Last year was Ukraine's deadliest for civilians since 2022, UN says
2025 was the deadliest year for civilians in Ukraine since 2022, according to the United Nations (UN), BBC reported.
Conflict-related violence killed at least 2,514 civilians last year, the UN's Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine said, compared with 2,088 in 2024 and 1,974 in 2023. The number of injured civilians also increased sharply each year.
The year's deadliest attack killed at least 38 civilians in the western city of Ternopil in November, it reported, including eight children, according to BBC.
Prosecutors seek death penalty for ex-South Korean president Yoon
Prosecutors have asked for South Korea's former president Yoon Suk Yeol to be handed a death sentence if he is found guilty over his botched attempt to impose martial law, BBC reported.
A court in Seoul heard closing arguments in Yoon's trial, in which he was accused of being the "ringleader of an insurrection".
The charge stems from Yoon's attempt in December 2024 to impose military rule in South Korea - an act that lasted just hours but plunged the country into political turmoil. He was later impeached by parliament and detained to face trial, according to BBC.
More than 2,000 people reported killed at Iran protests as Trump says 'help is on its way'
More than 2,000 people have been killed during the violent crackdown by security forces on protests in Iran, a human rights group has said, as President Trump promised Iranians that help was "on its way", BBC reported.
The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) reported that it had so far confirmed the killing of 1,850 protesters, 135 people affiliated with the government and nine uninvolved civilians as well as nine children over the last 17 days despite an internet blackout.
An Iranian official also told Reuters that 2,000 people had been killed but that "terrorists" were to blame, according to BBC.
Canadian prime minister visits China after nearly a decade of tense relations
Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney departs for China on Tuesday, where he will discuss trade and international security at a time when Canada faces uncertain relations with the US due to a trade war and annexation threats from President Donald Trump, Reuters reported.
It is the first visit to Beijing by a Canadian prime minister since 2017 and could mark a critical shift in ties between the two countries as Canada seeks new trade and security partnerships.
Carney agreed to visit China last October when he and Chinese President Xi Jinping met in South Korea. It was an encounter that offered no breakthroughs but suggested potential for deeper ties after a fractious relationship under former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, which had soured after Canada arrested the chief financial officer of Chinese firm Huawei in 2018, according to Reuters.
