Author: News Desk

International diplomats reacted cautiously Monday to the prospect of the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group taking control in Syria after the fall of President Bashar al-Assad. HTS has its roots in the Syrian branch of Al-Qaeda and is proscribed as a “terrorist” organisation by Western governments. Aaron Y. Zelin, Senior Fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, says that HTS’ governance in Idlib was not a “liberal democracy by any stretch of the imagination”. HTS’ record in Idlib “not a liberal democracy by any stretch of the imagination”: analyst

South Korean police on Wednesday searched the office of President Yoon Suk Yeol, as part of a widening investigation into his failed imposition of martial law last week.

Strong Santa Ana winds, a dry current that blows from inland California toward the coast, fueled a wildfire overnight in Malibu, the coastal city west of Los Angeles. The flames have grown out of control and had already destroyed nearly 900 hectares (2,200 acres) by noon on Tuesday. The so-called Franklin Fire has forced authorities to order the evacuation of thousands of people, as the fire threatens to consume some 2,000 structures. Malibu has a population of 11,000. About 6,000 live to the east, the area threatened by Franklin. On Tuesday morning, flames could be seen on both sides of…

MILAN – In the house with the mill, among the framed photos, there is one with the trunk of a tree and dozens of syringes stuck in it. It says: Parco Lambro, 1984. It is a warning not to forget the social swamp of heroin that swallowed up young lives, in this green lung between the San Raffaele hospital, the ring road and the blocks of flats of Milan 2. Forty years later , around Cascina Molino Torrette, flowers have grown and so has Don Antonio Mazzi’s Exodus foundation. 2024 is a year of round numbers for the priest of…

Asia-Pacific markets were mixed Wednesday, after major Wall Street benchmarks declined ahead of key inflation data that could influence the Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision. China is reportedly kicking off its annual economic work conference on Wednesday to outline its economic policies and growth targets for next year. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index started the trading session 0.66% higher, while mainland China’s CSI 300 index was flat. In South Korea, the blue-chip Kospi jumped 0.78% and the small-cap Kosdaq rose 2%, a day after the country’s parliament passed a downsized budget of 673.3 trillion won ($470.60 billion) for 2025 late…

Humanitarian aid to North Gaza, where Israel launched a ground offensive on October 6, has largely been blocked for the past 66 days, the United Nations said on Tuesday.

Humanitarian aid to North Gaza, where Israel launched a ground offensive on October 6, has largely been blocked for the past 66 days, the United Nations said on Tuesday. That has left between 65,000 and 75,000 Palestinians without access to food, water, electricity or health care, according to the UN. In the north, Israel has continued its siege on Beit Lahiya, Beit Hanoun and Jabaliya with Palestinians living there largely denied aid, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said. Recently, it said, about 5,500 people were forcibly displaced from three schools in Beit Lahiya to Gaza…

France’s largest internet operator Orange was, on Tuesday, December 10, slapped with a €50 million ($53 million) fine for sending unsolicited adverts resembling emails to customers. Orange is the successor to France’s monopoly telephone operator and remains the leading telecommunications firm, with a popular email service. “Internet access and email service provider Orange used its email service to introduce advertisements” that resembled emails in customers’ message feeds, said Louis Dutheillet de Lamothe, deputy head of France’s privacy watchdog CNIL. Advertisers in France are required to obtain permission before sending material to a person’s email address, and the CNIL considered Orange’s…

An Argentine court, on Tuesday, December 10, dismissed rape charges against two French international rugby players accused of assaulting a woman after a match in the country in July. A judge in Mendoza dismissed the case on the advice of the prosecution, which called for the charges to be dropped over inconsistencies in the woman’s version of events.

The clash between the Community and the Madrid City Council (PP) with the Government of Spain (PSOE and Sumar) will experience a rare truce this Wednesday: the regional executive will give the green light to sign with the Ministry of Universities the María Goyri Program, which will finance 1,091 teaching positions thanks to an investment shared by the State (169.8 million, 60%) and Madrid (112.3).