A fresh barrage of deadly Russian strikes hit Ukraine on Friday, cutting water and electricity in major cities and piling pressure on the grid in sub-zero temperatures.. Fresh Russian shelling in the southern city of Kherson, recently recaptured by Ukraine, killed one person and wounded three more.
A giant aquarium containing around 1,500 tropical fish burst in Berlin on Friday, flooding a hotel lobby and a nearby street and leaving two people injured, emergency services said.. "A million litres of water and all the fish inside spilled onto the ground floor" of the hotel complex housing the aquarium, a spokesman for the Berlin fire department told AFP. Two people suffered injuries from glass splinters and had to be hospitalised, the spokesman added.
Five children including a three-year-old were among 10 people killed when a fire broke out in a seven-storey apartment building in a suburb of the French city of Lyon, the government said Friday.. Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin told reporters in Paris before heading to the scene that 10 people were killed, including five children aged between three and 15.
Workers at Beijing crematoriums said Friday they are overwhelmed as China faces a surge in Covid cases that authorities warn could hit its underdeveloped rural hinterland during upcoming public holidays.. China's top Covid response body on Friday urged local governments to step up monitoring and treatment services for people returning to rural hometowns to visit family for upcoming New Year's Day and Lunar New Year celebrations.
In one of his last diary entries, Japanese teacher Yoshio Kudo lamented workdays that started early and could last until nearly midnight.. That came too late for Kudo, a middle school teacher, who died of a brain haemorrhage aged 40 in 2007.
Japan's government is poised to approve a major defence policy overhaul Friday, including a significant spending hike, as it warns China poses the "greatest strategic challenge ever" to the country's security.. The moves will be outlined in three defence and security documents the cabinet is set to approve later Friday.
A teenager was among the four people who died after a small boat packed with migrants capsized in freezing temperatures in the Channel, a regional official said on Thursday.. The tragedy comes just over a year after at least 27 people died in the Channel in another incident.
President Joe Biden threw his support Thursday behind a larger African role in the world but also vowed the United States would not shy away from promoting democracy.. Biden, who in September called for an African permanent seat on the UN Security Council, backed a permanent African Union role in the Group of 20 economies and said he was planning a visit, the first by a US president since 2015, to sub-Saharan Africa.
The legal challenges facing Eva Kaili sharpened Thursday as the Greek MEP, already accused of taking bribes from Qatar, faced a second investigation and a demand she lose her parliamentary immunity.. "The financial prosecutor... has ordered the opening of an investigation into taking bribes and money laundering," said the source.
Nicaragua is systematically working to stifle dissent, the UN's rights chief warned Thursday, pointing to swelling numbers of arbitrary detentions, thousands of NGOs shut down and "muzzling of the media".. The UN rights chief also voiced alarm that over 3,000 national and international NGOs had been shut down -- nearly half of them since September.
