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India evacuates 75 nationals from Syria, to return to India via commercial flights

“The Government of India today evacuated 75 Indian nationals from Syria, following recent developments in that country,” it said in a late-night statement on Tuesday.

House passes nearly $1 trillion defense spending bill, adding to US debt of $36 trillion

The House voted to pass its yearly defense bill Wednesday, adding about another $1 trillion to the $36 trillion national debt. The 1,800-page bill known as the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), details how $895.2 billion allocated toward defense and national security will be spent. On Wednesday, the bill passed 281-140, with 16 Republicans voting no. Only 81 Democrats voted yes, while 124 voted no. The legislation now heads to the Senate for passage before heading to President Biden’s desk for his signature. 124 DEMS OPPOSE HISTORICALLY BIPARTISAN DEFENSE BILL OVER RESTRICTIONS ON TRANSGENDER TREATMENTS FOR MINORS The bill’s passage comes as the U.S. national debt continues to climb at a rapid pace and shows no signs of slowing down. As of Dec. 11, the national debt, which measures what the U.S. owes its creditors, fell to $36,163,442,396,226.61, according to the latest numbers released by the U.S. Treasury Department. The debt represents a decrease of $8.8 billion from the figure released the previous day. By comparison, 40 years ago, the national debt hovered at about $907 billion. PENTAGON ANNOUNCES NEW COUNTER-DRONE STRATEGY AS UNMANNED ATTACKS ON US INTERESTS SKYROCKET The latest findings from the Congressional Budget Office indicate the national debt will grow to an astonishing $54 trillion in the next decade, the result of an aging population and rising federal health care costs. Higher interest rates are also compounding the pain of higher debt. Should that debt materialize, it could risk America’s economic standing in the world. The spike in the national debt follows a burst of spending by President Biden and Democratic lawmakers. As of September 2022, Biden had already approved roughly $4.8 trillion in borrowing, including $1.85 trillion for a COVID relief measure dubbed the American Rescue Plan and $370 billion for the bipartisan infrastructure bill, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB), a group that advocates for reducing the deficit. HERE IS WHO IS VYING FOR POWER IN SYRIA AFTER THE FALL OF BASHAR AL-ASSAD While that is about half of the $7.5 trillion that President-elect Trump added to the deficit while he was in office, it’s far more than the $2.5 trillion Trump approved at that same point during his first term.  Biden has repeatedly defended the spending by his administration and boasted about cutting the deficit by $1.7 trillion.  “I might note parenthetically: In my first two years, I reduced the debt by $1.7 trillion. No president has ever done that,” Biden said recently.  That figure, though, refers to a reduction in the national deficit between fiscal years 2020 and 2022. The deficit certainly shrank during that period, though it was largely because emergency measures put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic had expired. Despite adding to the national debt, the NDAA was strongly bipartisan, but some Democratic lawmakers were against the inclusion of a ban on transgender medical treatments for children of military members if such treatment could result in sterilization. The bill also included a 14.5% pay raise for junior enlisted service members and a 4.5% increase for others as key to improving the quality of life for those serving in the military. The defense act also includes measures to strengthen deterrence against China and calls for an investment of $15.6 billion to bolster military capabilities in the Indo-Pacific region. The Biden administration had only requested about $10 billion. Fox News’ Eric Revell and Morgan Phillips, as well as The Associated Press, contributed to this report.

Kari Lake nominated as Trump’s pick for director of Voice of America broadcast

President-elect Trump tapped Kari Lake as the next director of the Voice of America, a state-funded U.S. government broadcaster. “I am pleased to announce that Kari Lake will serve as our next Director of the Voice of America. She will be appointed by, and work closely with, our next head of the U.S. Agency for Global Media, who I will announce soon, to ensure that the American values of Freedom and Liberty are broadcast around the World FAIRLY and ACCURATELY, unlike the lies spread by the Fake News Media,” Trump wrote in a release on Wednesday night. Lake was a longtime Arizona broadcaster who ran unsuccessfully for public office in 2022 and 2024.  Voice of America is an influential broadcast channel that serves news, information, and cultural programming through the Internet, mobile and social media, radio, and television.  The broadcaster serves in over 40 languages.

Israeli strikes kill five in southern Lebanon amid shaky ceasefire

Attacks on several towns come as officials from countries including the US and France meet with a Lebanon official in Beirut. At least five people have been killed in Israeli attacks on several towns in southern Lebanon, the country’s Health Ministry has said, amid a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah. “An Israeli enemy drone strike on the town of Ainata killed one person and wounded another,” the ministry said. An “Israeli strike on the town of Bint Jbeil killed three people,” while a third “on Beit Lif killed one person”, it added. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on the attacks. Israel’s army escalated its attacks on Lebanon in late September after more than 11 months of cross-border exchanges of fire with the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, which began firing rockets towards Israel after the Palestinian group Hamas’s attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023. A United States-brokered ceasefire started on November 27, but both sides have accused the other of repeated violations. Israel has launched near-daily strikes, mostly in southern Lebanon, that have killed scores of people since the deal took effect. Advertisement Under the terms of the agreement, the Lebanese army is to deploy in the south alongside United Nations peacekeepers as the Israeli army withdraws over a period of 60 days. Hezbollah is required to withdraw its forces north of the Litani River, about 30 kilometres (20 miles) from the border, and dismantle its military infrastructure in the south. Lebanese armed forces deploy The Lebanese army said it deployed troops around Khiam, a key town just five kilometres (three miles) from the border that witnessed heavy Israeli air strikes and fighting between Israeli soldiers and the Iran-aligned group. The Lebanese army said “units deployed in five positions around the town of Khiam” in coordination with UN peacekeepers and “within the framework of the first phase of deployment in the area, at the same time as the Israeli enemy withdrawal”. “The deployment will be completed in the next phase, while specialised units” will survey the town to “remove unexploded ordnance”, it added. Earlier, UN peacekeepers entered Khiam “to inspect the road and verify the Israeli enemy army’s withdrawal”, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA) said. The NNA said the peacekeepers found the body of a man “in the vicinity of his house” in the border town. The NNA reported that ambassadors from the United States, France, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Egypt held a meeting Wednesday with Lebanon’s Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri, a Hezbollah ally who has scheduled a parliament session in January for lawmakers to elect a president. Advertisement Crisis-hit Lebanon has been without a head of state for more than two years amid deadlock between pro- and anti-Hezbollah blocs in Parliament. Envoys from the five countries who met Berri have been working for months to facilitate the process. Separately, US Army General Erik Kurilla, who leads US Central Command, met with the head of the Lebanese army General Joseph Aoun to discuss ongoing American support for the implementation of the ceasefire agreement. Adblock test (Why?)

Zelenskyy slams Orban over call with Russia’s Putin to discuss Ukraine

Kyiv has long called for unity among its allies on isolating Putin and said discussions on the war must include Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has criticised Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban for discussing the Ukraine war in a call with Russian leader Vladimir Putin. Orban, who has maintained closer ties with Putin than other European countries throughout Russia’s war in Ukraine, said on X that the pair’s phone call on Wednesday lasted an hour and that “these are the most dangerous weeks” of the war. “No one should boost [their] personal image at the expense of unity,” Zelenskyy said on X. “We all hope that Orban at least won’t call Assad in Moscow to listen to his hour-long lectures as well,” he added, referring to Russia’s decision to grant deposed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad political asylum. Kyiv has repeatedly called for unity among its allies on isolating Putin and has said any discussions on the war must involve Ukraine. Ukrainian officials have also warned that a ceasefire in the 33-month-old war would benefit Moscow, as it could freeze current front lines with Russia holding about 20 percent of Ukrainian territory. Advertisement The Kremlin said Putin had told Orban during the phone call that Kyiv’s stance excluded the possibility of a peaceful settlement to the war. The call was initiated at the Hungarian leader’s request, the Kremlin said, and came a day after Hungary’s top diplomat said his country would forge ahead with its self-styled Ukraine “peace mission”. Orban responded to Zelenskyy’s gripe on X by saying that Hungary had proposed a “Christmas ceasefire” and a prisoner exchange but that the Ukrainian leader had “clearly rejected and ruled this out”. Orban did not offer more details about exactly when or how he had proposed such a truce, or whether the same offer was made to Putin. At the end of the Hungarian EU Presidency, we made new efforts for peace. We proposed a Christmas ceasefire and a large-scale prisoner exchange. It’s sad that President @ZelenskyyUa clearly rejected and ruled this out today. We did what we could! https://t.co/17f4tXJEsc — Orbán Viktor (@PM_ViktorOrban) December 11, 2024 Ukraine, in turn, denied that Orban discussed a Christmas truce with them. “As always, the Hungarian side did not discuss anything with Ukraine. As always, the Hungarian side did not warn [us] about its contacts with Moscow,” presidential aide Dmytro Lytvyn said in a statement. “There can be no discussions about the war that Russia wages against Ukraine without Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said on Wednesday. Orban has repeatedly called for peace talks and refused to send military aid to Ukraine since Russia launched its offensive in February 2022. Advertisement He angered fellow EU leaders in July by engaging in diplomatic talks with Russia on ending the conflict, just days after Hungary took over the bloc’s rotating six-month presidency. Adblock test (Why?)

Will the status of Syrian refugees in Europe change?

Several European countries pause Syrian asylum requests days after the al-Assad dynasty collapsed. More than a million Syrians have sought asylum in Europe in the past 13 years. But the overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad is raising questions about the future of about 100,000 refugees. At least eight nations have frozen Syrian asylum applications. What triggered the decisions? Do European governments believe Syria is safe for refugees to return? And if they do choose to go home, what lies ahead? Presenter: Bernard Smith Guests: Louise Calvey – Executive director of refugee rights charity Asylum Matters Bushra Alzoubi – Syrian refugee and human rights activist Daniel Sohege – Specialist in international refugee law and protection Adblock test (Why?)

Gov. Greg Abbott backs David Cook over Dustin Burrows in Republican fight for House speaker

Days after the Texas House GOP caucus backed Cook, Abbott made clear that he expects Republican representatives to do the same.

Asia’s frustrated young men celebrate the return of Donald Trump

Taipei, Seoul, and Manila – Donald Trump’s popularity among young men who frequent the “manosphere” online has been widely cited as a factor in his re-election as president of the United States. After making its mark in voting booths across the US, Trump’s appeal among male influencers and their followers is reverberating much further afield. Across Asia, where countries such as China and South Korea are experiencing a growing gender divide that mirrors similar trends in the West, Trump’s return to the most powerful political office on the planet has been celebrated in male-dominated spaces online. “Honestly, I really admire Trump, because he is not afraid to face his battles head-on,” zhtttyzhttty, a prominent influencer who discusses the challenges facing men on China’s social media platform Weibo, posted the day after Trump’s victory. Sima Nan, an ultranationalist blogger who has more than 44 million followers on social media, welcomed Trump’s win despite his frequent criticism of the US, citing his “transactional mentality” as a positive. Advertisement “To put it bluntly, Trump is a trader. He calls himself a great trader. Trump will cut ties with Taipei and trade with Beijing,” Nan said on Weibo, referring to Beijing’s stance that self-governing Taiwan is part of its territory. “Everything is for sale for him. The key is the price.” Social commentator and intellectual Sima Nan looks on during an interview in Beijing [Wang Zhao/AFP] On Chinese internet forums where many ordinary young men congregate, praise for Trump, who won 49 percent of male voters aged 18-29 in the US election, has been a common theme both before and since the November 5 vote. “Trump is a businessman, and businessmen usher in the best of times,” one Weibo user wrote after Trump’s re-election. “Only Trump tells you everything with certainty and clarity.” When photos of Trump raising his fist moments after being struck in the ear by a would-be assassin’s bullet ricocheted around the world in July, internet users marvelled at the Republican candidate’s act of defiance. “What an amazing photo,” one Weibo user said. “Trump is so strong,” he continued. The admiration for Trump among some young Chinese stands in contrast to the president-elect’s aggressive rhetoric and policies towards their country. Trump has for years cast China as a threat, accusing it of stealing American jobs and blaming it for unleashing the COVID-19 pandemic on the world. During his election campaign and since, he has threatened to slap steep tariffs on Chinese imports – a move that could potentially inflict huge damage to Chinese companies and the Chinese economy. Advertisement As in other parts of the world, young Chinese men report holding increasingly conservative views relative to their female peers. According to an analysis of Chinese survey data published in the International Journal of Comparative Sociology last year, young Chinese women were more than twice as likely to express egalitarian views than their male peers. And while young Chinese women had far more egalitarian attitudes than previous generations of women, according to the analysis, young men had become only slightly more egalitarian over the same timeframe. Qian Huang, an assistant professor who studies digital culture at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, said she was not surprised by the support for Trump from the Chinese internet despite his hawkish stance towards Beijing. “It’s quite similar to 2016 when he was first elected, but it has intensified and more people have joined the conversations,” Huang told Al Jazeera. “Trump projects certain masculine traits that many modern men admire and associate with success, and that includes men outside China as well.” Young Trump supporters react as the Republican arrives for a campaign rally in Greenville, North Carolina on October 21, 2024 [Evan Vucci/AP] Whether in the West or Asia, the “manosphere” is not precisely defined beyond being a segment of the internet that is dominated by men and appeals to their interests. Discussions among male influencers and their followers range from misogynistic diatribes about women and critiques of feminism, to complaints about the struggles of men and advice about fitness and dating. Advertisement In South Korea, Jang Min-seo, who runs RedPillKorea, a YouTube channel focused on dating culture and gender issues that takes inspiration from British-American influencer and self-proclaimed misogynist Andrew Tate, welcomed Trump’s victory, viewing it as a win for freedom of speech and male assertiveness. “I think Trump won the election because many Americans wanted a leader who had a bulldozer personality when it came to doing what they promised,” Jang, 35, told Al Jazeera. As for South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, whose political future is in doubt following his short-lived declaration of martial law last week, Jang likened the politician to US President Joe Biden, who “doesn’t really know what he’s doing”. “I don’t have any expectations for South Korea’s leaders as they’re so incapable by and large,” Jang said. “Most South Korean politicians are limited to roles like inciting the feminism and PC movement. Authentic conservative politicians who get the job done seem to have disappeared with the fall of the military regime.” Eight in 10 South Koreans in their 20s believe that gender conflict is a serious issue, with more than half of those saying that gender issues affected how they voted in the 2022 presidential election, according to a study conducted by the daily newspaper Chosun Ilbo and Seoul National University. Many young South Korean men now believe that women’s march towards equality, including one of Asia’s most visible #MeToo movements, has come at their expense, a perception that Yoon tapped into during his election campaign by pledging to abolish the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family. Advertisement In a 2021 survey carried out by the Seoul Shinmun newspaper and Hyundai Research Institute, nearly 70 percent of men said that reverse discrimination was a bigger problem than discrimination against women. South Korean women attend a rally to mark International Women’s Day in downtown Seoul on March 8, 2024 [Kim Jae-Hwan/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images] “The ministry

Brazil’s President Lula to undergo additional surgery for brain bleed

Hospital says that the Brazilian leader is doing well as he prepares for his second surgery of the week following a fall at home. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is set to undergo a second medical procedure to address bleeding on the surface of his brain, according to medical staff at a Brazilian hospital. Doctors at the Sirio-Libanes hospital in Sao Paulo, Brazil, announced on Wednesday that the minimally invasive procedure would take place the following morning. Called a middle meningeal artery embolisation, the procedure allows medical professionals to enter a patient’s blood vessels using small tubes. The aim is to insert a small blockage to prevent bleeding from the artery, located on the outside of the brain. This new procedure follows a two-hour surgery Lula, 79, underwent on Tuesday to treat health problems stemming from a fall at home in late October. He had been rushed to the hospital overnight. After Tuesday’s surgery, the Brazilian leader was scheduled to remain in intensive care for a period of about 48 hours. Despite the new procedure on Thursday, doctors emphasised Lula was lucid and recovering. Advertisement “He underwent physiotherapy, walked and received visits from family members,” the doctors said in a statement, noting that he had “spent the day well” and is in good condition. Lula’s personal doctor, Roberto Kalil Filho, also told reporters on Wednesday that the procedure is “relatively simple” and “low risk”, taking no more than one hour. “We waited to see that the president was recovering well before deciding to go ahead with the procedure,” he said. Nevertheless, Lula’s recent medical interventions have raised concerns about his health. Lula, who is currently about halfway through his current term as president, is considered Brazil’s oldest sitting president. He was sworn in for his third term in January 2023, at age 77 — and now, at 79 years old, he surpassed the previous record holder, Michel Temer, who was 78 when he left office. Doctors say Lula will return to the capital of Brasilia at the beginning of next week, with no aftereffects anticipated following the two procedures. Lula’s vice president, Geraldo Alckmin, has been recalled to Brasilia to fill in for official duties. Meanwhile, a gathering of supporters met in Brasilia on Tuesday to offer their support for the popular leftist president, who previously served as president from 2003 through 2011. One man dressed as Santa Claus held up a sign of Lula with the caption “Saúde presidente” — a wish for good health, written in Portuguese. Adblock test (Why?)

UN General Assembly demands ‘immediate’ ceasefire in Gaza, supports UNRWA

The United Nations General Assembly has voted overwhelmingly to demand an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and expressed support for the work of the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA). The assembly on Wednesday passed a resolution demanding an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire in Gaza, which was adopted with 158 votes in favour from the 193-member assembly and nine votes against with 13 abstentions. A second resolution expressing support for UNRWA and deploring a new Israeli law that would ban the UN agency’s operations in Israel was carried with 159 votes in favour, nine against and 11 abstentions. That resolution demands that Israel respect UNRWA’s mandate and calls on the Israeli government “to abide by its international obligations, respect the privileges and immunities of UNRWA and uphold its responsibility to allow and facilitate full, rapid, safe and unhindered humanitarian assistance in all its forms into and throughout the entire Gaza Strip”. Both votes culminated two days of speeches at the UN where speaker after speaker called for an end to Israel’s 14-month war on the Palestinian territory that has killed at least 44,805 people – mostly Palestinian women and children – and wounded 106,257. Advertisement “Gaza doesn’t exist any more,” Slovenia’s UN Ambassador Samuel Zbogar told the General Assembly meeting. “It is destroyed. Civilians are facing hunger, despair and death,” he said. “There is no reason for this war to continue. We need a ceasefire now. We need to bring hostages home now,” he added. Algeria’s deputy UN ambassador Nacim Gaouaoui addressed the world’s inability to stop the war in Gaza: “The price of silence and failure in the face of the Palestinian tragedy is a very heavy price, and it will be heavier tomorrow.” Al Jazeera’s Gabriel Elizondo, reporting from UN headquarters in New York, said “the message is clear with these two resolutions”. “Number one, UNRWA needs to be protected and their mandate needs to be protected and bolstered. Of course, Israel is trying to destroy UNRWA. They’ve made that very clear for many months now,” Elizondo said. “And the second message that it sends is the overwhelming majority of the world is calling for, again, an immediate ceasefire in Gaza,” he said. Israel, US votes against UN resolution Israel and its staunchest ally, the United States, were in a tiny minority of countries and their representatives speaking and voting against the resolutions at the UN. US Deputy UN Ambassador Robert Wood reiterated Washington’s opposition to the ceasefire resolution in advance of the vote and criticised the Palestinians for again failing to mention Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, which killed an estimated 1,139 people and saw more than 200 Israelis taken captive in Gaza. Advertisement “At a time when Hamas is feeling isolated due to the ceasefire in Lebanon, the draft resolution on a ceasefire in Gaza risks sending a dangerous message to Hamas that there’s no need to negotiate or release the hostages,” he said. In advance of the UN vote, Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon accused supporters of the resolutions of complicity with Hamas. “By demanding a ceasefire today without addressing the hostages, this assembly will once again side with those who weaponise human suffering,” Danon said. While UN Security Council resolutions are legally binding, General Assembly resolutions are not, though they do reflect world opinion. The Palestinians and their supporters went to the General Assembly after the US vetoed a Security Council resolution on November 20 demanding an immediate Gaza ceasefire. The language of the ceasefire resolution adopted by the assembly is the same as the text of the vetoed Security Council resolution, and demands “an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire to be respected by all parties,” while also reiterating a “demand for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages”. Palestinian UN Ambassador Riyad Mansour said last week, during the first day of debate in the assembly’s special session on the issue, that Gaza is “the bleeding heart of Palestine”. “The images of our children burning in tents, with no food in their bellies and no hopes and no horizon for the future, and after having endured pain and loss for more than a year, should haunt the conscience of the world and prompt action to end this nightmare,” Mansour said. Advertisement Adblock test (Why?)