Tag: World News

Bristol (TIP)- The over 600 artefacts stolen from Bristol Museum in the UK included household belongings, souvenirs, photographs, and papers of British people who lived and worked in the colonies, including India. However, the most valuable of the stolen items included artifacts taken from India, such as an elephant carved in ivory and an ivory statue of the Buddha.
According to Bristol City Council, the items stolen include medals, badges and pins, necklaces, bangles and rings, decorative items such as carved ivory, silver items, and bronze figurines. Natural history pieces, including geological specimens, are also believed to have been taken in the burglary.
The Bristol City Council also released images of an elephant carved in ivory, an ivory statue of the Buddha, a ship lantern, and an Emancipation token.
The museum archived the links between Britain and countries in the British Empire from the late 19th century to recent times, including India. It had over 2,000 items in the film collections dating from 1920 to the 1970s, with footage from India and countries in Africa, and around 500,000 photographs dating from the 1860s to the 1970s. These include the African photographs of the writer Elspeth Huxley, the Crown Agents Railway archive, and Charles Trotter’s collection of negatives from 1950s Nairobi.
Investigation officer Det. Constable Dan Burgan claimed many of these collections were donations. “These items, many of which were donations, form part of a collection that provides insight into a multilayered part of British history, and we are hoping that members of the public can help us to bring those responsible to justice,” he told reporters.
Interestingly, Bristol, situated over 195 kilometers southwest of London, was a prominent spot of the slave trade, with ships based in the city transporting Africans into slavery. Most of the people in the city had benefited from and enjoyed the benefits of slavery until its ban in 1807. In 2020, anti-racism demonstrators toppled the statue of Edward Colston, a 17th-century slave trader, which was later put on display in the museum.
The theft happened on September 25 after four men, wearing hoodies and caps, broke into a building between 1 am and 2 am local time.
The theft was discovered only the next day. According to Philip Walker, head of culture and creative industries at Bristol City Council, the museum had been ransacked.

Washington (TIP)- The White House has stated that US President Donald Trump is “extremely frustrated” with both Russia and Ukraine over the slow progress toward ending the ongoing war and is unwilling to engage in “meetings just for the sake of meeting”.
During a press briefing, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt stated the President was tired of meetings that achieve nothing and wanted results, not words, as the US acts as the primary mediator to end the four-year-long running war.
“The president is extremely frustrated with both sides of this war. He’s sick of meetings just for the sake of meeting. He doesn’t want any more talk. He wants action. He wants this war to come to an end,” Leavitt. She further confirmed that the Trump administration remains actively involved in peace efforts, with President Trump holding talks with European leaders on Wednesday and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and his team continuing direct discussions with both sides “literally as we speak”.
Regarding possible high-level US participation in upcoming talks this weekend, Leavitt said the decision remains “up in the air”.
“The United States and the Trump administration continue to be very much engaged in trying to bring the Russia-Ukraine war to an end. The President had a call with Europeans yesterday. His special envoy Witkoff and his team continue to talk with both sides literally as we speak. If there is a real chance of signing a peace agreement, if we feel like those meetings are worthy of someone in the United States’s time this weekend, then we will send a representative. It’s still up in the air whether we believe real peace can be accomplished and we can truly move the ball forward,” Leavitt stated.
Earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that the US is advocating for Ukraine to pull back its forces from the Donetsk region to create a “free economic zone” in Kyiv-controlled areas of eastern Ukraine, which Moscow seeks to dominate, as reported by Al Jazeera. Zelenskyy confirmed that Ukraine had submitted a 20-point set of counter-proposals to the US as part of ongoing discussions on security guarantees with senior American officials, emphasising that any territorial concessions would need to be approved through a national referendum.
Meanwhile, Zelenskyy has been facing increasing pressure from Washington to reach a peace deal with Russia, with reports suggesting that Trump wants an agreement by Christmas, Al Jazeera reported.
The overall peace plan includes a 20-point framework, along with separate documents addressing security guarantees and the reconstruction of Ukraine.
The full details of the revised framework, which adjusts an earlier US draft seen as favouring Russia, have not been made public.
Zelenskyy indicated that the main points of disagreement remain the control of the Donetsk region in the Donbas and the future governance of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which is currently under Russian control, as reported by Al Jazeera.

Surin (TIP)- Fighting between Thai and Cambodian forces continued early on Saturday, Dec 13, hours after US President Donald Trump said the two countries had agreed to a ceasefire.Thai prime minister Anutin Charnvirakul said he told the US president a ceasefire would only be possible after Cambodia had withdrawn all its forces and removed landmines.
“Thailand will continue to perform military actions until we feel no more harm and threats to our land and people. I want to make it clear. Our actions this morning already spoke,” he said on social media.
Shelling continued overnight, as Thai forces push to take a number of vantage points along the border. At least 21 people have died in the renewed fighting and 700,000 have been evacuated on both sides.
Trump had claimed earlier in the week that he could stop the fighting between Thai and Cambodian forces that broke out on Monday just by picking up the phone. After speaking to both prime ministers on Friday night he wrote on social media that the two countries had agreed to “cease shooting effective this evening” and go back to the agreement they signed in front of the US president in October. “Both countries are ready for peace,” he wrote.
However, Anutin said he told Trump that Thailand was not the aggressor, and that Cambodia must show that it had withdrawn its forces and removed landmines from the border before a ceasefire was possible. “They must show us first,” he said. There was no mention of the use of tariffs as leverage to force the two sides to disengage, as happened in July.
Thailand has warned the US not to link the conflict to trade.On Saturday Cambodia reported that it had been struck by more Thai air strikes.
“On December 13, 2025, the Thai military used two F-16 fighter jets to drop seven bombs” on a number of targets, the Cambodian defence ministry said in an X post.”Thai military aircraft have not stopped bombing yet,” it said.The Thai military also confirmed that fighting continued.The long-standing border dispute escalated on 24 July, as Cambodia launched a barrage of rockets into Thailand, which responded with air strikes.Both countries have accused each other of initiating the attacks. After days of intense fighting which left dozens dead, the neighbouring South East Asian countries agreed to an “immediate and unconditional ceasefire” brokered by Trump and Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim. This was formalised at a ceremony in Malaysia in October presided over by the US president.
However both sides continued to trade accusations of ceasefire violations, with Thailand publishing evidence of Cambodian troops laying landmines, which have caused seven Thai soldiers to lose limbs. Cambodia says the mines are left over from the civil war in the 1980s.

Seoul (TIP)- North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has vowed to root out “evil” and scolded lazy officials while praising his troops fighting with Russia against Ukraine, state media said Friday, capping a major meeting of Pyongyang’s top brass.
The three-day meeting of the regime’s central committee discussed key policy issues as well as plans for a congress of its ruling party, expected in early 2026 — North Korea’s first in five years.
Wrapping up the meeting on Thursday, Kim condemned “the wrong ideological viewpoint and inactive and irresponsible work attitude” of some officials, the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.
He called on officials to have “greater confidence in and courage for the future of our cause and struggle”.State media did not offer specifics, though it did say the ruling party had revealed numerous recent “deviations” in discipline — a euphemism for corruption.
The North Korean leader reserved praise for Pyongyang’s soldiers fighting against Ukraine alongside Russia, of whom at least 600 have died and thousands more sustained wounds, according to South Korean estimates.Their work, Kim said, “demonstrated to the world the prestige of our army and state as the ever-victorious army and genuine protector of international justice”.
Analysts say Pyongyang is receiving financial aid, military technology, food and energy supplies from Russia in return for sending troops.Kim’s mention of the troops “signalled Pyongyang’s intention to maintain that deployment”, Ahn Chan-il, a researcher originally from North Korea, told AFP.
“North Korea is also highly likely to seek a role in post-war reconstruction in Russia once… the conflict ends,” he added.Kim also hailed efforts this year in “modernising” the country’s defences in the face of great “global geopolitical and technological changes”. Pyongyang’s central committee began meeting on Tuesday, the same day North Korea fired a salvo of artillery from a multiple rocket launcher system, which analysts say could strike the South.Last week, South Korea’s dovish President Lee Jae Myung said he felt an apology was due to the North over his predecessor’s alleged order to send drones and propaganda leaflets across the border.Pyongyang has not responded to the overture from Lee, who has sought to mend fractured ties with the North.And Friday’s readout made no mention of South Korea or the United States, whose leader Donald Trump had hoped to meet Kim during a visit to Asia in October.The pair — who Trump once famously declared were “in love” — last met in 2019 at Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas after the US leader extended an invitation to Kim on Twitter.But analysts now say that the North Korean leader, increasingly emboldened by his growing ties with Russia, had few good reasons to join the photo-op.

Kim hails ‘ever-victorious’ army’s role in war against Ukraine
Kim Jong Un praised the deployment of his troops in support of Russia’s war against Ukraine and promised to root out “evil practices” among some officials, state media reports.
In remarks concluding a key meeting of his ruling party on Thursday, Kim condemned “the wrong ideological viewpoint and inactive and irresponsible work attitude” of some officials, the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.
He also spoke of “shortcomings and evil practices that must be corrected”, KCNA said. The North Korean news organisation did not offer any specifics regarding the targets of Kim’s comments, though it did say the ruling party had revealed numerous recent “deviations” in discipline – a euphemism often used to refer to corrupt practices.
Wrapping up the three-day meeting, Kim reserved praise for the North Korean soldiers fighting against Ukraine alongside Russia, of whom at least 600 have been killed and thousands more injured in the war, according to South Korean estimates.

Paris (TIP)- French President Emmanuel Macron appealed to Xi Jinping to help end the war in Ukraine and to tackle trade deficits as the two leaders met in Beijing on Thursday, Dec 4. For Macron, making his fourth visit to China while in office, the three-day trip is an opportunity to shore up support for a ceasefire in Europe’s deadliest conflict since WWII, as well as to attract more Chinese investment in France.
Speaking in the Great Hall of the People, where the meeting took place, Xi said he and Macron had agreed to push for more “balanced” economic ties, two-way investment and a “non-discriminatory” environment for businesses in both countries.
Beijing has long sought to avoid EU tariffs on Chinese products, including steel and EVs that Brussels says are sold at unfair prices due to state subsidies.
Xi also reiterated his support for an end to the hostilities in Ukraine, telling Macron that “China supports all efforts committed to peace and hopes that all parties will reach a fair, lasting and binding peace agreement that is acceptable to all parties”.
China — a major Russian trading partner — has said it takes a neutral stance on the war, refraining from condemning Moscow’s invasion.
All smiles as he entered the cavernous Great Hall of the People, Macron blew kisses to the crowd while a band played the national anthems of both countries.
After the ceremony, Macron told Xi that France and China must overcome their “differences”. The Chinese leader echoed Macron, calling for “more stable” ties.
Their tete-a-tete comes amid fresh attempts to broker an end to the nearly four-year war in Ukraine, with Macron leading a push to counter a US-backed plan widely criticised for echoing Russia’s demands.
“We must continue to work towards peace and stability in the world, and in Ukraine and other regions affected by war,” Macron told Xi, adding: “Our capacity to work together is decisive.”
“I hope that China will join our call and our efforts to achieve, as soon as possible, at least a ceasefire in the form of a moratorium on strikes targeting critical infrastructure,” he said. Macron, who will host the G7 summit next year, also urged Beijing to work with the grouping for “more balanced, fairer” rules-based economic governance.
Macron’s three-day visit to Beijing follows a trip to Paris by Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, who urged Europe to stand by Kyiv as Washington pushes a plan to end the war. China regularly calls for peace talks and respect for the territorial integrity of all countries, but has never condemned Russia for its 2022 invasion.
Western governments accuse Beijing of providing Russia with crucial economic support for its war effort, notably by supplying it with military components for its defence industry.
The French presidency said Macron would tell Xi that China must “refrain from providing any means, by any means, to Russia to continue the war”.

Tel Aviv (TIP)- Israeli raids hit south Lebanon on Thursday, Dec 4, as its military said it was striking Hezbollah weapons storage facilities, a day after Lebanese and Israeli civilian representatives held their first direct talks in decades. Despite a November 2024 ceasefire that was supposed to end more than a year of hostilities between Israel and the Iran-backed militant group, Israel has kept up strikes on Lebanon and has also maintained troops in five south Lebanon areas it deems strategic.
The visit from Sunday to Tuesday of Pope Leo XIV had provided Lebanon with a window of reprieve from Israeli air strikes, which had intensified in recent weeks, and the pontiff urged an end to hostilities during his visit.
But on Thursday, the Israeli army said it “began conducting strikes on Hezbollah terror targets in southern Lebanon”, after warning it would strike buildings in south Lebanon’s Mahrouna and Jbaa.
It subsequently issued warnings that it would strike further Hezbollah “military infrastructure” in Majadal and Baraasheet, also in the south.
Lebanon’s official National News Agency said “Israeli warplanes launched a strike on the town of Mahrouna” while other raids targeted buildings in Jbaa, Majadal and Baraasheet.
An AFP photographer saw smoke rising from the site of the strike in the town of Jbaa.
“It’s a completely civilian area. We’re used to Israeli threats from time to time,” local official Yassir Madi told journalists, including AFP.
“As for the damage, there’s not a window within 300 metres that didn’t break. Everyone is living in shock,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Israeli military said it struck “weapons storage facilities belonging to Hezbollah” located in the “heart of the civilian population”.
“This is yet another example of Hezbollah’s cynical use of Lebanese civilians as human shields, and continued operations from within civilian areas,” it said. Lebanon’s government has committed to disarming Hezbollah, but the group has rejected the idea and many in the country fear a return to expanded Israeli military operations.
Lebanese and Israeli civilian representatives held surprise talks Wednesday under the auspices of the ceasefire monitoring mechanism at the UN peacekeeping force’s headquarters in Lebanon’s Naqura near the border with Israel.
Representatives of the ceasefire monitoring committee — the United States, France, Lebanon, Israel and the UN force — regularly convene in Naqura.
On Thursday, Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun said another round of talks with Israel will begin on December 19.

Moscow (TIP)- President Vladimir Putin has warned again that Ukrainian troops must withdraw from Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region or Russia will seize it, rejecting any compromise over how to end the war in Ukraine.
“Either we liberate these territories by force, or Ukrainian troops will leave these territories,” he told India Today. Moscow controls some 85% of Donbas.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has ruled out ceding territory.
Putin’s comments come after Donald Trump said his negotiators discussing a US peace plan believed Russia’s leader “would like to end the war” after Tuesday’s talks in Moscow. Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff, who was in Moscow, was due to meet Ukraine’s team in Florida.
Trump said Tuesday’s talks in the Kremlin were “reasonably good”, adding it was too soon to say what would happen as “it does take two to tango”.
The original iteration of the US peace plan proposed to hand over areas of the Donbas still under Ukrainian control to the de facto control of Putin – but the Witkoff team presented a modified version in Moscow.
In his India Today interview ahead of a state visit to Delhi, Putin said he had not seen the new version before his talks with Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law.
“That’s why we had to go over every point, that’s why it took so long,” the Kremlin leader said. He also said Moscow disagreed with parts of the US plan.
“At times we said that yes, we can discuss this, but to that we can’t agree,” Putin said.
He did not name the sticking points. At least two significant points of contention remain – the fate of Ukrainian territory seized by Russian forces and security guarantees for Ukraine.
Putin’s senior foreign policy adviser and key negotiator Yuri Ushakov earlier said straight after the talks that they produced “no compromise” on ending the war. Ushakov also implied that the Russian negotiating position had been strengthened thanks to what Moscow said were its recent successes on the battlefield.
Ukraine has repeatedly accused Russia of stalling any ceasefire agreements, saying Moscow is seeking to seize more Ukrainian territory.
Commenting on the Kremlin talks, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybhia said Putin was “wasting the world’s time”.
Ukraine has long insisted on firm security guarantees for Ukraine in any deal.
On Wednesday, Dec 3, Zelensky said “the world clearly feels that there is a real opportunity to end the war” – but negotiations must be “backed by pressure on Russia”, which Kyiv and its European allies accuse of deliberately stalling any ceasefire agreements.
The Ukrainian president said last week his top negotiators had managed to make some key changes in the original US peace plan – seen as strongly favouring Moscow – during talks with an American delegation in Geneva on 23 November.
In a joint statement, US and Ukrainian negotiators said at the time that they had drawn up an “updated and refined peace framework” – but provided no further details.
Top negotiators from Europe – who had voiced concern over the original US plan – were also in the Swiss city last week, meeting separately with the Ukrainian and the US teams.
In a separate development on Thursday, Germany’s Der Spiegel news website said it had obtained a confidential transcript of a conference call in which European leaders expressed concern over the US negotiations.
“There is a possibility that the US will betray Ukraine on the issue of territory without clarity on security guarantees,” French President Emmanuel Macron reportedly said, according to an English transcript of Monday’s conference call.
Meanwhile, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz was quoted as warning that Zelensky had to be “extremely careful in the coming days”.
“They are playing games, both with you and with us,” Merz reportedly said.
Finnish President Alexander Stubb was also quoted as saying: “We mustn’t leave Ukraine and Volodymyr alone with these guys.”
The BBC has not seen the reported transcript. Source: BBC

Beijing (TIP)- China warned the United States that it would “resolutely counter” the proposed Golden Dome missile defense system, saying it undermines its legitimate security interests. The remarks were made on Thursday in a Chinese white paper on arms control, disarmament and nonproliferation, which also discussed the issue of nuclear buildup.

The U.S. homeland is currently safeguarded by a defense system—comprising radars and interceptors; however, it is neither designed nor capable of countering the large, sophisticated missile threats from Russia and China, the country’s nuclear adversaries.

As global missile threats continue to evolve, including Chinese nuclear missiles said to have a global range, the Trump administration is advancing the Golden Dome initiative to protect the U.S. homeland, a plan that includes space-based interceptors and sensors.

While China has previously voiced concerns over the Golden Dome, which it says would weaken strategic balance and stability, the East Asian power unveiled similar systems during a September military parade that form a multilayer defense shield.

In a white paper released by the State Council Information Office, China accused the U.S. of pursuing “absolute security” by developing the Golden Dome without restraint, saying such a plan would undermine the legitimate security interests of other countries.

“China will resolutely counter any acts that threaten or undermine its core interests,” the document said, adding that Trump’s anti-missile defense system seeks to deploy weapons in outer space, which it said would severely threaten security in the domain.

Beijing also criticized Washington over its withdrawal from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in 2002, a now-defunct arms control agreement with Russia that prohibited the deployment of nationwide defenses against strategic nuclear-armed ballistic missiles.

“This has severely undermined strategic mutual trust, increased strategic risks, and damaged global and regional security and stability,” China said in the document. However, the white paper justifies China’s development of missile defense capabilities, saying it is motivated solely by self-defense and does not target any country or region.

Meanwhile, China addressed offensive missiles in the document, protesting the U.S.—without naming it—for promoting the deployment of intermediate-range missiles in the Asia-Pacific region, while saying Chinese missile technologies are used to “deter wars.”

Paris (TIP)- France is to introduce voluntary military service of 10 months aimed mainly at young people aged 18 and 19, as concern grows in Europe about the threat from Russia. In a speech to troops in Varces-Allières-et-Risset in the French Alps, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, said the service would begin by mid-2026 and help France respond to “accelerating threats” on the global stage. Almost 30 years after France scrapped conscription, Macron said he would not go back on that decision, but added: “We need mobilisation.”

“France cannot remain idle,” Macron said. He believed French youth had a “thirst for engagement”, saying there was a young generation “ready to stand up” for their nation.

Under the new military service, men and women, mostly aged 18 and 19, could volunteer to sign up for 10 months. They would be paid a minimum of €800 (£700) per month and receive food and accommodation, as well as a 75% discount on rail travel. They would be deployed “only on national soil”, Macron said. A minority with specific qualifications, for example in engineering or medical skills, could be aged up to 25.

There is so far no suggestion that military service in France could again be compulsory, as it was before the then president, Jacques Chirac, abolished conscription in 1997.

“We cannot return to the time of conscription,” Macron said. “This hybrid army model corresponds to the threats and risks ahead, bringing together national service youth, reservists, and the active army.”

The plan will cost €2bn, which Macron called “a significant and necessary effort”.

The scheme aims to bring in 3,000 volunteers in 2026, rising to 10,000 by 2030. “My ambition for France is to reach 50,000 youth by 2036, depending on evolving threats,” Macron said. After the programme, participants could integrate into civilian life, become a reservist, or stay in the armed forces, he said.

He said the plan was “inspired by practices of our European partners … at a time when all our European allies advance in response to a threat that weighs on us all”.

The move is part of a broader shift across Europe, where nations who have long enjoyed the decades-long tranquillity of US security guarantees are concerned about Donald Trump’s shifting priorities and Russia’s aggressive posturing.

Macron’s announcement brings France in line with nearly a dozen other European nations such as Germany and Denmark who have launched similar projects.

Military service is seen as a way of bolstering armies with recruits, but also of providing a large pool of potential reservists, who could be called up in the case of a future war.

The French armed forces have approximately 200,000 active military personnel and 47,000 reservists, numbers expected to increase to 210,000 and 80,000 respectively by 2030.

Macron’s office said polling data suggested high support for the armed forces among 18- to 25-year-olds.