After years, private vehicles start crossing Colombia-Venezuela border again
Urena, Venezuela Reuters Private vehicles started crossing between Colombia and Venezuela for the first time in years on Sunday, marking the total opening of the shared border, in addition to cargo and people that have been transiting. Children play with their skateboards during the reopening of the Coronel Atanasio Girardot binational bridge after the normalisation […]
Defiant Ukrainians cheer New Year as drones blasted from skies
Kyiv/Donetsk Province front line, Ukraine Reuters Ukrainians cheered from their balconies while their air defences blasted Russian missiles and drones out of the sky in the first hours of 2023, as Moscow saw in the new year by attacking civilian targets across Ukraine. Ukrainian forces shot down 45 Iranian-made Sahed drones fired by Russia on […]
North Korea’s Kim orders new ICBM, bigger nuclear arsenal amid tension
Seoul, South Korea Reuters North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called for developing new intercontinental ballistic missiles and a larger nuclear arsenal to counter US-led threats, state media said on Sunday, amid flaring tension between the rival Koreas. At a meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party, Kim highlighted the need to secure “overwhelming military power” to […]
Believers gather at Bavarian pilgrimage town to mourn former Pope
Altoetting, GermanyAP Mourners lined up quietly in the gold-adorned Collegiate Church of Altoetting in Pope Benedict XVI’s Bavarian homeland to pay condolences to one of this German region’s most famous sons, who died on Saturday. Parents held their children’s hands tightly, older couples and nuns looked on in sorrow as they waited for their turn to […]
Quick facts – Former Pope Benedict to have simple funeral after lying in state
Vatican CityReuters The body of former Pope Benedict XVI, who died on Saturday, will lie in state in St Peter’s Basilica on Monday and remain there for three days before his funeral, which is set for 5th January. Here are the initial details of the ceremonies, as outlined in a Vatican statement. Lying in stateUntil […]
Papal legacy: In US, sharply contrasting views on Benedict XVI
DAVID CRARY, of Associated Press, reports…
World welcomes 2023 and leaves a stormy year behind
Updated: 10:30pm (AEST)Reuters The world welcomed the new year with a packed party in Times Square and fireworks soaring above European capitals, while hoping for an end to the war in Ukraine and a return to post-COVID normality in Asia. It was a year marked by the conflict in Ukraine, economic stresses and the effects […]