UAE: (COP28) UN climate talks prolonged as parties fail to reach consensus

DUBAI, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- The ongoing UN climate talks in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, were extended Tuesday beyond the scheduled host-set deadline of 11:00 a.m. local time (0700 GMT) as parties to the COP28 climate conference failed to reach a consensus on the draft text of a hoped-for final agreement.

"We would all like to finish on time, but we want the most ambitious outcome," said COP28 Director-General Majid Al Suwaidi while briefing media on the latest developments.

Al Suwaidi said, "We are facing the most demanding COP agenda of all time."

UAE: A missile fired by Yemen’s Houthi rebels strikes a Norwegian-flagged tanker in the Red Sea

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A missile fired by Yemen’s Houthi rebels slammed into a Norwegian-flagged tanker in the Red Sea off the coast of Yemen near a key maritime chokepoint, the rebels and authorities said Tuesday.

Israel and the US face growing isolation over Gaza as offensive grinds on with no end in sight

RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel and the United States were increasingly isolated as they faced global calls for a cease-fire in Gaza, including a non-binding vote expected to pass at the United Nations later on Tuesday. Israel has pressed ahead with an offensive against Gaza’s Hamas rulers that it says could go on for weeks or months.

Russia: 2 new nuclear submarines to join Pacific Fleet: Putin

MOSCOW, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin announced Monday that two new nuclear submarines -- Emperor Alexander III and Krasnoyarsk -- will join the country's Pacific Fleet soon.

"Very soon, the underwater missile carriers Emperor Alexander III and Krasnoyarsk will start their duty on the Pacific Fleet," Putin said at the flag-raising ceremony for the two submarines.

UAE: As COP28 negotiators wrestle with fossil fuels, activists urge them to remember what’s at stake

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — In the bustling halls where global climate talks are being held, onetime farmer Joseph Kenson Sakala of Malawi is sharing the story of how fossil fuel development upended his life — and hoping that negotiators listen to many such stories and then move decisively to cut use of the coal, oil and gas warming the planet.

US inflation likely cooled again last month as Fed prepares to assess interest rates

WASHINGTON (AP) — This year’s steady slowdown in U.S. inflation likely continued in November, though the latest data may also point to steadily higher prices in some areas of the economy.

Tuesday’s inflation report from the Labor Department is expected to show that businesses kept overall prices unchanged for a second straight month.

Yemen's Houthi militia attacks Norwegian tanker in Red Sea

SANAA, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- Yemen's Houthi rebels on Tuesday said they attacked with a naval missile a Norwegian ship loaded with oil and heading for Israel in the Red Sea.

"We did not resort to targeting the Norwegian ship until its crew rejected all our warning calls," Yehya Sarea, a Houthi military spokesman, said in a statement aired by the Houthi-run al-Masirah TV.

USA: Palestinians hope a vote in the UN General Assembly will show wide support for a Gaza cease-fire

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The Palestinians are hoping that a vote Tuesday in the U.N. General Assembly on a nonbinding resolution demanding an immediate humanitarian cease-fire will demonstrate widespread global support for ending the Israel-Hamas war, now in its third month.

After the United States vetoed a resolution in the Security Council on Friday demanding a humanitarian cease-fire, Arab and Islamic nations called for an emergency session of the 193-member General Assembly on Tuesday afternoon to vote on a resolution making the same demand.

A gigantic new ICBM will take US nuclear missiles out of the Cold War-era but add 21st-century risks

F.E. WARREN AIR FORCE BASE, Wyo. (AP) — The control stations for America’s nuclear intercontinental ballistic missiles have a sort of 1980s retro look, with computing panels in sea foam green, bad lighting and chunky control switches, including a critical one that says “launch.”

Those underground capsules are about to be demolished and the missile silos they control will be completely overhauled. A new nuclear missile is coming, a gigantic ICBM called the Sentinel. It’s the largest cultural shift in the land leg of the Air Force’s nuclear missile mission in 60 years.

USA: Elon Musk restores X account of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones

WASHINGTON (AP) —Elon Musk has restored the X account of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, pointing to a poll on the social media platform formerly known as Twitter that came out in favor of the Infowars host who repeatedly called the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting a hoax.

It poses new uncertainty for advertisers, who have fled X over concerns about hate speech appearing alongside their ads, and is the latest divisive public personality to get back their banned account.

UK's Sunak tells COVID inquiry 'vigorous debate' was a good thing

LONDON, Dec 11 (Reuters) - Prime Minister Rishi Sunak defended Britain's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic on Monday, telling an official inquiry he did not recognise the description of a dysfunctional government that bounced from one idea to the next.

The inquiry is examining Britain's response to the pandemic which killed more than 230,000 people in the country. It has heard testimony that the government of then-prime minister Boris Johnson was gripped by infighting and incompetence, and unable to make a decision.

Zelenskyy will meet Biden at the White House amid a stepped-up push for Congress to approve more aid

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden and Ukraine’s leader, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, will meet at the White House on Tuesday as the U.S. administration steps up the pressure on Congress to provide billions more in aid to Kyiv in its war with Russia.

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