CANADA
Parliament speaker resigns
Anthony Rota resigned as parliament speaker on Tuesday, days after publicly celebrating a Ukrainian veteran who fought for the Nazis during World War II. During a visit to parliament by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy last week, Rota hailed an elderly Ukrainian immigrant named Yaroslav Hunka from his district as a hero, prompting a standing ovation. However, it was later revealed that the veteran had served in the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS. “It is with a heavy heart that I rise to inform members of my resignation as speaker of the House of Commons,” Rota said on the parliamentary floor. He expressed his “profound regret for my error” and the pain he caused to Jewish communities.
UNITED STATES
Asteroid canister opened
NASA scientists on Tuesday pried open a space probe carrying the largest asteroid samples ever brought back to Earth, finding black debris. Researchers “found black dust and debris on the avionics deck of the Osiris-Rex science canister when the initial lid was removed today,” NASA said, without specifying whether the material definitely belonged to the asteroid. The bulk of the sample requires “intricate disassembly” of the probe. Osiris-Rex launched in 2016, landing on the asteroid Bennu and collected about 250g of material from its surface.
UNITED STATES
Mass thefts reported
Groups of teenagers on Tuesday swarmed into stores in Philadelphia’s Central City, stuffing plastic bags with merchandise and fleeing, although police made several arrests, authorities and witnesses said. An Apple Store was hit at about 8pm and police chased fleeing teenagers, recovering dropped iPhones and a “pile of iPads” at one spot, a police statement said. More than 100 people looted a Lululemon store, NBC10 Philadelphia reported, citing a police officer. Video posted on social media showed masked people in hoodies running out of Lululemon and police officers grabbing several and tackling them to the sidewalk, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. A security guard was assaulted at a Foot Locker store, it reported. The thefts occurred on the same day that Target announced it would close nine stores in four states, including one in New York City’s East Harlem neighborhood, and three in the San Francisco Bay Area, saying that theft and organized retail crime have threatened the safety of its workers and customers.
BRAZIL
Organ flight succeeds
Firefighters said they took a helicopter to the top of a mountain in Rio de Janeiro state this month to tell Ricardo Medeiros de Oliveira that they had found him a much-awaited new kidney. Oliveira, a 48-year-old tourist guide who has been waiting for a transplant for nine years, was hiking in a remote mountain area when he received a notification informing him that there was a compatible organ for him, but without immediate communication with Oliveira, firefighters decided to pick him up directly. “He would have lost this organ if he had not gotten to the hospital in time,” firefighter spokesperson Major Fabio Contreiras said. Oliveira arrived in time to the hospital and his surgery succeeded. “It was a huge mix of emotions, I didn’t know whether to laugh, whether to cry, whether to believe,” Oliveira said. That was “the greatest adventure of my life.”
‘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,”
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
‘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
RELEASE: The move follows Washington’s removal of Havana from its list of terrorism sponsors. Most of the inmates were arrested for taking part in anti-government protests Cuba has freed 127 prisoners, including opposition leader Jose Daniel Ferrer, in a landmark deal with departing US President Joe Biden that has led to emotional reunions across the communist island. Ferrer, 54, is the most high-profile of the prisoners that Cuba began freeing on Wednesday after Biden agreed to remove the country from Washington’s list of terrorism sponsors — part of an eleventh-hour bid to cement his legacy before handing power on Monday to US president-elect Donald Trump. “Thank God we have him home,” Nelva Ortega said of her husband, Ferrer, who has been in and out of prison for the
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