US man found wandering near Damascus after months in Syrian prison
A US man, detained for months in a Syrian prison after entering the country on foot, has described being freed by hammer-wielding men as rebels overthrew the regime of Bashar al-Assad.
The man - who later identified himself as Travis Timmerman to the BBC's US news partner CBS - was found by residents near the capital Damascus.
It comes as rebels say they intend to close Assad's notoriously harsh prisons and track down those involved in torturing or killing detainees.
No comfort and little shelter in Gaza as nightmare of winter sets in
Displaced residents face acute hardship, fleeing airstrikes and suffering from disease and hunger as temperatures plummet
Thu 12 Dec 2024 12.00 GMT
Tens of thousands of people sheltering on Gaza’s exposed Mediterranean coastline face harsh winter conditions with inadequate shelter, food and fuel, as temperatures plunge in the devastated territory and a series of storms destroy their makeshift tents.
In recent weeks, bad weather has forced hundreds living in the coastal strip of Gaza around al-Mawasi to evacuate their shelters, ruining cooking utensils, clothes, stocks of food and precious firewood. Al-Mawasi was designated a “humanitarian zone” by Israeli military offensives and is packed with people displaced during 13 months of fighting, airstrikes and artillery bombardment.
Hamburg places blanket ban on weapons in buses and trams
The German city-state of Hamburg has placed a ban on all weapons on public transport. The decision comes in response to a security package adopted by the federal government in Berlin.
The northern port city of Hamburg is set to become the first of Germany's 16 states to adopt a blanket ban on all weapons from being carried on public transport.
The decision comes after the German government passed a law giving states more powers to improve public safety.
Why is the ban being implemented now?
Andy Grote, the city's senator for the interior, said public transport was increasingly busy in both the city and its suburbs.
"That's why we have to make sure that everyone can feel safe here," Grote told the DPA news agency, adding that Hamburg was the first federal state to systematically implement the options provided by the security package.
South Korea Yoon defends martial law decision, vows to fight until 'very last minute'
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol vowed Thursday to "fight until the very last minute" amid an impeachment vote and martial law probe. Police raided his office over December's turmoil, including deploying troops to parliament. Yoon, banned from foreign travel, faces an "insurrection" investigation into his inner circle.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on Thursday vowed to fight "until the very last minute", in a defiant address defending his shock decision to declare martial law and deploy troops to the country's parliament last week.
The South Korean leader is barred from foreign travel as part of a probe into his inner circle over the dramatic events of December 3-4 that stunned Seoul's allies and threw it into some of its deepest political turmoil in years.
EDITORIAL: Nobel Peace Prize for hibakusha should send their message wider
December 12, 2024 at 12:43 JST
A hibakusha representing this year’s Nobel Peace Prize recipient group delivered a dire and urgent warning about the risk of a nuclear weapon being used.
“Any one of you could become either a victim or a perpetrator at any time,” he said.
The message was forthright and unvarnished. The Japanese atomic bomb survivor emphasized that a nuclear catastrophe is not something that happened at a far-away place in the distant past but a crisis facing humanity right now.
Media groups condemn Israel over Gaza journalist ‘massacre’
Two separate reports by media freedom organisations found Israel killed an unprecedented number of journalists.
Two separate reports from media freedom organisations that analysed the deaths of reporters worldwide this year found Israel carried out a “massacre” of journalists in Gaza, an accusation denied by the Israeli government.
An annual report published by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) on Thursday found the Israeli army killed 18 journalists – two in Lebanon and 16 in Gaza – as they were working this year.
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