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Doha (AFP) – US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warns the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza could deteriorate and threaten security in the wider Middle East. During a joint presser with Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani in Doha, Blinken said there was a risk the conflict could “metastasize”. The war began on October 7 when Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on Israel which resulted in about 1,140 deaths, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures. The militants also took around 250 hostages, 132 of whom remain in captivity, according to Israel. In response, Israel has carried out a relentless bombardment and ground invasion that have killed at least 22,835 people in Gaza, most of them women and children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.

Pasto (Colombia) (AFP) – Artists, craftspeople and revelers fill the street of Pasto, southwestern Colombia, during the Blacks and Whites Carnival, a fusion of different cultural celebrations, including from the Andes, the Amazon and the Pacific. It takes place every year from January 2 to 7 and is on Unesco’s intangible heritage list.

Moscow (AFP) – Partners of Russian men mobilised to fight in Ukraine demand that their husbands return from the front by staging one-person pickets outside the country’s defence ministry and by placing flowers by the Eternal Flame at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier under the Kremlin’s walls. Anger has been growing for months among those close to the reservists mobilised on President Vladimir Putin’s orders in September 2022, a sensitive subject for the authorities who have until now been careful not to repress this emerging protest movement. “We should not pretend that these people are not dying there – they are dying there,” Maria Andreeva, a 34-year-old pediatrician, says.

Dhaka (AFP) – Protesters take to the streets of Dhaka to boycott Sunday’s election, which is guaranteed to give Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina a fifth term in office. The opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), whose ranks have been decimated by mass arrests, called for a general strike and urged the public not to participate in what it called a “sham” election. Some 25,000 opposition cadres including the BNP’s entire local leadership have been arrested since October. The government puts the figure at 11,000.

Ukhia (Bangladesh) (AFP) – Thousands of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh have been left without shelter after a suspected arson attack ripped through their camp burning nearly 800 homes. Bangladesh is home to around a million Rohingya, many of whom fled a 2017 military crackdown on the Muslim minority in neighbouring Myanmar that is now subject to a UN genocide probe.

Gaza City (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) – The Israel-Gaza war casts a pall of gloom over Christmas mass at the Greek Orthodox Church of Saint Porphyrius in Gaza City. The October 7 attack by Hamas resulted in the deaths of around 1,140 people in Israel, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures. Militants also took around 250 hostages back to Hamas-ruled Gaza. In response, Israel launched a relentless offensive that has claimed over 22,300 lives, according to the territory’s health ministry.

Oruro (Bolivia) (AFP) – Bolivia reports its biggest-ever cocaine seizure: more than 8 tons of the drug apparently destined for the Netherlands and found in a massive shipment of timber on December 30.

Beirut (AFP) – The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, warns against a regional conflict that would involve Lebanon, as border clashes intensified nearly three months into Israel’s war with Hezbollah ally Hamas. “It is absolutely necessary to avoid Lebanon being dragged into a regional conflict,” he says.

Cicalengka (Indonesia) (AFP) – Aerial images show derailed railcars after a train crash in West Java province, Indonesia killed four and injured dozens more.

Blue Bell (United States) (AFP) – US President Joe Biden launches his harshest attack yet on Donald Trump as he kickstarts his 2024 reelection campaign, accusing the Republican of echoing Nazi Germany and posing a threat to democracy. The 81-year-old Democrat branded his likely challenger in November “sick” in a speech on the eve of the third anniversary of the deadly January 6 Capitol attack by pro-Trump supporters.

Latchi (Cyprus) (AFP) – Cypriots race to retrieve a cross tossed into the sea by a Greek Orthodox priest, in the coastal town of Latchi, as part of the Blessing of the Waters tradition that takes place every year to celebrate the day of Epiphany. Epiphany is one of the most highly esteemed holidays in the Greek Orthodox faith. For Eastern Christians, it commemorates the day when John the Baptist christened 30-year-old Jesus Christ in the Jordan River more than 2,000 years ago.

Jordan Valley (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) – On a windy December day, a group of Israeli activists are carrying heavy rocks near Palestinian farms in the Jordan Valley, West Bank. As peace advocates, they are working to protect the farmers against violence perpetrated by extremist Israeli settlers, which has soared since the Hamas militant group’s October 7 attack on Israel.