North Korea’s rubber-stamp parliament has passed decisions made by a major ruling party meeting where leader Kim Jong-un vowed to bolster his nuclear deterrent and established plans to salvage a dismal economy.The North’s Korean Central News Agency said on Monday that members of the Supreme People’s Assembly on Sunday unanimously supported the development plans for the next five years that were revealed during the Workers’ Party congress that ended last week.The assembly also approved a major…

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Small groups of right-wing protesters – some of them carrying rifles – gathered outside heavily fortified statehouses around the country on Sunday as National Guard troops and police kept watch to prevent a repeat of the violence that erupted at the US Capitol.There were no immediate reports of any clashes.Security was stepped up in recent days after the FBI warned of the potential for armed protests in Washington and at all 50 state capitol buildings ahead of President-elect Joe Biden’s…

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Tens of thousands of people have been evacuated and more than a dozen have been killed in recent days in flooding on Indonesia’s Borneo island, officials said Sunday.National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesperson Raditya Jati said floods brought by intense rains caused floodwaters as high as three metres.As of Sunday, 39,549 people had been evacuated and at least 15 had been killed due to floods that affected 10 districts and cities in South Kalimantan province on Borneo island.Separately,…

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The top United Nations official for Libya said an advisory committee of representatives from Libya’s different regions has proposed a way forward for choosing a transitional government that would lead the war-torn country to elections late this year.The talks in Geneva, structured around the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum, have been taking place amid a heavy international push to reach a peaceful settlement to Libya’s civil war. Previous diplomatic initiatives have all collapsed.UN acting…

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An effort by a self-exiled senior member of the banned opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party to lead a return to her homeland on Sunday has failed after an airline refused to carry her.The thwarted plan to return represented the second attempt by party leaders to rejoin the political struggle at home. In November 2019, Sam Rainsy, the party’s co-founder, sought to return from exile with several colleagues but was blocked by the government. He has been in exile since 2016 to avoid serving a…

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Vice-President-elect Kamala Harris will be sworn in by Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor on Wednesday, a history-making event in which the first Black, South Asian and female vice-president will take her oath of office from the first Latina justice.Harris chose Sotomayor for the task, according to a person familiar with the decision. She will also use two Bibles for the swearing-in, one of which belonged to Thurgood Marshall, the first Black Supreme Court justice.ABC News first reported the…

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All federal prisons in the United States have been placed on lockdown, with officials aiming to quell any potential violence that could arise behind bars as law enforcement prepares for potentially violent protests across the country in the run-up to President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration on Wednesday.The lockdown at more than 120 federal Bureau of Prisons facilities took effect at 12am local time on Saturday, according to an email to employees from the president of the union representing…

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Prince William says he is concerned about the mental health of UK ambulance drivers, police officers and other first responders who are being exposed to extraordinary levels of trauma and death as coronavirus cases soar.William, a former search and rescue helicopter pilot, told emergency workers on a video call that they must not be afraid to ask for help despite their inclination to help others first.“I fear … you’re all so busy caring for everyone else that you won’t take enough time to care…

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Germany, France and Britain pressed Iran on Saturday to back off the latest planned violation of its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, saying that Tehran has “no credible civilian use” for uranium metal.The International Atomic Energy Agency said on Thursday Iran had informed it that it had begun installing equipment for the production of uranium metal. It said Tehran maintains its plans to conduct research and development on uranium metal production are part of its “declared aim to design…

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Mount Semeru, the highest volcano on Indonesia’s most densely populated island of Java, spewed hot clouds as far away as 4.5 kilometres (nearly 3 miles) on Saturday.There were no immediate evacuations, but the National Disaster Mitigation Agency warned people who live in the villages on the slopes of the 3,676-metre (12,060-foot)-high mountain to be vigilant in looking for signs of danger.Agency spokesman Raditya Jati said that people around the river basin on the slopes of the mountain should…

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The Trump administration on Friday carried out its 13th federal execution since July, an unprecedented run that concluded just five days before the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden – an opponent of the federal death penalty.Dustin Higgs, convicted in the killings of three women in a Maryland wildlife refuge in 1996, was the third to receive a lethal injection this week at the federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana.President Donald Trump’s Justice Department resumed federal executions…

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An aftershock hit Indonesia’s Sulawesi island on Saturday as rescuers searched for people trapped under rubble after a 6.2 magnitude earthquake left at least 45 dead and hundreds injured.There were no reports of further damage after the magnitude 5.0 aftershock at 6.32am local time, said Raditya Jati, spokesman for the National Disaster Management Agency.“Further aftershocks are expected, so we advise residents to remain calm and alert,” he said.Operations were focused on about eight locations…

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Justice Department lawyers asked a federal appeal court on Friday to replace President Donald Trump with the United States as the defendant in a defamation lawsuit brought by a woman who says he raped her in the 1990s.The lawyers filed papers in an appeal of a lower court Manhattan judge’s ruling denying the substitution in a lawsuit brought by E. Jean Carroll, a columnist who in a June 2019 book described her encounter with Trump at an upscale Manhattan department store.The book excerpt…

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President Donald Trump will leave Washington on January 20 just before President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration to begin his post-presidential life in Florida.Refusing to abide by tradition and participate in the ceremonial transfer of power, Trump will instead hold his own departure ceremony at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland before his final flight aboard Air Force One.Officials are considering an elaborate send-off event reminiscent of the receptions he is received during state visits abroad,…

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At least 10 people have so far been confirmed dead and more than 200 injured.

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A pigeon that Australia declared a possible biosecurity risk may escape death after the authenticity of its leg band identifying it as a US racing bird was thrown in doubt.The blue band suggested the bird found in a Melbourne backyard on December 26 was a US racing pigeon that had left the American state of Oregon two months earlier.On that basis, Australian authorities on Thursday said they considered the bird a disease risk and planned to kill it.A US bird travelled 13,000km to Melbourne…

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The parade, which included a new submarine-launched ballistic missile, closed out the eight-day Workers’ Party congress.

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The US FBI is tracking an “extensive amount of concerning online chatter,” including calls for armed protests leading up to next week’s presidential inauguration, Director Chris Wray said on Thursday.Wray, in his first public appearance since the January 6 riot at the US Capitol, said in a security briefing for Vice-President Mike Pence that the FBI remains concerned about the potential for violence at protests and rallies in Washington and in state capitols around the country.Those events…

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A 6.2-magnitude earthquake on Indonesia’s Sulawesi island killed at least seven people and injured hundreds on Friday, the country’s disaster mitigation agency said, as panicked residents fled to safer areas after many buildings including a hotel were damaged.Initial information from officials showed that four people had died and 637 others were injured in Majene, while there were three more fatalities and two dozen injured in the the neighbouring province of Mamuju.The quake was felt strongly…

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As a global team arrives to investigate the pandemic’s origins, China is seeing a rare surge in its infections.

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Named after the U.S. president-elect, the world-traveler is now at the mercy of Australia’s strict quarantine service.

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Indonesia’s vaccination program is the first large-scale use outside of China of the Sinovac Biotech Ltd. vaccine. 

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Kelly Craft, the American ambassador to the U.N., would have been the third high-level U.S. official to visit Taiwan in recent months.

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The move comes after weeks of disruptive protests by Indian farmers.

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The Hazara miners were abducted and killed by militants from the Islamic State group in southwestern Balochistan province.

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India took a regulatory shortcut to approve a vaccine by Indian drugmaker Bharat Biotech before late clinical trials finished.

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The outbreak in two cities in Hubei province is one of the most serious in recent months.

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Indonesia has long been plagued by air accidents due to aging infrastructure and poorly enforced safety standards.

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Bashir left prison after completing his sentence for funding the training of Islamic militants.

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The ruling recalls the 2018 judgment on forced labor that sparked a trade war between Japan and South Korea.

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