IndustryStandard

Donald Trump has demanded that the Panama Canal be given back to the US if Panama did not manage the waterway in a fashion that was acceptable to him – and he accused the central American country of charging excessive rates for use of the ocean-connecting ship passage.

“The fees being charged by Panama are ridiculous, especially knowing the extraordinary generosity that has been bestowed to Panama by the US,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform late Saturday, a little more than a month before the start of his second US presidency. “This complete ‘rip-off’ of our Country will immediately stop….”

Police in Germany have said a man suspected of killing at least five people and injuring hundreds more after a car was driven at speed through a crowded Christmas market faces charges of murder and attempted murder.

The suspect, named by German media as Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, a 50-year-old psychiatrist from Saudi Arabia who arrived in Germany in 2006, was remanded in custody late on Saturday after the attack in the central town of Magdeburg on Friday night.

More than 100 days have passed since Israeli forces killed 26-year-old Turkish-American Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi as she protested illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. And still, no one has been held to account.

Despite pleas from her family and lawmakers, the Biden administration has not opened an independent investigation into her killing. Instead, it has said it’s awaiting the final results of Israel's probe, and reiterated this week that it’s up to the Justice Department to determine whether to launch an investigation into Ayşenur’s killing.

Syrians in Maariyah, in the western Daraa countryside, staged a protest against Israel’s continued invasion of Syrian lands on Friday.

The Israeli army, which recently set up a base in the town, reportedly fired at the protesters, injuring one of them.

Images posted by local Syrian social media accounts showed protesters carrying banners, which read: "Free, free Syria, Israel get out."

They may have lost the presidency, the House, and the Senate, but when it comes to avoiding introspection, the Democrats are completely undefeated. You’d have thought that after the disastrous presidential election, the Democrats might have taken some time to figure out what went wrong. You’d have thought they might have decided to try and refresh the party – make it more relevant to disenchanted voters. You’d have thought they might have realized that they needed to shake things up.

Well, you’d have thought wrong. As the recent drama with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez shows, it’s business as usual with the Democratic establishment. Instead of trying to present a fresh new face to the world, they’re continuing to be a party of geriatric multimillionaires who are more concerned about pomp and procedure than actually winning elections.

The race between AOC and Connolly was broadly seen as not just representing a competition between two people but two different futures for the Democratic party. AOC represented a generational shift: a fresh young face and energetic communicator who represents a more anti-establishment spirit. Connolly was business as usual for the Democrats. For a while, it seemed like AOC had a real shot at winning, but then 84-year-old Nancy Pelosi, recovering in hospital from hip-replacement surgery, reportedly made a bunch of phone calls and urged people to back Connolly. On Tuesday, he won by a vote of 131-84.

Her metamorphosis hasn’t gone unnoticed. “The view of her is evolving,” the representative Glenn Ivey told Axios. “She seems to have changed her approach to legislating, and I think she’s figured out how to rock the boat without tipping it over.” At this stage, however, AOC might be realizing that despite selling out a lot of her supporters, the Democratic establishment still aren’t prepared to let her steer the ship. Maybe when she’s in her 80s it’ll finally be her turn.

While AOC may not be the progressive force she once was, having her as the lead Democrat on the House oversight committee would still have represented a shift for the Democratic party. Elevating her into a leadership position would have signaled a new start. Instead, it looks like the Democrats are committed to repeating the same old strategies, with the same aging politicians, in the hope that, this time, they might work.

Israel has “seized” territory in Syrian-controlled areas of the Golan Heights, as its military warned Syrians living in five villages close to the Israeli-occupied portion of the strategic area to “stay home”.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he ordered Israeli forces to grab a buffer zone in the Golan Heights established by a 1974 ceasefire agreement with Syria, after a lightning advance by Syrian opposition forces ended Bashar al-Assad’s rule.

Israel captured a portion of the Golan Heights in the 1967 war and annexed it. The international community, except for the United States, views it as illegally occupied Syrian territory.

In interview with ToI, a Free Syrian Army officer expresses hope for friendly relations with Jewish state, warns of Iranian militias propping up Assad: ‘They will come for Israel, too’

The commander interviewed by The Times of Israel participated in the recent seizure of Aleppo and his troops are now fighting government forces, Hezbollah and Iran-backed militias in the area, and pushing south.

The rebel leader, in his early 60s, agreed to be interviewed by phone on condition of anonymity and spoke of the objectives of the ongoing campaign, his vision for the future of Syria and relations with Israel, and the role the Jewish state can play, in his view, in support of the rebels.

A quiet residential street in the town of El Bireh was transformed overnight into a car cemetery. One after another, one encounters the remains of the vehicles, torched, destroyed, in ashes; some are covered by large plastic sheets, their owner's phone number attached.

It looks like a bombed-out scene. Nineteen cars were completely burned that night in November, a total loss; one was somehow salvaged by its owner, who had it repaired for 11,000 shekels (about $3,000). The most expensive car destroyed was a new Skoda SUV, which had cost 170,000 shekels.