World in Brief - The Economist Roundup

World in Brief

The Economist Roundup

Israel’s army claimed to have completed “dismantling” Hamas’s “military framework” in the northern part of the Gaza strip, and said it would now focus on the centre and south of the enclave. Israel also launched an airstrike on the West Bank, killing six Palestinians, according to the Palestinian health ministry. The action followed clashes in the city of Jenin, when an Israeli border patrol officer was killed.

 

Russia launched three cruise missiles and 28 drones towards Ukraine overnight, according to Ukrainian officials. Most were aimed at the south and east of the country, with a spokesperson for Ukraine’s air force saying that the Kremlin was shifting its focus to “the frontline territories”. On Saturday a Russian missile strike killed at least 11 people in Pokrovsk, a city in eastern Ukraine.

 

An American airline regulator ordered the immediate inspection of some Boeing 737 MAX 9s after chunks of a plane fell off shortly after takeoff. The temporary grounding will affect 171 aircraft. Pictures taken by passengers aboard the Alaska Airlines flight showed a gaping hole in the cabin wall. The airliner landed safely. MAX planes were grounded for 20 months in 2019-20 following two fatal crashes.

 

Ikeda Yoshitaka, a Japanese politician and member of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, was arrested in Tokyo over suspicions he violated fundraising rules. Mr Ikeda is the first arrest in a corruption scandal engulfing the LDP. In December prosecutors launched a criminal investigation into funds—potentially worth ¥500m ($3.5m)—that allegedly went unreported by allies of Abe Shinzo, the former prime minister who was assassinated in 2022.

 

The Italian foreign minister suggested that the EU should create its own army to be used for peacekeeping. Antonio Tajani, the leader of Forza Italia, a centre-right party, said that effective European foreign policy would depend on the bloc having a military presence. Co-operation on defence has become more pressing within the EU since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.

 

Lloyd Austin, America’s defence secretary, said he took “full responsibility” for not publicly disclosing that he had recently been hospitalised. Mr Austin was admitted to hospital on January 1st following complications from an earlier procedure, a fact that was not revealed until five days later. President Joe Biden was reportedly also kept in the dark.

 

Congo’s election commission annulled votes cast for 82 candidates in legislative and local elections on December 20th because of possible fraud. That will not placate the opposition parties, which have rejected the outcome of the presidential elections that were held on the same day. They accuse the electoral commission of helping Félix Tshisekedi, the incumbent president, to win with 73% of the vote.

 

Word of the week: #diarytok, the tag used on TikTok by “journal influencers”, who read their teenage diaries to audiences online. Read the full story.