Who needs Santa on Christmas when you have a performance from Snoop Dogg?
Snoop entertained fans Thursday with his Holiday Halftime Party, part of Netflix‘s NFL Christmas Day telecast. The performance took place at halftime of the matchup between the Detroit Lions and Minnesota Vikings and began with an introduction from Snoop’s longtime friend Martha Stewart, who put her own spin on the classic “Twas the Night Before Christmas.”
“I sprung from my bed and said, ‘What is cracking?’ Hailing from the one and only LBC, give it up for Snoop D -O- Double G,” Martha said as she flipped the pages to a book with illustrations of Snoop.
Snoop then emerged dressed in a red suit and coat, performing songs including “The One and Only,” “My Favorite Things” and “Nuthin’ But a ‘G’ Thang.” He was backed by an orchestra, a marching band and dancers.
Huntr/x, the trio behind Netflix’s Kpop Demon Hunters movie, joined Snoop for a pop rendition of “The 12 Days of Christmas” and then Lainey Wilson followed with “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town,” arriving in a white sleigh. Andrea Bocelli later took the stage with his son Matteo Bocelli to duet on “White Christmas.”
A view of destroyed residential building as search and rescue and firefighting efforts continue after Russian forces carried out airstrikes on the city of Zaporizhzhia in Ukraine on December 24, 2025. (State Emergency Service of Ukraine / Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images)
(LONDON) — At least seven people were killed and 39 injured in Ukraine after Russia and Ukraine exchanged hundreds of long-range drone strikes Wednesday night into Thursday morning, according to Ukrainian officials.
Russia launched 131 drones into Ukraine overnight, the air force in Kyiv said, of which 106 were shot down or suppressed. Twenty-two drones impacted across 15 locations, the air force said.
As of Thursday morning, local Ukrainian officials and the air force warned that Russian drones were still in the air.
“Unfortunately, even on Christmas Eve and during Christmas night, the Russian army did not stop its brutal strikes against Ukraine, targeting our energy system and our people. There are brownouts in many of our cities and villages,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a post on X.
“Today, during the daytime, Russian troops are once again striking the cities of our east, and in Chernihiv, aid was being provided at the very moment of our conversation with the Patriarch to people wounded by a Russian drone that struck an ordinary residential building,” Zelenskyy added.
Odesa Gov. Oleh Kiper said in a Telegram post that Russia targeted the southern region’s “port and industrial infrastructure,” damaging industrial facilities and killing at least one person. Two other people were injured, Kiper said.
Ukraine’s State Emergency Service (SES) said on Telegram on Thursday that at least one person was also killed and 14 people injured by a series of Russian attacks in the northeastern Kharkiv region over the previous 24 hours.
The SES said that a Russian drone hit a high-rise residential building in Chernihiv, while several energy infrastructure targets in the city were also attacked.
Chernihiv Gov. Viacheslav Chaus said two people were killed by Russian drone attacks in the city. Two more people were injured, Chaus said.
Ukrenergo — Ukraine’s state-owned electricity operator — said on Telegram that Russian attacks had caused power outages in the Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk and Odesa regions. All regions of Ukraine will see power consumption restriction measures enforced throughout Thursday, it added.
Zelenskyy vowed to continue countering Russian aggression “in every way possible,” in a post on X.
Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Kuleba wrote on Telegram, “Even during the Christmas holidays, Russia continues to launch targeted attacks on Ukrainian logistics, ports and critical infrastructure.”
Russia’s Defense Ministry, meanwhile, said its forces shot down at least 141 drones overnight, nine of which were destroyed over the Moscow region.
Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said in posts to Telegram that emergency services were working at the sites of fallen debris.
In the western Bryansk region, which borders Ukraine, Gov. Aleksandr Bogomaz said one person was hospitalized after being injured by shrapnel from a drone attack, with an apartment building also destroyed.
In Krasnodar Krai in southern Russia, local officials said the port of Temryuk came under attack, with two tanks holding petroleum products catching fire.
Russia’s federal air transport agency, Rosaviatsiya, said temporary flight restrictions were introduced at airports in Krasnodar and Yaroslavl during the latest attacks.
Wednesday night’s strikes followed multiple waves of Ukrainian attack drones launched into Russia on Tuesday night and throughout Wednesday, according to the Defense Ministry.
Through Wednesday, the ministry said its forces shot down at least 387 Ukrainian drones — the largest number reported by the ministry in a 24 hour period of the war to date — including more than a dozen over the Moscow region.
A view of destroyed residential building as search and rescue and firefighting efforts continue after Russian forces carried out airstrikes on the city of Zaporizhzhia in Ukraine on December 24, 2025. (State Emergency Service of Ukraine / Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images)
(LONDON) — Russia and Ukraine exchanged hundreds of long-range drone strikes from Wednesday night through into Thursday morning.
Russia launched 131 drones into Ukraine overnight, the air force in Kyiv said, of which 106 were shot down or suppressed. Twenty-two drones impacted across 15 locations, the air force said.
As of Thursday morning, local Ukrainian officials and the air force warned that Russian drones were still in the air.
Odesa Gov. Oleh Kiper said in a Telegram post that Russia targeted the southern region’s “port and industrial infrastructure,” damaging industrial facilities and killing at least one person. Two other people were injured, Kiper said.
Ukraine’s State Emergency Service (SES) said on Telegram on Thursday that at least one person was also killed and 14 people injured by a series of Russian attacks in the northeastern Kharkiv region over the previous 24 hours.
The SES said that a Russian drone hit a high-rise residential building in Chernihiv, while several energy infrastructure targets in the city were also attacked.
Chernihiv Gov. Viacheslav Chaus said two people were killed by Russian drone attacks in the city. Two more people were injured, Chaus said.
Ukrenergo — Ukraine’s state-owned electricity operator — said on Telegram that Russian attacks had caused power outages in the Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk and Odesa regions. All regions of Ukraine will see power consumption restriction measures enforced throughout Thursday, it added.
Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Kuleba wrote on Telegram, “Even during the Christmas holidays, Russia continues to launch targeted attacks on Ukrainian logistics, ports and critical infrastructure.”
Russia’s Defense Ministry, meanwhile, said its forces shot down at least 141 drones overnight, nine of which were destroyed over the Moscow region.
Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said in posts to Telegram that emergency services were working at the sites of fallen debris.
In the western Bryansk region, which borders Ukraine, Gov. Aleksandr Bogomaz said one person was hospitalized after being injured by shrapnel from a drone attack, with an apartment building also destroyed.
In Krasnodar Krai in southern Russia, local officials said the port of Temryuk came under attack, with two tanks holding petroleum products catching fire.
Russia’s federal air transport agency, Rosaviatsiya, said temporary flight restrictions were introduced at airports in Krasnodar and Yaroslavl during the latest attacks.
Wednesday night’s strikes followed multiple waves of Ukrainian attack drones launched into Russia on Tuesday night and throughout Wednesday, according to the Defense Ministry.
Through Wednesday, the ministry said its forces shot down at least 387 Ukrainian drones — the largest number reported by the ministry in a 24 hour period of the war to date — including more than a dozen over the Moscow region.
A rescuer stands amid rubble in the yard of house after Russian shelling on December 19, 2025 in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine. As a result of the shelling, private houses were partially destroyed, a garage cooperative, cars, and residential buildings located near the hit sites were damaged. (Photo by Polina Moroz/Suspilne Ukraine/JSC “UA:PBC”/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)
(LONDON) — Russia’s offensive campaign in eastern and southern Ukraine has been grinding on throughout 2025, with much of the fighting of the last 12 months focused on devastated cities in the eastern Donetsk and northeastern Kharkiv regions.
But in September, Russian forces began a relatively rapid advance in the farmlands to the east of Zaporizhzhia, advancing up to six miles in places — according to Ukrainian military officials — as territorial defense units that had been holding the area for two years crumbled under sudden and intense offensive pressure applied by Moscow’s forces.
Russia’s unexpected breakthrough in Zaporizhzhia represented a rare instance of battlefield mobility in a war that has become characterized by labored attritional warfare, in which mechanized troop concentrations and supporting armored vehicles quickly become easy prey for the flocks of drones incessantly swarming above the front lines.
Among the Ukrainian units deployed to stem the Russian advance was the 225th Separate Assault Regiment, which had previously been fighting to repel Russian forces along the shared border in the northeastern Sumy Oblast.
“The situation there remains complicated, and we are trying to stabilize it,” Maj. Oleh Shyriaiev of the 225th regiment told ABC News by phone from close to the front. “It is a mistake to consider that it is 100% stabilized,” he added.
Representatives of the combatants are currently engaged in U.S.-sponsored shuttle diplomacy that the White House hopes will secure an end to Europe’s largest conflict since World War II and a war that U.S. President Donald Trump vowed to end within 24 hours of his return to the Oval Office.
Russian officials have repeatedly framed their slow battlefield gains as evidence of Moscow’s “inevitable” victory, in the words of Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov during a recent interview with ABC News.
That interpretation is hotly disputed by Kyiv and its European allies, but the Kremlin nonetheless seeks to use its gradual seizure of new territory as leverage in the ongoing talks. “The space for freedom of decision-making narrows as territories are lost,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said in November.
In foxholes, trenches and treelines along the contact line, Shyriaiev said his unit is focused on their day-to-day survival.
“I personally am skeptical about any kind of peace negotiations,” he said. “Even if some kind of a peace agreement is signed, Russia will not stop existing, and it will not stop being our enemy.”
Any deal, he suggested, “will just give time for Russia to regroup. And what happens next? We need to expect a new attack. No guarantees that Russia can give can be considered true guarantees.”
The focus of the Russian offensive in Zaporizhzhia is now in the area of Huliaipole, a small city which before the war was home to around 20,000 people. Only around 150 civilians remain in the devastated city, the head of its military administration told Ukrainian media earlier this month.
In the fields around the city, Ukrainian officials say they have largely stalled Russia’s forward momentum. Shyriaiev said his unit needed time to adapt to the new battlefield and wear down the attackers.
“We had to go out and create a blocking line, fulfil missions and create favorable conditions for further success,” he explained. “At the moment, everything we are doing is focused on stabilizing the front line and blocking the enemy.”
Ukrainian forces in the area are facing Russian units replenished with new recruits and new equipment, Shyriaiev said.
“The enemy has strengthened its UAV component and thanks to that, they are holding under control the access areas to the line of contact — or at least they are trying to hold it under control,” he said.
“The enemy has had some success because their units have been reconstituted according to the most cutting edge experience that they have,” Shyriaiev said. “They have been trained with the latest updates, they have all the ‘lessons learned'” by their predecessors, he added.
Those newly arrived troops are trying to use the wintry weather and resulting “dense fog” to their advantage, Shyriaiev said.
“When there are normal visibility conditions, we can see everything and control everything,” he said. “However, when there is fog around, the enemy is trying to take advantage of this and to infiltrate the space between our positions.”
For the Ukrainians, too, the weather offers opportunities, Shyriaiev said. “When visibility is good, it means that badly hidden or badly masked positions are an open target and the troops that are deployed there can be wounded or destroyed.”
Moscow’s ‘glacial’ advance
Russian President Vladimir Putin has given little indication that he intends to ease the frontline pressure on Kyiv’s troops, despite the recent fresh impetus given to U.S.-brokered peace negotiations.
At his annual end-of-year press conference on Friday, Putin said peace was only possible on the basis of “principles” he outlined in a speech last year, in which he made some of his most hardline demands — Ukraine’s permanent exclusion from NATO and Kyiv’s withdrawal from all of the territory Russia claims in eastern and southeastern Ukraine.
Putin again claimed that military momentum was with Moscow’s forces, saying its troops were “advancing on all fronts.”
Putin’s bombast does not align with battlefield realities, according to Ukrainian officials and independent analysts.
The U.S.-based Institute for the Study of War think tank said this month that Russian forces have seized 0.77% of Ukraine’s territory — some 1,802 square miles — over the past year, while sustaining disproportionately high casualties. The area captured is roughly equivalent to that of Anchorage, Alaska.
Ukraine’s military estimates that Russia has sustained around 1.2 million casualties since February 2022. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said this month that around 30,000 Russian troops are being killed each month.
Russia does not release details about its casualties, making it difficult to independently confirm that figure. Ukrainian estimates of Russian casualties have broadly chimed with estimates from U.S. and European intelligence agencies since 2022.
Ukraine likewise does not regularly disclose its casualty figures. Zelenskyy said in February 2025 that more than 46,000 Ukrainians have been killed and 380,000 wounded since 2022.
Peter Dickinson, the editor of the Atlantic Council think tank’s UkraineAlert service, wrote in December that while Moscow’s troops hold “the overall initiative,” its attacking units are “grinding forward at glacial pace while suffering catastrophic losses.”
Also this month, Zelenskyy visited the Kharkiv frontline city of Kupyansk, posting videos of himself in the center of the city as proof that Russia’s recent claim to have captured it was false. The visit, Dickinson said, “underscored the fact that Russian victory is anything but inevitable.”
But Putin appears committed to a relentless push, regardless of its slow pace and high cost. Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi said in a post to Facebook last week that Russia has amassed 710,000 troops along the front for its offensive operations.
“Despite the substantial losses, the Russian army is not giving up on continuing offensive operations, although it has not achieved significant operational success,” Syrskyi said.
Shyriaiev said that although his unit is “well-staffed” and motivated, the difference in manpower and resources is obvious at the front. The Russians, he said, “are focusing on mass in everything.”
Shyriaiev’s unit faces “massive amounts of infantry” attacking from “early morning and until late at night,” he said. “They conduct mechanized assaults on all kinds of vehicles — regular cars, motorbikes, buggies. It could also be proper military equipment, proper military armored vehicles.”
“They are leaving no stone unturned,” he continued. “The ratio of the size of our army and our resources and their resources is, of course, something unfavorable towards us. They have more resources. This is why they do achieve some successes, but that happens at a very high price.”
Recruits crawl a designated distance with combat gear under the supervision of instructors during the zero day of basic combined arms training with the 65th Separate Mechanized Brigade at an improvised training ground in Ukraine, on December 12, 2025 (Dmytro Smolienko/Ukrinform) (Ukrinform/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
(LONDON) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Tuesday that he believes the U.S. “wants to reach a final agreement,” to end the war in Ukraine, with Kyiv offering its full backing for a peace deal.
“We sense that America wants to reach a final agreement, and from our side, there is full cooperation,” Zelenskyy said. “Ukraine has never been, and will never be, an obstacle to peace.”
Ukraine and Russia continued their nightly exchange of long-range drones overnight into Wednesday. Russia’s Defense Ministry said on Wednesday that its forces downed at least 195 Ukrainian drones, including five over Moscow region of which two were “flying toward” the capital.
Russia’s federal air transport agency, Rosaviatsiya, said flight restrictions were introduced at two of Moscow’s four international airports — Domodedovo and Vnukovo — during the attacks. Restrictions were also put in place at airports in Volgograd, Yaroslavl, Orenburg, Ufa and Orsk, Rosaviatsiya said.
Ukraine’s air force, meanwhile, said Russia launched 116 drones into the country overnight, of which 60 were shot down or suppressed. Forty-eight drones impacted across 19 locations, the air force said.
On Tuesday night, Zelenskyy said Ukrainian repair crews were working to restore power after a major Russian drone and missile strike on Monday night. “Throughout the day, repair crews have been working at energy facilities — putting in maximum effort to ensure that Ukrainians have electricity for Christmas,” Zelenskyy said.
“Of course, the Russians are trying to ruin this holiday, this sacred day, as well. No surprise there,” Zelenskyy added.
At a briefing in Kyiv with journalists on Tuesday, Zelenskyy revealed details of the 20-point peace plan negotiated with the U.S. which is now being reviewed by Moscow.
Zelenskyy told reporters that said all sides were “much closer” to finalizing the documents. Kyiv expects to receive a response from Moscow on Wednesday, Zelenskyy added.
The proposed framework includes security guarantees from the U.S., NATO and European partners, though territorial questions remain unresolved. Under the draft plan, Ukraine would hold a presidential election as soon as possible after any deal is signed.
Zelenskyy said the deal would see Article-5-style security guarantees kick in if Russia attacks the country again, even without Ukrainian NATO membership. Zelenskyy again stressed that Kyiv rejected any ban on joining the alliance — a key Russian demand.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin has been briefed on recent U.S. contacts.
“We now intend to formulate our future position based on the information received by the head of state and continue our contacts in the very near future through the existing channels that are currently operational,” Peskov said, as quoted by the state-run Tass news agency.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, meanwhile, said Moscow and Washington have “significant similarities” in their positions on a possible settlement.
(GAZA and LONDON) — As Palestinian Christians prepare for their first Christmas without the constant threat of bombardment and attacks after two years of war in Gaza, rare scenes of color, glitter and light can be spotted in a city that is mostly covered with rubble and collapsed buildings.
With the fragile ceasefire broadly holding more than two months since the first phase went into effect, the small remaining Palestinian Christian community in Gaza hopes for long-lasting peace as they practice holiday traditions like putting up Christmas trees and baking pastries.
“This year, Christmas is not just a religious ritual but celebrating a new beginning that we all work towards, which is the beginning of peace and stability in the region,” Mousa Ayyad, coordinator of Princess Basma, a Christian center in Gaza, told ABC News last week while standing by a Christmas tree decorated with ornaments and lights.
The center is located inside Al-Ahli Hospital, the only Christian hospital in Gaza, and provides vital rehabilitation for children.
“You must prepare the atmosphere for the children, and continue to welcome happiness into your home, even if you aren’t at your home and you are displaced,” Ayyad said.
Over 80% of all structures in the Gaza Strip have been damaged as of Oct. 11, according to a United Nations assessment.
The Holy Family Church, the only Catholic church in the Gaza Strip, remains standing, though has signs of damage.
Since the war broke out between Israel and Hamas, the terrorist group that launched a surprise attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, almost half of the Christian population in Gaza has left the strip and at least 23 Palestinian Christians have been killed, according to the Holy Family Church. About 500 people in the community are still in Gaza, with the majority of those currently sheltering in the church, according to the Holy Family Church.
Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, led his first prayer in Gaza following the ceasefire during Mass at the Holy Family Church on Sunday, in what he called a “new phase.”
Amid modest decorations and damaged walls, Pizzaballa led the first communion for several children and baptized a baby, continuing a pastoral tradition he has upheld during each Christmastime visit to Gaza.
Pizzaballa said during a press conference on Sunday that he has witnessed “a desire for a new life” in Gaza, but that “all the problems are still on the table: housing, schools, hospitals, the condition of life and poverty are catastrophic.”
“At the same time, we saw that the resilience of these people is what, at the end, will prevail,” he said, describing Palestinians’ steadfastness as a lesson to the world.
George Messaqo, an 11-year-old displaced Christian who attended the Mass, told ABC News that he feels “very happy” this Christmas, though his joy was tinged with longing.
“Before the war, Christmas was more beautiful,” he said. “There were more people, all our relatives and loved ones, and the atmosphere was warmer.”
George said his aunt was killed during the war and other family members now live abroad.
“We only communicate through video calls,” he said. “I wish to see our friends, relatives and loved ones again, and to live in peace.”
A screen grab from a video shows Russian Su-34 fighter-bomber carries out a strike in settlement of Vilcha in the Kharkiv region, Ukraine on December 23, 2025. (The Russian Ministry of Defense/Anadolu via Getty Images)
(LONDON) — Russia launched a “massive” drone and missile strike on Ukraine overnight into Tuesday morning, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a post to Telegram, prompting power outages in several regions around the country, according to the Energy Ministry in Kyiv.
Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 635 drones and 38 missiles into the country overnight, of which 587 drones and 34 missiles were shot down or suppressed. The impacts of missiles and drones were reported across 21 locations, the air force said.
Monday’s night’s attack was the largest Russian combined strike since Dec. 6, according to Ukrainian air force data analyzed by ABC News, and the third largest of the war to date.
Zelenskyy said Russia was “primarily targeting our energy sector, civilian infrastructure and literally all aspects of daily life.”
At least three people were killed — one person in Kyiv, one in Khmelnytskyi and a 4-year-old child in Zhytomyr — Zelenskyy said. At least 13 regions were targeted, he added. Local officials reported that at least 11 people were also injured across Ukraine.
The Energy Ministry said in a post to Telegram that “emergency power cuts have been introduced in a number of regions of Ukraine. As soon as the security situation allows, rescue workers and energy specialists will begin to repair the damage caused by the attack in order to restore power supply to the regions as quickly as possible.”
“Emergency power cuts will be lifted once the situation in the power grid has stabilized,” the ministry added.
Zelenskyy said the attack “sends an extremely clear signal about Russia’s priorities” as representatives from the warring parties engage in the latest round of U.S.-sponsored shuttle diplomacy intended to secure a peace deal.
“The attack comes just before Christmas, when people want to be with their families, at home, in safety,” he wrote. “The attack actually comes at the height of negotiations aimed at ending this war.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin, Zelenskyy said, “simply cannot accept the need to stop killing.”
“This means that the world is not putting enough pressure on Russia,” he added. “We need to react now. We need to push Russia towards peace and guaranteed security.” Zelenskyy also called for “air defense for Ukraine, funding for arms purchases, the supply of energy equipment” to help blunt Russian attacks.
Ukraine continued its own long-range strike campaign overnight, with the Russian Defense Ministry reporting the downing of at least 44 drones.
Airports in Volgograd, Grozny, Magas and Vladikavkaz were temporarily closed amid the attacks, according to Russia’s federal air transport agency, Rosaviatsiya.
In the Stavropol region, Gov. Vladimir Vladimirov said an attempted drone attack targeted facilities in Budennovsk, causing a fire in an industrial zone.
In the Rostov region, Gov. Yury Slyusar said drone debris damaged a fence and set fire to a house under construction in the village of Grushevskaya, which was later extinguished.
Meanwhile, on the diplomatic front, Ukrainian and Russian negotiators returned home after meetings with U.S. officials in Miami over the weekend.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in remarks published Tuesday that Russia is waiting for information from the U.S. on talks with Ukrainian and European officials, after which he said Moscow would assess whether any developments “match the spirit of Anchorage” — referring to the summit between Putin and President Donald Trump in Alaska in August.
Russian negotiator Kirill Dmitriev said he had returned to Moscow after taking part in the Miami talks. Earlier, the Kremlin said he would brief Putin on his return.
Vice President JD Vance on Monday said recent talks had achieved a “breakthrough” in that “all the issues are actually out in the open.”
Peskov, though, told the Rossiya-1 television channel on Tuesday that Russia does not know what Vance was referring to.
Zelenskyy, meanwhile, said in social media posts on Monday that he will be briefed by the Ukrainian negotiating team on Tuesday morning. “There are 20 points of the plan,” he said. “Not everything is perfect so far, but this plan is in place.”
Zelenskyy said there is now a framework of security guarantees with European nations and the U.S. The “bilateral” and “legally binding” deal with the U.S. will need to be reviewed by Congress, he added. “As of today, this all looks quite solid and dignified. For now, however, these are working drafts prepared by our military.”
“This indicates that we are very close to a real outcome,” Zelenskyy added, noting that work was ongoing on a separate draft agreement regarding Ukraine’s economic recovery.
“There are certain things we are not prepared to accept,” Zelenskyy said. “And there are things — of that I am sure — that the Russians are not prepared to accept either. The Americans are currently continuing negotiations with Russian representatives. They will hold talks, and then we will receive feedback from them.”
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Iranian activist Narges Mohammadi’s daughter Kiana Rahmani, son Ali Rahmani, and chairman of the Nobel Committee Norwegian Berit Reiss Andersen attend the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony at Oslo City Hall on December 10, 2023 in Oslo, Norway. (Rune Hellestad/Getty Images)
(LONDON) — More than a thousand political, social, and cultural activists signed a petition condemning the “violent arrest” of the Iranian Nobel laureate Narges Mohammadi and others allegedly by Iranian security forces in the northwestern city of Mashhad earlier this month.
Mohammadi, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2023, was arrested as she attended a memorial ceremony for Khosrow Alikordi, a lawyer who had been found dead in his office.
Dozens of other attendees were also detained, according to a statement released by Mohammadi’s foundation. The ceremony had turned into a scene of protest against the regime as videos show some of the attendees shouted slogans, including “death to the dictator” and “long live Iran.”
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has served as the Islamic Republic’s supreme leader since 1989. Mohammadi has been of prominent and vocal critics of Khamenei’s policies, accusing the regime of human rights abuses.
Mohammadi, who had campaigned against sharia-based laws including the mandatory hijab and executions, had been imprisoned in Tehran’s Evin prison until December 2024. She was released on medical leave, her lawyer said at the time.
Among those who were arrested this month were political activists including Sepideh Gholian, Hasti Amiri, Pouran Nazemi, Aliyeh Motallebzadeh — who have been arrested, prosecuted or jailed for their activism before — and Javad Alikordi, a brother of the deceased lawyer.
The day after Mohammadi and others were arrested, Taghi Rahmani, Mohammadi’s husband, said in a post on his X account that “apparently” the intelligence forces of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps” has been behind the arrests.
Alikordi who used to advocate the cases of families of protesters in Iran before his death, had been handed one year in prison and two years of exile last year due to his advocacy of political prisoners. Despite official announcements indicating that his death was due to a heart attack, some attorneys and activists suggested possible Islamic Republic involvement.
The petition’s signatories asked for immediate release of those arrested.
“We condemn the violent arrest and the beating of our loved ones present at the memorial… Holding memorial and mourning ceremonies for the deceased is an inseparable part of fundamental human and civil rights,” the petition reads.
“We call for the immediate and unconditional release of all detainees and emphasize their fundamental right to access phone calls, family visits, independent legal counsel, and medical care,” it continued.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee also called on the Iranian authorities “to immediately clarify Mohammadi’s whereabouts, ensure her safety and integrity, and to release her without conditions,” following her arrest.
Clarifying the importance of the petition on the release of Mohammadi and other arrestees, Mina Akbari, Iranian documentary filmmaker and activist wrote in a post on her Instagram account that it is not only a call on the release of those arrested, but its importance is also “in the composition of its signatories.”
“This statement is not just a protest against an arrest, but a demonstration of unprecedented unity in the heart of the deep political and intellectual divisions in Iran today,” Akbari said.
A portrait of 10-year-old Matilda, victim of the Bondi Beach shooting, sits on a flower memorial beside Bondi Pavilion on December 17, 2025 in Sydney, Australia. James D. Morgan/Getty Images
A tiny white coffin was slowly carried out of the synagogue as people sobbed, hugged, clutched teddy bears and held colorful, heart-shaped balloons.
Matilda’s family moved from Ukraine to Australia “for a good life,” a rabbi told The Associated Press.
Matilda’s mother told ABC News that this photo of Matilda in a yellow dress with her face painted was taken on the day she was killed.
In an online fundraiser, a teacher wrote that she knew Matilda — whose last name has not been released — as a “bright, joyful, and spirited child who brought light to everyone around her.”
Matilda was among the 15 people killed when two gunmen opened fire at a Hanukkah celebration this weekend in what officials called an antisemitic terror attack. More than 40 others were wounded.
One gunman was killed at the scene and the second is in custody and facing charges.
ABC News’ Nataliia Popova contributed to this report.
Community members gather outside of Bondi Pavilion at Bondi Beach on December 15, 2025 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Audrey Richardson/Getty Images)
(SYDNEY) — When shots rang out at a Hanukkah celebration on Australia’s Bondi Beach, Arsen Ostrovsky said he thought it could’ve been balloons popping.
“Because it was the carnival, there were clowns and children’s activities,” he told ABC News. “But then it was just non-stop, relentless — so I knew that we were under attack.”
As Ostrovsky ran toward his wife and her children, who were exposed and closer to the shooting, he said he felt a bullet strike his head.
“I fell down and I remember saying, ‘I’m hit, ‘I’m hit,’ and the blood just started gushing,” Ostrovsky said, with part of his head still bandaged up.
Fifteen people were killed — including a 10-year-old girl named Matilda and an 87-year-old Holocaust survivor — and more than 40 others were wounded in last weekend’s mass shooting at Bondi Beach.
The two gunmen — who officials say appeared to have been inspired by ISIS — were allegedly father and son. The father, Sajid Akram, was killed by police at the scene, and the son, Naveed Akram, was wounded and taken into custody. He faces charges, including committing a terrorist act and 15 counts of murder.
When asked if he has anything to say to the gunmen, Ostrovsky — who was in Israel during Hamas’ attack on Oct. 7, 2023 — said he hopes they face justice and understand they will never succeed in taking away his humanity.
“We’ve seen the horrors of the last two years in Israel, thinking that we would be coming here to a safe place, and then having to flee for our lives,” Ostrovsky said.
Ostrovsky said the actions of people at Bondi Beach, like Ahmed al-Ahmed — a bystander who was seen on video jumping in and wrestling a gun away from one of the attackers — and other members of the public who ran toward the danger, have helped him see humanity in the darkness.
People were “running from the surf, coming from shops, running from a beach to help,” he said.
“That’s what I choose to take,” he said.
ABC News’ Karson Yiu and James Gillings contributed to this report.
