SYRIA
Damascus agrees to aid
Damascus has agreed to allow deliveries of desperately needed medical supplies to opposition-held parts of Aleppo and two other hard-to-reach areas, the WHO said on Monday. “We have gotten all of the approval letters, we are ready to deliver,” the UN agency’s Syria representative Elizabeth Hoff told reporters. While stressing the deliveries would still depend on the security situation, she described the approvals as “a big step forward.” The government and other parties to the conflict had agreed to allow and facilitate deliveries of medicine for chronic diseases, vaccines, intravenous fluids and surgical supplies to opposition-controlled areas in Aleppo governorate, the besieged Damascus district of Muadamiya and the flashpoint Eastern Ghouta region.
NIGERIA
Two bombings kill 27
Two bomb attacks at a bus station and a market in the nation’s north on Monday killed at least 27 people and wounded about 60, officials said. No group immediately claimed responsibility for either attack. Boko Haram insurgents have repeatedly set off bombs targeting civilians, especially in the northeast, where they are trying to carve out a Muslim state. The first attack, in the city of Gombe, involved two explosions in quick succession. “The second blast was worse than the first one, because many people rushed to the scene and were affected. Many were killed and many injured,” witness Mohammed Fawu told reporters. An emergency services official put the death toll at 20, with twice as many wounded.
THE GAMBIA
Three homosexuals arrested
Authorities arrested three men and accused them of committing homosexual acts, which are punishable with a maximum sentence of life imprisonment under a law signed in October, state television said on Monday. The arrests followed a security operation and the men have confessed that they are gay, according to the TV report. Their nationalities were not named. “We go around in search of suspected individuals and in the course of the investigations we arrested the men and they have confessed that they have engaged in these inhuman acts,” the broadcast said, showing the men, whose faces were covered.
UNITED STATES
Man admits strangling kids
A Maine resident charged with killing his girlfriend and her two young children told investigators he chased down and strangled the 10-year-old boy and eight-year-old girl because they had seen their mother’s death, according to court records released on Monday. The details are contained in an affidavit about the case against Keith Coleman, who faces three counts of murder in the deaths of Christina Sargent, 36; Duwayne Coke, 10, and Destiny Sargent, 8. Coleman, 27, was ordered held without bail during an appearance in Bangor.
UNITED STATES
Tweets control Christmas tree
Twitter users anywhere in the world can control the lights on a holiday display in New Jersey. Tweets will turn on a 3m Christmas tree, menorah and more than 1,000 LED lights at Oxford Communications in Lambertville and also turn them off. The company says it designed the display with the intention to help charities, towns and businesses to develop awareness and fundraising campaigns. Tweet #brilliant#twinkle to @Oxmas_Tree to light the display and tweet #figgyypudding to turn them off.
CHINA
Jaycee Chan charged
The son of kung fu star Jackie Chan (成龍) has been charged with providing a venue for others to use drugs, Xinhua news agency reported on Monday, citing prosecutors. Jaycee Chan (房祖名), who like his father has worked as an actor and singer, was detained in August after police said they found 100g of marijuana in his Beijing home. Prosecutors will now bring the evidence against Chan to a court, which can still decide whether or not to accept the case. The younger Chan and Ko Chen-tung (柯震東), a Taiwanese actor also known as Kai Ko, both tested positive for marijuana, Xinhua reported. Chan has featured in several films, but has not so far won the acclaim earned by his father, one of Asia’s best-known actors with a string of Hollywood hits.
SPAIN
Princess to stand trial
Princess Cristina, the sister of King Felipe VI, is to stand trial on charges of tax fraud, capping the most tumultuous year for the royal family since the monarchy was restored after the death of the dictator Francisco Franco in 1975. The princess, 49, will become the first modern royal to face court prosecution following a scandal that has outraged many Spaniards and contributed to a sharp fall in the popularity of the monarchy. The development came as Judge Jose Castro concluded a four-year investigation into the dealings of a company partly owned by Cristina’s husband, Inaki Urdangarin, deciding to press charges against the princess relating to the fiscal years of 2007 and 2008. Urdangarin has been charged with breach of legal duty, embezzling public funds, fraud, influence-peddling and money laundering.
UNITED KINGDOM
Garbage truck kills six
Six people were killed and eight others injured in Glasgow, Scotland, on Monday when a garbage truck plowed into crowds of Christmas shoppers in what appeared to be a tragic accident. One eyewitness described the vehicle knocking people down “like pinballs” as it veered out of control over a distance of about 300m, only stopping when it crashed into a hotel. “Sadly six people have died as a result of the George Square major road incident,” read a tweet on the Scottish police force’s official account. Police superintendent Stewart Carle told reporters at the scene that people were killed over “a number of sites,” He said the driver, who had reportedly slumped at the wheel, perhaps after having suffered a heart attack, was being treated in hospital. “The bin lorry just lost control. It went along the pavement, knocking everyone like pinballs,” eyewitness Melanie Greig told Sky News.
UNITED KINGDOM
Seal found in muddy field
Emergency services rescued an “exhausted” lost seal stranded in a muddy field about 30km from the sea in northern England on Monday. Spotted by a woman walking her dog, photographs of the incongruous marine creature lying on the grass spread quickly on social media and curious onlookers gathered at the field in Newton-le-Willows to see it. The seal is thought to have traveled up the River Mersey from the Irish Sea to reach the landlocked village. Aided by a local farmer, rescue services crowded around the seal with brooms, urging it toward a trailer as it pushed itself along the grass with its flippers, snapping occasionally at the rescuers. Tempted by fish, the seal was successfully herded into a trailer and taken to a wildlife hospital for assessment, police said. “Its condition is described as being exhausted,” police said.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
‘POLITICAL EARTHQUAKE’: Leo Varadkar said he was ‘no longer the best person’ to lead the nation and was stepping down for political, as well as personal, reasons Leo Varadkar on Wednesday announced that he was stepping down as Ireland’s prime minister and leader of the Fine Gael party in the governing coalition, citing “personal and political” reasons. Pundits called the surprise move, just 10 weeks before Ireland holds European Parliament and local elections, a “political earthquake.” A general election has to be held within a year. Irish Deputy Prime Minister Micheal Martin, leader of Fianna Fail, the main coalition partner, said Varadkar’s announcement was “unexpected,” but added that he expected the government to run its full term. An emotional Varadkar, who is in his second stint as prime minister and at
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia