At least 28 killed as ‘biggest Russian air attack’ hits Ukraine
UK to send 200 new air-defence missiles to Ukraine
The UK will provide about 200 air-defence missiles to Ukraine to help in its defence from Russian drone and missile attacks.
The missiles, which were made in Britain, are designed to be launched from aircraft including Typhoon and F-35 fighter jets, the defence ministry says.
They re-supply the UK-developed air defence systems that were given to Ukraine a year ago.
“Today’s air defence package sends an undeniable message, in the face of Russian barbarity that the UK remains absolutely committed to supporting Ukraine,” says Defence Secretary Grant Shapps.
Britain has so far committed £4.6bn ($5.8bn) to the Ukrainian war effort.
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Summary
- At least 28 people have been killed and dozens wounded in a wave of Russian strikes across Ukraine, officials say
- Ukraine’s military says Russia launched a “massive” attack with 158 drones and missiles – the air force says it has “never seen so many locations targeted simultaneously”
- Russia “used nearly every type of weapon in its arsenal”, with homes and a maternity hospital hit, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says
- Cities across Ukraine were attacked, including the capital Kyiv, Lviv in the west, Odesa and Zaporizhzhia in the south, and Dnipro and Kharkiv in the east
- Earlier this week, Ukraine struck a Russian warship in the occupied Crimean port of Feodosia
Academic paper based on Uyghur genetic data retracted over ethical concerns
Exclusive: Study published in 2019 used blood and saliva samples from 203 Uyghur and Kazakh people living in Xinjiang capital
Concerns have been raised that academic publishers may not be doing enough to vet the ethical standards of research they publish, after a paper based on genetic data from China’s Uyghur population was retracted and questions were raised about several others including one that is currently published by Oxford University Press.
In June, Elsevier, a Dutch academic publisher, retracted an article entitled “Analysis of Uyghur and Kazakh populations using the Precision ID Ancestry Panel” that had been published in 2019.
The study by Chinese and Danish researchers used blood and saliva samples from 203 Uyghur and Kazakh people living in Ürümqi, the capital of Xinjiang, to evaluate the use of genetic sequencing technology developed by Thermo Fisher Scientific, a US biotech company, on the two minority ethnic groups. Outlining the need for the research, the authors suggested that better DNA sequencing could help the police identify suspects in cases. “A clear knowledge of the genetic variation is important for understanding the origin and demographic history of the ethnicity of the populations in Xinjiang … [which] may offer an investigative lead for the police.”
Mexico, US agree to cooperate on border amid migrant surge
Washington closed a number of border crossings after authorities registered a record number of irregular arrivals. Mexico’s president says the two countries have now agreed to keep crossings open.
Mexico and the United States have agreed to strengthen efforts to regulate migration, officials said on Thursday.
The two countries’ governments issued a joint statement after Mexican President Andres Lopez Obrador, received top US officials, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Security of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas.
Blinken’s visit came as the Republican Party, which holds a majority of seats in the lower house of Congress, demanded US President Joe Biden crack down on irregular migrants in return for approval for a Ukraine aid package.
War of narratives: Syrian imagery falsely illustrates Gaza
A video of bloodied Syrian school children shrieking after an explosion was misrepresented online as an atrocity in Gaza, throwing a spotlight on a disinformation trend researchers say dehumanises victims of both wars.
A flood of real images from Israel and Gaza has been revealing the horrors of the conflict that broke out on October 7 when Hamas militants launched an unprecedented attack on southern Israel, but they can vie for attention with misappropriated scenes from Syria’s civil war.
AFP fact-checkers have debunked many social media posts mislabelling videos and photos from Syria, some dating as far back as 2013, in a war of distorted narratives playing out in tandem with the actual fighting between Israel and Hamas militants.
A teacher’s footage of the terrified schoolchildren, like other clips misrepresented online, was meant to catalogue Syria’s long-running civil war under President Bashar al-Assad which erupted in 2011.
Lacking space in Tokyo, Japanese real estate giants turn to India
Japanese real estate companies are expanding their investments in India and could drastically change skylines there.
Sumitomo Realty and Development Co. will open a number of skyscrapers in the 2030s in Mumbai at a total cost of about 500 billion yen ($3.54 billion).
With little room for development in central Tokyo, the company plans to make India, with its continuing economic growth, a new base for operations.
In October, Sumitomo Realty and Development acquired an 80,000-square-meter plot of land in the Worli district of central Mumbai, equivalent to 1.7 Tokyo Domes, for about 80 billion yen.
THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
December 29, 2023 at 16:35 JST
Death of ‘Parasite’ star puts spotlight on pressures facing South Korean celebrities
Actor Lee Sun-kyun’s sudden death this week is the latest in a string of shock celebrity losses in South Korea, a country with one of the world’s highest suicide rates and where public figures are often expected to be paragons.
Lee, who received acclaim for his role as Park Dong-ik, the father of the wealthy Park family in the Academy Award-winning “Parasite,” was found dead in his car on Wednesday morning in what police said was a suspected suicide. His funeral was expected to be held later on Friday.
At the time of his death the 48-year-old father of two was being investigated by police over allegations of illegal drug use and had recently been through multiple rounds of lengthy questioning.
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