Wednesday, Dec 25th
Last update09:45:43 AM GMT
International Glance
An Israeli airstrike hit a car in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, killing five people, including at least three workers with the charity World Central Kitchen, according to Gaza's health ministry.
Israel's military in a statement that it was targeting a militant who allegedly took part in the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on Israel last year. The Israeli military said the attacker had worked with World Central Kitchen and it called on the aid group to investigate its employees in Gaza.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha has urged his NATO counterparts to issue an invitation to Kyiv at a meeting in Brussels next week to join the Western military alliance, according to the text of a letter seen by Reuters on Friday.
President Volodymyr Zelensky has suggested that the parts of Ukraine under his control should be taken "under the Nato umbrella" to try and stop the "hot phase" of the war.
In a long, wide-ranging interview with Sky News, the Ukrainian president was asked whether he would accept Nato membership, but only on the territory that Kyiv currently holds.
Zelensky said he would, but only if Nato membership was offered to the whole of Ukraine, within its internationally recognised borders, first.
Ukraine could then attempt to negotiate the return of territory currently under Russian control "in a diplomatic way", he said.
But the suggestion is highly theoretical. As Zelensky pointed out, no-one has yet made such an offer.
Whether Nato would ever consider such a move is highly doubtful.
The famed Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris is set to reopen next month for the first time since a devastating fire crippled the beloved church in 2019.
French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte Macron, took a tour of the cathedral early on Friday. Macron marveled at the soaring light stone ceilings — now cleansed of soot and centuries of grime — as he toured the more than 800 year old restored cathedral.
He visited the cathedral's rafters, known as "the forest," where 1,500 trees were used to build the frame holding the new cathedral roof.
Macron thanked more than 1,200 artisans at the cathedral for their tireless work in restoring the Gothic landmark, which is a World Heritage site and in the past has drawn more than 13 million visitors a year. He called the fire at the iconic church a "national wound" and lauded Notre Dame as the "soul of our country."
Canada’s federal government and the premiers of the 10 provinces have agreed to work together against a threat by Donald Trump to impose sweeping tariffs on Canadian imports, with one official saying the country was already examining possible retaliatory measures.
Trump has threatened to impose a 25% tax on all products from Canada and Mexico if the countries do not stop what he called the flow of drugs and migrants across their southern and northern borders. Canada and Mexico are already examining possible retaliatory tariffs on certain items from the US should Trump follow through on his threat, according to reports.
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