Israel kills 5 journalists in Gaza as three babies freeze to death
Ten people, including five journalists, were killed and 20 wounded in Israel’s latest attacks on Gaza, Palestinian authorities said.
The journalists from the Al-Quds Today channel were killed in an airstrike at al-Awda Hospital in the Nuseirat refugee camp, Al Jazeera reported.
The strike hit their broadcasting van, which was clearly marked “press”, the outlet said.
The slain were identified as Fadi Hassouna, Ibrahim al-Sheikh Ali, Mohammed al-Ladah, Faisal Abu al-Qumsan, and Ayman al-Jadi. Jadi’s wife was reportedly in the hospital at the time and in labour with their first child.
According to the Quds News Network, civil defence teams recovered the bodies of the victims and put out a fire at the scene. The journalists were reportedly sleeping in the vehicle at the time of the airstrike.
The Israeli military said its aircraft carried out a “targeted” attack on the vehicle as it contained members of the Islamic Jihad militant group.
“Prior to the attack, many steps were taken to reduce the chance of harming civilians, including the use of precision weapons, aerial observations, and additional intelligence information,” the military said in a post on X.
Another Israeli airstrike on a house in Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighborhood killed five people and wounded 20, the medics reported. They warned the death toll could rise as many people remained trapped under the rubble.
Israel has been waging a war on Gaza since a Hamas attack in October last year killed 1,200 Israeli civilians and soldiers and saw nearly 250 taken hostage.
Israel has so far killed more than 45,000 Palestinians in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the local health ministry. The dead include at least 141 journalists, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Its air and ground offensive has caused widespread destruction and displaced around 90 per cent of the besieged territory’s 2.3 million people, often multiple times.
In a separate incident, a three-week-old baby girl named Sila reportedly froze to death in a tent camp in the Muwasi area outside the southern town of Khan Younis in the early hours of Christmas morning.
Sila was one of three babies to die of hypothermia over the past 48 hours, authorities said. The others were aged three days and one month.
Sila’s father, Mahmoud al-Faseeh, told the Associated Press that he had wrapped her in a blanket to keep her warm, but it wasn’t enough. He said the tent wasn’t sealed from the wind and the ground was cold, with temperatures dropping to 9C Tuesday night.
“It was very cold overnight and as adults we couldn’t even take it. We couldn’t stay warm,” he said. In the morning, Sila was found unresponsive, and despite efforts to rush her to the hospital, her lungs had already deteriorated. A photo showed the baby with purple lips and blotchy skin.
“She was like wood,” said Mr al-Faseeh.
Ahmed al-Farra, director of the children’s ward at Nasser Hospital, confirmed Sila and the other babies died from hypothermia, according to Sky News.
India concerned as China approves world’s largest dam in Tibet
China has approved the construction of the world’s largest hydropower dam on the eastern rim of the Tibetan plateau despite protests over its ecological impact and concerns it could affect millions of people downstream in India and Bangladesh.
The dam, located in the lower reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo river, could annually produce 300 billion kilowatt hours of electricity, according to an estimate provided by the Power Construction Corp of China in 2020. That is more than triple the 88.2 billion kWh capacity of the Three Gorges Dam, currently the world’s largest, in central China.
The project is expected to play a major role in meeting China’s carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals, stimulate related industries such as engineering, and create jobs in Tibet, Chinese state media Xinhua reported on Wednesday.
A section of the Yarlung Zangbo falls a dramatic 2,000m within a short span of 50km, offering huge hydropower potential as well as unique engineering challenges.
The outlay for building the dam is expected to eclipse the 254.2bn yuan (£27.80bn) it cost to construct the Three Gorges dam.
Constructing Three Gorges required the resettling of 1.4 million people.
Authorities have not indicated how many people the new project would displace and how it would affect the local ecosystem, one of the richest and most diverse on the plateau. The site of the project is located along a tectonic plate boundary which is a zone for earthquakes.
At least four 20km-long tunnels must be drilled through the Namcha Barwa mountain to divert half of the river’s flow to harness its power, according to reports.
But according to Chinese officials, hydropower projects in Tibet, which they say hold more than a third of China’s hydroelectric power potential, would not have a major impact on the environment or on downstream water supplies.
India and Bangladesh have nevertheless raised concerns about the dam, with the project potentially altering the river’s course downstream.
India is concerned that Chinese projects in the region could trigger flash floods or create water scarcity downstream.
An Indian lawmaker previously raised concern over China building the dam in the bordering region of the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, which China claims as part of southern Tibet.
The Yarlung Zangbo becomes the Brahmaputra river as it leaves Tibet and flows south into India’s Arunachal Pradesh and Assam states and finally into Bangladesh.
“We cannot trust our ‘neighbour’. You never know what they can do,” Ninong Ering, a member of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party told the parliament in July.
“They can either divert the entire river flow drying up our Siang or release water at once causing unprecedented floods and havoc downstream.”
Additional reporting by agencies.
South Korea’s opposition submits motion to impeach acting president
South Korea’s opposition party on Thursday submitted a motion to impeach acting president Han Duck Soo over his refusal to fill three Constitutional Court vacancies.
It was initially reported the Democratic Party had decided to delay submitting the motion until later this week, but spokesperson Yoon Jong Kun confirmed the bill would be submitted today.
“We have decided to exercise patience, taking into account the sentiments of the people, and wait until the 26th to determine whether our demands are met,” DP floor leader Park Chan Dae said.
The court is set to review rebellion charges against impeached president Yoon Suk Yeol for declaring martial law on 3 December.
Since six of the nine judges on the court must vote to formally remove Mr Yoon from office, a full bench is crucial. But three seats are currently vacant.
The court plans to start pretrial hearings on Mr Yoon’s case soon.
After Mr Yoon was impeached by the parliament and suspended from office, Mr Han, the prime minister, took over as the acting president.
The parliament backed three nominees for the Constitutional Court on Thursday, but Mr Han has yet to formally appoint them.
Mr Park said there was no room for negotiations regarding the investigation of Mr Yoon. Mr Han’s stance “left us no other option but to interpret it as his intention to continue the insurrection by delaying proceedings”, Mr Park told the media, adding that they would “initiate impeachment proceedings against Han”.
The opposition claims that only a simple majority in the 300-member National Assembly is needed to impeach Mr Han, as this is the threshold for a cabinet member.
The ruling party argues that a two-thirds majority is necessary since Mr Han is currently acting as president.
If Mr Han is impeached, finance minister Choi Sang Mok is likely to take over as new acting president.
Mr Yoon has avoided questioning over the rebellion charges and blocked investigations into his office.
The impasse between Mr Yoon’s conservative party and the liberal opposition has stalled governance in South Korea, disrupted diplomacy, and unsettled financial markets.
Additional reporting by agencies.
14 members of new Syrian regime killed in ‘ambush’ by Assad loyalists
Fourteen personnel of Syria‘s new security forces were killed in an ambush by suspected loyalists of ousted leader Bashar al-Assad in the Tartous countryside, the transitional government said on Thursday.
The security forces, made up mainly of armed rebels who seized power earlier this month, clashed with the Assad loyalists near the Mediterranean port in western Syria as they sought to arrest a former government official accused of issuing execution orders and arbitrary rulings against thousands of inmates in the Saydnaya prison.
New interior minister Mohammed Abdel Rahman said “14 interior ministry personnel were killed and 10 others wounded” after a “treacherous ambush by remnants of the criminal regime” in Tartus province “while performing their tasks of maintaining security and safety”.
He vowed to crack down on “anyone who dares to undermine Syria’s security or endanger the lives of its citizens”.
Armed militias led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, an al Qaeda offshoot, took over the country in early December and forced the president to flee, ending five decades of the Assad family’s rule.
Syrian police had earlier imposed curfew in Homs city after unrest linked to demonstrations that residents said were led by members of the minority Alawite and Shiite Muslim communities.
State media said the curfew was imposed overnight on Thursday.
The protests in Homs, a stronghold of Assad’s Alawite community, broke out after “a number of residents refused to allow their houses to be searched”, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, based in the UK, said. Some called for the release of soldiers from the former Syrian army now imprisoned by the HTS.
It said one demonstrator was killed and five wounded in Homs.
The protests were apparently sparked in part by a video showing the burning of an Alawite shrine. The interim regime insisted the video was old and not a recent incident.
There were also protests on Christmas Eve against the burning of a Christmas tree, prompting renewed calls for the new rulers to protect religious minorities.
The country’s new leaders have repeatedly vowed to protect minority religious groups who fear they could impose a conservative Islamist government.
The new regime claimed its forces raided warehouses in the capital Damascus on Wednesday, confiscating drugs like the stimulant Captagon and cannabis, which were allegedly used by Assad’s soldiers.
A million Captagon pills and hundreds of kilograms of cannabis were set ablaze, the interim administration said.
Additional inputs from agencies.
Japan Airlines hit by cyberattack causing delays
Japan Airlines said it was hit by a cyberattack Thursday December 26, causing delays to more than 20 domestic flights, but the carrier said there was no impact on flight safety.
JAL said the problem started Thursday morning when the company’s network connecting internal and external systems began malfunctioning.
The airline said the cyberattack had delayed 24 domestic flights for more than 30 minutes, and the impact could expand later in the day.
The Kyodo News Service reported that the airline told police that it may have been the victim of a distributed denial-of-service, or DDoS attack, in which networks are overwhelmed by data from multiple sources over a short period.
JAL’s ticket sales for both domestic and international fights scheduled for departure on Thursday were suspended temporarily.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told a regular news conference Thursday that the transport ministry told JAL to hasten efforts to restore the system and to accommodate affected passengers.
Television footage showed many passengers at Tokyo‘s Haneda airport held up by the attack that hit the year-end holiday travel season.
Other Japanese airlines, including ANA Holdings, Skymark and Starflyer, were not affected.
Japan’s main travel season is just picking up, as offices close from this weekend for the New Year holidays, the biggest celebration of the year, when millions of people travel back to their hometowns from the cities.
Children among 29 survivors as plane crash kills 38 in Kazakhstan
An international investigation has begun into how an Embraer 190 passenger jet with 67 people onboard crashed in Kazakhstan, killing 38 people but leaving 29 survivors
Azerbaijan Airlines flight J28243, which had been flying from Baku to Grozny, the capital of Russia‘s Chechnya, crash-landed instead a few kilometres short of Aktau airport.
It was the first fatal accident anywhere in the world involving a passenger jet in 2024.
Unverified video footage of the crash showed the aircraft descending – apparently with control problems – and hitting the ground where it burst into flames.
Children were among the survivors being treated at a nearby hospital, authorities said in a statement.
Some of the videos posted on social media showed survivors dragging fellow passengers away from the wreckage.
Russia’s aviation watchdog a preliminary investigation indicated the pilot decided to change landing site after “a collision with birds”.
But Reuters news agency noted that the plane had diverted from an area of Russia that Moscow has recently defended against Ukrainian drone attacks.
The news agency quoted Richard Aboulafia, an analyst at consultancy AeroDynamic Advisory, who also raised doubt over a bird strike.
“You can lose control of the plane, but you don’t fly wildly off course as a consequence,” he said.
However, Azeri president Ilham Aliyev said that it was too soon to speculate on the reasons behind the crash, and said bad weather in Grozny had forced the flight to divert.
Mr Aliyev said: “The information provided to me is that the plane changed its course between Baku and Grozny due to worsening weather conditions and headed to Aktau airport, where it crashed upon landing.”
Commercial aviation-tracking websites monitored the flight as it flew north on its scheduled route along the west coast before it disappeared. It then reappeared on the east coast, where it circled near Aktau airport before crashing into the beach.
Kazakh officials said those aboard the plane included 42 Azerbaijani citizens, 16 Russian nationals, six Kazakhs and three Kyrgyzstan nationals. Five of the 67 were crew.
Transport prosecutor, Timur Suleimenov, told a briefing that the plane’s black box, which contains flight data to help determine the cause of a crash, had been found, Interfax reported.
President Vladimir Putin expressed his condolences, while Mr Aliyev decided to return home from Russia where he had been due to attend a summit.
“Unfortunately, Azerbaijan’s President Aliyev was forced to leave St Petersburg [where he had a summit]. Putin has already called him and expressed his condolences in connection with the crash of the Azerbaijani plane in Aktau,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said.
“We deeply sympathise with those who lost their relatives and friends in this plane crash and wish a speedy recovery to all those who managed to survive.”
Ramzan Kadyrov, the Kremlin-backed leader of Chechnya, expressed his condolences in a statement and said some of those being treated in hospital were in an extremely serious condition and that he and others would pray for their recovery.
Kazakhstani, Azerbaijani and Russian authorities said they were investigating the crash. Embraer said in a statement it is “ready to assist all relevant authorities”.
Azerbaijan Airlines suspended all its flights from Baku to Russia’s Chechnya until the investigation is finished, Russia’s state TASS news agency reported.
Additional reporting by agencies
South Korean president denies second government summons
South Korea’s suspended president Yoon Suk Yeol did not respond to a second summons from the government’s anti-corruption authorities, who are investigating his short-lived martial law decree imposed earlier this month.
The Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials had summoned Mr Yoon for questioning on Christmas Day, but he failed to appear, marking the second time he has ignored their summons after doing so last week.
Mr Yoon did not appear for questioning as of 10am local time and the South Korean agency said it would continue to wait for the suspended president on Wednesday.
On 3 December, South Korea was thrown into political turmoil when then-president Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law, prompting troops to surround the parliament. He was subsequently impeached by the parliament as authorities began investigating allegations of rebellion related to the martial law decree.
Investigators are continuing to seek Mr Yoon’s cooperation, summoning him on Christmas Day despite his repeated refusals.
The agency would reportedly need to review the case of Mr Yoon imposing martial law in the country further before seeking an arrest warrant against him.
He also ignored a summons on 15 December from prosecutors investigating the martial law declaration.
As of now, the police, prosecutors, and the corruption investigation office have all launched probes into Mr Yoon and other officials over potential abuse of power, charges of insurrection, and crimes related to the recent declaration of martial law.
Mr Yoon’s repeated actions to avoid questioning by authorities have led to the opposition calling for his arrest, and criticism citing a potential destruction of evidence.
It is also counter to the suspended president’s own words earlier this month that he would not evade legal and political responsibility for his actions just days after the martial law declaration.
Police have so far arrested Mr Yoon’s defence minister, police chief, and several military commanders.
It is unclear what investigators can do if he continues to reject their demands to question him.
However, insurrection is one of the few charges for which a South Korean president does not have immunity.
Mr Yoon is willing to present his views during legal proceedings related to the martial law declaration, Reuters reported, citing a lawyer advising the suspended president.
At least 46 killed in Pakistani airstrike as Taliban vows retaliation
A Pakistani airstrike in Afghanistan’s Paktika province reportedly killed at least 46 people, mostly civilians, including children, according to Afghan Taliban spokesperson Hamdullah Fitrat.
Six more people, mostly children were wounded in the region, Mr Fitrat said, according to AFP.
“Barmal district of Paktika was bombed by the Pakistan Army late today. Most of civilians whom are Waziristani refugees, were targeted, and a number of civilians including children were martyred and injured,” the Afghani ministry of defence said in a statement.
Security officials, speaking to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity, said the airstrike targeted a training facility in Paktika province, bordering Afghanistan, with the aim of killing insurgents.
Local residents told the AP that at least 13 people were killed, adding that the toll could be even higher.
Meanwhile, Mohammad Khurasani, the spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban or Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), has claimed a toll of 50 people, including 27 women and children.
The TTP is a separate group and a close ally of the Afghan Taliban that seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021 as US and Nato troops withdrew from the country after 20 years of war.
Countries across the world have been hesitant to recognise Afghanistan’s Taliban government due to the harsh measures it has imposed since its takeover, especially in restricting the rights of women and minorities.
Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban government denounced Tuesday’s attack, calling it an “act of aggression” in violation of all international principles, claiming most of the victims were refugees from the Waziristan region.
“The Islamic Emirate will not leave this heinous act unanswered; rather, it considers it its right to defend its territory and sovereignty,” Afghanistan’s ministry of national defence said.
Pakistan’s government and military officials did not immediately comment on the alleged attacks.
The latest incident follows an earlier air strike by Pakistan on Afghanistan’s border that killed eight civilians in March.
Since the Taliban’s takeover, Afghanistan’s border tensions with Pakistan have escalated.
Islamabad has accused Taliban authorities of harbouring militant fighters and allowing them to strike Pakistan – allegations which Kabul has denied.
While Pakistan has experienced several militant attacks in the last two decades, there has been a marked uptick in recent months.
Islamabad has accused the Taliban of not doing enough to curtail militant activity across the shared border – an accusation that the Afghan Taliban denies, claiming it does not encourage attacks on any country.