ISRAEL
Soldier killed in truck attack
A Palestinian truck driver yesterday killed an Israeli soldier in a ramming attack on a checkpoint on the boundary with the occupied West Bank, and was shot dead during an ensuing pursuit, Israeli police and medical officials said. The military said only that three of its troops were injured in the incident on the Israeli side of Maccabim checkpoint. Medical officials said one of them had died. Police initially said the driver, who had a permit to work in Israel, was shot and wounded outside the Palestinian village of Nilin. He was later pronounced dead, police said, describing the incident as a terrorist attack.
UNITED STATES
McConnell ‘freezes’ again
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell on Wednesday appeared to freeze again while taking questions from reporters at an event in Kentucky, raising fresh questions about the 81-year-old’s health. McConnell abruptly stopped and stared ahead for more than 30 seconds after a reporter asked his thoughts on running for re-election in 2026. An NBC reporter posted a video of the exchange on social media platform X. Eventually, a woman standing next to him stepped forward to ask if he had heard the question. When he did not move, she said to the group: “I’m sorry we’re going to be a minute.” Then she and another person went to him. Seconds later he said: “Okay,” but did not respond to the question. In July, McConnell briefly froze during a news conference on Capitol Hill. He was led away for a few minutes, but then returned to the microphones and said he was “fine” and able to do his job.
PHILIPPINES
Factory fire kills 15 people
A fire yesterday killed 15 people in a small apparel factory in Quezon City, where firefighters were delayed by flooding, traffic and a wrong address, a fire protection official said. Most of the victims appeared to be factory workers and carpenters who were sleeping in rooms when the fire broke out yesterday morning. Some were found dead on an aisle outside the rooms, and the factory owner and his child were among the dead, Bureau of Fire Protection Chief Superintendent Nahum Tarroza said. Three people survived with injuries by jumping off the second floor of the two-story factory in panic, and were taken to a hospital, Tarroza said. The firefighters’ arrival was delayed by about 14 minutes after a monsoon-season downpour and wind caused flooding and traffic jams, and a wrong address was given to firefighters, he said, adding that he would order an investigation into the firefighters’ delayed response.
ITALY
PM’s partner draws fire
The partner of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has been accused of victim blaming after comments he made about rape on his television talk show. Andrea Giambruno, who hosts the Diario del giorno (Daily Diary) program on the Rete 4 commercial station, was commenting after a gang rape of a young woman in Palermo hit the headlines. “If you go dancing, you have every right to get drunk — there shouldn’t be any kind of misunderstanding and any kind of problem — but if you avoid getting drunk and losing your senses, you might also avoid running into certain problems and coming across a wolf,” he said on Monday night. Opposition politicians condemned the comments. “I say to Giambruno that boys should be educated to show respect, rather than girls taught to be careful. Teach them [males] the value of consent, rather than girls to be wary,” Partito Democratico Senator Cecilia D’Elia said.
DIALOGUE: US president-elect Donald Trump on his Truth Social platform confirmed that he had spoken with Xi, saying ‘the call was a very good one’ for the US and China US president-elect Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) discussed Taiwan, trade, fentanyl and TikTok in a phone call on Friday, just days before Trump heads back to the White House with vows to impose tariffs and other measures on the US’ biggest rival. Despite that, Xi congratulated Trump on his second term and pushed for improved ties, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The call came the same day that the US Supreme Court backed a law banning TikTok unless it is sold by its China-based parent company. “We both attach great importance to interaction, hope for
‘GREAT OPPRTUNITY’: The Paraguayan president made the remarks following Donald Trump’s tapping of several figures with deep Latin America expertise for his Cabinet Paraguay President Santiago Pena called US president-elect Donald Trump’s incoming foreign policy team a “dream come true” as his nation stands to become more relevant in the next US administration. “It’s a great opportunity for us to advance very, very fast in the bilateral agenda on trade, security, rule of law and make Paraguay a much closer ally” to the US, Pena said in an interview in Washington ahead of Trump’s inauguration today. “One of the biggest challenges for Paraguay was that image of an island surrounded by land, a country that was isolated and not many people know about it,”
‘FIGHT TO THE END’: Attacking a court is ‘unprecedented’ in South Korea and those involved would likely face jail time, a South Korean political pundit said Supporters of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol yesterday stormed a Seoul court after a judge extended the impeached leader’s detention over his ill-fated attempt to impose martial law. Tens of thousands of people had gathered outside the Seoul Western District Court on Saturday in a show of support for Yoon, who became South Korea’s first sitting head of state to be arrested in a dawn raid last week. After the court extended his detention on Saturday, the president’s supporters smashed windows and doors as they rushed inside the building. Hundreds of police officers charged into the court, arresting dozens and denouncing an
CYBERSCAM: Anne, an interior decorator with mental health problems, spent a year and a half believing she was communicating with Brad Pitt and lost US$855,259 A French woman who revealed on TV how she had lost her life savings to scammers posing as Brad Pitt has faced a wave of online harassment and mockery, leading the interview to be withdrawn on Tuesday. The woman, named as Anne, told the Seven to Eight program on the TF1 channel how she had believed she was in a romantic relationship with the Hollywood star, leading her to divorce her husband and transfer 830,000 euros (US$855,259). The scammers used fake social media and WhatsApp accounts, as well as artificial intelligence image-creating technology to send Anne selfies and other messages
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