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OPEC+ cartel's grip on oil market loosening: IEA

Slowing demand growth and rising US crude production will make it more difficult for OPEC+ to continue to prop up prices, the IEA said on Thursday.

The OPEC+ cartel, led by Saudi Arabia and Russia, has been restraining production to maintain prices but the latter have recently slumped due to the weakening of the global economy and increases in output outside the bloc.

The OPEC+ cartel's grip on the global oil market is loosening, according to the IEA

Number of journalists killed on job in 2023 declines despite Gaza: RSF

The number of journalists killed in the line of duty fell this year, despite reporter deaths in Gaza in the past two months, media advocacy group Reporters Without Borders said Thursday.

In the first 11 months of 2023, 45 journalists were killed carrying out their work, down from 61 last year, according to the annual report by RSF.

It was the smallest number since 33 died in 2002, largely due to a major drop in Latin America.

Journalists killed in the line of duty in 2023

Israel tells top US official war will last 'months'

Israel's defence minister warned Thursday the war with Hamas would last "more than several months" as he met a top US official amid a rift between the allies over the timeline and conduct of the campaign.

The war, now in its third month, began after the Palestinian group's unprecedented October 7 attacks on Israel that Israeli officials say killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians.

An Israeli army tank shells the Gaza Strip from the border area in southern Israel

Washington shows signs of strained patience with ally Israel

The administration of President Joe Biden has begun to publicly air its differences with the Israeli government over the conduct of the war in Gaza, expressing its exasperation even as it remains largely steady in its support.

Biden referred this week to "indiscriminate bombing" in Gaza, underscoring his frustration with conservative Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose government Biden agrees is starting to lose global support.

Biden brought a message of support for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

US expressed 'concerns' to Israel over civilian casualties: W.House

The United States has told Israel of its concerns about civilian casualties in Gaza, the White House said Wednesday, after President Joe Biden warned Israel it could lose support over "indiscriminate bombing."

Biden's comments on Tuesday were his strongest criticism yet after resolutely standing up for Israel's right to defend itself after the October 7 attacks by Hamas.

"We have had concerns," National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said when asked about Biden's remarks to donors to his reelection campaign at an event in Washington.

US National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby speaks during the White House daily briefing

Israeli West Bank raid kills 7: Palestinian ministry

An Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank that lasted more than a day left at least seven Palestinians dead, the Palestinian health ministry said Wednesday, raising an earlier toll.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said its medics treated multiple others wounded in the military raid on Jenin, including a 27-year-old woman shot in the chest in the city's refugee camp.

The Israeli military said forces "confiscated approximately 30 weapons, ammunition, military equipment and weapon parts", without commenting on those killed.

Smoke billowing from the Jenin refugee camp during the Israeli raid

Harvard students, faculty hope for end to anti-Semitism row

Students and professors at Harvard are feeling bruised but hoping for a return to calm after claims of anti-Semitism linked to fury over the war in Gaza ripped through the famous institution and other elite US universities.

The historic campus in the heart of Cambridge, Massachusetts, was roiled in October by pro-Palestinian marches. The anger mirrored widespread concern among young, liberal American students over the civilian costs of Israel's war against Hamas after the militant group launched a bloody, surprise attack on October 7.

The furore around alleged anti-Semitism on campus threatened to unseat Harvard's president, Claudine Gay

Biden meets with families of US hostages held in Gaza

Family members of American hostages held by Hamas militants in Gaza said they had a "terrific" meeting Wednesday with US President Joe Biden and were still hoping for a "Christmas miracle."

Biden held his first in-person meeting at the White House with about a dozen family members. Secretary of State Antony Blinken also attended, the White House said.

US officials say an estimated eight US hostages are still being held since Hamas militants' October 7 attack on Israel and four have been released so far.

Family members of American hostages held by Hamas speak to the press outside the White House

Winter rain compounds suffering of displaced Gazans

Cold winter rains lashed war-battered Gaza on Wednesday, compounding the suffering of Palestinians forced from their homes and now huddling in flooded tents.

Aziza al-Shabrawi tried in vain to get the rainwater out of her family's tent, pointing to her two children living in such precarious conditions.

"My son is sick because of the bitter cold and my daughter is barefoot. It's like we're beggars," said the 38-year-old. "No one cares, and no one helps."

Young Palestinians sit outside on mattresses covered with plastic at a camp for displaced people in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip

UN agency warns of food 'catastrophe' in war-ravaged Sudan

The World Food Programme warned on Wednesday that Sudan faces a "hunger catastrophe" if it cannot deliver regular food aid there, eight months after fighting erupted between rival generals.

"Parts of war-ravaged Sudan are at a high risk of slipping into catastrophic hunger conditions by next year's lean season," the WFP said in a statement.

It said this could happen if the UN agency is unable to expand access and deliver regular food assistance to people trapped in conflict hotspots including the capital Khartoum.

Sudan's war has pitted army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan against his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo who commands the powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Forces