UNITED STATES
Targets hit on Christmas
The Department of Defence said the US hit the Islamic State group targets in Iraq and Syria with 17 airstrikes on Christmas Day. The strikes targeting the Islamic State fighters, facilities and vehicles were carried out by fighter aircraft, bombers and remotely controlled aircraft. The department on Saturday said that five of the strikes were carried out in Syria and 12 in Iraq. The strikes targeted the Islamic State tunnels, explosive manufacturing sites and other targets such as bridges and the Islamic State fighting outposts. All US aircraft returned safely. The strikes were conducted as part of Operation Inherent Resolve, the operation that is designed to target the Islamic State group.
UNITED STATES
Texas legalizes open arms
Despite its trigger-happy reputation, Texas is late to the open carry party, at least for handguns. Come New Year’s Day, it will be the 45th state to legalize wearing holstered pistols. The relaxed rules passed the Republican-controlled state Legislature only after police groups defeated a provision backed by tea party conservatives and Democrats that would have barred law enforcement from asking Texas residents whether they have a license to visibly carry a gun. However, with the new law now looming, some police say they will refrain from asking to see the license of someone carrying a gun if they have no other reason to stop them. Not doing so could avoid harassment lawsuits, even if it might also make it easier for unlicensed Texas residents to freely carry guns.
FRANCE
Wingsuit flyer killed in Alps
A 39-year-old French soldier was killed Saturday while attempting a wingsuit jump in the Alps, the latest casualty in what is regarded as one of the most dangerous extreme sports, a rescue worker said. The man died after jumping off the 2,525m-high summit of Le Brevent in the French Alps. “When his flying companion reached the ground, he realized something had gone wrong. He probably crashed into the mountain,” a rescue worker said, confirming the soldier’s death. His body was later found at an altitude of 2,100m.
AUSTRIA
Vienna on terror alert
Police on Saturday said they stepped up security in Vienna and other cities after receiving a warning of possible attacks during the holiday season. “In the lead-up to Christmas, a friendly intelligence service sent a warning to numerous European capitals saying potential bomb or gun attacks could take place in areas with large crowds between Christmas and New Year,” Vienna police said in a statement. The warning included “several names of potential attackers,” but investigations have so far yielded no concrete results, the statement said.
SWEDEN
Yuletide goat set ablaze
In what has become a Christmas tradition to some Swedes, a giant decorative goat made of straw was set on fire early yesterday and police arrested a 25-year-old man suspected of arson. The straw goat is a beloved Christmas symbol in the city of Gavle, in central Sweden. However, it has also become a tradition of sorts to burn it down. This year’s edition lasted nearly a month on a downtown square before going up in flames. Police said they arrested a suspect wearing a balaclava and clothes reeking of lighter fluid. Police said he would be questioned once he sobered up.
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
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
ON ALERT: A Russian cruise missile crossed into Polish airspace for about 40 seconds, the Polish military said, adding that it is constantly monitoring the war to protect its airspace Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western region of Lviv early yesterday came under a “massive” Russian air attack, officials said, while a Russian cruise missile breached Polish airspace, the Polish military said. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with yesterday’s strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people also became a new flash point between the two archrivals. “Explosions in the capital. Air defense is working. Do not