News Briefs for Monday, December 16, 2024
HAVANA TIMES – Here are the top international news stories compiled by Democracy Now on Monday, December 16, 2024.
Israel Continues to Bomb Syria, Pushes Ahead with Plan to Invade and Settle More of Golan Heights
Dec 16, 2024
Israel is continuing to bomb Syria a week after Syria’s longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad was ousted from power. Last night, Israel dropped what has been described as an “earthquake bomb” on Syrian military and air defense sites in the coastal Tartus region. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights described Israel’s bombing as the heaviest strikes in the area in more than a decade. According to the group, Israeli forces have launched over 800 strikes on Syria over the past week.
The Israeli government has also approved a plan to expand illegal settlements in the occupied Golan Heights. This comes days after Israel invaded Syrian territory to seize more of the Golan Heights. Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has confirmed the Biden administration has been in direct contact with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the Islamist Syrian armed group that led the surprise offensive that toppled Assad. We will have more on Syria after headlines.
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Israel Kills Khaled Nabhan, Palestinian Man Who Mourned His Granddaughter Reem: “Soul of My Soul”
Dec 16, 2024
Image Credit: Middle East Eye/X
Israel’s unrelenting slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza continues. Early this morning, a strike on the Nuseirat camp killed Palestinian grandfather Khaled Nabhan, whose story was shared with millions around the world last November after Israel murdered his grandchildren, including 3-year-old Reem, whom Nabhan was filmed cradling while repeating the words “the soul of my soul.”
Separately, Israel bombed yet another U.N.-run school without warning, killing at least 20 people in the Khan Younis shelter. At least 60 Palestinians have been killed over the past day of attacks, bringing the official death toll of the genocide to more than 45,000 Palestinians, though the true toll is certainly much higher.
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Israel Kills 3 More Reporters Incl. Mohammed Balousha, Who Exposed Killing of ICU Babies at Al-Nasr
Dec 16, 2024
At least three journalists have been killed in weekend attacks, including Al Jazeera cameraman Ahmed Al-Louh, as well as Mohammed Balousha, who last November was the first to report about the intensive care babies who died after Israeli soldiers forcibly evacuated the Al-Nasr Hospital. This is a clip from that reporting for Al Mashhad.
Mohammed Balousha: “This is the scene in the ICU of Al-Nasr Children’s Hospital. It was under siege by the Israeli army. They didn’t allow these babies to evacuate and prevented anyone from rescuing them from the hospital. Until now, these bodies are still there alongside other bodies of citizens laying in the streets, while no party is able to pick them up and bury them with dignity.”
Israel’s unlawful targeting of Gaza’s hospitals continues more than a year later. In the north, Kamal Adwan Hospital remains under siege and attack by Israeli forces. Israel last week also ordered an area which includes the Patient’s Friends Benevolent Society Hospital to evacuate. The hospital has the only neonatal intensive care unit in north Gaza to receive premature babies. Israeli forces have also destroyed the Abu Shbak Health Center in Jabaliya.
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Jenin Residents Demonstrate Against Deadly Palestinian Authority Raids
Dec 16, 2024
In the occupied West Bank, Palestinian Authority police forces have continued raids in the Jenin refugee camp, killing a senior leader of the resistance group Jenin Brigades Saturday. The killing of Yazeed Jayasa’a came amid an escalating crackdown by Palestinian Authority forces across the West Bank targeting groups resisting Israel’s occupation. Gunshots and explosions were heard across Jenin. Many residents have taken to the streets in protest of the raids. UNRWA, the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, has suspended its services in Jenin due to the violence.
Israeli soldiers have also continued near-daily attacks in the West Bank, including in Hebron, where Israeli forces shot and killed a disabled 23-year-old man during a raid Friday. Muhammad Ahmad Masalma, who had learning difficulties, was shot as Israeli soldiers arrested his cousin inside a paint shop.
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Georgian Dream Lawmakers Appoint Far-Right Mikheil Kavelashvili as President
Dec 16, 2024
In the Republic of Georgia, protests continue in the capital Tbilisi as demonstrators gathered outside Parliament over the weekend after the ruling Georgian Dream party appointed far-right former soccer player Mikheil Kavelashvili as president. But Georgia’s outgoing president Salome Zourabichvili, who backs joining the European Union, has said she won’t step down until new parliamentary elections are held, following allegations of fraud against the governing Georgian Dream party, which claimed victory in October. Zourabichvili’s term ends today. Kavelashvili was the only candidate on the presidential ballot and easily won the bid, as Georgian Dream controls the 300-seat electoral body that replaced direct presidential elections in 2017.
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Tropical Cyclone Chido Rips Through Mayotte, Thousands Feared Dead
Dec 16, 2024
Image Credit: John Balloz
On the archipelago of Mayotte in the Indian Ocean, hundreds, if not thousands, of people are feared dead after the islands were devastated by Tropical Cyclone Chido, the worst cyclone to hit the French territory in at least 90 years. Residents have described the widespread destruction as “apocalyptic,” as the storm flattened entire neighborhoods, destroyed hospitals and schools, and knocked out electrical grids, leaving Mayotte in the dark for over 36 hours. Mayotte authorities warn residents have already started to die “of thirst and hunger,” while emergency workers are scrambling to search for survivors. Mayotte is one of the poorest French territories, with many residents living in makeshift settlements. Chido made landfall Sunday in Mozambique, where at least three people were killed.
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Drone Strike Kills at Least 9 at El Fasher’s Main Hospital in Darfur
Dec 16, 2024
In Sudan, at least nine people were killed Friday after a drone strike on the main hospital in North Darfur’s El Fasher city. At least 20 others were injured in the attack, which Sudanese authorities blamed on paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.
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South Korea Impeaches President Yoon Suk Yeol After Failed Martial Law Attempt
Dec 16, 2024
South Korea’s parliament impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol over his attempt to declare martial law. The final vote was 204 to 85. Suk Yeol’s presidential powers have been suspended. His future now rests in the hands of South Korea’s Constitutional Court, which will decide whether Yoon should be removed from office. The court will hold its first public hearing on December 27. National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik called for Yoon to be removed from office as soon as possible. This is opposition leader Lee Jae-Myung.
Lee Jae-myung: “We are restraining, however, rather than celebrating the victory ourselves and being scattered. Shouldn’t we continue to fight together to ensure that there is a swift and serious accountability to be held and ensure the removal of Yoon Suk Yeol as soon as possible?”
South Korea’s Prime Minister Han Duck-soo will serve as interim leader until the court issues its ruling on Yoon. Meanwhile, the head of Yoon’s ruling People Power Party, Han Dong-hoon, has resigned days after voting to impeach Yoon. We will go to South Korea later in the broadcast.
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Trump & Vance Attend Military Football Game with Cabinet Picks, Ex-Marine Who Killed Subway Performer
Dec 16, 2024
Here in the U.S., President-elect Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance attended the Army-Navy football game Saturday along with some of his Cabinet picks, including embattled defense secretary nominee Pete Hegseth; Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s nominee to become director of national intelligence; and Kash Patel, Trump’s pick to head the FBI. Vance also invited Daniel Penny to the game, the former U.S. marine who was acquitted last week by a New York jury for killing the street performer Jordan Neely on a subway train.
In other transition news, three prominent tech billionaires — Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and Sam Altman of OpenAI — have reportedly agreed to their companies donating $1 million each to Trump’s inaugural fund. Zuckerberg, who once banned Trump from Facebook, recently dined with Trump at Mar-a-Lago.
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“Another News Outlet Chooses Obedience”: ABC News Settles Defamation Suit with $15M Trump Donation
Dec 16, 2024
ABC News, which is owned by Disney, has agreed to donate $15 million to Trump’s presidential library to settle a defamation suit filed by the president-elect. Trump sued the network after ABC anchor George Stephanopoulos said Trump was found “liable for rape” in a 2023 civil case in Manhattan brought by writer E. Jean Carroll. ABC has been widely criticized for agreeing to settle instead of going to court to fight what many believed to be a winnable case. The Democratic elections attorney Marc Elias responded to the settlement by writing, “Knee bent. Ring kissed. Another legacy news outlet chooses obedience.” The New York Times is reporting Trump and his allies are threatening to file more defamation lawsuits in an attempt to crack down on unfavorable media coverage.
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Biden’s Clemency Order Includes “Kids-for-Cash” Judge, Doctor Who Watered Down Cancer Drugs
Dec 16, 2024
President Biden has come under fierce condemnation as the names of the 1,500 individuals he granted clemency to last Thursday were revealed. They include former Pennsylvania Judge Michael Conahan, who was sentenced in 2011 to 17.5 years for accepting nearly $3 million in kickbacks for sending 2,300 children, some as young as 8 years old, to for-profit prisons on false charges.
Another person receiving clemency is Meera Sachdeva, a Mississippi doctor who gave her patients diluted chemo drugs as part of a massive Medicare fraud. Rita Crundwell, a former comptroller and treasurer in Illinois, embezzled more than $53 million from the city of Dixon. She used the money to breed racing horses. Biden’s act of mass clemency came in the wake of his presidential pardon for his son Hunter.