Grainne

D Documents and devices possibly containing valuable information about Moscow's military were among the items seized by Ukraine's troops in an operation in Russia's Kursk region, according to Ukraine's military.

Soldiers from Ukraine's 8th Regiment of the Special Operations Forces (SOF) discovered the items in an operation in which seven Russian and two North Korean troops were killed.

North Korean soldiers are considered to be highly disciplined and well-trained, but their lack of combat experiences and unfamiliarity with the largely flat plains that make up most battlefields in the Russian-Ukraine war have made them easy targets for drone and artillery strikes.

South Korea’s spy agency said last week that it assessed about 300 North Korean soldiers had died and another 2,700 had been injured. Earlier in January, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy put the number of killed or wounded North Koreans at 4,000, though U.S. estimates were lower at around 1,200.

As the Year of the Snake approaches, a pet store in Taipei is offering adventurous customers an opportunity to enjoy the company of snakes while sipping coffee, hoping to break down some of the prejudice against the animal.

The death toll from a fire that ripped through a hotel at a popular ski resort in northwestern Turkey rose to 76 people, according to the interior minister.

"Unfortunately, the number of dead is now 76," said Ali Yerlikaya, updating an earlier figure of 66 people dead and adding that 52 of the victims had been identified so far.

Some 51 people were also injured in the blaze, Mr Yerlikaya said at the Kartalkaya ski resort.

The fire began around 3.30am local time on the restaurant floor of the 12-storey Grand Kartal Hotel, authorities said.

Several fire engines and ambulances surrounded the charred, wood-fronted building, with white bed sheets tied together and dangling from one upper-floor window where people tried to flee.

The move follows complaints from politicians in Germany that X’s algorithm is promoting content by the far right in advance of the country’s February 23rd elections. Mr Musk has come out in favour of the nationalist Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, arguing that it will save Germany.

The dazzling rewards reaped by CEOs of large corporations reflects in part the power and influence of large corporations, and there is growing resentment of these corporations, particularly in the US. One reason why the murder of Brian Thompson sparked a wave of ~~apparent~~ sympathy for his killer is that this corporation is widely seen as a predator in the health insurance marketplace.

A group of 10 Reform UK councillors have resigned in a bid to get Nigel Farage to step down as the right-wing party’s leader.

Four years after launching a push for more diversity in its ranks, McDonald’s is ending some of its diversity practices, citing a U.S. Supreme Court decision that outlawed affirmative action in college admissions.

McDonald’s is the latest big company to shift its tactics in the wake of the 2023 ruling and a conservative backlash against diversity, equity and inclusion programs. Walmart, John Deere, Harley-Davidson and others rolled back their DEI initiatives last year.

A magnitude 6.8 earthquake, opens new tab rocked the northern foothills of the Himalayas near one of Tibet's holiest cities on Tuesday, Chinese authorities said, killing at least 53 people and shaking buildings in neighbouring Nepal, Bhutan and India. The quake hit at 9:05 a.m. (0105 GMT), with its epicentre located in Tingri, a rural Chinese county known as the northern gateway to the Everest region, at a depth of 10 km (6.2 miles), according to the China Earthquake Networks Centre. The U.S. Geological Service put the quake's magnitude at 7.1.

Irish officials say they are in despair about their country’s fading influence over European Union economic policy, complaining Dublin performed poorly in the race for the best jobs in the European Commission’s new five-year term.

Five Irish officials told POLITICO that Ireland will be starting on the back foot after leaving it too late to negotiate getting their people into top positions at the new Commission, which began on Dec. 1. The government was distracted by political battles at home and had a strategy of trying to stay above the EU political fray, they said — an approach that cost it a louder voice.

But he also said, "We must be careful that if we don't have a purpose, a single misstep could result in creating something like the Imperial Rule Assistance Association," referring to an organization that aimed at removing sectionalism and factionalism from politics during World War II.

Instead of the traditional boisterous street partying on New Year’s Eve, tens of thousands of protesters led by university students gathered overnight in Belgrade and other Serbian cities to demand political reforms and justice in the Balkan country.