Egypt sets out ambitious Israel-Gaza ceasefire plan
Israel’s divided war cabinet to discuss proposal. Hamas reported to reject suggestion of sharing power in Gaza. Egypt has presented what is described as an ambitious plan to end the war in Gaza with a ceasefire. The proposal, which was presented to Israel, Hamas, the United States and European governments on Monday would see Israel fully withdraw from the Gaza Strip, all captives held by Hamas, and many Palestinian prisoners, freed, and a united technocratic Palestinian government installed in the enclave. The proposal, developed with the Gulf state of Qatar, includes several rounds of captive and prisoner exchanges, reports Al Jazeera’s Bernard Smith from Tel Aviv. In the first phase, Hamas would free all civilian captives in return for the release of Palestinian prisoners over a truce of 7-10 days. During the second stage, Hamas would release all female Israeli soldiers in return for more Palestinian prisoners, taking place during another weeklong truce. In the final phase, the warring parties would engage in “a month of negotiations to discuss the release of all military personnel held by Hamas in exchange for a lot more [Palestinian] prisoners and Israel pulling back to Gaza’s borders”, said Smith. Close to 8,000 Palestinians are held by Israel on security-related charges or convictions, according to Palestinian figures. Throughout the ceasefire, Egypt would also lead talks to reunite Palestinian factions Hamas and the Palestinian Authority, who would then jointly appoint a government of experts to run the West Bank and Gaza, ahead of future elections, reports The Times of Israel. Traction The plan appears to be preliminary, and there are already suggestions that it could struggle to gain traction with either side. Israel’s war cabinet was due to discuss the proposal on Monday, even as its military continued pounding Gaza over the Christmas holiday, killing at least 100 Palestinians within 12 hours. Experts noted that the cabinet, which has been under intense pressure to bring home the remaining captives, is divided and may struggle to accept some of the deal’s terms. “One challenge is a ceasefire versus a truce,” Mohammed Cherkaoui, a professor of conflict resolution at George Mason University, told Al Jazeera. “Palestinians are talking about a full-fledged ceasefire. The Israelis are hearing a ‘truce,’ a pause.” Cherkaoui added that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would also have to pull back from its stated mission of eradicating Hamas. “On the one hand [Netanyahu] is still negotiating with Hamas indirectly, but at the same time his main dream is to eradicate Hamas.” “He lives in two separate worlds and he needs to unify them,” said Cherkaoui. A Western diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the Associated Press that Netanyahu and his hawkish government were unlikely to accept the full proposal. Meanwhile, Reuters reported that Hamas and the allied Islamic Jihad have rejected the proposal that they relinquish power in the Gaza Strip, quoting Egyptian security sources. Israel is entering its 12th week of a devastating air and ground campaign in Gaza that has killed more than 20,400 Palestinians, including 8,200 children. Air strikes have wrecked much of the besieged enclave, taking out entire blocks and neighbourhoods, and displaced 1.9 million Palestinians who now live in “catastrophic” conditions with little food, water and medicine, the United Nations warns. There are still 129 captives thought to remain captive in Gaza following Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israeli territory, which also killed nearly 1,200. Adblock test (Why?)
Ukraine secures desperately needed funds from World Bank
Ukraine has received a vital $1.34bn in funds from the World Bank. The funding has been paid out to support non-security related financial and economic stability, Ukraine’s Ministry of Finance said on Monday. The cash boost will be welcomed by Kyiv, which warns that its ability to defend against the Russian invasion could soon be impacted by delays in funding from the United States and the European Union. In a statement, the ministry noted that the financing, which is the Sixth Additional Financing under its Public Expenditures for Administrative Capacity Endurance in Ukraine (PEACE) project, consisted of a $1.086bn loan from the World Bank, a $190m grant from Norway, a $50m grant from the United States and a $20m grant from Switzerland. The funds are expected to be used to partially compensate for non-security and defence-related expenditures of the Ukrainian state budget, including old-age social payments and payments to employees of the state emergency service, the ministry added. “International financial assistance is a significant contribution to maintaining Ukraine’s financial and economic stability and allows us to provide priority social expenditures during the war,” said Ukrainian Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko. “Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the governments of Japan, the United States, Norway and Switzerland have repeatedly demonstrated their unwavering support and solidarity for Ukraine. I am grateful to our partners for their willingness to cooperate and help us at a crucial time for Ukraine.” Funding difficulties for Ukraine It has been nearly two years since Russia invaded Ukraine, and as the war continues to rage uncertainty is growing over Western backing for Ukraine. Earlier this month, the White House warned the United States Congress that funds designated for providing aid to Ukraine would run out by the end of the year, amid Russia’s intensifying campaign to knock out the country’s energy infrastructure. The US, Ukraine’s biggest single-country donor, has sent more than $40bn in aid since Russia’s invasion in February 2022. But right-wing congressional Republicans have expressed increasing scepticism towards approving more funds for Ukraine. The United States Senate has said they will vote on an aid package for Ukraine in 2024. But Congress could continue to hold up the money. The impasse over US aid to Kyiv is mirrored in the European Union, where Hungary is blocking a 50 billion euro ($55bn) aid package. The bloc is due to revisit the issue in January. The difficulties in securing the funds in Washington and Brussels have raised concerns in Kyiv that Western backers are experiencing “fatigue” with the drawn-out battle, as fighting on the front line becomes bogged down. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has noted that Kyiv’s “foreign policy will be active” with many international activities in January. “We make every effort to strengthen Ukraine and ensure that everyone is confident about the coming year, about military aid, macro-financial assistance, and political support,” he said. We continue to work with partners in order to maintain unity in support for Ukraine. With those in Europe, America, and around the world who support us, our state, and international law. Our foreign policy will be active in the coming weeks, and we are already planning… pic.twitter.com/YmNta6e5gV — Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) December 15, 2023 Drone attacks continue Russian attacks against Ukraine continued over Christmas. On Monday, the Ukrainian military said that Russia launched 31 drones and two missiles from the annexed Crimean Peninsula overnight. The military said the attack mostly targeted the south of Ukraine. Kyiv’s air defences “destroyed 28 Shahed attack drones in Odesa, Kherson, Mykolaiv, Donetsk, Kirovohrad and Khmelnytskyi regions” and also destroyed the missiles, it said. Meanwhile, Russian-installed authorities reported one person killed in Ukrainian shelling of the Russian-occupied eastern town of Horlivka. [embedded content] The latest assaults come as Ukraine marks Christmas on December 25 for the first time, after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a law moving the celebration from the January 7 date observed by the Russian Orthodox Church. In an address to mark Christmas Eve, Zelenskyy assured Ukrainians fighting against Russia that “step by step, day by day, the darkness is losing”. “Today, this is our common goal, our common dream. And this is precisely what our common prayer is for today. For our freedom. For our victory. For our Ukraine.” Adblock test (Why?)
Pope decries ‘appalling harvest’ of civilian deaths in Gaza
In Christmas message, Pope Francis says Israeli strikes are reaping an ‘appalling harvest’ of innocent civilians. Israel’s bombardment of Gaza is reaping an “appalling harvest” of innocent civilians, Pope Francis said in his Christmas message. In his Christmas Day “Urbi et Orbi” (to the city and world) address on Monday, the head of the Catholic Church also called the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas “abominable” and again appealed for the release of about 100 hostages still being held in Gaza, as he appealed for an end to hostilities. Speaking from the central balcony of St Peter’s Basilica to thousands of people in the square below, the 87-year-old Francis called for an end to conflicts, political, social or military, in places including Ukraine, Syria, Yemen, Lebanon, Armenia and Azerbaijan, and he defended the rights of migrants around the world. “How, many innocents are being slaughtered in our world! In their mothers’ wombs, in odysseys undertaken in desperation and in search of hope, in the lives of all those little ones whose childhood has been devastated by war. They are the little Jesuses of today,” he said. He gave particular attention to the Holy Land, including Gaza. Overnight on Christmas Eve, Israeli air raids killed at least 78 people in one of the besieged enclave’s deadliest nights of Israel’s 11-week-old battle with Hamas, according to Palestinian health officials. “May it [peace] come in Israel and Palestine, where war is devastating the lives of those peoples. I embrace them all, particularly the Christian communities of Gaza and the entire Holy Land,” Francis said. ‘Puppet strings of war’ “I plead for an end to the military operations with their appalling harvest of innocent civilian victims, and call for a solution to the desperate humanitarian situation by an opening to the provision of humanitarian aid,” he said. Last week, a United Nations-backed body said in a report that the entire 2.3 million population of Gaza was facing crisis levels of hunger and that the risk of famine was increasing every day. The Vatican, which has diplomatic relations with both Israel and the Palestinian Authority, believes a two-state solution is the only answer to the long-running conflict. Francis called for “persevering dialogue between the parties, sustained by strong political will and the support of the international community”. Dedicating an entire paragraph of his message to the weapons trade, Francis said: “And how can we even speak of peace, when arms production, sales and trade are on the rise?” He called for more investigation of the armaments trade. “It should be talked about and written about, so as to bring to light the interests and the profits that move the puppet strings of war,” he said. Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip since the cross-border attack by Hamas on October 7, killing at least 20,424 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injuring 54,036 others, according to local health authorities. About 1,140 people were killed in Israel in the Hamas attack. The Israeli onslaught has left Gaza in ruins, with half of the coastal territory’s housing damaged or destroyed and nearly two million people displaced within the densely populated enclave amid shortages of food, clean water and medicines. Adblock test (Why?)
Israeli bombardment devastates Maghazi refugee camp
NewsFeed Israeli air strikes have killed at least 70 people, including a two-week-old baby, as they hit housing in the Maghazi refugee camp, in one of the deadliest attacks in Gaza since the start of the war on October 7. Published On 25 Dec 202325 Dec 2023 Adblock test (Why?)
‘Just like Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya I also got chance to serve Kashi…’, says PM Modi
Addressing at the event of releasing the first series of 11 volumes of ‘Collected Works of Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya’, PM Modi said that today is like a festival of inspiration for people who believe in India and Indianness.
MP Cabinet Expansion: Prahld Patel, Kailash Vijayvargiya among 28 MLAs sworn in as ministers
18 leaders including Pradhuman Singh Tomar, Prahlad Singh Patel, Kailash Vijayvargiya and Vishwas Sarang took oath as cabinet ministers.
COVID-19 surge: 63 cases of JN.1 variant detected in country till Sunday, highest from Goa
The total number of active cases of COVID-19 in the country stands at 4,054, with the highest number of cases coming from Kerala.
‘Let us not forget…’: CJI condoles death of 4 soldiers in J-K at Christmas event in SC
Four Army personnel were killed while three others were injured after heavily armed terrorists ambushed two Army vehicles near Thanandi in the Rajouri sector on Thursday last week.
Dems, GOP both won big victories and suffered defeats in 2023. Here are the year’s top election takeaways
Democrats and Republicans clashed in a number of heated elections across the country this year as they looked to build momentum heading into 2024. Both parties experienced big victories and disappointing defeats, including in a number of gubernatorial, mayoral and state legislative races. Here is a look at the top takeaways from 2023’s elections: In October, Republicans flipped Louisiana’s governor seat from Democratic control when state Attorney General Jeff Landry defeated Democrat Shawn Wilson. Landry passed the 50% threshold required to avoid a runoff in Louisiana’s jungle primary system and will take over from term-limited Democrat Gov. John Bel Edwards in January. AS DEMOCRATS LEAN ON JAN 6, CRITICS ARGUE BIDEN’S PARTY IS THE REAL THREAT TO DEMOCRACY The race was the first major contest between Democrats and Republicans heading into the 2024 elections, and both hoped to use it as a springboard for success in the November elections just weeks later. Landry was only the second Republican elected in the last two decades to lead Louisiana, a traditionally deep-red state, with the other being former Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal. In March, Democratic Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot became the first incumbent leading the city in four decades to lose a re-election bid when she came in third in her party’s primary and failed to make the April runoff. She was ultimately ousted by progressive Democrat Brandon Johnson, a county commissioner backed by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and the Chicago Teachers Union. VETERANS SHAME DEMOCRAT IN TOP 2024 HOUSE RACE FOR WEARING ARMY UNIFORM DURING EVENT DESPITE NEVER SERVING Chicago’s rampant crime problem played a major role in voters’ decision to give Lightfoot the boot as the city saw crime go through the roof during her tenure. The number of homicides in Chicago in 2021 hit a 25-year-high, reaching 797, according to the Chicago Police Department. Incumbent Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear handily won re-election in deep-red Kentucky in November, a major blow to Republicans hoping to ride the momentum into the 2024 election year with another big flip after winning in Louisiana. The rising-star status of Beshear’s opponent, Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron, combined with the unpopularity of President Biden and his fellow Democrats in the commonwealth, ultimately didn’t boost Republicans’ chances at flipping the seat, and led to a large amount of finger pointing within the party in the aftermath. Immediately following the election, a number of national and local Republicans lamented that former U.N. Ambassador Kelly Craft, who faced Cameron in the GOP primary earlier in the year, wasn’t the party’s nominee, arguing she would have been a more “formidable” challenge to Beshear. Beshear will continue as one of the last remaining Democratic governors of a deep-red state where Republican voters outnumber Democrat voters and conservative roots run deep. Kansas Gov. Laura Kelley will be the only other Democratic governor of a Republican-leaning state once Landry replaces Bel Edwards in Louisiana in January. FORMER TRUMP ADVISER KELLYANNE CONWAY LEADS CHARGE TO OVERHAUL GOP ABORTION STRATEGY, END DEMS’ 2024 ADVANTAGE In November, Democrats retained control of the Virginia state Senate and flipped the state House of Delegates from Republicans, despite GOP Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s attempts to win total control of the state legislature for his party. Virginia’s legislative elections grabbed outsized national attention, with both Democrats and Republicans spending millions on the races, which were viewed in political circles as a key barometer ahead of the 2024 elections for president and control of Congress. Strategists from both parties looked closely at the results in Virginia’s northern suburbs of Washington, D.C., and around Richmond, for signs that Republicans were able to make any inroads with suburban voters — especially women — who fled the GOP in recent election cycles. But there was scant evidence. The results mean Youngkin won’t have a free hand during his final two years in office to push through a conservative agenda, and are seen as a political setback for a governor with a reputation as a rising star in the GOP, whom some top Republican donors were urging to make a late-in-the-game entry into the 2024 White House race. BIDEN TEAM’S CENTRAL 2024 MESSAGE PAINTS TRUMP AS ‘THREAT TO DEMOCRACY’: REPORT In February, Democrats in Pennsylvania won control of the state House for the first time in over a decade with a one-seat majority after months of uncertainty following the 2022 elections. Democrats then lost the majority with the resignation of one of its members in July before regaining the majority with a special election victory in September. The chamber was thrown back into a deadlock earlier this month with the resignation of another Democrat, who departed for a position as a judge, leaving the balance of power at 101-101. A special election is expected to be held on Feb. 13 to fill the empty seat. In November, Ohio voters approved a constitutional amendment enshrining abortion rights in the state’s constitution. The vote was opposed by Republicans, who argued the measure went even further than Roe v. Wade. BIDEN SCRAMBLES TO WIN OVER SWING STATE BLACK VOTERS AS SUPPORT FROM THE TRADITIONALLY BLUE BLOC FALTERS The election signaled a major victory for pro-abortion advocates, including the American Civil Liberties Union, who had pumped tens of millions into the state that Trump carried by eight points in 2020. The group argued that a constitutional amendment was needed to protect abortion access after the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade. Incumbent Republican Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves secured a second term at the helm of the Magnolia State in November by defeating his Democratic opponent Brandon Presley, the second cousin to famed rock and roll legend Elvis Presley. National Democrats saw the race as a potential flip opportunity in a deep-red state and tried to capitalize on that by hammering Reeves for refusing Medicaid expansion. Reeves responded to the attacks by saying he believed in work, not welfare. Reeves touted his record as governor during the race, citing the state’s lowest unemployment rate in history, rising educational
Pig roasts, hockey games and family: Lawmakers share favorite Christmas traditions
For millions of Americans, Christmas is a day to spend with family and showing loved ones how much they care, and members of Congress are no different. “We always do the same thing. Our tradition is that we celebrate Christmas Eve, so for us, it’s called Nochebuena,” Rep. Carlos Gimenez, R-Fla., who is Cuban American, told Fox News Digital. “And it’s the birth of Jesus, so that’s where family, friends, etc., get together … and then we have a pig roast. “ The pig roast, which is done outside, comes after “hours of preparation,” he said. Gimenez said his sons lead the meticulous process each year, adding, “They know how to do it better than I do it. I just help out.” IN ADVENT AND CHRISTMAS, OUR ‘FAITH REALLY COMES INTO FOCUS,’ SAYS FOX NEWS’ RACHEL CAMPOS-DUFFY The Cuban tradition of roasting a pig on Christmas Eve even inspired Gimenez to pardon the animals when he served as mayor of Miami-Dade County. House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., and his family take a sportier approach to Christmas, going head-to-head in an annual hockey game. Emmer himself was a hockey coach and played the sport in college. In true Minnesota fashion, the friendly competition is the No. 3 House leader’s favorite Christmas tradition, and it even comes with an MVP trophy at the end. Making it all the more special this year will be Emmer’s grandson getting his first pair of skates, Fox News Digital was told. HERE’S WHY MARY IS SUCH A KEY FIGURE IN THE ADVENT SEASON Rep. Ashley Hinson, R-Iowa, said her favorite part of Christmas is getting her home festive for it. “I love decorating for the holidays. I start decorating for Christmas the second people leave my house on Thanksgiving,” she told Fox News Digital. “Fun fact: I have a massive Nutcracker collection that my mom passed down to me. I added a Sugar Plum Fairy this year.” ACTOR DAVID HENRIE, DAD OF 3, HAS ‘SOFT SPOT’ FOR BOX OF JOY GIVING PROGRAM FOR NEEDY CHILDREN For Republican Study Committee Chairman Kevin Hern, R-Okla., the best Christmas tradition is simply spending time with his kids and grandkids. Rep. Greg Pence, R-Ind., brother of former Vice President Mike Pence, similarly described family time as his favorite Christmas tradition. “All my brothers and I, and nephews, go out to dinner on [Dec. 21] every year,” Pence told Fox News Digital.