World News Roundup: Displaced Gazans flee again as Israel launches fresh tank, air assaults; India's far-right cow vigilantes bolster clout before high-stake elections and more

The 30-year-old is one of many Gau Rakshaks, or cow protectors: activists who have taken Indian laws banning cattle slaughter and beef consumption into their own hands since Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power in 2014 at the head of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Russia launches massive missile attack on Ukraine, 12 dead - Kyiv Russia on Friday unleashed one of its biggest missile attacks on Ukraine of the war so far, killing 12 civilians, wounding dozens more and hitting residential buildings in Kyiv, the south and west of the country, officials said.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Former Hong Kong independence group leader seeks asylum in Britain

The former leader of a Hong Kong pro-independence group, who was sentenced in 2021 to prison under a national security law imposed by China, said on Thursday he had fled to Britain and formally applied for political asylum. WHY IT'S IMPORTANT

Displaced Gazans flee again as Israel launches fresh tank, air assaults

Tens of thousands of newly displaced Gazans huddled under tarpaulins on Friday in the centre of the enclave after fleeing the latest offensive by Israeli tanks, while warplanes targeted the south, flattening homes and burying families as they slept. Israel is closing the year with new assaults in central and southern Gaza, unleashing a fresh exodus of people already driven from other areas, in what Defence Minister Yoav Gallant called an essential stage of its mission to destroy Hamas.

India's far-right cow vigilantes bolster clout before high-stake elections

Vishnu Dabad attributes his rise from poverty to powerful local politician to an animal: the cow. The 30-year-old is one of many Gau Rakshaks, or cow protectors: activists who have taken Indian laws banning cattle slaughter and beef consumption into their own hands since Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power in 2014 at the head of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Russia launches massive missile attack on Ukraine, 12 dead - Kyiv

Russia on Friday unleashed one of its biggest missile attacks on Ukraine of the war so far, killing 12 civilians, wounding dozens more and hitting residential buildings in Kyiv, the south and west of the country, officials said. Ten people in Kyiv were trapped under rubble at a warehouse damaged by falling debris, the city's military administration said. A maternity ward was damaged in the city of Dnipro, but no casualties were reported, the governor said.

Iran executes four accused of sabotage, links to Israel's Mossad

Iran executed on Friday four people, including a woman, whom it accused of being "saboteurs" with links to Israel's Mossad intelligence service, the Mizan news agency affiliated to the judiciary said. The executions took to five the number of people put to death this month in a decades-long shadow war that has seen Iran accuse Israel of attacks on its nuclear effort, charges the latter has never confirmed or denied.

In Nigeria and much of Africa, Catholic same-sex couples see no blessings soon

Nigerian Catholic couple Jane and Lucy have little hope their local parish church will bless their same-sex union anytime soon, as conservative priests across Africa choose to ignore a landmark Vatican ruling allowing such blessings. Conservative Catholics have condemned the Vatican's declaration two weeks ago, which was approved by Pope Francis, that will allow blessings for same-sex couples, as long as they are not part of the regular Church rituals or liturgies.

Two killed, 15 injured in Russian strike on Odesa - governor

Two people were killed and at least 15 were injured, including two children, as Russian missiles hit residential buildings in the southern city of Odesa, the regional governor said.

Conservative Cardinal Burke says he is 'still alive' after rare pope meeting

Conservative American Cardinal Raymond Burke, one of Pope Francis' fiercest critics, had his first private audience with the pontiff in seven years on Friday, a month after the pope said he was stripping him of some of his Vatican privileges. Asked by Reuters outside his residence in Rome if the meeting had gone well, Burke responded: "Well, I'm still alive".

China's fireworks ban sparks fiery debate ahead of Lunar New Year

Chinese lawmakers on Friday weighed in on a fiery online debate on whether fireworks should be used to ring in the Lunar New Year in February, saying a total ban on pyrotechnics in the country credited with inventing them would be hard to implement.

In an unusually frank response, lawmakers said air pollution prevention laws and fire safety regulations have led to "differences in understanding" of the ban on fireworks, which was never absolute.

In Gaza, rows of white shrouds symbolise mounting civilian deaths

"My life, my eyes, my soul," a husband writes on the white shroud wrapped around his wife after the war devastating Gaza took her life. A bereaved son writes "my mother and everything" on the burial cloth covering his mother, another of the more than 21,000 Palestinians killed in the Israel-Hamas confrontation.

(With inputs from agencies.)