Top 10 world news: Russia-Ukraine war updates, Czech Republic elects new president, & more
Russia claimed that around 14 people were killed and 24 others were injured after Ukraine launched strikes in eastern Lugansk region. The strikes were at a hospital, stated the Russian defence ministry. In other news, the Czech Republic elected retired NATO general Petr Pavel as its new president in the elections against populist billionaire Andrej Babis. Pavel received 57.8 per cent of the votes while 42.2 per cent votes went to Babis. Meanwhile, hours after the disturbing video of police assaulting Tyre Nichols was released by the Memphis Police in the United States, people got down on the streets and started protesting against the brutality.
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Russia on Saturday (January 28) claimed that at least 14 people were killed and 24 were injured in the Ukrainian strike in the eastern Lugansk region. The Russian defence ministry said that the strikes were at a hospital. In a statement, the defence ministry said that on Saturday morning in the town of Novoaidar, the Ukrainian forces “deliberately attacked the building of a district hospital with rockets of a US-made HIMARS multiple launch rocket system”.
Retired NATO general Petr Pavel on Saturday won the presidential election run-off, defeating populist billionaire Andrej Babis. Petr Pavel, aged 61, will succeed controversy-courting Milos Zeman as Czech Republic’s president, a prestigious but largely ceremonial post. Pavel clinched 57.8 per cent of votes while Babis received only 42.2 per cent, as the Czech Statistical Office completed the counting of 97 per cent of ballots of almost 15,000 polling stations.
Protests broke out across the United States hours after the Memphis Police released the disturbing video of Tyre Nichols being assaulted by the cops. On Friday, the police released the bodycam footage showing Nichols being kicked, punched in the face and head, and assaulted with a baton on January 7.
A shooting on Friday (January 27) outside a synagogue in east Jerusalem—which Israel has annexed—left at least seven people dead, with the shooter being shot and killed on the spot, according to police and medics. “Earlier this evening at around 8:30 pm (1830 GMT), a terrorist arrived at a synagogue in the Neve Yaakov boulevard in Jerusalem and proceeded to shoot at a number of people in the area,” a police statement said.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Oleg Syromolotov, while speaking to the Russian news agency TASS, said that Moscow is aware of the operations being conducted by the United States against them in the information space by recruiting hackers and providing training to Ukraine’s IT army.
During a World Trade Organisation meeting on Friday (January 27), the United States and China engaged in a war of words as the latter called the former a “unilateral bully” and “supply chain disruptor”, reported Reuters. Meanwhile, Washington reportedly accused Beijing of imposing “illegal unilateral retaliatory measures” on US exports. This comes as Washington had lodged an appeal against several WTO rulings which included China, Turkiye, Norway, and Switzerland after it was found that US metal tariffs breached global rules.
Peru’s Congress on Saturday (January 28) rejected a request by President Dina Boluarte for early election in the country which has been rocked by anti-government protests since December last year following the arrest of Pedro Castillo- the former president. On Friday, Boluarte said that she was considering moving up the general election to later this year, describing the ongoing political crisis as a “quagmire.” However, Congress rejected the proposal with 45 votes in favour, 65 against and two abstentions, a report by the news agency AFP said.
New Zealand’s biggest city, Auckland is reeling from torrential rains and flash floods on Saturday (January 28), and the police have confirmed that three people were killed in separate flood-related incidents. This comes a day after record rainfall and flash floods prompted the announcement of a state of emergency, evacuations, and closure of the city’s airport which is also the largest one in New Zealand.
Turkiye summoned the Danish ambassador to the Turkish Foreign Ministry and “strongly condemned” and accused Denmark of endorsing a “hate crime” after Rasmus Paludan, a right-wing activist burned copies of the Muslim holy book, the Quran again in two different locations in Denmark on Friday (January 27). This comes after a week the leader of the Danish right-wing political party Stram Kurs or Hard Line who also holds citizenship of Sweden, staged a Quran-burning protest in Sweden.
In the past few months, Taliban shut down schools and universities for Afghan women, practically depriving them of all education and job opportunities. As the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation is expected to meet Taliban leaders, WION’s Mukul Sharma spoke to some of these women. Here are their thoughts, unfiltered.