Monday morning news: December 16, 2024

Syrian Christians return to church » Across Syria, churches opened for Sunday services for the first time since the overthrow of totalitarian leader Bashar al-Assad.

Christians worshiping in Damascus expressed hope that a new government more supportive of religious minorities will be formed soon. To help move that along, U.N. Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen says it’s time for countries like the U.S. to roll back sanctions on Syria.

PEDERSEN: The change that (indecipherable) all seen after the fall of the Assad regime has just been immense.

U.S. Secretary of State Tony Blinken hasn’t pledged to take that step, but says he has been in contact with the rebel group that ousted Assad called Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, for short.

HTS is a former Al Qaeda affiliate that the U.S. still designates as a terrorist organization, leading Senator Lindsey Graham to urge caution as he warned NBC’s Meet the Press of a potential ISIS resurgence…

GRAHAM: There are 50,000 ISIS fighters under the control of Kurdish allies of the United States in northeastern Syria. It is in our national security interest they do not break out of jail and reestablish the Caliphate.

The U.S. military is in Syria conducting counterterrorism operations.

Russia now deploying N. Korean troops into combat vs. Ukraine » Russia is reportedly escalating its war on Ukraine by deploying soldiers from its ally North Korea into the fighting.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Russia has pressed a significant number of North Korean soldiers into service during assaults on Ukraine in Russia’s Kursk region.

Ukraine’s ambassador to the U.S., Oksana Markarova, is showing resolve, telling CBS’s Face the Nation…

MARKAROVA: It’s difficult, of course, to see the reinforcements from this axis of evil. But it will not change anything for us.

Ukraine’s military says friendly fire from North Korean troops has accidentally killed eight Russian soldiers in the conflict.

Over the weekend, Ukraine carried out several drone strikes and set fire to a major Russian oil terminal all in response to a major Russian aerial attack late last week.

Israel closes Irish embassy, Netanyahu talks w/Trump » That’s Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, describing what he calls a very warm phone call with President-elect Trump.

Netanyahu says the two leaders discussed the need to complete Israel’s victory over Hamas, as well as the efforts to free the estimated 100 people still held hostage in Gaza, including seven Americans.

Also over the weekend, Israel announced it’s closing its embassy in Ireland, accusing the Irish government of holding extreme anti-Israel policies. Relations between the two countries have deteriorated during the war in Gaza.

Ireland has gone on record saying it would support a Palestinian state, but Ireland’s prime minister says the country is not anti-Israel.

Drones: Congress has local control legislation in the works » Elected officials in both major parties are calling for action to identify and stop those mysterious drones flying over New York, New Jersey, and other places in the eastern U.S.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer…

SCHUMER: I am going to help pass and I’m going to co-sponsor legislation that will combat these drones in a better way by allowing local police departments and state police departments to help the Feds in sighting these drones.

Right now, the federal Department of Homeland Security’s authority to incapacitate drones is limited. The bill before the Senate would expand that authority, and give state and local agencies new abilities to track, disrupt, disable, or seize drones.

Schumer also wants the federal government to use recently declassified radio wave technology to better spot and identify drones.

For now, national security investigators say it doesn’t look like the drones are a public safety threat or from a foreign country, but aren’t saying much more.

Cyclone in Mayotte likely kills hundreds » There are fears Cyclone Chido has killed several hundred, and maybe thousands, of people in the French territory of Mayotte. That’s according to the territory’s top leader.

Mayotte is in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Africa. Leaders say Chido flattened neighborhoods this weekend, and is the worst cyclone to hit the territory in 90 years.

The cyclone also struck and caused major damage in Mozambique Sunday, where UNICEF spokesman Guy Taylor says…

TAYLOR: We’re also worried about the longer term impacts: children potentially being cut off from learning for weeks on end, people unable to get access to health care, and the potential spread of water-borne diseases.

First responders from another nearby French territory have rushed to the scene in Mayotte. They’re equipped with tons of supplies and working to restore electricity and access to drinking water.

U.S. winter storms bring snow, ice, tornado » A weekend of wild weather in the western U.S. brought ice, snow, and even San Francisco’s first-ever tornado warning.

National Weather Service meteorologist Dalton Behringer says there’s evidence an EF-1 tornado hit the town of Scotts Valley, California, about 70 miles from San Francisco. He reports…

BEHRINGER: A few cars were tossed in the roadway, overturned in parking lots, and quite a bit of tree damage and some damage to the infrastructure there on the roadway through Scotts Valley.

The storm system brought heavy snow to the mountaintops in the Sierra Nevada. Crews even had to shut down an icy 80-mile stretch of I-80 from Applegate, California to the Nevada line near Reno Saturday.

I'm Mark Mellinger.

Straight ahead: 80 years later, Holocaust survivors and heirs, still trying to get property returned. And later, the faith story of a figure in America’s founding better known for his way with words.

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