Police in China’s capital investigate hundreds of prostitution suspects
BEIJING (Reuters) – Police in China’s capital said on Sunday they had investigated hundreds of cases of suspected prostitution, in a rare public announcement on a crackdown against illegal vice.
Israel to re-assess U.N. ties after settlement resolution, says Netanyahu
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel will re-assess its ties with the United Nations following the adoption by the Security Council of a resolution demanding an end to Israeli settlement building, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday.
Tunisian security forces arrest three for links to Berlin market attack suspect
TUNIS (Reuters) – Tunisian security forces have arrested three suspected militants after uncovering their links to Anis Amri, the Tunisian national believed responsible for the Berlin Christmas market attack that killed 12 people, the interior ministry…
Asylum seekers riot at Papua New Guinea detention camp
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Asylum seekers held at a Papua New Guinea detention center briefly took control of two compounds and expelled guards following the death of a refugee who fell ill at the center, Papua New Guinea police said on Sunday.
Russian jets step up raids on rebel-held Idlib and rural Aleppo
AMMAN (Reuters) – Russian jets stepped up strikes on several towns in Syria’s rebel-held Idlib province and rural Aleppo two days after the evacuation of rebels from their last pocket in the northern city of Aleppo, rebels and residents said on Saturda…
Pope says Christmas ‘hostage’ to materialism, God in shadows
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – Pope Francis said on Saturday that Christmas had been “taken hostage” by dazzling materialism that puts God in the shadows and blinds many to the needs of the hungry, the migrants and the war weary.
Iraqis celebrate first Christmas near Mosul after Islamic State pushed out
BARTELLA, Iraq (Reuters) – Several hundred Iraqi Christians flocked on Saturday to a northern town recently retaken from Islamic State, celebrating Christmas for the first time since 2013, their joy tainted with sadness over the desecration of their ch…
Skiers blocked in cabins in Italy after lift breaks down
ROME (Reuters) – A ski lift in northern Italy broke down on Saturday, blocking more than 120 holiday skiers in gondola cabins about 30 meters (yards) off the ground and a rescue operation was underway, officials said.
Turkey-backed rebels kill 68 Islamic State fighters near Syria’s al-Bab: military
ANKARA (Reuters) – Syrian rebels backed by Turkish warplanes killed 68 Islamic State militants in northern Syria overnight, the Turkish military said on Saturday, as intense fighting around the town of al-Bab continued.
Sixteen hurt in Christmas eve blast at Catholic church in Philippines
MANILA (Reuters) – Sixteen people were wounded in a grenade explosion outside a Catholic church during a Christmas eve mass in the Philippines’ restive southern island of Mindanao, a priest and police said on Saturday.
