American Airlines Lifts Ground Stop; Hundreds Protest in Syria Over Christmas Tree Burning

American Airlines on Tuesday lifted an hour-long ground stop of all its flights in the United States due to an unspecified technical issue, a notice on the U.S. aviation regulator's website showed. A U.S. NGO said that they believe the American journalist missing in Syria, Austin Tice, “is alive and we know that as a fact.” Meanwhile, protests broke out in the Christian community of the Syrian capital Damascus after a Christmas tree was set on fire in another town. A U.S. judge on Monday delayed a trial for the suspect in the second assassination attempt of President-elect Donald Trump until September 2025, according to a court order.