SYRIA
Israeli missiles shot down
Air defense units shot down three Israeli missiles overnight on Monday that were targeting a military post near Damascus, state media reported yesterday. There was no Israeli comment on the incident. There was no word if the missiles hit their target or if there were any casualties. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the attack was an Israeli airstrike on the Damascus suburb of Jamraya, which is home to a government research center. In other news, television reports said a bomb blast yesterday killed eight people and injured 15 on a bus in Homs.
TURKEY
Academics go on trial
About 150 academics from universities in Istanbul went on trial yesterday on charges of engaging in “terrorist propaganda” for signing a declaration in January last year calling for an end to hostilities against Kurdish rebels in the southeast. Individual trials opened in various courts in Istanbul and were expected to last several months. They are accused of supporting the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party. Human Rights Watch says the trials violate free speech and academic freedom.
UNITED STATES
Trump attacked over parks
Environmental groups hit President Donald Trump with a lawsuit just hours after he announced he would shrink two national monuments in Utah. The Wilderness Society, the Sierra Club, Natural Resources Defense Council and seven other groups alleged that Trump overstepped his authority in scaling back the 566,560 hectare Bears Ears to about 89,031 hectares, and the 768,903 hectare Grand Staircase-Escalante national monument to about 404,686 hectares. They said the Antiquities Act of 1906 authorizes presidents to create national monuments, according to the complaint filed on Monday in federal court in Washington. “It does not authorize presidents to abolish them either in whole or in part, as President Trump’s action attempts to do.”
BELGIUM
Centeno to head eurozone
Portuguese Minister of Finance Mario Centeno has won the race to be the next voice of the 19-nation Eurozone. He came out on top after two rounds of voting and will succeed Dutchman Jeroen Dijsselbloem on Jan. 13. His term as president will last for two-and-a-half years. Centeno said he hoped to promote “inclusive” growth policies that would help “put an end to a period that was very difficult for Europe.”
UNITED STATES
‘House’ to focus on Wright
Production is scheduled to resume next year on the sixth and final season of House of Cards. Taping of the political drama was halted in October amid sexual misconduct allegations against star Kevin Spacey. Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos told a conference on Monday of the decision, Variety reported. Netflix last month said it would not be involved with the series if Spacey remained. The next eight-episode season will focus on co-star Robin Wright. No release date has been announced.
GERMANY
Wild boar attacks hunter
A hunter has died after being attacked by a wild boar he was trying to shoot, police said. The 50-year-old man was hunting on Sunday with a dozen others near the town of Greifswald when he was attacked by the male boar. Police say the man suffered serious injuries to his left thigh and fell into nearby water. Police say the boar’s whereabouts were unknown.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
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