UNITED STATES
Trump flips on Epstein files
President Donald Trump on Sunday said he backed lawmakers’ efforts to release more files related to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, despite his previous opposition to the measure. “House Republicans should vote to release the Epstein files, because we have nothing to hide,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. “And it’s time to move on from this Democrat Hoax perpetrated by Radical Left Lunatics in order to deflect from the Great Success of the Republican Party, including our recent Victory on the Democrat ‘Shutdown.’” Trump has accused Democrats of pushing an “Epstein hoax” after e-mails emerged in which the disgraced financier suggested Trump “knew about the girls.”
Photo: Bloomberg
UNITED STATES
Flight restrictions limited
US flights were expected to return to normal schedules from 6am Washington time yesterday after reductions imposed during a government shutdown were lifted, the Federal Aviation Administration said on Sunday evening. Thousands of flights were canceled due to understaffing during the shutdown, which stretched into a record 43 days. Ten percent of domestic flights were cut at 40 of the busiest US airports due to a shortage of control tower staff, who were asked to work without pay as the budget stalemate dragged on. The aviation industry was further strained after President Donald Trump threatened to dock pay for air traffic controllers who called in sick during the shutdown, accusing them of being unpatriotic. “Now we can refocus our efforts on surging controller hiring and building the brand new, state of the art air traffic control system,” Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy said in a statement.
LEBANON
Israeli wall a breach
President Joseph Aoun’s office said it had asked the foreign minister on Saturday to work on filing a complaint against Israel for building a wall inside Lebanese territory. On Friday, the UN Interim Force on Lebanon (UNIFIL) said in statement that the Israeli army erected a wall southwest of the Lebanese village of Yaroun. The wall crossed the border line, rendering more than 4,000m2 of Lebanese territory “inaccessible to the Lebanese people,” it said, adding that it had informed the Israeli army of its findings and requested that they remove the wall. The construction of the wall violates the UN Security Council resolution that ended that 14-month Israel-Hezbollah war with a US-brokered ceasefire in November year. The Israeli military said the wall, whose construction began in 2022, is part of a broader plan for reinforcements along the border.
SOUTH KOREA
K-pop star subdues intruder
K-pop star Nana helped overpower a home intruder and is recovering in hospital after suffering injuries during the tussle, police said on Sunday. The intruder, a man in his 30s, broke into the star’s home early on Saturday, before being taken down by Nana with the help of her mother and arrested. The 34-year-old celebrity and her mother, who suffered serious injuries and lost consciousness, are being treated in hospital, Yonhap news agency reported. The intruder broke into Nana’s residence in the suburbs of Seoul to steal valuables, a detective at the Guri Police Station said. The suspect is in custody on charges of aggravated robbery, he added. “The mother has regained consciousness,” Yonhap reported. Nana and her mother “are currently in need of treatment and complete rest,” it said. Nana’s agency has not responded to requests for comments.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday vowed that those behind bogus flood control projects would be arrested before Christmas, days after deadly back-to-back typhoons left swathes of the country underwater. Scores of construction firm owners, government officials and lawmakers — including Marcos’ cousin congressman — have been accused of pocketing funds for substandard or so-called “ghost” infrastructure projects. The Philippine Department of Finance has estimated the nation’s economy lost up to 118.5 billion pesos (US$2 billion) since 2023 due to corruption in flood control projects. Criminal cases against most of the people implicated are nearly complete, Marcos told reporters. “We don’t file cases for
Ecuadorans are today to vote on whether to allow the return of foreign military bases and the drafting of a new constitution that could give the country’s president more power. Voters are to decide on the presence of foreign military bases, which have been banned on Ecuadoran soil since 2008. A “yes” vote would likely bring the return of the US military to the Manta air base on the Pacific coast — once a hub for US anti-drug operations. Other questions concern ending public funding for political parties, reducing the number of lawmakers and creating an elected body that would
‘ATTACK ON CIVILIZATION’: The culture ministry released drawings of six missing statues representing the Roman goddess of Venus, the tallest of which was 40cm Investigators believe that the theft of several ancient statues dating back to the Roman era from Syria’s national museum was likely the work of an individual, not an organized gang, officials said on Wednesday. The National Museum of Damascus was closed after the heist was discovered early on Monday. The museum had reopened in January as the country recovers from a 14-year civil war and the fall of the 54-year al-Assad dynasty last year. On Wednesday, a security vehicle was parked outside the main gate of the museum in central Damascus while security guards stood nearby. People were not allowed in because
Tanzanian politicians are in shock over the massacre of hundreds of young protesters during its recent election, insiders told Agence France-Presse, but are too afraid to speak out as a tiny cabal around the president takes control. Gruesome images of dead Tanzanians have flooded the Internet in the wake of the Oct. 29 elections that triggered widespread protests over government repression. Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan officially won with 98 percent of the vote, but key opposition leaders were jailed or disqualified. The opposition said that more than 1,000 people were killed as security forces crushed the protests under cover of a five-day
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