User Articles

Celebrating Christmas on frontline

On the frontlines of eastern Ukraine, soldiers have spent another Christmas locked in grinding battles with Russian forces. It is their second Christmas at war and away from home since the February 2022 full-scale invasion. For many, however, the day brought to mind hope and faith that there would one day be peace.

Disaster

Dozens survive plane crash tragedy

An Embraer passenger jet crashed near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan, killing 38 people, after diverting from an area of Russia that Moscow has recently defended against Ukrainian drone attacks. Twenty-nine survivors received hospital treatment. Azerbaijan Airlines flight J2-8243 had flown hundreds of miles off its scheduled route from Azerbaijan to Russia to crash on the opposite shore of the Caspian Sea, after what Russia’s aviation watchdog said was an emergency that may have been caused by a bird strike. But an aviation expert suggested that cause seemed unlikely.

Politics

6 hours ago

Trump shooter trial delayed

A man accused of attempting to assassinate President-elect Donald Trump in South Florida won’t be tried until September 2025, a federal judge ruled this week. Ryan Routh’s trial will begin on September 8 instead of the previously scheduled February 10, 2025 start date, US District Judge Aileen Cannon said in an order released. Routh, 58, a Hawaii resident, has pleaded not guilty.

6 hours ago

South America

Suriname dictator, twice convicted for murder, dies

Desi Bouterse, a military strongman who led a 1980 coup in the former Dutch colony of Suriname then returned to power by election three decades later despite charges of drug smuggling and murder, has died. He was 79. Surinamese Vice President Ronnie Brunswijk wrote on Facebook that Bouterse’s “life had a lasting impact on our country and his efforts will not be forgotten.” The cause of death was not immediately known. Bouterse was applauded by supporters for his charisma and populist social programs. For his opponents, he was a ruthless dictator who was convicted of drug trafficking and extrajudicial killings.

Asia

Japan aims to improve ties with China

China and Japan agreed to set up talks on often contentious security issues as they seek to improve a relationship riven in recent years by a range of issues, from territorial disputes to the discharge of water from Japan’s tsunami-wrecked nuclear power plant. Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya, on his first trip to China since assuming the post in October, sounded positive after meetings with Chinese Premier Li Qiang and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, saying the talks were “very candid” and wide-ranging. “I feel we were able to build a personal relationship that would lead to the future,“ he told reporters in the Chinese capital.

Pakistan

Taliban say Pakistani strikes killed 46 in Afghanistan

Pakistan’s air strikes on eastern Afghanistan killed 46 people, mostly women and children, a Taliban government official said, raising fears of further straining the relations between the two neighbours. Hamdullah Fitrat, the deputy spokesman for the Afghan government, said those killed in the strikes that targeted four locations in Barmal, a district in the province of Paktika, were refugees, adding that six others were also wounded. This comes a day after Pakistani security officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity in line with regulations, said that the operation was to dismantle a training facility and kill insurgents in Paktika in Afghanistan.

Religion

9 hours ago

‘Silence the sounds of arms’

Pope Francis in his traditional Christmas message urged “all people of all nations” to find courage during this Holy Year “to silence the sounds of arms and overcome divisions” plaguing the world, from the Middle East to Ukraine, Africa to Asia. The pontiff’s “Urbi et Orbi” — “To the City and the World” — address serves as a summary of the woes facing the world this year. As Christmas coincided with the start of the 2025 Holy Year celebration that he dedicated to hope, Francis called for broad reconciliation, “even (with) our enemies.” ”I invite every individual, and all people of all nations ... to become pilgrims of hope, to silence the sounds of arms and overcome divisions,‘‘ the pope said from the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica to throngs of people below.

9 hours ago

Politics

11 hours ago

Trump’s Cabinet picks still hang in the balance

The fate of President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet is still unclear after Republican senators spent much of December carefully dodging questions about Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s views on vaccines, accusations of misconduct against Pete Hegseth and Tulsi Gabbard’s 2017 meeting with then-president Bashar al-Assad of Syria. While some GOP senators have indicated they are all-in for Trump’s picks, others have withheld support, for now, especially on some of his more controversial nominees. The dynamic is injecting uncertainty into the process as Republicans prepare to take the Senate majority in January with a four-seat margin and as Trump aggressively challenges them to confirm his Cabinet immediately. It’s not unusual for senators to wait until after confirmation hearings to publicly announce a decision. But Republicans are under more pressure than usual as Trump and his allies make clear that they will confront senators who don’t fall in line.

11 hours ago

Middle East

13 hours ago

Palestinian forces crack down on militants

Gunfire has rung out for days from the West Bank’s Jenin refugee camp. But this time, it’s not Israeli forces that are facing off against armed groups. It is the forces of the Palestinian Authority clashing with Palestinian gunmen. The Palestinian Authority, which administers parts of the occupied territory, launched a rare crackdown earlier this month that has sparked one of the worst armed confrontations between Palestinians in years. The authority says it wants to bring law and order to what’s long been a hotbed of militancy and a place where it has little control.

13 hours ago

Turkey

15 hours ago

Plea to help Turkey’s ‘lost generation’

Persistently high inflation has left many families in Turkey struggling to pay for food and housing. Experts say it’s creating a lost generation of children who have been forced to grow up too quickly to help their families eke out an existence.

15 hours ago

Caribbean

16 hours ago

Deadly attack at hospital reopening

Two reporters and a police officer have been killed and several people wounded in a gang attack in Haiti on the reopening of Port-au-Prince’s biggest public hospital. Street gangs forced the closure of the General Hospital early this year and authorities had pledged to reopen the facility in Haiti’s capital on Christmas Eve. But as journalists gathered to cover the event, suspected gang members opened fire.

16 hours ago

Legal

20 hours ago

Trump blasts Biden’s commutations

President-elect Donald Trump has promised to “vigorously pursue” capital punishment after President Joe Biden commuted the sentences of most people on federal death row, partly to stop Trump from pushing forward their executions. Trump criticised Biden’s decision earlier this week to change the sentences of 37 of the 40 condemned people to life in prison without parole, arguing that it was senseless and insulted the families of their victims. Biden said converting their punishments to life imprisonment was consistent with the moratorium imposed on federal executions in cases other than terrorism and hate-motivated mass murder.

20 hours ago

Syria

Christmas tree burning sparks outrage, protests

Hundreds of angry Syrian Christians have held a protest march in Damascus after a Christmas tree was burned. The protesters marched through the Bab Touma Christian neighbourhood in Downtown Damascus to a church and chanted pro-Christian prayers over the burning of a Christmas tree in Hama province in Central Syria.

Odd Spot

Santa tracker spreads joy to kids far and wide

The Christmas tradition has become nearly global in scope: Children from around the world track Santa Claus as he sweeps across the earth, delivering presents and defying time. Each year, at least 100,000 kids call into the North American Aerospace...

Nature

Kilauea lava flow continues

One of the world’s most active volcanoes has continued to spew lava into the air after erupting due to earthquake activity earlier this week, The eruption of Kilauea volcano on Hawaii’s Big Island has stayed within the mountain’s summit caldera inside Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. No homes were threatened. Molten rock began shooting from the volcano before dawn on Monday when fissures opened in the caldera floor and propelled lava 295 feet (90m) into the air.

Military

Tears of joy as sailors come home in time for Christmas

Hundreds of sailors and their loved ones have received an early Christmas present as the USS Cole docked at its homeport in Norfolk, Virginia after seven months at sea. The ship was greeted at Naval Station Norfolk with cheering from a crowd bundled in coats and blankets. They shed tears of gratitude and shared long embraces as sailors hugged beaming children. Some held flower bouquets and signs bearing their family members’ names and photos.

North America

Border-straddling airport to close

The Piney-Pinecreek Border Airport has a unique claim to fame: Its runway straddles the border of the US and Canada. But after seven decades of operation, the small airport that sits near Roseau, Minnesota, and Piney, Manitoba in Canada, will close...

Travel

Brief grounding sparks delays

American Airlines briefly grounded flights nationwide Tuesday due to a technical issue just as the Christmas travel season kicks into overdrive and winter weather is threatening more potential problems for those planning to fly or drive. American...