
"War makes for bitter men. Heartless and savage men," Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said when he received the Nobel Peace Prize less than a year ago - only for him to now wage a military operation in his own country. Over about a three-week period, his troops fought their way through Tigray, right up in the north of Ethiopia, to oust the region's ruling party, the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), accusing it of attacking a federal military base.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday rejected accusations his government had taken an illiberal turn with a contested bill to protect police officers and a crackdown on Islamist groups. The bill, which would have curbed the freedom to share images identifying police officers, a key plank in Macron's plans to court right-wing voters by being tougher on law and order, had sparked outrage among journalists. Asked in an interview by the Brut website about international media branding his police plans "illiberal", Macron said: "Today, the situation is not satisfactory but, forgive me, that doesn't make us an authoritarian state."

A 20-year-old campaign staffer for Sen. Kelly Loeffler was killed in a three-vehicle crash in Georgia on Friday morning. Harrison Deal was also a former intern for GOP Sen. David Perdue and a close family friend of Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp. The accident came ahead of a campaign event that featured Vice President Mike Pence, who described Deal as "a truly wonderful young man."

President Donald Trump has ordered the removal of most US military and security personnel from Somalia, where they have been conducting operations against the Al Shabaab militant group, the Pentagon said Friday. After ordering major troop reductions in Iraq and Afghanistan recently, Trump's new move reflects his drive to disengage US forces from what he calls "endless wars" abroad, making good on a campaign pledge in the final weeks of his presidency. Trump "has ordered the Department of Defense and the United States Africa Command to reposition the majority of personnel and assets out of Somalia by early 2021," the Pentagon said in a statement.
President-elect Joe Biden, speaking on Thursday to CNN's Jake Tapper and alongside Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, said it's important for the country that President Trump attends the inauguration. Biden said it's important to show “there is peaceful transfer of power, with the competing parties standing there, shaking hands and moving on.
The Mexican government pledged Saturday to investigate how a cousin of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador managed to get two contracts with the state-owned oil company Petroleos Mexicanos, known as Pemex. The issue goes to the core of López Obrador's central campaign promise to rid Mexico of corruption and insider deals. The company Litoral Laboratorios Industriales is part owned by the president's first cousin, Felipa Guadalupe Obrador Olan.

Turkey has entered its first full weekend lockdown since May as deaths from coronavirus more than doubled in less than three weeks to hit record highs, with daily infections now among the highest numbers recorded globally. The daily death toll https://tmsnrt.rs/35LkG8h rose to a record high of 196 on Saturday, bringing the total since the beginning of the pandemic to 14,705. Opposition politicians have expressed scepticism however about whether the official death toll reflects the true picture in the country of 83 million people.

Ninety per cent of Republican lawmakers in Congress have so far refused to say Joe Biden was the winner of the presidential election, according to a survey. Of all 249 Republicans in the US House and Senate, only 25 told the Washington Post they believed the Democrat won against the US president last month. Two lawmakers surveyed by the Post said Donald Trump had actually won the presidential race, in contrast with results and the electoral college, which show Mr Biden won.
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) had enlisted Deloitte to advise it on the talks with privately-owned Sheffield Forgemasters, Sky News said, citing steel industry sources. An outright takeover of Sheffield Forgemasters, which traces its history back to a small blacksmith's forge in the 1750s, was only one of a number of options being considered, and that any agreement was likely to be several months away, Sky News said.

Pfizer Inc has applied for emergency use authorisation of its coronavirus vaccine in India, media said on Sunday, the first to do so in a country with the world's second-highest number of infections. The U.S. company, whose vaccine was recently approved by the British government, has written to the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI), CNN-News18 reported citing a government source. Officials at the DCGI and the health ministry did not respond to requests for comment.

Former White House advisor Kellyanne Conway said in an interview with The 19th that "it looks like Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will prevail." Conway's remarks go against President Donald Trump, who is still refusing to concede to Biden and continues to share claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election to undermine the results. With the comment, Conway joins a growing number of Republicans who are acknowledging Biden's victory.
One of the army officers behind an August coup in Mali was named on Saturday to lead a new transitional legislative body, a spokesman for the authorities said. The appointment boosts the number of military figures in key roles, something that has dismayed some political factions. After the ouster of President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita on Aug. 18, hopes of a civilian-led transition were dashed by the appointment of the junta's leader as vice president, while retired colonel Bah Ndaw became president.

The news that Brandon Bernard was scheduled for execution on Dec. 10 hit me hard. Brandon was convicted and sentenced to death in Waco, Texas, 20 years ago; I was the federal prosecutor who defended that death verdict on appeal. I wrote briefs arguing that Brandon had a fair trial and his sentence was justified, even though he was only 18 at the time of the crime.
Here are the latest cancellations for each company: Investigation How many coronavirus cases have been linked to cruises? Check out the latest numbers The Miami Herald investigated COVID-19 outbreaks on cruise ships. Explore the findings of the most comprehensive tracking system of coronavirus cases linked to the cruise industry.
A federal appeals court ruled Friday that a lower court was wrong to bar the Trump administration from taking $3.6 billion from military construction projects for a border wall. A panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said that El Paso County and the nonprofit Border Network for Human Rights did not have the standing to challenge President Donald Trump's redirecting funds from more than 100 military construction projects, including a $20 million road project at a base located in the city. The appeals court found that neither the county nor the Border Network proved it was directly harmed by Trump's move.

Bombing, looting and skirmishes persisted in parts of Ethiopia's Tigray on Saturday, a rebellious force in the northern region said after government troops declared they were within days of capturing the group's leaders. A month of fighting between Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's federal army and the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) is believed to have killed thousands of people and driven some 46,000 refugees into neighbouring Sudan. Abiy's government has said the conflict is winding down a week after it seized Tigray's regional capital, Mekelle, but TPLF leader Debretsion Gebremichael told Reuters in a text message on Saturday there was still fighting outside the city.

The Airbus A330-800neo entered service with Kuwait Airways in November after being delivered in October as Airbus' newest passenger jet. It's the smaller variant of the A330neo family but still boasts an impressive range of 8,150 nautical miles and greater efficiency thanks to new Rolls-Royce engines. With only three airlines publicly placing orders for the aircraft, however, it's likely to be a flop.

Moscow began distributing the Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine via 70 clinics on Saturday, marking Russia's first mass vaccination drive against the disease, the city's coronavirus task force said. The task force said the Russian-made vaccine would first be made available to doctors and other medical workers, teachers and social workers because they ran the highest risk of exposure to the disease. "You are working at an educational institution and have top-priority for the COVID-19 vaccine, free of charge," read a text message received by one Muscovite, an elementary school teacher, early on Saturday.

State surveys have spotted deer and other mammals already crowding onto canal banks and flood control levees that provide little shelter or forage. But wildlife managers say the high water also is benefiting wading birds, increasing the amount of fish they feed on, and also freshening up coastal areas in Florida Bay, which has been hammered by seagrass die-offs and algae blooms worsened by high salinity levels. There is concern that parts of the Everglades are too deep for some species to survive, and that flooding could hurt tree islands; but there is also some good news: flooding is creating good conditions for wading bird nesting in areas where we want them to be,” said Mark Cook, the lea...

China and the United States need to proceed together with "good will" to improve relations, the Chinese ambassador to Washington said on Saturday, as ties remained fraught between the world's two biggest economic powers. On Friday, a Chinese state media editorial said ties are being shifted to "a dangerous path". "In order to put the relations on the right track, to have real improvement of the relations, both sides have to proceed with good will and good faith," Ambassador Cui Tiankai told the Annual Conference of the Institute for China-America Studies via video link.
In addition to the upcoming Jupiter-Saturn conjunction, skywatchers this month will also get to enjoy the Geminid meteor shower, which is considered to be one of the best showers of the year. The Geminids are expected to peak on the night of Dec.13-14 (Sunday evening until dawn Monday), according to EarthSky. During its peak, 120 Geminid meteors can be seen per hour under perfect conditions, NASA said.

Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin, Elon Musk's SpaceX, and Dynetics are competing to land NASA astronauts on the moon. NASA awarded the companies a total of nearly $1 billion to produce initial lunar-lander designs for its Artemis 3 mission, which aims to land people on the moon in 2024. On Friday, Bezos announced that Blue Origin's lunar-lander rocket engine, the BE-7, completed its fourth successful test firing.
"No, I don't think it should be mandatory. I wouldn't demand that it be mandatory, but I will do everything in my power, just like I don't think masks have to be made mandatory nationwide... I will do everything in my power as the President of the United States to encourage people to do the right thing," Biden said.

Judge Nicholas Garaufis on Friday directed the Trump administration to fully restore the Deferred Action for Child Arrivals program, which was designed during the Obama administration to protect younger undocumented immigrants from deportation. Per The New York Times, the decision may be the "final blow" to President Trump's years-long quest to eliminate the program. The order requires the Department of Homeland Security to post a public notice by Monday that it will accept new DACA applicants for the first time since 2017, Bloomberg notes.

On the heels of an election that dramatically changed the outlook of Miami-Dade County politics, Democrats and Republicans will convene next week to choose local leaders for their respective parties. Miami-Dade Democrats appear likely to stick with current Chairman Steve Simeonidis despite an underwhelming performance last month by the party's candidates in partisan races up and down the ballot. Republicans, meanwhile, will close out a banner 2020 by choosing a replacement for outgoing Chairman Nelson Diaz, who is stepping down after eight years on the job.


“This metastasizing debt crisis has had tremendous social costs. An entire generation has been set back.”
“It is not the government’s job to step in and rescue those who took on more debt than their future incomes would support.”
“Many student-borrowers need relief, but well-off borrowers who are thriving — thanks to their college degrees — do not.”
“It will stimulate the lagging economy. And though not everyone will directly benefit, the country as a whole will improve.”
“Canceling student debt would cost billions of dollars each year and would exacerbate, not lessen, economic inequalities.”