Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,433
These are the key developments from day 1,433 of Russia’s war on Ukraine. Published On 27 Jan 202627 Jan 2026 Click here to share on social media share2 Share Here is where things stand on Tuesday, January 27: Fighting At least two people were injured after Russian forces launched a drone and missile attack on Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said. The attack on Kharkiv also damaged apartment buildings, a school, and a kindergarten, while leaving 80 percent of the city and surrounding regions without power, Regional Governor Oleh Syniehubov said. Russian drones also hit a high-rise apartment building in Ukraine’s Kryvyi Rih, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s hometown southeast of Kharkiv. The head of the city’s military administration, Oleksandr Vilkul, said the attack triggered a fire, but there were no immediate reports of casualties. A Russian drone and missile attack on the Ukrainian capital damaged parts of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, Ukraine’s most famous religious landmark and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Ukraine’s Ministry of Culture said in a statement. In Russia, one person was killed following a Ukrainian drone attack in the border region of Belgorod, Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on the Telegram messaging app. Ukraine’s military said it struck the Slavyansk Eko oil refinery in Russia’s Krasnodar region overnight. The military said in a statement that parts of the primary oil processing facility were hit. There were no initial reports of casualties. One person was injured, and two business enterprises caught fire in the city of Slavyansk-on-Kuban – also in Russia’s Krasnodar – after fragments fell from a destroyed drone, the regional emergencies centre said. Russia’s Ministry of Defence said that air defence systems had intercepted and destroyed 40 Ukrainian drones overnight, including 34 in the Krasnodar region. Advertisement Military aid NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said Ukraine’s interception rate of Russian missiles and drones has decreased due to Kyiv having fewer weapons to protect it from incoming attacks. Rutte urged allies to dig into their stockpiles to help defend Ukraine. Humanitarian aid Czechs have collected more than $6m in just five days in a grassroots fundraising effort to buy generators, heaters and batteries to send to Ukraine, where hundreds of thousands of people are freezing in sub-zero temperatures after Russian attacks on power plants, the online fundraising initiative Darek pro Putina (“Gift for Putin”) said. Ceasefire talks Talks between Ukrainian and Russian negotiators are expected to resume on February 1, Zelenskyy said in his regular evening address. He urged Ukraine’s allies not to weaken their pressure on Moscow in advance of the expected talks. In a separate post on X, Zelenskyy said military issues were the primary topic of discussion at trilateral talks with the US and Russia over the weekend in Abu Dhabi, but that political issues were also discussed. He added that preparations are under way for new trilateral meetings. The US-brokered trilateral talks in Abu Dhabi between Russian and Ukrainian negotiators were held in a “constructive spirit”, but there was still “significant work ahead”, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists in Moscow. The talks should be viewed positively despite these differences, he added. The Kremlin also said that the issue of territory remained fundamental to Russia when it came to getting a deal to end the fighting, the Russian state’s TASS news agency reported. Moscow has insisted that for the war to end, Russia must take over all of Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region. German Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs Johann Wadephul denounced Russia’s “stubborn insistence on the crucial territorial issue” following the talks in Abu Dhabi. Politics European Union countries have approved a ban on Russian gas imports by late 2027, a move to cut ties with their former top energy supplier nearly four years after Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Ukrainian Minister of Energy Denys Shmyhal welcomed the ban, saying in a statement that independence from Russian energy “is, above all, about a safe and strong Europe”. Germany’s Wadephul said that Russia is testing European countries’ resilience with hybrid tactics, such as the damaging of undersea cables, the jamming of GPS signals and the deployment of a shadow fleet of vessels to break sanctions, as its deadly war in Ukraine continues. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said that Budapest would summon Ukraine’s ambassador over what Orban said were attempts by Kyiv to interfere in a Hungarian parliamentary election due on April 12. In recent weeks, Orban has intensified his anti-Ukrainian rhetoric and sought to link opposition leader, Peter Magyar, with Brussels and Ukraine. Pedestrians walk past a person with an amputated leg begging at a metro station during an air raid alert in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, on Monday [Sergei Gapon/AFP] Adblock test (Why?)
TV presenter killed in Israeli strike in southern Lebanon: Hezbollah
A Lebanese minister condemns the latest Israeli killing and calls on the international community to ‘take action’. A television presenter who worked for Lebanon’s Al-Manar TV station has been killed in an Israeli attack on the southern Lebanese city of Tyre, according to the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah. The killing on Monday of presenter Ali Nour al-Din, who worked for the Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Manar, portends “the danger of Israel’s extended escalations [in Lebanon] to include the media community”, Hezbollah said in a statement. Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list Al-Manar TV confirmed that the attack in Tyre killed al-Din, “who previously worked at Al-Manar channel as a presenter of religious programmes”. Al-Din also served as the main preacher in Al-Hawsh, in the suburbs of Tyre, Hezbollah said, calling his killing a “treacherous assassination”. Lebanese Minister of Information Paul Morcos condemned the Israeli strike, saying on social media that such attacks were “sparing neither journalistic nor media crews”. “We declare our solidarity and condolences to the media family, and call on the international community to fully assume its responsibilities and take urgent action to put an end to these violations and ensure the protection of media professionals in Lebanon,” the minister said. Prior to al-Din’s killing on Monday, at least six Lebanese journalists had been killed in Israeli attacks on Lebanon since 2023, according to a tally by the Committee to Protect Journalists. Other monitors put the death toll of Lebanese journalists at 10. Earlier on Monday, Lebanon’s Ministry of Health said in a statement that one person was killed in an Israeli air strike in Tyre, although it did not immediately announce the name of the victim. The ministry added that a separate Israeli strike killed two other people in Kfar Rumman near the city of Nabatieh. Advertisement The Israeli military later admitted to the killing of al-Din, whom it referred to as a Hezbollah member, and said it struck two other people in the Nabatieh areas of southern Lebanon. Israel and Hezbollah agreed to a US-brokered ceasefire in 2024 to end more than a year of fighting, which saw Israel carry out air strikes across Lebanon that severely weakened the armed group. Despite the ceasefire, Israel has kept up regular attacks on targets in Lebanon and has maintained troops in five locations in southern Lebanon. Since the ceasefire, Israeli strikes have killed more than 350 people in Lebanon, according to the AFP news agency, while Lebanese authorities have been facing growing pressure from the United States and Israel to disarm Hezbollah. On Monday, Hezbollah called on supporters to gather in its strongholds across Lebanon to express support for its ally Iran, which the group said was facing “American-Zionist sabotage and threats”. The call came as a US aircraft carrier strike group arrived in the Middle East and US President Donald Trump continued to threaten Tehran with an attack. In a televised address to supporters, Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem warned that any attack on Tehran would also be an attack on Hezbollah, adding that any new war on Iran would ignite the region. Qassem also warned against any attempt to assassinate Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, adding that Hezbollah considered such a threat “directed at us as well”. Tehran has warned the US that an attack would be met with a “regret-inducing response” that could affect the entire Middle East region. Adblock test (Why?)
Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,432
Here is where things stand on Monday, January 25: Fighting More than 1,300 apartment buildings in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, were still without heating following Russia’s missile and drone attacks on Saturday, according to Mayor Vitalii Klitschko. Over the past week alone, Russia launched more than 1,700 attack drones, at least 1,380 guided aerial bombs, and 69 missiles on Ukraine, mainly targeting the energy sector, critical infrastructure, and residential buildings, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The Ukrainian leader told reporters during a visit to Lithuania that the continuing Russian attacks make it necessary for Ukraine to acquire more air defences, even while the country negotiates a ceasefire deal with Moscow. In Russia, the governor of the border region of Belgorod said Ukrainian forces launched a “massive” attack on its main town, damaging energy infrastructure, but causing no casualties. Diplomacy Zelenskyy told reporters in Lithuania that a US document on security guarantees for Ukraine is “100 percent ready”, and that Kyiv is waiting for a time and place for it to be signed. He also indicated that trilateral talks with Russia and the US in Abu Dhabi over the weekend made some progress, saying: “[In Abu Dhabi] the 20-point [US] plan and problematic issues are being discussed. There were many problematic issues, but now, there are fewer.” Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda, after meeting Zelenskyy, said that Russia is avoiding committing to a lasting and just peace in Ukraine and is not accepting a ceasefire in the war. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia will never discuss anything with European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, and so Moscow will simply wait for her to leave her post. Pope Leo said in his weekly Angelus prayer at the Vatican that ongoing Russian attacks against Ukraine were leaving civilians in the country exposed to the cold of winter, and called for an end to the conflict. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited an art studio to guide the creation of sculptures to be displayed at a memorial for the estimated 6,000 North Korean troops who died fighting overseas, according to state media KCNA. Pyongyang deployed some 14,000 soldiers to fight alongside Russian troops in Ukraine, according to Western sources. France has detained the Indian captain of an oil tanker suspected of belonging to Russia’s sanctions-busting “shadow fleet”, prosecutors said. Authorities said the vessel, named the Grinch, failed to fly a flag. It is now moored, under guard, near Marseille. Advertisement Adblock test (Why?)
Ferry carrying over 350 people sinks in Philippines, killing at least 15
The coastguard says at least 316 people have been rescued so far, while 28 others remain missing. Published On 26 Jan 202626 Jan 2026 Click here to share on social media share2 Share A ferry carrying more than 350 people has capsized off the southern Philippine province of Basilan, killing at least 15 people, according to officials. The accident occurred after midnight on Monday as the passenger vessel, MV Trisha Kerstin 3, was en route to Jolo Island in southern Sulu after departing the port city of Zamboanga. Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list The vessel, which had 332 passengers on record and 27 crew, issued a distress signal at 1:50am on Monday (17:50 GMT Sunday), about four hours after it departed Zamboanga City, according to the Philippine coastguard. The ferry sank in good weather about 1 nautical mile (nearly 2km) from the island village of Baluk-baluk in Basilan province, where many of the survivors were initially taken, the coastguard said. Coastguard Commander Romel Dua of Southern Mindanao District told the AFP news agency that at least 316 people had been rescued so far, with 15 confirmed dead and 28 still unaccounted for. “A coast guard aircraft is also on the way to help the operation. The Navy and Air Force also sent their assets,” Dua told AFP. Emergency responders in Basilan said those who were rescued and needed medical attention were brought to a hospital in the capital city of Isabela. “The challenge here really is the number of patients that are coming in. We are short-staffed at the moment,” said Ronalyn Perez, a medic. Personnel tend to people who were on board the M/V Trisha Kerstin 3 around the waters of Baluk-Baluk Island in Basilan [Philippine coastguard via AP] Basilan Governor Mujiv Hataman posted clips from the scene at Isabela port in Mindanao on Facebook, showing survivors being ushered off boats, some wrapped in thermal blankets and others being carried on stretchers. Advertisement Hataman told DZBB radio that most survivors were doing well, but several elderly passengers needed emergency medical care. He added that authorities were still cross-checking the passenger manifest as rescue efforts proceeded. Dua, the coastguard commander in Mindanao, said the cause of the ferry sinking was not immediately clear and that there would be an investigation. He added that the coastguard cleared the ferry before it left the Zamboanga port, and there was no sign of overloading. Sea accidents are common in the Philippine archipelago because of frequent storms, badly maintained vessels, overcrowding and spotty enforcement of safety regulations, especially in remote provinces. On Friday, at least two Filipino sailors were reported killed, and 15 others were rescued after a Singapore-flagged general cargo vessel en route to China from the southern island of Mindanao sank. Four other sailors remain missing. Last Monday, a private vessel also sank off the Davao region in Mindanao, leaving at least six dead and nine others missing. In December 1987, the ferry Dona Paz sank after colliding with a fuel tanker in the central Philippines, killing more than 4,300 people in the world’s worst peacetime maritime disaster. Adblock test (Why?)
Ukraine’s Zelenskyy says US security agreement ‘100% ready’ to be signed
Ukrainian leader says Kyiv and Moscow continue to have ‘fundamentally different’ positions on territorial concessions. By News Agencies Published On 26 Jan 202626 Jan 2026 Click here to share on social media share2 Share Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that an agreement on US security guarantees for his country is “100 percent ready” to be signed after talks with Russia in Abu Dhabi. Speaking at a news conference in Vilnius, Lithuania, on Sunday, Zelenskyy said that Kyiv was ready to send the agreement to the US Congress and Ukrainian parliament for ratification. Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list “For us, security guarantees are first and foremost guarantees of security from the United States. The document is 100 percent ready, and we are waiting for our partners to confirm the date and place when we will sign it,” Zelenskyy said. The Ukrainian leader also emphasised Ukraine’s push for European Union membership by 2027, calling it an “economic security guarantee”. Ukrainian and Russian negotiators met in the capital of the United Arab Emirates on Friday and Saturday to discuss Washington’s framework for ending Moscow’s almost four-year-old war. While no deal emerged from the talks, Moscow and Kyiv both said they were open to further dialogue, and more discussions were expected next Sunday in Abu Dhabi, a US official told reporters immediately after the discussions. Zelenskyy described the talks as likely the first trilateral format in “quite a long while” that included not only diplomats but military representatives from all three sides. The Ukrainian leader acknowledged fundamental differences between the Ukrainian and Russian positions, reaffirming territorial issues as a major sticking point. Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed a Ukraine settlement with US President Donald Trump’s envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, during marathon talks late on Thursday. Advertisement The Kremlin insisted that to reach a peace deal, Kyiv must withdraw its troops from the areas in the east that Russia illegally annexed but has not fully captured. Zelenskyy said that while Moscow wants Ukraine to abandon eastern regions of the country, Kyiv has not budged from its position that territorial integrity must be upheld. “These are two fundamentally different positions – Ukraine’s and Russia’s. The Americans are trying to find a compromise,” Zelenskyy said, adding that “all sides must be ready for compromise”. Adblock test (Why?)
Trump lavishes praise on UK troops amid anger over his Afghanistan claims
Trump’s praise comes after UK prime minister called the US leader’s remarks ‘insulting’ and suggested he apologise. By News Agencies Published On 24 Jan 202624 Jan 2026 Click here to share on social media share2 Share United States President Donald Trump has praised UK soldiers a day after receiving a rare rebuke from United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer over comments he made about European troops staying “a little off the front lines” in the war in Afghanistan. In an apparent bid to ease tensions with Starmer, Trump took to social media on Saturday to acknowledge that 457 UK soldiers had died in Afghanistan, with many others badly wounded, describing them as being “among the greatest of all warriors”. Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list “The GREAT and very BRAVE soldiers of the United Kingdom will always be with the United States of America!” he wrote. “It’s a bond too strong to ever be broken.” Starmer said on Friday that Trump’s comments to US broadcaster Fox News on the margins of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, were “insulting and, frankly, appalling”. Asked whether he would demand an apology from Trump, Starmer said, “If I had misspoken in that way or said those words, I would certainly apologise.” While Trump’s response stopped short of an apology, his olive branch came after he spoke to the UK leader earlier on Saturday, according to a statement from Starmer’s office. “The prime minister raised the brave and heroic British and American soldiers who fought side by side in Afghanistan, many of whom never returned home,” the statement said. “We must never forget their sacrifice, he said.” King Charles’s younger son, Prince Harry, who served two tours in Afghanistan, also weighed in on Friday, saying the “sacrifices” of UK soldiers during the war “deserve to be spoken about truthfully and with respect”. Advertisement The UK was not the only NATO ally to express anger at Trump’s remarks. Other European leaders, including Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and French President Emmanuel Macron, reacted sharply on Saturday. Alongside the US and UK forces were troops from dozens of countries, including from NATO, whose collective security clause, Article 5, had been triggered for the first time after the attacks on New York and Washington in September 2001. More than 150 Canadians were killed in Afghanistan, along with 90 French service personnel and dozens from Germany, Italy, Denmark and other countries. The US reportedly lost more than 2,400 soldiers. At least 46,319 Afghan civilians died as a direct result of the 2001 invasion, according to a 2021 estimate by Brown University’s Costs of War project. Adblock test (Why?)
Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,431
These are the key developments from day 1,431 of Russia’s war on Ukraine. By News Agencies Published On 25 Jan 202625 Jan 2026 Click here to share on social media share2 Share Here is where things stand on Sunday, January 25: Fighting Russian forces launched another major attack on Ukraine overnight on Saturday, killing at least one person and wounding four in the capital, Kyiv, and leaving 1.2 million properties without power nationwide, according to officials. Kyiv’s military administration reported strikes in at least four districts in the capital and said a medical facility was among the buildings damaged. Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said Russia targeted the capital and four regions in the country’s north and east. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the worst-affected in the capital was the northeastern suburb of Troyeshchyna, where 600 buildings were without power, water and heat. Ukraine’s Air Force said Russia unleashed 375 drones and 21 missiles, including two of its rarely deployed Tsirkon ballistic missiles. At least 30 people, including a child, were also wounded during the same attack in the country’s second-largest city of Kharkiv. Mayor Ihor Terekhov said 25 drones had hit several districts in the city. Among those struck was a dormitory for displaced people and two medical facilities, including a maternity hospital, Terekhov wrote on Telegram. Ukrainian Minister of Energy Denys Shmyhal wrote on Telegram late on Saturday that more than 800,000 Kyiv households were still without power, as were a further 400,000 in the Chernihiv region, north of the capital. Deputy Prime Minister Oleksii Kuleba said more than 3,200 buildings in Kyiv remained without heating in the late evening, down from 6,000 in the morning. Night-time temperatures were hovering around -10 degrees Celsius (14 degrees Fahrenheit). Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha denounced the attack as “barbaric” in a statement posted on X. He accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of acting “cynically” for launching the attack amid United States-led trilateral talks on the war in the United Arab Emirates. In Russia, Ukrainian forces launched a “massive” attack on the border region of Belgorod on Saturday, damaging energy infrastructure, but causing no casualties. Regional Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov described the incident as “the most massive shelling of the town of Belgorod”. Gladkov said the attack damaged “energy sites” and that fragments of a downed drone triggered a fire in a courtyard of a building. Reports from the area also said the shelling and sounds of explosions had gone on for some time. The Russian Ministry of Defence said its forces had completed the takeover of the village of Starytsya in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region, close to the border with Russia. The General Staff of Ukraine’s military said Russian forces had launched six attacks on an area including Starytsya. But it made no acknowledgement that the village had been captured by Russian forces. Diplomacy Advertisement Ukraine and Russia ended their second day of US-brokered talks in Abu Dhabi without a peace deal, with more talks expected next weekend, amid the massive Russian strikes across Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on X following the meeting that “the central focus” of the discussions was “the possible parameters for ending the war”, but he did not say if the negotiators were close to a deal. More discussions are expected next Sunday in Abu Dhabi, according to a US official who spoke to reporters immediately after the talks. The official, who requested anonymity, said negotiators “saw a lot of respect” during the discussions, “because they were really looking to find solutions”. The US official also voiced hopes for further talks, possibly in Moscow or Kyiv, beyond next week’s discussions in Abu Dhabi, adding that the next step would be a possible bilateral discussion between Putin and Zelenskyy, or a trilateral meeting that includes US President Donald Trump. An unnamed UAE government spokesperson told the Reuters news agency that there was face-to-face engagement between Ukraine and Russia in Abu Dhabi – rare in the almost four-year-old war triggered by Russia’s full-scale invasion – and said negotiators tackled “outstanding elements” of Trump’s peace framework. The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs also hinted at the prospects of additional talks with Ukrainian delegations in Istanbul after negotiations in Abu Dhabi, adding that Moscow remains open to a continuation of dialogue, the Russian state RIA news agency reported. Residents stand in line to fill bottles with drinking water, during a power blackout after critical civil infrastructure was hit by Russian missile and drone attacks in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv [Gleb Garanich/Reuters] Adblock test (Why?)
Myanmar holds final election round, military-backed party set to win
Polls have opened in Myanmar for the third and final round of a controversial general election, with a military-backed party on course for a landslide win amid a raging civil war. Voting began in 60 townships, including in the cities of Yangon and Mandalay, at 6am local time on Sunday (23:30 GMT, Saturday). Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list Critics say the polls are neither free nor fair, and are designed to legitimise military rule in Myanmar, nearly five years after the country’s generals ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, leading to a civil war that has killed thousands and displaced more than 3.5 million people. Aung San Suu Kyi remains in detention and, like several other opposition groups, her National League for Democracy (NLD) has been dissolved, tilting the political playing field in favour of the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), which is leading in the polls. So far, the USDP has secured 193 out of 209 seats in the lower house, and 52 out of 78 seats in the upper house, according to the election commission. That means that along with the military, which is allocated 166 seats, the two already hold just under 400 seats, comfortably surpassing the 294 needed to come to power. Seventeen other parties have won a small number of seats in the legislature, ranging from one to 10, according to the election commission. Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, who heads the current military government, is widely expected by both supporters and opponents to assume the presidency when the new parliament meets. Advertisement The military has announced that the parliament will be convened in March, and the new government will take up its duties in April. While the military has pledged that the election will return power to the people, rights monitors said the run-up was beset with coercion and the crushing of dissent, warning that the vote will only tighten the military’s grip on power. A new Election Protection Law imposed harsh penalties for most public criticism of the polls, with the authorities charging more than 400 people recently for activities such as leafleting or online activity. Ahead of the third round of voting, Tom Andrews, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, also called for the rejection of its outcome, calling it “fraudulent”. “Only an illegitimate government can emerge from an illegitimate election,” he wrote on X on Saturday. “As Myanmar’s election ends, the world must reject it as fraudulent while rejecting what follows as simply military rule in civilian clothing.” Malaysian Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohamad Hasan told Parliament on Tuesday that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), of which Myanmar is a member, did not send observers and would not certify the election, citing concerns over the lack of inclusive and free participation. His comments were the first clear statement that the 11-member regional bloc will not recognise the election results. In Myanmar’s second city of Mandalay, Zaw Ko Ko Myint, a 53-year-old teacher, cast his vote at a high school around dawn. “Although I do not expect much, we want to see a better country,” he told the AFP news agency. “I feel relieved after voting, as if I fulfilled my duty.” The previous two phases of the election have been marked by low voter turnout of about 55 percent, well below the turnout of about 70 percent recorded in Myanmar’s 2020 and 2015 general elections. Official results are expected late this week, but the USDP could claim victory as soon as Monday. Aung San Suu Kyi’s NLD thrashed the USDP in the last elections in 2020, before the military seized power on February 1, 2021. According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, which monitors human rights abuses in the country, at least 7,705 people have been killed since the outbreak of the civil war, while 22,745 remain detained. But the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project, a monitoring group that tallies media reports of violence, estimates more than 90,000 have been killed on all sides of the conflict. Advertisement Adblock test (Why?)
Iran rejects UN rights resolution condemning protest killings
Tehran, Iran – The Iranian state has rejected a resolution by the United Nations’ Human Rights Council that strongly condemned the “violent crackdown on peaceful protests” by security forces that left thousands dead. After a detailed meeting and discussions in Geneva on Friday, 25 members of the council, including France, Japan and South Korea, voted in favour of the censure resolution. Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list Seven votes against, including from China, India and Pakistan, as well as 14 abstentions, among others from Qatar and South Africa, failed to stop the resolution. The human rights council called on Iran to stop the arrests of people in connection with the protests, and to take steps to “prevent extrajudicial killing, other forms of arbitrary deprivation of life, enforced disappearance, sexual and gender-based violence” and other actions violating its human rights obligations. Iran said that the Western-led sponsors of the emergency meeting on Friday had never genuinely cared for human rights in Iran, or else they would not have imposed sanctions that have devastated the Iranian population over the past decade. Ali Bahreini, Iran’s envoy in the meeting, reiterated the state’s claim that 3,117 people were killed during the unrest, 2,427 of whom were killed by “terrorists” armed and funded by the United States, Israel and their allies. “It was ironic that states whose history was stained with genocide and war crimes now attempted to lecture Iran on social governance and human rights,” he said. The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) says it has confirmed at least 5,137 deaths during the protests, and is investigating 12,904 others. Advertisement UN special rapporteur on Iran, Mai Sato, has said the death toll could reach 20,000 or more as reports from doctors from inside Iran emerge. Al Jazeera has been unable to independently verify the figures. UN human rights chief Volker Turk told the council that “the brutality in Iran continued, creating conditions for further human rights violations, instability and bloodshed” weeks after the killings on January 8 and January 9, when a communications blackout was also enforced. Turk pointed out that executions for murder, drug-related and other charges continue across Iran, with the state executing at least 1,500 people in 2025, marking an enormous 50 percent increase compared with the year before. Payam Akhavan, a professor and former UN prosecutor of Iranian-Canadian nationality who was at Friday’s meeting as a civil society representative, called the killings “the worst mass-murder in the contemporary history of Iran”. He said as a prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal in the Hague, he had helped draft the indictment for the Srebrenica genocide in which some 8,000 Bosniaks were killed in July 1995. “By comparison, at least twice that number had been killed in Iran in half the time. This was an extermination,” he said. The adopted UN council resolution also extended the mandate of the special rapporteur for another year, while adding two more years to the mandate of the independent fact-finding mission that was formed to investigate killings and rights abuses during Iran’s nationwide protests in 2022 and 2023. More videos emerge despite internet blackout Meanwhile, the internet blackout continues to be enforced amid growing frustration and anger from the public and businesses alike. Global internet observatory Netblocks reported that international internet remained effectively blocked on Saturday despite brief moments of connectivity. Some users have been able to overcome the digital blackout over recent days for short periods of time using a variety of proxies and virtual private networks (VPNs). The limited number of users who have managed to get online, whether by using a combination of circumvention tools or leaving the country’s borders, continue to upload horrifying footage of killings during the protests. International human rights bodies like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have attested that many of the reviewed videos show state forces firing live ammunition at protesters, including from heavy machineguns. The state rejects all such accounts, claiming that security forces only fired at “terrorists” and “rioters” who attacked government offices and burned public property. Advertisement Threat of war looms The back and forth over one of Iran’s bloodiest chapters since its 1979 revolution continues as the threat of war looms large over the embattled 90-million-strong nation once again. US President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to intervene in Iran if it kills protesters. Washington is moving the USS Abraham Lincoln supercarrier, along with its strike group of supporting vessels, towards the Middle East in a move that has raised fears of more US strikes on Iran in the aftermath of the 12-day war with Israel in June. More US military aircraft, including fighter jets, have also been deployed to the region despite interventions from regional powers in an attempt to prevent an escalation. Iranians drive near an anti-US and Israel banner hanging at the Palestine square in Tehran, Iran, January 24, 2026 [Abedin Taherkenareh/EPA] Top Iranian authorities continue to send defiant messages to US President Donald Trump amid the rapid military buildup. “He [Trump] certainly says many things,” Majid Mousavi, the new aerospace chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), told state television on Saturday. “He can be certain that we will respond to him in the field of battle”. “He can say better things even if he is trying to escape the wishes of others who want to impose things on him,” said Ali Shamkhani, a top security official and representative of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in the newly formed Supreme Defence Council. One of Iran’s top judicial authorities also shot back at Trump after the US president last week called for the end of Khamenei’s 37-year-rule in the country. “These acts of insolence and audacity are, in our view, tantamount to a declaration of all-out war, and based on this approach, in the event of any aggression, US interests around the world will be exposed to threat by supporters of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” said Mohammad Movahedi, the hardline cleric who heads
Bangladesh out of T20 World Cup after ICC’s refusal to change venues
Scotland replace Bangladesh after the BCB’s request to relocate its games from India is turned down by the ICC. The International Cricket Council (ICC) has kicked Bangladesh out of the upcoming T20 World Cup and replaced them with Scotland because of an impasse over security concerns that Bangladesh had raised about playing in India. Following weeks of deliberation and dialogue, the ICC said on Saturday that Bangladesh will be replaced in Group C of the tournament. Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list “Scotland will replace Bangladesh in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 after the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) refused to participate in the tournament per the published match schedule,” the ICC said in its statement. “The ICC, in the absence of any credible or verifiable security threat to the Bangladesh national team in India, rejected the BCB’s demand to move its matches from India to Sri Lanka,” it added. The tournament, which is due to begin on February 7, is being co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka, but all of Bangladesh’s group fixtures were allocated to venues in India. The Tigers were scheduled to play on the opening day of the tournament, on February 7, when they would have faced the West Indies at Eden Gardens, Kolkata. They were set to play two other group-stage games at the same venue before their final Group C fixture against Nepal at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. However, the BCB requested the ICC, on January 4, move their fixtures out of India. The move followed the abrupt removal of star fast bowler Mustafizur Rahman from the Indian Premier League (IPL) upon instructions from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), due to the ongoing political tensions between the two nations. Advertisement The ICC said its decision followed “an extensive process to address concerns raised by the BCB regarding the hosting of its scheduled matches in India”. “Over a period of more than three weeks, the ICC engaged with the BCB through multiple rounds of dialogue conducted in a transparent and constructive manner, including meetings held both via video conference and in-person,” the ICC’s statement went on to add. “As part of this process, the ICC reviewed the concerns cited by the BCB, commissioned and considered independent security assessments from internal and external experts, and shared detailed security and operational plans covering federal and state arrangements, as well as enhanced and escalating security protocols for the event. These assurances were reiterated at several stages, including during discussions involving the ICC Business Corporation (IBC) Board.” The game’s governing body said its assessments concluded that there was “no credible or verifiable security threat to the Bangladesh national team, officials or supporters in India”. “In light of these findings, and after careful consideration of the broader implications, the ICC determined that it was not appropriate to amend the published event schedule. The ICC also noted the importance of preserving the integrity and sanctity of the tournament schedule, safeguarding the interests of all participating teams and fans, and avoiding the establishment of precedents that could undermine the neutrality and fairness of ICC events.” The ICC’s decision comes two days after the BCB reiterated its stance on not travelling to India for its group matches. The ICC asked the BCB to review its decision with the Bangladeshi government and give a response within a day, following which a final decision would be made. “Following its meeting on Wednesday, the IBC Board requested the BCB to confirm, within a 24-hour timeframe, whether Bangladesh would participate in the tournament as scheduled,” the ICC said. “As no confirmation was received within the stipulated deadline, the ICC proceeded in line with its established governance and qualification processes to identify a replacement team.” Scotland will now play in the T20 World Cup as they are the highest-ranked T20I side not to originally qualify for the tournament. “We want to play the World Cup, but we won’t play in India. We will keep fighting,” BCB President Aminul Islam told reporters. The BCB chief said the ICC would stand to lose if Bangladesh were expelled from the tournament. Advertisement “The ICC will miss out on 200 million people watching the World Cup,” he said. Adblock test (Why?)