Israeli military spokesman says army has weapons it needs for Rafah operation
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli military spokesman says army has weapons it needs for Rafah operation.
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Associated PressChina's Xi is likely to decline Trump's inauguration invitation, seeing it as too risky to attend
Chinese leader Xi Jinping would likely see President-elect Donald Trump’s invitation to attend his inauguration as too risky to accept, and the gesture from Trump may have little bearing on the increasingly competitive ties between the two nations as the White House changes hands, experts say. Trump’s incoming press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, confirmed on Thursday that Trump extended an invitation to the Jan. 20 ceremony.
- Malay Mail
Dr Wan Azizah, Anthony Loke, Mat Sabu: Cabinet had ‘no room’ to discuss Batu Puteh as Dr M had decided for Malaysia in writing
KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 12 — Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, Anthony Loke, and Datuk Seri Mohamad Sabu today asserted tha...
- The Telegraph
Attorney General: Stripping Shamima Begum of citizenship was ‘extremely draconian’
The Attorney General argued that it was “extremely draconian” to strip Shamima Begum of her citizenship during one of her failed legal battles against the decision.
- Reuters
Demoralised and abandoned by allies: why Assad’s army failed to fight in Syria
Twenty-three-year-old Syrian military conscript Farhan al-Khouli was badly paid and demoralized. For years, the Islamist rebels of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) had sat behind the nearby frontline, with Syria's long civil war frozen.
- The Hill
Bill Clinton says he’s open to talking to Biden about preemptive pardon for Hillary Clinton
Former President Clinton said he is open to having a conversation with President Biden about a potential preemptive pardon for his wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Bill Clinton joined “The View” on Wednesday, where he was discussing President-elect Trump taking office early next year and the threat of him going after political enemies…
- The Telegraph
Russian missile scientist ‘assassinated by Ukrainian special forces’
A Russian scientist known for developing cruise missiles has been found shot dead in a snowy wooded area near Moscow.
- Associated Press
America's closest ally in Syria is losing ground as a new order takes shape
The jihadi rebels who toppled Syrian President Bashar Assad say they want to build a unified, inclusive country. For Syria’s Kurdish minority, America’s closest ally in the country, the struggle for a new order is entering a potentially even more challenging phase. Over the course of Syria’s civil war, Kurdish fighters have fended off an array of armed factions, partnered with the U.S. to rout the Islamic State group and carved out a largely autonomous region in the country’s oil-rich east.
- The Daily Beast
Top Putin Missile Developer Shot Dead in Moscow Park
A Russian missile designer was shot dead in a forest park in the Moscow region, according to Ukraine media reports Thursday. The killing of Mikhail Shatsky was carried out by Ukraine’s military intelligence agency, a source in Ukraine’s Defense Forces told the Kyiv Independent. The report described Shatsky as an expert involved in modernizing cruise missiles that Russia has launched against Ukraine. He was deputy general designer and head of the software department at the Moscow-based Mars Desig
- The Independent
Trump mocks Jill Biden — again — by sharing photo of Notre Dame meeting
The photo was taken in Paris at the reopening of the famed Cathedral where the two exchanged polite conversation
- The Daily Beast
Tiffany Trump’s Father-in-Law Might Be a Bogus Billionaire
It appears Tiffany Trump’s father-in-law isn’t the ultra-wealthy business guru he’s long been described as. It was revealed Thursday that Massad Boulos, Donald Trump’s soon-to-be Middle East adviser, spent the last two decades as a truck and machinery salesman for a Nigerian company that profited just $66,000 in 2023, reported The New York Times. The Gray Lady also investigated multiple reports that tied him to a company named Boulos Enterprises, which is apparently owned by a different family w
- CNN
Video points to Assad regime’s involvement in large-scale trafficking of illicit drugs
Social media video surfaced Wednesday allegedly showing a warehouse in Syria stacked with captagon, an illicit drug that had transformed the country into a narco-state under former President Bashar al-Assad’s rule.
- The Independent
Taliban minister and member of powerful Haqqani family killed in Kabul bombing
At least three of Haqqani’s bodyguards were also killed and eight others wounded in the suicide bombing claimed by Isis, officials say
- AFP
Edited 'handshake standoff' clip of China foreign minister, Israel PM spreads online
China has repeatedly called for peace talks to resolve the Gaza war, sparked by an unprecedented Hamas attack in October 2023 to which Israel retaliated with a blistering attack on the Palestinian territory. But a video purportedly showing China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi waiting for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to initiate a handshake has been edited -- the original footage from their meeting in December 2013 shows Wang was listening to a translator. There is no official record of
- The Independent
I sparked Syria’s revolution as a teenage boy – now I’m here to finish it
ON THE GROUND: Muawiyah Syasneh was 16 when his anti-Assad graffiti on a school wall led to his arrest, sparking protests that ended in civil war. Now, in the very same spot, he tells chief international correspondent Bel Trew about the years-long war – and his role in bringing it to an end
- The Independent
Biden commutes 1,500 sentences and issues 39 pardons in biggest single-day act of clemency in history
‘America was built on the promise of possibility and second chances,’ Biden said in a statement
- CNN
Russian forces less than 2 miles from key Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk
Russian forces are now just three kilometers (1.9 miles) from the outskirts of the key eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk after making advances Wednesday, according to Ukrainian mapping service DeepState. They have also destroyed or captured Ukrainian positions near the city, a Ukrainian army spokesperson said.
- CNN
Assad exhibited little of the tackiness of Iraq’s Saddam. But his rule was just as brutal
Slender shoulders, a limp handshake and soft-spoken lisp. Those were the most vivid memories from my meeting with Bashar al Assad.
- People
Pregnant Tiffany Trump Joins Sister Ivanka, Father Donald and Stepmother Melania to Ring Opening Bell at New York Stock Exchange
The family outing comes as President-elect Donald Trump was named TIME's 2024 Person of the Year
- CNN
South Korea’s ruling party backs impeachment as president refuses to step down over martial law
South Korea’s ruling party has thrown its support behind attempts to impeach embattled President Yoon Suk Yeol over his ill-fated decision to declare martial law that sparked a political crisis and widespread public anger in the country.
- Reuters
Russian forces advance towards strategic city of Pokrovsk in Ukraine's east
Russian forces are just 1.5 km (1 mile) outside the Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk after Russian units pushed up from the south, and some advance groups of special forces have even entered the road and rail hub, pro-Russian war bloggers said on Friday. Russia controls a large chunk of Ukraine and is advancing at the fastest pace since the early days of its invasion in 2022, according to open source maps. The focus of Russia's advance since Ukraine carved out a slice of Russia's Kursk region in August is on the eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk where Russia currently controls over 60% of the territory.