Weather update: Cold waves grip Delhi-NCR, temperature could drop to…
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted that the city’s minimum temperature could go up to 4 degrees Celsius on Thursday.
Delhi AQI: Air quality deteriorates to ‘Poor’ again, GRAP restrictions relaxed
The average air quality of Delhi as per the Central Pollution Control Board’s (CPCB) AQI index was 259 and has been categorised as ‘poor’.
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.
Trump announces more nominations, including Kari Lake as director of Voice of America broadcast
President-elect Donald Trump nominated a few more candidates on Wednesday night to serve in various positions during his second term. He tapped Kari Lake as the next director of the Voice of America, a state-funded U.S. government broadcaster. Lake was a longtime Arizona broadcaster who ran unsuccessfully for public office in 2022 and 2024. “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. 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. TRUMP ANNOUNCES MORE PICKS, NOMINATES KIMBERLY GUILFOYLE TO SERVE AS AMBASSADOR TO GREECE Trump also named Dr. Peter Lamelas, a physician, philanthropist, and businessman, as the next U.S. Ambassador to Argentina. Lamelas immigrated to the U.S. from Cuba and founded MD Now Urgent Care in Florida, the state’s largest urgent care system. “As a child, Peter and his family fled communist Cuba and LEGALLY immigrated to the USA, starting with nothing, and achieving the American Dream,” Trump wrote in the announcement on Truth Social. Lamelas was previously appointed to the Department of Justice’s Medal of Valor Review Board during Trump’s first term and has served as a town commissioner in Manalapan, Florida, and on the state’s Board of Medicine. NEW POLL REVEALS WHAT AMERICANS THINK OF TRUMP’S TRANSITION DECISIONS Also on Wednesday evening, Trump announced Daniel Newlin, a law enforcement veteran, as the next U.S. Ambassador to Colombia. In addition to a 28-year career with the Orange County (Florida) Sheriff’s Office where he worked as a fugitive detective, Newlin is also a business executive and entrepreneur. “With his Law Enforcement expertise enabling him to navigate complex international issues, and his business insights fostering economic partnerships, Newlin stands as a powerful advocate for U.S. interests, and a Champion for strengthening ties, and making a difference in the World,” Trump wrote. The picks announced Wednesday night are the latest in a long string of nominations the president-elect hopes the Senate will approve.
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.