Reuters World News Summary

In an interview with Reuters, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said while Kyiv had no new information indicating that Russia had decided to take new military action against Ukraine, it was important for the West to act now to prevent that happening. Taking a knee, raising a fist to be punished at Tokyo Games - IOC Taking a knee during the Tokyo Olympics or lifting a fist in support of racial equality will be punished as the International Olympic Committee on Wednesday maintained its ban on athletes' protests inside stadiums, at ceremonies and on podiums.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Russia plans to launch own space station after quitting ISS

Russia is ready to start building its own space station with the aim of launching it into orbit by 2030 if President Vladimir Putin gives the go-ahead, the head of its Roscosmos space agency said on Wednesday. The project would mark a new chapter for Russian space exploration and an end to more than two decades of close cooperation with the United States aboard the ageing International Space Station (ISS).

Iran provides Yemen's Houthis 'lethal' support, U.S. official says

Iran's support for Yemen's Houthi movement is "quite significant and it's lethal," U.S. special envoy on Yemen Tim Lenderking said on Wednesday, as he called a battle for Yemen's gas-rich Marib region the single biggest threat to peace efforts. Lenderking told U.S. lawmakers that Iran supports the Houthis in several ways including through training, providing lethal support and helping them "fine tune" their drone and missile programs.

Ukraine to allies: West must act now to ensure no new Russia military offensive

Ukraine on Wednesday urged Western allies to show they were prepared to punish Moscow with new sanctions, including kicking Russia out of the global SWIFT payments system, to deter the Kremlin from resorting to more military force against Ukraine. In an interview with Reuters, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said while Kyiv had no new information indicating that Russia had decided to take new military action against Ukraine, it was important for the West to act now to prevent that happening.

Taking a knee, raising a fist to be punished at Tokyo Games - IOC

Taking a knee during the Tokyo Olympics or lifting a fist in support of racial equality will be punished as the International Olympic Committee on Wednesday maintained its ban on athletes' protests inside stadiums, at ceremonies and on podiums. The IOC's Rule 50 forbids any kind of "demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda" in venues and any other Olympic area and the Games body concluded the rule should be maintained following an athlete consultation.

Russia arrests over 1,400 at rallies for hunger-striking Navalny

Police rounded up more than 1,400 protesters on Wednesday as Russians in dozens of cities took part in rallies organised by allies of hunger-striking Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny over his failing health in jail. His spokeswoman was jailed for 10 days, and another close ally detained, on the same day that President Vladimir Putin delivered a state-of-the-nation speech warning the West not to cross Russia's "red lines" and pointedly made no mention of Navalny.

Chad in turmoil after Deby death as rebels, opposition challenge military

The son of Chad's slain leader Idriss Deby took over as president and armed forces commander on Wednesday as rebel forces threatened to march on the capital, deepening the turmoil in a country vital to international efforts to combat Islamist militants in Africa. The political opposition denounced the military's takeover of control, as did an army general who said he spoke for many officers. Labour unions called for a workers' strike.

How South Korea turbocharged specialty syringe production for COVID-19 vaccines

It was 7:30 a.m. on Christmas Eve when Cha Jung-hoon, South Korea's deputy minister for small businesses, got a call from his boss to make an urgent three-hour car trip to visit syringe maker Poonglim Pharmatech. The brief: work out how the government could convince and aid Poonglim, which had only about 80 employees, to rapidly scale up production of their low dead space (LDS) syringes, a type of syringe designed to minimise the amount of a drug left in the device after injection.

U.S. Senate panel advances bill to aid Ukraine, pressure Nord Stream 2

The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee advanced a bill on Wednesday to deliver aid to Ukraine in its struggle with Russia and pressure companies helping to build Russia's Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline that could deprive Kyiv of lucrative transit fees. The Ukraine Security Partnership Act, which was approved by voice vote, authorizes $300 million in foreign military financing, of which $150 million would be subject to conditions. It needs to be passed in the full Senate and House of Representatives and signed by President Joe Biden to become law.

Car bombing at hotel in southwest Pakistan kills 4, wounds 11

A car bomb blast late on Wednesday ripped through a luxury hotel's parking area in the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta, killing four people and wounding 11, officials said. China's ambassador to Pakistan was staying at the hotel, but was not there when the bomb exploded, said Pakistan's interior Minister, Sheikh Rashid Ahmad.

Important disagreements between U.S. and Iran in nuclear talks persist: U.S. official

Important disagreements between the United States and Iran persist after the latest round of indirect nuclear talks in Vienna this week, with the negotiations still far from conclusion and the outcome uncertain, a senior State Department official said on Wednesday. The main differences between Washington and Tehran are over what sanctions the United States would need to remove and what steps Iran would need to take to resume its obligations to curb its nuclear program, the U.S. official told reporters in a conference call. He added that talks were likely to be a multi-round process.