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.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was