World

KYIV/BAKHMUT, Ukraine,  (Reuters) – Russian forces increased mortar and artillery attacks on the city of Kherson more than six weeks after it was retaken by Ukrainian troops, while also exerting pressure along frontlines in the east, Ukraine’s military said yesterday.

KINGSTON,  (Reuters) – Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness renewed states of emergency in eight parishes yesterday to control an ongoing threat of crime linked to gang activity in the Caribbean nation.

(Reuters) – A right-wing militia member convicted in the plot to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer was sentenced to over 19 years in prison in a U.S.

TAIPEI,  (Reuters) – Taiwan will extend compulsory military service to one year from four months from 2024 due to the rising threat the democratically governed island faces from its giant neighbour China, President Tsai Ing-wen said yesterday.

KYIV/BAKHMUT, Ukraine, (Reuters) – Russia announced yesterday it would ban oil sales to countries that abide by a price cap imposed this month by the West, giving its long-awaited response to the most dramatic step taken so far to limit Moscow’s ability to raise funds for its war in Ukraine.

UNITED NATIONS,  (Reuters) – The U.N. Security Council yesterday called for the full, equal and meaningful participation of women and girls in Afghanistan, denouncing a ban by the Taliban-led administration on women attending universities or working for humanitarian aid groups.

LISBON,  (Reuters) – Angola’s Supreme Court has ordered the “preventive” seizure of assets worth around $1 billion held by Isabel dos Santos, the daughter of the southern African country’s former president, Portugal’s Lusa news agency said yesterday.

(Reuters) – The leader of a foiled plot by members of right-wing militia groups to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer was sentenced to 16 years in prison yesterday in a U.S.

PIDIE, Indonesia,  (Reuters) – The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) urged countries yesterday to help Rohingya Muslims stranded at sea as at least 20 reportedly died and hundreds more landed in Indonesia after weeks adrift in the Indian Ocean.

KYIV/BAKHMUT, Ukraine,  (Reuters) – Russian forces shelled and bombed towns and cities in eastern and southern Ukraine today, a day after Russia’s foreign minister said Kyiv must accept Moscow’s demands for ending the war or else suffer defeat on the battlefield.

PIDIE, Indonesia,  (Reuters) – The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) urged countries today to help Rohingya Muslims stranded at sea as at least 20 reportedly died and hundreds more landed in Indonesia after weeks adrift in the Indian Ocean.

TAIPEI,  (Reuters) – Taiwan will extend compulsory military service to one year from four months from 2024 due to the rising threat the democratically governed island faces from its giant neighbour China, President Tsai Ing-wen said today.

KYIV, (Reuters) – Moscow said today its forces had shot down a Ukrainian drone close to a long-range bomber base deep inside Russia, while Ukraine said the Russians had unleashed heavy artillery barrages on its cities in the past 24 hours.

(Reuters) – A deadly blizzard paralyzed Buffalo, New York, on Christmas Day, trapping motorists in their cars, knocking out electricity to thousands of homes and raising the death toll from a severe winter storm system that has chilled the United States for days.

MALE, (Reuters) – The Maldives criminal court on Sunday sentenced former president Abdulla Yameen to 11 years in prison and fined him $5 million after finding him guilty of corruption and money laundering charges related to receiving kickbacks from a private company.

(Reuters) – An arctic blast that gripped much of the United States yesterday left more than 700,000 without power, at least 16 dead from weather-related car crashes and thousands stranded due to flight cancellations.

KABUL,  (Reuters) – Afghanistan’s Taliban-run administration yesterday ordered all local and foreign NGOs to stop female employees from working, in a move the United Nations said would hit humanitarian operations just as winter grips a country already in economic crisis.

KYIV, (Reuters) – A Russian strike on Ukraine’s recently recaptured city of Kherson killed at least 10 people, wounded 58 and left bloodied corpses on the road, authorities said, in what Kyiv condemned as wanton killing for pleasure.

LIMA, (Reuters) – Members of former President Pedro Castillo’s Cabinet say he was planning his impeachment trial defense and appeared confident he would win – right up until his explosive speech in which he tried to illegally dissolve Congress, sparking his dramatic ouster and arrest.

(Reuters) – Iran’s Supreme Court has accepted an appeal by rapper Saman Seydi Yasin against his death sentence even as it confirmed the same sentence against another protester, the judiciary said yesteday.