EUROPE – One of Europe’s most wanted fugitives, convicted cocaine smuggler Jos Leijdekkers, has found refuge and high-level protection in Sierra Leone, according to three sources with direct knowledge of the matter as well as photos and video footage seen by Reuters. The images and accounts shed fresh light on the role of the West African nation, which international law enforcement officials say is a transshipment point for large volumes of Latin American cocaine headed to Europe.

Leijdekkers, who is Dutch, was sentenced in absentia to 24 years in prison on June 25 by a Rotterdam court for smuggling more than 7 tons of cocaine. Dutch police have said he was believed to be living in Turkey until recently. A spokesperson for the Dutch prosecutors’ office told Reuters on Friday in response to questions about his whereabouts that he has been living in Sierra Leone for at least six months. Two of the sources with knowledge of the situation said Leijdekkers had been in Sierra Leone since at least early 2023. “It is the highest priority of police and prosecutors to get him to the Netherlands to serve his sentence. We are doing everything we can in that regard,” Dutch prosecutors’ office spokesman Wim de Bruin said, declining further comment. (globalbankingandfinance)

BEIJING – The China Coast Guard (CCG) has expelled two Philippine vessels for unlawfully intruding into waters near Tiexian Jiao of China’s Nansha Qundao. The vessels, which attempted to illegally land on the reef and collect sand samples on Friday, have been warned and driven away, according to CCG spokesperson Liu Dejun on Saturday.

Reiterating that China has indisputable sovereignty over the Nansha Qundao and its surrounding waters, including Tiexian Jiao, Liu said the CCG will continue its law enforcement activities in waters under Chinese jurisdiction, in accordance with the law, to firmly safeguard China’s territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests.  (XINHUA)

MEXICO – When Dayana Castro heard that the US asylum appointment, she waited over a year for was cancelled in an instant, she had no doubt. She was heading north anyway she could.

The 25-year-old migrant, her husband and their four- and seven-year-old children had nothing left at home in Venezuela. They already had trekked the perilous Darien Gap jungle dividing Colombia and Panama and criminal groups that prey on migrants like them.

Castro was one of tens of thousands of migrants across Mexico with appointments to apply for US asylum at the border scheduled out through February until President Donald Trump took office and issued a series of executive orders to beef up border security and slash migration. One ended the use of the CBP One app that had allowed nearly one million people, many seeking asylum, to legally enter the US since January 2023.

“We’re going to keep going. We can’t go home after all we’ve been through, after all the countries we’ve fought our way through, only to give up now,” she said from a small shelter in central Mexico beside a freight train line they were riding north. (Jamaica Gleaner)

Photo: Migrants walk through Tapachula, Chiapas state, Mexico, in an attempt to reach the US border. (AP)

USA – Jimmy Donaldson – aka MrBeast – was jubilant as he told his tens of millions of TikTok followers about his bid to buy the platform. “I might become you guys’ new CEO! I’m super excited!” Donaldson said from a private jet. He then proceeded to promise $10,000 to five random new followers.

The internet creator’s post has been viewed more than 73 million times since Monday. Donaldson said he could not share details about his bid, but promised: “Just know, it’s gonna be crazy.” Donaldson is one of multiple suitors who have expressed interest in purchasing TikTok, the wildly popular social media platform that’s become the subject of a fast-moving political drama in the United States.

Last year, then-President Joe Biden signed a law that gave TikTok’s China-based parent company ByteDance until 19 January to sell the platform or face a ban in the United States.

The legislation addressed concerns about TikTok’s links to the Chinese government and worries about the app being a national security risk. President Donald Trump has floated the possibility of a joint venture. (BBC)

Photo: Billionaire X owner and key Trump adviser Elon Musk is one of several potential buyers for the app. (Reuters)

MEXICO – Mexico has refused a request from President Donald Trump’s administration to allow a U.S. military aircraft deporting migrants to land in the country, a U.S. official and a Mexican official told Reuters. U.S. military aircraft carried out two similar flights, each with about 80 migrants, to Guatemala on Friday. The government was not able to move ahead with a plan to have a C-17 transport aircraft land in Mexico, however, after the country denied permission. (Reuters)

GAZA – During the handover, the four Israeli soldiers were escorted by Hamas to a staged handover in Palestine Square, before they were taken into Red Cross vehicles. They smiled and waved at crowds of Palestinian civilians and gunmen bearing Hamas flags and bandanas, before exiting the stage. (BBC)

The presidential workgroup that was out together to support  Huize Ashiana recently donated five new blood pressure monitors to the management team of this retirement home. The donation which was made possible by the Health Ministry is aimed at improving and monitoring the  health of the residents at Huize Ashiana. The nurses who work at Huize Ashiana will be able to effectively keep an eye on the blood pressure of the residents. The presidential workgroup made it clear that this was the first of many measures aimed at supporting Huize Ashiana.

The people who work for  the banana firm  called  FAI in the Nickerie District are furious and want to take action against those responsible for the construction of a big building on land that had been allocated for agrarian purposes. They are puzzled by the fact that a construction project is being carried out on farm land. Sources told the workers that a top officials from the Ministry of Agriculture Stockbreeding and Fisheries (LVV) who was suspended several months ago is behind the construction of the big building. The workers have demanded that the construction project because halted immediately. If it is not halted,they will also demand to be given a piece of land. “While we are working hard for the company land that belongs to the company is allocated to relatives, loyal members of the party and top officials from the Agriculture Ministry,” said the workers who have already asked their union to address the issue. The workers made it clear that they will go on strike if their demands are not met.

Despite the explanation given by  the director of the Energy Company Suriname (EBS), Leo Brunswijk, there are still many unanswered questions about what exactly went wrong when utility masts were constructed for the new transmission line that will go to the Saramacca District via  Sophia’s Lust. Some of the masts were placed in drainage systems such as water channels which makes it impossible for the water to flow freely and therefore increases the risk of flooding in several residential areas. “The EBS is busy solving this problem with the land owners,” said  Brunswijk who added that a foreign consultancy firm has been hired to present possible solutions. It is, however, still unclear what will happen if the land owners refuse to let go of a portion of their land so that the drainage channels can be rerouted. Residents from 

Toevluchtweg, Welgelegen,

and  Sophia’s Lust have expressed their concern regarding the way the EBS is doing things. The people who live in an area that faces drainage issues fear that their neighborhoods will get flooded after each heavy rainfall. They also complained about the potential health risks that could be triggered by the high voltage masts that were placed closed to houses.

 Brunswijk has not addressed these concerns but explained that the Health Ministry would have to launch an investigation to determine the health risks.

Despite the objections and concerns of the residents and several agencies the construction of the utility masts has not been halted. Public Works

Minister Riad Nurmohamed labelled the situation as a big blunder on EBS’ part. He made it clear that the Public Works Ministry had given permission for the construction of the masts along the channels. “The masts were never supposed to be constructed in the channels.”

JAMAICA – The police on Thursday vowed that gangsters would never again take control of Spanish Town, St Catherine after responding quickly to fiery protests by residents of Tawes Meadows and other communities angered that cops had shot dead One Order Gang leader Othniel “Thickman” Lobban. “News of his demise created a reaction in the Tawes Meadows community. This reaction is really an indication of the kind of psychological control and impact that gangs continue have on these communities and so persons are upset and are expressing themselves based on their relationship with Lobban, who was a leader in this area,” Acting Assistant Commissioner of Police Christopher Phillips said. “Wednesday night we had a few incidents where roads were blocked and there were attempts to burn a few premises, but we were quick on location to put some control on that,” Phillips pointed out. Lobban was shot dead in the Six Miles area of the St Andrew South Police Division during what the police said was a gunfight with members of the anti-gang task force (Jamaicaobserver)

GAZA – Hamas has named four hostages to be released on Saturday under the Gaza ceasefire deal. It says they are soldiers Karina Ariev, Daniella Gilboa, Naama Levy and Liri Albag. They will be freed in exchange for 180 Palestinian prisoners held in Israel. It will be the second such exchange since the ceasefire came into effect last Sunday. Three hostages and 90 prisoners were released in the first swap.

The ceasefire halted the war which began when Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October 2023. About 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken back to Gaza as hostages. More than 47,200 Palestinians, the majority civilians, have been killed in Israel’s offensive, Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry says. Hamas is also expected to provide information about the remaining 26 hostages due to be released over the next five weeks. This includes the Bibas family – two parents and two children, one of whom, Kfir, was 10 months old when taken captive and is the youngest hostage. It is unclear if this information will include the names or just the number of living or dead hostages. (BBC)

RUSSIA – Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 8243 was downed on 25 December by a missile from a Pantsir-S1  system brought from Syria to Russia, killing 38 and injuring 29, sources reveal. New findings emerging from Russian sources suggest that Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 8243 was downed by a missile fired from a Pantsir-S1 air defence system which was brought from Syria to Russia, according to reliable sources familiar with the investigation quoted exclusively by Azerbaijan-based international news channel AnewZ and reported for the first time in Europe by Euronews. Electronic warfare systems were deployed against the Azerbaijani aircraft on 25 December as it was on its approach to land in Grozny, leading to severe malfunctions in its control systems before its crash near Aktau airport in Kazakhstan, AnewZ reported based on its sources. (Euronews)

USA – “It’s like the United States doesn’t actually understand what I did for this country, it’s a betrayal,” Abdullah tells the BBC. He fled Afghanistan with his parents amid the US withdrawal in August 2021 and is now a paratrooper for the US military. He worries he can’t help his sister and her husband escape too, because of President Donald Trump’s executive order suspending a resettlement programme. The order cancels all flights and suspends applications for Afghan refugees, without any exemption for families of active servicemembers.

Trump argues the decision addresses “record levels of migration” that threaten “the availability of resources for Americans”. But Abdullah and several other Afghan refugees have told the BBC they feel the US has “turned its back” on them, despite years of working alongside American officials, troops and non-profit organisations in Afghanistan. We are not using their real names, as they worry doing so could jeopardise their cases or put their families at risk. As soon as Abdullah heard about the order, he called his sister in Afghanistan. “She was crying, she’s lost all hope,” he said. He believes his work has made her a target of the Taliban government which took power in 2021. (BBC)