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Hackers Use Some Canada and US Airport PA Systems to Praise Hamas, Criticize Trump

Harrisburg International Airport is seen, in Middletown, Pennsylvania. (AFP/File)
Harrisburg International Airport is seen, in Middletown, Pennsylvania. (AFP/File)
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Hackers Use Some Canada and US Airport PA Systems to Praise Hamas, Criticize Trump

Harrisburg International Airport is seen, in Middletown, Pennsylvania. (AFP/File)
Harrisburg International Airport is seen, in Middletown, Pennsylvania. (AFP/File)

Hackers took over the public address systems on Tuesday at four airports, three in Canada and one in the United States, to broadcast messages praising Hamas and criticizing President Donald Trump, according to officials and news reports.
An "advertisement streaming service" at the Kelowna International Airport in British Columbia "was briefly compromised and unauthorized content was shared," according to the Kelowna Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
The RCMP said it is investigating the hack with other agencies and declined to provide further details, Reuters said.
Hackers broadcast messages in a foreign language and music over the PA system at Victoria International Airport in British Columbia, according to an airport spokesperson.
The hackers breached third-party software to access the PA system, and the airport switched to an internal system to regain control, the spokesperson said.
The Canadian Center for Cyber Security is assisting the airport and the RCMP with the investigation.
Hackers similarly took control of the PA system at Harrisburg International Airport in Pennsylvania, US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a social media post on Wednesday.
The US Federal Aviation Administration and airport officials are investigating the breach, he said.
The FAA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Hackers also breached the flight information display screens and public address system Tuesday evening at Windsor International Airport in Ontario, and displayed "unauthorized images and announcements," according to airport officials.
The breach was to a "cloud-based software provider" used by the airport, and "our systems returned to normal shortly thereafter," according to the airport's statement.
The four locations are smaller, feeder airports. In 2024, the busiest, Kelowna, served just over 2 million passengers, compared to the more than 25 million travelers who passed through Vancouver International Airport - British Columbia's largest airport.

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World

China Bans Two Taiwan Ministers for Alleged ‘Independence Activities’, Angering Taipei

A man walks past a screen broadcasting news about military drills conducted by China around Taiwan, in Beijing, China, 30 December 2025. (EPA)
A man walks past a screen broadcasting news about military drills conducted by China around Taiwan, in Beijing, China, 30 December 2025. (EPA)
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China Bans Two Taiwan Ministers for Alleged ‘Independence Activities’, Angering Taipei

A man walks past a screen broadcasting news about military drills conducted by China around Taiwan, in Beijing, China, 30 December 2025. (EPA)
A man walks past a screen broadcasting news about military drills conducted by China around Taiwan, in Beijing, China, 30 December 2025. (EPA)

Beijing banned two Taiwanese ministers from entering ​China for alleged separatist activities related to "Taiwan independence" on Wednesday, prompting an angry response from Taipei, which said it would not bow to "threats and intimidation."

The office described Taiwanese Interior Minister Liu Shyh-fang and Education Minister Cheng Ying-yao as "die-hard Taiwan independence secessionists" and banned them as well as their relatives, from entry. The ban also extends to Hong Kong and Macau.

Beijing claims democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory and has not ruled out the use of force to take control of the island. Taipei strongly objects ‌to Beijing's sovereignty claims ‌and says only Taiwan's people can decide their ‌future.

Taiwan's ⁠Mainland ​Affairs Council ‌issued a strong protest, saying the move gravely undermined cross-strait relations and would only provoke anger among the public.

It accused Beijing of seeking to create a "chilling effect beyond the named individuals, to coerce Taiwanese people into abandoning their determination to uphold the status quo and their democratic freedoms."

China was also attempting to claim jurisdiction over Taiwan by treating such cases as "domestic criminal offences", the council said in a statement, calling the efforts clumsy and ineffective.

"Threats and ⁠intimidation will never shake the resolve of the Taiwanese people to uphold democracy and freedom," it said. "All serious ‌consequences arising from the Chinese Communist authorities' actions that provoke ‍instability in cross-strait relations must be borne ‍entirely by the Chinese side."

China has now listed 14 people as "secessionists", the ‍office's spokesperson Chen Binhua told reporters at a weekly news briefing, in an announcement that comes a week after the Chinese military carried out its most extensive ever war games around the island. The list already includes Taiwan Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim, head of the island's National Security Council ​Joseph Wu and Defense Minister Wellington Koo.

A third person, Chen Shu-Yi, a prosecutor from Taiwan's High Prosecutors Office, was accused of being an accomplice ⁠in alleged separatist activities and will be held "accountable for life".

The spokesperson called on the public to submit evidence and leads on the prosecutor's activities based on which China would impose "severe punishment", without specifying what those measures would be.

Chen said the purpose of the actions against a small number of "Taiwan independence die-hards" was to "fundamentally safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity", and that the moves were not aimed at Taiwanese citizens in general.

Taipei has complained about Beijing’s “long-arm jurisdiction” to pressure the Taiwanese people and said Chinese laws do not apply in Taiwan, which has its own judicial system.

China fired dozens of rockets towards Taiwan and deployed a large number of warships and aircraft near the island last week in massive war games around the ‌island, causing dozens of domestic flights in Taiwan to be cancelled and drawing concern from regional allies and the West.

World

South Korea’s Lee Says He Asked Xi to Play a Mediating Role on North Korea

In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, visiting South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, left, shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping prior to their bilateral meeting at the Great Hall of the People, in Beijing, Monday, Jan. 5, 2026. (Yue Yuewei/Xinhua via AP)
In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, visiting South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, left, shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping prior to their bilateral meeting at the Great Hall of the People, in Beijing, Monday, Jan. 5, 2026. (Yue Yuewei/Xinhua via AP)
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South Korea’s Lee Says He Asked Xi to Play a Mediating Role on North Korea

In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, visiting South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, left, shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping prior to their bilateral meeting at the Great Hall of the People, in Beijing, Monday, Jan. 5, 2026. (Yue Yuewei/Xinhua via AP)
In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, visiting South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, left, shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping prior to their bilateral meeting at the Great Hall of the People, in Beijing, Monday, Jan. 5, 2026. (Yue Yuewei/Xinhua via AP)

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said on Wednesday that much progress had been ​made in restoring trust with Beijing, and that he had asked Chinese President Xi Jinping to play a role in mediating Seoul's efforts to engage North Korea.

Lee, who held talks with Xi this week, said the Chinese leader had noted patience was needed when they discussed nuclear-armed North Korea. ‌Lee was speaking ‌to South Korean media in ‌Shanghai ⁠with ​his ‌remarks relayed live on television.

The South Korean president said he laid out the efforts - so far without success - that Seoul had been making to engage North Korea in dialogue and improve relations, and asked Xi to play a role to mediate for peace ⁠on the Korean peninsula.

"President Xi acknowledged our efforts so far ‌and said patience is needed," Lee ‍said.
Lee has been on ‍a state visit to China and his ‍meeting with Xi was their second in less than three months.

Lee has sought to open a "new phase" in ties with China, after several frosty years and with South ​Korea's popular cultural exports being shut out of the Chinese market due to a dispute ⁠over a US missile defense system deployment in South Korea in 2017.

"President Xi said 'talk is easy, but action is not so easy,'" Lee said, as he talked about how building trust and respect between countries takes work.

Diplomatic relations are inherently complex in balancing each other's key national interests, Lee said he had told Xi, adding he hoped recent tension between Tokyo and Beijing could be resolved.

Lee said South Korea ‌considered its ties with Japan as important as its relations with China.

World

Pakistan Warns That Afghanistan Is Becoming ‘Hub for Terrorists’ and Poses Regional Threat

This photograph taken on December 29, 2025 shows a Taliban security personnel standing guard near the zero-point border crossing between Afghanistan and Pakistan at the Spin Boldak district of Kandahar province. (AFP)
This photograph taken on December 29, 2025 shows a Taliban security personnel standing guard near the zero-point border crossing between Afghanistan and Pakistan at the Spin Boldak district of Kandahar province. (AFP)
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Pakistan Warns That Afghanistan Is Becoming ‘Hub for Terrorists’ and Poses Regional Threat

This photograph taken on December 29, 2025 shows a Taliban security personnel standing guard near the zero-point border crossing between Afghanistan and Pakistan at the Spin Boldak district of Kandahar province. (AFP)
This photograph taken on December 29, 2025 shows a Taliban security personnel standing guard near the zero-point border crossing between Afghanistan and Pakistan at the Spin Boldak district of Kandahar province. (AFP)

Pakistan’s military on Tuesday warned that Afghanistan is becoming a “hub for terrorists and non-state actors,” widening its allegations to assert that its Taliban government is patronizing al-Qaeda, the ISIS group and the Pakistani Taliban.

Military spokesman Lt. Gen. Ahmad Sharif Chaudhry also told a news conference, without offering evidence, that about 2,500 foreign militants recently entered Afghanistan from Syria following the ouster there of former President Bashar al-Assad. Chaudhry asserted that the militants were invited to Afghanistan.

“These terrorists are neither Pakistanis nor Afghan citizens and belong to other nationalities,” Chaudhry said, adding that the reemergence of international militant groups could pose security risks beyond neighboring Afghanistan’s borders.

There was no immediate comment from Kabul to Chaudhry's claim. Syria’s nearly 14-year civil war ended with Assad's ouster in December 2024, but left behind a patchwork of armed groups on all sides of the conflict, shaped by years of foreign intervention.

Fighters from Syria have since taken part in other wars in the region and beyond, including Turkish-backed combatants sent to Libya and militants recruited by Russia to fight in Ukraine. Foreign fighters have joined Syrian opposition factions, pro-government forces and extremist groups such as the ISIS group.

Chaudhry's remarks came a day after Pakistan and China called for more “visible and verifiable” measures to eliminate militant organizations operating from Afghan territory and to prevent it from being used for attacks against other countries.

Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have deteriorated in recent months, with tensions occasionally spilling into violence. In October, the countries came close to a wider conflict after Pakistan carried out airstrikes on what it described as Pakistani Taliban hideouts inside Afghanistan. Kabul retaliated by targeting Pakistani military posts. The fighting ended after Qatar brokered a ceasefire.

Pakistan has long accused Afghanistan and India of backing the Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, and the outlawed Baloch National Army. Both Kabul and New Delhi deny the allegations.

Chaudhry also said Pakistan killed 2,597 militants in 2025, up from 1,053 a year earlier. The country recorded 5,397 militant attacks, up from 3,014 in 2024.

“Yes, this is a big number,” he said of the 2025 attacks. “Why? Because we are engaging them everywhere.” He added that Afghan nationals were involved in almost all major attacks inside Pakistan last year.