WORLD

Britain`s opposition Labour Party has handily won a special election for a northwest England seat in Parliament, the first test of voter sentiment since Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak took office in October.

Labour held onto the City of Chester constituency with an increased vote share of 61 per cent, according to results announced Friday.

Labour won 50 per cent of the votes in Chester at the last national election in 2019. Labour leader Keir Starmer said the result showed people are "fed up" with the Conservative government.

Canada has summoned Beijing’s ambassador following reports of a network of illegal Chinese “police stations” in the country, after warnings that Ottawa is prepared to take more action if China refuses to “cease and desist” from its alleged activities.

Speaking to the Canada-China committee on Tuesday evening, Weldon Epp, director general of north Asia for Canada’s foreign ministry, said he knew of “several engagements” by the federal government with China, including repeated summons of ambassador Cong Peiwu.

“We’ve had several engagements…and we have conveyed our deep concern,” Epp, director general of north Asia for Canada’s foreign ministry, told parliamentarians.

Two Chinese and six Russian warplanes entered South Korea's air defense identification zone (KADIZ) without notice on Wednesday, prompting the Air Force to scramble fighters to the scene, Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said, according to the Yonhap news agency report.

The JCS said the warplanes flew across the KADIZ but did not violate South Korea's territorial air.

The US could send Ukraine cheap new precision bombs capable of hitting targets 100 miles away, allowing Kyiv to strike targets deep behind Russian lines.

The Pentagon is considering a proposal by Boeing to send the Ground-Launched Small Diameter Bomb (GLSDB) system as the West struggles to meet Ukraine's demand for more arms.

The weapons, which are relatively quick and cheap to produce, have about twice the range of standard Himars missiles and could be deployed in Ukraine as early as next spring, according to a document seen by Reuters.

While Washington has declined requests for the ATACMS missile, which has a range of 185 miles, the GLSDBs would still allow Ukraine to hit valuable military targets that have hitherto been out of reach.

China’s government on November 28 doubled down on its controversial “zero-COVID” strategy amid unprecedented protests against lockdowns in many Chinese cities.

The weekend’s protests in Beijing and Shanghai were not repeated on Monday amid a high security presence in both cities. Some universities in the Chinese capital, such as Tsinghua University, that saw students come out and protest over the weekend have made plans to send students home early for the winter break, apparently to prevent further gatherings.