Briefly

UNITED STATES

Congress recognizes Armenian genocide

The US Senate on Thursday unanimously passed a resolution that formally recognizes the Ottoman Empire's mass killings of Armenians as genocide, a move likely to further strain relations between Washington and Ankara. By passing the Armenian Genocide resolution, "the Senate finally stood up to confirm history: What happened from 1915 to 1923 was, most assuredly, genocide", said Democratic Senator Robert Menendez. The move came one day after the Senate Foreign Relations Committee advanced a bill to the full Senate that directs the administration of President Donald Trump to impose sanctions against Ankara because of its military operations in Syria and the purchase of a Russian S-400 air defense system.

RUSSIA

US ballistic missile test raises concerns

Russia said on Friday it was alarmed after the United States tested a ground-launched ballistic missile that would have been prohibited under the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty, the RIA news agency reported. The United States carried out the test on Thursday. Washington formally withdrew from the 1987 INF pact with Russia in August after determining that Moscow was violating the treaty, an accusation the Kremlin has denied. The test missile flew more than 500 kilometers from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, before it terminated in the open ocean, the Pentagon said in a statement.

CHILE

Remains of Antarctic flight victims found

Searchers combing Antarctic seas had recovered parts of a military transport plane and human remains belonging to some of the 38 people aboard who vanished en route to the frozen continent, Chilean officials said on Thursday. Air Force General Arturo Merino said at a news conference that based on the condition of the remains, he believed it would be "practically impossible" that any survivors would be pulled from the water alive. An international team of searchers continued the hunt, while officials on shore said they would use DNA analysis to identify the crash victims. The military plane, a C-130 Hercules, departed on Monday from a base in Punta Arenas in far-southern Chile on a regular maintenance flight for an Antarctic base. Radio contact was lost 70 minutes later.

AUSTRALIA

First female spy agency chief named

Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Friday appointed a woman to head a major Australian spy agency for the first time. Rachel Noble will become next director-general of the Australian Signals Directorate, which intercepts electronic communications from foreign countries. "Her appointment to this leadership role is a significant step forward for women in the national security sector and we congratulate her," Morrison and Defense Minister Linda Reynolds said in a statement. Noble, who will begin her new role in February 2020, will lead the agency at a time when Australia is increasingly concerned about cyberattacks.

GERMANY

At least 25 injured in apartment block blast

At least 25 people were injured in an explosion in an apartment block in the eastern German city of Blankenburg on Friday, police said, adding that the cause of the blast was not yet known. Residents were being evacuated from the block where the explosion had occurred, spokesman Uwe Becker said. A photo tweeted by police showed a five-story residential block with smoke rising from blackened windows on the second floor. It could not be ruled out that there would be more injured, Becker said.