While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, Dec 31
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Russian rescuers carry an injured woman after shelling in Belgorod, Russia, in a handout photo.
PHOTO: EPA-EFE
Russia vows revenge as toll from Belgorod strikes rises
Russia accused Ukraine of having targeted civilians in the city of Belgorod with missiles and rockets, killing at least 18 people and wounding dozens more.
It was an attack, said Moscow, that would “not go unpunished”.
As Russia’s emergency situations ministry issued a statement updating the Belgorod toll, a UN Security Council meeting called by Moscow to discuss the attacks got under way in New York.
The attack came a day after Ukraine said a barrage of Russian missile strikes on several cities killed at least 39 people, wounding dozens more.
Russia strikes civilian targets in Ukraine’s Kharkiv
Twin Russian missile strikes on central Kharkiv on Dec 30 injured at least 21 people, Ukrainian officials said.
The Kharkiv regional chief prosecutor said two boys aged 14 and 16 and a security adviser for a team of German journalists were among those injured.
The missiles came from the direction of Belgorod, Russia, he added.
Netanyahu says Israel should control Gaza-Egypt border zone
The border zone between the Gaza Strip and Egypt should be under Israel’s control, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Dec 30, as he predicted the war in the Palestinian enclave and on other regional fronts would last many more months.
Mr Netanyahu held a news conference as Israel entered the 13th week of its war against Gaza’s ruling Hamas Islamists, which has stoked violence in the occupied West Bank and touched off attacks by Iran-backed groups in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen.
“The Philadelphi Corridor - or to put it more correctly, the southern stoppage point (of Gaza) - must be in our hands. It must be shut. It is clear that any other arrangement would not ensure the demilitarisation that we seek,” he said.
Israeli ex-hostage feared being raped by Gaza captor
An Israeli-French woman who was among scores of people taken hostage by Hamas militants has described how she feared being raped by the gunman who watched over her around the clock in the home where he lived with his wife and children in Gaza.
Ms Mia Schem, 21, was released in late November under a now-lapsed ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, and made headlines while in captivity after the Palestinians released video footage of her undergoing treatment for a bullet wound to the arm.
Interviewed on Israeli TV, Ms Schem recalled dancing at a rave near the Gaza border on Oct 7 when Hamas infiltrators stormed in, killing hundreds of revellers. She tried to flee but her car was fired on and set alight. Nursing her wound, she surrendered.
Cole Palmer stakes his claim as Chelsea’s new hero
The Chelsea fans squeezed into the away end of Luton Town’s tiny stadium on Dec 30 focused their adulation on one player in particular at the end of the Blues’ 3-2 away win - Cole Palmer, the club’s most impressive player so far of the season.
Palmer’s signing from Manchester City in the close season puzzled many fans with the former European champions bringing in so many other attack-minded players.
But the 21-year-old midfielder is now Chelsea’s top Premier League scorer this term after a double against Luton took his tally to eight, despite starting the season on the bench.