Reuters World News Summary

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

US sinks 3 ships, kills 10 after Houthi Red Sea attack

U.S. helicopters repelled an attack by Iran-backed Houthi militants on a Maersk container vessel in the Red Sea, sinking three ships and killing 10 militants, according to accounts by American, Maersk, and Houthi officials on Sunday. The naval battle occurred around 0330 GMT on Sunday as the attackers sought to board the Singapore-flagged Maersk Hangzhou, Maersk and U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said. Helicopters from the USS Eisenhower and USS Gravely joined the ship's security team in repelling the attackers after receiving a distress call, CENTCOM said.

German police arrest three more over alleged Cologne Cathedral attack plot

Police on Sunday detained three further suspects in an alleged Islamist plot to attack Germany's famed Cologne Cathedral on New Year's Eve, authorities said. The alleged attackers had planned to use a car to attack the 800-year-old Gothic edifice by the Rhine river, Cologne police director Frank Wissbaum told a news conference.

Painful surgeries and passing notes, how Israeli siblings survived Hamas captivity

Israeli Maya Regev lay badly wounded in a nondescript house in Gaza, her leg mangled from a gunshot, under orders not to make a sound. The 21-year-old begged her captors to let her younger brother Itay, who was being held in a room nearby, join her while the bandages on her leg were replaced.

Israel pounds Gaza, Hamas fires rockets as Netanyahu indicates long war

Israeli jets intensified attacks on central Gaza on Sunday, residents and medics said, as battles raged through the rubble of towns and refugee camps in a war Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said would take "many more months" to end. Netanyahu's comments signal no let-up in a campaign that has killed many thousands and levelled much of Gaza, while his vow to restore Israeli control over the enclave's border with Egypt raises new questions over an eventual two-state solution.

Denmark's Queen Margrethe II announces surprise abdication on live TV

Denmark's Queen Margrethe II, Europe's longest-serving monarch, will abdicate on Jan. 14 after 52 years on the throne and will be succeeded by her eldest son Crown Prince Frederik, she announced on Sunday. The 83-year-old queen, who ascended the throne in 1972, made the surprise announcement on live TV during her traditional New Year's Eve speech, which is viewed by many in the country of 5.9 million people.

Israeli minister repeats call for Palestinians to leave Gaza

One of the senior figures in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing coalition called on Sunday for Palestinian residents of Gaza to leave the besieged enclave, making way for Israelis who could "make the desert bloom". The comments by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who has been excluded from the war cabinet and discussions of day-after arrangements in Gaza, appear to underscore fears in much of the Arab world that Israel wants to drive Palestinians out of land where they want to build a future state, repeating the mass dispossession of Palestinians when Israel was created in 1948.

World welcomes New Year with fireworks, some stark words and a royal farewell

New Zealanders were among the first in the world to celebrate the arrival of 2024 with a fireworks display in Auckland on Monday. The fireworks illuminated the cloudy night sky and were accompanied by a laser light and animation show. Here's how some other places and people around the world were bidding farewell to 2023 and welcoming the New Year.

Zelenskiy says Ukraine stronger as it moves toward year two of war

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in his New Year address early on Monday said Ukraine had become stronger in overcoming serious difficulties as the war against Russia moves toward its second year. But Zelenskiy's slick 20-minute video message, delivered from his Kyiv office, made almost no direct reference to the situation on the 1,000-km (600-mile) front line or the limited success of a counteroffensive launched in June.

Congo's Tshisekedi fights poll fraud accusations with 'spirit of openness'

When Democratic Republic of Congo's President Felix Tshisekedi was declared the winner of another disputed election on Sunday, he pledged be a leader for all its 100 million people. However, accusations by opposition leaders of electoral fraud and political repression will likely cloud his second term as it did the first. His main rivals rejected Sunday's outcome before it was announced and called for a rerun.

Kharkiv strikes were retaliation for Ukraine's Belgorod attack, Russia says

Russia on Sunday said it attacked military facilities in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv overnight, including a hotel housing military commanders and "foreign mercenaries", in response to Ukraine's strikes on Belgorod the previous day. Kharkiv officials had said that at least six missiles hit Ukraine's second city, injuring at least 28 people and damaging residential buildings, hotels and medical facilities, followed by waves of drone attacks on housing blocks.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)