WION Morning News Brief, December 8, 2017

WION Morning News Brief, December 8, 2017

Cristiano Ronaldo

Story highlights

Washington's major Western and Arab allies have warned that Trump's decision on Jerusalem could doom attempts to achieve what the U.S. president has called the ?ultimate deal? of Israeli-Palestinian peace.

When President Donald Trump told the Palestinian president of his intention to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, he assured him a peace plan being put together would please the Palestinians, officials said, an apparent effort to limit fallout over his break with longtime U.S. policy.

The meeting of US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis with the leaders of Pakistan during his visit to Islamabad early this week was to find common ground in the fight against terrorism, the Pentagon said today.

Portugal`s Cristiano Ronaldo was awarded the Ballon d`Or for world player of the year on Thursday for a joint-record fifth time, going level with eternal rival and Barcelona forward Lionel Messi as the player to have won the prize the most times.

Democratic US Senator Al Franken announced his resignation from office on Thursday, bowing to pressure from party colleagues after a series of sexual misconduct allegations against him.

An expert witness called by Vijay Mallya's defence team on Thursday described as "superficial" the processes employed by banks to grant loans totalling more than Rs 2,000 crore to now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines in 2009.