Category World News

Champions League holders Real Madrid got back on track in Europe with a 5-1 victory over RB Salzburg to ensure they will not be eliminated at the first hurdle.

Vinicius Junior and Rodrygo Goes struck twice each with French superstar Kylian Mbappe also on target in a ruthless display at the Santiago Bernabeu on Wednesday.

Carlo Ancelotti’s side lost three of their first six games in a worrying start to the competition and will likely have to compete in the extra playoff round in February, which is part of the competition’s new format, unless they can scrape a top-eight spot.

Brazilian winger Rodrygo struck twice in the first half to help Madrid take control, with Mbappe netting soon after the break and Vinicius Junior grabbing a brace of his own.

Defeats by Liverpool, AC Milan and Lille put Madrid under pressure ahead of their final two group matches and their Austrian visitors started with vim, pinning back the Los Blancos.

Madrid created little of note until Rodrygo’s opener after 23 minutes changed the dynamic of the game.

Mbappe, Vinicius, Rodrygo and Bellingham all click at last for Real

The winger, in sensational form in recent weeks with eight goals in his last nine games across all competitions, finished neatly after Jude Bellingham nudged a cross into his path at the back post.

His second goal was even better, set up by Bellingham with a brilliant backheel, which Rodrygo finished first time with a crisp curling strike.

Mbappe notched the third early in the second half, pinching the ball from Salzburg goalkeeper Janis Blaswich and tapping home to continue his own recent run of fine form after a shaky start to life at Madrid.

Veteran midfielder Luka Modric sent Vinicius Junior down the left with a fine pass for Madrid’s fourth, and the Brazilian finished with a powerful drive across Blaswich.

Vinicius netted again after Fede Valverde burst down the middle and put him through after a slick team move, with the forward stroking home with ease after losing his marker.

Mads Bidstrup slapped home a volley later on to offer Salzburg scant consolation, as well as carrying on Madrid’s unenviable run of conceding in each of their Champions League outings this season.

Despite the late setback, Madrid’s demolition job was just what they needed to settle nerves after their poor start.

Victory left Los Blancos 16th, a point behind Bayer Leverkusen in eighth, which is the final spot for direct qualification to the last 16.

PSG stun Man City with a comeback win in Paris

Paris St Germain clawed back from two goals down to stun Manchester City 4-2 in their Champions League match, leaving the English champions outside the playoff places and in danger of elimination.

Goals from PSG’s Ousmane Dembele, Bradley Barcola, Joao Neves and Goncalo Ramos turned the match on its head after City had taken the game by the scruff of the neck.

Substitute Jack Grealish and Erling Haaland struck in the 50th and 53rd minutes to give City a 2-0 lead, but fans who braved the torrential rain at Parc des Princes were treated to a brilliant comeback.

Dembele latched onto a cross from Barcola to sweep home a goal in the 56th minute. Barcola levelled for the home side four minutes later when he tucked in the rebound after Desire Doue’s blistering shot came back off the crossbar.

PSG parked themselves in City’s half and took the lead in the 78th minute when the visitors’ back line struggled to clear Vitinha’s free kick, leaving Neves to head in at the back post. Ramos added their fourth with a goal in stoppage time.

Law enforcement in the city of Nashville, Tennessee, have said that a 17-year-old suspect fatally shot a female high school student before taking his own life.

Wednesday’s shooting at Antioch High School in the southern United States left two others injured as well.

“I’ve been briefed on the incident at Antioch High School and am grateful for law enforcement and first responders who responded quickly and continue to investigate,” Governor Bill Lee said in a social media post. “As we await more information, I join Tennesseans in praying for the victims, their families and the school community. ”

Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) spokesperson Don Aaron said during a news conference that the injured are being treated at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

BREAKING: A shooting incident is under investigation at Antioch High School. Three people have been wounded, including the suspect, who shot himself. Reunification site for parents is 3754 M’boro Pk. Buses will be taking students there. pic. twitter. com/G5UypO7neP

Parents were told not to come to the school, located about 16 kilometres (10 miles) southeast of downtown Nashville. Instead, they were advised to pick up their loved ones from a nearby medical facility.

Gun violence continues to plague the US, with school shootings a persistent example.

A database maintained by The Washington Post indicates that, as of December, there have been 426 school shootings in the US since 1999, when two teenage gunmen opened fire at Colorado’s Columbine High School.

They killed 15 people, including themselves, in what was the deadliest school shooting up to that point.

Other high-profile school shootings have unfolded in the quarter-century since, including a shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut that claimed 26 lives, including 20 children and six staff.

The MNPD said that Wednesday’s attack began at 11:09am (17:09 GMT). The suspect fired multiple shots in the school cafeteria before shooting himself in the head. In addition to the teenage girl killed in the attack, one student was wounded and another was grazed in the arm.

Aaron, the police spokesperson, said that two school resource officers were on site but were in a different part of the building when the shooting began. By the time they reached the area, the shooting was over and the suspected attacker was dead.

In a statement afterwards, President Donald Trump offered condolences to the families and survivors involved.

“The President and his team are monitoring the news out of Nashville,” the statement said. “As details unfold, the White House offers its heartfelt thoughts and prayers to those impacted by this senseless tragedy and thank the brave first responders responding to the incident. ”

This is not the first time in recent years that the Nashville area has suffered such a tragedy.

In March 2023, an attacker killed three children, all nine years old, and three adults at a private Christian elementary school called The Covenant School.

Syria’s new foreign minister has said that his country hopes to follow in the footsteps of economic powerhouses like Singapore and Saudi Arabia, as it begins to slowly rebuild after nearly 14 years of civil war.

“We need the help of the international community to help us in this new experiment,” Asaad al-Shaibani told the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland on Wednesday. He stressed that Syria’s transition government is already working on energy partnerships with several Gulf states.

He also promised that Syria’s new constitution will represent all of the country’s communities and reiterated calls for the easing of international sanctions, which continue to cripple Syria’s economy.

Speaking at a televised event with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, al-Shaibani said that “the big challenge is economic sanctions. We inherited a lot of problems from the Assad regime… but removing economic sanctions is key for the stability of Syria. ”

Though some Western nations have moved to restore ties with Damascus since former President Bashar al-Assad’s ouster, they remain cautious about the country’s new rulers, led by the former rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).

“All the time they ask us about how to guarantee the rights of [this or] that group and how to guarantee the rights of the woman – in Syria all of us will be under the Constitution and under the rule of law,” al-Shaibani said.

A committee of experts will be formed to draft a new constitution – a process that could take up to four years – and will comprise all “the different groups of Syria” including women, al-Shaibani said.

Earlier this month, al-Shaibani made trips to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, during which he discussed bolstering ties and trade.

The International Criminal Court has demanded answers from Italy over why it freed a Libyan man suspected of crimes against humanity and war crimes, as well as murder, torture and rape.

Italy detained Osama Elmasry Njeem, also known as Osama Almasri Njeem, on Sunday in Turin after receiving a tip-off from The Hague-based ICC, which had issued an international arrest warrant against him.

However, the Italian government unexpectedly freed him on Tuesday because of a legal technicality. He was then flown on an official state aircraft to Tripoli.

Njeem is the head of the Tripoli branch of the Reform and Rehabilitation Institution, a notorious network of detention centres run by the government-backed Special Defence Force.

Njeem is believed to have been in charge of Tripoli’s Mitiga detention centre, and is wanted on charges including murder, rape and sexual violence and torture, committed since February 15, 2015.

The alleged crimes were committed against detainees because of their religion, perceived “immoral behaviour” or alleged support or affiliation to other armed groups, the ICC said.

The ICC, which has been investigating alleged serious crimes committed in Libya since the country’s 2011 civil war, said in a statement it had urged Italy to contact its staff if there were any problems with the arrest process.

However, it said Njeem had been let go without prior notice or consultation.

“The Court is seeking, and is yet to obtain, verification from the authorities on the steps reportedly taken,” the ICC said.

“The Court recalls the duty of all [member states] to cooperate fully with the Court in its investigations and prosecutions of crimes,” the ICC statement said.

Neither Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s office nor the Ministry of Justice has commented on the case.

Technicality

The Italian government released the warlord on a technicality, arguing there was a procedural error in his arrest.

The ruling by a Rome court that secured the release said Justice Minister Carlo Nordio should have been informed ahead of time, since the Justice Ministry handles all relations with the ICC.

The Italian government has close relations with the internationally recognised government in Tripoli.

Any trial in The Hague of Njeem would have brought unwanted attention to Italy’s migration policies and its support of the Libyan coast guard, which it has financed to prevent migrants from leaving.

“This is a stunning blow to victims, survivors and international justice and a missed opportunity to break the cycle of impunity in Libya,” said Amnesty International’s Esther Major, deputy director of research for Europe.

Despite Italy’s move, the European Commission spokesperson reaffirmed all 27 member states of the European Union are pledged to cooperate with the court.

The administration of United States President Donald Trump has called on federal health agencies to temporarily halt their external communications, including public reports on public health incidents.

The Associated Press obtained a copy of the administration’s memo on Wednesday, the day after it was sent to federal health workers announcing the “immediate pause”.

In the memo, the acting secretary of the Health and Human Services Department (HHS), Dorothy Fink, told staffers that some exceptions would be made for “critical health, safety, environmental, financial or nation security functions” — but only after review.

The pause affects regulations, press releases, social media posts, website changes and public health guidance. That includes publications like the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and other data releases.

Such materials may only be released following approval from a Trump appointee. The pause is slated to remain in effect until February 1.

Critics fear the pause may be used to stifle research and other public health information that may not align with the new administration’s priorities.

They point to Trump’s first term, from 2017 to 2021, when he clashed with public health officials over the country’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2020, for instance, Trump blamed the number of COVID-19 tests for creating unflattering statistics.

“When you do testing to that extent, you’re going to find more people, you’re going to find more cases,” Trump said. “So I said to my people, ‘Slow the testing down, please. ’”

Several CDC leaders later testified that Trump officials at the time pressured them to alter the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, though they refused. Republican leaders have denied those allegations.

Still, some experts question whether this week’s pause on publications is simply a byproduct of a new administration taking the reins.

Steven Grossman, a former official with Health and Human Services, told the Associated Press that other administrations have likewise sought a pause in public releases while they get settled in their leadership roles.

“The executive branch is a hierarchy,” said Grossman, who now consults with food and drug companies.

“Whether stated publicly or not, every new administration wants important commitments and positions to wait until new teams are in place and some semblance of hierarchy restored. ”

Fink, an endocrinologist, is currently leading Health and Human Services on an interim basis, while the US Senate considers whether to confirm Trump’s pick to direct the department, Robert F Kennedy Jr, a prominent vaccine sceptic.

Separately, Trump pulled the US out of the World Health Organization on Monday, the first day of his second term, accusing the group of “mishandling” the COVID-19 pandemic.