Russia fires dozens of missiles at Ukrainian cities
Cities across Ukraine have been targeted by a wave of Russian missile strikes, in one of the largest bombardments since the war began.
At least three people - including a 14-year-old girl - were taken to hospital after explosions hit the capital Kyiv, Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko said.
Blasts were also heard in the cities of Kharkiv, Odesa, Lviv and Zhytomyr.
Ukraine's military said 69 missiles were launched, with air defences intercepting 54 of them.
Iranian chess player ‘moving to Spain’ after competing without headscarf
Sara Khadem and family plan to set up residence in an unnamed Spanish city, according to reports
One of Iran’s top-ranked female chess players is reportedly planning to settle in Spain after photographs emerged of her taking part in an international tournament without a headscarf.
Sara Khadem, ranked 804 in the world and 10th in her home country, was not planning to return to Iran after the tournament due to fear of reprisals, two sources told Spanish newspaper El País.
Instead, Khadem and her husband, the film director Ardeshir Ahmadi, and the couple’s young child will move to an unnamed Spanish city.
Israel: Netanyahu sworn in as leader of far-right government
Several Israelis have voiced their concern over the new government's proposed plans. Expanding settlements in the West Bank and weakening the Israeli judiciary were among the goals set by Netanyahu's coalition.
The newly formed coalition government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was sworn in at the Knesset on Thursday, making it the country's most far-right government to date.
Veteran Israeli politician Netanyahu is back in the prime minister's office after his Likud party won the most seats in the November 1 election. After spending nearly a year and a half in opposition, Netanyahu submitted his Cabinet lineup last week, minutes before a crucial deadline.
His coalition government allies the Likud party with ultra-Orthodox parties, most notably the Religious Zionism party.
Turkish court upholds life sentence for rights campaigner and Erdogan critic Osman Kavala
A Turkish appellate court on Wednesday upheld the conviction of a leading critic of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan whose jailing has added to tensions in Ankara’s uneasy ties with the West.
Paris-born activist and philanthropist Osman Kavala was sentenced to life in jail without the possibility of parole in April on the charge of trying to topple the government by financing street protests in 2013.
Seven others were jailed for 18 years each for aiding the attempt to overthrow the government of then-prime minister Erdogan during the so-called Gezi Park rallies in Istanbul.
Asia's tourist hotspots prepare for boom as China relaxes COVID rules
By Chayut Setboonsarng, Xinghui Kok and Stella Qiu
Asian countries are bracing for an influx of Chinese tourists as COVID restrictions are dismantled, and while some are wary, operators in others are preparing packages such as hotpot buffets to cash in on the expected spike in travel.
Chinese tourists will no longer need to quarantine on return home starting Jan. 8, the government announced this week, a move that spurred a surge in bookings from what was the world's largest outbound travel market in 2019.
The once $255 billion a year in global spending by Chinese tourists ground to a virtual halt during the pandemic, leaving a gaping hole in the Asian market, where countries from Thailand to Japan had depended on China as the largest source of foreign visitors.
No comments:
Post a Comment