A group of rebels has overthrown longtime Syrian dictator Bashar Assad, signaling a monumental turning point in the nearly 14-year civil war. 

The takeover, which forced Assad to flee the country, could prompt "remarkable" ripple effects in the Middle East that rival what followed the fall of the Berlin Wall, according to one GOP lawmaker.

"This is so significant. The fall of the Assad dictatorship. The ripple effect of this is just going to be remarkable," Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., said on "Fox Report" Sunday. "It's truly equivalent to the Berlin Wall, which led to a ripple effect of dozens of countries becoming free after 50 years of occupation and totalitarian control."

Bashar al-Assad fled Syria after rebels stormed the capital city of Damascus on Saturday. Assad, whose government used chemical weapons repeatedly on its residents, reportedly fled with his wife and children. 

President Biden said during a Sunday speech that the United States did not have confirmation on Assad's whereabouts, noting that "there's word that he's in Moscow." 

Wilson argued that Israel's success in weakening Iran and its proxies, as well as Ukraine "weakening" Russia led to the developments in Syria. He predicted this will have "dramatic impact on the ability of war criminal Putin to enforce his capabilities."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahutouted the fall of Assad's regime on Sunday, saying it was a "direct result" of Israel's attacks on Iran and Hezbollah, while noting the situation overall is "fraught with significant dangers."

A coalition of largely radical Islamist groups dislodged Assad’s Iran-backed regime. The U.S.-designated terrorist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the Islamist former Al-Qaeda affiliate that is part of the rebel forces, played the decisive role in evicting Assad, who inherited his presidency in 2000 following the death of his father, Hafez Assad.

"And finally, we will remain vigilant. Make no mistake, some of the rebel groups that took down Assad have their own grim record of terrorism and human rights abuses. We've taken note of statements by the leaders of these rebel groups in recent days. And they're saying the right things now, but as they take on greater responsibility, we will assess not just their words, but their actions," Biden continued on Sunday.

The president detailed that following Assad's departure in the face of rebel forces, the U.S. will support Syria's neighboring countries – such as Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq and Israel – "should any threat arise from Syria during this period of transition." Biden said this effort will include senior administration officials meeting with world leaders, and the president also speaking directly with leaders in the neighboring nations. 

As questions swirl over how the Middle Easterncountry will be governed following the rebel takeover, Rep. Wilson believed the Syrian people will "be pushing as a diaspora for a free and democratic Syria."

Fox News

Ghana's former President John Dramani Mahama has staged a political comeback by winning the West African nation's presidential election after his rival Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia conceded defeat on Sunday.

The result of Ghana's general election is another blow to a ruling party in a region where voters, hit by economic hardship, high inflation and local currency depreciation, have caused upsets as they seek changes in leadership.

Mahama, 66, who served as Ghana's president from 2012 to 2016, framed Bawumia as representing a continuation of the policies that led to Ghana's worst economic crisis in a generation.

The world's second biggest cocoa grower, and major gold-producing nation, reached a deal with the International Monetary Fund last year for a $3 billion bailout after it defaulted on most of its international debt.

"I have, this morning, received a congratulatory call from my brother Bawumia, following my emphatic victory in Saturday’s election. Thank you, Ghana," Mahama said in a post on X social media.

Addressing a press conference from his residence, Bawumia said he called Mahama to congratulate him, adding that Mahama's National Democratic Congress (NDC) also won the parliamentary election.

"The data from our own internal collation of the election results indicate that former President John Dramani Mahama has won the presidential election decisively," Bawumia said, adding that NDC also won the parliamentary election.

Bawumia said he conceded before the official result to ease tensions.

Before his concession, scuffles had been reported in several local constituency centres where results were still arriving from polling stations.

"I am making this concession speech before the official announcement by the Electoral Commission to avoid further tension and preserve the peace of our country," Bawumia said.

"It is important that the world investor community continues to believe in the peaceful and democratic character of Ghana," he added.

Hundreds of NDC supporters took to the streets of the capital Accra on Sunday to celebrate after Bawumia conceded defeat.

Early results had shown Mahama and the NDC party with a commanding lead. Joy News reported that Mahama was leading with over 53% of the vote to Bawumia's 45.16% after provisional results from 68 out of a total 276 constituencies were counted.

In a news conference on Sunday before Bawumia conceded, Sammy Gyamfi, national spokesperson for the NDC, said provisional internally collated results by party agents from 38,896 out of the total 40,976 polling stations showed Mahama was leading with around 56%.

He said the party appeared on track to win around 185 out of 276 seats in Parliament.

Reuters

Doctors say Israeli shells hit Gaza hospital, Israel denies strike

Israeli shelling hit a hospital in northern Gaza, wounding several people, damaging equipment and disrupting surgeries, Palestinian health officials said on Sunday, but Israel's military denied carrying out strikes in the area.

Hussam Abu Safiya, director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital in the town of Beit Lahiya - one of only three barely operational on the northern edge of the enclave - said the facility was struck by about 100 tank shells and bombs late on Saturday.

"The situation is extremely dangerous. We have patients in the intensive care unit and others awaiting surgeries. Access to the operating rooms is only possible after restoring electricity and oxygen supply," Abu Safiya said in a statement.

The hospital is currently treating 112 wounded people, including six in the intensive care unit, he said.

Israel's military said it had conducted a review and found that its forces had not struck in the vicinity of the hospital or damaged any of its essential equipment.

"The IDF (Israel Defense Forces) is in continuous coordination with hospital officials to provide humanitarian assistance to the hospital and maintain a consistent liaison," the military said.

The health ministry of Hamas-run Gaza said a doctor was killed with his family in an Israeli airstrike near the hospital on Saturday night.

Residents said the military blew up clusters of houses on Sunday in the northern Gaza areas of Jabalia, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun, where Israeli forces have operated since October.

Later in the day, an Israeli airstrike killed five Palestinians in the heart of Gaza City, taking the number of people killed in separate military strikes across the enclave to 11, medics said.

Palestinians say Israel's operations on the northern edge of the enclave are part of a plan to clear people out through forced evacuations and bombardments to create a buffer zone. The Israeli military denies this, saying it is fighting Hamas.

The war in Gaza has been raging for over 14 months, with much of the enclave laid to waste and more than 44,000 Palestinians killed, according to Gaza health authorities, as Israeli forces continue their drive to wipe out Hamas and rescue hostages taken by the militant group.

The deadliest Israeli-Palestinian violence in decades began when Hamas stormed into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages back to Gaza.

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Kremlin, on Trump call for Ukraine peace talks, says Moscow is open to negotiations on certain terms

The Kremlin said on Sunday that Russia was open to talks on Ukraine after U.S. President-elect Donald Trump called for "an immediate ceasefire and negotiations".

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said peace negotiations had to be based on agreements reached in Istanbul in 2022 and on the current battlefield realities.

Peskov noted that Ukraine has banned contacts with the Russian leadership through a special decree which he said would have to be revoked if talks were to proceed.

"Our position on Ukraine is well known; the conditions for an immediate stop of hostilities were set out by President Putin in his speech to the Russian Foreign Ministry in June of this year. It is important to recall that it was Ukraine that refused and continues to refuse negotiations," Peskov said.

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Zelensky rejects Trump’s call for peace

Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky has rejected a call by US President-elect Donald Trump for an immediate truce and peace talks between Ukraine and Russia.

Following a meeting between Trump, Zelensky, and French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris on Saturday, the US president-elect issued a lengthy post on his Truth Social platform saying, “there should be an immediate ceasefire and negotiations should begin” to settle the Ukraine conflict. According to Trump, Ukraine “would like to make a deal and stop the madness.”

However, Zelensky made it clear that this is not the case, in a post published on X on Sunday, in which he said the conflict “cannot simply end with a piece of paper and a few signatures.”

“A ceasefire without guarantees can be reignited at any moment... To ensure that Ukrainians no longer suffer losses, we must guarantee the reliability of peace and not turn a blind eye to occupation,” the Ukrainian leader stated.

He stressed that “in the occupied territories of Ukraine, at least several million people remain”, once again ruling out the possibility of Kiev making any territorial concessions to Moscow in exchange for peace.

”It is precisely such peace through strength that we discuss with all our partners, as well as the steps and guarantees needed for the people and the state attacked by Russia,” Zelensky said.

Trump has repeatedly claimed that he could end the Ukraine conflict within a day of returning to the White House, and has criticized the outgoing US administration for spending too much on arming Kiev. According to earlier media reports, he may try to enforce a freeze of the conflict along the current battle lines, using US aid to Kiev as leverage.

Moscow has repeatedly said it considers a freeze of the conflict unacceptable. It has insisted that any settlement is only possible if Ukraine withdraws its forces from Russian territory, including the former Ukrainian regions, ensures the rights of its Russian-speaking population and adheres to neutrality.

Reuters/RT

Paul Anyebe was a judge of the High Court of Benue State in north-central Nigeria who had a young son with sticky fingers and a sense of adventure. It was his role as a dad that endangered his job as a judge.

One night around 1983, Anyebe caught his son attempting to steal from his bedroom. In response, Anyebe pulled his gun in an effort to scare the boy. The gun went off, discharging a bullet which hit and seriously injured the boy. The Attorney-General of Benue State decided to prosecute Anyebe for attempted murder. The Penal Code applicable in Benue State at the time had ample provisions for the crime of attempted murder.

The Attorney-General also added a charge of illegal possession of firearms, a federal offence. Unlike the crime of attempted murder, which was a state crime in Benue State, all firearms offences are federal. The Attorney-General of Benue was well within his powers to prosecute for attempted murder but only the Attorney-General of the Federation could prosecute or authorize prosecution for federal offences.

At the conclusion of the trial, the High Court of Benue State discharged Anyebe on the charge of attempted murder, a state offence, but convicted him on the charge of illegal possession of firearms (a federal offence) for which it sentenced him to three years in prison. The Court of Appeal reduced this sentence to six months in prison or a fine of one hundred Naira. Following this decision and while his appeal was yet to be heard by the Supreme Court, Anyebe was dismissed as a judge.

When the Supreme Court decided Anyebe’s appeal in January 1986, Dahunsi Olugbemi Coker, a Justice of the court, summed up the issue for decision in one sentence: “The short point is whether a State Attorney-General can prosecute an offence created by an Act of the National Assembly.” To this question, the court unanimously responded in the negative. They nullified Anyebe’s trial and ordered the fine paid  – one hundred Naira – refunded to him. The Court of Appeal ordered his reinstatement with full benefits.

Adolphus Godwin Karibi-Whyte, one of the justices who decided Anyebe’s appeal at the Supreme Court, said of what the case decided that ”the Attorney-General of a State has no general authority to exercise the powers of the Attorney-General of the Federation to prosecute in respect of Federal offences.”

One effect of this decision is to preclude the prosecution of federal crimes before state courts. A Magistrates Court is a state court. It does not have jurisdiction over federal crimes.

38 years after the Supreme Court of Nigeria established this principle in Anyebe’s case, the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) on 4 December arraigned lawyer and writer, Dele Farotimi, before a Magistrate in Ekiti State on 16 counts of crimes under the Criminal Code Act, a federal legislation.

Three years ago, Ekiti State enacted into law the Criminal Law of Ekiti State, no. 12 of 2021, which repealed and replaced the state’s pre-existing Criminal Code Law of 2012. Comprising nine parts, 429 sections and 140 pages, Ekiti State’s Criminal Law of 2021 does not include the crime Criminal libel or defamation. Section 70 of the law contains a crime of causing disaffection or breach of the peace through offensive publication but that is a simple offence punishable by six months in prison. It is not in issue in this case.

Last week, on 3 December, operatives of the NPF heisted Dele Farotimi from his residence in Lagos State, where the crime of criminal defamation is similarly unknown to law. They raced him across state lines to Ekiti where they detained him. The following morning, on 4 December, the police arraigned Dele before a Magistrate in the state capital.

This is important because the gist of the charges purportedly preferred against Farotimi before the Magistrate in Ekiti is precisely criminal defamation which is not a crime in Ekiti State.

It seemed quite clear that the charges presented by the police did not disclose a crime known to the laws of Ekiti State nor did they disclose a crime over which a Magistrate in Ekiti State could purport to exercise lawful jurisdiction. Despite the evident absence of jurisdiction on multiple fronts, the Magistrate proceeded with undue haste to order the remand of Farotimi in prison custody for one week until 10 December. The Magistrate probably did not realise that 10 December is International Human Rights Day.

Even if the Magistrate had jurisdiction, which he did not, the crime alleged was punishable with two years in prison. Under section 4(5) of the Criminal Law of Ekiti State, this is classed as a “misdemeanor” at best, that is to say “an offence punishable by imprisonment for not less than six months, but less than three years.” These are bailable on liberal terms. Offences punishable by more than three years in prison are called “felonies”. Those are regarded as serious offences. The order of remand in this case seemed wilful with a whiff of the pre-determined about it.

The United Nations Declaration of Basic Principles of Justice for Victims of Crime and Abuse of Power has a name for what happens when a court orders prison remand for a crime which does not exist in law and in proceedings over which it lacks powers. It is called “criminal abuse of power.”

Many people claiming to be senior lawyers have invited Farotimi to have his day in court where he can prove the allegations the subject of these charges or face the consequences. This is clearly designed to make all this seem like an invocation of law. It isn’t.

First, Farotimi can only do so before a court of competent jurisdiction. A Magistrate claiming to sit over a crime that does not exist in the state is not such a court.

Second, the burden in criminal proceedings is on the state to prove that the accused is guilty. So, criminal proceedings in Ekiti or anywhere cannot possibly be the forum for Farotimi to prove the truth of his claims. Anyone who makes that assertion is either wilfully jejune or must concede that the only opportunity to put that to test has to be in civil proceedings.

Third, insisting on the kind of proceedings now going on in Ekiti state without any sense of irony only reinforces the kinds of claims that Farotimi makes in his best-selling book about supposedly legal and judicial processes which seem to occur in the pockets of human principalities given to playing god. A lot of things may yet happen in those kinds of proceedings but it does not look like law will be one of them.

Moreover, in 2021, the Supreme Court of Nigeria – no less –  condemned as “vexatious and oppressive” and “dangerously rampant”, the “misuse of the criminal law machinery for getting reliefs in disputes that are civil in nature, by using the instruments of State.” The court also required that “a complainant who initiates a prosecution with the knowledge that criminal proceedings are unwarranted and the remedy lies in the civil law, should be made accountable in law for pursuing misconceived criminal proceedings.”

In that same case in 2021, the Supreme Court described the crime of criminal defamation as “an innovation in Star Chamber”, a reference to a notoriously arbitrary and captured judicial forum dating back to late mediaeval England. It was not a judicial endearment.

Farotimi himself was perspicacious about the events as they have so far unfolded. Shortly before he was taken from Lagos, he warned: “Abducting me to be tried in Ekiti State is not justice but a witch-hunt.”

Somewhere in Ekiti State on International Human Rights Day 2024, the very rights consecrated by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights will face the Guillotine with Farotimi strung up as the sacrifice. Those who think this vindication may yet live to rue their affliction with terminal hubris.

** A professor of law, Odinkalu can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

• A “supergiant” gold ore deposit under an existing gold mine in China could be the world’s largest gold ore deposit.
• Officials estimate that the extent of the find could be 1,100 tons stretching as deep as 9,800 feet below the surface.
• The find also shows promise as that of a high-quality producer of gold.

A deposit of gold ore just discovered in China isn’t just giant. It’s supergiant. So much so, in fact, that Chinese experts claim it could be the largest deposit of any precious metal—not just gold ore—in existence today.

How big is the “supergiant” deposit located under the Wangu gold field in the Hunan province? Experts estimate it at 1,100 tons.

According to Chinese state media, a team of geologists detected over 40 gold veins of roughly 330 tons of gold ore dipping 6,600 feet deep under Pingjiang County’s Wangu gold field. But 3D modeling blows that number out of the water, showing there could be as much as 1,100 tons as deep as 9,800 feet. If the models are accurate, the deposit in its entirely could be worth roughly $83 billion.

Adding some more heft to the already weighty (literally) find was the report that the new discovery features 138 grams of gold per metric ton of ore, a valuable rate not often found in gold mining. “Many drilled rock cores showed visible gold,” said Chen Rulin, an ore-prospecting expert at China’s Hunan Province’s Geological Bureau, according to Chinese state media.

If the 1,100-ton figure holds up, that makes this new find the largest gold mine in the world, even outpacing South Africa’s South Deep gold mine with its 1,025 tons of gold, according to Mining Technology. Mines in Indonesia, Russia, New Guinea, and Chile round out the top-five gold mines in the world. The Carlin Trend and Cortez gold mines, both in Nevada, are ranked sixth and 10th worldwide.

Historically, the world has mined 233,000 tons of gold, all of it still around in some form, and two-thirds of that mining has occurred since 1950.

Already the world’s top gold producer with about 10 percent of global production, China is heavily dependent on the metal, using about three times more gold than it mines annually. A rate that requires the country to purchase so much gold from other countries that it’s also the world’s top importer of the valuable metal. This new discovery has put the world’s gold markets on notice, enough so that the price of gold rose to $2,700 per ounce, according to CCN.com.

And the gold news may not stop there. According to Liu Yongjun, vice head of the bureau, additional gold ore was found when drilling around the site’s peripheral areas.

Popular Mechanics

Days after the Central Bank of Nigeria ordered Deposit Money Banks to guard against artificial cash scarcity in the country, findings by Sunday PUNCH revealed that the trend still persists in some parts of the country.

In a circular dated November 29, jointly signed by Acting Directors Solaja Olayemi (Currency Operations) and Isa-Olatinwo Aisha (Branch Operations), the CBN outlined measures aimed at improving cash availability.

According to the circular, the CBN directed banks to ensure efficient cash disbursement through both Automated Teller Machines and over-the-counter channels, warning of penalties for non-compliance.

The apex bank also urged customers experiencing challenges to report incidents with details such as account name, bank name, transaction amount, and date. Dedicated phone numbers and email addresses were released for Nigerians to report difficulties accessing cash.

However, as of Friday, Nigerians in some major cities complained that they still experienced significant difficulty obtaining sufficient cash over the counters and at ATMs in commercial banks.

An Abuja resident, who declined to be named, said his bank only dispensed N5,000 over the counter on Friday.

When asked whether this was a bank-wide directive, she stated that it might be due to the limited cash available, adding that customers were often advised to use ATMs.

He said, “As of Friday, it was just N5,000. But if the ATM is loaded, you can withdraw as much as it dispenses. That’s probably all the bank could afford on Friday. Most times, customers are advised to use the ATM, which dispenses fresh mints.”

Similarly, a United Bank for Africa customer in Abuja said his bank dispensed N20,000 over the counter, while ATMs dispensed N20,000 to customers and N10,000 to customers of other banks as of Friday.

A Zenith Bank official in Delta State revealed that their branch paid a maximum of N20,000 to customers, both over the counter and through ATMs.

“It’s N20,000 maximum. The ATM also dispenses N20,000,” she stated.

A Lagos resident, Tunde Ajiboye, shared on Facebook that he withdrew N20,000 from a GTBank ATM in Ikorodu and later withdrew another N30,000 over the counter at Lotus Bank, also in Ikorodu, on Friday afternoon.

In Akure, Ondo State, the cash crunch was also pronounced. A resident, Oluwaseyi Oluwalade, said he visited an ATM terminal in Akure but couldn’t withdraw any cash.

“I rushed to a PoS operator, but I still didn’t get cash. I was asked to make a transfer, which I did on Friday, but I could only collect the cash on Saturday afternoon,” he lamented.

Another Akure resident, Adeniyi Samuel, who works for OPay, confirmed complaints from PoS operators about insufficient cash in banks.

“Many of our operators rely on filling station attendants or BDC operators to get cash because banks give very little over the counter or at ATMs,” he explained.

In Imo State, residents also decried withdrawal limits.

A resident, who asked to be identified only as Onyekachi, said, “We cannot withdraw more than N20,000 in the banking hall. You spend so much time, only to be given a maximum of N20,000. It’s frustrating.”

A similar scenario unfolded in Abia State, where banks limited withdrawals to between N5,000 and N20,000. ATMs dispensed as little as N5,000 to non-customers and N10,000 to customers.

In Kwara, residents also struggled to access cash.

Ibrahim Taiwo, a resident of Ilorin, said banks paid a maximum of N10,000 over the counter and N40,000 at ATMs. He noted that PoS operators increased their charges by N50 across withdrawal amounts.

In Osun and Oyo states, withdrawal limits varied between N10,000 and N50,000, depending on the bank and location.

Reacting to the situation, a source at the CBN accused some banks of favouring high-end customers by giving them bulk cash at the expense of ordinary Nigerians. The source assured that the CBN was committed to penalising erring banks.

However, a banker in Ogun State accused the CBN of being insincere, claiming, “The amount given to us is not enough to load ATMs for two days.”

A Polaris Bank staff member in Lagos linked the scarcity to the naira redesign policy under former CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele. He noted that the policy destroyed old naira notes but failed to replace them with adequate new notes, leading to persistent scarcity.

“People are skeptical about depositing money in banks, fearing a repeat of last year’s issues. This is affecting the availability of cash,” he concluded.

The National President of Association of Mobile Money and Bank Agents in Nigeria, Fasasi Atanda, accused petrol stations, supermarket operators, traders, and other businesses that handle large volumes of cash daily of contributing to the current cash scarcity.

Atanda alleged that instead of depositing their cash earnings into banks as expected, those entities hoarded the money and sold it at inflated rates to cash dealers.

“There is no reason for cash scarcity if there are no saboteurs. There is cash commoditisation. Today, we have saboteurs who are dealing in the sale of cash. They sell cash in bulk; they have their sources, and they buy in bulk and sell. What you can’t get in the banks, you will get from cash dealers.

“We are aware of petrol stations, restaurants, supermarket operators, and others selling their cash instead of depositing it in banks.

“People often wrongly accuse agents of selling cash. Agents are not selling cash, we are servicing the people and the charges are for the cost of data and transportation. In reality, if the government can take care of these costs, agents can render their services free of charge,” Atanda said.

He urged the CBN to engage PoS operators as official agents of cash distribution, adding that this would address the challenge of cash scarcity in the country.

The acting Director of Corporate Communications for the CBN, Hakama Sidi Ali, did not respond to calls and a text message sent to her phone as of press time.

Punch

Human rights activists are preparing for a coordinated protest on Tuesday, December 10, demanding the release of Dele Farotimi, despite police attempts to prohibit the demonstration. The planned protests will span multiple locations, including Ekiti, Lagos, Abuja, and London.

Farotimi was arrested following a defamation petition filed by Afe Babalola after publishing allegations of judicial corruption in his book, 'Nigeria and its Criminal Justice System'. The Nigerian Bar Association has argued that the arrest is questionable, pointing out that criminal defamation has been decriminalised under Lagos State law and previously invalidated by a Supreme Court ruling.

Omoyele Sowore, the 2023 African Action Congress presidential candidate, is spearheading the protest efforts. He has announced specific meeting points for demonstrators:

- Abuja: Ministry of Justice and Federal High Court

- Ekiti: Police Headquarters in Ado-Ekiti

- Lagos: Afe Babalola Chambers in Magodo

- London: King's College London

The Ekiti State Police Command has warned against the protest, claiming intelligence suggests potential violence. However, Sowore insists that the protests will proceed, stating that the police cannot ban peaceful demonstrations.

The activists aim to draw national and international attention to what they describe as Farotimi's illegal detention, with Sowore calling for a "global online and offline revolt against the Nigerian judiciary."

The protest is scheduled for 7 AM West African Time on December 10, 2024, with transportation arranged for out-of-state participants.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Hamas releases video claiming to show living hostage

Hamas released a video claiming to show Israeli hostage Matan Zangauker in captivity on Saturday.

In the video a man who introduces himself as Matan Zangauker, 24, can be seen pleading with the Israeli leaders to make a deal that would bring captives being held by Hamas in Gaza back to Israel.

Mediating countries, including Qatar, see increased momentum for a possible deal that could allow the 100 hostages being held in Gaza to be released in exchange for scores of Palestinian prisoners, after Israel signed a landmark ceasefire deal with Hezbollah in Lebanon last month.

Donald Trump's Middle East envoy has travelled to Qatar and Israel to try to kickstart the U.S. president-elect's diplomatic push for a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal before he takes office on Jan. 20, a source briefed on the talks told Reuters.

Hamas has released several videos of hostages begging to be released over the course of the war as it enters its fifteenth month, but Israeli officials have dismissed the short, edited clips as psychological propaganda meant to put pressure on the government.

The Hostage Families Forum, which represents hostage family members, called the video "proof of life" and said that it "provides further evidence that after more than 420 days in captivity, there are hostages still alive and enduring severe suffering".

Reuters

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Russian attacks kill 12, wound 40 in Ukraine's southeast

Russian attacks on the cities of Zaporizhzhia and Kryvyi Rih in southeastern Ukraine on Friday killed at least 12 people and wounded more than 40, regional officials said.

A strike on a car repair shop in Zaporizhzhia turned the facility into a giant fireball and killed 10 people, the regional governor said.

Media quoted a local official as saying 24 people were injured, including two children.

Some settlements experienced power supply problems after the attack, the governor added.

In Kryvyi Rih, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's hometown, also in the southeast, a missile strike on an administrative building killed two people.

At least 19 others, including a child, were injured, emergency services said, adding that residential houses were also damaged.

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Over a million men have illegally fled Ukraine – MP

Ukrainian authorities estimate that as many as 1.2 million men have fled the country illegally since the conflict with Russia escalated in February 2022, MP Anna Skorokhod has said.

The lawmaker cited internal statistics in an interview with journalist Lana Shevchuk on Thursday. In addition to draft dodgers, roughly 8 million Ukrainian citizens have left the country legally, she said. Another 2 million resided outside Ukraine before the conflict escalated, Skorokhod added.

The MP did not specify whether she was including Ukrainian citizens who have fled to Russia and Belarus rather than Western countries. She offered the numbers when discussing possible elections in Ukraine and how the government could engage voters living abroad.

Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky has suspended elections in the country citing martial law and remains in power despite his presidential term expiring in May.

In mid-November, Zelensky announced the imminent creation of a National Unity Ministry. The new department is superseding a previous one tasked with returning “temporarily occupied territories” – the former parts of Ukraine that joined Russia over the past decade.

Earlier this week, the parliament approved Aleksey Chernishov as the first unity minister. The official previously served as the chair of state-owned energy giant Naftogaz.

Interviewer Shevchuk joked that the new ministry’s shorthand name, ‘minyed’, sounded close to ‘fellatio’ in Ukrainian, prompting Skorokhod to share her thoughts about its purpose. The MP believes that Zelensky is preparing for an end to the armed conflict with Russia and a presidential election. The new ministry will need to establish where Ukrainian citizens currently reside and engage them on behalf of Kiev, she explained.

That theory explains the situation better than Zelensky, who touted the new ministry as part of his “resilience plan,” the MP claimed.

“[Zelensky] used many big words in his speech before the parliament, and for each one, you could invent a ministry,” she said. “Chat GPT could have written a better plan.”

Last week, the Ukrainian media reported on a recent opinion poll which suggested that just 16% of Ukrainian voters would back Zelensky in a hypothetical presidential election, compared to 27% who would prefer the country’s former top general, Valery Zaluzhny.

Draft avoidance has been a major obstacle to Kiev’s plans to bolster the military through mandatory conscription, following an overhaul of the military service system earlier this year.

Reuters/RT