Aid ship sails to Gaza, thousands face starvation
RAFAH, Gaza Strip — An aid ship loaded with some 200 tons of food set sail for Gaza on Tuesday in a pilot program for the opening of a sea corridor to the territory, where the five-month-old Israel-Hamas war has driven hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to the brink of starvation.
Polish president visits Biden, pushes NATO spending, Ukraine funding
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Polish President Andrzej Duda used a joint White House visit with his political rival, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, on Tuesday to call on NATO allies to significantly increase defense spending and press a divided Washington to break its impasse over replenishing funds for Ukraine at a critical moment in the war in Europe.
Russia says it thwarted an incursion from Ukraine
Ukrainian long-range drones smashed into two oil facilities deep inside Russia on Tuesday, officials said, while an armed incursion claimed by Ukraine-based Russian opponents of the Kremlin unnerved a border region just days before Russia’s presidential election.
New leadership for Haiti, gangs want a seat at the table
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Politicians across Haiti are scrambling for power after Prime Minister Ariel Henry announced Tuesday that he would resign once a transitional presidential council is created.
2 detectives looking for students disappear in Mexico
MEXICO CITY — Two detectives looking for 43 students who went missing almost ten years ago have themselves disappeared in Mexico’s Pacific coast state of Guerrero, Mexico’s president said Tuesday.
More than 29,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel-Hamas war
RAFAH, Gaza Strip — Israel’s assault in Gaza has killed more than 29,000 Palestinians since Oct. 7, the territory’s Health Ministry said Monday, marking another grim milestone in one of the deadliest and most destructive military campaigns in recent history.
Putin waits for Western support for Kyiv to wither
When the invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022, some analysts predicted it might take as few as three days for Russian forces to capture the capital of Kyiv.
Arabs put to vote a Gaza cease-fire UN resolution
UNITED NATIONS — Arab nations are putting to a vote a U.N. resolution demanding an immediate humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza, knowing it will be vetoed by the United States but hoping to show broad global support for ending the Israel-Hamas war.
Navalny’s widow vows to continue his fight against the Kremlin
The widow of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny vowed on Monday to continue his fight against the Kremlin, while authorities denied his mother access to a morgue where his body is believed to be held after his death last week in an Arctic penal colony.
Long after pope’s abuse summit, victims still traumatized
VATICAN CITY — One afternoon in mid-December, Pope Francis had a meeting that wasn’t on his official agenda or otherwise recorded, that underscored the utter dysfunction of the Catholic Church’s response to the global clergy sex abuse scandal.
Biden, Harris blame Trump at Virginia abortion rally
MANASSAS, Va. — President Joe Biden on Tuesday condemned abortion bans that have increasingly endangered the health of pregnant women, forcing them to grow sicker before they can receive medical care, and he laid the blame on Donald Trump, his likely Republican challenger in this year’s election.
U.S. hits Iraq militia sites, missiles in Yemen
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. military struck three facilities in Iraq and two anti-ship missiles in Yemen operated by Iranian-backed militias that have continued to instigate attacks on U.S. personnel and ships in the region as the U.S. continues to try to keep the Israel-Hamas war from spilling over into a wider conflict.
21 Israeli troops are killed in attack on the military
JERUSALEM — Palestinian militants carried out the deadliest single attack on Israeli forces in Gaza since the Hamas raid that triggered the war, killing 21 soldiers, the military said Tuesday — a significant setback that could add to mounting calls for a cease-fire.
Russian missiles strike Ukrainian cities again
KYIV, Ukraine — Russian missiles struck three Ukrainian cities Tuesday, including its two biggest, killing at least seven people and wrecking apartment buildings after Moscow shunned any deal backed by Kyiv and its Western allies to end the nearly 2-year-old war.
North Korea fires several cruise missiles
SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea’s military says North Korea fired several cruise missiles into waters off its western coast, adding to a provocative run of weapons demonstrations in the face of deepening nuclear tensions with the United States, South Korea and Japan.
Brazil changing name of ‘subnormal’ neighborhoods
RIO DE JANEIRO— After decades of delay and pressure, Brazil announced Tuesday that it will henceforth use “favelas and urban communities” to categorize thousands of poor, urban neighborhoods, instead of the previous term “subnormal agglomerates” that was widely viewed as stigmatizing.
245,000 Jewish Holocaust survivors still alive
BERLIN — Almost 80 years after the Holocaust, about 245,000 Jewish survivors are still living across more than 90 countries, a new report revealed Tuesday.
Taliban is enforcing restrictions on Afghan women
ISLAMABAD — The Taliban are restricting Afghan women’s access to work, travel and health care if they are unmarried or don’t have a male guardian, according to a U.N report published Monday.
Musk visits Auschwitz after antisemitic messages uproar
KRAKOW, Poland — Elon Musk, who has been accused of allowing antisemitic messages on his social media platform, X, visited the site of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp on Monday, saying afterwards that the tragedy of the Holocaust “hits you much more in the heart when you see it in person.”
7.1 magnitude earthquake rattles part of China
BEIJING — A magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck a sparsely populated part of China’s western Xinjiang region early Tuesday, injuring six people and damaging or collapsing more than 120 homes in freezing cold weather, authorities said. The quake was the latest in a series of seismic events and natural disasters to hit the vast country’s western regions.