NEWS OF THE DAY
Hezbollah probe: The Justice Department is forming a team of prosecutors to investigate drug trafficking and money laundering linked to the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant movement, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Thursday. The move follows reports that Obama administration officials thwarted drug prosecutions related to Hezbollah for fear of jeopardizing a nuclear deal with Iran. President Trump and congressional Republicans have pressured Sessions to take a fresh look at Obamaera dealings, in an effort that Democrats contend is aimed at steering attention away from investigations into Trump campaign ties to Russian election meddling.
Pope’s Chile visit: Pope Francis will meet with two victims of Chile’s military dictatorship during his upcoming trip, and isn’t ruling out a private encounter with victims of clerical sex abuse, the Vatican said Thursday. The Jan. 15-21 trip to Chile and Peru will be Francis’ 22nd foreign trip and sixth to his home continent of South America. The encounter with two victims of the 1973-1990 Pinochet regime will take place in the northern city of Iquique.
Greenland cleanup: Denmark and its autonomous Arctic island of Greenland have signed an agreement to clean up U.S. military installations that were left to rust in the pristine landscape after the Cold War. The deal earmarks $29 million over six years for the cleanup. Greenland Premier Kim Kielsen and Danish Environment Minister Esben Lunde Larsen finalized it in Copenhagen on Thursday. A 1951 deal between Copenhagen and Washington allowed the U.S. to build 33 bases and radar stations in Greenland, but the agreement didn’t specify who would be responsible for cleanup. The U.S. left defunct buildings, abandoned vehicles and empty fuel barrels along runways used during World War II.
Boat disaster: Venezuelan authorities say four people are confirmed dead and 28 are missing after a boat filled with people leaving the troubled South American nation sunk in Caribbean waters. Regional Civil Protection director Jose Montano says the boat departed Tuesday en route to the Dutch island of Curacao near Venezuela’s coast. Authorities are continuing to search for the missing.
Name dispute: Macedonia’s deputy prime minister expressed optimism over renewed efforts to resolve a decades-long dispute with neighboring Greece over the Balkan country’s name that has kept it out of NATO. Bujar Osmani said on Thursday that both countries were committed to finding an “acceptable solution” to the name issue, noting the “general feeling of fatigue” over the 25-year dispute. Macedonia gained independence from Yugoslavia in 1991. But Greece says the republic’s name implies a territorial claim to its historic Macedonia region and advocates a socalled “composite name” solution. Greece, a NATO member, has blocked Macedonia’s membership. Spain tourism: Spain says it had a record number of international visitors for the fifth consecutive year in 2017 and that one in five tourists chose the restive Catalonia region as their main destination. Ministry of Tourism statistics showed 82 million visitors last year, an increase of nearly 9 percent from 2016. British nationals were the top tourists. The numbers let Spain surpass the U.S. to become the world’s second most-visited country after France.