Israel issues a warning to Hezbollah
Israel warned that attacks by the Hezbollah militia along the border with Lebanon could not continue and would require a response. In a show of solidarity with Hamas, Hezbollah has launched repeated missile and drone attacks on army bases and other targets inside Israel, forcing the evacuation of civilians and prompting cross-border strikes.
The Israeli military has sought to focus on its goals in Gaza — freeing hostages and destroying Hamas — but there are fears that the conflict could draw in neighboring countries, with the fighting now in its third month and Iran-backed militias across the region increasing hostilities.
The Houthis in Yemen, for example, threatened over the weekend to step up attacks on ships in the Red Sea bound for Israel unless Gaza receives badly needed food and medicine. The French Navy said one of its frigates in the sea had shot down two drones fired from Yemen.
In other news from the war:
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In Gaza, a lack of clean water, toilets and food has fueled a spike in illnesses, and increasingly dire conditions are making it hard for the sick to recover.
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The Biden administration said it was looking into reports that Israel used white phosphorus supplied by the U.S., in violation of international law.
The search for a new strategy in Ukraine
American and Ukrainian military leaders are pushing for a new approach to revive Kyiv’s fortunes, along with flagging U.S. support for its fight against Russia, after a failed counteroffensive, officials said.
President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine arrived in Washington yesterday for hastily arranged meetings this week with President Biden and Congress to discuss the way forward. The two leaders will try to demonstrate solidarity and bolster support for Ukraine at a critical moment, both on the battlefield and on Capitol Hill.
Some senior U.S. officials have expressed worries that if the war falls into a long stalemate next year, Vladimir Putin, the Russian leader, will gain the advantage. The Russian military, after its own failed drive to Kyiv in 2022, has begun to reverse its fortunes and is rebuilding its might in troops and firepower.
In Russia: Aleksei Navalny, Russia’s jailed opposition leader, missed another court date; his allies said they had not heard from him in more than five days.
Donald Tusk will lead Poland
Poland’s newly elected Parliament torpedoed a long-shot effort by right-wing forces to stay in power and chose the opposition leader Donald Tusk as prime minister, ushering in a new era for the nation.
Tusk, a veteran centrist politician who led Poland from 2007 to 2014, is expected to be sworn in tomorrow by President Andrzej Duda, an ally of the hard-right Law and Justice party, which after years in power failed to win a majority in the October election.
Quotable: “This is a truly wonderful day,” Tusk said, “not only for me, but for all those who have deeply believed for many years that things will get better, that we will chase away the darkness, that we will chase away evil.”
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Merely an outlier: Expect a response from Bayern Munich after their defeat to Frankfurt.
What can you do with an einstein?
The technical term for a shape that can tile an infinite flat surface in a pattern that does not repeat is an “aperiodic monotile” — but you might also know it as an “einstein.”
The National Museum of Mathematics in New York and the United Kingdom Mathematics Trust in London together ran a competition asking entrants for their most creative renditions of a hat-shaped einstein discovered in March. (The winners will receive their prize today at a ceremony at the House of Commons in London.)
Two people suggested variants on Tetris; other entries included einstein-shaped ravioli, prepared with bespoke wood molds, a 24-foot frieze made up of more than 1,500 handmade ceramic tiles and a kite that is, as one juror put it, “made of a hat, which is made of kites made of hats.” See more creative renditions.