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.
A Zurich city councilor has apologized and reportedly sought police protection against threats after she fired a sport pistol at an auction poster of a 14th-century Madonna and child painting, and posted images of their bullet-ridden faces on social media. Green-Liberal party official Sanija Ameti, 32, put the images on Instagram over the weekend before quickly pulling them down. She later wrote on social media that she had been practicing shots from about 10m and only found the poster as “big enough” for a suitable target. “I apologize to the people who were hurt by my post. I deleted it immediately when I
The governor of Ohio is to send law enforcement and millions of dollars in healthcare resources to the city of Springfield as it faces a surge in temporary Haitian migrants. Ohio Governor Mike DeWine on Tuesday said that he does not oppose the Temporary Protected Status program under which about 15,000 Haitians have arrived in the city of about 59,000 people since 2020, but said the federal government must do more to help affected communities. On Monday, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost directed his office to research legal avenues — including filing a lawsuit — to stop the federal government from sending
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is to visit Russia next month for a summit of the BRICS bloc of developing economies, Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) said on Thursday, a move that comes as Moscow and Beijing seek to counter the West’s global influence. Xi’s visit to Russia would be his second since the Kremlin sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022. China claims to take a neutral position in the conflict, but it has backed the Kremlin’s contentions that Russia’s action was provoked by the West, and it continues to supply key components needed by Moscow for
Japan scrambled fighter jets after Russian aircraft flew around the archipelago for the first time in five years, Tokyo said yesterday. From Thursday morning to afternoon, the Russian Tu-142 aircraft flew from the sea between Japan and South Korea toward the southern Okinawa region, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said in a statement. They then traveled north over the Pacific Ocean and finished their journey off the northern island of Hokkaido, it added. The planes did not enter Japanese airspace, but flew over an area subject to a territorial dispute between Japan and Russia, a ministry official said. “In response, we mobilized Air Self-Defense
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