In the war-torn Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, the chief of a small group of firefighters lines up his small team in front of the national flag, and wishes them a happy new year.. For the nine stationed permanently in the city centre fire station, it has been a year of war and fire.
North Korea's Kim Jong Un has called for a major increase in the country's nuclear arsenal, including mass producing tactical nuclear weapons and developing new missiles for nuclear counterstrikes, state media said Sunday.. In 2022, Kim said he wanted his country to have the world's most powerful nuclear force and declared the North an "irreversible" nuclear state.
The European Union on Saturday urged Rwanda to stop supporting the M23 rebel group, which has captured swathes of territory in North Kivu province in neighbouring DR Congo.. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Saturday that the European bloc had urged Rwanda to "stop supporting the M23 and use all means to press the M23 to comply with the decisions taken by the EAC (East African Community)" and at a November summit in Angola.
Two migrants died and another 200 were rescued Saturday when their boat sank off Lebanon's northern coast, from where increasing numbers make the risky journey to flee a collapsed economy.. In late September around 100 migrants died when their boat sank off the Syrian coast after departing from Lebanon, in one of the deadliest such episodes.
Viktoria Lukovenko was making a salad for a New Year's Eve party on Saturday when explosions overhead sent her running for cover in a Kyiv metro station.. Waiting for the air raid warning to lift, Kyiv residents huddled in underground metro stations, some women already donning the brightly embroidered traditional skirts they would wear to parties later in the evening.
When Kurt and Anna-Maria Spennesberger heard the news about former pope Benedict XVI's death, they immediately got into their car and drove 200 kilometres to the former pontiff's southern German birth town Marktl.. They had to be at the small town bordering Austria for a special church service saying farewell to Benedict because "we knew Ratzinger personally," said Kurt, 71, using the ex-pope's birth name.
The peaceful death of Benedict XVI in a monastery in the Vatican contrasts with the painful, violent or sometimes mysterious deaths of many of his predecessors.. - The mysterious death of Alexander VI Borgia in 1503 - The death of Alexander VI, who was pope from 1492 to 1503, was also subject to intense speculation.
Russian strikes on Saturday targeted Ukraine, including the capital Kyiv, just hours before New Year's Eve celebrations while President Vladimir Putin told Russians that "historical rightness" was on their side. . In his traditional New Year's Eve address, broadcast by channels just before midnight, Putin told Russians that "moral, historical rightness is on our side".
The Brazilian barber who cut Pele's hair for more than 60 years is lamenting the loss of both a customer and a close friend.. Araujo said he is saddened by the loss of his friend and customer, whom he charged the same as anyone else -- 40 reales, or about $7. raa/app/cl/dw/bbk
Croatia was counting down the hours on Saturday ahead of a switch to the euro and entry into Europe's passport-free zone -- two major milestones for the country after joining the EU nearly a decade ago.. It will also be the 27th nation in the passport-free Schengen zone, the world's largest, which enables more than 400 million people to move freely around its members.
