KYIV, 30 December 2022, (TON): Ukraine’s air force said on Friday morning that Russia launched 16 “kamikaze” drones overnight and that Ukrainian air defenses destroyed all of them.

It added that the drones had been sent from the southeast and north.

Russia was accused of senseless barbarism after a massive barrage of missiles hit cities throughout Ukraine.

Ukraine’s military said Russia had launched 69 air and sea-based cruise missiles.

CAIRO, 30 December 2022, (TON): A cabinet statement said “Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi approved a document outlining 62 economic activities the state will withdraw from and turn over the private sector.”

The document’s approval was required by the International Monetary Fund, which this month approved a 46-month, $3 billion financial support package for Egypt.

The policy aims to give the private sector a greater role in helping to grow the economy, create jobs and increase investment and exports, the statement said.

JUBA, 29 December 2022, (TON): Armed raids in a region of South Sudan plagued by ethnic clashes have forced around 30,000 civilians to flee their homes, the UN’s emergency response agency said as international partners demanded an end to the violence.

On December 24, armed men from Jonglei state, an eastern region beset by gun violence, attacked communities in nearby Greater Pibor Administrative Area, the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in a statement.

The violence followed clashes last month in South Sudan’s far north that uprooted thousands in Upper Nile state.

“People have suffered enough. Civilians, especially those most vulnerable women, children, the elderly and the disabled bear the brunt of this prolonged crisis,” said Sara Beysolow Nyanti, the UN humanitarian coordinator in South Sudan.

SEOUL, 29 December 2022, (TON): Emergency officials and media said “a large fire on a major South Korean expressway spread quickly, killing at least five people and injuring more than three dozen in heavy traffic before it was doused.”

Video images on social media showed a soundproof awning engulfed in flames soon after the fire broke out on the Second Gyeongin Expressway near Seoul, the capital, at about 1:49 p.m. (0449 GMT).

The heavy traffic made it difficult for vehicles to immediately escape the affected area, as the fire spread and a blast was heard, a witness told television broadcaster YTN.

TEL AVIV, 29 December 2022, (TON): Benjamin Netanyahu was set to return to office at the helm of the most religious and ultranationalist government in Israel’s history, vowing to implement policies that could cause domestic and regional turmoil and alienate the country’s closest allies.

Netanyahu’s new government has pledged to prioritize settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank, extend massive subsidies to his ultra-Orthodox allies and push for sweeping reform of the judicial system that could endanger the country’s democratic institutions.

Netanyahu is the country’s longest serving prime minister, having held office from 2009 until 2021 and a stint in the 1990s. He was ousted from office last year after four deadlocked elections by a coalition of eight parties solely united in their opposition to his rule while on trial for corruption.

MOSCOW, 29 December 2022, (TON): Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said active work is underway for the establishment of the gas hub in Türkiye.

Currently, active work is underway with the countries that will participate in the implementation of this project, as well as with consumers in need of Russian gas, Novak said in an interview with the Russian state-run TASS agency.

The European gas market remains ‘relevant’ for Russia, and there are means for delivering additional volumes there, including through the Yamal-Europe pipeline, closed ‘based on political motives,’ the minister added.

JERUSALEM, 29 December 2022, (TON): Benjamin Netanyahu’s incoming hard-line government put West Bank settlement expansion at the top of its list of priorities, vowing to legalize dozens of illegally built outposts and annex the occupied territory as part of its coalition deal with its ultranational allies.

The coalition agreements, released a day before the government is to be sworn into office, also included language endorsing discrimination against LGBTQ people on religious grounds, as well as generous stipends for ultra-Orthodox men who prefer to study instead of work.

The package laid the groundwork for what is expected to be a stormy beginning for Netanyahu’s government and could put it at odds with large parts of the Israeli public and Israel’s closest allies abroad.

WASHINGTON, 29 December 2022, (TON): The US government’s two-year-old policy of invoking Covid-19 precautions to turn away hundreds of thousands of migrants at the Mexican border will remain in place for now, the Supreme Court ruled.

The decision to uphold the controversial rule known as Title 42 delayed a looming political crisis for President Joe Biden, as thousands waited at the southern border in expectation the policy was about to end.

But the conservative-dominated high court accepted a petition from 19 states warning of a surge of migrants should the policy introduced under former president Donald Trump in March 2020 be lifted as ordered by a lower court.

RIYADH, 28 December 2022, (TON): Saudi Arabia’s Chief of the General Staff Lt. Gen. Fayyadh Al-Ruwaili and his Egyptian counterpart Lt. Gen. Osama Askar held talks on expanding defense and military cooperation relations.

The Kingdom’s defense ministry said “the head of the Egyptian Armed Forces was received with an official reception ceremony upon his arrival in the capital, Riyadh.”

The ministry statement said ”the two sides reviewed their strategic relations, especially in the field of defense and military cooperation, and ways to enhance it.”

WASHINGTON, 28 December 2022, (TON): The Supreme Court is keeping pandemic-era limits on immigration in place indefinitely, dashing hopes of immigration advocates who had been anticipating their end this week.

In a ruling Tuesday, the Supreme Court extended a temporary stay that Chief Justice John Roberts issued last week. Under the court’s order, the case will be argued in February and the stay will be maintained until the justices decide the case.

The limits, often referred to as Title 42 in reference to a 1944 public health law, were put in place under then-President Donald Trump at the beginning of the pandemic.

Under the restrictions, officials have expelled asylum-seekers inside the United States 2.5 million times and turned away most people who requested asylum at the border on grounds of preventing the spread of COVID-19.