SYRIE – Holding new elections in Syria could take up to four years, rebel leader Ahmed al-Sharaa has said in a broadcast interview. This is the first time he has given a timeline for possible elections in Syria since his group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) led a rebel offensive that ousted former President Bashar al-Assad. In the interview with Saudi state broadcaster Al Arabiya on Sunday, he said drafting a new constitution could take up to three years. He said it could also be a year before Syrians begin to see significant change and improvements to public services following the overthrow of the Assad regime.

Sharaa said Syria needed to rebuild its legal system and would have to hold a comprehensive population census to run legitimate elections. Sharaa – previously known as Abu Mohammed al-Jolani – has led the country’s new authorities after the Assad presidency fell earlier this month. Since then, questions have been raised over how HTS will govern the multi-ethnic country. HTS began as a jihadist group – espousing violence to achieve its goal of establishing a state governed by Islamic law (Sharia) – but has distanced itself from that past in recent years.

Sharaa said the group, which was once aligned with Islamic State and al- Qaeda and is designated as a terrorist organisation by the UN and many countries, will be “dissolved” at an upcoming national dialogue conference but gave no further details. The gathering could be the first test of whether Syria’s new leadership can achieve the promised goal of uniting the country after thirteen years of civil war. Responding to criticism of his transitional government, he said the appointments made were “essential” and not meant to exclude anyone. Syria is home to many ethnic and religious groups, including Kurds, Armenians, Assyrians, Christians, Druze, Alawite Shia and Arab Sunnis, the last of whom make up a majority of the Muslim population. (BBC)

Photo: Rebel leader Ahmed al-Sharaa said he did not see himself as a “Syrian liberator”, adding that the people had saved themselves. (Reuters)

BEIJING – China will reduce import tariffs on a large number of goods next year in its latest move to expand domestic demand and advance high-standard opening up, authorities announced Saturday.

Provisional import tariffs, lower than the most-favored-nation rates, will be applied to 935 commodities as part of an annual tariff adjustment plan effective on Jan. 1, 2025. This plan “will help increase the imports of quality products,” according to a statement from the Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council.

This tariff reduction aligns with the need to foster new quality productive forces through scientific and technological innovation, enhance people’s well-being, and promote green and low-carbon development, the commission said.

For instance, lower provisional tariffs will be implemented for some raw materials, including ethane, cycloolefin polymers and ethylene-vinyl alcohol copolymers, which are important basic materials for the petrochemical industry. These tariff cuts will effectively reduce the production costs of enterprises, promote their technological innovation and facilitate the green development of the petrochemical industry,” said Fan Min, deputy head of the information and market department at China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation.  (Xinhua)

USA – Jimmy Carter, the 39th president of the United States and a former peanut farmer whose vision of a “competent and compassionate” government propelled him into the White House, died on Sunday, according to local media. He was 100. The news was announced by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Sunday. Carter’s death follows the passing of his wife Rosalynn on Nov. 19, 2023 at the age of 96 with her family by her side at the Carter home in Plains, Georgia, just days after she had been admitted to hospice care.

The late former president himself had entered hospice care in February 2023. Carter survived for years after he had a “small mass” removed from his liver in early August 2015 and later that month announced he had liver cancer that had spread throughout his body.

The Carter family had a history of cancer and the former president lost his father, brother, and two sisters to pancreatic cancer. His mother had breast cancer, which later spread to her pancreas.

Jason Carter, Carter’s grandson, had announced in May that he believed the former president was “coming to the end” of his life’s journey. But the former president hung on much longer.

The soft-spoken leader with a signature Georgia drawl saw his single term in the Oval Office clouded by an economic downturn at home and a hostage crisis abroad.

His post-presidency life was marked by a very visible dedication to service, but also a series of sometimes controversial moves as he continued to wade into foreign affairs, particularly as it related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Carter met with the leadership of terrorist group and Palestinian representative Hamas in 2009 and 2015. He reprimanded Israel for its operations against Hamas in 2014, saying there was “no justification in the world for what Israel is doing.”

Ukrainian sniper Oleksandr Matsievsky was captured by Russians in the first year of the full-scale invasion. Later, a video emerged showing him smoking his last cigarette in a forest, apparently next to a grave he had been forced to dig.

In October this year, nine captured Ukrainian soldiers were reportedly shot dead by Russian forces in Kursk region. Ukrainian prosecutors are investigating the case including a photo showing half-naked bodies lying on the ground. This photo was enough for one of the victims, drone operator Ruslan Holubenko, to be identified by his parents. “I recognised him by his underwear,” his distraught mother told local broadcaster Suspilne Chernihiv. “I bought it for him before a trip to the sea. I also knew that his shoulder had been shot through. You could see that in the picture. The list of executions goes on. Ukrainian prosecutors are investigating reports of beheadings and a sword being used to kill a Ukrainian soldier with his hands tied behind his back.In another instance, a video showed 16 Ukrainian soldiers apparently being lined up and then mowed down with automatic gunfire after emerging from a woods to surrender.

Some of the executions were filmed by Russian forces themselves, while others were observed by Ukrainian drones hovering above. The killings captured on such videos usually take place in woods or fields lacking distinctive features, which makes confirming their exact location difficult. BBC Verify, however, has been able to confirm in several cases – such as one beheading – that the victims wear Ukrainian uniforms and that the videos are recent. The Ukrainian prosecution service says that at least 147 Ukrainian prisoners of war have been executed by Russian forces since the start of the full-scale invasion, 127 of them this year. Executions became systemic from November last year and have continued throughout all of this year. Sadly, their number has been particularly on the rise this summer and autumn. This tells us that they are not isolated cases. They are happening across vast areas and they have clear signs of being part of a policy – there is evidence that instructions to this effect are being issued.” International humanitarian law – particularly the Third Geneva Convention – offers protection to prisoners of war, and executing them is a war crime. Despite this, Ramzan Kadyrov, the strongman leader of Russia’s Chechnya, briefly ordered his commanders involved in the Ukraine war “to take no prisoners  (BBC)

SEOUL, South Korea  — A passenger plane skidded off a runway at a South Korean airport Sunday, slammed into a concrete fence and burst into flames after its front landing gear apparently failed to deploy. All but two of the 181 people on board died in one of the country’s worst aviation disasters.

The Jeju Air plane crashed while landing in the town of Muan, about 290 kilometres (180 miles) south of Seoul. The Transport Ministry said the plane was a 15-year-old Boeing 737-800 jet that had arrived from Bangkok and that the crash happened at 9.03 a.m. A total of 179 people — 85 women, 84 men and 10 others whose genders weren’t immediately identifiable — died in the fire, the South Korean fire agency said. Emergency workers pulled two people, both crew members, to safety. Health officials said they are conscious and not in life-threatening condition.

Among the 177 bodies so far found, officials have so far identified 88 of them, the fire agency said. The passengers were predominantly South Korean, as well as two Thai nationals. Ju Woong, director of the Ewha Womans University Seoul Hospital, where one of the survivors was hospitalised, said the man was being treated in an intensive care unit for fractures to his ribs, shoulder blade and upper spine. Ju said the man, whose name wasn’t released, told doctors he “woke up to find (himself) rescued.” (Jamaica-Gleaner)

Photo: Firefighters and rescue team members work at Muan International Airport in Muan, South Korea. (AP)