GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AP) — Guyana’s government Saturday formally protested to Venezuela following the completion by Venezuela’s armed forces of a bridge built on a remote river island shared by both countries. Work on the bridge, which links Venezuela’s mainland to a military base, has caused a decades-old row over border lines in the Essequibo region to flare up again.

Guyana Foreign Minister Hugh Todd said in a statement that he was forced to summon Venezuelan Ambassador Amador Perez Silva to his office Thursday to condemn the move by Venezuela to build the bridge.

The bridge links Venezuela’s mainland to the eastern side of Ankoko island. The ministry claims the bridge connects the Venezuelan mainland to a small military base that Venezuela built illegally on Guyana’s side of Ankoko, a small island that is mostly inhabited by gold miners and military personnel.

The two neighboring states have feuded over land and maritime borders for decades as Venezuela claims that an 1890s boundaries commission cheated it out of the oil rich Essequibo region. The region currently makes up two-thirds of Guyana’s territory. The area was administered by Britain for more than a century, and it has been under Guyanese control since 1966, when the nation gained its independence from the United Kingdom.

Ousted Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad planned to keep fighting rebel forces in the country before Russia evacuated him, according to a statement attributed to him released Monday.

“My departure from Syria was neither planned nor did it occur during the final hours of the battles,” Assad, 59, said on his Telegram account.

Assad said he remained in Damascus until the early hours of Dec. 8 — the day the rebels entered Syria’s capital.

DAMASCUS, Dec 11 (Reuters) - Syrian rebel leader Ahmad al-Sharaa - better known as Abu Mohammed al-Golani - told Reuters in a written statement on Wednesday that he would dissolve the security forces of the toppled regime of Bashar al-Assad.

His forces swept across Syria in a lightning offensive that overthrew 50 years of Assad family rule, replacing it with a three-month transitional government of ministers that had been ruling a rebel enclave in Syria's northwest.

The military command affiliated with his group, which is known as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, already said they would grant an amnesty to military conscripts.

He would now also "dissolve the security forces of the previous regime and close the notorious prisons," Sharaa said in a statement shared exclusively with Reuters by his office.

Syrians have flocked to the infamous prisons where the Assad regime is estimated to have held tens of thousands of detainees, desperately looking for their loved ones. Some have been released alive, others were identified among the dead and thousands more have not yet been found.

Sharaa also said he was closely following up on possible chemical weapons depots and coordinating with international organisations to secure them. The group had already announced it would not use those weapons under any circumstances.

Dec 11 (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday asked a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit accusing him of making defamatory statements during his campaign about five Black and Hispanic men who were wrongly convicted and imprisoned for the 1989 rape of a white jogger in New York’s Central Park.

Trump's lawyers said in a court filing , that his statements about the men, known widely as the Central Park Five, were legally protected expressions of opinion.

The Central Park Five were cleared in 2002 based on new DNA evidence and another person's confession. Trump falsely said at a Sept. 10 presidential debate with Democrat Kamala Harris that they had killed a person and pleaded guilty.

Attorneys for Trump said the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment "protects the President-elect’s speech about matters of public concern."

A lawyer for Trump at Dhillon Law Group declined to comment, and a spokesperson for his transition team did not immediately respond to a request for one. Trump on Monday said he would nominate Dhillon Law Group's founder Harmeet Dhillon to lead the Justice Department's civil rights division.

Shanin Specter, an attorney for the Central Park Five — Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana, Kevin Richardson, Antron Brown and Korey Wise — said they expected Trump's arguments to fail.

"We look forward to taking discovery and proceeding to trial," Specter said.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s president defended his martial law decree as an act of governance and denied rebellion charges Thursday, rejecting the opposition-led impeachment attempts against him and investigations into last week’s move.

Yoon Suk Yeol’s televised statement came hours before the main liberal opposition Democratic Party submits a new impeachment motion against Yoon. The opposition party plans to put the motion on a floor vote this Saturday.

Its earlier attempt to impeach Yoon fell through last Saturday, with ruling party lawmakers boycotting a vote at the National Assembly.

Yoon’s Dec. 3 martial law declaration, the first of its kind in more than 40 years in South Korea, has generated political chaos and large protests calling for his ouster. The decree brought hundreds of armed troops attempting to encircle parliament and raiding the election commission, though no major violence or injuries occurred, and he was forced to lift it about six hours later.

“I will fight to the end, to prevent the forces and criminal groups that have been responsible for paralyzing the country’s government and disrupting the nation’s constitutional order from threatening the future of the Republic of Korea,” Yoon said.

Yoon, a conservative, said his martial law introduction was meant to issue a warning to the main liberal opposition Democratic Party, which he said has been paralyzing state affairs and destroying the country’s constitutional order. He said the deployment of less than 300 soldiers to the National Assembly was designed to maintain order, not dissolving or paralyzing it.

Yoon called the Democratic Party “a monster” and “anti-state forces,” which he said repeatedly tried to use its legislative muscle to impeach top officials, undermine government budget bills and sympathize with North Korea.

“The opposition is now doing a knife dance of chaos, claiming that the declaration of martial law constitutes to an act of rebellion. But was it really?” Yoon said.

• Syrian refugees return to Damascus to rebuild lives

• Little-known Bashir takes over as caretaker prime minister

• Bashir says will be PM until March 1

• US urges rebels not to adopt autocratic leadership

DAMASCUS, Dec 11 (Reuters) - Refugees from Syria's long civil war were making their way home on Wednesday, as a new interim prime minister said he had been appointed with the backing of the rebels who toppled President Bashar al-Assad.

U.S. officials, engaging with rebels led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), urged them not to assume automatic leadership of the country but instead run an inclusive process to form a transitional government.

The new government must "uphold clear commitments to fully respect the rights of minorities, facilitate the flow of humanitarian assistance to all in need, prevent Syria from being used as a base for terrorism or posing a threat to its neighbours," U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.

HTS is a former al Qaeda affiliate that led the anti-Assad revolt and has lately downplayed its jihadist roots.

In a brief address on state television on Tuesday, Mohammed al-Bashir, a figure little known across most of Syria, said he would lead the interim authority until March 1.

"Today we held a cabinet meeting that included a team from the Salvation government that was working in Idlib and its vicinity, and the government of the ousted regime," he said.

Bashir ran the rebel-led Salvation Government before the 12-day lightning rebel offensive swept into Damascus.

Behind him were two flags - the green, black and white flag flown by opponents of Assad throughout the civil war, and a white flag with the Islamic oath of faith in black writing, typically flown in Syria by Sunni Islamist fighters.

• Opposition Democratic Party to introduce bill to impeach Yoon for vote on Saturday
  

• National police chief latest to be arrested, Yonhap reports
• Yoon quiet after apologising for surprise Dec. 3 martial law
• Automaker, financial institution workers to join growing public protest

SEOUL, Dec 11 (Reuters) - South Korea's police chief became the latest top official to be arrested, Yonhap news agency said on Wednesday, in a widening investigation into President Yoon Suk Yeol's failed martial law that has plunged the country into a constitutional crisis.

The main opposition Democratic Party (DP) said on Wednesday it plans to hold a parliament vote to impeach Yoon on Saturday, with some members of the president's People Power Party (PPP) having spoken out in favour of such a motion.

"The impeachment train has left the platform. There is going to be no way to stop it," DP leader Lee Jae-myung said at the start of a party meeting.

The first impeachment vote last Saturday failed as most PPP members boycotted the session. Yoon's surprise martial law declaration stunned the country and plunged Asia's fourth-largest economy and a major U.S. ally into a leadership crisis, sending shockwaves through diplomatic and economic fronts.

National Police Commissioner Cho Ji-ho was arrested early on Wednesday on insurrection charges, Yonhap said. Cho is accused of deploying police to block lawmakers from entering parliament after Yoon declared martial law on Dec. 3.

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — A trend in South Africa of people jumping in front of slow-moving cars to get compensation payouts for injuries drew a warning Tuesday from the government’s national Road Accident Fund.

In a statement, it said the phenomenon of people intentionally getting hit near intersections and stop streets was becoming a significant problem, while it acknowledged that some cases might have been driven by poverty and desperation at an expensive time of the year.

“We acknowledge road users may be faced with socioeconomic challenges,” the fund said.

The RAF allows people to claim compensation from a national fund if they are injured in car crashes.

But it warned that it was clamping down on bogus claims after identifying the new trend. It said people were waiting for vehicles to “slow down enough that they don’t get killed” before throwing themselves in front of or against the cars to fake an accident.

“The RAF does not compensate someone who intentionally causes a motor vehicle accident, even if this results in serious injuries,” it said.

The fund didn’t say how many cases of people intentionally getting hit by cars it had recorded but said it had rejected nearly 50,000 claims in the period between February 2022 and February this year, some of them because they were fraudulent.

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran announced Tuesday that all governmental offices, universities, and schools in the province of Tehran will be closed for two days because of poor air quality, state TV reported.

The capital city of Tehran — home to over 10 million people — saw the closure of elementary schools and kindergartens on Saturday and Sunday, but authorities said Tuesday that because of increasing pollution, all governmental offices, universities and schools will be closed on Wednesday and Thursday, adding that schooling will continue on online platforms.

The TV report also said that banks, essential public services and health centers would remain open on those days.

Authorities also announced that schools and universities in neighboring Alborz province, and the central province of Isfahan will be closed on Wednesday and Thursday.

In Iran, schools usually work from Saturday to Wednesday.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s previous defense minister was stopped from attempting suicide while in detention over last week’s martial law, officials said, as police were reported to be raiding President Yoon Suk Yeol’s office Wednesday in their intensifying investigation.

The main liberal opposition Democratic Party also plans to submit a new motion to impeach Yoon for his Dec. 3 declaration that imposed martial law.

Yoon’s ill-conceived power grab has paralyzed South Korean politics, frozen its foreign policy, and rattled financial markets, greatly reducing his chances of completing his five-year term and casting a turbulent shadow over one of Asia’s most robust democracies.

Shin Yong Hae, commissioner general of of the Korea Correctional Service, told lawmakers Wednesday that Kim tried to kill himself at a detention center in Seoul. He said that Kim’s suicide attempt failed after center officials stopped him and that he is in a stable condition now.

At the same parliament committee meeting, Justice Minister Park Sung Jae confirmed Kim’s failed suicide attempt.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — U.S. wildlife officials announced a decision Tuesday to extend federal protections to monarch butterflies after years of warnings from environmentalists that populations are shrinking and the beloved pollinator may not survive climate change.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service plans to add the butterfly to the threatened species list by the end of next year following an extensive public comment period.

“The iconic monarch butterfly is cherished across North America, captivating children and adults throughout its fascinating life cycle,” U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Martha Williams said in a news release. “Despite its fragility, it is remarkably resilient, like many things in nature when we just give them a chance.”

The Endangered Species Act affords extensive protections to species the wildlife service lists as endangered or threatened. Under the act, it’s illegal to import, export, possess, transport or kill an endangered species. A threatened listing allows for exceptions to those protections.

In the monarch’s case, the proposed listing would generally prohibit anyone from killing or transporting the butterfly. People and farmers could continue to remove milkweed, a key food source for monarch caterpillars, from their gardens, backyards and fields but would be prohibited from making changes to the land that make it permanently unusable for the species. Incidental kills resulting from vehicle strikes would be allowed, people could continue to transport fewer than 250 monarchs and could continue to use them for educational purposes.