Taipei (AFP) – Taipei residents go about their daily lives, despite China’s announcement of new military drills, with ships and planes being deployed around Taiwan. “I won’t panic,” says engineer Benjamin Hsiao, adding “it’s not the first time in recent years” that China has held drills around the self-ruled island.
Kathmandu (AFP) – Cheering crowds greet 18-year-old Nima Rinji Sherpa as he returns home to Kathmandu after becoming the youngest person to summit all 14 of the world’s 8,000-metre peaks. Sherpa began his mission at the age of 16, climbing Nepal’s Mount Manaslu in August 2022. A little over two years on, he claimed the record with his summit of Tibet’s Shisha Pangma in October this year.
Unknown (AFP) – Taiwan’s outlying islands are on “heightened alert” and its “aircraft and ships will respond to enemy situations,” says the country’s Ministry of National Defense, after China deployed jets and warships to encircle the self-ruled island. Defense Ministry spokesperson Sun Lifang describes the drill as “irrational and provocative.”
Baabda (AFP) – Andrea Tenenti, spokesperson for the UN’s peacekeeping force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), told AFP on Saturday that the mission would maintain its positions despite at least five of its members being wounded amid recent fighting between Israel and Hezbollah. He spoke ahead of Sunday’s calls by Israel to move peacekeeping forces out of “harm’s way”. Later, UN peacekeepers said Israeli tanks broke through a gate to enter a Blue Helmet position in Lebanon in the early morning.
Bagdad (AFP) – Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein says Baghdad is against a regional war spreading to Iran, ahead of Israel’s expected retaliation for the Islamic republic’s recent missile attack. “The continuation of the war and its expansion towards the Islamic Republic of Iran and (Israel’s) exploitation of Iraqi airspace as a corridor is completely unacceptable and rejected,” he says during a press conference with his Iranian counterpart in the Iraqi capital.
Kurakhove (AFP) – A Ukrainian couple inspects and boards up the windows of their apartment after it was damaged during shelling near the front line in the Pokrovsk district of the eastern Donetsk region. The overcast weather provides slight protection against drones as Ivan and Liubov briefly visit to check on their flat before returning to a village about 20 kilometres away. Russia on Sunday said it has captured another east Ukrainian village as it closes on the important city of Pokrovsk, where its forces have been advancing for weeks.
Imilchil (AFP) – As a young girl growing up in the Atlas mountains, Hannou Mouloud’s family took her to have her chin tattooed with the cherished lines that generations of Moroccan Amazigh tribeswomen wore. But today, like in many of the Indigenous cultures across the world where facial tattoos were long prevalent, the practice has largely faded.
Jerusalem (AFP) – “Mr [UN] Secretary-General, get the UNIFIL forces out of harm’s way. It should be done right now, immediately,” says Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem. His call to UN chief Antonio Guterres comes a day after the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) repeated its refusal to withdraw from the border area after five of its members were wounded in the Israel-Hezbollah war.
São Paulo (AFP) – Stores and homes are without electricity in Sao Paulo after storms swept parts of Brazil, killing at least eight. Seven of the deceased were in Sao Paulo, Brazil’s most populous state, mainly due to falling trees and walls toppled by violent winds and rain, according to the state civil defense. Central and southeastern Brazil have been pounded by winds reaching 62 miles (100 kilometers) per hour and up to four inches (10 cm) of daily rainfall, according to the National Institute of Meteorology.
Beirut (AFP) – Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf says Iran “will certainly support the decisions of the Lebanese government, the Lebanese people, and the resistance [Hezbollah]” after meeting with parliament speaker Nabih Berri in Beirut. When Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi visited Lebanon last week, he said Tehran backed efforts for a simultaneous ceasefire with Israel in both Gaza and Lebanon.
