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Croatia begins new euro and Schengen zone era

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Croatia is beginning on a momentous year, joining the border-free Schengen zone and abandoning its own currency, the kuna, in favour of the euro. When it became the EU’s newest member in 2013, the country pledged to entering the eurozone.

Nationalist parties wanted to maintain the kuna, but the constitutional court overturned them. It is the 27th country to join the Schengen area, which permits 400 million people to freely travel between countries.

Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, praised the moves as “two enormous milestones” for the EU’s youngest member state.

She claimed 1 January – when the reforms formally happened – will be a day “for the history books”.

Above all, this would be a time of “pleasure and pride for the Croatian people,” she declared. “It is proof of your incredible journey, hard work, and determination.”

Croatia’s Prime Minister, Andrej Plenkovic, said on Sunday that the two historic amendments had “achieved its strategic, state, and political aims” for the country, a former Yugoslav republic that waged an independence war in the 1990s.

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Grammy-winning singer Anita Pointer dies aged 74

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Anita Pointer of the Grammy-winning Pointer Sisters has died at the age of 74, according to her publicist. She died at her home in Beverley Hills, California, surrounded by her family.

Her relatives expressed their grief upon her death. “With Anita there, Heaven is a more kind and beautiful place,” they stated in a statement. Ms Pointer, the second oldest of four sisters, rose to popularity with singles like as Jump (For My Love) and Fire.

In 1973, the trio issued their self-titled debut album, which featured a fusion of funk, soul, and R&B. Yes We Can Can, a funky song that appealed for unity and tolerance during a period of racial strife in the United States, was the album’s breakout success.

And their popular song, Fairytale, earned a Grammy for Best Country Vocal Performance in 1975. The victory is nevertheless unusual in a category dominated by white acts.

After Bonnie Pointer quit to pursue a solo career in 1979, the surviving sisters reformed and went on to ditch their formerly antiquated image in favour of a current pop sound.

They remained a powerhouse in the US charts throughout the 1980s, and their successes, which included He’s So Shy, Jump (For My Love), and Neutron Dance, have weathered the test of time, and are still regularly streamed to this day.

But Pointer’s personal life was marked by tragedy. In 2003, her only child – Jada Pointer – died from cancer aged just 37. She went on to raise her granddaughter Roxie McKain Pointer.

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Former Pope Benedict XVI dies at 95

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Former Pope Benedict XVI died at the age of 95, over a decade after stepping down due to ill health. He led the Catholic Church for less than eight years before becoming the first Pope to retire since Gregory XII in 1415 in 2013.

Benedict spent his final years at the Mater Ecclesiae convent within the Vatican walls, where he died on Saturday at 09:34 (08:34 GMT). On January 5, his successor, Pope Francis, will officiate at the funeral. The body of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI will be put in St Peter’s Basilica on January 2 for “the greeting of the faithful,” according to the Vatican.

After the former Pope’s death was announced, bells rang out from Munich Cathedral, and a solitary bell rang out from St Peter’s Square in Rome.

The head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, Cardinal Vincent Nichols, claimed Pope Benedict was “one of the great thinkers of the 20th century”.

He stated in a statement: “I recall with fondness the extraordinary Papal Visit to these regions in 2010. We witnessed his kindness, tenderness, perceptiveness of mind, and openness to everyone he encountered.”

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak declared the former pope “a great theologian whose UK visit in 2010 was a historic event for both Catholics and non-Catholics throughout our country”.

People began arriving in St Peter’s Square in Rome after learning of the previous Pope’s death. Although the previous pontiff has been ailing for some time, Vatican officials stated his condition had worsened due to his advanced age.

Pope Francis asked his final audience of the year at the Vatican on Wednesday to “pray a special prayer for Pope Emeritus Benedict,” who he said was very unwell. Benedict, born Joseph Ratzinger in Germany, was 78 when he became one of the oldest popes ever elected in 2005.

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Andrew Tate detained in Romania over human trafficking case

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According to reports, controversial online influencer Andrew Tate was held in Romania as part of an investigation into rape and people trafficking. In Bucharest, the capital, Mr. Tate’s home was searched while he and his brother Tristan were being held captive.

According to Reuters, a lawyer for the boys confirmed their imprisonment. The former kickboxer gained notoriety in 2016 after being removed from the British television programme Big Brother because of a video that purported to show him assaulting a woman.

As a result of his comments that women should “carry responsibility” for being sexually assaulted, he later gained prominence online and was banned from Twitter. He was later given a second chance.

“The four suspects … appear to have created an organised crime group with the purpose of recruiting, housing and exploiting women by forcing them to create pornographic content meant to be seen on specialised websites for a cost,” prosecutors said, according to the Reuters news agency.

The brothers and two Romanian citizens have been under investigation since April. A video that has gone viral on social media purports to show Mr. Tate and his brother being carried out of a mansion.

Two British and two Romanian citizens were suspected of belonging to a criminal organisation that specialised in human trafficking, according to a statement from Romania’s Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT), which did not mention the Tate brothers by name. In a video of the raid that was also made public, you can see cash, weapons, and knives on display in one area. Five years ago, Mr. Tate relocated to Romania.

Mr. Tate, a British citizen who was born in the US, competed professionally in kickboxing and won world championships before becoming well-known worldwide. He entered the Big Brother house in 2016, but was quickly sent out after a video surfaced that purported to show him slapping a woman with a belt.

When he was kicked off the show, Mr. Tate claimed that the footage had been altered and described it as “a pure fake attempting to make me appear terrible.”

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Russia fires dozens of missiles at Ukrainian cities

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One of the biggest bombardments since the war started has seen a wave of Russian missile attacks target cities all around Ukraine. Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko reported that explosions in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv resulted in the hospitalisation of at least three individuals, among them a 14-year-old girl.

In the cities of Kharkiv, Odesa, Lviv, and Zhytomyr, blasts were also audible. According to the Ukrainian military, 69 missiles were fired, 54 of which were shot down by air defences. Mykhailo Podolyak, a presidential adviser, earlier claimed that more than 120 missiles had been fired towards infrastructure used by civilians.

Maksym Marchenko, the regional governor of the southern province of Odesa, described a “huge missile attack on Ukraine” after the airstrike, which lasted for about five hours.

Russia allegedly assaulted Ukraine from “different directions with air and sea-based cruise missiles,” according to the Ukrainian Air Force. It further mentioned that several Kamikaze drones had been used. In an operational briefing, Brig Gen Oleksiy Hromov stated that the attacks had targeted energy infrastructure all around the nation.

According to the municipal military authority, debris from thwarted missiles damaged two homes in Kyiv. According to Mr. Klitschko, air defences shot down 16 missiles above the city.

Governor Vitaly Kim said that air defences in the southern district of Mykolaiv stopped five missiles, while Mayor Andriy Sadovy reported that many explosions had been recorded in the western city of Lviv.

Mr. Marchenko reported that the Ukrainian military shot down 21 missiles in the Odesa region. A residential building had been struck by missile fragments, he continued, but there had been no injuries.

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Ukraine war: Civilians flee Kherson as Russian attacks intensify

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Nika Selivanova, 13, formed a heart shape with her hands as she waved goodbye to her closest friend Inna, who was leaning against the glass wall separating the waiting room from the entry hall of Kherson’s train station.

They had just hugged while their eyes were filling with tears. Asia, a tan dachshund puppy carried by Nika in her arms and covered in a warm blanket, had received a kiss from Inna. When they might meet one another again was unknown to the females.

The family of Nika was evacuating Kherson while unsure of their ultimate destination. For the time being, they were travelling to Khmelnytskyi in western Ukraine in the hopes that they would find assistance there. The past few days in Kherson had simply been too much for Nika’s mother Elena.

“Before, they [Russian forces] shelled us seven to 10 times a day, now it’s 70-80 times, all day long. It’s too scary.” Elena said. “I love Ukraine and my dear city. But we have to go.”

More than 400 people, including Elena and her three daughters, have evacuated Kherson since Christmas Day as a result of a substantial escalation in the Russian military’s bombardment of the city.

A hospital’s maternity ward was shelled on Tuesday. Although nobody was wounded, the situation has increased people’s concern. In an evacuation made possible by the Ukrainian authorities, Elena departed via train. A line of automobiles containing horrified bystanders is forming at the checkpoint leading out of Kherson while hundreds of individuals leave on their own.

We approached Iryna Antonenko’s car to speak with her, but she was in tears. We are at our breaking point. The shelling is really heavy. We believed it would last the entire time we were here.

The gateway to Crimea, or Kherson, is a strategically significant area. Many commentators claim that Russia has now been compelled to take a defensive stance in this situation.

It’s difficult to understand what it wants to achieve by pummeling Kherson. In addition to mortar shells, we have also witnessed the employment of incendiary weapons, which shower down burning sparks on the city in an effort to ignite objectives.

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Kosovo: Serbia puts troops on high alert over rising tensions

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After weeks of escalating tensions between Serbia and Kosovo, the Serbian army claims it is at its “highest level of combat readiness.” Asserting that he will “take all measures to protect our people and preserve Serbia,” President Aleksandar Vucic.

The threat-making is more pronounced than ever and comes in response to reports in Serbian media that Pristina is getting ready to launch “an attack” on ethnic Serb districts of north Kosovo. Regarding the charges, the Pristina administration has remained silent.

However, it has already charged Mr. Vucic with playing “games” to cause a commotion. After a conflict in 1998–1999, Kosovo, which has a predominately ethnic Albanian population, seceded from Serbia. Both Serbia and the ethnic Serbs who reside there reject Kosovo’s claim to independence.

Belgrade charges Kosovo with preparing “terrorism against Serbs” in regions where 50,000 people of ethnic Serb descent reside.

Pristina claims Belgrade is responsible for the “paramilitary formations” that erected barricades on December 10 in the majority-Serb regions of north Kosovo.

The European Union has been making mediation efforts. The 27-member bloc is requesting “maximum restraint and urgent action” as well as “personal contributions to a political settlement” from the heads of Serbia and Kosovo. Following contradicting accounts about a gunfire incident that left no one harmed, Belgrade has recently strengthened its armed presence on the border. Ethnic Serbs allegedly came under attack, according to reports from Belgrade, but the assertion was denied by Kosovo authorities in Pristina.

Nevertheless, Serbia appeared to use the reports to justify intensifying its military presence on the border.

Harsh words have been the extent of hostilities so far, but Serbia put its troops on combat alert on Monday. Kosovo has threatened to take matters into its own hands if NATO’s KFOR peacekeeping force does not remove the barricades.

All parties have been urged to refrain from provocations by NATO, which has about 3,700 peacekeeping troops in Kosovo. Its KFOR troops have been essential in maintaining the calm for years. The European Union has warned that it will not put up with attacks on EU police or criminal activity in Kosovo where it has a rule-of-law mission.

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Ukraine war: Drone attack on Russian bomber base leaves three dead

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According to Moscow, three people have died as a result of an attack by a Ukrainian drone on a bomber airbase in southern Russia. The drone was shot down by air defences close to the Engels base, but the falling debris killed three technical workers, according to the defence ministry.

Russia accused Ukraine of carrying out a similar strike on the airbase earlier this month, where aircraft that have launched missile attacks against Ukraine are stationed. Nearly 650 kilometres (400 miles) lie between the base and the Ukrainian border.

Although the air force spokesman, Yuriy Ihnat, claimed the explosions were a result of what Russia was doing on Ukrainian soil, the Ukrainian military did not formally acknowledge the latest strike.

Hours afterwards Russia’s FSB security service announced it had killed a four-strong “sabotage group” trying to enter the Russian border region of Bryansk from Ukraine armed with improvised explosive devices and German-made submachine guns. The FSB released video of what it said was the “liquidation” of the group, although there is no independent confirmation of the incident.

The most recent drone strike inside of Russia will humiliate Russian authorities because it occurred so quickly after the two attacks on December 5 that occurred hundreds of kilometres away from the front line, at the Engels base and in the Ryazan region. At the time, Russia also attributed the deaths of three military members and what it claimed as minor damage to two planes on falling debris.

Early on Monday, footage of explosions and air sirens near Engels Airfield were shared on social media.

The drone was downed by Russia’s air defences at around 1:00 AM on Monday, according to the country’s defence ministry (22:35 GMT Sunday).

Saratov governor Roman Busargin expressed his condolences to the men’s families and friends, and said there was “absolutely no threat to residents” in the town of Engels itself.

The full extent of Monday’s attack’s destruction will soon be seen in satellite imagery of the airfield, the spokesman for the Ukrainian air force said, adding that earlier explosions had damaged planes at the facility.

Since Moscow began its full-scale invasion on February 24, the Russian military has frequently launched missile attacks on numerous targets in Ukraine from the Engels air base. Although the Kremlin has previously accused Ukraine of invading its territory, the most recent instances occurred much farther into Russian territory.

There were many calls for increased security surrounding Russian military stations following the attacks on December 5; but, the most recent attack implies that has not happened.

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Pope Francis says world suffering a ‘famine of peace’

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In his traditional Christmas Day broadcast from the Vatican, Pope Francis claimed that there is a “famine of peace” around the world. He criticised the use of “food as a weapon” in warfare and demanded a stop to the “senseless war” in Ukraine.

About 30% of the world’s wheat was delivered by Ukraine, and since the Russian invasion in February, prices have increased. Pope Francis delivered his tenth Christmas Day address since taking office. He spent the majority of his ten-minute address discussing the conflict in Ukraine, but he added that there was “a catastrophic famine of peace also in other regions and other theatres of this Third World War.” He specifically mentioned the conflicts and humanitarian problems in the Sahel, Haiti, Myanmar, and the Middle East.

The pontiff prayed for “reconciliation” in Iran, where there have been widespread anti-government demonstrations for more than three months. Human rights organisations claim that a crackdown in response to the protests there has resulted in the deaths of more than 500 people, including 69 children.

The 86-year-old Pope bemoaned the human price of war while speaking from a balcony of the basilica that looked out over St. Peter’s Square. He pleaded with people to keep in mind those “who go hungry while enormous amounts of food go to waste daily and resources are being wasted on weaponry.”

“The war in Ukraine has further aggravated this situation, putting entire peoples at risk of famine, especially in Afghanistan and in the countries of the Horn of Africa,” he said.

“We know that every war causes hunger and exploits food as a weapon, hindering its distribution to people already suffering.”

According to the Pope, “those with political responsibility” should set an example by making food “exclusively an instrument of peace.”

The traditional blessing Urbi et Orbi (To the City and to the World), repeated in Latin and customarily in many other languages, was said after his sermon.

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Paris shooting: Protests after deadly attack on Kurds

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As a result of Friday’s horrific attack on the city’s Kurdish community, violence has erupted in central Paris. In addition to throwing objects at police, protesters tipped over automobiles and lit some on fire. Tear gas was used in response by the police.

The attack on Friday, which happened at a restaurant and a centre for Kurdish culture, claimed the lives of three individuals. According to a police source who spoke to AFP, the 69-year-old white male suspect claimed later that he was a bigot who detested foreigners.

The same news organisation was informed that the man used a “much-used” pistol to carry out his attack and was discovered with “two or three” loaded magazines and a box containing at least 25 ammunition. Shortly after the shootings, unrest erupted. Video captured individuals setting fires in the middle of the road and breaking car windows.

As demonstrators attempted to breach a security perimeter, police fired tear gas.

After hundreds of Kurds quietly gathered in the Place de la République to honour the three victims, Saturday’s new violence broke out.

The retired train driver is still being questioned by the police. He is currently facing an additional charge of acting with a racist motive in addition to being detained on suspicion of murder and an attempted murder.

He has a history of weapons offences, and it has come to light that the assault occurred just days after his recent release on bail.

He was accused with racist violence last year after a sword attack in another migrant camp in the French capital.

Witnesses of Friday’s shootings in the city’s 10th district said the attacker – tall, white and elderly – shot dead two men and a woman.

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