Pope Francis delivered an early Mass Thursday to a small congregation at St Peter's Basilica to comply with Italy's 10 p.m. curfew. (Dec. 24)
[ORGAN MUSIC]
POPE FRANCIS: [SPEAKING ITALIAN]
[ORGAN MUSIC]
CHOIR: [NON-ENGLISH SINGING]
According to a new report, ranking officers have discussed what they would do if the president declared martial law. President Donald Trump has filed lawsuits after losing the 2020 presidential election and refuses to acknowledge the defeat. A new report claims military leaders have discussed their plan of action if POTUS were to declare martial law toward the last days of his term.
At first glance, the Mawat district of north-east Iraq is a rustic idyll, a belt of rolling hills lined with olive and fruit groves. But on closer inspection - as many visitors have learned the hard way - it is full of hidden dangers. What looks like a Middle Eastern Tuscany was once on the frontline of Iraq's eight-year war with Iran, where Saddam Hussein's army planted vast quantities of land mines. Lurking in its gulleys and orchards are countless Russian and Italian anti-personnel devices - all still lethal. Today, despite nearly 30 years of mine clearance work, more than half remain - a glaring reminder of the scale of the so-called "legacy mine" threat in former warzones. "We get a lot of requests from mayors and villagers around here to clear the area," says Jabar Fatih Mahmoud, 49, an Iraqi employee of the Mines Advisory Group, the British charity, as he showed The Telegraph around a minefield listed on his clearance map as 'Kalka Shenka 2C'. "But this region is also popular with picnickers, and not everyone knows the mines are here." The minefields in Mawat and the surrounding governorate of Sulaymaniyah are a grim example of how such weapons are used not just for military purposes, but to actively punish civilian populations.
Israeli jets flew very low over parts of Lebanon early Friday, terrifying residents on Christmas Eve, some of whom reported seeing missiles in the skies over Beirut. Minutes later, Syria's official news agency reported explosions in the central Syrian town of Masyaf. Other Syrian media said Syrian air defenses responded to an Israeli attack near the town in the Hama province.
Senator Rand Paul on Tuesday released his annual report outlining of billions of dollars in "truly outlandish" government waste.This year's "Festivus" waste report, a reference to the fictitious Seinfeld holiday's "airing of grievances," documented nearly $54,746,525,000 in money "totally wasted" by the government."Remember this the next time they tell you there’s 'nothing to cut,'" the Kentucky Republican wrote Wednesday in a Twitter thread highlighting parts of the report.Among Paul's instances of waste were several health studies, including more than $36 million spent on studying why stress makes hair turn gray, more than $1 million spent studying whether people will eat ground-up bugs, and more than $3 million spent interviewing San Franciscans about their edible cannabis use.As far as taxpayer dollars spent aiding other countries, $8.62 billion was spent in Afghanistan on counternarcotics efforts, more than $37 million was spent helping deal with truant Filipino youth, and more than $3 million was spent on sending Russians to American community colleges for a “gap year.”Among funds spent on the environment, energy, and scientific research, more than $1 million was spent walking lizards on a treadmill, nearly $200,000 was spent studying how people cooperate while playing e-sport video games, and more than $2 million on developing a wearable headset to track eating behaviors.The military had several particularly high expenditures this year that Paul listed as waste, including repurposing $1 billion in coronavirus response funds for unrelated acquisitions, more than $ 715 million in lost equipment designated for Syrians fighting ISIS, and $174 million on drones that were lost over Afghanistan.Other eyebrow-raising expenses included more than $4 million spent on spraying alcoholic rats with bobcat urine, more than $10 million spent on would-be coronavirus test tubes that turned up as used soda bottles, and nearly $6 million spent building three bicycle storage facilities at Washington, D.C. Metro stations.In 2020, "Congress spent as never before, doing so ostensibly without a care," the report reads. "Some of that is traceable to COVID-related spending, but a lot of it was not."
A top Japanese defence official on Friday urged U.S. President-elect Joe Biden to "be strong" in supporting Taiwan in the face of an aggressive China, calling the island's safety a "red line." In an interview, Nakayama, Japan's deputy defence minister, urged Biden to take a similar line on Taiwan as outgoing President Donald Trump, who has significantly boosted military sales to the Chinese-claimed island and increased engagement.
‘You cannot be pardoned for future crimes,’ says Andrew Weissman
With just hours to go until Christmas, it was only natural that Downing Street would want to give the beleaguered public an early present in the form of a prospective Brexit deal. With millions more people set to be placed under Tier 4 Covid restrictions and queues of lorries at Dover prompting panic buying in supermarkets, here, finally, was a glimmer of good news. Yet as the UK and the EU continue to finalise the small print on what is expected to be an imminent agreement, it remains to be seen whether Boris Johnson will be able to sell it to a Conservative Party that has spent the last 40 years at odds over Europe. The mood among Tory Brexiteers on Wednesday night was described as "sceptical and suspicious" as the world awaited a plume of white smoke over Brussels. Already wound up by the announcement that more constituencies will be placed into the highest band of coronavirus measures on Boxing Day, seasonal goodwill between MPs and Number 10 is in notably short supply. As one prominent Tory leaver told The Telegraph: "Like everyone else, I don't trust Downing Street an inch right now. Obviously we will have to wait until any deal is published, but what we cannot have from the Prime Minister is another cop out. "The agreement on fish is going to be hugely significant because it has nothing to do with a trade deal – it's about our territory." It certainly did not bode well that a French official had gone around briefing anyone who would listen that "the British made huge concessions" in the last 48 hours, "mostly on fishing". Former Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage was quick out of the traps, tweeting that the Government wanted a "Christmas Eve announcement to hide the fisheries sell-out".
With unexpectedly cold weather in the forecast and pandemic-related curfews in some places, Florida is about to have a Christmas unlike any other in recent memory, and it may involve falling iguanas. The National Weather Service earlier this week warned that South Florida could experience the coldest Christmas Day in 21 years. Morning lows on Saturday could drop into the low 30s and 40s degrees Fahrenheit, the weather service said.
China called the McCain's movements "a serious violation" of its sovereignty and security.
'Is it too late to add something to my Christmas list,’ she wrote.
A dog was crushed to death by its owner after she was knocked over during a confrontation with a mugger in an “unprovoked and unacceptable” attack. Norfolk Terrier, Rufus was crushed while the woman tried to pull the thief off her husband. The man, 56 and his 36 year old wife were walking their two dogs in Westminster, central London, when they were approached by a man pushing a bike along the footpath. The man, who wore a face covering and gloves, stopped the pair before pulling the watch off the man's arm, causing scratches to his forearm. The pair began to struggle and it was at this point that the wife tried to pull the mugger away during the attack at 4.15pm in Spanish Place on August 4.
A Libyan commander who launched an offensive last year to capture the capital Tripoli from the U.N.-recognized rival government threatened Thursday to use force against Turkish troops if Ankara doesn't stop interfering in the war-stricken North African country. Khalifa Hifter's comments came in response to the Turkish parliament's decision to extend for 18 months a law that allows the deployment of Turkish troops to Libya. Turkey has also been accused of sending thousands of Syrian mercenaries to Libya.
ANKARA (Reuters) -President Tayyip Erdogan said that Turkey would like to have better ties with Israel, but criticised Israeli policy toward Palestinians as "unacceptable" and a "red line" for Ankara, adding that intelligence talks resumed between the two sides. The two countries have had a bitter falling out in recent years, despite strong commercial ties, expelling ambassadors in 2018. Ankara has repeatedly condemned Israel's occupation in the West Bank and its treatment of Palestinians.
The former politician disappeared when he was sentenced for selling pistols without a permit
With four weeks left in President Trump’s term, he is at perhaps his most unleashed — and, as events of the past few days have demonstrated, at the most unpredictable point in his presidency.
Ghislaine Maxwell only discussed getting a divorce from her husband before her arrest to "protect" him from the "terrible consequences" of being publicly linked to her, according to new court documents. As Ms Maxwell seeks bail prosecutors have argued that the divorce discussions undermined her claim that her marriage to tech CEO Scott Borgerson was a strong reason for her to stay in the United States to face trial. In a newly filed claim, lawyers for Ms Maxwell said: "Prior to her arrest Ms Maxwell and her spouse had discussed the idea of getting a divorce as an additional way to create distance between Ms Maxwell and her spouse to protect him... from the terrible consequences of being associated with her." They argued there was later no reason to continue the idea of a divorce, which "neither of them wanted in the first place", and that the US government had offered "nothing but unsupported innuendo." They added that the suggestion was "particularly callous and belied by the facts".
With rich countries snapping up supplies of COVID-19 vaccines, some parts of the world may have to rely on Chinese-developed shots to try to conquer the outbreak. There is no outward reason to believe they won’t, but China has a history of vaccine scandals, and its drugmakers have revealed little about their final human trials and the more than 1 million emergency-use inoculations they say have been carried out inside the country already. Wealthy nations have reserved about 9 billion of the 12 billion mostly Western-developed shots expected to be produced next year, while COVAX, a global effort to ensure equal access to COVID-19 vaccines, has fallen short of i ts promised capacity of 2 billion doses.
When your party takes its lead from the delusional rantings of a conspiracy theorist, it's time to switch teams.
“What took you guys so long to find me?” the suspect asked Connecticut authorities who found him after he ran into the woods following the alleged attack.
King Felipe of Spain used his traditional Christmas Eve speech to make a renewed call for his nation's leaders to demonstrate exemplary behaviour, a message he delivered Thursday night amid a financial scandal centering on his father – the country's previous monarch. The king said in a televised address that citizens demand "principles that apply to everyone, without exception, and that are above any other considerations, including personal or family (bonds)." The message was widely interpreted as a rebuke to the alleged financial improprieties that are threatening to tarnish the once immaculate reputation of his father, Juan Carlos. Juan Carlos stunned his nation in August when he moved to the United Arab Emirates after it emerged that prosecutors in Spain and Switzerland were investigating him for possible financial wrongdoing. His status as Spain's former head of state means he is immune from prosecution for any offence committed during his 39-year reign. Read more: A wife, a lover and a hunting scandal. How Spain's King Juan Carlos fell from his throne
