World

LONDON (Reuters) -Prince Harry on Friday lost his attempt to have the Mail on Sunday newspaper's defence to his libel lawsuit thrown out, meaning the British royal is likely to give evidence again at London's High Court next year. Harry, King Charles' younger son, sued publisher Associated Newspapers last year over a 2022 article which alleged he only offered to pay for police protection after bringing a separate legal fight against the British government. The report also accused Harry, 39, of attempting to mislead the public about his willingness to pay for the policing, which was withdrawn a...

By Guy Faulconbridge MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday told soldiers who had fought in the Ukraine war that he would run for president again in the 2024 election, a move that will allow the former KGB spy to stay in power until at least 2030. Putin, who was handed the presidency by Boris Yeltsin on the last day of 1999, has already served as president for longer than any other ruler of Russia since Josef Stalin, beating even Leonid Brezhnev's 18-year tenure. After Putin awarded Ukraine war veterans with Russia's highest military honour, the Hero of Russia gold star, ...

By Kuba Stezycki WEDRZYN, Poland (Reuters) - In a snow-covered field in western Poland, Ukrainian soldiers are being trained in trench warfare, just days before being sent to the front in what has become a grinding war of attrition against Russia. Reuters was among a number of media organisations invited this week to watch the training, which was conducted by soldiers from Poland, France and Belgium, in Wedrzyn, around 40 kilometres from the German border. "Most of the people have actually no military experience and they are taught how to execute some basic tactics," said one Ukrainian soldier...

By Valerie Volcovici and David Stanway DUBAI (Reuters) -COP28 President Sultan al-Jaber urged countries on Friday to get out of their comfort zones and work together to reach agreement before the two-week summit ends. "Let's please get this job done," he said, opening a plenary session as the summit entered its toughest phase of negotiations. "I need you to step up and I need you to come out of your comfort zones," he said. With five days left before the conference's scheduled end on Dec. 12, country ministers are joining the deliberations on Friday. Still unresolved is how the nearly 200 coun...

(Reuters) - The European Union is poised to give its member states the power to halt gas imports from Russia and Belarus, Financial Times reported on Friday. Any member state will be able to block companies from Russia and Belarus from obtaining space in their gas pipelines and liquefied natural gas terminals, FT reported citing a draft legal text proposed by Brussels. (Reporting by Anirudh Saligrama in Bengaluru; Editing by Kim Coghill)

By Bassam Masoud and Maayan Lubell GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Israel battled Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip's biggest cities on Thursday, leaving hundreds more Palestinians dead as almost 2 million displaced Gazans struggled to find safe refuge amid critical shortages of food and shelter. Residents reported fierce battles going on east of Khan Younis, southern Gaza's largest city and Palestinian health officials said three Gazans were killed in an Israeli air strike on a house in Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza. Israel said its forces killed a number of gunmen in Khan Younis, including two who...

By Sarah Young LONDON (Reuters) -Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson told Britain's COVID inquiry on Thursday that any suggestion he wanted to allow the virus to "let rip" was "rubbish" and "completely wrong". Johnson, prime minister between 2019 and 2022, faced a second day of questioning which examined the weeks before the country's second national lockdown in November 2020. Asked whether he had wanted to allow the virus to "let rip", and about suggestions that he believed older people had reached their time, Johnson said: "No, no, no, this is all rubbish". The inquiry has heard evidence fro...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) — It is essential the United States moves ahead in approving new agreements with three Pacific island states, the U.S. Indo-Pacific coordinator Kurt Campbell said on Thursday, stressing that China is waiting to take advantage if the United States fails to fulfill its commitments. Campbell made the comments about new 20-year funding programs for the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), the Marshall Islands (RMI) and Palau awaiting congressional approval while testifying at a Senate hearing on his nomination to become the Biden administration's next deputy secretary of state.

By Howard Goller JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Two months into a war with Hamas, the faces of Israelis taken hostage to Gaza still appear on individual posters plastered across Jerusalem bus stops and flashed across buildings. The sombre mood was all-consuming on Thursday at the start of Hanukkah, the first Jewish festival since Oct. 7 when Israel says Hamas massacred 1,200 people. It was a solemn moment for all of Israel and not only for families of the 138 Israelis still held hostage. For some Israelis, the feeling is of a country shrinking. Some 200,000 Israelis have been uprooted from both the sou...