An alliance of Myanmar ethnic groups claim capture of another big trade crossing at Chinese border (apnews.com)
UN aviation meeting agrees to goal of 5% lower emissions by 2030 (www.reuters.com)
Kenya abortion: Women go to backstreet clinics amid legal ambiguity (www.bbc.co.uk)
Zhongzhi Enterprise Group: China investigates major shadow bank for 'crimes' (www.bbc.com)
Zhongzhi Enterprise Group (ZEG) has an asset management arm that at its peak reportedly handled more than a trillion yuan ($139bn; £110bn)....
Storm in occupied Crimea leaves half a million people without power (www.pravda.com.ua)
Kenya to begin privatisation drive, offers stakes in 11 companies (www.reuters.com)
China leads Asia market declines as property stocks plunge; Japan service inflation heats up (www.cnbc.com)
Asia-Pacific stocks fell on Monday as the Chinese market dropped due to a decline in property firms, while Japan’s service inflation surged to a 45-month high....
Intercepted calls from the front lines in Ukraine show a growing number of Russian soldiers want out (apnews.com)
In audio intercepts from the front lines in Ukraine, Russian soldiers speak in shorthand of 200s to mean dead, 300s to mean wounded. The urge to flee has become common enough that they also talk of 500s — people who refuse to fight....
North Korea restores border guard posts amid rising tensions over its satellite launch, Seoul says (apnews.com)
North Korea is restoring front-line guard posts that it had dismantled during a previous period of inter-Korean rapprochement, South Korea’s military said Monday, after animosities spiked between the rivals over the North’s recent spy satellite launch....
Russia puts the spokesman for Facebook owner Meta on a wanted list (apnews.com)
Russia has added the spokesman of U.S. technology company Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, to a wanted list, according to an online database maintained by the country’s interior ministry....
Three Mexican journalists freed following kidnapping (www.reuters.com)
BBC’s Jeremy Bowen admits he ‘got it wrong’ in Gaza hospital report but has ‘no regrets’ (www.telegraph.co.uk)
International editor says he doesn't 'feel particularly bad about' his inaccuracies...
US pushes for extension of Gaza pause, but the possibility of war raging again looms large (www.cnn.com)
The fragile pause in Israel’s onslaught against Hamas in Gaza, which has enabled the release so far of 58 hostages, has been surprisingly enduring given that neither side is in direct contact and each is bent on obliterating the other....
Facing gloomy China consumers, Alibaba's Taobao replaces Dec 12 shopping spree with new event (www.reuters.com)
Mycolasma Pneumonia Spreads Among Korean Children (english.chosun.com)
As Hamas Releases More Hostages, Longer Cease-Fire Appears Possible (www.nytimes.com)
A third group of captives released from Gaza included a 4-year-old dual American-Israeli citizen whose parents were killed in the Hamas attack on Oct. 7.
Drone Attack at Myanmar-China Border Gate Causes Over $14m in Losses (www.irrawaddy.com)
Success of Geert Wilders’ far-right PVV raises fears for Dutch climate policies (www.theguardian.com)
The party has a hostile stance on attempts to cut carbon emissions but got more votes than any other in general election...
Myanmar armed group seizes China-Myanmar border crossing | The Straits Times (www.straitstimes.com)
India’s LGBTQ+ community holds pride march, raises concerns over country’s restrictive laws (www.politico.com)
More than 2,000 people took part in a gay pride event in New Delhi, waving rainbow flags and multicolored balloons as they celebrated sexual diversity in India but also raised concerns over the country’s restrictive laws....
Sierra Leone under curfew after breakout from Freetown's Pademba Road Prison (www.bbc.com)
Biden draws parallel between Russia-Ukraine war and Soviet-era famine (thehill.com)
President Biden drew a parallel between a Soviet-era famine and the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine on Saturday....
U.S. and China trade accusations over vessel in South China Sea (www.nbcnews.com)
China and the United States exchanged accusations at the weekend over the disputed South China Sea, after China’s military said it had driven away a U.S. warship that the U.S. Navy said was on a routine freedom of navigation operation....
Israel summons Irish ambassador to be reprimanded over Leo Varadkars tweets. (www.thejournal.ie)
THE IRISH AMBASSADOR to Israel has been summoned by the Israeli foreign minister to be reprimanded over comments Taoiseach Leo Varadkar made over the release of Irish-Israeli hostage Emily Hand...
Hila Rotem released from captivity without her mother, despite Hamas obligation (www.ynetnews.com)
Despite cease-fire obligations not to separate mothers from their children, Hamas doesn’t fulfills it’s end: Hila Rotem was released from captivity without her mother, Raya, who remains in Gaza...
