New Zealand's Auckland is first major city to ring in 2024 as war shadows celebrations elsewhere - POLITICO

Fireworks burst from the Sky Tower in Auckland, New Zealand, to celebrate the New Year on Jan. 1, 2024. | Hayden Woodward/New Zealand Herald via AP

By Associated Press

12/31/2023 08:30 AM EST

Auckland has become the first major city to ring in 2024, with thousands cheering a fireworks display sprouting from New Zealand’s tallest structure, Sky Tower, and a downtown light show.

This year’s New Year’s Eve celebrations are overshadowed by the ongoing wars in Ukraine and Gaza, which have cast a pall over festivities and heightened tensions across parts of the world. Many cities are deploying extra security and some places have canceled New Year’s Eve events altogether.

In Auckland, light rain throughout Sunday had cleared as forecast by midnight over the city of 1.7 million people before the countdown began on an illuminated digital display near the top of the 328-meter (1,076-foot) communications and observation tower.

Two hours later in neighboring Australia, the Sydney Harbor Bridge will become the focal point of a renowned midnight fireworks display and light show viewed annually by around 425 million people worldwide, according to city authorities.

More police than ever have been deployed throughout Sydney to ensure safety as more than 1 million people — equivalent to one in five of the city’s population — converge on the harbor waterfront for the best available views, state government authorities said in a statement.

Many revelers have been camping at the best vantage points since Sunday morning.

The waterfront has been the scene of heated pro-Palestinian protests after the sails of the Sydney Opera House were illuminated in the colors of the Israeli flag in response to the Oct. 7 attack by Palestinian militant group Hamas that triggered the war.

In the Vatican, Pope Francis recalled 2023 as a year marked by war during a traditional Sunday blessing from a window overlooking St. Peter’s Square. He offered prayers for “the tormented Ukrainian people and the Palestinian and Israeli populations, the Sudanese people and many others.”

“At the end of the year, we will have the courage to ask ourselves how many human lives have been shattered by armed conflict, how many dead and how much destruction, how much suffering, how much poverty,” the pontiff said. “Whoever has interest in these conflicts, listen to the voice of conscience.”

In New York’s Times Square, officials and party organizers say they are prepared to welcome tens of thousands of revelers to the heart of midtown Manhattan and ensure their safety.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams said there were “no specific threats” to the annual New Year’s Eve bash, which will feature live performances from Flo Rida, Megan Thee Stallion and LL Cool J, as well as televised appearances from Cardi B and others. Organizers said in-person attendance is expected to return to pre-COVID levels, even as foot traffic around Times Square remains down slightly since the pandemic.

Amid near-daily protests in New York sparked by the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, police said they would expand the security perimeter around the party, creating a “buffer zone” that will allow them to head off potential demonstrations.

“We will be out here with our canines, on horseback, our helicopters, our boats,” Adams said. Officials will also monitor protests with drones, he said. “But as we saw last year, after having no specific threats, we get a threat.”

During last year’s New Year’s Eve party, a machete-wielding man attacked three police officers a few blocks from Times Square.

Security will also be heightened across European cities on Sunday.

In France, 90,000 law enforcement officers are set to be deployed, domestic intelligence chief Céline Berthon said Friday.

Of those, 6,000 will be in Paris, where French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said over 1.5 million people are expected to attend celebrations on the Champs-Elysees.

Darmanin cited a “very high terrorist threat” because, in part, of “what is happening in Israel and Palestine,” referring to the Israel-Hamas war.

Darmanin said that police for the first time will be able to use drones as part of security work and that tens of thousands of firefighters and 5,000 soldiers would also be deployed.

New Year’s Eve celebrations in the French capital will center on the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, including DJ sets, fireworks and video projections on the Arc de Triomphe, highlighting “changes in the city and faces of the Games,” according to the press service of the City of Paris. Other planned events include “the largest Mexican wave ever performed” and a “giant karaoke.”

The security challenge ahead of the Olympics was highlighted when a tourist was killed in a knife attack near the Eiffel Tower on Dec. 2. Large-scale attacks — such as that at the Bataclan in 2015, when Islamic extremists invaded the music hall and shot up cafe terraces, killing 130 people — also loom large.

In Berlin, some 4,500 police officers are expected to keep order and avoid riots like a year ago. Police in the German capital issued a ban on the traditional use of fire crackers for several streets across the city. They also banned a pro-Palestinian protest in the Neukoelln neighborhood of the city, which has seen several pro-Palestinian riots since the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas.

In Russia, the country’s military actions in Ukraine have overshadowed end-of-year celebrations, with the usual fireworks and concert on Moscow’s Red Square canceled, as last year.

After shelling in the center of the Russian border city of Belgorod on Saturday killed 24 people, some local authorities across Russia also canceled their usual firework displays, including in Vladivostok. Millions throughout Russia are expected to tune into Russian President Vladimir Putin’s New Year’s address.

In Muslim-majority Pakistan, the government has banned all New Year’s Eve celebrations as an act of solidarity with the Palestinians.

In an overnight televised message, caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar urged Pakistanis to “show solidarity with the oppressed people of Gaza” by beginning the new year with simplicity.

Kakar said Muslims across the world were saddened over Israel’s attacks on Gaza that resulted in the killings of thousands of innocent people.

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Drone attacks launched against Russia after deadliest airstrike on Ukraine - New York Post

The death toll in Ukraine increased to 39 a day after the biggest Russian air assault on the country since the beginning of the nearly two-year-old conflict, according to reports.

“Almost 120 cities and villages have been affected with hundreds of civilian objects damaged,” said Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky in a post on X Saturday, adding the attack resulted 159 wounded in the Friday assault which saw Russia launch more than 150 missiles and drones at Ukrainian targets over 18 hours.

In his tweet, Zelensky pushed the West to continue to help his country in the now long-running battle.

“Weapons in the hands of Ukrainians are always a means of protecting lives, and each manifestation of Russian terror repeatedly proves that we cannot delay assistance to those who stand against terror,” he said. “Together, we must defeat it.”

As Ukraine dug out from the aftermath of the attack, Russian authorities said their military had shot down dozens of missiles and drones Saturday which left 14 people, including two children, dead in the country’s southwest.

Russian emergency workers extinguish a car fire following Ukrainian retaliatory air strikes on Russia Saturday. via REUTERS

Firefighters in Kharkiv, Ukraine, put out fire after a Russian missile attack in the region. Russia launched its biggest airstrikes against Ukraine Friday. Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images

Units in the country’s Belgorod region had thwarted “an attempt by the Kyiv regime to carry out a terrorist attack”, the Russian defense ministry said.

Vyacheslav Gladkov, governor of the Belgorod region, said a man had been killed when a house was struck.

Four people were being treated for injuries and 10 private homes sustained damage and the water supply in the city of Belgorod was disrupted, Gladkov said, according to reports.

Meanwhile, the number of Russian military casualties — killed and wounded — continued to rise to nearly 300 per day compared to last year, the United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defense said Saturday in a post on X.

Ukrainian residents at a housing complex in Odesa survey the damage after a Russian airstrike on Friday. ZUMAPRESS.com

Firefighters work to extinguish burning cars in Belgorod in Russia after a series of deadly Ukrainian airstrikes. Ukraine blasted Russia in a retaliatory air campaign on Saturday. via REUTERS

“The increase in daily averages, as reported by Ukraine authorities, almost certainly reflects the degradation of Russia’s forces and its transition to a lower quality, high quantity mass army since the ‘partial mobilization’ of reservists in September 2022,” said the ministry’s Intelligence Update, adding it will likely between five and ten years for Russia to rebuild the highly trained part of its military units.

“If casualties continue at the current rate, by 2025 Russia will have sustained 500,000 military personnel killed and wounded in over three years of war,” the briefing continued. “This is compared to the Soviet Union’s 70,000 casualties in the nine-year Soviet Afghan War.”

with Post wires

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Flooded UK tunnels force Eurostar to cancel all London trains - Reuters

[unable to retrieve full-text content]

1. Flooded UK tunnels force Eurostar to cancel all London trains  Reuters
2. Flooded U.K. tunnels force Eurostar to cancel all London trains Saturday  MarketWatch
3. ‘Not what I had in mind’: Eurostar cancellations leave thousands stranded  The Guardian
4. Eurostar chaos: How can I get home and what are my rights?  The Independent
5. Flooding forces Eurostar to scrap cross-channel journeys  Financial Times

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North Korea says it is preparing for war with the U.S. - NPR

NPR's Michel Martin asks Jenny Town of the Stimson Center, a nonprofit foreign affairs think tank, about how to interpret Kim Jong Un's rhetoric.

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

North Korea says it is preparing for war with the United States. State media reported that leader Kim Jong Un was ordering accelerated military preparations to counter what he called unprecedented, confrontational moves by the U.S. Jenny Town is a senior fellow at the Stimson Center - it's a foreign affairs think tank - where she directs its 38 North program that focuses on North Korea. And she's here with us to talk about all this. Jenny Town, welcome. Thank you for joining us.

JENNY TOWN: Thank you for having me.

MARTIN: So I want to mention here that we have heard similar rhetoric from North Korea before. So I have two questions about this. Why now? And how concerned should the U.S. be about this?

TOWN: I mean, you're right. We have heard a lot of this, especially towards the end of the year now. I think we need to keep in mind a couple of things. One, they're doing sort of their State of the Union sort of address here at their - at the Workers' Party meeting that's going on right now at the plenary and wrapping up what they see as what they've accomplished for the year, what their challenges are going to be and what their goals for the next years are going to be, as well. It's important to keep that in mind. But also, the complaints that they have are pretty consistent of the way that the U.S. and South Korea have been doing back-to-back military - large-scale, live-fire military exercises for months on end. The increase in, you know, nuclear consultation - the things that are going on with that, the North Koreans consider to be practicing war and that they are sort of mirroring that language back to the U.S.

MARTIN: So that's what they mean by - so that's what he meant by unprecedented confrontational moves.

TOWN: Yes. So it's a lot of - the more the U.S. and South Korea talk about nuclear consultation and the nuclear exercises and things like this, the more we hear this rhetoric out of North Korea that they're sort of doing the same. If you're going to plan for this, we're going to plan for it, too.

MARTIN: Now, how plausible is it that North Korea might have the ability to ramp up a military that poses a real threat?

TOWN: Well, you know, it definitely has the ability to ramp up. How much of a threat that really is at the end of the day, you know, is questionable. But how much of a threat are we willing to tolerate, either? You know, the geography requires very little to be damaging, right? And so here's the question - is, you know, as they're ramping up, is it - are they actually ramping up for war? Or are they ramping up rhetoric? And I think that's the - a big open question these days.

MARTIN: So is there any scenario under which North Korea could be persuaded to give up its nuclear weapons? Or is that just wishful thinking?

TOWN: Well, these days, it's wishful thinking. We have crossed a line where the North Koreans see their nuclear weapons program in a very different way than they did in 2017, for instance, and even in 2018, where they were willing to negotiate about the nuclear program. The difference now is that they've enshrined it into law, as well as now a constitutional amendment mandating the continued development of WMD. So everything dealing with North Korea's nuclear program going forward is going to be that much harder.

And the real challenge here is, how do you convince an insecure country to disarm? We're not preventing them from getting nuclear weapons. They have nuclear weapons. The question is - now is, how do we convince them that they're better off without nuclear weapons? And certainly, the more we remind them that we could destroy them at any time, you know, with our nuclear weapons, the hard - to make that case.

MARTIN: That's fascinating. This was really helpful and interesting. How would you assess the progress of its nuclear program?

TOWN: It's made leaps and bounds. You know, it really did set goals. It knocked them down one by one. And now with the increased cooperation with Russia, it has the potential to do a lot more.

MARTIN: That's Jenny Town. She's a senior fellow at the Stimson Center. That's a foreign affairs think tank where she, as you just heard, focuses on North Korea. Jenny Town, thank you so much.

TOWN: Thanks for having me on.

Copyright © 2023 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

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Russia unleashes biggest air attack on Ukraine since start of full-scale invasion - CNN

Kyiv, Ukraine CNN  — 

Russia has launched the biggest air attack on Ukraine since the beginning of its full-scale invasion, the Ukrainian military told CNN, with an unprecedented number of drones and missiles fired at targets across the country, killing at least 26 people and injuring more than 120 others.

The wave of attacks began overnight into Friday and struck nationwide, with blasts reported in the capital Kyiv, as well as at a maternity hospital in the central city of Dnipro, the eastern city of Kharkiv, the southeastern port of Odesa, and the western city of Lviv, far from the frontlines.

The strikes continued Friday afternoon, Ukraine’s air force said, as a barrage of missiles targeted the northern Cherkasy region, with one hitting the city of Smilla. Other missiles were detected from Russia’s Kursk region heading towards the northeastern Ukrainian city of Sumy.

“It’s been a long time since we have seen so many enemy targets on our monitors in all regions and all directions,” Yurii Ihnat, spokesperson for Ukraine’s air force, told national television. “Everything was being fired.”

Russia used 158 drones and missiles, including hypersonic Kinzhal missiles, cruise missiles and Shahed drones, to strike targets in Kyiv, the east, south and west of the country, Ukraine’s air force said.

Ukrainian servicemen near the front line town of Marinka, in Donetsk region.

Viacheslav Ratynskyi/Reuters

Ukraine’s hopes for victory fade in the face of waning Western support and Putin’s relentless war machine

“Today the enemy has struck a powerful blow. There are downed targets, however unfortunately there are also casualties,” Ihnat added.

The Polish military reported an “unidentified airborne object” entered Polish airspace from Ukrainian territory early Friday morning.

Chief of the General Staff, General Wiesław Kukuła, said everything indicated that a Russian missile had entered and then left Polish airspace, official Polish news agency PAP reported.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia used “nearly every type of weapon in its arsenal” in the “terrorist strikes,” to which he pledged Ukraine’s military would respond.

The massive overnight assault comes just days after Ukraine struck a Russian Navy landing ship in Crimea on Tuesday, causing severe damage to the vessel in another major blow to Moscow’s Black Sea fleet.

But the onslaught also came shortly after Ukraine received the last package of military aid from the United States until Congress approves the Biden administration’s funding request.

Nearly two years since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his unprovoked invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Zelensky is facing a largely-stalled counteroffensive while Western aid has begun to dry up.

Workers clear the road near a maternity hospital in Dnipro that was destroyed by a Russian missile strike, December 29, 2023.

Thomas Peter/Reuters

In Kyiv at least seven people were killed and dozens injured after Russia targeted a metro station and residential buildings.

Kharkiv was hit by a “massive attack,” Ukrainian Prime Minster Denys Shmyhal said, with more than 20 strikes reported in the region, including on a hospital. At least three people were killed and 11 injured in the strikes, according to regional military administration head Oleh Syniehubov.

At least four people were killed and 10 people were injured in the southern region of Zaporizhzhia, the regional military administration head Yurif Malashko said on Telegram. Emergency workers are still working to see if people are trapped under the rubble of collapsed buildings. Malashko said the region had been targeted by 10 missiles, including Kinzhal missiles, of which one was intercepted.

Further south, a school building was hit in Odesa, injuring seven people, including a child. At least three people were killed and 22 injured – including two children and a pregnant woman – in strikes elsewhere in the region, according to Oleh Kiper, head of Odesa region military administration. At least 18 people were hospitalized.

And in the central city of Dnipro, six people have been confirmed killed, and thirty people were injured in the missile strikes.

Elsewhere in the city, 12 pregnant women and four newborn babies had a lucky escape, with video showing extensive damage to a maternity hospital after a Russian missile struck early Friday.

Had the missile made its impact even closer to the hospital and had staff not responded quickly to air raid warnings, there would likely have been significant casualties, according to Ukrainian officials.

Iryna Kulbach, the head of the obstetrics department at the hospital, said “Windows were smashed in the building and the ceilings were broken. But all the patients and medical staff are safe.”

Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry said Russia had targeted “Ukrainian women, children, the elderly, and civilians.”

“The crimes that Russia has committed in Ukraine today are its revenge for its inability to turn the tide of the battle in the fight against the Ukrainian defense forces,” it said in a statement.

Without referring directly to Friday’s attacks, the Russian Defense Ministry said its army had “carried out 50 group strikes and one mass strike with high-precision weapons and unmanned aerial vehicles” in the period from December 23 to 29, claiming it had only struck military targets.

Meanwhile, the US Embassy in Kyiv warned Americans Friday that it “anticipates there may be an increase in Russian drone and missile attacks during the New Year holiday weekend.”

The head of Ukraine’s Presidential Office, Andriy Yermak, called for support as his country battles Russian airstrikes.

“A massive terrorist attack, rockets are flying at our cities again, and civilians are being targeted,” Yermak said in a Telegram post on Friday.

“Ukraine needs support. We will be even stronger, we are doing everything to strengthen our air shield. But the world needs to see that we need more support and strength to stop this terror.”

Firefighters respond after a building was damaged following a Russian attack in Kyiv on December 29, 2023.

Ukrainian Emergency Service/AP

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the European Union will support Ukraine “for as long as it takes.”

“We have stood by Ukraine since day one of Russia’s war of aggression. With almost €85 billion [$94 billion] in financial, humanitarian and military support,” she wrote on X.

The latest proposed package of EU aid to Ukraine was blocked by Hungary earlier this month, but a majority of members are exploring the use of different mechanisms to continue providing financial assistance to Ukraine. Von der Leyen said Brussels was “working very hard” to reach an agreement between 27 member states.

Following the attacks the United Kingdom’s defense minister Grant Shapps said the UK is sending “hundreds of air defense missiles” to Ukraine, to “restock British gifted air defense systems capable of striking down Russian drones and missiles with incredible accuracy.”

‘The house was shaking’

The Ukrainian Air Force said it recorded “the departure of 9 Tu-95MS strategic bombers from the ‘Olenya’ airfield in the Murmansk region of Russia.” The Tu-95 bomber is a mainstay of Russia’s aerial attacks on Ukraine, able to launch cruise missiles against its neighbor out of the range of most air-defense systems.

In Kyiv, air raid sirens sounded for several hours overnight. Residents told CNN later Friday how they were woken by the attacks.

“It was very loud, the house was shaking, it was very scary,” said Viktoria Krasyuk. “It seems like you’ve been living in this for many months, but it still causes emotions, it’s still very difficult, it’s very hard to decide whether to stay or go somewhere, or even leave (the country).”

A man named Sehiy told CNN the attack was a reminder that Russia’s “goal is the same – to destroy Ukraine as a state.”

“Unfortunately, Russia is learning to fight. It is learning to fight, including from us Ukrainians. They are accumulating ammunition, everything else they need,” he said.

Smoke rises from a building damaged in Russia's missile attack in Kyiv, December 29, 2023.

Efrem Lukatsky/AP

A firefighter arrives at the scene of a Russian missile strike in Kharkiv, December 29, 2023.

Yevhen Titov/Reuters

Trains were halted as a building was damaged at Lukianivska subway station in central Kyiv, which is also operating as a shelter, mayor Klitschko said.

Many were wounded and a search for victims is underway after a warehouse caught fire in the Podilskyi district of the capital region, the head of Kyiv’s military administration, Serhiy Popko, said in a Telegram post.

In Lviv, which borders Poland, the head of the regional military administration said that at least 15 people had been injured, with damage reported in 13 residential buildings and two schools. The National Basketball Federation later announced that one of the country’s most celebrated basketball players, Viktor Kobzystyi, had died in the strikes on the city.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said he wished the “loud sound of explosions” heard across Ukraine Friday morning “could be heard all around the world.”

“In all major capitals, headquarters, and parliaments, which are currently debating further support for Ukraine. In all newsrooms, which are writing about ‘fatigue’ or Russia purportedly being ready for ‘negotiations,’” he wrote on X.

“These sounds are what Russia really has to say. Our only collective response can and must be continued, robust, and long-term military and financial assistance to Ukraine. Only greater firepower can silence Russian terror.”

CNN’s Tim Lister, Radina Gigova and Jennifer Hansler contributed reporting.

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Israeli-American Judith Weinstein confirmed murdered on Oct. 7, body held in Gaza - The Times of Israel

Kibbutz Nir Oz announced on Thursday that its resident, Judith Weinstein Haggai — previously believed held hostage — was murdered during Hamas’s October 7 terror onslaught and her body is being held in Gaza.

The development came less than a week after the kibbutz announced that Judith’s husband, Gadi Haggai, initially thought to be held hostage, was also killed during the events of October 7. His body is still being held by Hamas.

In response to the news, US President Joe Biden issued a statement saying that “Jill and I are devastated to learn” of her death.

“This tragic development cuts deep, coming on the heels of last week’s news that Judy’s beloved husband, Gad Haggai, is believed to have been killed by Hamas,” he continued. “We are holding Judy and Gad’s four children, seven grandchildren, and other loved ones close to our hearts.”

Biden added: “I will never forget what their daughter, and the family members of other Americans held hostage in Gaza, have shared with me. They have been living through hell for weeks. No family should have to endure such an ordeal.”

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Haggai and Weinstein, both dual Israeli-American citizens, were on their morning walk when gunfire erupted and missiles streaked across the sky on October 7.

Taking cover in a field, they could hear a recorded voice from an alert system for their kibbutz in southern Israel.

“What did she say?” Weinstein asked in Hebrew as she captured the scene on video.

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“Red alert,” her 72-year-old husband said, referring to the warning for incoming rocket fire.

In this undated, unknown location photo released by Iris Weinstein Haggai, Judith Weinstein sits with Gad Haggai as they pose for a photo. (Iris Weinstein Haggai via AP)

Weinstein shared the 40-second video clip in a group chat that morning, when Hamas invaded Nir Oz during its terror onslaught, in the couple’s last contact with their family.

Weinstein was a longtime member of Nir Oz along with her husband. She was a mother of four and grandmother to seven, and is also survived by her 95-year-old mother.

She was an English teacher who worked with children with special needs, and also used meditation and mindfulness techniques to treat children suffering from anxiety caused by years of rocket fire that have plagued residents of the Gaza border area.

“She was a poet and an entrepreneur who loved to create and was dedicated to working for peace and friendship,” the kibbutz’s statement read.

The couple are among the eight US citizens and Green Card holders still in Gaza.

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After Gadi was confirmed dead last week, Biden issued a statement saying he was “heartbroken by the news,” and that he was praying “for the well-being and safe return of his wife, Judy.”

War erupted on October 7 after approximately 3,000 Hamas terrorists stormed into Israel on October 7, massacring some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and capturing approximately 240 other Israelis and foreigners.

In response, Israel launched a military offensive aimed at toppling Hamas’s rule in Gaza, which has ruled there since 2007.

It is believed that 129 hostages kidnapped on October 7 remain in Gaza — including 22 bodies — after 105 civilians were released from Hamas captivity during a weeklong truce in late November. Four hostages were released prior to that, and one was rescued by troops.

The bodies of 11 hostages have also been recovered, including three hostages who were mistakenly shot dead by IDF troops. Hamas is also holding the bodies of fallen IDF soldiers Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin since 2014, as well as two Israeli civilians, Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed, who are both thought to be alive after entering the Strip of their own accord in 2014 and 2015, respectively.

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Kim Jong Un tells committee North Korea must cooperate with 'anti-imperialist' countries against US - Fox News

Supreme leader of North Korea Kim Jong Un spoke at a key meeting of the rogue nation's ruling party, underscoring his desire to align with foreign nations against U.S. interests in the region.

Speaking from the stage and backed by large, crimson displays bearing the Workers' Party of Korea emblem, Kim offered the "direction of struggle" for the upcoming year.

"He set forth the militant tasks for the People's Army and the munitions industry, nuclear weapons and civil defense sectors to further accelerate the war preparations, on the basis of in-depth analysis of the grave political and military situation in the Korean peninsula which reached [the] extreme due to the anti-DPRK confrontation moves of the US and its vassal forces unprecedented in history.," Korean Central News Agency reported.

NORTH KOREAN ELITES ATTEND YEAR-END CEREMONY IN EXPENSIVE MERCEDES SEDANS, DESPITE LUXURY GOODS BAN

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attends the December 2023 plenary meeting of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, in Pyongyang. (Korean Central News Agency via Reuters)

The abbreviation "DPRK" stands for the "Democratic People's Republic of Korea," the country's official name.

The KCNA report continued, "[Kim] clarified the independent principle of the WPK to expand and develop the relations of strategic cooperation with the anti-imperialist independent countries and dynamically wage the anti-imperialist joint action and struggle on an international scale under the rapidly changing world geo-political situation and indicated the orientation of the external affairs and the work towards the south."

KCNA is a North Korean state media outlet, owned, operated and published by the ruling authoritarian government.

KIM JONG UN PERSONALLY OVERSEES LAUNCH OF NORTH KOREA'S MOST POWERFUL ICBM YET

Kim Jong Un speaks at the 8th annual Workers' Party plenary committee meeting in Pyongyang, emphasizing the importance of continued military expansion and diplomatic relations with "anti-imperialist" powers in the coming year. (KRT via Reuters)

North Korea has worked extensively in the past year to increase cooperation with its regional allies Russia and the People's Republic of China.

Kim has been in communication with both Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin – to meet the latter face to face, the supreme leader made a rare trip out of the country by train.

The Central Committee of the North Korean Workers' Party gathered in Pyongyang on Tuesday for the multi-day plenary meeting to review policies leading into the new year.

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The meeting of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, in Pyongyang, North Korea. (KCNA via Reuters)

Kim already spoke at the party meeting in Pyongyang, where he called 2023 a "year of great turn and great change" and a "year of great importance." 

He said Tuesday that the last year in North Korea has achieved "eye-opening victories and events achieved in all fields for socialist construction and the strengthening of the national power."

While the supreme leader of North Korea has historically been expected to deliver a New Year's Day speech to the people, Kim has delivered the yearly recap speech at Workers' Party meetings since 2020.

Timothy Nerozzi is a writer for Fox News Digital. You can follow him on Twitter @timothynerozzi and can email him at timothy.nerozzi@fox.com

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Alexei Navalny: ‘I’m fine’ says Kremlin critic from remote Arctic penal colony - The Guardian

The jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny said he was “fine” after a “pretty exhausting” 20-day transfer to a penal colony beyond the Arctic Circle.

The Kremlin critic’s whereabouts had been unknown for more than two weeks, but he is in a penal colony in Russia’s far north and has been visited by his lawyer, his supporters have said.

“Don’t worry about me. I’m fine. I’m totally relieved that I’ve finally made it,” Navalny wrote on X on Tuesday after arriving at the colony known as Polar Wolf.

“I’m still in a good mood, as befits a Santa Claus,” he said, referring to his winter clothing of sheepskin coat and fur hat and the beard he grew during his transportation.

The US state department said it remained “deeply concerned for Mr Navalny’s wellbeing and the conditions of his unjust detention”.

Navalny mobilised huge anti-government protests before being jailed in 2021 after surviving an assassination attempt by poisoning.

He has spent most of his detention at the IK-6 penal colony in the Vladimir region, 250 kilometres (155 miles) east of Moscow.

A court in August extended his sentence to 19 years on extremism charges, and ruled he be moved to a harsher “special regime” prison for particularly dangerous prisoners.

Allies said his transfer could be linked to the upcoming presidential election in March, ahead of which many Kremlin critics have been jailed or fled.

“Right from the start it was clear that the authorities want to isolate Alexei, especially ahead of the elections,” said Ivan Zhdanov, who manages Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation.

Navalny has been sent to “one of the furthest north and most remote colonies of all”, Zhdanov added.

According to the regional prison service website, the colony was built in the 1960s on the site of a camp that was part of the Stalin-era labour camp network, known as the Gulag. It can house up to 1,020 prisoners.

Inmates are put to work treating reindeer skins.

One major difference from his previous prison camp is that any letters will take much longer to reach Navalny.

Navalny posted on X that he arrived at the Arctic penal colony in the village of Kharp on Saturday and was visited by his lawyer on Monday.

Kharp is located above the Arctic Circle, over 1,900 kilometres (1,200 miles) north-east of Moscow. Its name means northern lights in the local Nenets language, and it is locked in the dark of the polar night in midwinter.

Navalny wrote that from his window “I can see the night, then the evening, and then the night again”.

Prisoner transfers in Russia can take weeks as inmates are moved by train to far-flung facilities.

“I didn’t expect anyone to find me here before mid-January,” Navalny wrote, adding that he had seen little of his surroundings except for a snow-covered adjoining cell used as a yard and a fence outside his window.

“Unfortunately, there are no reindeer, but there are huge fluffy and very beautiful shepherd dogs,” he said.

Temperatures in Kharp are expected to go down to -26C (-14.8F) in the coming days.

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Alexei Navalny: ‘I’m fine’ says Kremlin critic from remote Arctic penal colony - The Guardian
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Russia confirms Ukraine destroyed its warship in Crimea attack - Al Jazeera English

One person reported killed in attack that targeted the Novocherkassk, which Ukraine said was being used to transport Russian drones.

Russia has acknowledged a Ukrainian attack has damaged a warship in the occupied Crimean port of Feodosia in what Ukraine and its Western allies called a major setback for the Russian navy.

Ukraine’s air force said earlier that it had “destroyed” the Novocherkassk landing ship, with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy joking on social media that the vessel had now joined “the Russian underwater Black Sea fleet”.

Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu informed President Vladimir Putin “about the damage to our large landing ship” in what a “very detailed report”, the president’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists.

The Novocherkassk is a large landing ship that can be used for transporting soldiers as well as tanks and armoured vehicles, and Ukraine said it attacked the vessel at a base in the southern coast of Russian-occupied Crimea. Kyiv said it suspected the ship was transporting Iranian-made explosive drones that Russia has used regularly to attack Ukraine since it began its full scale invasion in February 2022.

One person was killed and four were injured in the attack, the Moscow-installed governor of Crimea, Sergey Aksyonov, said, adding that six buildings had been damaged and their residents evacuated.

Aksyonov said the strike triggered a fire that had been brought under control.

Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 in a move Ukraine and the West condemned as illegal, and has not been internationally recognised.

Feodosia, which has a population of about 69,000 people.

Ukraine’s range ‘increasing’

Ukrainian officials celebrated the attack, which comes amid fierce fighting on the front line in the country’s east.

Ukrainian commander Mykola Oleshchuk shared a video of an explosion at the Feodosia naval base and wrote: “The fleet in Russia is getting smaller and smaller! Thanks to the Air Force pilots and everyone involved for the filigree work!”

On Telegram, Zelenskyy wrote: “I am grateful to our Air Force for the impressive replenishment of the Russian underwater Black Sea fleet with another vessel. The occupiers will not have a single peaceful place in Ukraine.”

The Black Sea, which Ukraine needs to export its grain, has been a key battleground in the continuing war.

Russia’s Black Sea Fleet is based in the port of Sevastopol and Moscow has used the fleet to fire missiles at Ukrainian cities and to blockade Ukraine’s coastline.

Ukraine has stepped up attacks on Crimea, helping it win back limited control of the Black Sea and, at times, push Russian warships further east.

Yuriy Ihnat, Ukrainian Air Force spokesperson, said he thought it would be hard for the Novocherkassk to re-enter service.

“We can see how powerful the explosion was, what the detonation was like. After that, it’s very hard for a ship to survive, because this was not a rocket, this is the detonation of munitions,” he told Radio Free Europe.

Claims and counterclaims

Ukraine and Russia have often exaggerated the losses they claim to have inflicted on the other since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

In recent days, Moscow has claimed to have taken control of the eastern city of Maryinka, which Kyiv has denied.

Ukraine and Russia have also each claimed success in shooting down the other’s fighter planes, with each side denying any losses.

In April 2022, Ukraine sank cruiser Moskva, the Soviet-era flagship of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet.

Moscow said “a detonation of ammunition” triggered a fire and forced the crew to evacuate, and the ship sank as it was being towed to port.

Sergei Markov, a former Kremlin adviser, said on Telegram it was obvious that Russia would not release detailed information about the attack at a time of war, but that it needed to do more to protect its assets in Crimea.

“It’s clear that Crimea’s air defence systems must be strengthened. And it is clear that it [Ukraine] needs to be deprived of the opportunity to hit Russia,” Markov said.

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Ukrainian Air Force Claims Destruction Of Russian Ship In Crimea; Moscow Confirms Missile Strike - Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

KYIV --Russia on December 25 said its forces had captured the strategic Donetsk region town of Maryinka in eastern Ukraine, but Kyiv disputed the claim, reporting that its troops had repelled three “unsuccessful attacks” near the ruined and nearly deserted community.

Live Briefing: Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine

RFE/RL's Live Briefing gives you all of the latest developments on Russia's full-scale invasion, Kyiv's counteroffensive, Western military aid, global reaction, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war in Ukraine, click here.

"It's not correct to talk about seizing Maryinka," Ukrainian military spokesman Oleksandr Shtupun told Ukrainian TV following claims made by Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu during a televised meeting with President Vladimir Putin.

"The fighting for Maryinka continues,” Shtupun said.

“Currently, our servicemen are within the administrative borders of Maryinka, but the city has been completely destroyed,” he added.

Maryinka is a relatively small town -- with a prewar population under 10,000 -- but, according to British intelligence, the Russian military has been seeking to capture it in order to advance further west and better protect occupied Donetsk city.

The fighting comes as Ukraine celebrated Christmas on December 25 for the first time instead of the traditional January date of past years.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy signed a law in July moving the official holiday to December 25 from January 7, the day observed by the Russian Orthodox Church. The law stated its goal was to “abandon the Russian heritage” following Moscow's decision to invade in February 2022.

The switch brings Ukraine's Orthodox worshippers in line with the country's Catholics, who earlier this year approved a similar change in calendars.

Photo Gallery:

Frontline Ukrainian Troops Celebrate First Christmas According To Western Calendar

As Kyiv's forces fight on the front line on December 24 in the Kharkiv region, soldiers took time to celebrate Christmas according to the Western Calendar. Ukraine is officially celebrating Christmas for the first time on December 25 instead of the January date more closely linked to Russia.

Ukraine’s military on Christmas Day said its forces shot down dozens of Iranian-made Shahed drones and claimed to have blasted another two Russian fighter jets from the sky, adding to previous claims of mounting success against enemy air assaults.

Ukrainian military authorities said the jets had been downed late on December 24, following reports that the country’s forces had shot down three jets in the previous two days, as Kyiv and Moscow exchanged unconfirmed claims that enemy warplanes had been downed. It also said 38 Shahed drones had been shot down.

One of the Russian jets was downed in the area of occupied Mariupol, a Ukrainian official said.

"It has been confirmed that our anti-aircraft missile system hit an Su-34 fighter-bomber in the Mariupol sector. It did not return to its airfield," Air Force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk said on Telegram,

Reports from either side could not immediately be independently verified.

But they come as Kyiv awaits delivery in the coming days of the long-desired first shipment of advanced F-16 fighter jets as Ukraine attempts to counter Russia’s air supremacy over occupied territory.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian military spokesman Shtupun in Ukraine’s Tavria region said Russian occupying forces are "increasingly" refusing to take part in assault operations at the front lines.

“There is information about an increasing number of occupiers' refusals to participate in assault operations. In particular, this was seen in the units of [Russia’s] 1st Army Corps," he said.

Elsewhere on the battlefield, the Ukrainian military reported the movement of Russian tanks in the Mariupol district.

"Over the weekend, the movement of tanks -- at least five units -- with modern modifications was detected through Mariupol in the direction of Berdyansk," said Petro Andryushchenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s Mariupol mayor.

Mariupol was occupied by Russian troops in the spring of 2022 after a long siege and street fighting. The city was badly damaged. Currently, it is located at a considerable distance from the front line, but Ukrainian forces periodically launch missile strikes on Russian military facilities in Mariupol.

Ukraine also announced good news on Christmas Day on the economic front, saying it had received $1.34 billion in financing, mostly through the World Bank -- funds that will be partially used to compensate social programs for monies lost to security and defense financial needs.

The Finance Ministry said the package consisted of a $1.086 billion loan from the World Bank, a $190 million grant from Norway, $50 million from the United States, and $20 million from Switzerland.

"International financial assistance is a significant contribution to maintaining the financial and economic stability of Ukraine and allows us to ensure priority social expenditures during the war," Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko said.

"Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the governments of Japan, the United States, Norway, and Switzerland have repeatedly demonstrated their unwavering support and solidarity to Ukraine," he added.

With reporting by Reuters

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Yemen's Houthis claim responsibility for Red Sea container ship attack - Reuters

[unable to retrieve full-text content]

1. Yemen's Houthis claim responsibility for Red Sea container ship attack  Reuters
2. Iran-backed Houthis attack another container ship transiting Red Sea  Fox Business
3. Houthis say they carried out drone attack on Israeli port of Eilat  Al Jazeera English
4. Container Ship Attacked by Houthi Rebels in Red Sea Conflict  Bloomberg
5. Yemen's Houthis carry out attacks on Israeli city of Eilat  The Jerusalem Post

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Israeli airstrikes kill more than 100 as assault on Gaza widens - The Guardian

The Gaza Strip is facing some of the deadliest fighting to date in the present war as Israel expands its offensive just days after the UN security council passed a resolution calling for more aid and urgent steps for a sustainable ceasefire.

More than 100 people were killed in Israeli airstrikes late on Sunday in the centre of the besieged Palestinian territory, including at least 70 in bombings that hit a residential block in the Maghazi refugee camp near Deir al-Balah, health officials in the Hamas-controlled exclave said.

Deir al-Balah was also hit overnight despite previously being identified by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) as an “evacuation zone” for Palestinians fleeing the fighting.

The Palestinian Red Crescent published footage from al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital, in Deir al-Balah, showing dazed and bloodied children covered in rubble dust. There were also dozens of white body bags.

At the scene of the attack on Maghazi, people screamed and shouted in the dark as they tried to dig for survivors from the collapsed buildings.

“We were all targeted,” Ahmad Turkomani, who lost several family members, including his daughter and grandson, told the Associated Press. “There is no safe place in Gaza anyway.”

The Israeli military said it was reviewing the Maghazi incident.

The latest casualties came after an earlier announcement on Sunday from the Gaza health ministry that Israeli airstrikes had killed 166 Palestinians in 24 hours, one of the single deadliest days of the 12-week-old conflict.

More than 20,400 Palestinians have been killed since Israel declared war in response to the 7 October attack by Hamas on Israel, in which the Palestinian militant group killed 1,140 people and seized another 240 as hostages.

This year’s Christmas celebrations across Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories were cancelled in solidarity with the people of Gaza.

Instead of the traditional parade and joyous midnight service in the occupied West Bank town of Bethlehem, where Jesus was believed to have been born, Palestinian Christians held a subdued mass with hymns and prayers for peace.

“This day is supposed to be a day of love and happiness but look around you, there are no smiles on people’s faces. Bethlehem is sad and dark. There are no decorations, no carols or a Christmas tree,” said the Reverend Louis Salman. “I blame the decision-makers who watch what is happening to the children of Gaza and do nothing.”

For Israel, the war has also exacted what the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, called on Sunday a “very heavy cost” – 15 Israeli soldiers have been killed in intense ground skirmishes with Hamas since Friday, bringing the total to 156 combat losses.

Hamas cells are using IEDs, ambushes and their extensive tunnel network to inflict significant losses on the Israel Defence Forces in house-to-house combat, aided by knowledge of the densely packed urban territory.

Despite the long-awaited UN security council resolution, on Friday, which called for urgent action from all parties to work towards a ceasefire, fighting on the ground has intensified since the collapse of the seven-day truce at the start of December.

Israel has expanded its operations into the southern half of the 365-sq-km strip, raising fears for the territory’s 2.3 million residents, almost all of whom have already sought shelter south of the Gaza River after being told by the Israeli army it would be safer there.

The UN has warned that a quarter of the population is starving and that an increase in aid since 17 December amounts to a fraction of what is needed for people to survive the cold and wet winter conditions.

Aid that did arrive, the World Food Programme said, was difficult to distribute because of the fighting and lack of fuel and usable roads. In some cases desperate people have looted arriving aid vehicles.

Over the weekend Israel’s military chief of staff, Herzi Halevi, said his forces had largely achieved operational control in the north of Gaza, and would broaden the offensive further into the south, but residents still present in Gaza City and the north’s Jabalia camp said the fighting had worsened.

On Monday, details emerged of a ceasefire proposal put forward by Egypt, a key mediator between Israel and Hamas.

Talks mediated by Qatar, which led to a seven-day ceasefire at the end of November, and the release of 100 hostages in exchange for 240 Palestinian women and children held in Israeli jails, appear to have stalled.

Israel’s security cabinet was expected to discuss the Egyptian plan on Monday night.

Islamic Jihad, a smaller Palestinian militant group allied to Hamas, said a delegation led by its exiled leader, Ziad al-Nakhala, was in Cairo on Sunday. His arrival came after talks attended by Hamas’ chief based outside Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, in recent days, in a positive sign that indirect discussions were under way.

The three-stage plan would entail an initial cessation of hostilities for at least a week and the release of all remaining Israeli civilian hostages held in Gaza; then a week in which female soldiers would be released in return for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails; and finally a month-long negotiation period for release of male soldiers in exchange for Israeli withdrawal.

On Monday night it emerged Hamas and Islamic Jihad had reportedly rejected the Egyptian proposal.

Separately, three security sources said an Israeli airstrike outside the Syrian capital Damascus had killed a senior adviser in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.

The sources told Reuters the adviser, known as Sayyed Razi Mousavi, was responsible for coordinating the military alliance between Syria and Iran, which supports Hamas in Gaza.

The Revolutionary Guards, in a statement read on Iranian state television, said Israel “will pay for this crime”.

Washington, Israel’s most important ally, has urged Israeli officials to shift away from large-scale aerial and ground operations in the Gaza Strip to a new phase in the war focused on precise targeting of Hamas leaders.

But despite rising international outcry over the humanitarian disaster in Gaza, including growing criticism from the US, Netanyahu has said that Israel will push on until “complete victory” over Hamas was achieved.

“We wouldn’t have succeeded up until now to release more than 100 hostages without military pressure,” Netanyahu said during a speech in the Knesset in Jerusalem on Monday. “And we won’t succeed at releasing all the hostages without military pressure.”

Families of the more than 100 Israeli hostages still held in Gaza watched Netanyahu’s speech from the parliamentary gallery, many of them holding signs calling for Israel to reach a deal and chanting “Now!”

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