Monday briefing: a weekend of US-led strikes
US leads strikes against Houthis
The US said yesterday that this was the case destroyed an anti-ship cruise missile that belonged to the Houthis in Yemen. It was the third day in a row that the US and its Western allies targeted Iranian-backed armed groups in the region.
The Houthis have vowed to respond to Western attacks. On Saturday, the US, Britain and a handful of allies said they had struck 36 Houthi targets in 13 locations in Yemen – the latest effort to stop the Houthis from attacking ships in the Red Sea.
The US also bombed seven locations in Syria and Iraq linked to militias with close ties to Iran, a significant escalation in the use of force. The retaliatory attacks targeted Iranian forces and the militias they support, and came after a drone strike in Jordan killed three US soldiers late last month. Yesterday, top US national security officials said President Biden had ordered further retaliation.
Analysis: The US has refrained from attacking Iran itself, which analysts say is intended to prevent a wider war. Iran has also indicated that it wants to lower temperatures in the region.
In Gaza: A photojournalist spent weeks with five Palestinians whose lives had been devastated by the war. See the pictures.
Ukraine is fighting a ruthless enemy
Ukrainian troops are Outsmarting, outmaneuvering and digging in while fighting Russian forces in the hotspots of the eastern frontline. Russia is trying to overwhelm the Ukrainians with massive numbers, at a time when US military support for Ukraine has ceased.
“They are coming in waves,” said a Ukrainian lieutenant. “And they don't stop.”
Critically short of ammunition, Ukrainian forces cannot afford to fire on just one or two advancing enemy soldiers. So the Russians now move forward in small numbers, trying to gather enough soldiers to storm a Ukrainian trench.
But Russia is making only marginal gains despite pouring enormous resources into the fight. More than 13,000 Russian soldiers were killed or wounded in just two months of operations aimed at capturing the destroyed city of Avdiivka.
In Russia: A cat that died after being thrown from a train has become an outlet for public grief in a country where people increasingly ignore negative news. It is also a useful distraction for the Kremlin.
The arsenal was a long-term goal of Xi Jinping. He has doubled its size to about 500 warheads, with more to come. The weapons could also determine Taiwan's future – if China were to gain confidence that it could use their existence to limit Western intervention in any conflict.
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Asiatic-Pacific
Young Chinese flock to the mountain town of Dali, also known as 'Dalifornia.” It has become an oasis for the disaffected, the wanderers and the curious seeking to escape the cutthroat competition and stifling political climate of China's megacities.
How Modi dominates Indian television
The grand opening of the dazzling Ram Temple in Ayodhya, India, featured Bollywood and entertainment royalty, gurus and influencers, laser lights and bone-jarring beats. About a dozen national television channels tried to outdo each other in what has become a leading mission for most: to cast a favorable spotlight on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's every move.
India's broadcast media, which receives ample advertising money from the government, is engaged in an image-building machine that glorifies the Prime Minister as an infallible, divine leader. News of setbacks — Chinese encroachment on India's borderlands, deadly ethnic conflict in a northeastern region, uneven economic growth that doesn't create enough jobs — is rarely discussed on TV.
For the millions of people who tuned in during Modi's speech at the temple, the full range of his skills as a communicator were on display. But asking questions to a prime minister is a thing of the past; Modi has not held a proper press conference in the last decade since he took charge.