NEW DELHI, Jan 5 (Reuters) - The Indian Navy on Friday rescued the crew of a merchant vessel after its attempted hijack in the Arabian Sea and said it had not found any pirates on board.

An Indian Navy warship intercepted the Liberian-flagged MV Lila Norfolk bulk carrier less than a day after it received a report that the vessel had been hijacked about 460 nautical miles off Somalia.

LAS VEGAS (AP) — A Nevada judge was back to work a day after being attacked by a defendant in a felony battery case who was captured on courtroom video charging forward and “supermanning” over the judge’s bench after it became clear that he was being sentenced to prison, a court official said Thursday.

The defendant, Deobra Redden, is scheduled to face Clark County District Court Judge Mary Kay Holthus again Monday morning for his rescheduled sentencing, according to Chief Judge Jerry Wiese.

MOSCOW, January 5. /TASS/: Thirty-six Ukrainian drones were intercepted and shot down by Russian air defense systems over Crimea and one drone - over the Krasnodar Territory, the Russian defense ministry said.

"On January 5, the Kiev regime’s attempted terrorist attack on facilities in Russia’s territory with the use of fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles was thwarted. Thirty-six Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles were shot down and intercepted by air defense systems over Crimea and one unmanned aerial vehicle - over the Krasnodar Territory," it said.

SEOUL, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- The top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) inspected a major factory that produces strategic missile launching vehicles, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Friday.

Kim Jong Un, general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea and president of the State Affairs of the DPRK, inspected the factory's production of large strategic missile launching vehicles and other military vehicles, KCNA said, without specifying the exact date of the inspection tour.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Food and Drug Administration on Friday cleared the way for Florida’s first-in-the-nation plan to import lower-priced prescription drugs from Canada, a long-sought approach to accessing cheaper medications that follows decades of frustration with U.S. drug prices.

Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the plan into law in 2019, but it required federal review and approval by the FDA, which controls prescription drug imports.

TEHRAN, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Deputy Interior Minister for Security Affairs Majid Mir-Ahmadi said on Friday both bomb attacks that rocked the area near the tomb of Qassem Soleimani in Kerman, southeastern Iran, were "suicide attacks."

Mir-Ahmadi told the official IRNA news agency that parts of the bombers' bodies had been found at the site of Wednesday's attack, which has killed at least 89 people and wounded more than 280.

MOSCOW, January 5. /TASS/: Air defense systems have eliminated a Neptune anti-ship missile over the northwestern part of the Black Sea, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

"On January 5, around 12:30 p.m. Moscow time (9:30 a.m. GMT - TASS), an attempt by the Kiev regime was thwarted to carry out a terror attack on targets in the Russian Federation with the use of a Neptune anti-ship missile. Air defense systems on duty detected the Ukrainian missile and eliminated it over the northwestern waters of the Black Sea," the military agency said.

SEOUL, January 5. /TASS/: North Korean coastal artillery has fired over 200 shells in the direction of South Korean islands in the Yellow Sea, Yonhap reported, citing South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS).

According to it, there are no casualties among South Korean civilians or the military. The shells dropped north of the Northern Limit Line (NLL) which Seoul considers the de facto maritime border in the Yellow Sea. According to the news agency, the South Korean military "warned of its corresponding measures."

LA PAZ, Jan 5 (NNN-PRENSA LATINA) – Four people were killed, after their car crashed into a wall and burst into flames, near a lithium carbonate plant in Uyuni Salt Flats, in the Bolivian department of Potosi, said local authorities yesterday.

“The vehicle was likely travelling at excessive speed” when the driver lost control, collided with the wall, and came to a stop approximately 70 metres from the point of impact, Juan Carlos Oblitas, the deputy commander of Potosi Police, briefed reporters on the accident that occurred early Wednesday.

KERMAN, Iran (AP) — Iranian officials tried Friday to link Israel and the U.S. to an Islamic State group-claimed suicide bombing while speaking to a mass funeral for some of the 89 people killed in the attack, seeking to intertwine the assault with wider Middle East tensions from the Israel-Hamas war.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and the top commander of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard sought to make the link without offering evidence for their claims. The gathered crowd in front of flag-draped caskets shouted in response: “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!”

BEIJING, Jan 5 (Reuters) - Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Friday the most urgent task for Sino-U.S. relations is to establish a correct understanding and cooperation between the two sides, stressing it is "no longer an option ... but an imperative" for the world.

Cooperation is the "most correct choice for China and the United States to get along", Wang said in a keynote speech at an event to mark the 45th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the U.S.

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. intelligence officials have determined that Russia has acquired ballistic missiles from North Korea and is seeking close-range ballistic missiles from Iran as Moscow struggles to replenish supplies for its war with Ukraine, the White House said Thursday.