WORLD

KIEV | Xinhua |  Ukraine and Russia carried out their largest prisoner swap since February 2022, the Coordinating Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War said Wednesday. Under the exchange, 230 Ukrainian captives, including six civilians, had been returned from Russian custody, the agency said. Among those freed are …

WASHINGTON | Xinhua |  Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to invalidate a recent ruling by the Colorado Supreme Court, which removed him from the state’s 2024 presidential primary ballot. Two weeks ago, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that Trump, who is the 2024 Republican …

TEHRAN, IRAN | Xinhua | Two explosions near the burial site of Iran’s slain general Qassem Soleimani killed at least 103 people and wounded over 170 others on Wednesday, reported the official IRNA news agency and the semi-official Fars news agency, calling it “terrorist” attacks. The blasts occurred as many …

SAO PAULO, BRAZIL | Xinhua | One person died, and three others were injured after the helicopter they were riding crashed into a lake in the city of Capitolio, located in the Brazilian southeastern state of Minas Gerais, local media reported. Citing a preliminary report from the local Fire Department, …

TOKYO, JAPAN | Xinhua | The death toll has risen to 55 in the central Japanese prefecture of Ishikawa as of Tuesday evening, after a series of powerful earthquakes hit the area in central Japan and the vicinity, with aftershocks and more damage reports coming in. In a separate tragedy …

JERUSALEM | Xinhua | Israel decided to appear at the United Nations’ International Court of Justice (ICJ) in Hague, the Netherlands, in the hearing of the case filed by South Africa alleging “genocidal” acts in Gaza, Israeli news website Ynet reported Monday evening. “Israel has signed the convention against genocide …

WASHINGTON | TASS |  The Israeli leadership rejected a new proposal from the radical Palestinian movement Hamas for a deal involving the release of hostages, the Axios portal reported citing sources. According to them, on Sunday, Hamas through Qatari and Egyptian mediators gave Israel a new proposal for a deal that would …

  TOKYO | Xinhua |  A powerful earthquake Monday rocked central Japan with tsunami warnings still in effect, causing at least one dead and multiple injuries, house collapse, power outages and transport chaos during the New Year holiday. According to the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA), among a series of quakes, …

MOSCOW | TASS | Over the past 24 hours, Russian air defense systems have intercepted 14 HIMARS and Olkha shells, and also destroyed 31 Ukrainian drones, the Russian Defense Ministry reported. “During the day, air defense systems intercepted 14 rockets fired from the HIMARS and Vilkha multiple launch rocket systems. …

BEIJING | Xinhua | Tesla has announced that its new mega factory project in Shanghai was officially launched and scheduled to begin production within the next year, following the establishment of its Shanghai Gigafactory in 2019, which is the first wholly foreign-owned vehicle manufacturing project in China and Tesla’s first …