WORLD

President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday delivered Russia's long-awaited response to a Western price cap, signing a decree that bans the supply of crude oil and oil products from Feb.

A leopard went on a rampage in a town in the Indian state of Assam and injured at least 15 people in just 24 hours.

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who is also a staunch Putin supporter, has made some really wild and weird predictions for 2023.

The Taliban must immediately revoke their policies targeting women and girls in Afghanistan, the UN rights chief insisted Tuesday, condemning their "terrible" consequences.

European shares climbed on Tuesday, tracking a global rally in equities after China further relaxed its COVID-19 curbs, raising hopes of a recovery in the world's second-largest economy.

Taiwan is expected to announce on Tuesday an extension in mandatory military service from four months to one year, citing the threat from an increasingly hostile China, local media reported.

Chinese people, cut off from the rest of the world for three years by stringent COVID-19 curbs, flocked to travel sites on Tuesday ahead of borders reopening next month, even as rising infections strained the health system and roiled the economy.

Vietnam's central bank said on Tuesday it was making efforts to shore up foreign exchange reserves by buying up more U.S.

Jailed former South Korean president Lee Myung-bak received a presidential pardon on Tuesday, cutting short his 17-year sentence on corruption charges, the justice minister said.

Russia on Monday placed a senior journalist with the Bellingcat investigative website on a wanted list, following his extensive reporting on Moscow's offensive in Ukraine.

Russia's budget deficit could be wider than a planned 2% of GDP in 2023 as an oil price cap squeezes export income, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said, an extra fiscal hurdle for Moscow as it spends heavily on its military activities in Ukraine.

German companies want to boost their activities in Africa next year, especially in areas such as green hydrogen and liquefied natural gas, with 43% planning to increase investment in the continent, a survey seen by Reuters on Tuesday showed.

Russian lawmaker and philanthropist Pavel Antov was found dead in a hotel in the Indian state of Odisha.

A South Korean citizen died of an infection caused by a "brain-eating" amoeba that he was apparently exposed to in Thailand.

An elderly man from Massachusetts, United States, managed to win not one, but six state lotteries and attributed the massive wins to his intuition.

Chinese President Xi Jinping urged officials on Monday to take steps to protect lives in his first public remarks on Covid-19 since Beijing dramatically loosened hardline containment measures this month.

Rescuers found the body of a woman in Spain's northwestern Galicia region on Monday, raising to seven the number who died after a bus plunged into a river on Christmas Eve, police said.

Former Maldives president Abdulla Yameen will appeal as soon as possible against his conviction and jailing for 11 years on corruption and money laundering charges, said his lawyer.

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.

Moscow said on Monday its forces had shot down a Ukrainian drone close to a long-range bomber base deep inside Russia, while Ukraine said the Russians had unleashed heavy artillery barrages on its cities in the past 24 hours.

Christmas Day floods in the Philippines forced the evacuation of nearly 46,000 people from their homes, civil defence officials said Monday.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on Sunday strongly condemned Afghanistan's Taliban-run administration's order to ban women from working at all local and foreign non-governmental organisations (NGOs), saying this amounts to erasing women from public spaces.

A French pensioner suspected of fatally shooting three Kurds in Paris was due Monday before a judge who will decide on whether to charge him in the case that sparked angry protests.

U.S President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden will visit the Children's National Hospital in Washington on Friday to meet with pediatric patients, their families and hospital staff, the White House said.

European shares rose for a second straight session on Thursday, boosted by financial and energy stocks, as investors cheered improving consumer sentiment in the United States after inflation expectations eased.

A senior German official said on Thursday Twitter should join other tech firms in being directly monitored by the European Commission, saying the company's erratic behaviour under new owner Elon Musk posed a threat to free speech.

A rare three-month-old white tiger cub died at a zoo in India's capital days after it showed signs of limping.

The Ukrainian military has been able to intercept calls between Russian soldiers and their families back home in Russia.

New Zealand's government on Wednesday outlined changes to controversial plans to tax the farts and burps of livestock, but a leading farmers group said it was still opposed to the emissions reduction scheme.