Axios

The U.S. expressed concern to the new foreign minister of the transitional administration in Syria, Asaad Hassan al-Shibani, about reports of violent attacks by militant groups around the country in recent days, U.S. officials said.

The big picture: The Assad regime's fall after five decades in power and 13 years of civil war left behind many armed groups, and many more grievances. The U.S. is concerned that violent reprisals by militants affiliated with the victorious rebels — targeting minority groups or members of the ousted regime — will undermine efforts to stabilize the country.

Big questions loom over yesterday's crash that killed all but two of the 181 people aboard a South Korean jetliner.

The big picture: Video shows the Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 suffering an apparent bird strike, then attempting a belly landing before skidding down the runway into an antenna atop a small hill and exploding.

The fatal beating of a Black man by white corrections officers at an upstate New York prison that was caught on body cam video has sparked anger, investigations and planned protests.

The big picture: New York State Attorney General Letitia James on Friday released body cam footage showing correction officers attacking, punching and choking inmate Robert Brooks as he lies in a semi-conscious state.

Panama's President José Raúl Mulino remembered former President Jimmy Carter, who died on Sunday at age 100, for his "crucial" role in ensuring the Panama Canal was returned to Panamanian control.

The big picture: Carter signed treaties with Panama's leader in 1977 for the U.S. to gradually cede control of one of the world's most significant pieces of infrastructure — a move that came into effect on Dec. 31, 1999.

Authorities in Kazakhstan are investigating the cause of an Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash in the country, which killed 38 people and injured 29 others on Christmas Day.

The big picture: Flight J2-8243 was diverted while en route from Baku, Azerbaijan's capital, to Grozny in southern Russia.

Azerbaijan has demanded that Russia admit its guilt over a Christmas Day plane crash that killed 38 people, the country's President Ilham Aliyev said on Sunday.

The big picture: Russian President Vladimir Putin apologized to Aliyev for the Azerbaijan Airlines crash occurring in Russian airspace, but a Kremlin statement made clear he wasn't accepting responsibility for the incident.

Jimmy Carter spent just four years in the White House, but the past 40 leading the Carter Center, a nonprofit he and his wife Rosalynn — who passed away in Nov. 2023 — founded in 1982 to keep pushing their political vision.

Why it matters: The nonprofit not only has been "waging peace" across the world, as Carter often said, it rebuilt his public image following his 1980 landslide election loss.

Mexico is launching a smartphone app that allows Mexican migrants to warn relatives and instantly alert the nearest consulate if U.S. immigration agents detain them, officials said Friday.

Why it matters: The announcement came as part of a broad warning from the administration of Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum that the nation will defend the human rights of Mexican citizens in the U.S. amid President-elect Trump's mass deportation plans.