🇰🇷South Korea has voted to impeach its acting president Han Duck-soo, two weeks after parliament voted to impeach its President Yoon Suk Yeol.
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🇷🇺Putin apologises for plane crash, without saying Russia at fault
Russia's President Vladimir Putin has apologised to the president of neighbouring Azerbaijan for the downing of a commercial airliner in Russian airspace, in which 38 people were killed - but stopped short of saying Russia was responsible.
In his first comments on the Christmas Day crash, Putin said the "tragic incident" had occurred when Russian air defence systems were actively repelling Ukrainian drones.
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🇸🇩Sudan slides deeper into famine, experts say
War-hit Sudan is sliding into a "widening famine crisis" that has been marked by worsening starvation and a surge in acute malnutrition, an independent group of food security experts says.
Famine has spread to five areas, with 24.6 million people - about half the population - in urgent need of food aid, the experts said.
The hunger crisis has been caused by the 20-month civil war that has devastated Sudan.
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🇺🇸Biden commutes most federal death sentences
US President Joe Biden has commuted the sentences of 37 out of 40 federal death row inmates, switching their penalty to life in prison without parole.
The three excluded from the measure include the Boston Marathon bomber and the man who killed Jewish worshippers in 2018.
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🇮🇱Israel confirms it killed Hamas leader Haniyeh in Tehran
Israel's defence minister has for the first time acknowledged that Israel killed Hamas's political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July.
Israel Katz made the comments in a speech vowing to target the heads of the Iran-backed Houthi movement in Yemen, which has been firing missiles and drones at Israel.
Haniyeh was killed in a building where he was staying in the Iranian capital in an attack widely attributed to Israel.
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🇳🇿Cook Islands wants its own passport. New Zealand says no
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🇺🇸US avoids government shutdown after bill passes
The US Senate has voted to pass a budget deal to avert what would be the first federal government shutdown since 2019, only hours after the lower House of Representatives approved the same legislation.
The budget deal was passed shortly after a midnight deadline with an overwhelming of margin of 85-11.
The bill does not include a demand from President-elect Donald Trump that lawmakers increase how much money the federal government can borrow, showing the limits of his ability to command lawmakers from his own party.
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🇫🇷Watch: Crowds boo President Macron in Mayotte
French President Emmanuel Macron spoke to a booing crowd in Mayotte, while touring the devastation caused by Cyclone Chido.
"I had nothing to do with the cyclone," Macron said. "You can blame me, but it wasn't me."
The territory, located north of Madagascar, is the poorest part of France. It suffers from extensive social and economic problems.
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🇧🇩Minister named in Bangladesh corruption probe
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🇫🇷France's ex-President Sarkozy loses corruption case appeal
France's highest court has upheld a corruption conviction against former President Nicolas Sarkozy, brushing aside his appeal.
Wednesday's ruling by the Cour de Cassation means that Sarkozy - who was in power from 2007 to 2012 - must now wear an electronic monitoring bracelet for a year.
Sarkozy, 69, reacted by saying he was not prepared to accept "the profound injustice" and would now turn to the European Court of Human Rights to challenge the verdict.
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🚘 Honda and Nissan hold merger talks
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🇮🇪Dáil to meet for first time since Irish elections
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🇩🇪German Chancellor Olaf Scholz loses confidence vote
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has lost a vote of confidence in parliament, paving the way for early elections on 23 February.
Scholz called Monday's vote and had expected to lose it, but calculated that triggering an early election was his best chance of reviving his party's political fortunes.
It comes around two months after the collapse of Scholz's three-party coalition government, which left the embattled chancellor leading a minority administration.
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🇺🇦🇷🇺General killed in Moscow a legitimate target, says Ukraine
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🇧🇷Brazil's Lula says he's well after brain bleed surgery
Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has been discharged from hospital after undergoing emergency surgery for a brain bleed, doctors said.
The 79-year-old appeared alongside his medical team at a news conference at Sírio-Libanês hospital in São Paulo.
"This here is not an interview, this is simply a session to say thanks. To thank, firstly, God, who has looked after me in a very generous manner," he said.
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🇮🇳India mourns ex-PM Manmohan Singh with full state funeral
India has mourned one of its longest-serving prime ministers, Manmohan Singh, with a state funeral in Delhi.
Singh led the country from 2004 to 2014 and was considered the architect of India's economic liberalisation. He died on Thursday aged 92.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was present at the ceremony on Saturday. He has called Singh one of the country's "most distinguished leaders".
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🇸🇾Protests in Syria over Christmas tree burning
Protests have broken out in Syria over the burning of a Christmas tree, prompting calls for the new Islamist authorities to take steps to protect minorities.
A video posted on social media showed the tree on fire in the main square of Suqaylabiyah, a Christian-majority town in central Syria.
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the main Islamist faction which led the uprising that toppled President Bashar al-Assad, said foreign fighters had been detained over the incident.
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🇲🇿Mozambique's opposition leader vows to install himself as president
Mozambique's main opposition leader, Venâncio Mondlane, has declared that he will install himself as president on 15 January after rejecting his defeat in presidential elections.
His announcement came as his supporters staged violent protests across the country to demand an end to the 49-year-rule of the Frelimo party.
The capital Maputo was like a ghost town on Christmas Eve, with almost all businesses shut and people staying at home to avoid being caught up in the worst unrest in the city since Frelimo rose to power at independence in 1975.
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🇬🇱Greenland again tells Trump it is not for sale
Greenland has once again said it is not for sale after US President-elect Donald Trump said he wanted to take control of the territory.
"Greenland belongs to the people of Greenland," its prime minister said on Monday, a day after Trump repeated comments about the Arctic island that he first made several years ago.
Greenland, which is an autonomous Danish territory, is home to a large US space facility and lies on the shortest route from the US to Europe, meaning it is strategically important for America.
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🇸🇰🇷🇺Slovak PM meets Putin in surprise Moscow visit
Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico has made a surprise visit to Moscow for talks with Vladimir Putin - becoming only the third Western leader to meet the Russian leader since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine three years ago.
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🇩🇪What we know so far about Magdeburg market attack
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🇺🇸Trump campaign adviser calls incoming 🇬🇧UK ambassador to US a 'moron'
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🇮🇹Italy's deputy PM Salvini faces verdict in migrant rescue boat kidnap trial
Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, has arrived in court ahead of a verdict in his trial for kidnap and dereliction of duty over his refusal to let a migrant rescue boat dock in Italy in 2019.
Prosecutors in Sicily have asked judges to sentence him to six years in jail.
Salvini, who's leader of the right-wing Lega party and a government ally of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, has already said he will lodge an appeal if found guilty.
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🇸🇾Syria's de facto leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, said his country is exhausted by war and is not a threat to its neighbours or to the West.
Speaking to the BBC's Jeremy Bowen in Damascus, Sharaa said sanctions on Syria should be lifted and that his group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), should be de-listed as a terrorist organisation.
Sharaa led HTS and other rebel groups in the offensive that toppled former President Bashar al-Assad's regime less than two weeks ago.
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🇺🇸🇬🇧Musk in talks over Reform UK donation, says Farage
Reform UK is in "open negotiations" with US billionaire Elon Musk about him donating to the party, Nigel Farage has told the BBC.
The Reform UK leader said the pair "did talk about money" during a meeting on Monday at Donald Trump's Florida retreat.
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🇨🇦Canada announces new border rules following Trump tariff threat
Canada has promised to implement a set of sweeping new security measures along the country's US border, including strengthened surveillance and a joint "strike force" to target transnational organised crime.
The pledge follows a threat from President-elect Donald Trump to impose, when he takes office in January, a 25% tariff on Canadian goods if the country does not secure its shared border to the flow of irregular migrants and illegal drugs.
Economists say such tariffs could strike a blow to Canada's economy.
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🇨🇦Canada's finance minister quits over Trump tariff dispute with Trudeau
Canada's Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland has resigned from her post, citing disagreements with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on how to respond to incoming President Donald Trump's threat of tariffs.
She announced her resignation in a letter to Trudeau on Monday, in which she said the two have been "at odds about the best path forward for Canada", and pointed to the "grave challenge" posed by Trump's policy of "aggressive economic nationalism".
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🇬🇧🇸🇾UK diplomats meet rebel leader in Damascus
British diplomats have held talks with the leader of the Syrian rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), following its ousting of President Bashar al-Assad more than a week ago.
Images posted on social media by the group's military operations department showed HTS leader Ahmad al-Sharaa - formerly known as Mohammed al-Golani - meeting senior officials in the Syrian capital, Damascus.
Among those photographed alongside him was Ann Snow, the UK's special representative for Syria.
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🇮🇱Israel to close embassy in 🇮🇪Ireland as it criticises 'anti-Israel policies'
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🇰🇷South Korea court begins Yoon's impeachment trial process
South Korea's constitutional court has begun trial proceedings for the impeachment of President Yoon Suk Yeol, who was suspended for declaring martial law and plunging his country into political turmoil.
MPs voted to impeach Yoon last Saturday, after his actions sparked widespread protests calling for him to step down.
The court now has six months to decide whether to remove Yoon or reinstate him.
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