Foreign Secretary David Lammy has said the ousting of Bashar al-Assad is a "humiliation" not just for the deposed Syrian president but also for the Russian and Iranian regimes who supported him.

Whether the UK government will remove the rebel group that toppled Syria's old regime, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), from a list of banned terrorist groups is yet to be decided. But Britain is not alone in scrambling to adjust to the new post-Assad era.

Russia
The fall of Assad is undoubtedly a significant "blow to Russia's prestige", said the BBC's Russia editor Steve Rosenberg, and it also jeopardises Moscow's hold on its air base and naval base in Syria. Losing them would "damage Moscow's ability to manoeuvre in Africa and the Mediterranean", which in turn could "have a strategic impact on Russian influence across the world", said R. Clarke Cooper, senior fellow at the Atlantic Council.

Iran
Tehran has been quick to open up a "direct line of communication" with rebels in Syria, the "lynchpin of its regional clout", said Reuters. The Sunni Islamist HTS may not seem a "natural partner" for the Shi'ite Iranian regime, said Haaretz, but geopolitical interests, especially in the Middle East, are a "dynamic, flexible concept that depends on utility and necessity".

Israel
Now that Assad is gone, "Israel's main concern, aside from the regime's strategic weapons falling into hostile hands, is chaos in Syria that would allow organisations affiliated with Iran to launch rockets and drones", said The Economist.

Israel has already launched hundreds of air strikes on locations throughout Syria, targeting warehouses that Israeli defence officials said housed chemical weapons, long-range missiles and anti-aircraft systems.

Turkey
While Russia and Iran have seen their influence diminished by the events of the past week, Turkey is the "main winner", said Seyed Hossein Mousavian, from Princeton University, in Middle East Eye.

As well as being a heavy backer of HTS, Ankara may hope that Assad's removal paves the way to "resolve the Syrian refugee crisis in Turkey, exert more effective control over the Kurds and strengthen its role in the Palestinian issue, as well as cement alliances with like-minded groups in the region".

When Band Aid recorded a single to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia, the supergroup famously sang: "Do they know it's Christmas time at all?"

But regardless of the much-critiqued lyrics, Ethiopia was one of the first countries in the world to adopt Christianity – before the UK. In 2019, a team of archaeologists in Ethiopia uncovered the oldest known Christian church in sub-Saharan Africa, near the modern-day border with Eritrea. They concluded it had been built in the fourth-century AD – around the time when Roman Emperor Constantine I legalised Christianity.

The discovery confirms that Christianity "arrived at an early date in an area nearly 3,000 miles from Rome", said the Smithsonian.

No Santa, no elves
Ethiopians follow the ancient Julian calendar, and like many other Orthodox Christians, celebrate Christmas on 7 January (or according to the Ge'ez Ethiopian calendar, the 29th day of Tahsas).

The Ethiopian Orthodox Church's celebration is known as Ganna, or Genna, and "celebrations last for weeks", said Rough Guides.

"Christianity is not new for Tigrayans, we are the first, no one is before us," an Ethiopian man who lives in Manchester told The Guardian. "But the way we celebrate Christmas is Orthodox," another added. "We don't celebrate Santa Claus and elves!"

A new outfit
Ganna is first and foremost a religious holiday; unlike in the West, Ethiopians do not typically exchange gifts. "Religious observances, feasting, and games are the focus of the season," said HowStuffWorks.
But one gift that children "eagerly await" is a new outfit to wear on Christmas Day, said World Vision. These are often shemmas – "a traditional dress made from thin white cotton with colourful embroidery and thread at the edges".

Ironically, when the Band Aid song was recorded during the 1983-85 famine, the African nation was under a communist government that banned any religious festivals. So although Ethiopians very much knew it was Christmas when the song made waves around the world, they were not allowed to observe it.

For a sun-drenched winter break, few destinations beat the Caribbean. Home to more than 7,000 islands and islets with terrains ranging from lush rainforests and active volcanoes to pale sandy beaches, it's a place to which visitors return again and again.

Curacao
Curacao has managed to preserve its "quaint, low-key charms", avoiding the hotel chains found on neighbouring islands, said The Times. Instead, you'll find a collection of little boutiques and farm-to-table restaurants. The landscape is a "beguiling mix" of "wind-sculpted watapuna trees" and tranquil "sheltered bays".

The Bahamas
For "blissful turquoise waters" and Instagram-worthy backdrops, you can't go wrong with The Bahamas (pictured above), said Cosmopolitan. Made up of around 700 stunning islands, the archipelago is known for its effortless blend of "adventure, relaxation and luxury". 

Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic's jaw-dropping scenery spans from "fertile valleys" to "arid desert and a profusion of glorious white-sand beaches", said The Telegraph. For nature lovers, it's a dream: days can be filled "admiring humpback whales on the Samana Peninsula", "white-water rafting on the Rio Yaque del Norte", or trying to glimpse one of the many native bird species.

St Lucia
With average temperature highs of 29.9 degrees Celsius in December, St Lucia is the perfect setting to escape "another dreary UK winter", said The Independent. "The lush natural landscape is a playground for explorers." Among the highlights are the stunning Unesco-protected Piton Mountains, and the "world's only drive-in volcano".

Nigel Farage isn't set to become prime minister
David Gauke in The New Statesman
While it's "uncomfortable" to "acknowledge", this is a "good time for Reform UK", writes David Gauke. Donald Trump's victory shows that "the populist right could win an election in a first-past-the-post system". But "the UK is not the US", where voters have "little choice but to vote for one of two parties". In a "multi-party system" like ours, the "ceiling of support" for the populist right is "lower", and Farage's views aren't "suited" to voters who "lean left" on spending.

Is Britain really fated for economic decline?
Julian Jessop in The Spectator
Labour’s first Budget was "certainly grim", writes Julian Jessop, but are we "overplaying" its effects? It "would be wrong" to blame "all the weakness in business confidence" on the Budget, and "underlying confidence" may be "more robust" than "headlines suggest". There's "no shortage of things that could go wrong" but "all may not yet be lost". The government's critics "need to be wary" of "talking down the economy unnecessarily".

It's no coincidence dictators are often doctors
Melanie Phillips in The Times
Bashar al-Assad's fall has "revived a question" that has "intrigued me for years", writes Melanie Phillips. "Why are some of the most bloodthirsty tyrants also qualified doctors?" Dictators "usually don't view themselves as killers", and Assad frequently deployed "the language of medical healing and cleansing". Perhaps many "tyrants and terrorists" started out as doctors because the "idealistic impulse" to treat the sick can turn into "a desire to remedy the apparent sickness of the body politic".