Good morning. We're covering a mysterious vessel in Finnish waters and Israel's campaigns in Gaza and Yemen. Plus: A deadly tsunami, 20 years on.
Finland seized an oil tankerThe Finnish authorities yesterday boarded and seized an oil tanker in Finnish waters on the suspicion that it was involved in cutting vital undersea cables as an act of sabotage. The ship is registered in the Cook Islands in the South Pacific, and it had been sailing from St. Petersburg, Russia, to Port Said, Egypt, when it was detained. The police said they were investigating whether the vessel was involved in the cutting on Wednesday of the Estlink 2 submarine cable, which carries electricity between Finland and Estonia. Four other cables, carrying data, were also reported to have been damaged. The police called the latest cable cuts "aggravated vandalism." The Finnish authorities said the tanker might be part of Russia's shadow fleet, which emerged as a way to circumvent Western-imposed price caps on Russian oil transported by sea. It involves mostly unmarked tankers not easily traced to Russia. The caps were introduced several months after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. Kazakhstan: Investigators looking into the deadly crash of a passenger plane this week were focusing on the possibility that a Russian air defense system had struck the aircraft. (A Russian news agency instead said that the jet, from Azerbaijan Airlines, had hit a flock of birds.)
Israel bombed airports and ports in YemenThe Israeli military unleashed an air assault on parts of Yemen controlled by the Iranian-backed Houthi militia. The group had launched a missile attack against Israel a week earlier. At least four people were killed and 21 others were injured, the Saba state news agency said, citing Yemen's Health Ministry. The report could not be independently verified. Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has previously indicated his country's aim against its foes in the region. "The Houthis, too, will learn what Hamas, Hezbollah, the Assad regime and others have learned," he said on Wednesday. "And even if it takes time, this lesson will be understood across the Middle East." Here's what you need to know. Israel has also kept up what Netanyahu has called a deliberately "relentless" campaign against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Gaza's health ministry said yesterday that an Israeli airstrike near a hospital had killed 50 people, including five medical workers, some of whom died while trying to rescue the injured. Weakening civilian protections: After Oct. 7, 2023, Israel changed how it assessed civilian casualties, allowing it to mount one of the deadliest air wars of the century, its campaign in Gaza. Times reporters found that Israel changed its rules of engagement so the military could endanger up to 20 civilians in each airstrike against Hamas fighters and sites. Read takeaways from the investigation. Related news:
Hundreds have been killed in chaos in MozambiqueMore than 250 people have died in the southern African nation of Mozambique as protesters disputing the results of the presidential election have clashed with the police and military. Discontent started long before voters went to the polls in October. For years, the Frelimo party, which has governed Mozambique since 1975, has faced allegations of election rigging. In this year's vote, Frelimo's candidate — Daniel Chapo — was declared the winner, with 65 percent of ballots cast, according to the final tally. The nation's top court on Dec. 23 upheld his victory. But the top opposition candidate has declared himself the actual winner and has called on Mozambicans to shut down the country. Tires have burned in the streets; buildings have been looted and vandalized; angry mobs have erected informal pay-to-pass roadblocks; and hundreds of prisoners have broken free.
Two NASA astronauts have been stranded at the International Space Station since June, after aircraft malfunctions turned their eight-day trip into one spanning many months. This week, they celebrated the holidays in space, including by having a zero-gravity cookie-decorating contest and building a reindeer from storage bags. For more: Jews this week light candles for the eight-day holiday of Hanukkah. See pictures from around the world.
Year of the 'Brat'A year ago, the pop star Charli XCX was still somewhat underground, with one foot in celebrity and the other in normal life. Since the June 7 release of her sixth studio album, "Brat," she has been on a one-way joyride to the center of popular culture: Fox News and CNN; a sold-out Madison Square Garden; Barack Obama's summer playlist. "Throughout the year, as Charli continued to release candid music about fame that only made her exponentially more famous, she seemed to approach stardom as a Warholian art project," writes Lindsay Zoladz in this appraisal. The end point? A remix LP with a title poking fun at money-grabbing deluxe albums — "Brat and It's Completely Different but Also Still Brat." We hope you've enjoyed this newsletter, which is made possible through subscriber support. Subscribe to The New York Times.
Cook: Turn leftover ham into a hearty soup. Watch: "Babygirl," an erotic thriller starring Nicole Kidman, is about power, but with kinks, our critic writes. Cope: How to avoid pickpockets and street scams while traveling. Listen: In "Popcast," our music critics debate the best albums of the year. Play the Spelling Bee. And here are today's Mini Crossword and Wordle. You can find all our puzzles here. That's it for today's briefing. See you next week. — Natasha P.S. If you haven't already, tell us about your most successful New Year's resolution. Reach Natasha and the team at briefing@nytimes.com.
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