MOSCOW (AP) — Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny on Tuesday released a sardonic statement about his transfer to a Arctic prison colony nicknamed the “Polar Wolf,” his first appearance since associates lost contact with him three weeks ago.

Navalny, the most prominent and persistent domestic foe of President Vladimir Putin, is serving a 19-year sentence on an extremism conviction. He had been incarcerated in central Russia’s Vladimir region, about 230 kilometers (140 miles) east of Moscow, but supporters said he couldn’t be found beginning on Dec. 6.

BAGHDAD, Dec. 25 (Xinhua) -- The Iraqi government on Monday condemned an attack by a bomb-laden drone on an airbase housing the U.S.-led coalition forces near Erbil Airport in Iraq's northern semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region.

Yahya Rasoul, the military spokesman of the Iraqi prime minister, said in a statement that the attack occurred near the civil Erbil Airport, injuring several people and affecting the operation of the airport.

Calling the attack a "terrorist act," Rasoul added "such criminal acts aim to harm Iraq's interests," according to the statement.

Dec 26 (Reuters) - Canada's government is willing to sign off on multimillion-dollar settlement packages for Canadians Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig to compensate them for the near three years they were incarcerated in Chinese prisons, the Globe and Mail reported on Tuesday, citing government sources.

MOSCOW, December 26. /TASS/: Moscow expects a wide range of solutions to be developed ahead of the group’s next summit, set to take place in the Russian city of Kazan in October 2024, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.

MANILA, Dec 26 (Reuters) - The Philippines is not provoking conflict in the South China Sea, its military spokesperson said on Tuesday, responding to China's accusation that Manila was encroaching on Beijing's territory.

It was the latest salvo amid rising tension as the two have traded accusations in recent months over a series of maritime run-ins, including China allegedly ramming a ship this month carrying the Philippines' military chief.

"The Philippines is not provoking conflict," Medel Aguilar told state broadcaster PTV.

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — The Turkish parliament’s foreign affairs committee gave its consent to Sweden’s bid to join NATO on Tuesday, drawing the previously nonaligned Nordic country closer to membership in the Western military alliance.

Sweden’s accession protocol will now need to be approved in the Turkish parliament’s general assembly for the last stage of the legislative process in Turkey. No date has been set.

LONDON, Dec. 25 (Xinhua) -- At risk of recession, the United Kingdom (UK) has witnessed a year of poor economic performance in 2023, and next year does not look promising either.

Inflation in the country has been running high for more than two years, making the cost-of-living crisis a heated topic across the nation. The consumer price index (CPI) rose by 3.9 percent in the 12 months to November 2023, mainly due to a drop in fuel prices and slower growth in food prices.

BEIJING, Dec 26 (Reuters) - President Xi Jinping vowed on Tuesday to resolutely prevent anyone from "splitting Taiwan from China in any way", the official Xinhua news agency reported, a little more than two weeks before Taiwan elects a new leader.

China views democratically-governed Taiwan as its own territory, despite the strong objections of the government in Taipei, and has ramped up military and political pressure to assert its sovereignty claims.

NEW DELHI, Dec 26 (Reuters) - An explosion near the Israeli Embassy in New Delhi on Tuesday did not kill or wound any staff members, authorities said, adding that investigations into its cause were ongoing.

Officials were still inspecting the area but it had been reopened to the general public. There was no information suggesting anyone on the street had been hurt.

MOSCOW, December 26. /TASS/: The West has given Belgrade an ultimatum, effectively forcing it to choose "anything but Russia," Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

GAZA, Dec. 25 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian refugees in Gaza endured a night of horror on Christmas Eve as Israeli airstrikes hit residential areas, killing and wounding many.

Residents of al-Maghazi and al-Bureij refugee camps in the central Gaza Strip told Xinhua that they fled their homes at dawn on Monday after a "hellish night."

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 26 (NNN-Bernama) — The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) should vote to suspend Israel for its ongoing war on Gaza and the decades long Apartheid policies against the Palestinian people, an analyst said.

Director of Hashim Sani Centre for Palestine Studies at Universiti Malaya Assoc. Prof Dr Mohd Nazari Ismail said the UNGA had taken a similar decision to suspend the South African Apartheid regime in Nov 1974.