Category World News

Malaysia court rejects Najib’s bid to serve sentence under house arrest

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BREAKING,

by news organizations

A court in Malaysia rejected former prime minister Najib Razak’s request to serve the remainder of his sentence for corruption at home, arguing that a royal document authorizing the move was invalid because it was not made in accordance with the law.

Najib, who has been incarcerated since August 2022 for his involvement in the multi-billion dollar 1MDB scandal, received yet another blow from the court’s decision on Monday.

Najib has urged Malaysian authorities to ratify and carry out a royal order that, according to him, was issued last year as part of a pardon granted to the then-king, allowing him to spend the rest of his sentence in his own home.

The former king should have consulted the country’s pardons board before granting the order, according to Kuala Lumpur High Court judge Alice Loke, who on Monday stated that the order’s existence was uncontested.

The court’s decision to deny him house arrest comes just as Najib’s biggest trial of the 1MDB scandal is scheduled to begin its proceedings on Friday.

Najib has refuted every charge brought against him.

Morocco seal AFCON win against Comoros in 2025 opener

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by news organizations

After Brahim Diaz and substitute Ayoub El Kaabi scored the hosts of the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) opener, Morocco overcame a nervey start to defeat the Comoros 2-0 on Sunday.

Morocco, who are 97 places above the tiny island nation of the Indian Ocean in the world rankings, worked hard for the points in the rain at Rabat’s Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium.

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Morocco squandered an early penalty and were goalless at halftime despite having the majority of possession. They eventually broke the deadlock in the 55th minute when Noussair Mazraoui skillfully kept the ball in play before passing it square to Diaz for side-footing home.

Ten minutes after El Kaabi’s debut as a substitute, the 74th minute saw the end of a trademark bicycle kick goal.

Morocco initially appeared to be struggling, but the tiny Comoros comfortably held them to a bay before the hosts’ superior firepower ensured victory.

After Iyad Mohamed awarded a soft penalty for a challenge on Diaz, the hosts could have been ahead as early as the eleventh minute. However, Soufiane Rahimi hit the spot kick straight down the middle, causing the ball to fall to safety after hitting goalkeeper Yannick Pandor’s knee.

However, they eventually overcame the opposition, as Diaz’s continued probing earned him honorable honors and El Kaabi’s goal kept a respectable score.

In the final moments as Diaz’s teammates began to tire, Pandor and his team made several other strong stops to keep the score at a close. Comoros did have a chance to equalize four minutes later, but Rafiki Said’s shot straight at Morocco goalkeeper Yassine Bounou in their opening chance of the match was wasted.

In the 74th minute, Ayoub El Kaabi scores Morocco’s second goal.

Opening the “Difficult” game is challenging.

Walid Regragui, a coach for Morocco, said: “The opening game is always challenging, but we did well in the second half.” ⁠

Morocco’s winning streak is the longest in a national team history, reaching 19 victories in a row. They overcame Spain’s previous best of 15 set in 2008-2009 in October.

However, Romain Saiss, the captain’s captain, limped off after 18 minutes, leaving the field in tears. He had ankle surgery for the first half of the year, but he only returned to the national team last month after a year’s absence.

Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,397

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Published On 22 Dec 2025

On Monday, December 22, 2018, this is how things are going.

Fighting

  • According to Governor Oleh Syniehubov, a 49-year-old man and a 42-year-old woman were killed in a Russian attack in the Kharkiv region of Ukraine. In the Izyum village, killings took place.
  • According to local officials, one person was killed in the Donetsk region of Ukraine and one more was killed in the southeast of Zaporizhia region.
  • According to Governor Ivan Fedorov, Russian forces have shelled the Zaporizhia region nearly 5, 000 times in the past week, causing injuries to 60 people and destroying hundreds of buildings.
  • According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Russian forces have launched nine missiles and nearly 1,300 drones into Ukraine overall over the past week.
  • Dmytro Lubinets, the country’s ambassador to Ukraine, claimed that the Russian forces “forcibly” deported about 50 people from the Sumy region’s village of Hrabovske and “illegally” detained them.
  • A pipeline in the Krasnodar Krai region was reportedly damaged by debris from a Ukrainian drone attack on Russia, according to The Kyiv Independent, citing Ukrainian authorities.
  • 29 Ukrainian drones were shot down by Russia’s Ministry of Defense, according to the Ministry of Defense’s statement.
  • According to the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), Russian forces used the “Donbass Dome electronic warfare system” to shoot down 252 drones over the Russian-occupied Donbas region over the past week, according to the TASS news agency.

diplomacy and politics

  • As the US continued to hold talks in Miami, Florida on a potential peace deal for Russia’s war on Ukraine for a third day on Sunday, US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner met with senior official Rustem Umerov and European officials.
  • In a post on X late on Sunday, Witkoff claimed that the discussions with Ukrainians and Europeans had been “productive and constructive” and that Ukraine, the United States, and Europe had a “shared strategic approach.”
  • In a second post, Witkoff claimed that over the past two days, the US had also had “productive and constructive meetings” with Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev.
  • According to Witkoff, “Russia continues to be fully committed to bringing peace to Ukraine” and “highly values the efforts and support of the United States to end the Ukrainian conflict and restore world peace.”
  • Yury Ushakov, the head of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s foreign policy team, claimed earlier that the changes made by the US’s proposals to end the Russian war had had no impact on peace prospects.
  • According to Russian news sources, Ushakov was quoted as saying, “I am certain that the proposals that the Europeans and Ukrainians have made or are trying to make do not undoubtedly improve the document and do not improve the chances of long-term peace.”
  • After Emmanuel Macron said that Europe should reach out to Moscow, Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for the Kremlin, said the Russian president was open to speaking with him.
  • The Russian statement, Macron’s office said, “It is welcome that the Kremlin has publicly accepted this approach. In the upcoming days, we’ll make a decision regarding the best course of action.
  • 202 Indian nationals are alleged to have been recruited into the Russian armed forces during Russia’s conflict with Ukraine, according to the Indian Ministry of External Affairs. According to the statement, Russian authorities had reported 26 murders and seven missing deaths.
  • After engine problems, Swedish authorities boarded a Russian freighter in Swedish waters on Friday to inspect the cargo, according to the Swedish customs service. According to Martin Hoglund, a customs authority spokesman, the owners of the ship, the Adler, are on the list of countries” potential sanctions.
  • We boarded the ship with the assistance of the Swedish Coast Guard and the police service to conduct a customs inspection shortly after 16:00 last night, Hoglund said. The inspection is still ongoing, it seems.

‘Alarming’ medicine shortages in Gaza amid Israeli restrictions

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After more than two years of Israel’s genocidal war against the Palestinians in Gaza and a crippling blockade, Gaza’s ministry of health has launched an appeal for more drug, medical supplies, and laboratory supplies.

The ministry claimed on Sunday that it was difficult to offer diagnostic and treatment services due to the shortages.

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Doctors in the Palestinian territory where the war has ravaged the country have long been warned that Israel’s refusal to provide the most crucial medical supplies is a cause for their struggle to save lives. Nearly all of Gaza’s hospitals and healthcare facilities were attacked during Israel’s genocidal war, which lasted for more than two years, with 34 hospitals among the damage caused by at least 125.

According to a statement from the Health Ministry, “there are now 321, which represents a 52% shortage of items on the essential medicines list.”

“There are now 710 items on the list of medical consumables that are completely out of stock, which is a 71% shortage. The supply shortage rate for blood bank supplies and laboratory tests increased to 59%, it added.

According to the ministry, emergency services experience the worst drug shortages, particularly intravenous life-saving solutions, intravenous antibiotics, and pain killers.

According to the report, the shortage of emergency and intensive care services could prevent 700 patients receiving intensive care, 100 000 of surgical care, and 200 000 of emergency care.

The ministry cited additional shortages, among others, in kidney, oncology, open-heart surgery, and orthopedic supplies.

The Ministry of Health urgently appeals to all relevant parties to fully assume their responsibilities in implementing emergency interventions in light of these alarming figures, along with the continued reduction by the occupation of the number of medical trucks entering Gaza to less than 30% of the monthly needs, and with the insufficient supply of supplies,” it said.

Israel continues to violate its agreement with Hamas despite a US-backed ceasefire that ended on October 10 and worsens what the Gaza Health Ministry has described as a pressing and ongoing health emergency.

1,500 children are awaiting the opening of border crossings to travel and get medical care outside of Gaza due to the shortage of medical supplies.

1,200 patients, including 155 children, died on Sunday as a result of a medical emergency, according to Zaher Al Waheidi, the head of the information unit at Gaza’s health ministry.

Released Palestinian detainees

Meanwhile, six Released Palestinian detainees from Israeli detention arrived at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir el-Balah on Sunday for medical treatment, according to medical sources. A correspondent for the Anadolu news agency said the men were transferred via the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

Without following definite legal procedures, rights groups claim that Israel had detained the men. Since October 2023, the ICRC has warned that international humanitarian law requires family contact and humane treatment for Palestinians who are detained in Israeli custody.

The releases are a part of Israeli sporadic operations targeting detainees in Gaza. Former prisoners’ reports of abuse and malnourishment are common.

More than 10, 000 Palestinians, including women and children, are still imprisoned in Israeli prisons, where rights groups claim there is widespread abuse, starvation, and medical neglect. In October, about 1,700 detainees were freed as part of the ceasefire agreement.

A child and two women were rescued from their homes in Sheikh Radwan, northwest of Gaza City, by Gaza’s Civil Defense, who were also trapped underground.

Four people were killed when the roof collapsed, according to the Ministry of Interior and National Security in Gaza.

Since the ceasefire’s implementation, 46 buildings in Gaza have collapsed, according to the ministry, killing at least 18 people.

How volatile is the political situation in Bangladesh?

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Following the murder of a student leader during the uprising last year that overthrew Sheikh Hasina, tensions are growing.

Following the killing of a student leader during the uprising that ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina last year, tensions are rising in Bangladesh.

In February, new government elections are scheduled.

How tumultuous is the political climate then?

Presenter: Dareen Abughaida

Guests:

Taqbir Huda, an Oxford University scholar and Clarendon Scholar, is an expert on human rights.

Asif Shahan, a professor of development studies at the University of Dhaka, is

Published On 21 Dec 2025

Nigeria says 130 kidnapped Catholic schoolchildren freed

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According to a presidential spokesman, Nigerian authorities obtained the release of 130 kidnapped schoolchildren after 100 were freed earlier this month from a Catholic school.

In a post on X on Sunday, Sunday Dare wrote, “Another 130 Abducted Niger State Pupils Released, None Left In Captivity.”

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In the north-central Niger State, hundreds of students and staff members were abducted in late November from St. Mary’s co-educative boarding school.

The attack occurred in the town of Chibok, where there have been numerous recent mass kidnappings that are comparable to those committed by Boko Haram in 2014.

The West African nation is plagued by armed bandits in the northwest and armed “bandit” gangs in the northeast, all of which are interconnected security issues.

Throughout the ordeal, it has been unclear how many children were actually taken from St. Mary’s.

After the attack in the rural hamlet of Papiri, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) initially claimed that 315 students and staff members had been unaccounted for.

About 100 people were freed on December 7 after about 50 of them escaped immediately after that.

Before Sunday’s announcement that 130 people had been rescued, roughly 165 people were thought to be still in captivity.

However, a UN official claimed that all those arrested appeared to have been released because numerous suspected kidnappers had managed to flee during the attack and make their way home, according to a UN source.

The source said that the accounting process has been challenging because the children’s homes are dispersed across rural Nigeria and that sometimes it takes three or four hours to travel by motorbike to their remote villages.

The source informed AFP that “the remaining number of girls and secondary school students will be transported to Minna, the Niger State capital, on Monday.”

According to Daniel Atori, a CAN spokesman in Niger State, “we’ll still need to do final verification.”

Mass kidnappings

Who was the kidnapped from their boarding school and how was their release made public has not been revealed.

In Nigeria, criminals and armed groups frequently engage in quick cash kidnappings for ransom.

However, the country’s already gloomy security situation was unaffordably raised by a string of mass abductions in November.

A bride and her bridesmaids were also taken hostage by the attackers, who also took the hostages of 38 churchgoers and two dozen Muslim schoolgirls.

The kidnappings come as Nigeria is facing a diplomatic slog from the United States, where President Donald Trump threatened military intervention after making allegations that there have been numerous, mass-murders of Christians in the country that amount to a “genocide.”

The Christian right has long used that framing in the US and Europe, but Nigeria’s government and independent analysts disagree.

The Boko Haram armed group seized nearly 300 girls from their boarding school in the northeastern town of Chibok in one of the first mass kidnappings that attracted international attention in 2014.