Wednesday, Dec 25th
Last update09:45:43 AM GMT
International Glance
Russia has suffered record losses for a second consecutive day, Ukraine has claimed, as Vladimir Putin’s forces seek to advance in Donbas and repel Kyiv’s incursion into Kursk.
Just 24 hours after Ukraine claimed Russia had suffered a record 1,770 losses, Kyiv’s military claimed this grim total had been surpassed by 1,950 casualties on Monday – which would mark Russia’s worst single day since launching its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, spiritual leader of the Anglican Communion, has resigned over his handling of a sex abuse scandal.
An investigation found that Justin Welby failed to inform authorities about serial physical and sexual abuse.
Welby said that he was first informed of abuse allegations in 2013, when he was appointed Archbishop of Canterbury, the most senior leader of the Church of England. Welby said he was told the police had been notified.
A U.S. jury on Tuesday awarded $42 million to three former detainees of Iraq's notorious Abu Ghraib prison, holding a Virginia-based military contractor responsible for contributing to their torture and mistreatment two decades ago.
The decision from the eight-person jury came after a different jury earlier this year couldn't agree on whether Reston, Virginia-based CACI should be held liable for the work of its civilian interrogators who worked alongside the U.S. Army at Abu Ghraib in 2003 and 2004.
The jury awarded plaintiffs Suhail Al Shimari, Salah Al-Ejaili and Asa'ad Al-Zubae $3 million each in compensatory damages and $11 million each in punitive damages.
The three testified that they were subjected to beatings, sexual abuse, forced nudity and other cruel treatment at the prison.
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Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has condemned Israel’s actions in Gaza as “genocide” in some of the harshest public criticism of the country by a Saudi official since the start of the war.
Speaking at a summit of Muslim and Arab leaders the prince also criticised Israeli attacks on Lebanon and Iran.
In a sign of improving ties between rivals Riyadh and Tehran, he warned Israel against launching attacks on Iranian soil.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Monday Russia has deployed nearly 50,000 troops to Kursk, the southern Russian region where Kyiv launched its surprise counteroffensive in the summer.
Ukrainian troops “continue to hold back” the “nearly 50,000-strong enemy group” in Kursk, Zelensky said in a post on Telegram after receiving a briefing from General Oleksandr Syrskyi, the Commander-in-Chief of Ukraine’s Armed Forces.
Kyiv launched its incursion into Russia’s Kursk region in August, taking by surprise not just Moscow, but also its allies. It said at the time, that the operation was necessary, because Russia had been planning to launch a new attack on Ukraine from the region. It said it was aiming to create a “buffer zone” to prevent future cross-border attacks.
The Kursk offensive, the first ground invasion of Russia by a foreign power since World War II, caught Moscow completely unprepared.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he has spoken three times with Donald Trump since Tuesday’s election and they “see eye-to-eye regarding the Iranian threat and all of its components.” Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, is scheduled to meet with U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday.
The Israeli airstrike in Lebanon killed at least 23 people including seven children in Aalmat village north of Beirut, far from the areas in the east and south where Hezbollah has a major presence. There was no Israeli evacuation warning. There was no immediate Israeli comment.
Hezbollah began firing rockets, drones and missiles into Israel after war broke out in Gaza, in solidarity with the Palestinians and Hamas. Israel retaliated, and a series of escalations have led to all-out war.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged for the first time that he greenlit an operation on Iran-backed Hezbollah militants in September that saw thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies explode across Lebanon and parts of Syria, killing dozens.
During a weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday, Netanyahu said the attacks and Israel's assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed that same month in an airstrike on Beirut, were carried out "despite the opposition" of some Israeli officials,
Netanyahu's comments came after he fired Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Tuesday, the culmination of long-simmering disagreements between the two about how Israel should carry out wars in Gaza and Lebanon. Netanyahu said a "crisis of trust" had developed between the two. He appointed Foreign Minister Israel Katz to take over the position.
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