Mexico: United States authorities fired tear gas into Mexico at New Year to repel about 150 migrants who were trying to breach the border fence in Tijuana. An AP photographer witnessed at least three volleys of gas launched onto the Mexican side of the border near Tijuana's beach. It affected the migrants, including women and children, as well as members of the press. Migrants said they arrived last month with the caravan from Honduras. US Customs and Border Protection says the gas was aimed at rock throwers on the Mexican side who prevented agents from helping children who were being passed over the concertina wire. The agency says 25 migrants were detained.
Germany: A German man has been arrested after repeatedly driving a silver Mercedes into crowds of people, injuring at least five, in what authorities said today appeared to have been intentional attacks against foreigners. Four people were injured in the western city of Bottrop and one person was injured in nearby Essen, while pedestrians managed to jump out of his path in two other attempted attacks in those cities, police said. "The man had the clear intention to kill foreigners," German news agency DPA quoted the top security official in North Rhine-Westphalia state, Herbert Reul, as saying. The victims included a 46-year-old woman, who suffered life-threatening injuries, and a child. Some of the victims were Syrian and Afghan citizens. Police said the suspect made anti-foreigner comments during his arrest and there were indications he had been treated for mental illness in the past.
Russia: The mayor of Moscow has fired the director of the city's renowned Gorky Park after 13 people were injured when a wooden pedestrian bridge packed with New Year's celebrants collapsed. Video on Russian television showed a section of the bridge collapsing as the national anthem played on loudspeakers, marking the beginning of 2019. The park in central Moscow is a popular gathering place for the New Year's holiday. The bridge, 350m long, runs along the park's enormous outdoor ice rink. Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said the victims, none of whose injuries were reported to be serious, would each receive compensation. The fired director, Marina Lyulchuk, had been in the post since October 2016.
Syria: Clashes broke out between two powerful insurgent groups in northern Syria, leaving up to seven people dead in the most serious fighting in months in the last major rebel stronghold in the country. The al-Qaeda-linked Hayat Tahrir al-Sham — Arabic for Levant Liberation Committee — and the Turkey-backed Nour el-Din el-Zinki group blamed each other for triggering the fighting in the northern province of Aleppo. Nour el-Din el-Zinki is part of a 15-member coalition known as the National Liberation Front that has clashed with extremists in the past. Other factions in the NLF have been sending reinforcement to rebel-held parts of Aleppo to back their allies against al-Qaeda-linked gunmen raising fears that the fighting will escalate. The rebel-held area is mostly in the northwestern province of Idlib that has witnessed sporadic violence since a Russia and Turkey agreed on a truce in September that averted a government offensive on the area.
