Ethnic Serbs erect more roadblocks as tensions soar in Kosovo
Kosovo has demanded barriers erected by Serb protesters be removed while Serbia has put its army on high alert.
Local ethnic Serbs have erected more roadblocks in northern Kosovo and defied demands to remove barriers put in place earlier, a day after Serbia put its troops near the border on a high level of combat readiness.
The new barriers, formed with loaded trucks, were installed in the early hours of Tuesday in the town of Mitrovica. The town is divided between Kosovo Serbs and ethnic Albanians, who represent the majority in Kosovo as a whole.
It is the first time since a crisis in the region erupted in early December that Serbs have blocked streets in one of the main towns. Until now, barricades had been set on roads leading to the Kosovo-Serbia border.
S. Korea to pardon former leader Lee for corruption
Former President Lee Myung-bak was sentenced to a 17-year jail term but served less than three years of his sentence. Lee was a top Hyundai executive before entering politics.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol's government will grant a special pardon to former President Lee Myung-bak, the Justice Ministry announced on Tuesday.
The Ministry said that Lee was among 1,373 convicts who will be pardoned Wednesday and Lee's pardon was in line with the government's efforts to promote national unity.
Joy in China as mandatory Covid quarantine for inbound travellers set to end
In a snap move late Monday, China said from January 8 inbound travellers would no longer be required to quarantine on arrival in a further unwinding of hardline Covid-19 controls that had torpedoed the country's economy and sparked nationwide protests.
People in China reacted with joy and rushed to book flights overseas Tuesday after Beijing said it would scrap mandatory Covid-19 quarantine for overseas arrivals, ending almost three years of self-imposed isolation.
Cases have surged nationwide as key pillars of the containment policy have fallen away, with authorities acknowledging the outbreak is "impossible" to track and doing away with much-maligned official case tallies.
Flight carrying family of Iranian soccer legend Ali Daei forced to return
The family of an Iranian soccer great was prevented by authorities in the Islamic Republic from leaving the country on Monday.
A Dubai-bound flight carrying the wife and daughter of Ali Daei was forced to return to Iran, the country’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reported. Daei is a critic of the government.
His wife and daughter were barred from traveling as “they hadn’t informed relevant authorities of their decision to leave despite being ordered to do so,” the official news agency IRNA initially reported in an article it later retracted.
The flight, which took off from Tehran, was ordered to land on the Iranian island of Kish in the Persian Gulf, where the family was ordered to disembark, said IRNA. It was originally destined for Dubai.
Young Sudanese archaeologists dig up history as ‘west knows best’ era ends
On a continent that has long attracted western expeditions, a wave of young people are now exploring sites
Jason Burke and Zeinab Mohammed Salih in Khartoum
Alate morning in Khartoum. Inside a low, dusty building in the centre of the Sudanese capital, there are crates of artefacts, a 7ft replica of a 2,000-year-old stone statue of a Nubian god, and students rushing through the corridors. Outside is noisy traffic, blinding sunlight and both branches of the Nile.
Heading down one staircase are Sabrine Jamal, Nadia Musa, Athar Bela and Sabrine al-Sadiq, all studying archaeology at Khartoum University. Not one of them is older than 24 and they see themselves as pioneers, breaking new ground on a continent that has long attracted western expeditions, specialists and adventurers but whose own archaeologists have received less attention overseas.
“It is very important that Africans do African archaeology … because then we will have our own archaeological cultures. There is a lot we understand because we are from here. The idea that people from the west know best is changing,” said Sadiq.
Russian sausage tycoon Pavel Antov dies in Indian hotel fall
Russian sausage tycoon Pavel Antov has been found dead at an Indian hotel, two days after a friend died during the same trip.
They were visiting the eastern state of Odisha and the millionaire, who was also a local politician, had just celebrated his birthday at the hotel.
Antov was a well known figure in the city of Vladimir, east of Moscow.
Last summer he denied criticising Russia's war in Ukraine after a message appeared on his WhatsApp account.
The millionaire's death is the latest in a series of unexplained deaths involving Russian tycoons since the start of the Russian invasion, many of whom have openly criticised the war.
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