Ramaphosa cancels Davos trip amid South Africa energy crisis

Africa’s most industrialised economy being hit by daily power cuts as anger grows among opposition and public

Cyril Ramaphosa has cancelled his trip to the World Economic Forum in Switzerland as South Africa grapples with an unprecedented energy crisis that has resulted in daily power cuts of between eight and 11 hours across the country.

Anger is growing as offices, hospitals, factories and tens of thousands of small businesses are forced to close, with outages also causing increased crime, traffic disruption and massive wastage as food supply chains collapse.

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Top lawyer shot dead by colleague at Pakistan high court, say police

Abdul Latif Afridi was killed by a junior lawyer in Peshawar in what is believed to be a grudge attack

A top lawyer has been murdered at a Pakistan high court by a colleague who shot him six times while dressed in full judicial robes, according to police and a witness.

Abdul Latif Afridi, former president of the Supreme Court Bar Association of Pakistan, was lounging with co-workers in a break room at Peshawar high court when he was killed in an apparent grudge attack.

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Giorgio Armani’s AW23 menswear proves chasing gen Z is not necessary

Despite not doing shock tactics and trends, the designer’s signature is something of a ‘mood’ this season

If the fashion industry sometimes seems obsessed with creating the next sell-out trend, then the men’s autumn collection by Giorgio Armani served a poignant reminder this season that you do not always need to chase the purse strings of generation Z.

Armani, the world’s most successful fashion designer and proprietor of one of its few independent fashion brands, does not do shock tactics and trends. While his contemporaries roll out logo-heavy bags and zeitgeisty moments, the 88-year-old has always been consistent in his polished offering of 1% chic for the best part of five decades. Ironic, then, that it is this very signature that makes him something of “a mood” this season.

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Senior Iranian ex-diplomats expressing open criticism of regime

Former envoys warn against policies including supply of drones to Russia and failure to revive nuclear deal

Senior former Iranian diplomats are expressing open criticism of their government, warning that by failing to revive the nuclear deal and supplying drones to Russia in Ukraine, the country risks becoming isolated, its economy weakened and the protest movement emboldened.

The increasingly stark warnings may reflect the views of a waning old guard of reformist diplomats, but appear to echo a live battle within the government over strategy and policy.

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John Kerry backs UAE appointment of oil chief to oversee UN climate talks

US climate envoy says pick is a ‘terrific choice’ but activists equate pick to asking ‘arms dealers to lead peace talks’

US climate envoy John Kerry backs the United Arab Emirates’ decision to appoint the CEO of a state-run oil company to preside over the upcoming UN climate negotiations in Dubai, citing his work on renewable energy projects.

In an interview Sunday with the Associated Press, the former US secretary of state acknowledged that the Emirates and other countries relying on fossil fuels to fund their state coffers face finding “some balance” ahead.

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Israeli forces kill 14-year-old Palestinian boy in West Bank

Army says soldiers opened fire in refugee camp near Bethlehem after people threw molotov cocktails at them

Israeli forces have killed a Palestinian boy near Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank, where the army said they opened fire after people threw molotov cocktails.

Omar Khmour, 14, was shot in the head early on Monday in the Dheisheh refugee camp in the southern West Bank and “succumbed to his wounds”, the Palestinian ministry said.

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Baltimore man tried four times for same killing sees all charges dropped

Keith Davis, 31, shot by police, was repeatedly charged over shooting at Pimlico race track in June 2015

A Baltimore man who stood trial four times for the same killing had all charges against him dropped on Friday.

In a statement, the Baltimore state attorney, Ivan J Bates, said his office had dismissed all charges against Keith Davis, 31, who was accused of the 2015 killing of Kevin Jones, a security guard at Pimlico Race Course, after police alleged Davis’s gun matched casings found at the scene of the shooting.

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Ex-Mexico security chief’s trial poised to lift lid on US and Mexico’s ‘war on drugs’

Genaro García Luna, accused of accepting millions in bribes from cartels, in trial that could implicate officials on both sides of border

One of Mexico’s most powerful former officials will stand trial in the US this week, charged with accepting million-dollar bribes from a violent cartel in a case with profound political implications that could expose the inner workings of the “war on drugs” on both sides of the border.

Genaro García Luna, a former head of Mexico’s equivalent of the FBI who went on to lead the country’s security ministry, was arrested in Texas in 2019, charged with conspiring to traffic cocaine and lying to the US government.

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Russia-Ukraine war: Russia launches overnight attack on Zaporizhzhia, officials say; Belarus begins air force drills with Russia – live

UK defence secretary says west is accelerating efforts to support Ukraine but urges Germany to permit supply of Leopard tanks

Russia launched an attack on Ukraine’s south-eastern city of Zaporizhzhia overnight, wounding civilians and destroying residential infrastructure, according to regional officials.

Oleksandr Starukh, the Zaporizhzhia regional state administration head, said Russia launched a rocket attack on the regional centre in a Telegram post at about 1am local time.

The enemy launched a rocket attack on the regional centre and suburbs. There is destruction of civil, residential and industrial infrastructure. Information was received about several lightly wounded. All relevant services are on site.”

Russians fired at our city again. As a result of the night attack, people were injured. There are damaged houses. Three people were transported to hospitals. Among them are two children aged nine and 15.”

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German defence minister Christine Lambrecht quits after series of blunders

Criticism growing she was not up to job of getting German army into shape against backdrop of Ukraine war

Germany’s defence minister, Christine Lambrecht, has announced her resignation following a series of blunders and a growing impression that she has struggled to deal with the challenges of overseeing the country’s military since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Lambrecht asked Chancellor Olaf Scholz to accept her resignation, she said in a statement on Monday morning, following widespread speculation over recent days that she would stand down.

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Italy’s most-wanted mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro arrested

Alleged to be a boss of Sicily’s Cosa Nostra mafia, Denaro had been on run for 30 years and was arrested in Palermo

Matteo Messina Denaro, the last “godfather” of the Sicilian mafia and one of the world’s most-wanted criminals, has been arrested in Palermo after 30 years on the run.

Denaro, 60, who has been in hiding since 1993, was apprehended in a private clinic in the Sicilian city.

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Western firms facilitating production of Myanmar junta’s weapons, says report

Independent experts find western-supplied materials are still finding their way into military’s hands

Companies in 13 countries across Europe, Asia and North America are assisting Myanmar’s junta – either indirectly or directly – by supplying materials to the stated-owned entity that produces the military’s weapons, a report by the Special Advisory Council for Myanmar (SAC-M) has found.

The weapons are then being used to commit human rights atrocities.

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Dr Dre successfully blocks Marjorie Taylor Greene from using his music

The far-right Republican congresswoman was served with a cease-and-desist letter after she soundtracked a promotional video with his 1999 hit Still Dre

Dr Dre has successfully blocked Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene from using his music in any context to do with her political career after she used his 1999 hit Still Dre to soundtrack a promotional video.

In the nearly two-minute video, posted on 9 January with the caption, “It’s time to begin … and they can’t stop what’s coming”, the far-right Georgia lawmaker walks out of her office in slow motion to the familiar first notes of the song, which features Snoop Dogg.

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Nepal plane crash: last moments inside cabin caught on passenger’s Facebook live video

Harrowing footage shows passengers had no idea plane was in danger before crash

In the moments before Nepal’s deadliest air crash in decades on Sunday, four friends from India who were onboard began excitedly recording the descent on a Facebook live video.

They were heading to Pokhara for the trip of a lifetime, visiting temples and paragliding in Nepal’s famed Annapurna mountain range. “It’s really fun,” one of the men can be heard on the video surveying the city below as the plane began its descent. The friends can be heard laughing and joking as the camera is turned on a smiling Sonu Jaiswal, a 29-year-old father-of-three, who ran a small business back home in India.

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Nepal plane crash: data recorders found as day of mourning begins

So-called ‘black boxes’ are in good condition, says official investigating deaths of at least 68 people when Yeti Airlines flight plummeted into a gorge

The black box and cockpit voice recorder from the Yeti Airlines plane that crashed in Nepal have been located, as the country observed a day of mourning on Monday for the victims of its deadliest aviation disaster in three decades.

Teknath Sitaula, a Kathmandu Airport official, said the so-called black boxes were “in a good condition now. They look good from outside.”

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Republican targeting Hunter Biden says: ‘I don’t target individuals’

Wisconsin senator Ron Johnson grilled on why Jared Kushner should escape scrutiny for profiting from proximity to presidency

The Wisconsin senator Ron Johnson refused to say Republicans planning investigations of Hunter Biden for profiting from his connection to the presidency should also investigate Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law and adviser who secured a $1.2bn loan from Qatar while working in the White House.

“I’m concerned about getting to the truth,” Johnson insisted. “I don’t target individuals.”

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Daughter of Algerian journalist arrested on Christmas Eve calls for his release

Imprisonment of Ihsane el-Kadi, a longstanding government critic, prompted outcry from human rights groups

The daughter of the prominent Algerian journalist Ihsane el-Kadi has called for his immediate release from detention in a notorious prison following his arrest at midnight on Christmas Eve.

Kadi, who has been a longstanding critic of the Algerian government and is one of the north African country’s most influential voices, was arrested by security forces in plain clothes at his home in the coastal city of Boumerdès, 35 miles east of Algiers, on 24 December and placed in a pre-trial detention.

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China appoints hardliner Zheng Yanxiong as its top representative in Hong Kong

Zheng was among the officials sanctioned by the US for undermining Hong Kong’s autonomy and freedoms

China has appointed the head of the national security office in Hong Kong as its top representative officer in Hong Kong – a sign that Beijing will tighten its control over the city.

Zheng Yanxiong, 59, replaces another hardliner, Luo Huining, 68, as head of Beijing’s top representative office in Hong Kong, the State Council said in a notice.

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History revisited: what the isolationist Qing dynasty tells us about Xi Jinping’s China

Promotion of historian who spearheaded rehabilitation of the Qing period prompts speculation that the past is being reinterpreted to bolster President Xi

At the height of the Qing dynasty, the Chinese empire was one of the great powers of the world. Its territory spanned all the way to Inner Asia and its economic prosperity and military might was the envy of the world.

But despite its success, rampant corruption, weak governance, internal revolts and foreign invasion led to the decline of its national power and its eventual collapse. The beginning of the 20th century would mark the end of China’s centuries-long dynasties, ruled over by emperors.

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