KOSOVO
National phone code granted
The nation is to finally get its own international telephone code in the middle of next month after six years of talks with neighboring Serbia, authorities in Pristina announced on Sunday. The Balkan territory unilaterally declared independence from Serbia in 2008, a move consistently denied by Belgrade. The two sides have been negotiating to improve ties since 2011 under guidance from the EU, but several issues had remained unresolved including disputed state property and, until now, the dialing code. “Kosovo will have its own international dialing code, +383,” Minister for Dialogue Edita Tahiri said. The International Telecommunication Union is to officially launch the code on Dec. 15, she added. Landlines currently use the same dialing code as Serbia. Mobile phone users trying to reach Kosovo from abroad must first dial the code for Monaco or Slovenia.
MEXICO
Missing priest found alive
A priest who was abducted has been found alive after three days, but “with notable signs of torture,” the Roman Catholic Church said on Sunday. The Reverend Jose Luis Sanchez Ruiz was the third priest abducted in Veracruz since September. The other two were found shot to death a few days after they were kidnapped. Although Sanchez Ruiz was spared that fate, his abduction brought new attention to attacks on priests, which also saw another priest killed in Michoacan in September. Prosecutors have suggested that robbery might have been the motive in all three killings this year. His disappearance sparked two days of unrest in Catemaco, which is known for its faith healers and exuberant jungle. Angry residents burned part of the town hall and a police patrol truck while demanding the release of the priest. The Reverend Aaron Reyes, spokesman for the diocese, told the Milenio television news channel that Sanchez Ruiz had been threatened in recent days because of his activism. Sanchez Ruiz took part in a recent protest of high electricity bills, an important issue in the town because of its extreme heat.
UNITED STATES
Musician Leon Russell dies
Musician Leon Russell, a top session player in the 1960s and 1970s who later had a successful solo career with such hits as Tight Rope and Lady Blue, has died. He was 74. An e-mail from Leon Russell Records to The Associated Press said Russell died in Nashville on Saturday night. The e-mail cites Russell’s wife as the source of the information. Russell had heart bypass surgery in July and was recovering from that at the time of his death. Russell was primarily a keyboard player. He played backup for Joe Cocker, Bob Dylan, the Beach Boys and many other artists. John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr played on Russell’s solo debut, Leon Russell.
UNITED STATES
Ninja steals sword
A sword is missing from an Alaska card shop after a burglar in a ninja outfit broke in. KTVA-TV reports security cameras filmed the costumed suspect entering a business in Anchorage sometime after it closed on Friday and leaving with what looked to be the Japanese-style, curved sword. Spenard Bosco’s employee Erich Helmick said inventory is being checked, but that so far it seems the sword is the only item missing. Helmick said the Anchorage Police Department responded to the incident and a report has been filed.
James Watson — the Nobel laureate co-credited with the pivotal discovery of DNA’s double-helix structure, but whose career was later tainted by his repeated racist remarks — has died, his former lab said on Friday. He was 97. The eminent biologist died on Thursday in hospice care on Long Island in New York, announced the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, where he was based for much of his career. Watson became among the 20th century’s most storied scientists for his 1953 breakthrough discovery of the double helix with researcher partner Francis Crick. Along with Crick and Maurice Wilkins, he shared the
China’s Shenzhou-20 crewed spacecraft has delayed its return mission to Earth after the vessel was possibly hit by tiny bits of space debris, the country’s human spaceflight agency said yesterday, an unusual situation that could disrupt the operation of the country’s space station Tiangong. An impact analysis and risk assessment are underway, the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) said in a statement, without providing a new schedule for the return mission, which was originally set to land in northern China yesterday. The delay highlights the danger to space travel posed by increasing amounts of debris, such as discarded launch vehicles or vessel
IMPASSE: US President Donald Trump pressed to end the filibuster in a sign that he is unlikely to compromise despite Democrat offers for a delayed healthcare vote The US government shutdown stretched into its 40th day yesterday even as senators stayed in Washington for a grueling weekend session hoping to find an end to the funding fight that has disrupted flights nationwide, threatened food assistance for millions of Americans and left federal workers without pay. The US Senate has so far shown few signs of progress over a weekend that could be crucial for the shutdown fight. Republican leaders are hoping to hold votes on a new package of bills that would reopen the government into January while also approving full-year funding for several parts of government, but
TOWERING FIGURE: To Republicans she was emblematic of the excesses of the liberal elite, but lawmakers admired her ability to corral her caucus through difficult votes Nancy Pelosi, a towering figure in US politics, a leading foe of US President Donald Trump and the first woman to serve as US House of Representatives speaker, on Thursday announced that she would step down at the next election. Admired as a master strategist with a no-nonsense leadership style that delivered for her party, the 85-year-old Democrat shepherded historic legislation through the US Congress as she navigated a bitter partisan divide. In later years, she was a fierce adversary of Trump, twice leading his impeachment and stunning Washington in 2020 when she ripped up a copy of his speech to the
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