Reuters World News Summary

Following is a summary of current world news briefs. Britain's Prince Andrew skips Christmas Day walk, attends earlier service

Britain's Prince Andrew avoided the limelight on Christmas Day by skipping the royal family's traditional mid-morning walk to church and attending an earlier service with other relatives. Andrew, Queen Elizabeth's second son, has kept a low profile since he stepped down from royal duties last month in the wake of a scandal over his friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Hong Kong pro-democracy activists keep up protests on Christmas Day

Hong Kong anti-government protesters marched through several shopping malls chanting pro-democracy slogans on Wednesday, a day after violent clashes with the police left a prime tourist district decorated for Christmas shrouded in tear gas. The protests, which escalated in June, have been largely peaceful for much of December after pro-democracy candidates overwhelmingly won district council elections the month before. Iran starts internet shutdown ahead of possible new protests: report

Iranian authorities have shut down mobile internet access to overseas sites in several provinces, an Iranian news agency reported on Wednesday, a day before new protests called for on social media. Social media posts and some relatives of people killed in unrest last month over hikes in gasoline prices have called for renewed protests and commemoration ceremonies for the dead on Thursday. Australian firefighters spend Christmas Day containing blazes; temperatures to soar

Australian firefighters used cooler conditions on Christmas Day to try and contain bushfires ahead of hot, dry weather later in the week, as leaders and communities thanked them for sacrificing time with their families over the holidays. In the state of New South Wales (NSW), which saw entire towns devastated by fires over the weekend, state premier Gladys Berejiklian and the head of the NSW rural fire service, Shane Fitzsimmons, attended a breakfast organized by volunteers in the small town of Colo, 90km (55 miles) northwest of Sydney. Taiwan president urges more talks on contested China 'infiltration' bill

Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen urged parliament on Wednesday to have more discussion on a proposed anti-infiltration bill which the government says is needed to combat Chinese influence and has been condemned by the main opposition and Beijing. The legislation is part of a years-long effort to combat what many in Taiwan see as Chinese efforts to influence politics and the democratic process on the island. China claims Taiwan as its territory, to be brought under Beijing's control by force if necessary. U.S. ready to deal with any North Korean 'Christmas gift': Trump

U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday brushed off North Korea's warning of a "Christmas gift," saying the United States would "deal with it very successfully," amid U.S. concerns that Pyongyang might be preparing a long-range missile test. China, North Korea's most important backer, meanwhile, urged Washington to take "concrete steps" as soon as possible to implement agreements reached during last year's summit between Trump and North Korea leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore. 27 local peace activists abducted in western Afghanistan

Taliban militants have kidnapped 27 peace activists from a highway in Afghanistan's western Farah province, local officials and peace activists said on Wednesday. Massoud Bakhtawar, the deputy governor of Farah, said the activists were traveling with six cars from Herat to neighboring Farah on Tuesday evening when their convoy was stopped by the Taliban on a main highway and taken to an unknown location. Pope defends migrants, calls for peace in Christmas message

Pope Francis urged the world to let the light of Christmas pierce the "darkness in human hearts" that leads to religious persecution, social injustice, armed conflicts and fear of migrants. In his "Urbi et Orbi" (to the city and the world) Christmas Day message, the 83-year-old pope called for peace in the Holy Land, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq, Venezuela, Ukraine and several African countries caught up in conflicts. Japan's Abe tells China no improvement in ties without stability in East China Sea

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Wednesday told Chinese Premier Li Keqiang that there would be no true improvement in bilateral relations without stability in the East China Sea, Japan's foreign ministry said. The two leaders held a bilateral meeting in the Chinese city of Chengdu, on the sidelines of a three-way summit with South Korea. Anti-Kremlin activist forcibly conscripted to Arctic was kidnapped, say allies

Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny said on Wednesday that the forcible military conscription of one of his allies to a remote air base in the Arctic amounted to kidnapping and illegal imprisonment. Ruslan Shaveddinov, a project manager at Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation, was detained at his Moscow flat on Monday after the door was broken down, the electricity cut, and the SIM card on his mobile phone remotely disabled.