While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, Jan 29
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Ukrainian servicemen fire a 2S7 Pion self-propelled gun towards Russian positions, on the front line near Bakhmut, in Ukraine's Donetsk region.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Ukraine in talks with allies about getting long-range missiles
Expedited talks are under way among Kyiv and its allies about Ukraine’s requests for long-range missiles that it says are needed to prevent Russia from destroying Ukrainian cities, a top aide to President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday.
Ukraine has won promises of Western battle tanks and is seeking fighter jets to push back against Russian and pro-Moscow forces, which are slowly advancing along part of the front line.
“To drastically reduce the Russian army’s key weapon - the artillery they use today on the front lines - we need missiles that will destroy their depots,” presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak told Ukraine’s Freedom television network.
He said on the Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula there were more than 100 artillery warehouses.
Blast heard at military plant in Iran’s central city of Isfahan
A loud blast was heard at a military plant in Iran’s central city of Isfahan, but a security official said there were no casualties, Iranian state broadcaster IRIB said on its website early on Sunday.
It said the blast happened at a Defence Ministry munitions manufacturing centre.
There have been a number of explosions and fires around Iranian military, nuclear and industrial facilities in the past few years. The blasts have at times caused concern amid tensions over Iran’s nuclear programme with Israel and the United States.
‘Angry’ Trump jumpstarts faltering 2024 campaign
NYT
Donald Trump vowed to take on the “corrupt political establishment” on Saturday, as he bid to revive a faltering third run for the White House in two US states that launched his winning 2016 presidential campaign.
Buffeted by political and legal headwinds, the 76-year-old Republican delivered a keynote address to grassroots activists and lawmakers in New Hampshire, ahead of a headlining appearance at a rally in South Carolina.
“We need a leader who is prepared to take on the forces laying waste to our country,” he told a crowd of several hundred in the New Hampshire commercial hub of Salem.
Finland hints at Russian involvement in Sweden Quran burning
EPA-EFE
Finland’s foreign minister hinted that Russia may have been involved in last week’s Quran-burning protest that threatens to derail Sweden’s accession to Nato.
Mr Rasmus Paludan, a far-right activist with dual Danish and Swedish citizenship, burned Islam’s holy book in central Stockholm, leading Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to rule out supporting Sweden’s entry into the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.
Mr Paludan’s potential ties to Russia have “been investigated and certain connections in his vicinity have been found,” Finland’s Pekka Haavisto said in an interview on YLE TV1 on Saturday, stopping short of confirming Russian involvement.
Iranian Olympic skier flees to Germany, says report
AFP
Iranian Olympic skier Atefeh Ahmadi has quit her home country and applied for asylum in Germany, a Persian-language media outlet outside Iran reported on Saturday, publishing an emotional interview with the athlete.
Ms Ahmadi, in her early 20s, was the only Iranian woman to qualify for last year’s Beijing Winter Games.
“I left Iran to reach my goal, but my heart is with Iran. I love my Iran. I love my people,” she told London-based Iran International.
