World

 (Reuters) – Australia celebrated its first restriction-free New Year’s Eve after two years of COVID disruptions, as the world began bidding farewell to a year marked for many by the war in Ukraine, economic stresses and the effects of global warming.

VATICAN CITY,  (Reuters) – Former Pope Benedict, who in 2013 became the first pontiff in 600 years to resign, died today aged 95 in a secluded monastery in the Vatican where he had lived since stepping down, a spokesman for the Holy See said.

WASHINGTON,  (Reuters) – Barbara Walters, one of the most visible women on U.S.

(Reuters) – A grad student seeking a criminal justice degree from Washington State University has been arrested and charged with first-degree murder in the stabbing deaths of four University of Idaho students more than six weeks ago, officials said yesterday.

KYIV,  (Reuters) – Russia shelled Ukrainian towns across a long stretch of the frontline from north to south, Ukrainian officials said yesterday, a day after Moscow fired dozens of missiles in its latest barrage against critical infrastructure.

MIAMI,  (Reuters) – Norwegian Cruise Line NCLH.N must pay $110 million in damages for use of a port that Cuba’s government confiscated in 1960, a U.S.

DUBAI,  (Reuters) – Demonstrators shouted slogans denouncing Iran’s supreme leader in the restive southeast of the country yesterday, while a human rights group said at least 100 detained protesters were facing possible death sentences.

(Reuters) – Deposed Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi was convicted of five counts of corruption yesterday and jailed for seven more years, an informed source said, wrapping up a marathon of trials condemned internationally as a sham.

 (Reuters) – Deposed Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi was convicted of five counts of corruption today and jailed for seven more years, an informed source said, wrapping up a marathon of trials condemned internationally as a sham.

BEIJING,  (Reuters) – China’s President Xi Jinping told Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin today that the road to peace talks on Ukraine would not be smooth and that China would continue to uphold its “objective and fair stance” on the issue.

BEIJING, (Reuters) – Chinese state-media said COVID testing requirements imposed by several places around the world in response to a surging wave of infections were “discriminatory”, in the clearest pushback yet against restrictions that are slowing down its re-opening.

KYIV,  (Reuters) – Residents of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv were urged to head to air raid shelters early today as sirens wailed across the city, a day after Russia carried out the biggest aerial assault since it started the war in February.

WASHINGTON,  (Reuters) – A Chinese military plane came within 10 feet (3 metres) of a U.S.

LONDON,  (Reuters) – As the person who dressed the Sex Pistols, Vivienne Westwood, who died yesterday at the age of 81, was synonymous with 1970s punk rock, a rebelliousness that remained the hallmark of an unapologetically political designer who became one of British fashion’s biggest names.

JERUSALEM, (Reuters) – Benjamin Netanyahu was sworn in as Israel’s prime minister yesterday in a comeback at the head of a hard-right cabinet that promises to expand Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank and pursue other policies criticised at home and abroad.

ANKARA,  (Reuters) – President Tayyip Erdogan eliminated a retirement age requirement on Wednesday in a move that allows more than 2 million Turkish workers to retire immediately, less than six months before an election.

BRASILIA, (Reuters) – Brazilian police said they carried out nationwide raids and arrested at least two people today in investigations into an alleged coup attempt during riots by supporters of defeated far-right President Jair Bolsonaro.

CHENGDU,  (Reuters) – Chinese hospitals and funeral homes were under intense pressure yesterday as a surging COVID-19 wave drained resources, while the scale of the outbreak and doubts over official data prompted some countries to enact new travel rules on Chinese visitors.

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.