Indonesia commemorated the 167,000 victims of the 2004 tsunami in this country from the Baiturrahman Grand Mosque in the city of Banda Aceh, which stood firm against the waves at ground zero of one of the greatest natural disasters of the modern era.

Acting Aceh provincial governor Safrizal Zakaria Ali and popular cleric Abdullah Gymnastiar led the rituals, which drew hundreds of white-clad worshippers to join in prayers along the grounds of the compound.

The hosts throw water and flowers on a grave, as a sign of mourning and remembrance for the deceased.

The tsunami “changed the lives of millions”

“That day, the disaster changed the lives of millions. Mothers, fathers, children lost their lives. Cities were devastated,” the politician recalled during his speech at the memorial service, which was broadcast live on social media.

A magnitude 9.1 earthquake recorded at 7:58 a.m. local time about 120 kilometers west of the Indonesian island of Sumatra on December 26, 2004, created waves up to 30 meters high that hit Banda Aceh about 20 minutes after the initial tremor.

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Some 61,000 people have died in this town, around 25% of its inhabitants, located in the far north of Sumatra and considered the epicentre of the tragedy.

The image of the solitary mosque standing a few hundred metres from the coast, while the houses around it had been washed away by the waters, became one of the most iconic images of this natural disaster.

Indonesia, hit by 167,000 deaths

Other coastal towns in Sumatra, such as Calang and Meulaboh, were also affected by the tsunami, which left some 167,000 people dead in the country, according to official figures.

At least the tsunami and the scale of the human tragedy it caused led the Islamic separatist guerrillas operating in Aceh and the Indonesian government to reach a peace agreement and put an end to more than three decades of fratricidal fighting.

“The tsunami opened the doors to peace in Aceh. The disaster helped people realize that peace was the best solution,” the governor said.

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In addition to the events scheduled in Indonesia, other countries, such as Thailand, Sri Lanka and India, have organised ceremonies to commemorate the natural disaster, which claimed the lives of more than 228,000 people in 14 countries bordering the Indian Ocean.

The waves even hit the east coast of Africa, with the South African town of Rooi-Els, more than 8,000 kilometres from the epicentre of the quake, being the furthest away from the loss of life.

Javier Milei, the economist who burst into Argentine politics with an incendiary speech and an irreverent attitude, has advanced in 2024 in his offensive against the State and has become an emblematic figure of the regional and even global far right.

Aged 54 and a native of the Buenos Aires neighborhood of Palermo, Milei had a meteoric rise in Argentine politics thanks to his bizarre television appearances, in which he presented himself as a loud and combative libertarian economist.

His emergence was marked by a visceral rejection of the “political caste,” a term he frequently uses to disqualify traditional political actors, although he has adapted it over time to suit his current adversary.

The owner of the chainsaw

Milei ‘s electoral victory , first in the legislative elections that made him a deputy in 2021 and then in the 2023 presidential elections that took him to the Casa Rosada, was due in part to his image as an outsider politician who promoted novel and different ideas than those of his opponents.

After winning the general elections in November with 55.65% of the votes against the official candidate Sergio Massa, he took office on December 10 and in his first speech he anticipated that the only way to solve the country’s economic difficulties was through a severe adjustment.

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This adjustment has advanced with ferocity over the last 12 months with a drastic cut in public spending and a dismantling of the State that has resulted in the closure of more than a dozen ministries, the loss of tens of thousands of jobs, the disappearance of social aid and organisations, the fall in funding for public education and health and an increase in poverty and destitution.

Popularity and support

These effects, although presented as the flip side of a successful and rapid stabilization of the macroeconomy, have been openly promoted – and even proudly celebrated – by a Milei who has not only not moderated his violent rhetoric but has accused those who demand that he tone down his speech of being “lukewarm.”

Despite this, the president’s popularity remains above 50%, his followers have shown absolute loyalty and his party’s projections for the legislative elections scheduled for October 2025 are increasingly better.

This support, combined with the political skill of some of his close associates in the Government , has allowed him to successfully negotiate some of his initiatives in Congress, where he still has a narrow minority.

Reference of the extreme right

One of the main focuses of Milei’s administration has been international politics, with more than a dozen trips abroad in which he dedicated himself to weaving a network of alliances with far-right leaders.

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Beyond his unconditional alignment with Israel and the United States, which he has strictly respected this year, the Argentine president has attended numerous summits promoted by conservative organizations or leaders and even hosted an edition of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Buenos Aires.

At that meeting, he repeated some of the warnings he had issued in Davos and at the UN about the advance of socialism and the dangers facing the West, and advocated a “right-wing international” with Argentina as a “beacon to the world” alongside governments such as those of Nayib Bukele in El Salvador and Donald Trump in the United States.

Intensify policies

In parallel, Milei has insisted this year on the need to move forward with a moral change in Argentine society, abandoning “the impoverishing ideas of collectivism” to replace them with the extreme individualism advocated by his “anarcho-capitalist” model.

To fight this “cultural battle,” he has recruited some of the country’s most conservative thinkers and influencers, who are accompanying him in his offensive against “the human rights scam,” “radical feminism,” and the “aberration” of social justice, among other causes of “stupid progressivism.”

Looking ahead to next year, Milei has anticipated that he will not moderate but rather intensify the policies he has implemented in 2024, has promised a “deep chainsaw” and has anticipated major reforms in tax, pension, labor, criminal, political and national security matters.

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“If we could do so much with the whole world against us, imagine what we can do with the wind in our favor. We could go twice as far, twice as fast,” he said this month in his speech marking his first anniversary in power, and declared: “The smaller the State, the greater the freedom.”

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said Thursday it had foiled a series of attacks against top military officials in the country and announced the arrest of four Russian citizens as part of the investigation.

“The Russian Federal Security Service has thwarted a series of attacks against high-ranking military personnel of the Ministry of Defense participating in the special military operation (in Ukraine), as well as members of their families,” the statement said.

According to the statement, the attacks were being planned by “Ukrainian secret service agents.”

Putin admits security failures

According to the FSB, the bombs used to kill high-ranking military personnel in Moscow were camouflaged as an external battery and a folder with documents.

Russian President Vladimir Putin last week described the recent assassination in Moscow of Lieutenant General Igor Kirilov , head of Russia’s radiological, chemical and biological defence, as a “serious failure” by the security services.

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“This (Kirilov’s murder) of course means that our law enforcement officers and special services are letting such attacks go by. We need to improve our work and avoid such serious failures,” Putin said during his big end-of-year press conference.

According to Moscow, the perpetrator of the crime is an Uzbek, who was promised $100,000 and the chance to settle in an EU country by the Ukrainian secret services for killing the Russian general.

The suspect was arrested and admitted his guilt during an interrogation broadcast by the security services.