Friday briefing
Tensions in the Middle East are escalating
The Middle East is moving closer to the brink of a regional war, which the Biden administration has been trying to avert since Hamas’ deadly attacks on Israel on October 7. Increasing attacks have driven thousands of people from their homes along the Lebanon-Israel border. as Israeli forces continue to bomb the town of Khan Younis in southern Gaza. View the latest updates.
In Lebanon, the killing of a Hamas leader in Beirut is raising fears of a wider conflict on the country’s border with Israel. Many southern villages have already emptied as clashes between Israel and Hezbollah intensify. Israel has evacuated more than 80,000 people on its side of the border.
In southern Gaza, the Israeli army continued to bomb areas where it had ordered civilians to evacuate amid heavy fighting, Palestinian Red Crescent and Gaza officials said. Gazan officials say dozens of people have been killed in the past three days. The UN said Israel’s attacks left residents with nowhere to hide from the bombardment.
Trump’s Approval Playbook
As of this week, every member of the Republican leadership of the House of Representatives is formally supporting Donald Trump’s campaign to retake the White House. Trump pockets his endorsements as much out of fear as out of favor, cajoling fellow politicians over the phone while firing off ominous messages on social media about those who aren’t in line.
The former president has a particular focus on collecting these formal expressions of support. In recent weeks, his allies have told lawmakers that Trump will keep a close eye on who has and has not supported him ahead of the Jan. 15 Iowa caucuses.
Test case: In October, Trump defeated a top candidate for the House of Representatives, Rep. Tom Emmer, by posting that voting for him “would be a tragic mistake!” On Wednesday, Emmer capitulated and supported him.
‘An admission’: Chris Christie, the former governor of New Jersey, said in a new ad that he was wrong to support Trump in 2016. “I did it because I thought I could make him a better candidate and a better president,” he said. “Well, I was wrong. I have made a mistake.”
There are increasing indications that Russia controls Marinka
The Ukrainian army said yesterday that its troops were fighting “in the vicinity” of a village behind the eastern frontline town of Marinka. The capture of the city would be Russia’s most significant territorial advance since the fall of Bakhmut in May.
While his control is unlikely to turn the tide of the war, the loss of Marinka would be further evidence that Moscow has firmly seized the initiative on the battlefield after the Ukrainian counter-offensive stalled in the summer.
THE LAST NEWS
Around the world
A library in a small mountain town in New York announced a one-time addition to its children’s program: Drag Queen Story Hour. Pandemonium erupted: within months, someone had made a bomb threat, a board meeting ended in blows, and a librarian was hospitalized with stress-induced dizziness.
The event never took place, but the library has now been closed for over three months for the first time in its 53 years of existence.
SPORTS NEWS
An empty cupboard: The largest English football club never win a major trophy.
Knowing your worth: The rise of data and analytics football contract negotiations.
‘Exposed defects’: Rory McIlroy said that LIV Golf has identified shortcomings during the PGA Tour.
ARTS AND IDEAS
An oligarch versus Sotheby’s
In a trial next week, Dmitry Rybolovlev, a Russian oligarch, plans to take on art world auction house Sotheby’s. Rybolovlev claims the company helped a dealer trick him into overpaying millions for works such as Leonardo da Vinci’s ‘Salvator Mundi’.
Sotheby’s denies all allegations. But whatever the outcome of the trial, it is expected to provide a rare insight into the inner, often secretive workings of the art trade, where even buyers rarely know from whom they are buying art – or how much art is really worth.
“This case is the granddaddy of them all,” says art market attorney Nicholas O’Donnell, “when it comes to what we do in the art market in terms of conflicting loyalties and transparency.”