Three dead in Alawite protests on Syrian coast, local officials say

LATAKIA, Syria Dec 28 - ‌Three people were killed on Sunday when protests in Syria's Alawite heartland of Latakia spiralledinto ‌gunfire and other violence, according to the province's media office. Syria has been rocked by several ‌episodes of sectarian bloodshed since longtime leader Bashar al-Assad, who hails from the Muslim Alawite minority, was ousted by a...

Jared Kushner’s withdrawal from Serbia will hurt investment, official says

BELGRADE, Dec 23 (Reuters) - A decision ‌by Jared Kushner, U.S. President Donald Trump's son-in-law, to pull ‌out of a luxury development plan in Serbia will deprive the ‌country of much-needed foreign investment and other Balkan states will benefit, the head of Serbia's ruling party said. Kushner's U.S.-based Affinity Global Development told the Wall Street Journal...

Trump names Louisiana governor as Greenland special envoy, prompting Danish alarm

WASHINGTON/COPENHAGEN, Dec 22 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump named ‌Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry on Sunday as his special envoy to Greenland, reigniting Danish and Greenlandic alarm over Washington's ‌plans for the vast, mineral-rich Arctic island. Trump has said several times over the years that Greenland, a Danish territory ‌that is now largely self-governing, should become...

NATO sees positive signs Czech ammunition scheme for Kyiv may continue

WIESBADEN, Germany, ‌Dec 19 (Reuters) - A senior NATO military official voiced cautious ‌optimism that the Czech Republic may continue an initiative ‌to source large-calibre ammunition for Kyiv from global suppliers despite a recent change of government in Prague. Before taking office, new Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis ‍pledged to cut military aid to Ukraine ‍from...

Nobel Peace laureate Machado doing well despite injured back, no longer in Oslo

OSLO, Dec 17 (Reuters) - Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Corina Machado is doing well, a spokesperson for the Venezuelan opposition leader said on Wednesday, despite sustaining an injury to her back during her recent flight from Venezuela. Machado fractured a vertebra while fleeing her home country on a small boat last week to receive the...

China urged to bring Japan’s Unit 731 to court for crimes against humanity

The 2025 film Nuremberg ends with a sober line from British historian R.G. Collingwood: “The only clue to what man can do is what man has done” – a stark reminder that history repeats when justice does not. While the crimes of Nazi Germany were brought before an international tribunal 80 years ago, the atrocities committed by Japan’s...

Family of Bondi hero in Syria says his home country is proud of him

NAYRAB, Syria, Dec 16 (Reuters) - As Australia's worst mass shooting in nearly 30 years unfolded, a Sydney shopowner was captured on camera charging at one of the gunmen and disarming him. Halfway around the world in Syria, a group of men watching the footage recognised a familiar face. Ahmed al-Ahmed, 43, left his hometown...

‘Terrified’ Sydney man misidentified as Bondi shooter

SYDNEY: A Sydney man said he had received death threats and was "terrified" to leave his home Monday (Dec 15) after his photo was widely shared online as the gunman responsible for the Bondi Beach shooting. A father and son duo opened fire on a Jewish festival at Australia's best-known beach on Sunday evening, killing 15...

Apple just lost a key designer– many are happy to see him go

Apple’s head of user interface design, Alan Dye, is leaving the Cupertino, California-based company. While losing key executive talent is usually bad news for a company, some industry voices have welcomed the news of Dye’s departure. “Dye’s decadelong stint running Apple’s software design team has been, on the whole, terrible – and rather than getting better, the problems...

Another Thai soldier feared dead, raising possible death toll in Cambodia border clashes to two

BANGKOK: The Royal Thai Army (RTA) has confirmed one soldier has been killed and reports a second is feared dead in clashes along the Thai-Cambodian border. In addition to the potential two fatalities, eight other Thai soldiers have been wounded in the attacks. The casualties resulted from what the RTA described as prepared Cambodian military operations involving...