries to the north because of looting. (www.nytimes.com)
MFBC...
Putin gifts car to Kim Jong Un in sign of ‘special personal relations,’ North Korean state media reports | CNN (edition.cnn.com)
Yulia Navalnaya will continue lifework of Alexey Navalny (youtu.be)
“I didn’t have to be in this place, I didn’t have to record this video. In my place should have been another person. But this person was killed by Putin.”
UN likely to vote Tuesday on Gaza ceasefire, US signals veto (www.reuters.com)
The United Nations Security Council is likely to vote on Tuesday on an Algerian push for the 15-member body to demand an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war, said diplomats, a move the United States signaled it would veto....
Israel Says Wounded Al Jazeera Journalist A Hamas Militant (www.barrons.com)
MFBC...
UK workers must accept lower pay deals to help beat inflation, says Bank ratesetter (www.theguardian.com)
Pod of orcas trapped by thick sea ice off northern Japan, drone footage shows (www.cbsnews.com)
Where Is Hamas Getting Its Weapons? Increasingly, From Israel. (www.nytimes.com)
Israeli military and intelligence officials have concluded that a significant number of weapons used by Hamas in the Oct. 7 attacks and in the war in Gaza came from an unlikely source: the Israeli military itself....
Ukraine levels up the fight with drone strikes deep into Russia (www.theguardian.com)
Over the past three weeks, Ukraine has wreaked havoc with Russia’s energy infrastructure. Soon after the new year, someone attached explosives to train carriages in the Urals city of Nizhny Tagil. A blast took place next to facilities owned by Gazprom Neft, the country’s third biggest oil producer. Next, a kamikaze drone...
Putin Says Russia Shouldn’t Be Ruled By ‘Weirdos Who Show Their Backsides’ (www.kyivpost.com)
Zero-emission goal still eludes the EU, where most cars emit the same CO2 levels as 12 years ago (apnews.com)
Most passenger cars in the European Union still emit the same quantity of carbon dioxide as 12 years ago, the European Union’s auditing agency warned on Wednesday....
Russian soldiers' wives want their men back, posing a rare challenge to Putin (www.nbcnews.com)
NBC News spoke with a number of women who are part of a growing movement calling for their loved ones to be discharged from the military and allowed to return to civilian life....
Chaotic wave of attacks and reprisals in Middle East fuel worries of a broader regional war (apnews.com)
A barrage of U.S., coalition and militant attacks in the Middle East over the last five days are compounding U.S. fears that Israel’s war on Hamas in Gaza could expand, as massive military strikes failed to stall the assault on Red Sea shipping by Yemen-based Houthis....
The Pope acknowledges resistance to same-sex blessings but doubles down on his decision (apnews.com)
Pope Francis has defended his controversial decision to let priests bless same-sex couples but admitted that “solitude is a price you have to pay” when you make difficult decisions....
Germans take to streets after AfD meeting on mass deportation plan (www.theguardian.com)
Thousands of people across Germany have taken to the streets for a fourth consecutive day to voice their opposition to the far-right populist AfD party after politicians from the party met neo-Nazis to discuss a “master plan” for the mass deportation of asylum seekers and German citizens of foreign origin....
Six held over plot to disrupt London Stock Exchange (www.bbc.com)
Israel Bombed an Al Jazeera Cameraman — and Blocked Evacuation Efforts as He Bled to Death (theintercept.com)
“IT WAS AS if a storm had targeted us.” On the afternoon of December 15, an Israeli airstrike slammed into the Farhana school in Khan Younis where Al Jazeera Gaza bureau chief Wael al-Dahdouh and his cameraman, Samer Abu Daqqa, had just wrapped up filming the aftermath of an earlier bombardment in the area....
Berlin’s plan for driverless magnetic trains derided by climate groups (www.theguardian.com)
China uses AI to generate propaganda on YouTube, report finds (www.rfa.org)
In a YouTube video, a voice in English announces that China has researched and developed its own ultra-thin 1-nanometer chip – a staggering claim given that the chip isn’t expected in commercial devices for another decade....
Liquidation of Wikimedia RU [Wikipedia Signpost] (en.wikipedia.org)
Briefly: Stanislav Kozlovsky, the director of Russian Wikimedia project (which supports the Russian Wikipedia, Wiktionary, Wikisource, etc.), has been declared a “foreign agent” by Russia. He has been forced to resign from his job at the Moscow State University. Following the event, Russian Wikimedia has decided to dissolve...
Airbnb admits misleading Australian customers by charging in US dollars instead of local currency (apnews.com)
Argentina’s president announces economy deregulation as thousands protest against austerity (apnews.com)
A $2M missile vs. a $2,000 drone: Pentagon worried over cost of Houthi attacks (www.politico.com)
As American warships rack up kills against Houthi drones and missiles in the Red Sea, Pentagon officials are increasingly alarmed not just at the threat to U.S. naval forces and international shipping — but at the growing cost of keeping them safe....