Unbiased headline news – North Korean leader Kim Jong Un proclaimed a “new high” in relations between North Korea and Russia, expressing hope for a Russian victory in its conflict with Ukraine by 2025.
In a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin dated Dec. 30, Kim extended his best wishes for the upcoming year, describing 2024 as a pivotal year in transforming relations between the two nations. He characterized the shift as evolving from “friendly co-existence” to a “strategic and cooperative” partnership between “sworn friends.”
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The World Health Organization commemorated the fifth anniversary of the emergence of COVID-19 by renewing its call for China to release critical data and allow external access to aid the global scientific community in uncovering the origins of the virus that triggered the pandemic.
Reflecting on the day the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission first reported cases of “viral pneumonia” in Wuhan, the United Nations’ public health agency emphasized in a news release that uncovering the truth remains essential to ensure better preparedness for future pandemics than was the case with COVID-19.
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A massive blackout engulfed almost all of Puerto Rico early Tuesday as the island prepared for New Year’s celebrations, leaving over 1.3 million customers without electricity. Officials warned it could take up to two days to restore power fully.
The outage struck at dawn, silencing appliances and air conditioners across the island before those with generators turned them on. “Of all days, it had to be December 31st!” lamented a man named Manuel, standing outside a grocery store in San Juan and expressing frustration over the power failure coinciding with his birthday.
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Four family members, including three U.S. citizens, were shot in an attack in Durango, Mexico, that claimed the lives of three of them, authorities reported.
The victims included two brothers, Vicente Peña Rodríguez and Antonio Fernández Rodríguez, both U.S. citizens, and a local relative, Jorge Eduardo Vargas Aguirre, the Durango Attorney General’s Office confirmed. The shooting has left family members and officials seeking answers.
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Two security guards were shot and injured at a downtown Los Angeles shopping center after confronting a man attempting to leave a store with a suitcase filled with unpaid merchandise, police said Tuesday.
The confrontation escalated, shots were fired, and the suspect fled the scene on a bicycle, according to Los Angeles Police Officer Drake Madison. Both guards were reported to be in stable condition, while the suspect remains at large. The incident underscores mounting public frustration with retail theft and crime in California as 2024 begins.
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London police are searching for a burglar who broke into an occupied mansion and made off with jewelry, designer handbags, and cash valued at over 10.5 million pounds, or 13.2 million dollars.
The estate owners, identified by British media as an Instagram influencer and her developer husband, were not at home during the Dec. 7 burglary. However, employees were present, and surveillance footage captured a housekeeper narrowly avoiding a confrontation with the armed intruder.
