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Below is a summary of the current world news briefing.
Beirut blast investigators resume work after over a year – Lebanese media and sources
According to Lebanese media reports, a judicial source said on Monday that the judge investigating the Beirut port explosion in August 2020 has resumed work after the investigation was frozen for more than a year. The investigation into the bombings that killed 220 people and devastated Beirut has been derailed by political resistance from ruling factions and legal challenges to chief investigator Judge Tarek Bitar.
Poland expresses interest in sending Leopard tanks to Ukraine
Poland’s prime minister said on Monday his government would ask Germany for permission to send Leopard tanks to Ukraine — and plans to send them with or without Berlin’s consent.
The Kyiv government is desperate for German-made Leopard 2 tanks to break through Russian defenses and retake territory this year.
Stop Japan’s population shrinking ‘now or never’, PM says
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Monday pledged urgent measures to tackle the country’s falling birth rate, saying it was “now or never” for one of the world’s oldest societies. Japan has tried in recent years to encourage its people to have more children, promising cash incentives and better benefits, but it remains one of the most expensive places in the world to raise a child, according to surveys.
Central bank policymaker resigns in opposition to Israel’s judicial reforms
A member of the Bank of Israel’s monetary council has resigned in opposition to the new right-wing government’s controversial judicial reform plans, Calcalist newspaper reported Monday. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sees the proposed reform as a rein in the Supreme Court’s overreach, but critics fear it could undermine democracy, and the reform has sparked a bitter debate with weekly protests in Israel Spread everywhere.
Crime, inflation back Chile’s Boric in tough first year
Carmen Villegas, a 56-year-old housewife in Santiago, is one of millions of Chileans voting for Gabriel Boric in 2021 amid concerns over His optimism about plans to reduce entrenched inequality propelled the young leader to the presidency. But nearly a year after taking office in March 2022, Borik, 36, now sees the perils of leadership, with voters like Villegas becoming increasingly vocal as inflation hurts spending power and crime rises. more and more disappointed.
EU agrees new sanctions on Iran, won’t designate Guards as ‘terrorists’ for now
The European Union imposed new sanctions on Iran for its “brutal” crackdown on protests on Monday, but the bloc’s top diplomat said Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) could not be labeled a terrorist organization without a court ruling. Relations between the 27-nation European Union and Tehran have soured amid stalled efforts to restart talks on its nuclear program and further soured following Iran’s move to detain several European nationals.
Ex-Mexican drug czar accused of helping El Chapo stand trial
Opening arguments are scheduled to begin Monday in the U.S. trial of a former Mexican law enforcement official who oversaw the fight against drug trafficking and is now accused of taking bribes from the powerful Sinaloa cartel. Genaro Garcia Luna led Mexico’s FBI from 2001 to 2005 and served as Minister of Public Security from 2006 to 2012, during which time he worked closely with U.S. drug and intelligence agencies.
Pavel leads ahead of Czech vote; opponents exploit war fears
Retired general and former NATO official Peter Pavel has an almost 18-point lead over billionaire former prime minister Andrej Babis ahead of a run-off vote in the Czech presidential election, according to final opinion polls released Monday by the Ipsos agency. Czech presidents have little day-to-day power, but they appoint the prime minister and central bank governor and have a limited role in foreign policy. They also influence public debate and can exert policy pressure on governments.
Analysis – Mexico City subway exposes ‘Achilles heel’ of mayor’s presidential dreams
The second major accident in as many years on the Mexico City subway and a recent spate of incidents in the transit system have put enormous pressure on Mayor Claudia Simbaum, one of the favorites to be the country’s next president . The Jan. 7 train collision that killed one person and injured 57 and other breakdowns dealt a severe blow to Sheinbaum’s government, which is defending President Andrés Manuel López Auf Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s Movement for National Renewal (MORENA) is campaigning for its candidacy in the 2024 presidential election.
Pakistan suffers blackout after second grid failure in three months
A major fault in Pakistan’s national grid on Monday left millions without power for the second time in three months, the power ministry said, underscoring the weakness of the indebted country’s infrastructure. Energy Minister Khurrum Dastagir told Reuters the outage was caused by a voltage surge in the southern part of the grid, which affected the entire network.
(This story was not edited by Devdiscourse staff and was automatically generated from a syndicate feed.)
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