- Russian and Ukrainian forces were engaged in intense fighting over the town of Soledar in eastern Ukraine – a stepping stone in Moscow’s push to capture the entire Donbas region – with the Russians appearing to have the upper hand. Germany’s foreign minister made a surprise visit to the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv near the Russian border, promising more weapons as well as “concrete offers” to help Ukraine join the European Union.
- China introduced transit curbs for South Korean and Japanese nationals, in an escalating diplomatic spat over COVID-19 curbs. Countries should consider recommending that passengers wear masks on long-haul flights, given the rapid spread of the latest Omicron subvariant, World Health Organization officials said.
- A Brazilian Supreme Court judge ordered the arrest of the capital’s most recent public security chief after supporters of right-wing former President Jair Bolsonaro led a rampage through government buildings. Anderson Torres, Bolsonaro’s justice minister from 2021 to 2022, took a job as Brasilia security chief after leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva took office on January 1.
- A man attacked and wounded six people at the Gare du Nord train station in Paris, leaving one with serious injuries, before being shot by off-duty police officers, authorities said.
- Australian Cardinal George Pell, a leading Roman Catholic conservative and former top Vatican official who was acquitted in 2020 of sexual abuse accusations, has died at the age of 81. Pell was a polarizing figure in the two decades that he dominated the Australian Catholic hierarchy.
|
|
|
/cloudfront-us-east-2.images.arcpublishing.com/reuters/XV5MDZT4R5OHJHU6GJE2YICXMY.jpg)
/cloudfront-us-east-2.images.arcpublishing.com/reuters/7S53L3CAD5P63PNC37JOAQAGXM.jpg)
