Three news stories summarized & contextualized by analytic journalist Colin Wright.

Top Hamas leader killed in suspected Israeli strike in Beirut

Summary: At least seven members of Hamas, including the founder of the group’s military wing, Saleh al-Arouri, have been killed by a drone strike on an apartment building in Beirut, raising concerns about potential military escalations throughout the region.

Context: It’s strongly suspected that Israel is behind this strike, and representatives from the Israeli military and US intelligence services have confirmed as much (on background) to journalists, but at the moment they seem to be maintaining deniability, which may give Lebanese officials, including Hezbollah leaders, justification to step back from earlier threats to retaliate harshly if Israel ever dared attack Hamas members living within their borders; Israeli and Hezbollah forces have already been engaging in relatively moderate fighting across the Israel-Lebanon border, and the big concern is that Hezbollah is a lot more organized and well-funded than Hamas, and like Hamas it is backed by Iran, so any further deterioration in their relationship with Israel could spiral pretty quickly, regionally.

—The Wall Street Journal

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Tens of thousands face NHS cancellations as six-day strike begins in England

Summary: Tens of thousands of patients in England have had their NHS-covered appointments cancelled due to a six-day strike by junior doctors, extending a 13-month-long chain of such strikes by doctors, nurses, and other NHS staff due to insufficient pay.

Context: This is the tenth work-stoppage by junior doctors, alone, during this period of strikes, and those taking strike action are demanding higher wages following a decrease in pay for junior doctors of about 26% since 2009; a large number of third-party patient interest groups have said that their members will have their appointments cancelled or postponed, potentially for a long time, and the same general back-and-forth we’ve seen surrounding other strike action in the UK and around the world, of late, has been playing out here, too, with those controlling the money saying there’s not enough money, those on strike saying they’re not being paid a living wage, and those suffering from a decrease in services hoping everyone can come to some kind of agreement soon, but not knowing if and when that might happen.

—The Guardian

Somalia recalls envoy to Ethiopia over 'null and void' Somaliland port deal

Summary: On Tuesday, the Somalian government said it would recall its ambassador to Ethiopia following an announcement that Ethiopia would be granted a 50-year lease on a patch of coastal land in the neighboring, breakaway region of Somaliland in exchange for formally recognizing Somaliland as a real-deal country—becoming the first nation to do so.

Context: Landlocked Ethiopia has been wanting port access to the Red Sea since Eritrea seceded, taking all of the country’s coastal territory with it in 1993, and that desire only increased after these countries went to war in 1998 through 2000; Somaliland declared its independence from Somalia in 1991, though it has failed to gain international recognition for that independence in the decades since, which has made it a bit of a pariah state; this deal would seem to give both nations something they want, though it could also enflame tensions in a region that’s rife with a lot of nations and militaries that have beefs with each other, and Somalia has already hinted, in the wake of this announcement, that this might be a deal-breaker issue it’s willing to go to war over.

—France 24

A densely packed passenger jet collided with a Coast Guard aircraft while landing at a Japanese airport on Tuesday, and though the five Coast Guard members aboard the struck aircraft were killed, all 367 passengers and 12 crew members aboard the passenger jet—which burst into flames shortly after the collision—made it out alive in what’s being called by some a “miracle,” and by others an indication that modern safety technologies built into such aircraft, and modern safety procedures for evacuating passengers in the event of a worst-case scenario tend to work pretty well.

—The New York Times

1.81 million

Number of vehicles EV-maker Tesla delivered globally in 2023, reaching its annual target but falling behind rival Chinese EV-maker BYD in the fourth quarter for the first time (though it remained ahead for the full year), the latter of which sold more than 526,000 fully electric vehicles compared to Tesla’s not-quite 485,000 in the same three-month period.

—The Wall Street Journal

Trust Click

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