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.