The Houthis, backed by Iran, have targeted commercial ships in the Red Sea in solidarity with Hamas in Gaza. They launched a missile at Israel during the night.
Outnumbered and desperate, the nation began hacking cheap consumer UAVs with explosives, introducing a brutal new form of terror to 21st century warfare.
The episode comes at a particularly delicate moment, just as the Biden White House is grappling with one of the most far-reaching and damaging attacks on American infrastructure in the cyber age.
Although he is a prominent figure, Mikheil Kavelashvili occupies a symbolic role as the country moves away from the West and closer to Russia and China.
In a year marked by war, extreme weather and general evil, many dispatches took on a decidedly dark tone. But as our correspondents crisscrossed the globe, they also found pockets of light.