China deployed 71 warplanes in weekend military exercises around Taiwan, Taipei's defence ministry said Monday, including dozens of fighter jets in one of the biggest daily incursions to date.. In a post on Twitter, Taiwan said 60 fighter jets took part in the drills, including six Su-30 warplanes, some of China's most advanced.
Christmas Day floods in the Philippines forced the evacuation of nearly 46,000 people from their homes, civil defence officials said Monday.. "The waters rose above the chest in some areas, but today the rains have ceased," civil defence worker Robinson Lacre told AFP by phone from Gingoog city, which accounted for 33,000 of the 45,700 people evacuated from their homes.
Thousands rallied on Sunday in Azerbaijan, in the Nagorno-Karabakh region's largest city Stepanakert, to protest the blockade of the only land link to Armenia, an AFP journalist saw. . - 'Road of life' - The protests went smoothly, an AFP journalist said.
Supporters of a Belgian aid worker being held in Iran staged a Christmas Day protest in Brussels to demand his immediate release, with a spokesman questioning why a prisoner swap treaty was stalled.. Belgium insists Vandecasteele is innocent and was being held as a hostage as Tehran attempts to force Brussels to release an Iranian agent convicted of terrorism.
Five people died after a bus plunged into a river overnight while crossing a bridge in Spain's northwestern Galicia region, officials said Sunday.. The regional La Voz de Galicia newspaper said the bus was carrying people visiting their loved ones in jail in Monterroso in central Galicia.
A French man suspected of killing three Kurds in a Paris shooting has confessed to a "pathological" hatred for foreigners, Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau said on Sunday.. Beccuau said in a statement that the suspect was "depressive" and "suicidal" and said he "wanted to kill foreigners" after a burglary in his home in 2016.
King Charles III has hailed the "heartfelt solidarity" of people across the recession-hit UK struggling with a worsening cost of living crisis, in his first Christmas Day message as monarch.. In his inaugural Christmas message, Charles said both he and his late mother shared "a belief in the extraordinary ability of each person to touch, with goodness and compassion, the lives of others".
China will no longer publish daily figures for Covid-19 cases and deaths, the National Health Commission (NHC) said on Sunday, ending a practice that began in early 2020. . "From today, we will no longer publish daily information on the epidemic," the NHC said.
Thousands rallied on Sunday in Azerbaijan, in the Nagorno-Karabakh region's largest city Stepanakert, to protest the blockade of the only land link to Armenia, an AFP journalist saw. . For nearly two weeks Azerbaijani activists have blocked the corridor, the only land link to Armenia, to protest what they claim is illegal mining.
Iran's top general has said that Western claims its drones are being used by Russia against Ukraine show the 'effectiveness' of Tehran's unmanned aerial vehicles, Iranian media reported Sunday.. "Apart from the fact that many of these claims may be false, this, in fact, shows the effectiveness, importance and high rank of the Islamic republic in the field of drones."
