Taiwan simulates China attacks as tension rises
AFP, Taipei
Taiwan began two days of military drills Tuesday simulating an attack by China as the government sought to reassure the public in the face of deteriorating relations with Beijing.
The island’s armed forces gathered in central Taiwan for annual drills that saw troops practise combat skills with tanks, attack helicopters and artillery.
Trump won’t be worse than Obama: Maduro
Reuters, Caracas
Venezuela’s socialist leader said on Monday that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump was the victim of a global “hate campaign” and could not be worse than outgoing Barack Obama.
On the campaign trail, the conservative Trump criticized Venezuela’s ruling Socialists for oppressing their own people, but Maduro refrained from firing back in his first public comments on the Republican’s election win.
“Let’s wait and see what happens. Don’t let’s jump ahead of ourselves. I want to be prudent,” he told a news conference.
Istanbul massacre suspect caught
AP, Istanbul
Turkish police captured the gunman who carried out the deadly New Year’s nightclub attack in Istanbul, with officials saying Tuesday that he’s an Uzbekistan national who trained in Afghanistan and confessed to the massacre.
Prime Minister Binali Yildirim told reporters in Ankara that the man was being questioned by police and expressed hope that the interrogation would unveil the “forces” behind the attack, which killed 39 people and has already been claimed by the Islamic State group.
MH370 search ends with
no plane
AP, Sydney
After nearly three years, the hunt for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 ended in futility and frustration Tuesday, as crews completed their deep-sea search of a desolate stretch of the Indian Ocean without finding a trace of the plane. The Joint Agency Coordination Center in Australia, which helped lead the $160 million hunt for the Boeing 777 in remote waters west of Australia, said the search had officially been suspended after crews finished their fruitless sweep of the 120,000-square kilometer (46,000-square mile) search zone.
