Friedrich Merz, the leader of Germany’s center-right Christian Democrats (CDU), arrived in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv early on Monday. The conservative candidate for chancellor in the country’s upcoming snap elections was visiting the country for the second time since the Russian invasion began in 2022. Merz said he wanted to use the visit to … Read more
Ukraine’s military is short of soldiers. Officers say mobilization and voluntary recruitment campaigns have failed to replenish the ranks. The army is losing ground daily to the Russian offensive in the Eastern Donbass region. Kyiv is under pressure from its allies to lower the draft age to 18. But there is fierce resistance to that … Read more
Syrians awakened to a hopeful if uncertain future, after rebels seized the capital Damascus and President Bashar al-Assad fled to Russia, following 13 years of civil war and more than 50 years of his family’s brutal rule. Story by Nicholas Rushworth. Source link
As Syrian rebels topple the government of Bashar al-Assad in Damascus, we take stock of what over a decade of fighting has done to the country’s economy. Syria’s GDP has been decimated by the conflict’s human and material toll, while the Syrian pound has plummeted. On its last legs, the cash-strapped regime grasped at any … Read more
For more than a decade, millions of Syrians have found refuge in camps across Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan. Now that Assad’s regime has been toppled, they might finally be able to return home. Story by Emily Boyle. Source link
2024 will be the first calendar year more than 1.5 degrees Celsius hotter than the pre-industrial era, Europe’s climate monitor said Monday, adding that this is “effectively certain” to be the warmest on record. Source link
Taiwan’s military was on high alert Monday after detecting Chinese warships near the island, Taipei said, as Beijing vowed to “firmly defend” its sovereignty in response to the drills. Source link
A gang leader ordered the massacre of at least 110 people in Haiti’s Cité Soleil slum over the weekend after a vodou priest accused elderly people in the area of having practiced witchcraft against the leader’s child, the National Human Right Defense Network said on Sunday. The crowded slum is one of the poorest and … Read more
FRANCE 24’s Jerusalem correspondent Noga Tarnopolsky talks about why Israeli troops have seized control of the demilitarized buffer zone in Syria’s Golan Heights following the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime. Source link
PRESS REVIEW – Monday, December 9: The papers react to the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria. Meanwhile, the PPP party in South Korea says that they will continue to rule, even after President Yoon Suk Yeol narrowly avoids being impeached…much to the dismay of the main opposition party. Finally, the ruby slippers worn … Read more