Rebels attack Aleppo, reigniting the civil war, Israel continues assaults in Gaza despite expected talks for a ceasefire with Hamas, the latest on protesters demanding the release of Imran Khan, a new carbon-absorbing powder offers hope for climate efforts and record online holiday shopping
Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad is facing the biggest challenge in years as rebels entered Aleppo, Syria’s second biggest city, and killed dozens of soldiers. The Syrian army said it was preparing a counteroffensive against the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham-led rebels to restore state authority. The surprise attack reignited the Syrian civil war, which has been largely frozen since 2020.
The escalation in the civil comes as genocidal Israeli assaults in Gaza and Lebanon roil the Middle East. Israel continued its strikes killing at least 32 Palestinians across Gaza overnight and into Saturday even as Hamas leaders were expected to arrive in Cairo on Saturday for ceasefire talks with Egyptian officials.
The talks were scheduled days after Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah agreed to a ceasefire in Lebanon following a relentless barrage of Israeli airstrikes. The ceasefire has led to a shaky peace. The Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire is seen as the first major sign of progress in the region since Israel launched its disproportionate assault on Gaza over a year ago.
The Israeli assault has flattened much of Gaza and driven almost the entire population from their homes. Hundreds of thousands of people faced starvation in squalid tent cities The second winter of the war has brought cold rains and flooding.
Asia
In Pakistan, the government claimed a man pushed off a container during the protest of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan‘s party for his release this week was injured but ‘completely fine’. Attaullah Tarar, the country’s information minister, denied claims about the man’s death days after supporters of Khan stormed the capital Islamabad this week demanding his release.
Khan’s party alleged hundreds suffered gunshot wounds when police dispersed protesters. Khan’s wife led the protesters when they broke through security barricades to enter Islamabad.
President Lai Ching-te, meanwhile, began a week-long visit to the Marshall Islands, Tuvalu, and Palau, which are among the handful of countries with diplomatic ties with the self-governed island of Taiwan. Dozens of countries have since the 1970s shifted ties to China as Beijing insists that governments end diplomatic relations with Taipei if they want full relations. China claims Taiwan as its territory.
Lai is visiting the three countries against the backdrop of Donald Trump’s victory and the uncertainty over his dealings with Taiwan and China. Trump has asked Taiwan to sharply increase its military spending. He has complained about Taiwan’s global dominance in making semiconductors. Trump’s proposed cabinet includes Republicans deeply distrustful of China and sympathetic to Taiwan.
Diplomacy
Allies such as Taiwan and Canada are wary of Trump’s return to power. Amid the wariness, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visited Trump’s Florida resort on Friday to meet with the US President-elect. This came days after Trump threatened to slap tariffs on Canadian imports over border-related concerns. Trudeau’s public itinerary did not list a scheduled visit to Florida. Reuters reported he was seen leaving a hotel in Florida’s West Palm Beach to go to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort.
Culture
In France, the 12th-century Notre Dame Cathedral was due to reopen next week to tourists and the Catholic faithful five-and-a-half years after fire gutted the Gothic masterpiece and one of Paris’s most visited monuments. The monument’s spire, rib vaulting, flying buttresses, stained-glass windows, and carved stone gargoyles have been restored. On April 15, 2019, the cathedral’s roof and spire burst into flames and collapsed in a fire that threatened the main bell towers, which narrowly avoided destruction.
Climate
A lab-created yellow powder capable of absorbing carbon from the air could be a new way to combat the climate crisis. Early tests have found that barely 0.227 kg of the powder may remove as much carbon dioxide as a tree can. Once the carbon is absorbed, the powder can be released into safe storage or used in industrial processes such as carbonizing drinks.
Omar Yaghi, a chemist at Berkeley’s University of California who has been working on similar materials for decades, told The Guardian the powder is not the first material to absorb carbon but is a quantum leap ahead of other compounds in terms of durability.
The powder is known as a covalent organic framework. It has strong chemical bonds that pull gases out of the air. The powder is both durable and porous. It can be used hundreds of times. This makes it superior to other materials used for carbon capture. The powder is part of a broader push to collect tiny amounts of carbon from the air – either from power plants or from air around cities.
Business
The busiest days of the holiday shopping season have gotten off to a strong start with American consumers spending a record amount online on Thanksgiving Day. Online results showed consumers were responding strongly to Cyber Week deals that kicked off this week as shoppers headed to the stores for Black Friday deals.
Adobe Analytics, Salesforce, and Shopify tracked online sales and showed online growth on Thanksgiving. Salesforce projected this could be the strongest Cyber Week ever in terms of online sales based on Thanksgiving Day results. The numbers available so far reflect online sales only. There were early indications that Americans were showing up to shop in stores too.
Sports
Fifa has given Saudi Arabia’s 2034 World Cup bid a higher technical score than that of the United States, Canada, and Mexico’s 2026 joint bid although Saudis are still in the process of constructing eight of the stadiums for the tournament. The 92,760-seater King Salman International Stadium in Riyadh and other venues will be completed in 2032. Three new stadiums are expected to be finished for the Asian Cup in January 2027.
Fifa, which released its evaluation report on Saturday morning, said the 2034 Saudi bid received an overall average score of 4.2 out of 5.
