World

BEIJING/SHANGHAI,  (Reuters) – Chinese President Xi Jinping and his senior officials pledged to support China’s battered economy next year as the deaths of two veteran state journalists highlighted the worsening spread of COVID-19 in the capital Beijing.

BERLIN,  (Reuters) – A huge aquarium in Berlin that was home to around 1,500 exotic fish burst today, spilling 1 million litres (264,172 gallons) of water and debris onto a major road in the busy Mitte district, emergency services said.

KYIV,  (Reuters) – Western allies stepped up their support of Ukraine with additional funding, sanctions against Moscow and expanded military training while Kyiv’s defence minister predicted a new Russian offensive.

WASHINGTON,  (Reuters) – The U.S. Senate passed legislation yesterday authorizing a record $858 billion in annual defense spending, $45 billion more than proposed by President Joe Biden, and rescinding the military’s COVID vaccine mandate.

SHANGHAI,  (Reuters) – China reported 2,157 new symptomatic COVID-19 infections on Dec.

(Reuters) – The hundreds of Russian drones hovering ominously over the Ukrainian battlefield owe their existence to an elastic, sanctions-evading supply chain that often runs through a shabby office above a Hong Kong marketplace, and sometimes through a yellow stucco home in suburban Florida.

WASHINGTON,  (Reuters) – The U.S. National Archives yesterday released thousands of documents related to the 1963 assassination of then-President John F.

ANKARA,  (Reuters) – A Turkish court ordered the arrest of a journalist in the country’s southeast for allegedly spreading “disinformation”, his lawyer said yesterday, marking the first pre-trial detention under a new law that critics say threatens free speech.

WASHINGTON,  (Reuters) – President Joe Biden yesterday announced an agreement aimed at bolstering trade ties between the United States and Africa after years in which the continent took a back seat to other U.S.

MIAMI,  (Reuters) – The United States yesterday sanctioned what it described as a “major drug dealer” in the Dominican Republic, barring Americans from dealing with Jose “La Arana” Calderon and freezing his assets.

LONDON, (Reuters) – National Health Service nurses in Britain will strike today in their first ever national walkout, as a bitter dispute with the government over pay ramps up pressure on already-stretched hospitals at one of the busiest times of year.

BRUSSELS,  (Reuters) – Belgium’s intelligence service worked closely with other European countries for more than a year to uncover the graft scandal now rocking the European Parliament, the justice ministry said.

TEGUCIGALPA, (Reuters) – Honduras will sign an agreement today to install a United Nations-backed anti-corruption mission in the country, a foreign ministry official said Wednesday, making good on a key campaign pledge of President Xiomara Castro to root out graft.

(Reuters) – Moscow said no “Christmas ceasefire” was on the cards after nearly 10 months of devastating war in Ukraine, even as the release of dozens more prisoners including an American showed that some contacts between the two sides remain.

NEW DELHI, (Reuters) – Russia’s flagship Urals crude has been sold at deeper discounts this month following a European ban on Russian oil imports, and dominant buyer India has bought barrels at well below a $60 price cap agreed by the West, four market sources said.

SAO PAULO, (Reuters) – Deforestation in the world’s most biologically diverse savanna, the Brazilian Cerrado, rose by around 25% in the 12 months through July from the previous period, two people familiar with the still unreleased government data told Reuters.

STRASBOURG,  (Reuters) – The European Parliament stripped Greek lawmaker Eva Kaili of her senior assembly post yesterday over allegations that World Cup host Qatar had bribed her to influence decision-making, charges she has denied.

KYIV/WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – The United States was finalising plans to send its sophisticated Patriot air defence system to Ukraine in a potentially pivotal move while allies pledged just over 1 billion euros ($1.05 billion) to help Ukrainians survive the freezing winter.

CAPE TOWN, (Reuters) – South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) yesterday stopped an impeachment process from being launched against President Cyril Ramaphosa, as most of its lawmakers voted to reject an inquiry report into alleged misconduct.

HONG KONG,  (Reuters) – China is working on a more than 1 trillion yuan ($143 billion) support package for its semiconductor industry, three sources said, in a major step towards self sufficiency in chips and to counter U.S.