ITALY
Bishop sorry for Santa denial
A Roman Catholic diocese in Sicily publicly apologized to outraged parents after its bishop told a group of children that Santa Claus does not exist. In a Facebook post and subsequent comments on Friday, the diocese of Noto said that Bishop Antonio Stagliano did not mean to dash the dreams of the youngsters two weeks before Christmas. The diocesan communications director, the Reverend Alessandro Paolino, said that Stagliano was trying to underline the true meaning of Christmas and the story of Saint Nicholas, a bishop who gave gifts to the poor and was persecuted by a Roman emperor. Italian news reports quoted Stagliano as telling a religious festival that Santa Claus does not exist and that his red costume was created by Coca-Cola. “First of all, on behalf of the bishop, I express my sorrow for this declaration, which has created disappointment in the little ones, and want to specify that Monsignor Stagliano’s intentions were quite different,” Paolino wrote on Facebook. “We certainly must not demolish the imagination of children, but draw good examples from it that are positive for life. So Santa Claus is an effective image to convey the importance of giving, generosity, sharing.”
BRAZIL
Four jailed over deadly fire
A court convicted four people for their role in a nightclub fire that left 242 people dead nearly a decade ago, handing down sentences of up to 22 years. The 2013 fire in the southern town of Santa Maria started when members of a musical band lit flares that set fire to the ceiling. Two owners of the Kiss night club and two members of the Gurizada Fandangueira band were found guilty of murder and attempted murder. “The defendants’ culpability is high... this much life was not taken away by chance,” Judge Orlando Faccini said in his verdict.
UNITED STATES
Two killed in storms
A reported tornado on Friday night ripped through an Arkansas nursing home, killing one person and injuring several. At least one fatality was also reported in Missouri as severe storms, some believed to be tornadoes, swept across the midwest and parts of the south. Craighead County Judge Marvin Day told reporters that a tornado struck the Monette Manor nursing home in Arkansas at about 8:15pm, killing one person and trapping 20 people inside as the building collapsed. “It happened quick, but apparently there was a little bit of time with tornado sirens going off,” he said, adding that some residents were found in the basement “and were prepared for this.”
UNITED STATES
The Monkees member dies
Mike Nesmith, one of four members of 1960s television and pop phenomenon The Monkees, has died, fellow band member Micky Dolenz and his family said on Friday. He was 78. The group were a made-for-TV outfit put together to rival The Beatles. Dubbed “The Pre-Fab Four” — a pun on The Beatles’ nickname — The Monkees were a commercial smash, whose catchy pop hits remain instantly recognizable more than 50 years on. “I’m heartbroken. I’ve lost a dear friend and partner,” Dolenz, the last surviving member of the group, wrote on Twitter. “I’m so grateful that we could spend the last couple of months together doing what we loved best — singing, laughing, and doing shtick... Rest in peace, Nez.” US media quoted a family statement saying Nesmith had died at home of natural causes.
‘TERRORIST ATTACK’: The convoy of Brigadier General Hamdi Shukri resulted in the ‘martyrdom of five of our armed forces,’ the Presidential Leadership Council said A blast targeting the convoy of a Saudi Arabian-backed armed group killed five in Yemen’s southern city of Aden and injured the commander of the government-allied unit, officials said on Wednesday. “The treacherous terrorist attack targeting the convoy of Brigadier General Hamdi Shukri, commander of the Second Giants Brigade, resulted in the martyrdom of five of our armed forces heroes and the injury of three others,” Yemen’s Saudi Arabia-backed Presidential Leadership Council said in a statement published by Yemeni news agency Saba. A security source told reporters that a car bomb on the side of the road in the Ja’awla area in
‘SHOCK TACTIC’: The dismissal of Yang mirrors past cases such as Jang Song-thaek, Kim’s uncle, who was executed after being accused of plotting to overthrow his nephew North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has fired his vice premier, compared him to a goat and railed against “incompetent” officials, state media reported yesterday, in a rare and very public broadside against apparatchiks at the opening of a critical factory. Vice Premier Yang Sung-ho was sacked “on the spot,” the state-run Korean Central News Agency said, in a speech in which Kim attacked “irresponsible, rude and incompetent leading officials.” “Please, comrade vice premier, resign by yourself when you can do it on your own before it is too late,” Kim reportedly said. “He is ineligible for an important duty. Put simply, it was
SCAM CLAMPDOWN: About 130 South Korean scam suspects have been sent home since October last year, and 60 more are still waiting for repatriation Dozens of South Koreans allegedly involved in online scams in Cambodia were yesterday returned to South Korea to face investigations in what was the largest group repatriation of Korean criminal suspects from abroad. The 73 South Korean suspects allegedly scammed fellow Koreans out of 48.6 billion won (US$33 million), South Korea said. Upon arrival in South Korea’s Incheon International Airport aboard a chartered plane, the suspects — 65 men and eight women — were sent to police stations. Local TV footage showed the suspects, in handcuffs and wearing masks, being escorted by police officers and boarding buses. They were among about 260 South
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa on Sunday announced a deal with the chief of Kurdish-led forces that includes a ceasefire, after government troops advanced across Kurdish-held areas of the country’s north and east. Syrian Kurdish leader Mazloum Abdi said he had agreed to the deal to avoid a broader war. He made the decision after deadly clashes in the Syrian city of Raqa on Sunday between Kurdish-led forces and local fighters loyal to Damascus, and fighting this month between the Kurds and government forces. The agreement would also see the Kurdish administration and forces integrate into the state after months of stalled negotiations on
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