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US President Joe Biden seen speaking to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin from his home in Wilmington, Delaware on December 30, 2021, in an image provided by the White House (Photo: WHITE HOUSE/AFP/-) - 

President Joe Biden on Thursday (Dec 30) warned his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin of a tough US response to any invasion of Ukraine, while the Kremlin leader said anti-Moscow sanctions would be a "colossal mistake".

After a 50-minute phone call - their second in just over three weeks - both presidents indicated support for further diplomacy on the tense standoff between Russia and Western-backed Ukraine.

Putin was "pleased" overall with the talks, foreign policy adviser Yury Ushakov told reporters. A senior US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the tone "was serious and substantive".

But there was no disguising the depth of disagreement - or the dangerously high stakes on the fringes of eastern Europe - ahead of in-person negotiations between high-ranking Russian and US officials on Jan 10.

Biden "made clear that the United States and its allies and partners will respond decisively if Russia further invades Ukraine", Press Secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement.

Ushakov, referring to Washington's repeated threats of intensive economic sanctions as a response to a Ukraine attack, said this would be "a colossal mistake". "We hope this will not happen."

Ushakov also said that Russia is looking for a concrete "result" in the January talks in Geneva, while the White House said it too wanted action - de-escalation by Russia's massive military presence on the Ukrainian border.

"President Biden reiterated that substantive progress in these dialogues can occur only in an environment of de-escalation rather than escalation," Psaki said.

Washington and its European allies accuse Russia of threatening former Soviet territory Ukraine with a new invasion. Around 100,000 Russian troops are massed near the border of the country, where Putin already seized the Crimea region in 2014 and is accused of fomenting a pro-Russian separatist war which erupted that same year in the east.

Moscow describes the menacing troop presence as protection against an encroaching West, particularly NATO, although Ukraine has not been offered membership in the military alliance.

Earlier this month, the Russians issued a sweeping set of demands, including guarantees that NATO not expand further and a bar on new US military bases in former territories of the Soviet Union.

The United States rejects what it calls a bid by the Kremlin to dictate independent countries' futures, and warns that if troops do cross into Ukraine, Russia will face blistering economic sanctions backed both by Washington and EU capitals.

Previous Western sanctions imposed after Moscow's annexation of Crimea have had little discernible impact.

Biden was shown in an official White House picture wearing a suit and tie and speaking from a large wooden desk lined with family photos in his Wilmington home. A framed US flag hung from the wall behind.

He went into the call ready to offer Putin a "diplomatic path" out of the crisis, a senior administration official told reporters.

In a holiday message to Biden hours before they talked, Putin said he was "convinced" that "we can move forward and establish an effective Russian-American dialogue based on mutual respect and consideration of each other's national interests".

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Putin was "in the mood for a conversation".

"We believe that only through talks is it possible to solve all the immediate problems that we have in abundance between us," Peskov said.

The January talks will see Russian officials sitting down separately with negotiators representing the United States, NATO and the regional OSCE security forum, which also includes the United States.

Russia's delegation will be led by Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, and the US delegation by Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman.

Ukraine, which wants to join NATO but has been told it is far from being ready to win acceptance, is eager not to be cut out of any wider deal.

US officials have been at pains to insist that no decision will be taken behind the Ukrainians' backs and that while US troops would not be sent to defend the country against Russia, ongoing deliveries of weapons and other military assistance are set to expand if Moscow attacks.

On Tuesday, the Pentagon said a US aircraft carrier group was to remain in the Mediterranean as a reassurance to European allies and on Thursday, CNN quoted a military official saying that a powerful US spy plane had flown over eastern Ukraine for the second time this week.

The plane is capable of monitoring large areas of territory, tracking and photographing everything from vehicles to other aircraft, the report said//CNA

People, wearing protective face masks, walk on the Mouffetard street, amid the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Paris, France, Dec 30, 2021. (Photo: REUTERS/Christian Hartmann) - 

France reported 206,243 new confirmed coronavirus cases in the latest 24-hour period on Thursday, rising above 200,000 for the second day running as the Omicron variant takes hold.

A record of 208,099 was set on Wednesday, as Health Minister Oliver Veran warned of a "tsunami" of infections.

The seven-day moving average of daily new infections, which evens out reporting irregularities, reached a record 121,566, a figure multiplied by almost four in just a month.

Wearing masks in the streets of Paris and Lyon will be mandatory again as authorities seek to avoid a New Year's Eve infection spike.

The total number of people hospitalised for COVID-19 has increased by 465 over 24 hours, standing at a more than seven-month peak of 18,321.

But that figure is still almost half the record 33,497 reached in November 2020.

The COVID-19 death toll increased by 180 over 24 hours to 123,552. The seven-day moving average of daily deaths also stood at 180//CNA

FILE PHOTO: A woman shops at an underground shopping district in the Gangnam area of Seoul, South Korea, June 28, 2016. Picture taken June 28, 2016. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji - 

South Korea's annual inflation this year outpaced the central bank's current forecasts and soared to a decade-high, proving to policymakers prices are becoming harder to tame and boosting the case for more interest rate hikes in 2022.

The average consumer inflation rate for the whole year surged to 2.5per cent, the fastest since 2011 and up from 0.5per cent in 2020, government data showed on Friday.

That beats the Bank of Korea's 2.3per cent projection made in November.

December consumer prices jumped 3.7per cent from a year earlier, slightly slowing from a decade-high of a 3.8per cent rise in November and beating a 3.6per cent gain tipped in a Reuters survey.

Rebounding services spending and persistent supply disruptions are underpinning inflationary pressure in Asia's fourth-largest economy and fanning views that the BOK could raise interest rates at its next policy meeting on Jan. 14.

On Nov. 25, the BOK raised interest rates for the second time since the pandemic began to 1.00per cent and revised up it's inflation outlook as concerns about rising household debt and consumer prices grew.

An index measuring service costs increased 2.6per cent from a year earlier in December after a 2.4per cent gain a month earlier, while fresh food prices jumped 6.7per cent following a 5.6per cent increase in November//CNA

FILE PHOTO: People sit in the mountains in front of a mine operated by MMG Las Bambas, in a region where locals claim mining activity has negatively affected crop yields and killed livestock, outside of Cusco, Peru October 14, 2021. REUTERS/Angela Ponce/File Photo - 

MMG Ltd's Las Bambas mine on Thursday welcomed an agreement by a local Peruvian community to lift a month-long road blockade that derailed its operations, but did not say whether it would now restart copper production.

Peru is the world's No 2 copper producer. The agreement was reached at a meeting earlier on Thursday organized by the government in its most ambitious effort yet to try to unblock the road.

Prime Minister Mirtha Vasquez traveled to Chumbivilcas, the site of the disruption, and met with local residents and company executives.

Las Bambas, one of Peru's largest copper mines, suspended operations on Dec. 18 due to the blockade, which prevented the firm from transporting its copper production to a sea port.

"Las Bambas welcomes the commitment to dialogue of the representatives of the Chumbivilcas communities and recognises the effort of the national authorities ... to try to find better investment conditions," the miner said in a brief statement.

The suspension has caused a major problem for the country's leftist administration, which needs the miner's tax revenue but has also pledged to prioritise demands from marginalised communities.

"The communities commit to continue the dialogue in a climate of peace and social tranquility, without the use of force," the meeting minutes said.

The minutes also acknowledged that the government has yet to address the main demand from Chumbivilcas. The community wants Las Bambas to hire local residents to drive copper trucks and also give them cash contributions.

Those issues will be reviewed again in mid January, the minutes said.

Representatives for Chumbivilcas did not respond to requests for comment.

Chumbivilcas residents reached a similar agreement not to block the road used by Las Bambas in October, but then blocked the road regardless in November when negotiations stalled//CNA