Washington (AFP) – US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby says that if Huthis stop their attacks in the Red Sea, the US ‘can certainly reconsider’ its decision to list Huthis as ‘terrorists’.
Torkham (Pakistan) (AFP) – Hundreds of trucks remain stranded on the Pakistan side of the busiest frontier crossing with Afghanistan on Tuesday, days after the border points were closed to trade amid an ongoing dispute between the neighbouring countries. Truck drivers waiting in Pakistan complained that officials had only recently begun asking for a visa and a passport to cross the border.
Guayaquil (Ecuador) (AFP) – Images of Ecuador’s National Police removing the body of the prosecutor investigating an armed assault by gangsters on live television from a crime scene, after he was shot dead in Guayaquil. Images also show Cesar Suarez’s car riddled with bullet holes on the street. IMAGES
Guayaquil (Ecuador) (AFP) – Images of the scene where the prosecutor investigating the dramatic live-broadcast armed assault last week on an Ecuadoran television station was shot dead in Guayaquil. IMAGES
London (AFP) – A touring pop-up exhibition on British-Jewish identity opens in London ahead of Holocaust Memorial Day 2024, marked on January 27, with interactive displays that tackle antisemitic stereotypes. Planning for the exhibition pre-dates the unprecedented Hamas attacks in Israel on 7 October 2023.
Beijing (AFP) – China urges Pakistan and Iran to show “restraint”, after Islamabad said Tehran had carried out an air strike on its territory that killed two children. It also hits back at restrictions unveiled by Canada on research funding to prevent the sharing of advanced technologies developed by Canadian universities with several countries including China, saying they were ‘short-sighted and unwise’.
Davos (Switzerland) (AFP) – The United States does “not see” the possibility of negotiations to bring an end to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Secretary of State Antony Blinken says during a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos.
Shoresh (Israel) (AFP) – Yotam Haim, a keen musician and sportsman, was gunned down in the Gaza Strip by Israeli soldiers who failed to realise he was a freed hostage — yet a month later his mother refuses to criticise the army. Iris Haim has become a hero to many Israelis for her stance, which began with an extraordinary message she sent to the army unit involved in her son’s killing.
Beijing (AFP) – China’s economy last year suffered one of its worst annual performances in more than three decades, as the country also reported a continued population decline in 2023, China’s National Bureau of Statistics reveals. Gross domestic product expanded 5.2 percent to hit 126 trillion yuan ($17.6 trillion) last year. The figure is better than the three percent recorded in 2022, when strict zero-Covid curbs destroyed activity, but marks the weakest performance since 1990, excluding the pandemic years.
Hajo (India) (AFP) – Tiny songbirds flutter around a fighting ring in India’s Assam state, in a centuries-old tradition criticised by some as cruel but which has returned after an eight-year ban was overturned.
Kabul (AFP) – From pickup games in dusty parks or narrow alleys to high-intensity training at well-kitted academies, young Afghans have cricket fever — a trend spiked by the surprise performance of the Afghan national team at the recent ODI World Cup. Since the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan in 2021, the sport has emerged as a rare arena of national unity, with the Afghanistan Cricket Board working hard to expand facilities, giving young players a route to potential sporting stardom.
Copenhagen (AFP) – At least 1.4 million lives have been saved in Europe thanks to Covid vaccines, the World Health Organization says, whilst warning that the virus was “here to stay”. “Today, there are 1.4 million people in (the WHO European) region –- most of them elderly -– who are around to enjoy life with their loved ones because they took the vital decision to be vaccinated against Covid-19,” WHO Europe regional director Hans Kluge tells reporters.
