NEWS OF THE DAY
From Across the Globe
Nuke plant deaths: Three South Korean workers died Friday after apparently inhaling toxic gas at a construction site for a nuclear plant being built by South Korea’s monopoly nuclear power company. The accident occurred in the southeastern city of Ulsan. The company has yet to determine the cause of the accident, although the leaking of nitrogen was suspected.
Syria conflict: Activists say Syrian air raids on two northern towns held by the militant Islamic State group have killed more than 50 people in two days. Rami Abdurrahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights in Britain said Friday that several air strikes on the towns of al-Bab and neighboring Qabasin killed at least 53 people, including seven children.
Border attack: A Palestinian man on Friday stabbed and lightly wounded two Israeli paramilitary border policemen at the entrance to Jerusalem’s Old City on Friday, Israeli police said. The attacker stabbed an officer in the neck, and in an ensuing struggle stabbed another in the arm before fleeing. Police are searching for the attacker.
Condom campaign: ProKremlin activists are distributing condoms on the streets of Moscow with the images of opposition leaders whom they blame for the collapse of the Russian currency. The LifeNews TV channel showed activists handing out condoms with pictures of Alexei Navalny, tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky and others on the packets. Navalny has been the focus of Kremlin-instigated smear campaigns before.
Deadly landslides: At least nine people were killed and 10 others were missing in mudslides triggered by heavy rains Friday in the central hills of Sri Lanka, officials said. More than 60,000 people have been evacuated and 3,000 homes destroyed as floods and mudslides have covered many parts of the Indian Ocean island in the last four days, disaster officials said.
Coalition air strike: An air strike by U.S.-led coalition forces on Friday killed three Afghan villagers who were “heavily armed” but not part of the Taliban insurgency, an Afghan official said. The governor of eastern Logar province, Neyaz Mohammad Amiri, said that the coalition had told local authorities that the dead were Taliban insurgents, but that villagers in the remote Ab Josh area disputed that claim, saying the dead were civilians who were protecting their land from nomads.
Mexican priest killed: A third priest has been killed in the “hot lands” region of Mexico’s southern Guerrero state. The bishop of the diocese in Ciudad Altamirano said Friday that the Rev. Gregorio Lopez Gorostieta was found dead with a gunshot wound to the head on Christmas Day. Many other priests have been robbed or briefly abducted in the region, which is dominated by drug cartels.
Malaysia floods: Authorities have evacuated numerous villages and towns in five Malaysian states that were inundated following the worst floods in decades that have killed five people and displaced more than 105,000.