Dec 29 Azerbaijan's president wants Russia to admit it shot down airliner and 'punish the guilty' By Associated Press Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev said Sunday that the Azerbaijani airliner that crashed last week was shot down by Russia, albeit unintentionally, and criticized Moscow for trying to “hush up” the issue for days. Continue reading
Dec 29 Russian man arrested for allegedly running gay travel agency dies in custody By Associated Press Just over a year ago, Russia’s Supreme Court effectively outlawed any LGBTQ+ activism in a ruling that designated “the international LGBT movement” as extremist. Continue reading
Dec 29 Fourth infant freezes to death in Gaza as displaced families share blankets in seaside tents By Wafaa Shurafa, Majdi Mohammed, Associated Press A fourth infant has died of hypothermia in the Gaza Strip, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians displaced by the Israel-Hamas war are huddled in tents along the rainy, windswept coast as winter arrives. Continue reading
Dec 29 Georgia's new president is inaugurated, complicating country's path to joining EU By Sophiko Megrelidze, Associated Press Former soccer player Mikheil Kavelashvili was formally inaugurated as president of Georgia on Sunday, cementing the ruling party's grip in what the opposition calls a blow to the country’s EU aspirations and a victory for former imperial ruler Russia. Continue reading
Dec 29 Chess grandmaster Magnus Carlsen quits tournament over dispute about jeans By Associated Press Top ranked chess player Magnus Carlsen has left the World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships after refusing to change out of the jeans he wore to the competition, the International Chess Federation said. Continue reading
Dec 29 Plane in South Korea crashes and bursts into flames while landing, killing 179 out of 181 aboard By Hyung-Jin Kim, Kim Tong-Hyung, Associated Press Footage of the crash aired by South Korean television channels showed the plane skidding across the airstrip at high speed, evidently with its landing gear still closed, and slamming into a concrete wall, triggering an explosion. Continue reading
Dec 28 Watch 2:32 News Wrap: Putin apologizes after deadly Azerbaijani airliner crash In our news wrap Saturday, Putin issued a rare apology following the deadly crash of an Azerbaijani airliner, Israeli troops forcibly arrested the head of one of northern Gaza’s last functioning hospitals, a winning ticket for the Mega Millions jackpot… Continue watching
Dec 28 Watch 7:55 Looking back at the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami 20 years later By Ali Rogin, Lorna Baldwin, Satvi Sunkara This week marks 20 years since one of the worst natural disasters in modern history. In 2004, a 9.1 magnitude earthquake off the island of Sumatra in western Indonesia triggered a tsunami in the Indian Ocean that killed more than… Continue watching
Dec 28 Israel detains director of one of northern Gaza's last functioning hospitals during military raid By Wafaa Shurafa, Sam Mednick, Associated Press Gaza's Health Ministry said Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, was arrested Friday along with dozens of other staff and taken to an interrogation center. Israel's military on Saturday confirmed it detained the hospital director for questioning… Continue reading
Dec 28 Extreme drought, wildfires and deforestation battered the Amazon rainforest in 2024 By Steven Grattan, Associated Press A warming climate fed drought that in turn fed the worst year for fires in the Amazon rainforest since 2005. And those fires contributed to deforestation, with authorities suspecting some fires were set to more easily clear land to run… Continue reading