Today In International News: December 21, 2017

Courtesy of Reuters

• Over 120 countries defy President Trump on Jerusalem as Israel’s capital by voting it “null and void". Victory came with 128 votes in favour and nine against, while 35 countries abstained.

• Exit polls following Catalonia's snap election show pro-independence parties maintaining their majority in the regional parliament, setting up a conflict with Madrid. 

• The number of cholera cases in Yemen has hit 1 million people according to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), a new milestone for what was already one of the fastest growing outbreaks of the deadly disease in modern history.

• The African National Congress (ANC), South Africa's ruling party, has resolved to "immediately and unconditionally" downgrade the South African Embassy in Israel.

• A North Korean soldier has defected to South Korea by crossing the demilitarised zone (DMZ) under the cover of thick fog.

• South Sudan’s government and rebel groups signed a ceasefire in the latest attempt to end a four-year civil war.

• The U.S. State Department has approved an export license for Ukraine to buy certain light weapons and small arms from U.S. manufacturers.

• Venezuela’s pro-government legislative superbody ruled that the parties who boycotted this month’s local elections had lost legitimacy, potentially eliminating the main opposition groups from the 2018 presidential race. 

• Vice President Mike Pence made an unannounced trip to Afghanistan for war meetings with Afghan leaders and visit U.S. troops, arriving four months after President Donald Trump outlined a new strategy to break the stalemate in the 16-year war.

• A 3-judge panel on a federal appeals court ruled against the Trump administration’s efforts to delay accepting transgender recruits into the military. The Pentagon is set to begin accepting transgender troops into the military Jan. 1 after court orders required it adhere to the date.

Today In International News: December 20, 2017

Courtesy of Al-Jazeera

• The Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives gave final approval to the biggest overhaul of the U.S. tax code in 30 years.

• Myanmar bans U.N. rights investigator before visit. 

• U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to cut off financial aid to countries that vote in favor of a draft United Nations resolution calling for the United States to withdraw its decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

• Cameroonian troops this month crossed into Nigeria in pursuit of rebels without seeking authorization from Nigeria, causing a falling-out between the governments behind the scenes.

• Virginia Democrat Shelly Simonds won a seat in the House of Delegates by 1 vote, changing the power balance in the state legislature and extending a tide of Democratic victories.

• German police arrested a 29-year-old man they said was an active member of Islamic State who was plotting a truck attack on an ice rink.

• Air raids by a Saudi-led military coalition across Yemen have killed 11 civilians, a day after Houthi rebels fired a ballistic missile at the Saudi capital, Riyadh.

• More than 80 Palestinians have been injured in fresh protests across the West Bank as the Israeli army responds to protests with live fire, 2 weeks after US President Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

• More than 90 Somali men and women were subjected to "inhumane conditions and egregious abuse" on a failed deportation flight that lasted nearly 48 hours and was eventually forced to return to the United States earlier this month.

Today In International News: December 19, 2017

Courtesy of NBC Washington

• Ahed Tamimi, a prominent 16-year-old Palestinian activist, has been detained during a pre-dawn raid on her home by the Israeli army and border police in the occupied West Bank.

• The United Nations General Assembly will reportedly hold an emergency session on Thursday to discuss President Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. The U.S. does not have the power to veto resolutions put before the General Assembly.

• 2 fighters and a 25-year-old woman were killed in a firefight with Indian soldiers in Indian-administered Kashmir, sparking protests and calls for a general strike.

• The biggest overhaul of the U.S. tax system in more than 30 years could be signed into law by President Donald Trump. The plan includes steep tax cuts for corporations and wealthy taxpayers, as well as temporary tax cuts for some individuals and families.   It repeals a section of the Obamacare health system and allows oil drilling in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

• Saudi air defenses shot down a ballistic missile fired by Yemen’s Houthi group toward Riyadh.

• The Trump administration has dropped climate change from a list of global threats in a new national security strategy.

• German Chancellor Angela Merkel admits mistakes in 2016 Christmas market attack.

• The president of Honduras declared himself re-elected despite calls from the Organization of American States (OAS) for a fresh vote over allegations of fraud and deadly protests following last month’s disputed election.

• Mexican leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has an 11-percentage point lead ahead of next year’s presidential election.

• The United States has for the first time publicly blamed North Korea for being "directly responsible" for the WannaCry cyberattack earlier this year.

• Russian women who are victims of domestic abuse are being forced to pay fines handed down to their abusers. 

• The Trump administration signaled that it could broaden the use of nuclear weapons as part of a new security strategy.

Today In International News: December 18, 2017

Courtesy of Al-Jazeera

• The United States further isolated itself when it blocked a United Nations Security Council call for the declaration to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital to be withdrawn.

• President Donald Trump unveiled a new national security strategy, calling for Pakistan to take decisive action against terrorism and saying Washington had to deal with the challenge posed by North Korea’s weapons programs.

• US President Donald Trump’s administration said that Russia interferes in the domestic political affairs of countries globally, but stopped short of accusing Moscow of meddling in the 2016 U.S. election.

• US President Donald Trump has outlined his new national security strategy, labeling China and Russia the primary threats to US economic dominance.

• Myanmar continued to destroy Rohingya villages just days after signing a refugee resettlement deal.

• Islamic State claimed responsibility for an attack near a spy agency training facility of Afghanistan’s main intelligence agency in the capital, Kabul.

• Russia poses an increasing threat and is willing to use propaganda, subversion and cyber-attacks to undermine Britain and the rest of Europe.

• Honduras' beleaguered elections commission officially declared incumbent Juan Orlando Hernandez as president-elect amid ongoing opposition cries of fraud 3 weeks after election day.  It is reported that Hernandez received 42.95% of the vote, while Opposition Alliance candidate Salvador Nasralla received 41.42%.

Today In International News: December 12, 2017

Courtesy of Al-Jazeera

• U.S. prosecutors brought federal charges against the suspect in Monday’s attempted suicide bombing in one of New York City’s busiest commuter hubs. He is being charged with bombing a public place, destruction of property by means of explosive and use of a destructive device.

• A 16-year-old Palestinian boy has been accused of throwing stones at a group of armed Israeli soldiers will face charges. The picture with the 16-year-old child shown above has been roundly condemned as symbolising the Israeli army's use of excessive force.

• Net neutrality advocates said they are gearing up for a legal fight after abandoning attempts to convince the U.S. Federal Communications Commission to keep 2015 rules aimed at maintaining an open internet.  The FCC is expected to vote on Dec. 14 to scrap the landmark so-called net neutrality rules championed by Democratic former President Barack Obama.

• Syrian refugees could again seek to reach Europe in droves if aid programs are not sustained in five neighboring countries hosting the bulk of them, the United Nations said.

• Videos and photos showing President Trump with some of the women who have accused him of sexual misconduct are resurfacing after Trump in a tweet said his accusers are "women who I don’t know and/or have never met."

• Russia will keep a naval and an air base in Syria capable of carrying out strikes against insurgents after a partial military pull-out announced by President Vladimir Putin. 

• The U.S. military launched an airstrike against al-Shabaab in Somalia early Tuesday morning, targeting an explosives-filled vehicle, U.S. Africa Command said.

• France’s foreign minister criticized Iran’s regional ambitions, saying Paris could not accept Tehran’s military expansion to the Mediterranean, and accused Russia of failing to use its influence to push U.N.-led Syrian peace talks and curb violence.

• President Trump signed a nearly $700 billion annual defense policy bill.

• Alabama voters are choosing between a Republican accused of child abuse and pedophilia and a Democrat hoping for an upset win after an ugly Senate race in the Deep South. President Donald Trump's populist brand will be tested after he backed ultra-conservative Roy Moore, who is accused of misconduct by multiple women.

• Russia has suspended its diplomatic presence in Yemen, and all its staff have left the country due to the situation in the capital Sanaa.

• At least 2 Palestinians have died in an explosion in Gaza, which Palestinian group Islamic Jihad now says was caused by the men mishandling explosives.

Today In International News: December 11, 2017

Courtesy of ABC News

• A Bangladeshi man with a homemade bomb strapped to his body set off an explosion at Port Authority Bus Terminal in New York City during rush hour.

• 3 women who have accused U.S. President Donald Trump of sexual misconduct called for a congressional investigation into his behavior.

• Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took his case to Europe to ask allies to join the United States in recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, but met a firm rebuff from EU foreign ministers who saw the move as a blow against the peace process.

• President Vladimir Putin was in Syria and ordered a military pullout, declaring their work largely done.

• Palestinians have refused a Bahraini delegation from entering Gaza after the group visited Israel amid ongoing controversy over the US decision to move its embassy to Jerusalem and recognise the city as Israel's capital.

• 18 climate scientists from the U.S. and elsewhere hit the jackpot as French President Emmanuel Macron awarded them millions of euros in grants to relocate to France for the rest of Donald Trump’s presidential term.

Today In International News: December 8, 2017

Courtesy of Al-Jazeera

• At least one person was killed in clashes with Israeli troops when thousands of Palestinians demonstrated against U.S. President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and the Palestinian president said Washington could no longer be a peace broker.

• Suspected Ugandan rebels killed at least 14 Tanzanian U.N. peacekeepers and wounded 53 others in a raid on a base in Congo that U.N. 

• A federal judge in Argentina indicted former President Cristina Fernandez for treason and asked for her arrest for allegedly covering up Iran’s possible role in the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center that killed 85 people.

• The Israeli military said that an aircraft and a tank had targeted two posts belonging to militants in the Gaza Strip after three rockets were launched at Israel.

• Japan is to acquire medium-range, air-launched cruise missiles, capable of striking North Korea, a controversial purchase of what will become the longest-range munitions of a country that has renounced the right to wage war.

• China warned its nationals in Pakistan of plans for a series of imminent “terrorist attacks” on Chinese targets there. Thousands of Chinese workers have gone to Pakistan following Beijing’s pledge to spend $57 billion there on projects in President Xi Jinping’s signature “Belt and Road” development plan, which aims to link China with the Middle East and Europe.

• A police officer charged with the murder of an unarmed man in the US state of Arizona has been found not guilty. Body camera footage of the incident, released after the verdict, showed Mr. Shaver on his knees asking officers not to shoot him just before he was killed.

• The Trump administration is asking Saudi Arabia to temper its actions with regard to Yemen, Qatar and Lebanon amid reports of new civilian deaths in Yemen. Rex Tillerson, US secretary of state, called on Saudi Arabia to be "measured" in its military operations in Yemen.

• An encryption key to unlock hacked material hosted by WikiLeaks was emailed to Donald Trump and aides two months before the presidential election.

Today In International News: December 6, 2017

Courtesy of Al-Jazeera

• President Donald Trump has announced that the US formally recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and will begin the process of moving its embassy to the city, breaking with decades of US policy.

• Protests have broken out in the Gaza Strip in response to US President Donald Trump's expected decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital, as Palestinian leaders called for 3 days of rage against the move.

• Palestinian Islamist group Hamas said U.S. President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and decision to move the U.S. embassy to the city was a “flagrant aggression against the Palestinian people”.

• The Palestinian delegate to the UK said that President Trump's move to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel signals a declaration of war in the region. 

• Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer advised President Trump to declare Jerusalem the "undivided" capital of Israel.

• United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that there was no alternative to a 2-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians and that Jerusalem was a final-status issue that should be resolved through direct talks.

• Houthi rebels in Yemen have held dozens of journalists captive for days at a television station in the capital, Sanaa.

• The US Defense Department acknowledged that the U.S. has roughly 2,000 troops on the ground in Syria, 4x more than what officials had claimed just a month ago.

• Saudi Arabia is interested in reaching a civilian nuclear cooperation agreement with Washington, the U.S. government’s energy chief said, a step which would allow American companies to participate in the kingdom’s civil nuclear program.

• President Vladimir Putin confirmed that he would run for re-election in March 2018.

• While President Donald Trump was delivering his inaugural address on Capitol Hill in January 2017, his incoming national security adviser Michael Flynn, texted a former business partner that a nuclear power project that would require lifting sanctions on Russia was “good to go”

• Federal officials from the Department of Justice (DOJ) have filed new charges against the undocumented immigrant recently acquitted in the murder of Katie Steinle.

Today In International News: December 5, 2017

Courtesy of MintPress News

• President Donald Trump told Arab leaders that he intends to move the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, a move that would break with decades of U.S. policy and risks fueling further unrest in the Middle East.

• Turkey's president has warned it could sever ties with Israel if the U.S. recognizes Jerusalem as its capital. Recep Tayyip Erdogan said such a move would cross a "red line" for Muslims.

• Special Counsel Robert Mueller subpoenaed Deutsche Bank for data on financial accounts held by President Donald Trump and his family.

• The United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia have formed a new military and trade partnership separate from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).

• U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson delivered a message of support to European allies in Brussels but their concerns about President Donald Trump’s foreign policy have created a rift on a host of issues.

• Houthi rebels are moving to tighten their grip on Yemen's capital, Sanaa, a day after they killed their former ally ex-President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Residents said new checkpoints had been set up in the city and there were reports of arrests of Saleh supporters.

• Israel again fired missiles at a Syrian military facility near Damascus, Syria, according to a war monitor, the second reported Israeli strike in Syria in the past week.

• Venezuela’s powerful former oil czar Rafael Ramirez said he resigned from his job as U.N. envoy on orders of President Nicolas Maduro. President Maduro fired Ramirez, who was thought to have presidential ambitions, and summoned him back to Caracas from New York.

• Spain’s Supreme Court withdrew an international arrest warrant for Catalonia’s former leader, now in self-imposed exile in Belgium after an illegal independence referendum, in a move to bring his case back solely into Spanish jurisdiction.

• Russia has communication channels with North Korea open and Moscow is ready to exert its influence on Pyongyang.

• Russia has been banned from competing at next year's Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea by the International Olympic Committee. 

• The United Nations human rights chief has said an act of genocide against Rohingya Muslims by state forces in Myanmar cannot be ruled out. He listed alleged abuses against the Rohingya, including "killing by random firing of bullets, use of grenades, shooting at close range, stabbings, beatings to death and the burning of houses with families inside”.

• The US Supreme Court has ruled President Donald Trump's travel ban on six mainly Muslim countries can go into full effect, pending legal challenges.

• The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has reportedly told some employees who pulled in higher paychecks, may need to return part of their extra pay after working overtime to respond to the series of natural disasters that hit the U.S. earlier this year.

Today In International News: December 4, 2017

Courtesy of MidEastEye

• Yemen's ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh has been shot dead after switching sides by Houthi rebels near the capital, Sanaa, a development expected to have major implications for the Yemen war.

• Yemen's Houthi rebels have gained control of the majority of the country's capital, Sanaa, from former President Ali Abdullah Saleh's forces.

• A gay Australian lawmaker proposed to his partner during a debate in Australia's House of Representatives over same-sex marriage.

• Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani will attend a key summit of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in Kuwait this week.

• President Trump called on voters in Alabama to elect an alleged serial child molester, GOP Senate candidate Roy Moore, saying his vote is needed in the Senate.

• Maltese police have arrested 10 people allegedly connected to the murder of investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia who died after a bomb exploded in her car as she drove away from her home 2 months ago. Caruana Galizia also covered criminal gangs and drug trafficking and was responsible for exposing Malta's links with the so-called Panama Papers document leak.

• US President Donald Trump's administration said it was withdrawing the US from an international pact aimed at improving global migration and refugee issues, prompting criticism from the United Nations.

• The UK and EU have failed to reach an agreement to move to the next stage of Brexit talks.

• President Trump's outside lawyer said in a new interview that the "president cannot obstruct justice because he is the chief law enforcement officer”. A similar argument was used during Nixon’s Watergate scandal shortly before he was removed from office.

• The United States and South Korea commenced a massive joint aerial drill, despite threats from North Korea and pleas from Russia and China to call them off.

Today In International News: December 1, 2017

Courtesy of NBC News

• Ex-national security adviser Michael Flynn has pleaded guilty to making false statements to the FBI about meetings with Russia's ambassador weeks before Donald Trump became president.

• Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that a U.S. threat to destroy North Korea in the event of a war was “a bloodthirsty tirade” and military action against Pyongyang would be a big mistake.

• Emperor Akihito, who has spent much of his nearly three decades on Japan’s throne seeking to soothe the wounds of World War Two, will step down on April 30, 2019 - the first abdication by a Japanese monarch in about two centuries.

• A Turkish-Iranian gold trader told jurors in a New York federal court that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan authorized a transaction in a scheme to help Iran evade U.S. sanctions.

• Backers of a U.S.-Russian plan to build nuclear reactors across the Middle East bragged after the U.S. election they had backing from Donald Trump’s national security adviser Michael Flynn for a project that required lifting sanctions on Russia.

• United Nations Security Council ministers will meet on Dec. 15 to discuss North Korea’s nuclear and missiles programs and the body will also meet separately this month to discuss human rights abuses in the North Asian country, an annual meeting that its ally China has tried to prevent for the past 3 years.

• President Donald Trump is likely to announce next week that the United States recognizes Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, a move that would upend decades of American policy and possibly inflame tensions in the Middle East.

• The Palestinian president's office and senior officials have warned of the potential destructive effects of any move denying their claim to occupied East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state. The warnings comes as US President Donald Trump is due to decide as early as the next week whether to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

• A federal warrant has been issued for the arrest of a Mexican immigrant acquitted of murder charges in the 2015 killing of Kate Steinle. President Trump seized on Steinle's killing as a presidential candidate, pointing to it as an example of the need to strengthen immigration laws.   He chimed in on the subject after the verdict was announced, calling it "disgraceful.” 

• A Canadian judge suspended part of a Quebec law banning people from wearing full-face veils when giving or receiving public services, handing a provisional victory to civil liberties groups who argued that the law is unconstitutional and discriminates against Muslim women.

• Bosnian Croat war crimes convict Slobodan Praljak used cyanide to kill himself in court after losing his appeal, according to preliminary autopsy findings, Dutch prosecutors said.

• Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister said that Lebanon had been “hijacked” by Hezbollah and could only flourish if the Iranian-backed group disarmed.

• The British government has issued a fresh warning about the security risks of using Russian anti-virus software. The UK cyber-security agency will say the software could be exploited by the Russian government.

• Since President Trump came into office, U.S. troop numbers have been edging up in the 3 countries where the U.S. is most deeply involved in fighting — Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.