MANILA, Dec. 5 (Xinhua) -- At least 29 persons were killed on Tuesday when a passenger bus plunged off a cliff in Antique province in central Philippines, local authorities said.

The bus, carrying 53 passengers, was traveling west from Iloilo City to San Jose de Buenavista in Antique province when it crashed into a concrete road barrier before plunging into a ravine of 15-meter depth around 4:30 p.m. local time in Hamtic town.

TOKYO, Dec. 6 (Xinhua) -- Japan's parliament approved a bill on Wednesday to legalize cannabis-derived medical products while criminalizing the use of the chemical other than for medicinal purposes.

The upper house of the National Diet of Japan passed the revised cannabis and narcotics control laws during the day, which will enter into force within a year from promulgation.

MOSCOW, December 6. /TASS/: British diplomats these days are keen to position themselves as peacemakers in the situation around Ukraine, although it was London that banned Kiev from conducting peace talks with Moscow, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has told a news briefing.

She was commenting on media reports that British diplomats were allegedly putting pressure on the Ukrainian authorities in order to make them to come to the negotiating table with Russia.

PARIS, Dec 6 (NNN-AGENCIES) — This year will be the hottest in recorded history after November became the sixth record-breaking month in a row, Europe’s climate monitor said Wednesday, piling pressure on the COP28 talks to act on climate change.

“The extraordinary global November temperatures, including two days warmer than 2C above pre-industrial (levels), mean that 2023 is the warmest year in recorded history,” said Samantha Burgess, deputy head of the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service.

BRASILIA, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Brazil rejects any use of force by Venezuela to occupy the Esequibo territory in Guyana and will urge the Caracas government not to threaten its neighbor, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's top foreign policy advisor said on Wednesday.

Celso Amorim, who traveled to Venezuela as Lula's special envoy last month, told Reuters that Brazil opposes "the use of force or threat thereof."

"I conveyed our very serious preoccupations," he said of his visit to Caracas ahead of a public referendum on the Esequibo.

WASHINGTON/LONDON/BEIRUT, Dec 5 (Reuters) - Facing a soaring death toll from Israel's renewed offensive in southern Gaza, the Biden administration is trying to pressure its ally to minimize civilian deaths while stopping well short of the kind of measures that might force it to listen, such as threatening to restrict military aid.

Top U.S. officials, including Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, have urged Israel publicly to conduct a more surgical offensive in the south to avoid the heavy civilian casualties inflicted by its attacks in the north.

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran said Wednesday it sent a capsule into orbit capable of carrying animals as it prepares for human missions in coming years.

A report by the official IRNA news agency quoted Telecommunications Minister Isa Zarepour as saying the capsule was launched 130 kilometers (80 miles) into orbit.

Zarepour said the launch of the 500-kilogram (1,000-pound) capsule is aimed at sending Iranian astronauts to space in coming years. He did not say if any animals were in the capsule.

LONDON, Dec. 6 (Xinhua) -- Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (UK) Boris Johnson admitted on Wednesday that he made mistakes during the COVID-19 pandemic and was "deeply sorry," but he insisted the mistakes were inevitable.

"Can I say that I understand the feelings of the victims and their families, and I am deeply sorry for the pain and the loss and the suffering of those victims and their families," Johnson said as he began two days of questioning by lawyers for a judge-led inquiry about his handling of the pandemic while serving as prime minister.

MOSCOW, December 6. /TASS/: The Russian Foreign Ministry has warned about possible delays in the provision of consular services in Germany following the closure of the Russian Consulate General in Frankfurt am Main.

DUBAI, Dec. 5 (Xinhua) -- More than 70 delegates to the UN climate change conference convened on Tuesday in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, to seek insights and solutions for an inclusive, just and resilient global energy transition.

The energy-themed gathering came as the climate talks at COP28, or the 28th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), reached a stalemate over issues including energy transition.

STOCKHOLM (AP) — On the brink of joining NATO, Sweden has signed a defense cooperation agreement with Washington that will allow the United States access to all of the military bases across the Scandinavian country, saying the deal would bolster regional security.

Swedish Defense Minister Pål Jonson said the deal, signed in Washington Tuesday, “will create better conditions for Sweden to be able to receive support from the United States in the event of a war or crisis.”

UNITED NATIONS, Dec 6 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Sixty-nine million children – or more than one in five – live in poverty in the world’s 40 richest countries UNICEF said in a report released on Wednesday, blasting Britain and France for their particularly bad standings.

That’s despite a drop in child poverty rates in the periods from 2012 to 2014 and 2019 to 2021, by around 8 per cent in the 40 European Union and Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) wealthy countries assessed.