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I'm VOA's Joe Ramsey with your worldwide news update.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a televised address Thursday that Moscow had launched a medium-range ballistic missile attack on a Ukrainian military facility in response to recent Ukrainian long-range strikes with Western weapons. Reuters correspondent Alex Cohen reports. Kyiv said Russia used an intercontinental ballistic missile, a weapon designed for long-distance nuclear strikes and never before used in war, and that it hit the city of Dnipro. But three U.S. officials said it was an intermediate-range ballistic missile that has a smaller range, and one official said it was notified by Russia about the strike ahead of time. There was no suggestion it was nuclear-armed. A regional governor in Ukraine said the attack damaged an industrial enterprise and set off fires. Artem Diomin is the acting director of a medical rehabilitation center. "Technical buildings were damaged in our compound. In the rehabilitation center building, around 50 windows were damaged. Thank God, nobody was injured." Regardless of its classification, the latest strike highlighted rapidly rising tensions in the past several days. It came after Ukraine fired U.S. and British missiles at targets inside Russia this week after outgoing U.S. President Joe Biden gave it permission to do so, despite warnings by Moscow that it would see such action as a major escalation. President-elect Donald Trump has said he will end the war without saying how, and has criticized billions of dollars in aid for Ukraine under Biden. The warring sides believe Trump is likely to push for peace talks, not known to have been held since the war's earliest months, and are trying to attain strong positions before negotiations. Reuters correspondent Alex Cohen. This is VOA News. Israelis are reacting angrily to the arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Galant issued by the International Criminal Court in The Hague. Linda Gradstein has the story from Jerusalem. In a statement Thursday, Benjamin Netanyahu's office said the ICC decision to issue arrest warrants against him and his recently fired Defense Minister, Yoav Galant, was anti-Semitic and, quote, "equivalent to a modern-day Dreyfus." He was referring to a trial from the 1890s when a Jewish military officer in France was wrongly convicted of treason. A warrant was also issued for the arrest of Hamas leader Mohammed Deif, although there were questions of whether he was killed in an airstrike as Israel claims. On the streets of Jerusalem, residents like Shmuel, a retiree, were angry about the ICC decision. He said that it is a "heartache" that the ICC is acting against the Jewish people with anti-Semitism and that it was not done with the rule of law. It is not clear what effect the ICC arrest warrants will have. The United States, which is Israel's most important ally, is not a party to the ICC, meaning that Netanyahu will be able to continue to travel to the U.S., to speak to Congress, and likely to meet with President-elect Donald Trump. Linda Gradstein, VOA News, Jerusalem. U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for attorney general, former Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz, withdrew himself from consideration Thursday. VOA's congressional correspondent Katherine Gypson reports. Gaetz was being investigated by the House Ethics Committee for various criminal allegations. He has denied those claims, but many U.S. lawmakers were concerned about his fitness to lead the Department of Justice. Many senators including Republicans expressed reluctance to confirm him without more information about those allegations. Katherine Gypson, VOA News, Washington. Brazil's federal police on Thursday formally accused former President Jair Bolsonaro of his role in an alleged 2022 coup conspiracy. Reuters correspondent ??? reports. Police said 36 other people were also accused, including Bolsonaro's 2022 running mate. Bolsonaro lost the election to rival Luis Inácio Lula da Silva. The final police report caps a nearly two-year investigation into Bolsonaro's role in the election-denying movement, which culminated in January, 2023, with his supporters sweeping the capital, Brasilia. Reuters correspondent ???. Bolsonaro has denied any wrongdoing and called the investigation a political prosecution. That wraps up this update, but the world and news never stop. For additional updates, visit our website. I'm Joe Ramsey, VOA News. |