World News Roundup: China's vast countryside in rush to bolster COVID defences; China's Xi solidified grip on power during tumultuous 2022 and more

Around 200 had been on board, fleeing poverty and persecution, when it set off across the Indian Ocean from Bangladesh on Nov. 21. Russia fires barrage of missiles at Ukraine's major cities Russia fired scores of missiles into Ukraine early on Thursday, targetting Kyiv, the northeastern city of Kharkiv, and other cities in a massive aerial bombardment that sent people rushing to shelters and knocked out power, Ukrainian authorities said.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

China's vast countryside in rush to bolster COVID defences

China's thinly resourced countryside is racing to beef up medical facilities before millions of factory workers return home for the Lunar New Year holiday next month from cities where COVID-19 is surging. Having imposed the world's strictest COVID regime of lockdowns and relentless testing for three years, China reversed course this month towards living with the virus, leaving its fragile health system overwhelmed.

China's Xi solidified grip on power during tumultuous 2022

Xi Jinping secured an historic third leadership term in October, emerging as China's most powerful ruler since Mao Zedong, bolstered by a Politburo Standing Committee stacked with allies and no successor-in-waiting to challenge him. It was a rare highlight for Xi in 2022, a tumultuous year capped by unprecedented street protests followed by the sudden reversal of his zero-COVID policy and coronavirus infections rampaging across the world's most populous country.

Kosovo re-opens major border crossing with Serbia, easing standoff

Kosovo re-opened its biggest border crossing with Serbia on Thursday, hours after protesting Serbs in its north promised to remove roadblocks, easing a surge in tensions that has alarmed world powers. Both the European Union and the United States have been pressing Kosovo and Serbia to step back from a mounting confrontation that has seen Serbia put its army on the highest combat alert.

Risking death at sea, Rohingya Muslims seek safety in Indonesia

Crying with relief after a traumatic 40-day voyage to Indonesia in a leaky boat, Rohingya Muslim Fatimah bin Ismail held a mobile phone with shaky hands as she made a video call to relatives. The 19-year-old was among 174 surviving Rohingya in the overloaded wooden fishing boat when it washed up on the shores of Indonesia's Aceh province this week. Around 200 had been on board, fleeing poverty and persecution, when it set off across the Indian Ocean from Bangladesh on Nov. 21.

Russia fires barrage of missiles at Ukraine's major cities

Russia fired scores of missiles into Ukraine early on Thursday, targetting Kyiv, the northeastern city of Kharkiv, and other cities in a massive aerial bombardment that sent people rushing to shelters and knocked out power, Ukrainian authorities said. In Kyiv, a team of emergency workers searched through the smouldering wreckage of a residential house destroyed by a blast, and footage showed the smoke trails of missiles lingering in the sky over the capital. In Kharkiv fire fighters worked to extinguish a blaze at an electricity station.

Putin and Xi to speak by video link on Friday

Russian President Vladimir Putin will speak with Chinese President Xi Jinping via video link on Friday to discuss a host of bilateral and regional issues. "First of all, they will talk about bilateral Russian-Chinese relations," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Thursday.

Cambodian casino fire kills 19, dozens more missing

At least 19 people were killed and up to 30 were missing after a huge fire tore through a casino-hotel complex in a Cambodian town on the Thai border, officials said on Thursday. About 400 employees and patrons were in the Grand Diamond City casino and hotel in the town of Poipet when the fire broke out around midnight, and up to 30 were still missing.

Mediators meet to bolster Ethiopia truce amid signs of detente

Mediators between Ethiopia's federal government and authorities in the Tigray region, embroiled until last month in a brutal war, are stepping up efforts to enforce a truce as relations between the two sides inch closer towards normality. The Nov. 2 ceasefire quieted a two-year conflict that killed tens of thousands and displaced millions in the Horn of Africa country, but implementation of parts of the deal has been slower than hoped.

Israel's new government to be sworn in, seeks to expand settlements

A hard-right Israeli government that aims to expand Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank and pursue other policies that have stoked criticism at home and abroad was being sworn in on Thursday, cementing Benjamin Netanyahu's comeback as premier. The veteran leader, 73 and on trial for graft charges he denies, has sought to calm concerns about the fate of civil rights and diplomacy since his bloc of nationalist and religious parties secured a parliamentary majority in a Nov. 1 election.

Belarus' defence ministry says it downed Ukrainian S-300 missile

Belarus' defence ministry said its air defences had downed a Ukrainian S-300 missile in the Brest border region at around 10 a.m. (0700 GMT) on Thursday. Belarus' state-run BelTA news agency had earlier reported that a Ukrainian S-300 missile had fallen onto the territory of Belarus during one of Russia's most extensive missile attacks against Ukraine since the start of the war.