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Syria's new interim leader announced he was taking charge of the country as caretaker prime minister with the backing of the former rebels who toppled President Bashar al-Assad.
ISRAELI ADVANCES:
📍Israel's incursion in the southwest and its airstrikes create an additional security problem for the new administration, although Israel says its intervention is temporary.
📍After Assad's flight on Sunday ended more than five decades of his family's rule, Israeli troops moved into the buffer zone inside Syria established following the 1973 Middle East war.
📍Three security sources said on Tuesday the Israelis had advanced beyond the demilitarised zone. One Syrian source said they had reached the town of Qatana, several km (miles) to the east of the buffer zone and a short drive from Damascus airport.
📍Israel's Defence Minister Israel Katz said he had ordered a "sterile defensive zone" to be created in southern Syria to protect Israel from terrorism.
📍Military spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani said troops were in the buffer zone and "a few additional points" in the vicinity, the first apparent official Israeli acknowledgement that they had moved beyond it. He said, however, that there had been no significant push into Syria.
📍Katz also said Israel's navy had destroyed Syria's fleet.
📍Regional security sources and officers within the defunct Syrian army said Tuesday's Israeli airstrikes had hit military installations and air bases across Syria and destroyed dozens of helicopters and jets.
📍Turkey, Egypt, Qatar and Saudi Arabia condemned the Israeli incursion.

IN SHORT:
Mohamed al-Bashir term to end on March 1, 2025
He led the Salvation Government previously
Bashar al-Assad ousted from power; provided asylum by Russia

Why in the news?
The Union Territory of Ladakh will host the ice events at the Khelo India Winter Games (KIWG) 2025 from January 23 to 27, while the UT of Jammu & Kashmir will host the snow events from February 22 to 25.
Key Takeaways:
Having started the Khelo India Winter Games in 2020, almost 1000 athletes, including 306 women, took part in the inaugural edition. The participation has increased over the years as more than 1350 athletes in 2021 and 1500-plus in 2022 highlighted the growing attraction of the Games in J&K.
The Winter Games will flag-off the Khelo India season with the Youth & Para Games scheduled in Bihar in April next year. The Khelo India University games are also on the cards. 
The 2024 iteration of KIWG saw participation of 1200-plus participants including more than 700 athletes, 141 support staff, 113 technical officials, 250-plus volunteer and sports specific volunteers and a total of 136 medals at stake.
The 2024 edition was also the first time Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Government of India along with Sports Authority of India managed the technical conduct of the Games in association with the National Sports Federations and Indian Olympic Association. 
Second KIWG in Ladakh after 2024 success:
This will be the second year running that UT Ladakh will host a portion of the Khelo India Winter Games. Before the 2024 edition, J&K used to host all the events. Leh successfully hosted ice events like skating and hockey in February 2024. Gulmarg, like always, hosted the snow events like skiing and snowboarding.

IN SHORT:
The Union Territory of Ladakh will host the ice events at the Khelo India Winter Games (KIWG) 2025 from January 23 to 27.
The UT of Jammu & Kashmir will host the snow events from February 22 to 25.
The Khelo India Winter Games started in 2020.

Why in the news?
The 20th Asian Women’s Handball Championship is scheduled to take place from 3 to 10 December 2024, in New Delhi, India. 
Final Match Overview:
Result: Japan defeated South Korea 25-24 to win the championship.
Venue: Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium, New Delhi.
Date: December 10, 2024.
Defending Champion: South Korea, who had won the title for seven consecutive years.
Japan’s Victory: Japan’s win was their second title in the history of the tournament, with their first championship win dating back to 2004.
Key Takeaways:
This will be the first time the competition is hosted by the Handball Association India (HAI). Initially, the championship was planned to be held in Almaty, Kazakhstan, but it was later moved to New Delhi.
Additionally, the championship will serve as a qualifying event for the 27th IHF Women’s Handball World Championship, which will be held in Germany and the Netherlands from 27 November to 14 December 2025. The top four teams from this competition will secure qualification spots for the World Championship.
The Republic of Korea enters the competition as the defending champion and record title holder, having claimed the championship sixteen times out of nineteen. Apart from the Republic of Korea, only Kazakhstan and Japan have won the championship, with Kazakhstan taking the title twice (in 2002 and 2010) and Japan once (in 2004).
Japan and the Republic of Korea are the only teams to have participated in all nineteen previous editions of the championship. Additionally, P.R. China has participated in eighteen editions, missing only the 2021 tournament due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Republic of Korea has won a medal at every edition of the competition since its inception in 1987, amassing a total of nineteen medals across nineteen editions, including sixteen gold, two silver, and one bronze. Similarly, P.R. China and Japan have each secured a total of seventeen and sixteen medals, respectively.

IN SHORT:
The 20th Asian Women’s Handball Championship is scheduled to take place from 3 to 10 December 2024, in Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium, New Delhi.
Japan defeated South Korea 25-24 to win the championship.

US President-elect Donald Trump on 9th December named Indian American lawyer Harmeet K Dhillon as the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights at the Department of Justice. Dhillon is the fourth Indian-American to be nominated in the Trump 2.0 Cabinet after Dr Jay Bhattacharya (National Institutes of Health (NIH)), Vivek Ramaswamy (Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)) and Kashyap 'Kash' Patel (Director of FBI).
ALL ABOUT HARMEET DHILLON:
📍Born on April 2, 1969, in Chandigarh, Dhillon moved to the US with her family at the age of two and grew up in a Sikh household in rural North Carolina. She later moved to New York City.
📍Dhillon graduated from Dartmouth College with a degree in Classical Studies and English, and then earned her Juris Doctor from the University of Virginia School of Law, where she was a member of the Editorial Board of the Virginia Law Review.
📍She began her career as a law clerk for Judge Paul V Niemeyer of the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and later worked in the Constitutional Torts Section of the Department of Justice, Civil Division. She then joined the prestigious law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, where she gained experience in complex civil litigation, constitutional law, and appellate practice.
📍After a decade at international law firms in New York, London, Silicon Valley, and San Francisco, Dhillon founded her own law firm, Dhillon Law Group, in 2006.
📍Dhillon specialises in several key areas of law, including commercial litigation, employment law, First Amendment rights and election law. Her practice also encompasses securities, entertainment, employment discrimination and civil rights matters.
📍She has a niche practice of representing clients in election and campaign law, including general compliance, ethics representation and intellectual property issues related to campaign communications.
IN SHORT:
Harmeet K Dhillon nominated Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights
Trump praised her for challenging tech censorship and defending religious freedom
Born in Chandigarh, Dhillon founded Dhillon Law Group in 2006