Ukraine Rejects a Cease-Fire Offer

News broke yesterday that Russian President Vladimir Putin had ordered Russian troops to implement a 36-hour ceasefire from the 6th to the 7th of January in order to mark Orthodox Christmas. The call for a Christmas truce came from the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, who is a vocal supporter of the invasion of Ukraine. A statement from the Kremlin read: "Taking into account the appeal of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill, I instruct the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation to introduce from 12:00 on January 6, 2023, until midnight on January 7, 2023, a cease-fire along the entire line of contact between the parties in Ukraine. He went on to call on the Ukrainian side to declare a ceasefire and give them the opportunity to attend services on Christmas Eve as well as on the day of the Nativity of Christ. However, Putin's order had been met with skepticism from Ukraine and its allies, who pointed out that Russia did not relent in its bombing campaign on New Year's Eve or the 25th of December, which is also a public holiday in Ukraine.

Patriarch Kirill The initial proposal was described as a "cynical trap" by Ukraine. Then, in response to Putin's statement, Ukrainian President Zelensky said Russia only wanted a 36-hour ceasefire as cover to stop Ukraine's advances and also to bring equipment, ammunition, and mobilized men closer to the front. Zelensky said the war will end either when your soldiers leave or when we throw them out. The United States was equally skeptical. The State Department echoed concerns that Russia would use any pause in fighting to rest, refit, regroup, and ultimately reattack. Putin's order for a cease-fire appeared not to be conditional on Ukraine reciprocating. So we'll have to wait and see if Russian forces do indeed put their weapons down for 36 hours.

Christmas truce or no Christmas truce, the actual negotiated end of the war makes little difference.Earlier on Thursday, President Putin told Turkey's President Erdogan in a phone call that Moscow was ready for peace talks, but only under the condition that Kiev take into account the new territorial realities, meaning the Ukrainian territories annexed and occupied by Russia. An adviser to the Ukrainian president called the demand fully unacceptable as the back and forth over a cease-fire went on. The United States and Germany made a joint announcement that they would supply Ukraine with armored combat vehicles, following a similar announcement by France on Wednesday.

Mexico is on fire.

Violence broke out on Thursday in Mexico's northern state of Sinaloa after Mexican authorities arrested Ovidio Guzman Lopez, the son of notorious drug lord El Chapo. Unrest centered on Culiacan, the state capital, where gunfights broke out between security forces and cartel members. Cartel members reportedly set up roadblocks, set fire to vehicles, and even attacked a local airport, where two planes were hit by gunfire. Residents were told not to leave home while schools, the local government, and many businesses closed. 32-year-old Guzman Lopez, also known as "The Mouse," is accused of running a faction of his father's infamous Sinaloa cartel. His father, El Chapo, is serving a life sentence in a US supermax prison. Guzman Lopez had previously been captured and arrested in 2019, but was released to prevent more bloodshed after the arrest sparked significant cartel violence. The United States placed a $5 million bounty on the young drug lord's head in 2021, and his capture comes just days before US President Joe Biden arrives in Mexico for a North American Leaders summit.

Twitter data leak

With all the drama surrounding Twitter at the moment, the last thing the company needed was a huge data leak. Unfortunately for them, this is exactly what happened today. Around 200 million users' emails have been compromised by a major hack. The emails were then reportedly posted on a hackers' forum. So far, the hacker has not yet been identified, and there are suggestions that the breach may have happened as early as 2021, before Elon Musk took over Twitter. Alon Gal, co-founder of Israeli cybersecurity monitoring firm Hudson Rock, wrote on LinkedIn that the breach will unfortunately lead to a lot of hacking, targeted phishing, and doxxing, and that it was one of the most significant leaks I've seen. Twitter itself has yet to comment on the hack.

Iran's blockade against France

Iran has shut down a decade-old French research institute based in the Iranian capital in response to cartoons published by the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. The drawings, which Iran describes as sacrilegious, mocked the country's ruling clerics, and some of them were sexually explicit. Iran called the shutting down of the institute a first step in response to the cartoons and vowed further action if France did not hold to account the perpetrators and sponsors of such instances of spreading hatred. France's foreign minister said before the announcement that freedom of the press exists in France, contrary to what is happening in Iran. The magazine edition in question featured cartoons sent in by readers in support of anti-government protests in Iran. Charlie Hebdo said it had received more than 300 drawings from readers but also thousands of threats. The latest magazine edition comes almost eight years after an attack on the Charlie Hebdo office in Paris by al Qaeda terrorists that killed 12 people.

Sources:

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-64178912

https://www.axios.com/2023/01/06/mexico-arrest-el-chapo-son-deadly-violence-sinola

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/jan/05/twitter-users-data-hacked-email-address-phone-numbers

https://apnews.com/article/iran-politics-government-f3ff51a9958f83ac599ad79ed6cd389e