World News Roundup: Indonesian cleric linked to 2002 Bali bombings walks free after 10 years in jail; Freezing Madrid braces for heaviest snowfall in decades and more

Malaysia PM to announce new COVID-19 measures as deaths hit daily record Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin will announce new measures next week to curb a surge in coronavirus cases, a senior minister said on Friday, as the country reported its highest daily number of deaths linked to the epidemic.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Indonesian cleric linked to 2002 Bali bombings walks free after 10 years in jail

Indonesian Islamic cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, the suspected mastermind of the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people, walked free from prison on Friday after serving 10 years for setting up a militant training camp. Bashir, 82, who was never convicted of a direct role in the bombings, would enter a deradicalisation programme amid concerns over his continued influence in extremist circles, authorities said.

Freezing Madrid braces for heaviest snowfall in decades

Spain's capital Madrid and much of the neighbouring region of Castilla-La Mancha were on high alert on Friday for what meteorologists expect to be the heaviest snowfall in decades, brought by the Storm Filomena. Such events are rare in the region and tend to be disruptive to daily life and mobility, coming at a time when people are returning home after Christmas and New Year holidays. This year, however, there is less traffic than usual due to restrictions to curb the coronavirus pandemic.

Malaysia PM to announce new COVID-19 measures as deaths hit daily record

Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin will announce new measures next week to curb a surge in coronavirus cases, a senior minister said on Friday, as the country reported its highest daily number of deaths linked to the epidemic. The Southeast Asian nation has seen a spike in infections since September, with the number of daily reported cases climbing to record highs on two days this week.

'Never again' says Ukraine as families mourn Iran plane crash victims

Ukraine called on Iran to deliver justice and pay full compensation to the families of those who died when a Ukrainian airliner was shot down by Iranian Revolutionary Guards one year ago. On the first anniversary of the crash, Ukraine and other countries jointly called for "a complete and thorough explanation ... including concrete measures to ensure that it will never happen again," according to a statement.

Cyprus goes into new lockdown from January 10 as COVID surges

Cyprus will introduce a new lockdown to quell rising COVID-19 infections from Jan. 10, its health minister said on Friday, the country's second since the start of the pandemic. Retail businesses such as hairdressers, beauty parlours and large department stores will shut until Jan. 31, Health Minister Constantinos Ioannou told a news conference. Iran leader bans import of US, UK COVID-19 vaccines, demands sanctions end

Iran's Supreme Leader on Friday banned the government from importing COVID-19 vaccines from the United States and Britain, labelling the Western powers "untrustworthy", as the infection spreads in the Middle East’s hardest-hit country. In a live televised speech, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei raised the prospect of the two Western countries, long-time adversaries of the Islamic Republic, possibly seeking to spread the infection to other countries. U.S. envoy to U.N. to visit Taiwan; China says playing with fire

The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Kelly Craft, will visit Taiwan next week for meetings with senior Taiwanese leaders, Taiwan's government and the U.S. mission to the U.N. said, prompting China to warn they were playing with fire. Beijing, which claims the self-governed island as its own territory, has been angered by stepped-up support for Taiwan from the outgoing Trump administration, including trips to Taipei by top U.S. officials, further straining Sino-U.S. ties. Tokyo angered after South Korea court orders Japan to compensate 'comfort women'

A South Korean court for the first time on Friday ordered Japan to compensate 12 women who were forced to work in its wartime brothels, a ruling that drew a rebuke from Tokyo and threatened to rekindle a diplomatic feud between the two countries. Reminders of Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean peninsula are contentious for both sides, with many surviving "comfort women" - a Japanese euphemism for the sex abuse victims - demanding Tokyo's formal apology and compensation. Iran's Revolutionary Guards unveil underground missile base in Gulf: state media

Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards unveiled an underground missile base at an undisclosed Gulf location on Friday, Iranian state media reported, at a time of heightened tension between Tehran and the United States. "The base is one of several bases housing the Guards' Navy's strategic missiles," the state media quoted the head of the Guards, Major General Hossein Salami, as saying. EU says it has secured nearly half of Pfizer's 2021 global output of COVID shots

The European Union reached a deal with Pfizer and BioNTech for 300 million additional doses of their COVID-19 vaccine, the head of the European Commission said on Friday, in a move that would give the EU nearly half of the firms' global output for 2021. Pfizer has said it can produce up to 1.3 billion doses around the world this year. The new agreement with the EU comes on top of another order for 300 million doses that the bloc agreed with Pfizer and German partner BioNTech in November.

(With inputs from agencies.)