The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has hit a building in the vicinity of a group of journalists as they were trying to send information on the wounded after another Israeli strike, a Sputnik correspondent reported on Tuesday.

An Israeli warplane has bombed a house in the west of the city of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip as several journalists were nearby to make their reports. The journalists were standing next to ambulances that had arrived to evacuate those wounded by the ongoing Israeli bombing, the correspondent reported.

Medical sources told Sputnik that seven Palestinians have been killed and several others have been wounded in the past few hours as a result of the continuous bombing of the city, adding that the wounded have been taken to the Nasser Hospital.

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Oil, power and conflict: strategic hotspots across the Middle East

The Middle East has long been a focal point of global attention, marred by persistent conflicts and complex dynamics. At the heart of the turmoil is the strategic significance of the region, rooted in its vast oil reserves over which world powers vie for influence and control.

A critical flashpoint in a region ablaze once again is the protracted conflict in the Gaza Strip, which has now passed the 100-day mark.

With new flashpoints appearing here and there in the Middle East the possibility of a major conflict in the region seems increasingly alarming.

Explore Sputnik's infographic showing current Middle East hotspots.

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❗️ The Russian air defenses shot down seven Ukrainian drones over Belgorod and the Belgorod region, Belgorod Region Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.

No injuries were reported per preliminary information.

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🇷🇺 Russian Giatsint-S crews destroyed Ukrainian artillery guns in the Krasny Liman direction

After receiving the location data of the Ukrainian artillery and mortars, the Giatsint-S guns hit the area with a series of salvoes. An ammunition supply and unloading point was also hit.

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❗️ The Russian air defense systems destroyed 7 Ukrainian Olha missiles and 4 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) over the Belgorod region, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

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🇪🇨 The Ecuadorian police and army have detained more than 1,750 people from January 9-16, including 158 suspected of terrorism, amid a wave of gang violence that swept the South American country last week, the office of Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa said Tuesday.

As of Tuesday morning, the country's security forces detained as many as 1,753 people in the said period, including 219 people over the past 24 hours, the office said in a blog post.

A total of 645 pieces of firearms and 488 pieces of explosives and explosive devices, nearly 15,000 rounds of ammunition, 400 vehicles, 235 motorbikes and 15 boats have been seized in 18,108 operational actions and 41 large-scale operations from January 9-16, the office added.

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Russian air defense systems destroyed seven Ukrainian Olha missiles and four unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) over the Belgorod Region overnight, the Russian Defense Ministry said Wednesday.

Belgorod Region Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said earlier in the day that seven Ukrainian drones were shot down over the region and the city of Belgorod, adding that the preliminary information showed that there were no casualties.

"On January 17, around 2.40 a.m. Moscow time [23:40 GMT on Tuesday], an attempt by the Kiev regime to carry out a terrorist attack on targets in the territory of the Russian Federation using the Vilkha multiple launch rocket systems and UAVs was foiled. Russian air defense systems on duty destroyed seven rockets and four Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles were destroyed over the Belgorod Region," the ministry said in a statement.

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The Yemeni militia struck a US-owned ship in the Gulf of Aden on Monday, a day after firing an anti-ship missile at a US destroyer in the Red Sea. The attacks followed Friday and Saturday’s US-UK strikes against Houthi targets as part of the Washington-led response to the militia’s campaign of hijackings and attacks against Israeli-linked ships.

Bukhaiti assured that the Houthis retain the capability to confront Washington and to stop American and Israeli ships from passing through the Red Sea, and warned that the militia is growing its missile capabilities and will ‘bring new surprises soon’. He did not elaborate.

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Tehran is ready for all parties to return to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), also known as the Iran nuclear deal, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian told a meeting with his Spanish counterpart, Jose Albares, on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, on Tuesday.

"In response to the Spanish foreign minister's support for the continuation of talks to restore the JCPOA, Amirabdollahian emphasized our country's readiness for the return of all parties to the JCPOA," the ministry said on Telegram.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said Monday that Tehran does not find it necessary to conclude a new international nuclear deal that would replace the JCPOA, adding that ideas of a new nuclear deal, often referred to as JCPOA 2, "are presented by the parties that have reneged on their commitments."

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❗️ The Russian air defense systems destroyed several more targets over Belgorod and the Belgorod region, Belgorod Region Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said. No injuries were reported per preliminary information, he added.

"Our air defense systems activated again over Belgorod and the Belgorod Region. Several aerial targets were shot down. According to preliminary data, there were no casualties," the governor said on Telegram.

He added that the glazing of several residential buildings was damaged in the Belgorod Region, adding that response services were en route to the scenes.

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🇨🇳💰 China's GDP at the end of 2023 increased by 5.2% year-on-year to $17.698 trillion, which is above the official forecast, data of the Chinese National Bureau of Statistics showed on Wednesday.

"According to preliminary estimates, the gross domestic product (GDP) was 126,058.2 billion yuan [$17.698 trillion] in 2023, an increase of 5.2 percent over the previous year at constant prices," the bureau said in the latest release.

According to the official forecast, China's GDP was expected to increase by some 5% in 2023.

The country's GDP at the end of 2022 increased by 3% compared to 2021 against the background of localized coronavirus outbreaks and an unstable international environment, which was lower than the official forecast of about 5.5%. China's GDP in 2022 totaled 121.02 trillion yuan ($17.95 trillion).

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“The most difficult talks are those in which you feel simply that you want to go and punch your opposite number in the nose,” Ukraine’s foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba admitted, suggesting he has trouble controlling himself when dealing with his counterparts.

Kuleba clarified he had one specific person in mind as part of his fantasy: Russia's top diplomat Sergey Lavrov.

The impolitic comment came to light after the release of an interview between Kuleba and a Ukrainian online influencer.

“That is the problem: uneducated, aggressive people were recruited under the guise of serving as ministers to ruin Ukraine for American money,” said Russian spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, questioning Kuleba's competence and temperament.

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🇳🇦 🇩🇪 Rooted in 'lived experience': why Namibia objects to German support for Israel in ICJ case

Namibia's condemnation of Germany's rejection of South Africa's "genocide" accusations against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) is rooted in the traumatic experience of the Namibian people under German colonial rule, Dr. Rasigan Maharajh, chief director of the Institute for Economic Research and Innovation at the Tshwane University of Technology in South Africa, told Sputnik Africa.

Maharajh said that the majority of people around the world find it difficult to understand Berlin's current stance on the ongoing humanitarian crisis in the besieged Palestinian Gaza Strip.

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❗️ Four RM-70 Vampire MLRS shells were destroyed in the Belgorod region, two Ukrainian UAVs were intercepted, the Russian Defense Ministry reported

“[Hamas] started a process of the falling apart and the collapse of a world order that was already decaying and degrading… for 20 or more years,” analyst Yezid Sayigh made the surprising claim in an interview published Tuesday in Chinese media.

Sayigh warned that domestic political pressures in both Israel and the United States during an election year created a dangerous situation where events could suddenly escalate into world war.

What’s more, the West’s unconditional support for Israel is threatening its hegemony and damaging the credibility of the liberal order it constructed after the last world war. The moment comes just as China, Russia, and other world powers are emerging as dominant players in a new multipolar world order.

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British Defense Secretary Grant Shapps delivered a speech intended to rally support for increased military spending Monday, but things didn’t go quite as planned. Users on the X social media platform widely mocked the jingoistic lecture, which warned of alleged attacks from Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea within the next five years.

“The era of the peace dividend is over,” Shapps proclaimed defiantly, but the British government has imposed austerity for a number of years while remaining America’s staunchest ally in wars across the Middle East.

“Can you explain how British soldiers killed in Helmand or in Basra were at all beneficiaries of this so-called era of the peace dividend?” asked one X user in response to Shapps’ tone deaf comments.

“Wars happen when the government tells you who your enemy is. Revolution happens when you work it out for yourself,” said another.

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🇷🇺 Russian Fagot ATGM crew destroys Ukrainian command and observation post in Kupyansk direction

The soldiers hit the enemy command post with a well-aimed shot and withdrew from the firing position as quickly as possible so the enemy would not have time to strike back.

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Despite the fact that Moscow condemns military aid to Ukraine, which is used to attack civilian targets, French President Emmanuel Macron said that Paris will finalize a bilateral agreement on security guarantees for Kiev in the coming weeks and announce its signing during his visit to Ukraine in February.

"We are finalizing a bilateral agreement on guarantees that will be signed in the coming weeks. We will proceed with new [arms] deliveries: about 40 SCALP missiles [also known as the Storm Shadow] and several hundred bombs that our Ukrainian friends are waiting for," Macron told a news conference aired by the Elysee Palace on X.

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The Western coalition is indifferent to the deaths of civilians in Yemen and other countries, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told Sputnik

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❗️A Turkish delegation will visit Russia this week to discuss gas hub details, a source in the Turkish Energy Ministry has told Sputnik

EU ready to fast-track new naval mission in Red Sea

The European Union is reportedly ready to follow the lead of the US, setting up its own naval operation in the Red Sea “to protect commercial shipping” from Houthi attacks.

The bloc could sign off on the plans as soon as January 22 at a meeting of foreign ministers in Brussels. The EU wants to fast-track the process, hoping to get the maritime operation up and running by late February.

The EU’s Political and Security Committee has given its initial approval of plans to send at least three destroyers or frigates “with multi-mission capabilities” to the area, as well as to exchange secret maritime information with the US-led mission, Prosperity Guardian, Bloomberg reported, citing sources.

The EU's operation may be based on AGENOR - the European mission in the Persian Gulf, which is part of the European Maritime Surveillance Initiative in the Strait of Hormuz (EMASoH).

Earlier, Russia denounced the US attacks on Yemeni territory, with Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova branding them as a sign of “blatant disregard for international law in the name of escalating the situation in the region for their own destructive purposes.”

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