RIYADH, 04 January 2023, (TON): Saudi Arabia in a Cabinet meeting reaffirmed its support for international efforts aimed at reaching a political solution to the Russian-Ukrainian crisis in a way that preserves regional and international stability.

King Salman presided over the Cabinet meeting held at Al-Yamamah Palace in Riyadh.

During the meeting, the Cabinet reviewed talks that took place between the Kingdom and friendly countries over the past few days to consolidate and advance cooperation.

Dr. Issam bin Saad bin Saeed, state minister and Cabinet member for the Shoura Council affairs, said in a statement to the Saudi Press Agency that the council discussed several regional and international matters.

BRASILIA, 03 January 2023, (TON): Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was sworn in as Brazil’s president delivering a searing indictment of former far-right leader Jair Bolsonaro and vowing a drastic change of course to rescue a nation plagued by hunger, poverty, and racism.

In a speech to Congress after officially taking the reins of Latin America’s biggest country, the leftist said democracy was the true winner of the October presidential vote when he ousted Bolsonaro in the most fraught election for a generation.

Bolsonaro left Brazil for the United States after refusing to concede defeat, rattled the cages of Brazil’s young democracy with baseless claims of electoral weaknesses that birthed a violent movement of election deniers.

TEHRAN, 03 January 2023, (TON): Iranian police have resumed warnings that women must wear mandatory headscarves even in cars, media reported Monday, as unrest continues following the death of Mahsa Amini.

Protests have gripped Iran since the September 16 death of Iranian-Kurdish Amini, 22, after her arrest in Tehran for an alleged breach of the Islamic republic’s strict dress code for women.

Tehran generally calls the protests “riots.”

Fars news agency quoted a senior police officer who said the “new stage” of the Nazer-1 program — “surveillance” in Persian — was being rolled out “across the country by the police.”

BEIRUT, 03 January 2023, (TON): The Israeli army carried out a missile strike on Damascus International Airport that killed four people, including two Syrian soldiers, according to a human rights monitor.

This is the second time in less than seven months that the Damascus airport, where Iranian-backed armed groups and Lebanese Hezbollah fighters are present, has been hit by Israel.

The attack which occurred around 2:00 am (2300 GMT) put the country’s main airport out of service, according to Syria’s state news agency SANA.

Israel carried out the strike with “barrages of missiles, targeting Damascus International Airport and its surroundings,” a military source told SANA, which reported that two Syrian soldiers were killed.

MEXICO CITY, 03 January 2023, (TON): Mexican authorities said on Sunday that at least 14 people died in an armed attack at a prison in the northern border city Juarez and two more died during a later armed aggression elsewhere in the city.

The Chihuahua state prosecutor said in a statement that among those who died in the prison attack were ten security personnel and four inmates. At the same time, another 13 were hurt, and at least 24 escaped.

It was not immediately clear who carried out the attack.

TEHRAN, 03 January 2023, (TON): Iranian activist and journalist Keyvan Samimi remains in detention, his family told said on Monday, denying earlier press reports that he had been freed.

On Sunday, the reformist daily Shargh reported the release of the 73-year-old, sentenced to three years in prison in December 2020 for “conspiracy against national security.”

His family said Samimi was still serving his sentence in prison in Semnan, more than 200 kilometers (125 miles) east of the capital Tehran.

The journalist was authorized in February 2022 to return home due to health problems.

SYDNEY, 03 January 2023, (TON): Authorities said “two helicopters collided in mid-air near a popular tourist attraction in Australia’s Gold Coast region on Monday, killing four people and critically injuring three more.”

Emergency services were called to the scene near the Sea World theme park at about 2 p.m. local time, Gary Worrell, acting inspector at the Queensland police, told a news briefing.

Worrell said the two aircraft crash-landed after the collision. “As a result of that, four people have lost their lives today.”

KYIV, 02 January 2023, (TON): The air force said “Ukraine shot down 45 Russian drones overnight as the pro-Western country rang in the New Year.”

In a New Year’s Eve assault, Moscow attacked Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities with missiles and Iranian-made drones.

Ukraine’s air force said in a statement that air defenses destroyed 45 “Shahed” drones.

Thirteen drones were shot down at the end of 2022 and another 32 in the new year, the statement said.

Ukrainian authorities did not say if some of the drones reached their targets.

JERUSALEM, 02 January 2023, (TON): The tourism minister of Israel’s new hard-line government promised to invest in developing the West Bank, calling the occupied area “our local Tuscany.”

Haim Katz made the comments days after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s new government took office, promising in its coalition guidelines to make West Bank settlement construction a top priority. His coalition includes far-right settler leaders in top posts.

Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Mideast war and has built dozens of settlements that are now home to roughly 500,000 Israelis.

SEOUL, 02 January 2023, (TON): South Korea and the United States are discussing possible joint planning and exercises using US nuclear assets in the face of North Korea’s growing nuclear and missile threats, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol said in a newspaper interview.

The Chosun Ilbo newspaper quoted Yoon as saying the joint planning and exercises would be aimed at a more effective implementation of the US “extended deterrence.”

The term means the ability of the US military, particularly its nuclear forces, to deter attacks on US allies.

Yoon said “the nuclear weapons belong to the United States, but planning, information sharing, exercises and training should be jointed conducted by South Korea and the United States.”