Koreas hold groundbreaking ceremony for rail, road connect

South and North Korean officials attend a groundbreaking ceremony for the reconnection of railways and roads at Panmun Station in Kaesong, North Korea, on December 26. The ceremony was held at Panmun Station in the North Korea’s border town of Kaesong and attended by some 100 participants from both sides, according to Seoul’s unification ministry.SD-Agencies

Trump declares end to US ‘policeman’ role in Iraq

U.S. President Donald Trump used a lightning visit to Iraq — his first with U.S. troops in a conflict zone since being elected — to defend the withdrawal from Syria and to declare an end to America’s role as the global “policeman.”

The president spoke to a group of about 100 mostly special forces personnel and separately with military leaders before leaving a few hours later. A planned meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi was scrapped* and replaced by a phone call, the premier’s office said.

Egypt’s Mubarak testifies in retrial of Morsi

Two former Egyptian presidents appeared in the same Cairo courtroom last week, with Hosni Mubarak testifying in a retrial of Mohammed Morsi.

The 90-year-old Mubarak, whose nearly three-decade rule was ended by a popular uprising* in 2011, could be seen walking into the courtroom with a cane.

Morsi, an Islamist who became Egypt’s first freely elected president the following year, was removed from power by the military in 2013 amid mass protests against his divisive* rule.

Mexican governor, husband killed in crash

A Mexican governor and her senator husband were killed on December 24 in a helicopter crash near the city of Puebla in central Mexico, the government said, just days after she had taken office following a bitterly contested election.

Martha Erika Alonso, a senior opposition figure and governor of the state of Puebla, died with Rafael Moreno, a senator and former Puebla governor, when their Agusta helicopter came down shortly after take-off, the government said.

Security Minister Alfonso Durazo said the privately owned helicopter was bound for Mexico City.

Gunmen storm Libyan Foreign Ministry

At least three people were killed and 10 others, including a paramedic, injured during a terrorist attack on the Libyan Foreign Ministry’s headquarters in Tripoli, the health ministry said.

The attack occurred when a car bomb exploded right behind the ministry’s building, a foreign ministry source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity*.

Indonesia hikes danger level for tsunami volcano

Indonesia on Thursday raised the danger alert level for an erupting volcano that sparked a killer tsunami over the weekend, after an earlier warning that fresh activity at the crater* threatened to trigger another deadly wave.

Authorities also widened the no-go zone around rumbling Anak Krakatoa to 5 kilometers — up from the previous 2 kilometers — and warned shell-shocked residents to stay away from the coast, after more than 400 were killed by Saturday night’s wave.(SD-Agencies)