Venezuela doubles down on intention to arrest opposition leader who claims he defeated Maduro– www.washingtontimes.com Source Link Excerpt:
Venezuela’s government Sunday doubled down on its intention to arrest the opposition leader who claims he defeated President Nicolas Maduro in last year’s election in the form of a threat from the ruling party-controlled congress.
While the new acting President faces legal challenges, the former President may soon be arrested if law enforcement officials get their way. The Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials has formally requested an arrest warrant filing to detain the former President.
South Korean authorities seek warrant to detain impeached president in martial law probe– www.cbc.ca Source Link Excerpt:
South Korean law enforcement officials have requested a court warrant to detain impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol as they investigate whether his short-lived martial law decree on Dec. 3 amounted to rebellion.
The Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials, which is leading a joint investigation with police and military authorities into the power grab that lasted only a few hours, confirmed it requested the warrant on Monday. Investigators plan to question Yoon on charges of abuse of authority and orchestrating a rebellion.
Yoon has dodged several requests by the joint investigation team and public prosecutors to appear for questioning and has also blocked searches of his offices.
It’s not clear whether the court will grant the warrant or whether Yoon can be compelled to appear for questioning.
Under the country’s laws, locations potentially linked to military secrets cannot be seized or searched without the consent of the person in charge, and it’s unlikely that Yoon will voluntarily leave his residence if he faces detainment.
Yoon’s presidential powers were suspended after the National Assembly voted to impeach him on Dec. 14 over his imposition of martial law that lasted only hours but has triggered weeks of political turmoil, halted high-level diplomacy and rattled financial markets. Yoon’s fate now lies with the Constitutional Court. It has begun deliberations on whether to uphold the impeachment and formally remove Yoon from office or reinstate him.
Downing of Azerbaijan plane reflects Ukraine war’s growing footprint– www.latimes.com Source Link Excerpt:
The deadly crash this week of an Azerbaijani passenger jet — with Russian air defenses as the suspected culprit — brings into focus a little-noticed aspect of the war in Ukraine: a battle zone that extends deep into Russia.
Ukraine for months has been using domestically tooled drones to strike Russian targets hundreds of miles from the front lines in southern and eastern Ukraine, often taking aim at fuel depots and military airfields.
The Kremlin tends to play down these attacks, and has a history of offering unconvincing explanations for massive explosions that sometimes result.
On Friday, Russian authorities acknowledged that Ukrainian drones were targeting Grozny, provincial capital of the Russian republic of Chechnya, as an Azerbaijani commercial airliner with 67 people aboard was attempting to land there on Wednesday.
Azerbaijan demands Russia admit guilt for downing plane, pay compensation – The Washington Post Source Link Excerpt:
Azerbaijan’s president on Sunday demanded that Russia admit responsibility for the incident that led to the Christmas Day crash of a passenger plane that killed 38 people and pay compensation to the government and affected families.
President Ilham Aliyev said Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 8243, which departed from Baku on Wednesday morning with 67 passengers and crew members bound for Grozny in Russia, “suffered external damage” in Russian airspace and was rendered uncontrollable by electronic warfare. The tail of the Embraer 190, he said in televised remarks, was seriously damaged “as a result of shelling from the ground.”
Now that Assad has fallen in Syria, a northern part of Syria called Rojava is facing widescale threats from Turkey, who hopes to eradicate both the semi-autonomous authority as well as the Kurds who are the majority of people in that region. Recent threats by Turkey’s President Erdogan suggest the fear of a potential genocide of Kurds is not unfounded.
Erdogan added to those fears when he directly stated “The separatist murderers will either bid farewell to their weapons, or they will be buried in Syrian lands along with their weapons. We will eradicate the terrorist organization that is trying to weave a wall of blood between us and our Kurdish siblings.”
Erdogan Warns Kurds Will Be ‘Buried in Syrian Lands Along with Their Weapons’– www.breitbart.com Source Link Excerpt:
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned Kurdish militias in Syria on Wednesday to either lay down their arms or be “buried.” On the same day, the Turkish military said it killed 21 Kurdish militants in northern Syria and Iraq – including members of the People’s Defense Units (YPG), the leading Syrian Kurdish force allied with the United States against the Islamic State.
Erdogan and other Turkish officials have adamantly insisted for years that the YPG is allied with, or merely a branch of, the violent separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). The PKK is banned in Turkey and classified as a terrorist organization by many other nations, including the United States.
Most other countries, however, regard the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia as a separate entity from the PKK. The YPG holds a leadership role in the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which was instrumental in the fight against ISIS and remains a U.S. ally.
Erdogan repeated Turkey’s view that the YPG and PKK are one and the same in remarks to members of his ruling AKP party on Wednesday.
“The separatist murderers will either bid farewell to their weapons, or they will be buried in Syrian lands along with their weapons,” he said.
“We will eradicate the terrorist organization that is trying to weave a wall of blood between us and our Kurdish siblings,” he added, seeking to draw a distinction between the YPG militia and civilian Kurds, whom Turkey claims to have no problem with.
Last week, the SDF admitted for the first time that PKK fighters are in Syria and were allies against the Islamic State, although the SDF insisted it had no operational links with the PKK.
SDF commander-in-chief Mazloum Abdi told Reuters last week that Kurdish fighters came to Syria from across the Middle East to defend Kurdish lands against the Islamic State, including members of the PKK. He said that while many of the PKK fighters returned home after the fall of ISIS, some “decided to stay and help us.”
Abdi said he was agreeable to Turkey’s demand that non-Syrian Kurdish fighters must leave Syria but said that would not be possible until there was “a total ceasefire between us and the Turkish forces and their affiliated factions.”
“On the other hand, we are preparing ourselves to repel any attack if it happens,” Abdi said.
The major offensive Abdi described has not happened yet, but on Wednesday, the Turkish Defense Ministry said 21 Kurdish militants were killed in northern Syria by Turkish forces, including both PKK and YPG members. One Kurdish fighter was also killed in Iraq.
“Our operations will continue effectively and resolutely,” the Turkish Defense Ministry said.
Some of Turkey’s colleagues in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) are growing queasy with Erdogan’s war against the Kurds. On Monday, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock warned that a resurgent ISIS could benefit from Turkey weakening Syrian Kurdish forces.
“It would help no one if the Islamic State terrorists were the ones to benefit from a conflict with the Kurds. This would pose a security threat to Syria, Turkey and Europe,” Baerbock said.
Writing at the Hill on Thursday, Georgetown University adjunct professor David L. Phillips asserted it was time for the United States to stand up for its Kurdish allies in Syria.
Phillips wrote:
Defeating ISIS is still a work in progress; the Kurds are guarding thousands of ISIS prisoners in northeast Syria. If they redeploy to counter a Turkish invasion, the SDF will have a stark choice: either defend their families from a Turkish-backed invasion or stand guard over the ISIS detainees. Defending their homes and families will have priority.
Turkey actually has an answer to that argument, as Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan insisted last weekend that the insurgent government in Syria is perfectly capable of running the ISIS prison camps.
Phillips said the Kurds have provided an “island of stability amid the chaos” by providing a component administration in northeastern Syria during the civil war and warned the U.S. would “incur a reputational cost” if it abandons an effective ally who has largely followed the American model for anti-extremist government.
“Who will join U.S.-led counterinsurgency efforts if we abandon the Kurds now?” he wondered.
“Moral clarity is called for at this perilous moment. Kurds are America’s allies and friends with whom we share strategic interests and values. Kurds are a force for good in Anatolia and Mesopotamia. To secure U.S. interests and reputation, Washington must deter Turkey’s aggression,” he urged.
The moribund Biden administration has said little on the matter of the Syrian Kurds, but there is a bipartisan bill in the Senate to impose sanctions against Turkey if it launches a major operation against the SDF.
Thousands flee violent post-election unrest in Mozambique to neighboring Malawi – Anadolu Agency | English Source Link Excerpt:
Thousands of Mozambicans have fled ongoing violence in their country to neighboring Malawi after months of unrest over disputed presidential election results, government officials told Anadolu on Thursday.
Dominic Mwandira, a senior civil official in Malawi’s Nsanje district, which borders Mozambique, said some 2,000 households have entered the territory since Monday.
“They are coming as families and we have, so far, sheltered them in schools waiting for proper arrangements. The number is likely to rise,” Mwandira told Anadolu over the phone.
Violent protests have rocked Mozambique since presidential polls were held on Oct. 9, resulting in the death of 248 people, including 33 in a prison break on Wednesday, according to Plataforma Decide, an election monitoring group.
6,000 inmates escaped from a high-security prison in Mozambique. What to know – National– globalnews.ca Source Link Excerpt:
At least 6,000 inmates escaped from a high-security prison in Mozambique’s capital on Christmas Day after a rebellion, the country’s police chief said, as widespread post-election riots and violence are roiling the country.
Police chief Bernardino Rafael said 33 prisoners died and 15 others were injured during a confrontation with the security forces.
The prisoners fled during violent protests that have seen police cars, stations and infrastructure destroyed after the country’s Constitutional Council confirmed the ruling Frelimo party as the winner of the Oct. 9 elections.
The escape from the Maputo Central Prison, located 14 kilometers (9 miles) southwest of the capital, started around midday on Wednesday after “agitation” by a “group of subversive protesters” nearby, Rafael said.
Russia appears to have shot down an Azerbaijan airlines passenger plane that killed all 38 people on board. The incident occurred in Western Kazakhstan, about two miles from the city of Aktau.
Russia is now blaming Ukrainian terrorist activity that led to the plane being shot down, claiming, “Ukrainian military drones were carrying out terrorist attacks on civilian infrastructure… at the time… The pilot was offered alternative airports. He took the decision to go to Aktau airport”
‘Ukrainian military was carrying out terrorist attacks when Azerbaijani flight tried to land’: Russia claims– timesofindia.indiatimes.com Source Link Excerpt:
Russia on Friday claimed that Ukrainian drones were attacking the city of Grozny as an Azerbaijani Airlines plane attempted to land, before its subsequent crash in Kazakhstan.
Chief of Russia’s civil aviation authority Dmitry Yadrov via Telegram noted that severe fog enveloped Grozny during the plane crash incident, stating that “conditions that day and in those hours around the airport were very complicated”.
The Azerbaijan Airlines aircraft crashed in western Kazakhstan, resulting in the death of 38 amongst the 67 occupants. Various news sources have reported Azerbaijani officials suggesting that a Russian air defence missile might have caused the incident, AFP reported.
“Ukrainian military drones were carrying out terrorist attacks on civilian infrastructure… at the time,” Yadrov said, adding that the plane made two unsuccessful attempts to land.
Plane crash probe in Kazakhstan underway as speculation mounts about possible Russian involvement– www.cbsnews.com Source Link Excerpt:
Azerbaijan on Thursday observed a nationwide day of mourning for the victims of the plane crash that killed 38 people and left 29 survivors injured, as speculation mounted about the cause of the disaster — including whether possible Russian air defense operations may have played a role.
Azerbaijan Airlines’ Embraer 190 was en route from Azerbaijan’s capital of Baku to the Russian city of Grozny in the North Caucasus on Wednesday when it was diverted, for reasons that are still unclear, and crashed while trying to land in Aktau, in western Kazakhstan, after flying east across the Caspian Sea. The plane went down about 2 miles from Aktau.
A U.S. official told CBS News there are early indications a Russian anti-aircraft system may have struck the plane. The official, who asked not to be publicly identified, said that if these indications prove true, it would further underscore Russian recklessness in its invasion of Ukraine.
Cellphone footage circulating online appeared to show the aircraft making a steep descent before smashing into the ground in a fireball. Other footage and photos showed part of its fuselage ripped away from the wings and the rear half of the aircraft lying upside down in the grass.
The South Korean National Assembly has approved the impeachment of acting President Han Duck-soo by a vote of 192-0. The Assembly is controlled by the country’s opposition party. Han became the acting President after former President Yoon Suk Yeol was impeached following his emergency declaration. Yoon is currently being tried after that impeachment.
South Korea’s opposition-controlled National Assembly votes to impeach acting leader– abcnews.go.com Source Link Excerpt:
SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea’s opposition-controlled National Assembly has voted to impeach the country’s acting leader, Han Duck-soo.
The assembly approved the impeachment motion in a 192-0 vote on Friday. Governing party lawmakers boycotted the vote.
Han, the No. 2 official in South Korea, has been the caretaker leader after President Yoon Suk Yeol was impeached by the assembly over his short-lived imposition of martial law earlier this month.
Han’s impeachment further deepens South Korea’s political crisis and damages its international image.
President Donald Trump published a post on Truth Social on Christmas Day that suggests America might have to take the Panama Canal back because the country is charging outlandish rates and handing over the canal’s operations to the Chinese military.
Trump posted, “Merry Christmas to all, including to the wonderful soldiers of China, who are lovingly, but illegally, operating the Panama Canal (where we lost 38,000 people in its building 110 years ago), always making certain that the United States puts in Billions of Dollars in ‘repair’ money, but will have absolutely nothing to say about ‘anything.’”
Trump alleges ‘Chinese soldiers’ operating Panama Canal – Türkiye Today Source Link Excerpt:
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump alleged on Wednesday that ‘wonderful Chinese soldiers’ are operating the Panama Canal, sparking questions about U.S. investments in the vital waterway.
In a post on his Truth Social platform on Christmas Day, Trump alleged that the Chinese presence is aimed at ensuring that the U.S. invests billions of dollars in repairs without reaping any benefits. “The United States puts in billions of dollars in ‘repair’ money and gets nothing in return,” he said.
Trump also addressed Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, calling him “Governor Justin Trudeau of Canada” and suggesting that Canada could achieve significant tax cuts and “would be militarily protected like no other country anywhere in the world” if it joined the U.S. as its 51st state.
After Mozambique’s ruling party saw a contentious October election deliver them a contested win, the nation has been tense while the process of validation of the election was completed. Now that the election has been “officially validated,” the people have taken to the streets.
The people were met with violence by government forces, resulting in the deaths of 56 people in these latest clashes. So far, 186 people have been killed in clashes that have been occurring since the results of the contested election were first announced in October.
Mozambique Descends Into Chaos as Crisis Over Vote Intensifies– financialpost.com Source Link Excerpt:
(Bloomberg) — A wave of violence spread across Mozambique following the validation of the ruling party’s victory in October’s disputed election, resulting in the deaths of at least 56 people in the African nation.
The death toll has risen to 186 since the unrest began on Oct. 21, according to Decide Platform, a local monitoring group. Rioters looted shops and torched police stations, while GardaWorld’s Crisis24 said that as many as 2,500 prisoners escaped from a maximum security jail outside Maputo, the capital. Authorities are trying to recapture the inmates, according to Crisis24.
On December 20, 2024 a Saudi national drove his car intentionally through a Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, killing 5 and injuring over 200 others. One of the dead included a 9-year-old boy. The suspect is 50-year old Taleb A. He is allegedly an ex-Muslim angry at the German state for not allowing more Saudi ex-Muslims to emigrate to the country.
The attack has highlighted Germany’s growing impatience with mass immigration of peoples who don’t want to become culturally German. As of right now, the center-right appears poised to regain control of the government, but rallies in response to the attack suggest the AfD, the more conservative party, could benefit.
Germany: Magdeburg attack could shape upcoming elections – DW (English) Source Link Excerpt:
“Only the AfD would have deported the man long ago,” Sven Tritschler, the deputy chairman of the AfD in the state parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia, posted to social media.
Dominik Kaufner, an AfD member of the Brandenburg state legislature, posted to social media that “millionfold migration is the problem and millionfold remigration is the solution.”
Research published in Nature Communications Earth & Environment suggests there have been NO global temperature increases since the 1970s.
The study concluded, “Our results show limited evidence for a warming surge; in most surface temperature time series, no change in the warming rate beyond the 1970s is detected despite the breaking record temperatures observed in 2023.”
Study Finds Zero ‘Global Warming’ Increases in 50 Years of Data– slaynews.com Source Link Excerpt:
A leading group of environmental researchers has debunked a key narrative of the green agenda after proving that Earth has not recorded any “global warming” increases over the past 50 years.
The study has emerged as globalists continue to ramp up warnings of a “climate crisis” allegedly caused by human activity.
United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has even upped the ante by claiming that the planet has now passed the point of no return regarding “global warming.”
According to Guterres, the planet has now entered an “era of global boiling.”
The UN is pushing this narrative so aggressively that Guterres wants the general public to live in “mud huts” to fight “climate change.”
President Joe Biden has declared numerous times that he knew nothing about Hunter Biden’s foreign businesses, nor did he ever meet with his business partners. Now, photographs obtained by American First Legal (AFL) have revealed the truth, Joe Biden is lying.
Photographs show the then-Vice-President Joe Biden on a visit to China introducing Hunter to Chairman Xi and other top-ranked CCP party members, which include Hunter Biden’s future business partners. The meetings and the photos happened during Biden’s 2013 official Beijing, China trip.
Bombshell Leaks Blow Biden Family’s China Scandal Wide Open– trendingpoliticsnews.com Source Link Excerpt:
Newly released photographs obtained by America First Legal (AFL) have reignited scrutiny over President Joe Biden’s connections to Hunter Biden’s Chinese business dealings. The images, obtained through AFL’s lawsuit against the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), appear to show then-Vice President Joe Biden meeting with Hunter’s Chinese business associates, including key figures tied to the Chinese government.
The photos, which AFL shared on social media today, include Joe Biden introducing Hunter and his associate to Chinese President Xi Jinping during an official 2013 trip to Beijing. This trip, initially billed as a diplomatic mission, is now under a magnifying glass as questions swirl about whether Joe Biden leveraged his political position to benefit Hunter’s business ventures.
/1🚨 BREAKING 🚨
AFL has obtained new photos of Joe Biden meeting with Hunter Biden’s Chinese business associates and introducing Hunter to China’s President Xi Jinping. pic.twitter.com/SB13yaXiXv
The images reportedly capture meetings between Joe Biden and executives from BHR Partners, a private equity firm co-founded by Hunter Biden. According to AFL, the photographs also corroborate findings from the House Oversight Committee, which earlier this year revealed that Hunter Biden facilitated introductions between his father and BHR executives, including CEO Jonathan Li and Managing Partner Ming Xue.
Chinese national Chen Jinping, 60, of New York City, pled guilty to running a “clandestine police station” in the city. He was arrested in April of this same year.
DOJ and FBI representatives said of the plea, “The Department of Justice will continue to pursue anyone who attempts to aid the PRC’s efforts to extend their repressive reach into the United States… These blatant violations will not be tolerated on U.S. soil. The FBI remains committed to preserving the rights and freedoms of all people in our country and will defend against transnational repression at every front.”
New York man pleads guilty to running secret police station for communist China above noodle restaurant in Manhattan– www.theblaze.com Source Link Excerpt:
The Department of Justice said in a press release that a man pleaded guilty to running a secret police station for communist China above a noodle restaurant in New York City.
The secret police stations have been reported to be hidden across the world in order to further the aims of the communist government of China. Their agents harass, threaten, and spy on “wanted” Chinese nationals residing in the U.S. and identified as a threat to China.
‘A human rights organization report found that there were likely as many as 100 secret police stations operated by the Chinese Community Part across the world.’
60-year-old Chen Jinping of New York City was arrested in April 2023 and accused of running a “clandestine police station” on U.S. soil, according to the DOJ. The secret police station “occupied an entire floor in an office building in Manhattan’s Chinatown” and was shut down in the fall of 2022.
… China understands that aircraft carriers and destroyers would be crucial for the U.S. Navy to puncture the blockade. This has prompted Beijing to develop and test some lethal weapons that could thwart the U.S. Navy, coming to Taiwan’s aid.
China has a powerful stockpile of anti-ship missiles, and its strategy to prevent U.S. forces from entering the Western Pacific is centered on these weapons.
China’s arsenal of anti-ship ballistic missiles, also known as “carrier killers,” has grown dramatically. China’s primary anti-ship missiles include the DF-21, DF-26, YJ-12, YJ-18, and YJ-83. Moreover, it also has YJ-21 and DF-27 hypersonic missiles that have the potential to penetrate air defenses and destroy U.S. Navy ships. Some of these weapons have been used in simulated strikes on U.S. carriers.
The U.S., on its part, has excellent machinery to detect incoming hostile targets and shoot them down just in time. It has reportedly been mulling the deployment of combat-proven Patriot interceptors to thwart a potential Chinese missile attack, in addition to other air defense assets.
US sets conditions for Ukrainian NATO membership — RT World News– www.rt.com Source Link Excerpt:
Washington has long insisted that Kiev will join the bloc, but never clarified the exact timeline
Ukraine can only hope to join NATO if it reforms its military and succeeds in improving its democratic institutions, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said.
Speaking at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York on Wednesday, Blinken rejected the idea that the US, Germany, or other NATO allies are “standing in the way” of Kiev’s accession to the bloc. Ukraine has long aspired to become a full-fledged NATO member, and formally applied to join in the autumn of 2022 after four of its former regions overwhelmingly voted to join Russia.
The bloc, Blinken insisted, has “put Ukraine on a path to NATO membership” and taken concrete steps to advance this goal, while stopping short of clarifying the accession timeline.
“We set up for the first time in NATO’s history a dedicated command whose purpose is to help Ukraine along that path, to take the practical steps that it needs to take – in continuing to build and reform its military institutions, to continue to strengthen its democracy – that are necessary for membership,” he said.
The secretary of state admitted that it would be “very challenging for Russia” to agree to a peace deal over Ukraine that would not explicitly remove the prospect of Kiev joining NATO. However, he argued that Ukraine could potentially receive “other kinds of assurances, commitments, guarantees” that would be similar to Article 5 of the NATO Charter, which states that an attack on one member of the bloc is an attack on all.
In October, Politico reported that some NATO allies were not particularly happy with Vladimir Zelensky’s ‘victory plan’, which calls for Ukraine to receive an immediate invitation to join the bloc. The article identified the US and Germany as the countries opposed to his request over fears that it would draw them into a direct conflict with Russia.
Publicly, NATO has ruled out full membership for Ukraine as long as it is embroiled in the conflict with Russia. However, some Western officials have floated an option of “partial membership” for Kiev, an idea rejected by Zelensky, who argued that this would essentially mean that the country recognizes all of its territorial losses to Russia.
Moscow has long been opposed to NATO expansion towards its borders, seeing it as an existential threat. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that Kiev’s ambition to join the bloc is one of the key reasons for the conflict, with Ukrainian neutrality, along with demilitarization and denazification, being Moscow’s main goals.
Romania’s political tumult continues as leftist party leaves talks to form pro-European coalition – The Washington Post Source Link Excerpt:
Romania’s leftist Social Democratic Party on Thursday withdrew from negotiations to form a pro-European coalition government, extending political turmoil that has gripped the European Union country after a top court annulled a presidential election .
Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu of the PSD, which won the most votes in the parliamentary election on Dec. 1 , said his party was abandoning negotiations with three traditional parties after a fraught negotiation process failed.
“We will vote in Parliament for a right-wing government,” he said in a Facebook post. “We are doing this because this country urgently needs a government to manage current issues until the upcoming presidential elections.”
No evidence of electoral fraud found during inspection, Korea’s spy agency tells lawmakers – The Korea JoongAng Daily Source Link Excerpt:
The National Intelligence Service (NIS) recently reported to parliament that it found no evidence supporting suspicions of a rigged general election during its security inspection last year.
According to a report on Thursday by the JoongAng Ilbo, an affiliate of the Korea JoongAng Daily, multiple NIS officials said the agency informed the National Assembly, following President Yoon Suk Yeol’s televised public address on Dec. 12, that it had found no evidence of electoral fraud for the April 10 general election during a joint inspection with the Korea Internet and Security Agency on the National Election Commission (NEC) from July to September last year.
Yoon, who had previously raised suspicions of electoral fraud even during his presidential campaign, regarded the accusation as one of the reasons for justifying his brief declaration of martial law.
“How can our people trust election results when the computer system that manages the elections — the very foundation of democracy — is in such disarray?” Yoon asked during the address.
“For this reason, I directed the minister of national defense to inspect the NEC’s computer systems,” he added, further noting a hacking attack by North Korea that was detected by the NIS.