Russian Attack Wounds Three in Ukraine's Sumy Region

Servicemen of 13th Operative Purpose Brigade 'Khartiia' of the National Guard of Ukraine fire an OTO Melara howitzer towards Russian troops at a position in a front line, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kharkiv region, Ukraine January 3, 2025. REUTERS/Sofiia Gatilova
Servicemen of 13th Operative Purpose Brigade 'Khartiia' of the National Guard of Ukraine fire an OTO Melara howitzer towards Russian troops at a position in a front line, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kharkiv region, Ukraine January 3, 2025. REUTERS/Sofiia Gatilova
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Russian Attack Wounds Three in Ukraine's Sumy Region

Servicemen of 13th Operative Purpose Brigade 'Khartiia' of the National Guard of Ukraine fire an OTO Melara howitzer towards Russian troops at a position in a front line, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kharkiv region, Ukraine January 3, 2025. REUTERS/Sofiia Gatilova
Servicemen of 13th Operative Purpose Brigade 'Khartiia' of the National Guard of Ukraine fire an OTO Melara howitzer towards Russian troops at a position in a front line, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kharkiv region, Ukraine January 3, 2025. REUTERS/Sofiia Gatilova

At least three people, including two children, were wounded in a Russian attack on the Sumy region of northeastern Ukraine on Saturday, local authorities said.
Sumy region borders Russia's Kursk region and has been regularly shelled by Russian forces for months.
"Russians dropped a bomb on a residential building. Two children and one adult were injured. One entrance of the apartment building was destroyed," Sumy military administration said on the Telegram messenger.
A rescue operation was under way to find people who may be trapped by rubble, officials said. Russia, which began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, did not immediately comment on the events in Sumy.
Russia's defense ministry said on Saturday that Russian forces had taken control of the village of Nadiya in Ukraine's eastern Luhansk region and had shot down eight US-made ATACMS missiles.
Reuters could not immediately verify the battlefield reports.
The ministry said its air defense systems had shot down 10 Ukrainian drones over Russian territory on Saturday morning, including three over the northern Leningrad region.
St. Petersburg's Pulkovo airport temporarily halted flight arrivals and departures on Saturday morning.



China Discovers Cluster of New Mpox Strain

A woman walks on the Youyi Bridge at the Liangmahe river in Beijing, China on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
A woman walks on the Youyi Bridge at the Liangmahe river in Beijing, China on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
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China Discovers Cluster of New Mpox Strain

A woman walks on the Youyi Bridge at the Liangmahe river in Beijing, China on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
A woman walks on the Youyi Bridge at the Liangmahe river in Beijing, China on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

Chinese health authorities said on Thursday they had detected the new mutated mpox strain clade Ib as the viral infection spreads to more countries after the World Health Organization declared a global public health emergency last year.
China's Center for Disease Control and Prevention said it had found a cluster outbreak of the Ib subclade that started with the infection a foreigner who has a history of travel and residence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Reuters reported.
Four further cases have been found in people infected after close contact with the foreigner. The patients' symptoms are mild and include skin rash and blisters.
Mpox spreads through close contact and causes flu-like symptoms and pus-filled lesions on the body. Although usually mild, it can be fatal in rare cases.
WHO last August declared mpox a global public health emergency for the second time in two years, following an outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) that spread to neighboring countries.
The outbreak in DRC began with the spread of an endemic strain, known as clade I. But the clade Ib variant appears to spread more easily through routine close contact, including sexual contact.
The variant has spread from DRC to neighboring countries, including Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda, triggering the emergency declaration from the WHO.
China said in August last year it would monitor people and goods entering the country for mpox.
The country's National Health Commission said mpox would be managed as a Category B infectious disease, enabling officials to take emergency measures such as restricting gatherings, suspending work and school, and sealing off areas when there is an outbreak of a disease.