Five more Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces in a second day of raids in the occupied West Bank, with the UN calling for de-escalation. The Paris 2024 Paralympic Games opening ceremony began in glorious conditions as about 4,400 athletes arrived.
Read MoreRussia staged another attack on Kyiv with Iranian-built drones. All five were shot down. Air defenses also destroyed 10 attack drones targeting Dnipropetrovsk & Zaporizhzhia regions. Almost half-a-million people in the southern Ukrainian port city of Odesa and surrounding region remain without power
Read MoreMoscow says three military personnel were killed early on December 26 by debris from a downed Ukrainian drone, which was shot down and fell over a military base in Russia's southwestern Saratov region. Russian forces bombarded scores of towns in Ukraine on Christmas Day as Russian President Vladimir Putin said he was open to negotiations
Read MoreA wave of Russian drones attacked Kyiv overnight and into the early hours of Monday morning, triggering air raid sirens twice. In all, Ukraine’s air defence managed to shoot down 30 out of 35 incoming drones.
Read MoreEuropean Union member states failed to agree on a ninth package of Russia sanctions in talks. US citizen held since June is among dozens released in a prisoner swap between Ukraine and Russia.
Read MoreHeavy shelling and artillery fire were reported in Ukraine's Dnipropetrovsk region overnight. Russia will continue targeting Ukraine’s power supply, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said
Read MoreStrikes on Russian targets continue as Ukraine recovers from a fresh wave of Russian missile attacks. The deficit in the energy system remains at the level of 19% of the projected consumption.
Read MoreUkrainian repair crews continue to scramble to return power to millions of homes following devastating Russian missile attacks this week on infrastructure facilities, while Kyiv said near-constant Russian bombing was affecting a handful of population centers in the east. In a rare public spat involving Ukrainian leaders, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy criticized the mayor of Kyiv for doing what he said was a poor job setting up emergency shelters to help those without power and heat after Russian attacks.
Read MoreUkrainian officials and local residents moved to stabilize conditions in the freshly recaptured southern city of Kherson, as Russian symbols were being torn down and with the restoration of Ukrainian radio and television service and a new police presence.
Read MoreVladimir Putin is likely to announce the annexation of occupied regions of Ukraine into Russia within days, the UK's defence ministry says. The Russian president could make the announcement when he addresses the country's parliament on Friday, according to the ministry
Read MoreUkrainian officials say they are targeting towns in the eastern Donbas region after making a series of gains in a rapid counter-offensive. Meanwhile a Ukrainian official says his country will need billions of dollars in budget support for an indefinite period.
Read MoreUkrainian troops retook a wide swath of territory from Russia on Monday, pushing all the way back to the northeastern border in some places, and claimed to have captured many Russian soldiers as part of a lightning advance that forced Moscow to make a hasty retreat. A Ukrainian presidential adviser said there were so many prisoners of war that the country was running out of space to accommodate them.
Read MoreA wave of arrests of pro-democracy leaders and activists in Hong Kong on Saturday could lead to a fresh round of violent protests.
Read MoreWuhan-based writer 方方, who has been a formidable force in Chinese literature, has been writing blog entries illuminating the tragedy left in the wake of the COVID19/coronavirus. Parts of the posts, in which she lashes out in anger at people that consider the city’s anguish under COVID19 crisis overblown, have been translated and offer a rare insight behind the scenes.
Read More