World roundup: January 15 2025

Stories from Israel-Palestine, South Korea, Bulgaria, and elsewhere

TODAY IN HISTORY

January 15, 1892: While working at Springfield College (then the “International YMCA College”), James Naismith publishes the rules of a game he’d recently invented in the campus newspaper under the very creative headline “A New Game.” The basic idea involved throwing a ball through a basket set several feet off the floor—hence its name, “basket ball.” I’m not sure what became of it but it sounds like fun.

January 15, 1967: The Green Bay Packers defeat the Kansas City Chiefs, 35-10, in the first National Football League-American Football League championship game. You may or may not be aware, but this tradition has continued and the NFL plays one of these “Super Bowls” every year.

MIDDLE EAST

ISRAEL-PALESTINE

I’m sure anyone reading this will have heard by now that the Israeli government and Hamas (along with Palestinian Islamic Jihad) have agreed to a ceasefire in Gaza…probably. I don’t mean to be overly skeptical but it’s at least curious that, at time of writing, the deal had been announced by mediators Egypt, Qatar, and the US, but the Israeli government was still insisting that parts of the accord remained “unresolved.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office expressed optimism that those details—which the AP reported were related to the identities of Palestinian detainees who were to be released by the Israelis—would be “finalized” Wednesday evening but officials were definitely indicating that the deal was not yet completely done. An agreement also requires an Israeli cabinet vote, which could take place on Thursday. Still, barring an extremely last minute surprise it does appear that the slaughter in Gaza will end—at least for a few weeks—effective January 19.