World roundup: January 13 2025
Stories from Israel-Palestine, China, Mali, and elsewhere
TODAY IN HISTORY
January 13, 532: The Nika Riots begin in Constantinople. Two factions of chariot racing fans, the Greens and the Blues, both frustrated over taxation, corruption, and recent crackdowns on their hooliganism by the authorities, revolted during that day’s chariot races in the Hippodrome. Over the next week the mob seized control of the city, crowned its own “emperor” named Hypatius (against his wishes, it seems), and nearly put the real emperor, Justinian I, to flight. Justinian and his military officers were able to regain control of the situation by bribing leaders of the Blues and by bringing an army into the city and massacring a large number of the remaining rioters.
January 13, 1951: A French army is able to win a decisive victory over a larger Việt Minh force in the Battle of Vĩnh Yên. The battle ended a several months-long string of victories by the Việt Minh and helped extend the First Indochina War all the way into 1954.
MIDDLE EAST
LEBANON
In what I have to say was a bit of a surprise to me, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun nominated International Court of Justice chief judge Nawaf Salam as prime minister on Monday. Salam was on the shortlist but so was incumbent Najib Mikati, and given that Aoun only began parliamentary consultations on Monday morning I was at least expecting it to take a couple of days before he settled on a candidate. Hezbollah had supported Mikati but Salam apparently had the support of at least 84 members of parliament, far more than needed in Lebanon’s 128 seat legislature. He’s expected to arrive in Lebanon on Tuesday to begin negotiations on forming a cabinet. I would say I expect those to be contentious, but I also expected the PM nomination process to be somewhat contentious and it apparently wasn’t, so what do I know?
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