December 26, Monday, 2022 (1:30 p.m.) Newsline read by Mr. Yamaguchi Hiroaki

1. Britain’s King Charles has delivered his first Christmas message to the nation as monarch. He remembered his mother, the late Queen Elizabeth II, who died in September, and expressed gratitude to public workers.
2. Some of Ukraine’s Orthodox churches held Christmas services on December 25 in a break with the Russian Orthodox tradition that observes Christmas on January 7.
3. China’s Zhejiang Province reported more than one million new coronavirus cases on Sunday as the number of the infections surge nationwide. Provincial health authorities say the number of new COVID cases is expected to peak before the New Year holidays. They say the daily tally could reach up to 2 million. But the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention says new COVID cases nationwide reached only 2,940 on Saturday.