An enterprising Santa Claus has given himself the mission of saving Christmas in Spain by sending video messages to children who are unable to meet the man himself this year because of the coronavirus pandemic.
-We thought of doing Zoom, Skype and using new technologies since Santa cannot visit the children’s homes- said Hector Fuentes, decked out in the classic red suit, white beard and hat of Father Christmas, or “Papa Noel” in Spanish.
Children’s entertainer Fuentes, a Chilean who has been living in Spain for the past decade, has transformed an old shipping container in Leganes, south of Madrid, into a grotto-cum-production studio.
He records personalised messages with the help of his son Andres, who works behind the camera, and his colleague Pilar Carrion, who plays his trusty sidekick elf.
Parents can find Fuentes on social media and send him their children’s letters. Then he and Carrion film a personalised reply from Papa Noel himself.
-When the pandemic arrived all the events we had were cancelled...we had to start from scratch to reinvent ourselves- said Carrion.
On Friday, three-year-old Arhoa Pena sat transfixed as she watched Santa Claus talking to her from the television in her living room in Alcorcon.

Hector Fuentes: We thought of doing Zoom, Skype and using new technologies since Santa cannot visit the children’s homes

Artist Hector Fuentes, dressed up as Santa Claus, and his companion artist Pilar Carrion, dressed up as an elf, stand before recording personalized Christmas video messages to children amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Leganes, near Madrid, Spain, November 26, 2020.

Santa goes virtual in pandemic hit Spain

NATO said Saturday it was checking its computer systems after a massive cyberattack on US government agencies and others that Washington blamed on Moscow.
-At this time, no evidence of compromise has been found on any NATO networks. Our experts continue to assess the situation, with a view to identifying and mitigating any potential risks to our networks- a NATO official told AFP.
Microsoft said Thursday its anti-virus software detected intrusions in dozens of networked systems, most of them in the United States, via software supplied by US tech company SolarWinds. 
The NATO official said the Belgium-headquartered organisation used SolarWinds software in some of its systems. 
-NATO also has cyber rapid reaction teams on standby to assist Allies 24 hours a day, and our Cyberspace Operations Centre is operational- said the official, who was not identified in line with NATO's policy.
Microsoft president Brad Smith in a blog post on Thursday said the hack was the most concerning of several "nation-state attacks" seen this year. 
He added that, outside the US, networks in seven other countries were affected -- in Belgium, Britain, Canada, Israel, Mexico, Spain and the United Arab Emirates -- and "it's certain that the number and location of victims will keep growing".
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday said "we can say pretty clearly that it was the Russians that engaged in this activity".
Russia denied involvement.
SolarWinds said up to 18,000 customers, including government agencies and Fortune 500 companies, had downloaded compromised software updates, allowing hackers to spy on email exchanges.

NATO official: At this time, no evidence of compromise has been found on any NATO networks

A computer expert operates at the NATO Computer Incident Response Capability (NCIRC) technical center, at NATO's military headquarters SHAPE in Mons, southwestern Belgium, December 10, 2013.

NATO checking systems after US cyberattack

A pair of critically endangered orangutans, rescued from smugglers on the Thai-Malaysian border in 2017, have arrived in Indonesia to undergo rehabilitation so they can finally be released back into their native forest habitat.Believed to be between the ages of four to six the orangutans, Ung Aing and Natalee, spent three years at Khao Pratab Chang Wildlife Breeding Center in central Ratchaburi province, Thailand.
On Friday they arrived in western Indonesia’s Jambi province for medical checks, which will include COVID-19 swabs, before a rehabilitation process to prepare them for their jungle home.
-We will do a medical checkup and study their behaviour and habits before sending them to a forest rehabilitation centre at the Danau Alo sanctuary- head of local Natural Resources Coservation Agency (BKSDA), Rahmad Saleh told reporters, after the great apes were wheeled out in two metal cages at Jambi’s Sultan Thaha airport before media and officials.
Video footage showed the female orangutans eagerly climbed out of their carriers and into a temporary holding facility.
It is unclear how long the pair will stay in the orangutan sanctuary before being released into the wild.
Orangutans are poached illegally for food, breeding to supply the domestic and international pet trade, and for traditional medicine.
Logging and deforestation, including forest clearance to make way for cash crops such as palm oil, has reduced the habitat of the critically endangered species.
There are an estimated 100,000 Bornean orangutans left in the wild, and only about 7,500 Sumatran orangutans, according to data from the World Wildlife Fund.
A total of 71 orangutans have been sent back from Thailand to Indonesia since 2006, according to a joint statement released by the two countries.

On Friday they arrived in western Indonesia’s Jambi province for medical checks

An orangutan, which was seized from the Thailand-Malaysia border 3 years ago, looks from a cage at Sultan Thaha Saifuddin Airport in Jambi before being released into the forest, in Indonesia December 18, 2020.

Smuggled orangutans start new life after repatriation to Indonesia

The mountainous Inca citadel of Machu Picchu in Peru will re-open to tourists on Saturday after an agreement was reached to halt protests by locals over train services, officials said.
The protests had forced the site to close on Monday, just six weeks after it reopened following an almost eight-month closure due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Residents of the towns of Machu Picchu and Ollantaytambo have been demanding cheaper fares and more frequent trains on the route between Cusco and Machu Picchu.
The train is the only means of transport for tourists, but it is also widely used by locals.
Protesters occupied the tracks, which sparked clashes with the police and threats to occupy the tourist site.
Authorities in the Cusco region said in a statement on Friday that "social order has been reestablished."
Activists said no long-term deal had been agreed, but that the protests and blockades had been halted until next year.
Machu Picchu was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1983. Visitor numbers are restricted due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Machu Picchu was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1983

Machu Picchu was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1983.

Machu Picchu to reopen after train protests

Six people including three senior military officials were killed when a suicide bomber attacked a stadium in the Somali city of Galkayo on Friday ahead of the planned arrival of the country's prime minister, police said.
The Islamist militant group Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack, which took place as a crowd waited for Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble to speak -- but he had not yet arrived.
-There was a heavy blast caused by a suicide bomber at the entrance of the stadium, six people died including three senior military officials- local police officer Mohamed Abdirahman told AFP.
Galkayo military commander Colonel Ahmed Dahir said the exact death toll was still unclear. 
-The suicide bomber targeted senior military officials who stayed close to the entrance of the stadium- he said.Witness Naima Ali was one of the people in the stadium waiting to see the premier when the blast hit.
-I saw smoke and dust and (there was a) heavy bang at the gate area, people panicked and it was hard to find a way out of the place for a few minutes- she said.
-I saw several badly injured and dead bodies of men, some them in military uniform, but I cannot say how many.-
The stadium is located in the south of Galkayo, the capital of the north-central Mudug region.
The city is divided between two self-proclaimed semi-autonomous states -- Puntland and Galmudug, which includes Mudug.
Al-Shabaab said in a statement that it targeted the prime minister in the attack, which it claimed had killed the commanders of two local units.
The Al-Qaeda-linked group, which is waging a deadly insurgency in Somalia and regularly targets military and government officials, has previously claimed responsibility for similar attacks in the region. 
Those include a suicide attack that killed Mudug's governor and his security detail in Galkayo in May, as well as another that killed the governor of Puntland in similar circumstances in March.
Al-Shabaab was driven out of the capital Mogadishu in 2011 and lost most of its strongholds, but still controls vast swathes of the countryside.

The suicide bomber targeted senior military officials who stayed close to the entrance of the stadium

The incident comes after three people were killed and seven were injured in a suicide attack at a Mogadishu restaurant on Wednesday

Suicide bombing kills six in central Somalia

US President-elect Joe Biden is negative for coronavirus, said his spokeswoman Kate Bedingfield.
Biden was tested immediately after White House adviser Cedric Richmond contracted the disease, according to a statement from Reuters.
Richmond was not in close contact with Biden.

Biden was tested immediately after White House adviser Cedric Richmond contracted the respiratory disease

Biden urgently tested for coronavirus

Super cyclone Yasa flattened entire villages as it tore through Fiji, aid agencies said Friday, with a baby among two confirmed deaths and rescue workers racing to the worst-hit communities.
Yasa made landfall late Thursday as a top-of-the-scale Category Five cyclone, lashing Fiji's second-largest island, Vanua Levu.
Climate change has made cyclones stronger and more frequent, with Yasa the third maximum-strength storm to batter the Pacific island nation in five years.
It triggered floods, landslides and blackouts before moving out to sea early Friday, where it rapidly weakened to a Category Three system.
Zalim Hussein of Savusavu, a small town of a few thousand people on Vanua Levu, said he feared for his life sheltering at home in the dark as screeching winds ripped apart houses around him.
-I could hear roofs of neighbouring houses flying, trees falling and branches breaking outside and big waves crushing on the shore- he told AFP.
-We were all scared for our lives and I thought at one point we'd lose our home. In my 65 years, I've never seen anything like this.-
Fiji Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama said two deaths had been confirmed, a 45-year-old man and a three-month-old baby. 
-We sadly expect fatalities to rise- he said.
Most dwellings in rural Fiji are made from timber and corrugated iron sheeting, and are not made to withstand winds like those unleashed by Yasa, which had been forecast to bring gusts of up to 345 kilometres an hour (210 miles an hour).
-There's quite a few villages that are reporting that all homes have been destroyed- Save the Children's Fiji chief Shairana Ali told AFP.
-Most of these people rely on farming for their livelihood and their crops have been destroyed as well.-

Yasa is the third Category Five storm to hit Fiji since 2016, when Cyclone Winston killed 44 people and destroyed tens of thousands of homes.
The most recent was Cyclone Harold, which claimed 31 lives as it tracked through the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji and Tonga in April this year.
-It's devastating to see another big cyclone affect Fiji so soon after Cyclone Harold and so close to Christmas- the Red Cross's Suva-based Pacific chief Kathryn Clarkson said. 
-With communities that are already facing challenges because of Covid-19 this will only add to the hardships.-
Bainimarama, a long-time campaigner for climate action, blamed global warming for creating the recent monster storms, which were once rare but have become relatively common.
-This is not normal. This is a climate emergency- he tweeted.
Geneveive Jiva of the 350.org climate advocacy group said she and other Pacific islanders were "fighting for our survival".
-We've lived through these cyclones twice this year- she added. -Villages, houses and crops were destroyed so close to the Christmas season. Instead of celebrating, we are now focused on rebuilding our lives."-The Red Cross said it was scrambling response teams amid "extensive destruction" in Vanua Levu's Bua region and coastal communities inundated by storm surges.
Aid agencies had pre-positioned supplies across the country in anticipation of major disasters during cyclone season, which runs until May.
Bainimarama said there were about 24,000 people sheltering in almost 500 evacuation centres across the country.
Authorities had issued dire warnings about the danger posed by the cyclone for most of the week, urging people to find solid structures or flee to higher ground if they live on the coast.
A state of natural disaster was declared on Thursday, giving emergency services sweeping powers to impose curfews and movement restrictions for the next 30 days.
The human cost of Yasa could have been worse had it not landed in the sparsely populated Bau province, causing no major damage to large towns, except for flooding in Rakiraki on the main island of Viti Levu.
However, Save the Children's Ali said the full picture of the storm's impact was yet to emerge from isolated rural communities and remote islands.

Yasa made landfall late Thursday as a top-of-the-scale Category Five cyclone

Residents wade through flooded streets in Fiji's capital city of Suva on December 16, 2020, ahead of super cyclone Yasa

Two dead as super cyclone levels Fiji villages

Canada said Thursday it has approved design changes that Boeing made to 737 MAX planes after two fatal crashes led to the aircraft being grounded for more than a year.
But Canada added the plane was not yet cleared to fly again in its airspace, even though the jet has been certified to do so by regulators in the US.
The Canadian transport ministry said this validation of the design changes after the crashes that killed 346 people in 2018 and 2019 "is an important first step in the eventual return to service of this aircraft in Canadian airspace.
-However, the return to service is complex, and Transport Canada must put in place comprehensive safety plans that require additional aircraft changes, maintenance and training- it said.
The ministry said that in January it will issue an airworthiness directive spelling out design changes that must be incorporated in 737 MAX planes registered in Canada.
It will also mandate training requirements for crews operating these planes.
Last week the Brazilian airline Gol became the first in the world to put the 737 MAX back into service.

They  added the plane was not yet cleared to fly again in its airspace

Grounded Boeing 737 MAX aircraft are seen parked at Grant County International Airport in Moses Lake, Washington, U.S. November 17, 2020.

Canada OKs design changes to Boeing 737 MAX

Cybersecurity systems across the globe are on alert to track any sucpicious activity which could suggest the compromising of data held by SolarWinds.
Firms or institutions which have used infected updates are urged to disconnect their servers and then track if there are any telltale signs their data may have been compromised.

The hackers managed to compromise and instal malware on a piece of security software -– the Orion security tool developed by SolarWinds which is used for management and supervision of IT networks at many large companies and several US government agencies. 
The attack was discovered by cybersecurity company FireEye, which, along with SolarWinds, has pointed the finger at hackers linked to the Russian government.
The hackers reportedly breached software used by the US Treasury Department, the Commerce Department and the Department of Homeland Security, allowing them to view internal email traffic, prompting an FBI investigation.
The software had enjoyed much commercial success based not least on its state of the art ergonomic interface.
The malware was laced into the software updates that breached network security and allowed access to data including mail, with FireEye saying the breaches began around last March.&nbsp;

According to SolarWinds, some 18,000 users of Orion have potentially suffered a security breach, including government agencies and Fortune 500 companies. 
For now, experts say the hackeers seem primarily to have used a security flaw, dubbed Sunburst, to break into US governmental agencies, insert malicious code and gain access to data to aid state espionage.
FireEye discovered the flaw through its own usage of SolarWinds and was itself affected by certain tools it was deploying to test its clients' security.
According to FireEye, what it termed a state sponsored attack targeted governments as well as leading global enterprises notably in the technology and energy sectors in North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.
According to Jacques de la Riviere, who runs French cybersecurity firm Gatewatcher, it remains "too early" to know which other firms or institutions have been infiltrated. 
The actual content of what the hackers were targeting and to what extent they were successful also remains unknown.
Cybersecurity systems across the globe are on alert to track any sucpicious activity which could suggest the compromising of data held by SolarWinds.
Firms or institutions which have used infected updates are urged to disconnect their servers and then track if there are any telltale signs their data may have been compromised.

FireEye and Microsoft believe the attack was by a nation state and expert analysis has pointed the finger at Russia, as have anonymous US security sources. As yet, Washington has yet to give the accusation its official seal. 
These US sources have shone their investigative torch on an organisation known as advanced persistent threat (APT) 29, or Cozy Bear, which is believed to be linked to one or more Russian intelligence agencies and has previously pirated the White House under President Barack Obama.

Jacques de la Riviere says he has for his part responded by ramping up protection on his own servers.
Beyond that he hopes that this high-profile attack will encourage firms and institutions to be more demanding when it comes to stewardship of their data and software security which were shown up by the Orion breach.
He hopes that "this could be a turning point, where many clients are going to start saying 'I no longer want to purchase software that has not been certified by a third party.'"

The attack was discovered by cybersecurity company FireEye

The cyberattack via SolarWinds software compromised the systems of several US government agencies, but the extent of the damage is still unknown

Unquantified consequences of SolarWinds cyberattack

An unmanned Chinese spacecraft carrying rocks and soil from the Moon returned safely to Earth early Thursday, completing another chapter in China's effort to become a space superpower.
The mission was the first in four decades to collect lunar samples, emulating the feats of the United States and the Soviet Union from the 1960s and 1970s - and going a few steps further.
Scientists hope the samples will give insights into the Moon's origins and volcanic activity, though a more immediate focus was on how the mission showcased China's technological advances.
-China has been preparing for this for a long time- Jonathan McDowell, a Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics researcher, told AFP.
-This was very important to them - and still risky, as the automatic rendezvous, docking and sample transfer in lunar orbit had never been done before, by anyone. It's a sign of the maturity of the Chinese space effort that it went off so flawlessly.-
In images broadcast on state television, the blackened capsule landed on snow-covered grasslands in darkness in the country's remote north.
A Chinese flag was quickly placed next to the capsule, reflecting the nationalist pride that the multi-billion-dollar space programme engenders.

China launched its first satellite in 1970 but human spaceflight took decades longer -- with Yang Liwei becoming the country's first "taikonaut" in 2003.
Under President Xi Jinping, who took power in 2012, China's "space dream" has been put into overdrive.
A Chinese lunar rover landed on the far side of the Moon in January 2019, a global first.
The official Xinhua news agency described the latest mission as one of the most challenging and complicated in China's aerospace history. 
Chang'e-5 - named after a mythical Chinese Moon goddess - landed on the Moon on December 1. 
During two days on the Moon, it collected two kilogrammes (4.5 pounds) of material in an volcanic area called Mons Ruemker in the Oceanus Procellarum -- or "Ocean of Storms" -- which was previously unexplored, China's space agency said.
While there it also raised the Chinese flag, according to the agency.
The probe's departure was also the first time China had achieved take-off from an extraterrestrial body.
The module then went through the delicate operation of linking up in lunar orbit with the part of the spacecraft that brought the samples back to Earth.
The probe comprised separate craft to get to the Moon, land on it and collect the samples, get back up and then return the rocks and soil to Earth. 
The return capsule entered the Earth's atmosphere at an altitude of about 120 kilometres (75 miles). 
When it was about 10 kilometres above land, a parachute opened and it landed smoothly, the space agency said.

-With this successful mission, China will be more confident of its own technologies- Chen Lan, an independent analyst at GoTaikonauts.com, which specialises in China's space programme, told AFP.
Thomas Zurbuchen, a top official at NASA's science mission directorate, also congratulated China on the safe return of the capsule.
-The international science community celebrates your successful Chang’e 5 mission- he tweeted. 
-These samples will help reveal secrets of our Earth-Moon system (and) gain new insights about the history of our solar system.-
The capsule will be airlifted to Beijing for opening, and the Moon samples will be delivered to a research team for analysis and study.
China had already said it would be willing to share the samples from the moon, and the space agency's director said after the capsule landed that Beijing would "cooperate extensively" with global scientists.
Chinese officials said some of the moon material would be displayed in the country's National Museum and others would be sent to Mao Zedong's hometown in central China, as a tribute to the late Chinese Communist Party leader.
China's future space goals include creating a powerful rocket capable of delivering payloads heavier than those NASA and private rocket firm SpaceX can handle.
It is aiming for a crewed space station by 2022 and eventually to send humans to the Moon.

The mission was the first in four decades to collect lunar samples

China's unmanned spacecraft carrying rocks and soil from the Moon returned safely to Earth

Chinese craft returns to Earth with Moon rocks

Eating fruit and drinking from plastic bottles, two Sumatran orangutans stared from their cages at Bangkok airport on Thursday before flying home to Indonesia, years after being smuggled into Thailand.
Poachers in Southeast Asia frequently capture the critically endangered orangutans to sell as pets, and police said four-year-olds Ung Aing and Natalee were supposed to be sold to a tourism business. 
Wildlife traffickers tried to smuggle the two in via Malaysia in June 2017, but they were intercepted at the border -- along with 39 Hamilton tortoises, 12 Indian turtles and six raccoons -- after police received a tip-off about the vehicle they were in.
The pair have been living in a wildlife rescue centre in Thailand and, once back in Indonesia, will undergo a rehabilitation program before being released back into the wild in Sumatra.
Ung Aing and Natalee had to take coronavirus tests before their departure, conducted by animal experts from Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University.
Officials fed the duo bananas, coconuts and electrolytes through a small opening in their cages; hiding in hessian sacks, the animals were shy at first but eventually accepted their treats.
Thai Department of National Parks and Wildlife deputy director general Prakit Vongsrivattanakul said 69 confiscated orangutans have been sent back to Indonesia since 2006, and many have been able to return to the wild.
Even though the two orangutans are now on their way home, their future is still precarious. 
Sumatran orangutans are critically endangered and their population is estimated to be fewer than 15,000.
Sumatran orangutans' habitat has drastically shrunk over the past few decades from logging, palm oil plantations and mining.
Plantation workers and villagers sometimes attack the animals for being pests.

Police said four-year-olds Ung Aing and Natalee were supposed to be sold to a tourism business

Two Sumatran orangutans flew home from Thailand years after being captured and smuggled into the country

Two smuggled Indonesian orangutans fly home from Thailand

For Umar Ahmed, the nightmare began in confusion.
Gunmen arrived late Friday at his school in Kankara, northwestern Nigeria, just as he and his classmates were about to go to bed.
Their first thought was that the men were vigilantes - civilians who take on a policing role - "so, we were not scared," the 18-year-old told AFP.
But then, heavy firing started.
-We became terrified. Some of us ran to the perimeter fence trying to escape, while others hid inside.-
-They kept shouting we should come back, that they were in the school to rescue us. And most of us came back.-
In an operation that left the country reeling, hundreds of students were rounded up that day at the all-boys Government Science secondary school and taken away.
The disappearance was initially blamed on so-called bandits -- criminal groups in the region who for years have terrorised communities by killing and abducting people for ransom. 
But on Tuesday, Boko Haram, the dreaded group that kidnapped hundreds of schoolgirls in Chibok in 2014, claimed responsibility.
The abduction took place hundreds of miles (kilometres) away from Boko Haram's stronghold in northeast Nigeria, sparking fears of a massive advance in the jihadists' decade-long insurgency.
Lanky and soft-spoken, Ahmad explained how the students were rounded up under a tree, split into three groups and led through the forest.
-We had no footwear- he said, his feet swathed in black socks after they became riddled with thorns. 
The teenager said the group trekked for hours, heading towards neighbouring Zamfara state.
-They flogged us with tree branches and the flat side of their machetes- he recalled.
But then came a stroke of luck.
He and a friend were able to hide behind a bush. They waited for complete silence to prevail before they retraced their steps back home to safety.

The government has not immediately reacted to Boko Haram claim or confirmed its authenticity, and the number of missing students remains unclear - 320 or 333, according to two accounts by officials, while locals in Kankara put it at more than 500.
Among parents of missing students, many said they had long feared an attack, given the grip on the region by criminal gangs.
-Our children told us armed men would come up to the school fence but they never breached the fence... until last Friday- Hauwa'u Isah, mother of an abducted child said. 
Around 8,000 people have been killed in the northwest since 2011, according to the International Crisis Group (ICG) think tank.
Some doubted the claim of responsibility made by Boko Haram's leader, Abubakar Shekau, in an audio recording.
-It's a lie-said Abubakar Lawan, father of two abducted children.
-Abubakar Shekau is used to making such lies just to confuse people. I don't trust that, and the situation is not what he said it is.-
-Only God knows the truth- Isah said. "All the information we have is that armed men took over the school.
Parents have been gathering at the school daily since the abduction, desperate for any information about the children's fate.
-I was about to leave yesterday evening when a boy who escaped was brought here- Murja Goma, another mother said.
-He said they had no food to eat, that they live on leaves and acacia fruit that their captors pluck from the trees for them.-
-We have shed so much tears, our hearts are grieving and we don't even know what to do- the woman said, appealing to the government to rescue the children.

Umar Ahmed: Some of us ran to the perimeter fence trying to escape, while others hid inside

Students left footwear behind at the school as they were abducted by the gunmen

Confusion, terror, then safety: How a boy survived Nigeria's student abduction

Prime Minister Boris Johnson will travel to India next month in his first major bilateral visit to another country since taking power last year, his office said Tuesday, as Britain eyes post-Brexit trade deals.
During the trip, Johnson will invite India to join next year's G7 summit, which Britain is hosting, as one of three guest countries, alongside South Korea and Australia.
The Indian trip is aimed at strengthening bilateral trade ties and investment, and cooperation in various areas including defence, security, health and climate change.
It will coincide with India's annual Republic Day celebrations on January 26. It will also come just weeks after the UK leaves the European Union single market on December 31 and as it seeks new trade deals post-Brexit.
-I am absolutely delighted to be visiting India next year at the start of an exciting year for Global Britain, and look forward to delivering the quantum leap in our bilateral relationship that Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi and I have pledged to achieve- Johnson said in a statement. 
-As a key player in the Indo-Pacific region, India is an increasingly indispensable partner for the United Kingdom as we work to boost jobs and growth, confront shared threats to our security and protect our planet.-
Johnson's visit follows an invitation from Modi, who last weekend took part in a climate summit hosted by London, and its announcement comes with British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab in India this week.
-What we recognise (are) the possibilities for a deeper trading relationship, the contours of our economy I think would allow that- Raab told a joint New Delhi news conference with his Indian counterpart S. Jaishankar.
-We will want to nudge our trade ministers along and see what we can achieve.-
Jaishankar said there was "a very serious intent" to intensify the two countries' trade relationship. "We see the strategic case," he told reporters.

Britain left the EU on January 31 and is in a standstill transition period where the bloc's rules still apply until December 31, as it tries to secure a free-trade agreement.
But it has in recent months struck deals with a number of countries, including Japan and Singapore, as part of its post-Brexit "Global Britain" strategy.
As part of the plan, Britain announced on Tuesday it had signed a trade deal with Mexico, with plans to for a more substantial agreement next year.
-This deal supports a trading relationship worth more than £5 billion and locks in access to each other's markets- said UK trade minister Liz Truss. 
-This is also the seventh trade deal we've secured with a member of CPTPP, the grouping of 11 dynamic economies around the Pacific. So, it's another really important stepping stone toward the UK joining CPTPP- she added. 
In India, Raab said Britain had been "too myopically focused just on Europe" in the past, but could now look further afield. 
-And certainly if you look at India and the Indo-Pacific region and take a long-term view, that is where the growth opportunities will be.-
Johnson will be only the second British leader since India's independence from Britain to attend the annual Republic Day parade in New Delhi as guest of honour, after John Major in 1993.
His office highlighted the two countries' burgeoning trade and investment relationship, which it said is worth £24 billion ($32 billion, 26 billion euros) annually and supports more than half a million jobs.
It noted their increased cooperation during the coronavirus pandemic, with India's large pharmaceutical sector supplying more than half of the world's vaccines. 
At least a billion doses of Britain's Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine are being manufactured at the Serum Institute in the western Indian city of Pune.
Meanwhile the UK has received 11 million face masks and 3 million packets of paracetamol from India during the pandemic, according to Downing Street.

First major bilateral visit to another country since taking power last year

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Prime Minister Boris Johnson

UK's Johnson to visit India in first major trip as PM

At least 20 Venezuelan migrants died over the weekend when their ship bound for Trinidad and Tobago sank en route. 
The Venezuelan government said in a statement that 11 bodies were found by a Coast Guard patrol Saturday afternoon and other bodies were discovered Sunday on nearby beaches. 
Venezuelan Attorney General Tarek William Saab on Monday denounced the existence of mafias that operate between Venezuela and Trinidad and Tobago making clandestine trips. The owner of the boat that was shipwrecked has been detained, said Saab, who confirmed they were part of a group of more than 20 Venezuelans who boarded a boat on Dec. 6. At least two children were among the dead. 
The public prosecutor has opened an investigation into human trafficking and ordered the arrest of six people. Saab said local authorities were also being investigated for complicity. 
The authorities in Trinidad and Tobago dismissed rumors that the migrants had been turned back by officials from that nation. 
Opposition leader Juan Guaido sent his condolences to the families of the victims and said the victims "lost their lives in pursuit of better conditions for themselves and their families.” 
Venezuelans continue to flee their country and travel to Trinidad and Tobago in small fragile overloaded boats. Last year, roughly 40 migrants disappeared when at least two ships that set off from Venezuela to the Caribbean nation vanished at sea.​​​​​​​ 
The UN estimates that more than 5.4 million Venezuelans have left the country since 2015, forced by the social and economic crisis the country is experiencing.

Migrants from Venezuela are fleeing to Trinidad and Tobago in fragile overloaded boats

The port of Guiria in northeastern Venezuela from where many migrants try to make the perilous crossing to Trinidad and Tobago

At least 20 dead in Venezuelan migrant shipwreck

A day after the Electoral College confirmed his presidential victory, Joe Biden will travel to Georgia on Tuesday to campaign for two Democratic U.S. Senate candidates whose Jan. 5 runoff elections could make or break his domestic policy agenda.Biden’s narrow win in the Southern state in November’s presidential election completed its transformation from Republican stronghold to one of the country’s most competitive political battlegrounds.
Republican Senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler are facing Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, respectively, in twin races that will determine which party controls the U.S. Senate when Biden takes office on Jan. 20.
If the Republicans win either contest, they would maintain power in the Senate, allowing them to thwart many of Biden’s ambitious legislative goals on issues such as the coronavirus, the economy and climate change. A Democratic sweep would give the party control of the White House and Congress, where it also has a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Biden’s trip to Atlanta comes nine days after President Donald Trump traveled to Georgia in support of Perdue and Loeffler. The president-elect’s visit also coincides with early in-person voting, which began on Monday as hundreds of Georgians braved rainy weather to stand in line.
As in November, many voters are expected to cast ballots by mail amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Thus far, more than 1.2 million residents have requested absentee ballots, and more than 260,000 have already sent them in, according to the U.S. Elections Project at the University of Florida.
Biden’s win has boosted Democratic hopes of capturing both seats, along with aggressive efforts to register voters and changing demographics that have pushed the electorate away from Republicans.
Perdue ran ahead of Trump in the Nov. 3 election, however, finishing ahead of Ossoff but just shy of the 50% required to avoid a runoff under state law. A third-party candidate received about 2% of the vote.
The other race had a large field of candidates in November due to its status as a special election because Loeffler was appointed to her seat to fill a vacancy. Warnock and Loeffler finished in the top two positions, each well short of 50%.

Hundreds of millions of dollars have poured into the state from both political parties as well as an array of outside political groups.
Both sides face turnout challenges in the midst of the pandemic and without the polarizing Trump at the top of the ballot to turn out votes from his deeply loyal supporters and also from detractors with deep animosity toward him.
Some Republicans in the state have expressed concern that Trump’s repeated insistence, without evidence, that the November results were fraudulent may drive down turnout among his most ardent supporters.
Biden secured the presidency on Monday after the Electoral College formalized his win. Under U.S. law, the president is not elected by a majority of the popular vote but by the Electoral College, which awards electoral votes to the winner of each state based on congressional representation.

Biden’s trip to Atlanta comes nine days after President Donald Trump traveled to Georgia in support of Perdue and Loeffler

U.S. President-elect Joe Biden delivers a televised address to the nation, after the U.S. Electoral College formally confirmed his victory over President Donald Trump in the 2020 U.S. presidential election

Fresh off Electoral College win, Biden to stump in Georgia for Democratic Senate candidates

A deputy governor of Kabul province and his aide were killed Tuesday by a bomb in the Afghan capital, officials said, the latest in a wave of targeted killings in the country. 
Mahbobullah Mohebi was killed when a bomb attached to his vehicle detonated while he was on his way to his office, the interior ministry said.
Mohebi's secretary, who was travelling with him, was also killed and two bodyguards were wounded.
Violence has raged across the country since the Taliban and Afghan government launched peace talks in Qatar in September.
Afghanistan - and especially Kabul - have seen a spate of murders of prominent figures, including journalists, clerics, politicians and rights activists.
Last week a female news anchor was shot dead in the eastern city of Jalalabad, the second journalist to be murdered in less than a month. 
The capital has been hit by rockets twice this month and recently battled major attacks on educational centres, including a massacre of students at a university campus. 
In a separate attack in Kabul on Tuesday, a policeman was killed and two others wounded when gunmen attacked their checkpoint, officials said.
Peace talks have been paused until January, with government negotiators expected to return to Kabul from Qatar this week to meet with senior officials.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and some other senior officials have called for talks to be moved to Afghanistan from Doha.

Mohebi's secretary, who was travelling with him, was also killed and two bodyguards were wounded

Mahbobullah Mohebi was killed when a bomb attached to his vehicle detonated while he was on his way to his office

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World

Santa goes virtual in pandemic hit Spain

NATO checking systems after US cyberattack

Smuggled orangutans start new life after repatriation to Indonesia

Machu Picchu to reopen after train protests

Suicide bombing kills six in central Somalia

Biden urgently tested for coronavirus

Two dead as super cyclone levels Fiji villages

Canada OKs design changes to Boeing 737 MAX

Unquantified consequences of SolarWinds cyberattack

Chinese craft returns to Earth with Moon rocks

Two smuggled Indonesian orangutans fly home from Thailand

Confusion, terror, then safety: How a boy survived Nigeria's student abduction

UK's Johnson to visit India in first major trip as PM

At least 20 dead in Venezuelan migrant shipwreck

Fresh off Electoral College win, Biden to stump in Georgia for Democratic Senate candidates

Bomb kills deputy governor in Afghan capital