While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, Dec 23
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Visitors wearing military camouflage stand at the entrance to the PMC Wagner Centre, in Saint Petersburg, Russia.
PHOTO: AFP
US says N. Korea sent arms to Wagner group for Ukraine war
The private Russian military company, the Wagner Group, took delivery of an arms shipment from North Korea to help bolster Russian forces in Ukraine, a sign of the group’s expanding role in that conflict, the White House said on Thursday.
Wagner owner Yevgeny Prigozhin denied the assertion as “gossip and speculation”.
Mr John Kirby, spokesman for the White House National Security Council, said Wagner was searching around the world for arms suppliers to support its military operations in Ukraine.
“We can confirm that North Korea has completed an initial arms delivery to Wagner, which paid for that equipment. Last month, North Korea delivered infantry rockets and missiles into Russia for use by Wagner,” he told reporters.
ByteDance employees gained access to TikTok user data
TikTok parent company ByteDance found that some employees inappropriately gained access to data for some American users, complicating the Chinese technology giant’s already-fraught efforts to convince US lawmakers that its app is secure.
“The individuals involved misused their authority to obtain access to TikTok user data,” Mr Shou Chew, chief executive officer of the popular mobile video-sharing app, told employees in a memo viewed by Bloomberg.
The data access stemmed from an internal ByteDance investigation launched over the summer to discover the source of employee leaks to the press.
Minister defends closing Afghan universities to women
Afghan universities were declared off limits to women because female students were not following instructions including a proper dress code, the Taliban’s minister for higher education said on Thursday.
The ban announced earlier this week is the latest restriction on women’s rights in Afghanistan ordered by the Taliban since their return to power in August last year.
It has drawn global outrage, including from Muslim nations who deemed it against Islam, and from the Group of Seven industrialised democracies who said the prohibition may amount to “a crime against humanity”.
Russia might send up rescue ship for space station crew
Russia is examining the flight worthiness of a Soyuz crew capsule docked with the ISS that sprang a leak last week, and might need to send up a rescue vessel for stranded crew, officials said on Thursday.
The vehicle, known as MS-22, began spraying its coolant into space on Dec 14, with dramatic Nasa TV images showing white particles resembling snowflakes streaming out of the rear.
In a press briefing organised by the US space agency, Mr Sergei Krikalev, who leads human spaceflight programmes at Russia’s Roscosmos, told reporters the damage was being assessed.
World Cup: Fifa probe Salt Bae’s ‘undue access’ at final
Fifa are investigating how celebrity chef Salt Bae gained “undue access” to the pitch after the World Cup final where he enthusiastically posed for photos with surprised Argentina players including a bemused and irritated Lionel Messi.
Salt Bae, whose real name is Nusret Gokce, was pictured holding and kissing the trophy after Argentina beat France in Sunday’s final in Qatar.
The Turkish entrepreneur was widely criticised for twice grabbing the arm of Messi, who tried to sidestep the unwanted attention.
