UKRAINE
Zelenskiy urges air defenses
President Volodymyr Zelensky yesterday called on the West to deliver air defense systems to Kyiv after an overnight Russian missile attack injured 17 people. The air force said it shot down 31 Russian missiles targeting Kyiv. “Such terror continues every day and night,” Zelenskiy said in a post on Telegram. “It is possible to put an end to it through global unity... Russian terrorists do not have missiles capable of bypassing Patriot and other leading world systems.” A US$60 billion US military aid package for Ukraine has been held up in the US Congress amid domestic political arguments. Local officials said falling debris from the missiles injured 17 — 13 in Kyiv and four in the surrounding region. The air force said Russia fired two Iskander ballistic missiles and 29 cruise missiles, launched from strategic bombers.
DENMARK
Terrorism threat rising
The threat of terrorism at home and abroad has risen because of the Israel-Hamas war and a series of Koran burnings in the nation last year, the Danish security and intelligence service PET said yesterday. The PET rated the overall threat level at 4 out of 5, but said the risks within that level had increased. “The conflict between Israel and a number of militant groups is of course of concern to many people, including in Denmark,” PET said in a statement. “The conflict also contains a significant potential for radicalization and mobilization, which can potentially activate actors for spontaneous or planned reactions in Denmark, including terrorist attacks.”
UNITED KINGDOM
‘Cyberflasher’ sentenced
A convicted cyberflasher was on Tuesday sentenced to five-and-a-half years in prison after sending unsolicited photos of his genitals to a teenage girl and a woman. Nicholas Hawkes, 39, a convicted sex offender, was the first person in England and Wales convicted of contravening the Online Safety Act, which took effect on Jan. 31. The court was told that Hawkes borrowed his father’s phone, saying he needed to call the probation office, went in another room and sent photos by WhatsApp to a woman and by iMessage to a 15-year-old girl, who began crying. Both took screenshots and reported him to police. The cyberflashing law makes it an offense to send unsolicited sexual images by social media, dating apps or technologies such as Bluetooth or Airdrop. “Cyberflashing is a serious crime which leaves a lasting impact on victims, but all too often it can be dismissed as thoughtless ‘banter’ or a harmless joke,” said Hannah von Dadelszen, a deputy chief with the Crown Prosecution Service.
FRANCE
Rushdie dismisses AI threat
Artificial intelligence (AI) tools might pose a threat to writers of thrillers and science fiction, but lack the originality and humor to challenge serious novelists, Salman Rushdie wrote in a French journal published yesterday. In an article translated into French for literary journal La Nouvelle Revue Francaise, Rushdie said he tested ChatGPT by asking it to write 200 words in his style. He describes the results as “a bunch of nonsense.” “No reader who had read a single page of mine could think I was the author. Rather reassuring,” he said. However, generative AI writing tools could be a threat to more formulaic writers, he said. “The trouble is that these creatures learn very quickly,” he said, adding that this could be worrying for writers of genre literature like thrillers and science fiction, where originality is less important.
‘GREAT OPPRTUNITY’: The Paraguayan president made the remarks following Donald Trump’s tapping of several figures with deep Latin America expertise for his Cabinet Paraguay President Santiago Pena called US president-elect Donald Trump’s incoming foreign policy team a “dream come true” as his nation stands to become more relevant in the next US administration. “It’s a great opportunity for us to advance very, very fast in the bilateral agenda on trade, security, rule of law and make Paraguay a much closer ally” to the US, Pena said in an interview in Washington ahead of Trump’s inauguration today. “One of the biggest challenges for Paraguay was that image of an island surrounded by land, a country that was isolated and not many people know about it,”
DIALOGUE: US president-elect Donald Trump on his Truth Social platform confirmed that he had spoken with Xi, saying ‘the call was a very good one’ for the US and China US president-elect Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) discussed Taiwan, trade, fentanyl and TikTok in a phone call on Friday, just days before Trump heads back to the White House with vows to impose tariffs and other measures on the US’ biggest rival. Despite that, Xi congratulated Trump on his second term and pushed for improved ties, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The call came the same day that the US Supreme Court backed a law banning TikTok unless it is sold by its China-based parent company. “We both attach great importance to interaction, hope for
‘FIGHT TO THE END’: Attacking a court is ‘unprecedented’ in South Korea and those involved would likely face jail time, a South Korean political pundit said Supporters of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol yesterday stormed a Seoul court after a judge extended the impeached leader’s detention over his ill-fated attempt to impose martial law. Tens of thousands of people had gathered outside the Seoul Western District Court on Saturday in a show of support for Yoon, who became South Korea’s first sitting head of state to be arrested in a dawn raid last week. After the court extended his detention on Saturday, the president’s supporters smashed windows and doors as they rushed inside the building. Hundreds of police officers charged into the court, arresting dozens and denouncing an
‘DISCRIMINATION’: The US Office of Personnel Management ordered that public DEI-focused Web pages be taken down, while training and contracts were canceled US President Donald Trump’s administration on Tuesday moved to end affirmative action in federal contracting and directed that all federal diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) staff be put on paid leave and eventually be laid off. The moves follow an executive order Trump signed on his first day ordering a sweeping dismantling of the federal government’s diversity and inclusion programs. Trump has called the programs “discrimination” and called to restore “merit-based” hiring. The executive order on affirmative action revokes an order issued by former US president Lyndon Johnson, and curtails DEI programs by federal contractors and grant recipients. It is using one of the
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