While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, Dec 29

US President Donald Trump (above) has accused China of allowing oil to go into North Korea. PHOTO: AFP

Donald Trump says China 'caught red-handed' allowing oil into North Korea

US President Donald Trump on Thursday said he was "very disappointed that China is allowing oil to go into North Korea" and that such moves would prevent "a friendly solution" to the crisis over Pyongyang's nuclear programme.

"Caught RED HANDED - very disappointed that China is allowing oil to go into North Korea. There will never be a friendly solution to the North Korea problem if this continues to happen!" Trump wrote in a post on Twitter.

China earlier on Thursday said there had been no UN sanction-breaking oil sales by Chinese ships to North Korea after a South Korean newspaper said Chinese and North Korean vessels had been illicitly linking up at sea to get oil to North Korea.

The Trump administration has led a drive to step up global sanctions on North Korea in response to Pyongyang's efforts to develop nuclear-tipped missiles capable of hitting the United States.

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Palestinian teenager who slapped Israeli soldier to face charges, says army

A 16-year-old Palestinian girl who slapped an Israeli officer two weeks ago will face assault charges in an Israeli military court, prosecutors said on Thursday.

The Dec 15 incident in the occupied West Bank was captured on video and posted on the Internet, drawing attention on both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian divide.

Palestinians hailed the teenager, Ahed Tamimi, as a hero. Israelis debated whether the officer, who along with another soldier was also kicked by her, had done the right thing by opting not to strike back.

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Bono, a former Aung San Suu Kyi campaigner, says she should quit

U2 frontman Bono, a leading campaigner for Myanmar's leader Aung San Suu Kyi when she was under house arrest, has called on her to resign over the deadly campaign against Rohingya Muslims.

The singer - who championed Suu Kyi in the 2000 U2 song Walk On, with fans encouraged to wear masks of the then opposition leader when the band played it live - said he felt "nauseated" by images of the bloodshed and refugee crisis.

"I have genuinely felt ill, because I can't quite believe what the evidence all points to. But there is ethnic cleansing," he told Rolling Stone magazine in its latest issue. "It really is happening, and she has to step down because she knows it's happening," Bono said.

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US police release names of mother, her two children and her partner, killed in an act of 'savagery'

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Authorities on Thursday revealed the names of the two women and two children found dead inside a basement apartment in upstate New York, victims of what police are calling a horrific crime.

According to the Troy police department, the four dead are Shanta Myers, 36, her five-year-old daughter Shanise Myers, her 11-year-old son, Jeremiah Myers, and Brandi Mells, 22, who was in a relationship with Myers.

The deaths, which are being investigated as homicides, are shrouded in mystery: Police are unsure how long ago the victims were killed and do not have any suspects. Reports said the victims were bound and had had their throats cut.

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Tennis: Djokovic to face Bautista Agut in Abu Dhabi comeback

Former world number one and 12-time major winner Novak Djokovic will face Spain's Roberto Bautista Agut in his first match in almost six months at the Mubadala world championships on Friday.

Bautista Agut, the world number 20 from Spain, set up the showdown against Djokovic by seeing off flamboyant young Russian Andrey Rublev 7-5, 6-2 on Thursday.

Djokovic hasn't played since retiring from his quarter-final at Wimbledon against Tomas Berdych in July with an elbow injury.

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