World News Roundup: Argentina votes in nail-biter election with libertarian slight favorite; Indian officials consider five new plans to rescue men trapped in tunnel and more

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Argentina votes in nail-biter election with libertarian slight favorite

Argentines headed to the polls on Sunday in a delicately poised presidential runoff, with voters seeking a solution to triple-digit inflation and rising poverty, and two clashing visions for the country's future on offer. The election sees Peronist Economy Minister Sergio Massa, at the helm for the country's worst economic crisis in two decades, go head-to-head with radical libertarian outsider Javier Milei, the slight pre-election favorite in the polls.

Indian officials consider five new plans to rescue men trapped in tunnel

Indian authorities were exploring five new plans to rescue workers trapped inside a collapsed tunnel in the Indian Himalayas after a week of failed attempts. Forty-one men, stuck in the highway tunnel in Uttarakhand state since Nov. 12, are safe and being fed through a pipe, the authorities say. The cause of the accident has not been determined, although the hillside region is prone to landslides, earthquakes and floods.

Russia launches drone attack on Kyiv 2nd night in row -Ukraine

Russia launched several waves of drone attacks on Kyiv early on Sunday for the second night in row, stepping up its assaults on the Ukrainian capital after several weeks of pause, the city's military administration said. "The enemy's UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) were launched in many groups and attacked Kyiv in waves, from different directions, at the same time constantly changing the vectors of movement along the route," Serhiy Popko, head of the Kyiv's military administration, said on the Telegram messaging app.

Maldives new president asks India to withdraw its military

Maldives new President Mohamed Muizzu, who campaigned on altering the tiny Indian Ocean archipelago's "India first" policy, has requested India withdraw its military from the country. Muizzu won the presidential election in September, ousting Ibrahim Solih in a runoff after promising to remove a small Indian military presence of some 75 personnel.

Hamas battles Israeli forces in north Gaza, hostage deal report denied

Hamas militants battled Israeli forces trying to push into Gaza's largest refugee camp on Sunday and Israeli air strikes to the south killed dozens of Palestinians, witnesses said, as a U.S. media report of a nascent hostage release deal was denied. The Washington Post said on Sunday that U.S. mediators were close to a deal between Israel and Hamas to free dozens of women and children held hostage in Gaza in exchange for a five-day pause in their war that would help boost emergency aid shipments to Gaza civilians, citing people familiar with the matter.

Japanese troops drill on island seen as vulnerable to China

Japanese marines in amphibious assault vehicles stormed an island beach at the edge of the East China Sea on Sunday in a simulated attack to dislodge invaders from territory that Tokyo worries is vulnerable to attack from China. As tensions run high with neighbours China, Russia and North Korea, the drill on the southwest island of Tokunoshima capped an 11-day series of exercises nationwide dubbed 05JX, meant to show the readiness of ground, sea and air forces to defend Japan's territory and infrastructure, including nuclear power plants.

Japan's teamLab readies renewed digital museum in Tokyo mega complex

In a basement maze beneath Japan's tallest skyscraper, construction crews and digital artists are racing to assemble an immersive museum that will serve as the cultural anchor of Tokyo's latest megaproject. teamLab, an international collective of artists, set a Guinness World Record by attracting more than 2 million visitors in 2019 to their Borderless museum on the Odaiba island in Tokyo Bay. The name refers to digital art pieces that blend into each other and encourage guests to wander at their own pace.

Hundreds of Thais to be evacuated from Myanmar via China amid heavy fighting

More than two hundred Thai nationals trapped by the surge in fighting in northern Myanmar between junta soldiers and armed ethnic-minority groups are being evacuated to Thailand via China, the Thai foreign ministry said on Sunday. Myanmar military, which seized power in a 2021 coup, is losing control of several towns and military outposts around the country as well as being overrun in parts of its north as they battle the biggest coordinated offensive, launched last month by an alliance of three ethnic-minority groups and pro-democracy fighters.

France test-fires long-range ballistic missile in bid to boost nuclear deterrence

France has successfully test-fired an M51.3 long-range ballistic missile, boosting the credibility of France's nuclear deterrence capabilities, the defence ministry said on Sunday. The missile, which did not carry a nuclear weapon, was fired from the French army's Biscarosse missile testing site in southwest France and landed in the North Atlantic, "hundreds of kilometres from any coastline" the ministry said, without giving further detail.

U.N. plastic treaty talks grapple with re-use, recycle, reduce debate

A third round of United Nations negotiations in pursuit of the world's first treaty to control plastic pollution has drawn more than 500 proposals from those involved, participants said on the last day of the talks on Sunday. Some said the number of submissions represented progress, while campaign group Greenpeace said it was "chaos".

(With inputs from agencies.)