1. 32 injured in Russian plane crash

    The Russian Defense Ministry said on Monday that one of its planes crashed in northeast Siberia with 39 people on board as it tried to make an emergency landing near a Soviet-era military base.

    Russian news agencies reported that nobody had been killed in the incident, but said 32 people had been airlifted* to a hospital.

    The Il-18 aircraft came down around 30 kilometers from an airfield near the town of Tiksi in the Sakha Republic at 4:45 a.m. local time, the TASS news agency reported. High winds may have forced the plane to make an emergency landing.

    2. Friend of S. Korea’s Park denies charges

    A friend of South Korean President Park Geun-hye at the center of a corruption scandal that led to Park’s impeachment* denied charges of fraud and abuse of power on Monday on the first day of her trial.

    The friend, Choi Soon-sil, 60, is charged with pressuring big businesses to pay money to foundations that backed Park’s policy initiatives*. Prosecutors have named Park as an accomplice*, although she has immunity* from prosecution while in office.

    3. Venezuela postpones currency move

    Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro suspended on Saturday the elimination* of the country’s largest denomination* bill, which had sparked cash shortages and nationwide unrest*, saying the measure would be postponed until early January.

    The surprise pulling of the 100 bolivar* note from circulation* last week — before new larger bills were available — led to vast lines at banks, looting* at scores of shops, anti-government protests and at least one death.

    Maduro blamed a “sabotage*” campaign by enemies abroad for the delayed arrival of three planes carrying the new 500, 2,000 and 20,000 bolivar notes.

    4. Duterte painkiller use draws concern

    Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s admission that he used a powerful painkiller has prompted concern about his health, with lawmakers urging him on Sunday to undergo a medical examination and disclose the results.

    Duterte revealed that he used to take fentanyl*, often prescribed for cancer pain and other chronic ailments, because of a spinal injury from previous motorcycle accidents.

    He however said his doctor made him stop using it on learning he was “abusing the drug” by using more than the prescribed patches. The firebrand* leader has attracted controversy over his war against suspected users of illegal drugs, and his incendiary* language against the United States and the United Nations.

    5. Suicide bomber kills 40 soldiers in Yemen

    A suicide bomber killed at least 40 soldiers in the southern Yemeni port city of Aden on Sunday, officials said, a week after an attack by the militant Islamic State group killed 50 troops nearby.

    The officials said the soldiers were queuing to collect salaries near a military base in the Khor Maksar district when the attacker blew himself up. Forty other troops were wounded, they said.

    Aden is the temporary capital of Yemen’s internationally recognized government in exile in neighboring Saudi Arabia.

    6. Zimbabwe’s Mugabe backed for election

    Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, who turns 93 in February, was endorsed* on Saturday as the ruling party’s candidate in a national election scheduled for 2018.

    The ruling ZANU-PF party announced its support in the southeast town of Masvingo, where the party’s youth wing even proposed that Mugabe should rule for life with broad powers.

    Opposition groups have described such adulation as a sign that Mugabe and his loyalists are out of touch with the desperation of the nation.(SD-Agencies)