International Glance
Ukraine could be facing its biggest loss for months, if the key eastern city of Pokrovsk falls to Russian forces. The battle for this strategic point on a big road and rail artery in the Donetsk region has been going on for well over a year.
If Russia's Vladimir Putin were able to claim victory there, three years and 10 months into his full-scale war, he would be a step closer to his goal of controlling Ukraine's entire industrial east - the Donbas, made up of the neighbouring regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.
How close is Pokrovsk to falling?
Claims and counter-claims abound, so it is difficult to say.
But we do know Russia has amassed tens of thousands of troops in the area, and hundreds of its soldiers have infiltrated the city in the past few weeks, gradually taking over buildings and streets and overwhelming Ukrainian positions.
On Wednesday, Kyiv's General Staff denied its forces in and around the town had been encircled and maintained they were still involved in "active resistance" and blocking out Russian troops. One Ukrainian regiment said it had cleared the city council and posted a video of a Ukrainian flag hung on the building.
Donald Trump said Friday that no US government officials would be attending the Group of 20 summit this year in South Africa, citing the country’s treatment of white farmers.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun has denounced a wave of Israeli air strikes on southern Lebanon as a “heinous political crime” as at least one person was killed and nine others injured in the attacks.
Hamas fighters entrenched in Rafah, the southernmost area of Gaza now under Israeli control, may soon surrender their weapons in exchange for safe passage to other parts of the enclave, according to sources close to ongoing mediation talks. The proposal, facilitated by Egyptian mediators, aims to preserve the fragile U.S.-brokered ceasefire that began on October 10 and has already been tested by renewed violence.
A Ukrainian court has handed down the first jail sentence for life against a Russian soldier accused of killing a Ukrainian prisoner of war.
What future is there for Palestinians in Gaza? The announcement of the ceasefire brought profound relief, shaded by an equally deep sense of trepidation. Almost a month later, the picture looks bleaker. The Israeli offensive abated, Hamas has returned the surviving hostages and the remains of some of those who have died, and Israel has released some Palestinian detainees and the remains of others.
The Israeli army has continued to attack various areas across the Gaza Strip, as troops carry out demolitions of buildings despite the lack of shelters amid dropping temperatures.
