USA – US immigration authorities last year deported the largest number of undocumented immigrants in nearly a decade, surpassing the record of Donald Trump’s first term in office. More than 271,000 immigrants were deported from the US over the last fiscal year, according to a report released by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency on Thursday.

The ICE report comes just weeks before President-elect Trump, who plans to make mass deportation a cornerstone of his incoming administration, takes office. President Joe Biden in 2021 had pledged to pause deportations, but his administration ended up expanding it following a surge in border crossings.

In the newly released report, ICE said the steep climb in deportations last fiscal year was partly the result of a streamlined process. More deportations flights went to further away destinations, including Africa and Asia, which did not accept US deportations for years, the agency said. A majority of the deportations in fiscal year 2024 involved migrants apprehended by border officials compared to those ICE arrested in the US interior. Roughly 82% of the 271,000 immigrants deported that year were arrested by border agents. President-elect Trump has vowed to launch the “largest deportation operation in history” when he returns to office on 20 January. (BBC)

BOGOTA – The board of Colombia’s central bank on Friday voted to cut its benchmark interest rate by a surprise 25 basis points to 9.50%, less than expected by the market, citing global financial pressures and the work of other central banks to raise their own interest rates. All 25 analysts in a recent Reuters poll said they expected the board to vote for a cut of 50 basis points. Five of the board’s seven policymakers voted for a 25 basis point cut, one for a 50 point cut and one for 75 points, board director Leonardo Villar said in a press conference. (Reuters)

Photo: General view of the Central Bank of Colombia building in downtown Bogota, Colombia.

WASHINGTON – United States (US) President Joe Biden said Friday he was cancelling student loans for an additional 55,000 Americans, which would amount to wiping out US$4.28 billion in debt in his final month in office. The mass cancellation of debt is for “teachers, nurses, service members, law enforcement officials, and other public service workers who have dedicated their lives to giving back to their communities,” he said in a statement issued by the White House Friday. With this new crop of beneficiaries, it would mean “nearly five million people” have been approved for debt relief during Biden’s administration. “From day one of my administration, I promised to make sure that higher education is a ticket to the middle class, not a barrier to opportunity,” the outgoing president said.

US Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said in a statement that Friday’s approval brings the total amount secured during Biden’s four years in office to “nearly US$180 billion in life-changing student debt relief for nearly five million borrowers”.

The Democratic president had instated a landmark forgiveness program in 2022 to cancel hundreds of billions in student debt — which would have made certain borrowers eligible to receive US$20,000 in cancellations, while the vast majority were eligible for US$10,000. (Jamaicaobserver)

Photo: United States President Joe Biden (Photo: AFP)

GERMANY – A car has driven into a group of people at a Christmas market in the eastern German city of Magdeburg, the German news agency dpa has reported. The driver of the car was arrested, the agency said, citing unidentified government officials in the state of Saxony-Anhalt. There was no immediate information on whether people were killed or injured. (Euronews)

PARIS –  French President Emmanuel Macron has paid tribute to Gisèle Pelicot for the strength she showed in the mass rape trial of her husband and 50 other men. Describing her as a trailblazer for women, he said her “dignity and courage moved and inspired France and the world”.

Her ex-husband Dominique Pelicot, 72, was given a maximum 20 years in jail for aggravated rape, after confessing to drugging her for almost a decade and recruiting dozens of men to rape her while she lay comatose in bed. After 50 other men were given lesser sentences, Gisèle Pelicot said the trial was a difficult ordeal, but she believed in a future where women and men could “live in harmony with respect and mutual understanding”. It was her decision to waive her anonymity and throw the trial open to the public that drew global attention to the issues of rape and drug-induced sexual assault. Judges in Avignon in southern France found all 51 defendants aged 27 to 74 guilty, but a lawyer for Gisèle Pelicot said on Friday that “no sentence will give her back her ruined life”.

Her three children were said to have been disappointed that many of the sentences had been shorter than the terms requested by prosecutors. They ranged from three to 15 years, rather than the maximum of 18 sought by prosecutors. Forty-one of the men have been sent to jail immediately, reports say. Many of those convicted are likely to appeal against their sentences. Dominique Pelicot’s lawyer said he had been “somewhat stunned” by his 20-year jail term and would decide whether to appeal in the coming days. Judges say he will have to serve two-thirds of his sentence before being eligible for parole. Campaigners against sexual violence have stood outside the court throughout the trial and hope it could bring about reform of France’s rape laws and change the debate on rape culture and drug-induced sexual assault.

“Shame changes sides” has become one of the slogans of the case and, in an indication of the importance of the trial, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz thanked Gisèle Pelicot for giving women around the world “a strong voice”. “The shame always lies with the perpetrator,” Scholz added. One of her lawyers, Antoine Camus, told France Info radio on Friday that the trial would serve as a “building block” and that by making the proceedings public Gisèle Pelicot had sought to enable society to “get to grips with [the issues] and ask the right questions”. The president of France’s National Assembly, Yaël Braun Pivet, said a taboo had been broken: “The world is no longer the same thanks to you.” French ex-prime minister Gabriel Attal hoped that the mass rape trial would send a “shock wave” through the education of every young boy – “because this is where the fight for equality and respect begins”. (BBC)

Photo: French President Emmanuel Macron. (Business Recorder)

MYANMAR – More than 100 Rohingya refugees from war-torn Myanmar have been rescued while adrift on a fishing trawler off the Indian Ocean island nation by Sri Lanka’s navy, bringing them safely to port.

The 102 people, including 25 children, were taken to Sri Lanka’s eastern port of Trincomalee, a navy spokesman said on Friday.

“Medical checks have to be done before they are allowed to disembark,” the spokesman said.

The Muslim-majority ethnic Rohingya are heavily persecuted in Myanmar and thousands risk their lives each year on long sea journeys, the majority heading southeast to Malaysia or Indonesia.

But fisherman spotted the drifting trawler off Sri Lanka’s northern coast at Mullivaikkal at dawn on Thursday.

The navy spokesman said on Friday that language difficulties had made it hard to understand where the refugees had been headed, suggesting that “recent cyclonic weather” may have pushed them off course.

While unusual, it is not the first boat to head to Sri Lanka, which is about 1,750km (1,100 miles) across open seas southwest of Myanmar.

In October, six people died as nearly 100 Rohingya landed by boat in Indonesia’s Aceh province in one of the latest waves of arrivals from Myanmar.

The Sri Lankan navy rescued more than 100 Rohingya refugees in distress on a boat off their shores in December 2022.

In 2017, hundreds of thousands of Rohingya fled Myanmar for neighbouring Bangladesh during a crackdown by the military that is now the subject of a United Nations genocide court case.

Myanmar’s military seized power in a 2021 coup and a grinding civil war since then has forced millions to flee.

The Rohingya have borne the brunt of the latest fighting because they have been forcibly drafted into the army despite not being recognised as citizens. (Al Jazeera)

Photo: The Rohinga refugees being rescued. (Sun.mv)

OCCUPIED WEST BANK   –  Israeli settlers have set fire to a mosque in the occupied West Bank, while also defacing the building’s facade with hateful and racist slogans such as “Revenge” and “Death to Arabs” spray-painted in Hebrew. Abdallah Kamil, the governor of Salfit, said on Friday that the attack targeted the Bar al-Walidain mosque in the village of Marda, in the latest incident of settler violence. “A group of settlers carried out an attack early this morning by setting fire to the mosque,” Kamil said in a statement.

One resident of the village told AFP news agency that the settlers “set fire to the entrance of the mosque and wrote Hebrew slogans on its walls”. Another resident said the fire was extinguished before it could engulf the entire structure. Nasfat al-Khufash, head of the Marda village council, also confirmed the “systematic terror attack by a group of settlers”, in an interview with Reuters news agency. The Israeli settlements on Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank are considered illegal by the United Nations and under international law. Governor Kamil said that settlers had previously entered the village “under the protection of the Israeli army”, and that similar acts of vandalism and graffiti had been reported in nearby areas. Palestine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Ramallah condemned the incident, calling it a “blatant act of racism” and a reflection of the “widespread incitement campaigns against our people carried out by elements of the extremist right-wing ruling government” of Israel.

The Israeli police and Shin Bet security services said in a joint statement: “We see this incident as extremely serious and will act resolutely to bring the perpetrators to justice for rigorous trial.” Settler violence in the illegally occupied West Bank has intensified since the war in Gaza began on October 7 last year. As of October 2024, there have been at least 1,400 settler attacks in the West Bank.

Since the start of the war on Gaza, at least 803 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank by Israeli forces or settlers, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. (Al Jazeera)

Photo: A person checks the damaged Bar al-Walidain mosque in the village of Marda following an attack by Israeli settlers near Salfit in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. (Reuters)

LONDON  –  Sir Paul McCartney has reunited with his former Beatles bandmate Sir Ringo Starr during a gig at London’s O2 Arena. The drummer was brought on stage to thunderous applause before the pair launched into classics Helter Skelter and Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. “I’ve had a great night and I love you all,” Sir Ringo said later as he walked off stage.

Last Thursday’s performance was the last in Sir Paul’s Got Back tour, which saw the 82-year-old play in France, Spain and Brazil. Sir Ringo was not the only musical guest appearance on Thursday night. Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood joined Sir Paul for a rendition of Get Back, during which the latter played his original Hofner 500/1 bass guitar for the first time in more than 50 years. The instrument was stolen in 1972 but Sir Paul was reunited with it earlier this year. Sir Paul and Sir Ringo, who are the last surviving members of The Beatles, have played together a number of times since the band broke up in 1970. That includes at Sir Ringo’s 2015 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction and on Sir Paul’s last tour, Freshen Up, in 2019.

Sir Paul is known for treating his fans to jumbo performances packed with hits from his lengthy musical career, which also includes the band Wings and several solo albums. Last Thursday night was no different, with him playing nearly 40 songs on various instruments. Other highlights from last Thursday’s gig included a performance of In Spite of All the Danger. This was the first song recorded by The Quarrymen, the first band Sir Paul was a member of, along with the late John Lennon and George Harrison. He was also joined by a children’s choir to sing his festive favourite Wonderful Christmastime. (Al Jazeera)

Photo: Sir Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr. (Reuters)

KYIV  –  At least one person has been killed and seven wounded after a Russian missile attack targeted Ukraine’s capital. The attack on Friday morning also damaged buildings across Kyiv and sparked fires in some, according to the head of Kyiv’s military administration, Serhiy Popko. Russia launched eight missiles on Kyiv, Popko said, adding that it used hypersonic Kinzhal missiles and Iskander/KN-23 ballistic missiles to carry out the attack. Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that air defenses were operating following a missile attack which Russia said was in “response” to this week’s Ukrainian strikes using Western missiles on a chemical plant in southern Russia.

“In response to the actions of the Kyiv regime, supported by its Western handlers, a combined strike with long-range precision weapons was launched today,” Russia’s defense ministry said in a statement. Media reports in Ukraine, quoting witnesses on the ground, said a series of loud blasts were heard in Kyiv and smoke could be seen rising over part of the city. “Ballistic missile from the north!” the Ukrainian Air Force warned in a Telegram message. Local media outlet the Kyiv Independent said several explosions took place at about 7am (05:00 GMT). It quoted Klitschko as saying that “multiple cars were on fire in the Holosiivskyi district of the city due to the falling debris from a missile”.

Fires also broke out in the Solomianskyi and Shevchenkivskyi districts of Kyiv, as well as at a construction site in the Dnipro district. The city mayor said at least seven people were wounded, four of whom were taken to hospital. Prior to the air raid, the Ukrainian Air Force warned that a MiG-31 Russian fighter jet capable of firing hypersonic missiles had taken off from a Russian airbase, the Kyiv Independent reported.

Later on Friday, Ukraine’s Air Force said it downed five ballistic missiles and 40 drones, with a further 20 drones failing to reach their targets.

Last Thursday, at an end-of-year media conference, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin proposed a “high-tech duel” with Kyiv and suggested he would test his claims that Russia’s new hypersonic ballistic missile is impervious to air defenses. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy blasted the provocation, calling Putin’s entourage “thugs”.

Al Jazeera’s Defense Editor Alex Gatopoulos, reporting from the Ukrainian city of Odesa, said Russia’s attack was a direct consequence of the two presidents trading barbs. “Putin said we can get through and we will get through, and they’ve shown today that they are able to,” Gatopoulos said. Air raid alerts were issued twice during the night in Kyiv due to drone attacks. The city authorities stated that the air defence intercepted all drones and that debris fell in the Desnianskyi district. In southern Ukraine, Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said Ukrainian soldiers repelled Russian sabotage and reconnaissance groups overnight as they attempted to advance towards the city of Kherson, the Kyiv Independent reported. Prokudin said Russian forces targeted residential areas and critical infrastructure. One person was killed, and at least nine others were injured, according to local authorities quoted by the news outlet. Russian troops have been carrying out attacks in the southern Ukrainian region to gain a foothold on islands in the Dnipro River delta. (Al  Jazeera)

Photo: Firefighters work to extinguish a fire near the site of a destroyed building. (Reuters)

Iran’s President Pezeshkian, during his address at the D-8 summit in Cairo, said “the first step to stopping the aggression is to pressure Israel for a ceasefire in Gaza and to halt attacks on Lebanon and Syria.”

This is the top humanitarian and ethical priority for regional countries and D-8 members, he said, adding that Iran supports any “agreement that is accepted by the Palestinian people and has the consensus of all Palestinian groups”.

In Lebanon, Pezeshkian said “despite extensive efforts to prevent the killing of civilians and innocents, a ceasefire text was eventually prepared, and the resistance, despite some reservations, agreed to it to strengthen national unity.

“However, unfortunately, the other side [Israel] is violating the ceasefire. We urge other countries to provide extensive support, both in terms of pressuring the Zionist regime to fulfil its commitments and in the reconstruction and normalization of life, as well as economic and infrastructural assistance to Lebanon.” (Aljazeera)

ANKARA  –  Turkiye has hit back at claims by the United States that it agreed to a ceasefire with Kurdish fighters in northern Syria, and has vowed to continue working to clear them from the territory – a military operation that was launched after the fall of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. A senior Turkish defense official on Thursday rubbished claims made by US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller that a Washington-brokered ceasefire between Turkish-backed rebels and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) around the Syrian city of Manbij had been extended until the end of this week. The SDF is supported by Washington in its fight against ISIL, but Ankara views it as a “terrorist organisation”, alleging links with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has waged a four-decade armed rebellion on Turkish soil.

On Thursday, the Turkish official described Miller’s statement as “a slip of the tongue”, saying it was “out of the question” for Turkiye to talk to the SDF, a group spearheaded by the People’s Protection Units (YPG), which is seen an extension of the PKK. “Until the PKK/YPG terrorist organisation disarms and its foreign fighters leave Syria, our preparations and measures will continue within the scope of the fight against terrorism,” said the official. Turkiye regards the PKK, YPG and SDF as “terrorist” groups. The US and Turkiye’s Western allies also list the PKK as “terrorist”, but not the YPG and the SDF. Renewed fighting between Turkish-backed factions and Syrian Kurdish fighters comes more than a week after fighters led by opposition group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) toppled Syria’s longtime strongman Bashar al-Assad.

Reporting from Istanbul, Al Jazeera’s Sinem Koseoglu said that Turkiye believed it was up to the new Syrian administration to remove “foreign fighters” – an allusion to PKK members of the YPG –  from its territory. “Turkiye considers all those PKK ranks within the YPG as foreign fighters and the Turkish foreign minister said these foreign fighters … within the opposition factions should be out of Syria, especially as there is a new Syrian administration and a national army is expected to be established,” she said. If the new administration was unable to remove foreign fighters from its territory, Turkiye could potentially intervene, she added.

The Turkish official’s comments came as concerns grew over a possible Turkish assault on the Kurdish-held Syrian border town of Kobane, also known as Ain al-Arab, some 50km (30 miles) northeast of Manbij. US President-elect Donald Trump described the toppling of al-Assad as an “unfriendly takeover” by Turkiye, which had aligned itself with several of the opposition groups that led the lightning offensive on Damascus. Speaking to Al Jazeera last Wednesday, Turkiye’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan rejected Trump’s comments, saying it would be “a grave mistake” to describe the current events in Syria as a takeover by Turkiye. (Al Jazeera)

Photo: A mourner in Qamishli, northeastern Syria, holds a portrait of a fighter with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) who was killed in Manbij during clashes with Turkish-backed opposition factions. (AFP)

USA – The White House intentionally hid from the public Joe Biden’s rapidly diminishing mental condition for his entire presidency, according to a bombshell report.  Biden’s team hired a vocal coach, put other officials into roles usually occupied by the president, scrapped meetings on the president’s ‘bad days’ and avoided calls with other politicians, according to an explosive report in The Wall Street Journal. It exposed an extensive and deliberate cover-up that included the administration repeatedly gaslighting those who dared to claim the president was no longer the same man who had served as Barack Obama’s vice president. 

But Biden’s decline was hard to overlook – especially after Special Counsel Robert Hur last year released a report in the classified documents case depicting a forgetful and frail then-81-year-old. Hur decided not to charge Biden because he ‘would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview of him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory’ and ‘it would be difficult to convince a jury that they should convict him.’

The WSJ notes how Biden could not even repeat back to his staff lines they fed him while preparing for his interview with the special counsel. Biden would also cancel important national security meetings, with aides excusing him because he had ‘bad days and good days’. A well-connected Democratic strategist confirmed to DailyMail.com that the majority of Biden’s executive power is ‘concentrated by people who are not external facing,’ including his advisors Bruce Reed, Steve Ricchetti, and Mike Donilon. For years, Biden’s lower-level staff have griped that the ‘triumvirate’ of Biden’s trusted advisors – known as the ‘Biden whisperers’ – have had an outsized influence on the president. As his presidency comes to an end, many in Washington agree that it’s been hard to tell who is actually in charge of running the country. (Dailymail)

CHINATOWN  –  An American citizen has pleaded guilty to helping run what has been described as the first known secret police station in the US on behalf of the Chinese government. Prosecutors say Chen Jinping and his co-defendent Lu Jianwang opened and operated the station in Manhattan’s Chinatown neighbourhood in early 2022 on behalf of China’s Ministry of Public Security (MPS). At least 100 such stations have been reported worldwide across 53 countries, with rights groups accusing China of using the outposts to threaten and monitor Chinese nationals abroad. But China has denied that they are police stations, saying they are “service stations” providing administrative services to nationals overseas. The outpost, which occupied an entire floor above a ramen stall, did provide basic services like renewing Chinese citizens’ driver licenses, but it also helped Beijing identify pro-democracy activists living in the US, say federal authorities.

Matthew Olsen, an assistant attorney general in the US Department of Justice, called the attempt to operate the undeclared overseas police station “a clear affront to American sovereignty and danger to our community that will not be tolerated”. The station was closed in the autumn of 2022 after the Federal Bureau of Investigation launched an investigation. But Chen and Lu destroyed text messages they exchanged with an MPS official when they learned of the probe, prosecutors said. The men, who are both American citizens, were arrested in April last year. Last  Wednesday, Chen, 60, pleaded guilty to conspiring to act as an agent for China, and faces up to five years in prison when he is sentenced next year. Chen’s acknowledgement of guilt is a “stark reminder of insidious efforts taken by the [Chinese] government to threaten, harass, and intimidate those who speak against their Communist Party,” Robert Wells, an executive assistant director of the FBI’s National Security Branch said in a statement.

Lu, 59, has pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial. Prosecutors have accused him of harassing a purported Chinese fugitive to return to China and for helping to locate a pro-democracy activist in California on behalf of the Communist Party. At the time of Chen’s arrest, authorities said it marked the first time the US has brought criminal charges in relation to such police outposts. Mr Olsen said US authorities would “continue to pursue anyone who attempts to aid China’s efforts to extend their repressive reach into the United States”. In September, Linda Sun, a former aide in the New York governor’s office, was charged with using her position to serve Chinese government interests. She was said to have received benefits, including travel, in return. Last year, 34 officers from the MPS were also charged with using fake social media accounts to harass Chinese dissidents in the US and spread official Chinese government propaganda. (BBC)

Photo: Manhattan’s Chinatown. (Getty Images)