WORLD

  UNITED NATIONS | Xinhua|   UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday urged Israel to stop violations of Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. Speaking at a press conference, Guterres condemned Israel’s extensive airstrikes on Syria aimed at destroying strategic weapons and military infrastructure and its troops’ entry into a demilitarized zone …

WASHINGTON | Xinhua |  The U.S. House of Representatives failed on Thursday to pass a new Republican spending bill after President-elect Donald Trump sank a bipartisan stopgap bill, leaving lawmakers just one day to approve new funding to avert a government shutdown. The vote was 174-235, with Democrats and some …

MOSCOW | TASS | Russian President Vladimir Putin assessed the progress of the special military operation, the possibility of negotiations with Ukraine and the growth of the Russian economy at the combined Direct Line Q&A and year-end press conference. He also spoke about the importance of sovereignty, the country’s updated …

BUDAPEST | TASS |  Hungary still hopes that Russia and Ukraine may agree on a ceasefire and a large-scale exchange of prisoners by Orthodox Christmas, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said, speaking on a Kossuth radio program. He noted that the opposing sides were unlikely to reach such an agreement by …

LONDON | Xinhua | A London-based think tank published a report on Wednesday revealing that Brexit had a more pronounced impact on exports for the smallest United Kingdom (UK) firms compared to medium and large enterprises. Exports to the European Union (EU) dropped by 30 percent for the smallest firms …

ANKARA | TASS |  Syria should not turn into a hotbed of terrorism and the fight against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK, outlawed in Turkey) and the Islamic State terror group (IS, outlawed in Russia) must continue, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said. “As for Syria, we need to prevent …

MOSCOW | TASS | The perpetrator of the terrorist attack that killed Chief of Russia’s Radiation, Chemical and Biological Protection Troops Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov has been detained. He was identified as a 29-year-old citizen of Uzbekistan, the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) Public Relations Center reported. He confessed to …

WASHINGTON | Xinhua | TikTok on Monday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to block a law that would ban the video-sharing app if ByteDance, its Chinese parent company, doesn’t sell it to a non-Chinese buyer by Jan. 19. “The Act will shutter one of America’s most popular speech platforms the …

  Uganda’s Omedi edged out in race for Puskas goal-of-the-year award Doha, Qatar | AGENCIES | Spain’s FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 winner Aitana Bonmatí has been named The Best FIFA Women’s Player and Brazil’s Vinícius Júnior has won The Best FIFA Men’s Player at a star-studded The Best FIFA Football …

JERUSALEM | Xinhua |  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed on Tuesday that he would not permit the establishment of a Palestinian state, rejecting reports that Israel had agreed to a “path toward Palestinian statehood” as part of efforts to normalize relations with Saudi Arabia. “Prime Minister Netanyahu has acted …