CANADA
Jewish schools targeted
Two Jewish schools in Montreal were hit overnight by gunshots, police said on Thursday. Staff members discovered bullet holes on the exterior of the buildings when they arrived on Thursday morning. Nobody was inside at the time of the shootings, police said. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau reacted to the shootings, saying that Canadians must denounce violent anti-Semitism in the strongest terms. “We are seeing an increase in threats of violence,” Trudeau said. “That’s not who we are as Canadians. We are a country that has done better than just about any other country at understanding and respecting different perspectives.”
COLOMBIA
Luis Diaz’s father released
Liverpool striker Luis Diaz’s father was released on Thursday by members of a guerrilla group who kidnapped him in northern Colombia, the government announced, ending a 12-day ordeal for the family. Luis Manuel Diaz’s kidnapping on Oct. 28 from his hometown of Barrancas had quickly drawn international attention and appeals for his release. On Sunday, the younger Diaz pleaded for his father’s freedom after scoring for Liverpool in an English Premier League soccer match, revealing a T-shirt saying “Freedom for Papa” in Spanish. The release by members of the National Liberation Army, or ELN — which has called the kidnapping a mistake — was announced by the government delegation that currently is in peace negotiations with the guerrilla group. Luis Manuel Diaz, wearing a green shirt and baseball cap, waved to well-wishers on Thursday as he arrived back to his hometown in the La Guajira region.
INDONESIA
Long-lost mammal seen
Scientists have rediscovered a long-lost species of mammal described as having the spines of a hedgehog, the snout of an anteater and the feet of a mole, in the Cyclops Mountains more than 60 years after it was last recorded. Attenborough’s long-beaked echidna, named after British naturalist David Attenborough, was photographed for the first time by a trail camera on the last day of a four-week expedition led by Oxford University scientists. Having descended from the mountains at the end of the trip, biologist James Kempton found the images of the small creature walking through the forest undergrowth on the last memory card retrieved from more than 80 remote cameras. “There was a great sense of euphoria, and also relief having spent so long in the field with no reward until the very final day,” he said.
UNITED STATES
Apollo 8 commander dies
Astronaut Frank Borman, who commanded Apollo 8’s historic Christmas 1968 flight that circled the moon 10 times and paved the way for the lunar landing the next year, has died. He was 95. Borman died on Tuesday in Billings, Montana, NASA said. Borman also led troubled Eastern Airlines in the 1970s and early ’80s after leaving the astronaut corps, but he was best known for his NASA duties. He and his crew, James Lovell and William Anders, were the first Apollo mission to fly to the moon — and to see Earth as a distant sphere in space. “Today we remember one of NASA’s best. Astronaut Frank Borman was a true American hero,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in a statement on Thursday. Launched from Florida’s Cape Canaveral on Dec. 21, 1968, the Apollo 8 trio spent three days traveling to the moon and slipped into lunar orbit on Christmas Eve. After they circled 10 times, they headed back to Earth on Dec. 27.
Brazil, the world’s largest Roman Catholic country, saw its Catholic population decline further in 2022, while evangelical Christians and those with no religion continued to rise, census data released on Friday by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) showed. The census indicated that Brazil had 100.2 million Roman Catholics in 2022, accounting for 56.7 percent of the population, down from 65.1 percent or 105.4 million recorded in the 2010 census. Meanwhile, the share of evangelical Christians rose to 26.9 percent last year, up from 21.6 percent in 2010, adding 12 million followers to reach 47.4 million — the highest figure
A Chinese scientist was arrested while arriving in the US at Detroit airport, the second case in days involving the alleged smuggling of biological material, authorities said on Monday. The scientist is accused of shipping biological material months ago to staff at a laboratory at the University of Michigan. The FBI, in a court filing, described it as material related to certain worms and requires a government permit. “The guidelines for importing biological materials into the US for research purposes are stringent, but clear, and actions like this undermine the legitimate work of other visiting scholars,” said John Nowak, who leads field
Swedish campaigner Greta Thunberg was deported from Israel yesterday, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, the day after the Israeli navy prevented her and a group of fellow pro-Palestinian activists from sailing to Gaza. Thunberg, 22, was put on a flight to France, the ministry said, adding that she would travel on to Sweden from there. Three other people who had been aboard the charity vessel also agreed to immediate repatriation. Eight other crew members are contesting their deportation order, Israeli rights group Adalah, which advised them, said in a statement. They are being held at a detention center ahead of a
‘THE RED LINE’: Colombian President Gustavo Petro promised a thorough probe into the attack on the senator, who had announced his presidential bid in March Colombian Senator Miguel Uribe Turbay, a possible candidate in the country’s presidential election next year, was shot and wounded at a campaign rally in Bogota on Saturday, authorities said. His conservative Democratic Center party released a statement calling it “an unacceptable act of violence.” The attack took place in a park in the Fontibon neighborhood when armed assailants shot him from behind, said the right-wing Democratic Center, which was the party of former Colombian president Alvaro Uribe. The men are not related. Images circulating on social media showed Uribe Turbay, 39, covered in blood being held by several people. The Santa Fe Foundation
RSS