Author: Disha Mishra

MOSCOW, Jan 11 (Reuters) – Russia’s Foreign Ministry on Saturday denounced new U.S. sanctions against Moscow’s energy sector as an attempt to harm Russia’s economy at the risk of destabilising global markets and said the country would press on with large oil and gas projects. A ministry statement also said that Russia would respond to Washington’s “hostile” actions, announced on Friday, while drawing up its foreign policy strategy. The statement said the measures amounted to “an attempt to inflict at least some damage to the Russian economy, even at the cost of the risk of destabilising world markets as the…

(Forelines) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy stated on Saturday that two North Korean soldiers were captured in Russia’s Kursk region, first time Ukraine has reported the capture of North Korean troops alive since they entered the conflict last autumn, reported by Reuters. According to Kyiv and its western allies have reported that North Korean regular troops joined the conflict on Russia’s side in October, with initial estimates suggesting their numbers exceeded 10,000, cited by Reuters. Ukrainian troops have captured North Korean military personnel in the Kursk region. Two soldiers, though injured, survived and were transported to Kyiv, where they are…

(Forelines) – Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati announced on Saturday in Damascus that Lebanon and Syria will collaborate to secure their shared land borders, as well as to define both land and maritime boundaries, reported by Reuters. In the first visit by a Lebanese prime minister to Syria in 15 years, Najib Mikati held a joint press conference in Damascus with Syria’s acting leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, as per Reuters report. According to Reuters, Ahmed Al-Sharaa stated that they had discussed issues such as smuggling between the two nations, border-related challenges, and Syrian deposits in Lebanese banks. Both parties agreed…

LOS ANGELES, Jan 11 (Reuters) – Fierce winds that have supercharged wildfires sweeping parts of Los Angeles finally eased on Friday night, bringing some relief to weary firefighters, but the largest blaze was reported to have shifted direction, triggering new evacuation orders. Six simultaneous wildfires have devastated Los Angeles County neighborhoods since Tuesday, killed at least 11 people and damaged or destroyed 10,000 structures. Those tolls were expected to grow once it was safe enough for firefighters to conduct house-to-house searches. On Friday night, the Los Angeles Times reported that the Palisades Fire on the city’s western edge was heading…

Jan 11 (Reuters) – Syria’s Intelligence Directorate foiled an attack by the Islamic State group on the Sayeda Zeinab shrine in a Damascus suburb, a site of mass pilgrimage for Shi’ites, state news agency Sana reported on Saturday. It said members of the cell were arrested before they could detonate an explosion inside the shrine. The foiled attack will stoke fears that Islamic State is hoping to stage a comeback in Syria following the fall last month of President Bashar al-Assad. Some Syrians and foreign powers have worried that the country’s new leaders, who are from the Sunni Islamist Hayat…

ALTADENA, California, Jan 11 (Reuters) – As Los Angeles construction worker Ivan De La Torre surveyed a landscape of smoking wreckage in fire-ravaged Altadena, a question nagged at him: how would insurance companies cover the cost of rebuilding an entire neighborhood? As hundreds of Los Angeles residents return to find homes reduced to ashes due to a devastating wave of wildfires, many are fearful that their insurance policies may not cover the rebuild cost and that future premiums will be astronomical. “My concern is that the insurance companies won’t be able to handle all the claims and file for bankruptcy…

BEIRUT/DAMASCUS, Jan 10 (Reuters) – U.S., French and German envoys have warned Syria’s new Islamist rulers that their appointment of foreign jihadists to senior military posts is a security concern and bad for their image as they try to forge ties with foreign states, two sources familiar with the matter said. The warning from the U.S., part of Western efforts to get Syria’s new leaders to reconsider the move, was delivered in a meeting between U.S. envoy Daniel Rubinstein and Syria’s de facto ruler Ahmed al-Sharaa on Wednesday at the presidential palace overlooking Damascus, a U.S. official said. “These appointments…

BEIJING, Jan 11 (Reuters) – British finance minister Rachel Reeves, facing criticism for travelling to China during financial market turmoil at home, said on Saturday that “pragmatic and predictable” relations with Beijing would help boost economic growth and trade. Under pressure from a sharp rise in British interest rates, Reeves defended her budget at the start of the two-day visit to China, where she is seeking to revive high-level economic and financial talks that have been frozen for nearly six years. “The fiscal rules that I set out in my budget in October are non-negotiable, and growth is the number…

SEOUL, Jan 11 (Reuters) – The flight data and cockpit voice recorders on the Jeju Air jet that crashed on Dec. 29 stopped recording about four minutes before the airliner hit a concrete structure at South Korea’s Muan airport, the transport ministry said on Saturday. Authorities investigating the disaster that killed 179 people, the worst on South Korean soil, plan to analyse what caused the “black boxes” to stop recording, the ministry said in a statement. The voice recorder was initially analysed in South Korea, and, when data was found to be missing, sent to a U.S. National Transportation Safety…

(Forelines) – Ukraine carried out drone attacks in multiples regions of Russia, targeting two residential houses in the Tambov region and injuring at least three people, Russia stated on Saturday, quoted by Reuters. The regional head, Evgeny Pervyshov, stated via Telegram messaging app several people were treated for injures causing from shattered windows after drones struck two homes in Kotovsk, a town located about 480 kilometers (300 miles) southeast of Moscow, as per Reuters report. Pervyshov further stated that the buildings sustained only minor damage and that residents were offered temporary accommodation. Separately, Russia’s defence ministry reported that it intercepted…