23/01/2026

FRIDAY | JAN 23, 2026

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Trump unveils ‘Board of Peace’ in Davos

Russia and Ukraine trade deadly blows KYIV: Overnight Russian strikes on the Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rig have killed two people and injured one, authorities said on Wednesday, while officials in Russia reported three deaths following Ukrainian drone strikes. “A 77-year-old man and a 72-year-old woman were killed while a 53-year-old woman was wounded” in the Russian strikes on Kryvyi Rig, said regional military administration head Oleksandr Ganzha. The missile and drone attack also damaged several buildings, he added. The central city of Kryvyi Rig, about 80km from the frontline and the hometown of Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, has been frequently targeted by Russian strikes since the start of the war. Meanwhile, local authorities in Russia said three people were killed and eight injured on Wednesday in a Ukrainian drone strike on oil terminals in the southern Krasnodar region. The strike took place in the village of Volna, where four petroleum product tanks caught fire in the port area, said Krasnodar governor Veniamine Kondratiev. The head of Russia’s Adygea Republic in the country’s southwest said a separate Ukrainian drone strike overnight ignited a fire at a residential building and parking lot in Takhtamukaysky district, outside the city of Krasnodar. “According to updated information, 11 people were wounded, nine of whom were hospitalised, including two children,“ said Murat Kumpilov. Ukrainian officials said Russia’s own air defence had caused the damage. AFP was unable to verify the allegation. Ukraine’s disinformation countering centre head Andriy Kovalenko said “a Russian air defence missile struck a residential building in the town of Afipsky” in the Adygea region. Neither side presented evidence for the claim of responsibility. – AFP

who were identifiable by their reporting equipment could indicate targeting and constitute a war crime,“ said RSF crisis desk head Martin Roux. Israel’s advanced surveillance and targeting technology renders “any claims of misidentification implausible“, said CPJ Middle East and North Africa programme coordinator Sara Qudah. Since the start of the war in Gaza, nearly 220 journalists have been killed by Israel, making the Palestinian territory by far the deadliest place for journalists, RSF data says. The Israeli military claims that several journalists it targeted in Gaza had been “terrorists” affiliated with Palestinian militant groups. Last week, US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff announced the start of phase two of the Gaza ceasefire. – AFP of Peace” meeting as difficult negotiations for a ceasefire in the Ukraine war continue. He repeated his oft-stated belief that Putin and Zelensky are close to a deal, although he has veered between blaming one or the other for the lack of a ceasefire. “I believe they are at a point now where they can come together and get a deal done. And if they do not, they are stupid. That goes for both of them.” Trump has long been a skeptic of US support for Ukraine and says it is now up to Nato and Europe to back Kyiv. His special envoy businessman Steve Witkoff was set to travel to Moscow from Davos with Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and hold talks with Putin yesterday. Zelensky has meanwhile voiced fears that Trump’s push to seize Greenland could divert focus away from Russia’s invasion of his country. Trump said he had reached a “framework of a future deal” after meeting Nato Chief Mark Rutte and would waive tariffs scheduled to hit European allies on Feb 1. Rutte said the meeting had been “very good” but there is “still a lot of work to be done” on Greenland. Trump insists that the mineral-rich Arctic island is vital for US and Nato security against Russia and China. – AFP

between Hamas and Israel, the board’s charter does not limit its role to the Strip and has sparked concerns that Trump wants it to rival the United Nations. Key US allies, including France and Britain, have expressed skepticism but others have signed up, particularly in the Middle East where Trump-friendly Saudi Arabia and Qatar have agreed to join. About 35 world leaders have committed out of the 50 or so invitations that went out, a senior Trump administration official said. Trump also said Putin has agreed to join, despite the Kremlin saying it was still studying the invite. The inclusion of Putin has caused particular concern among US allies, and especially in Ukraine as it seeks an end to Moscow’s nearly four-year-old invasion. Trump said he was due to hold talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky after the “Board by Israel in a strike that killed three. The Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate condemned the strike as part of a “systematic and deliberate policy pursued by the Israeli occupation to intentionally target Palestinian journalists”. Israeli forces have killed at least 466 Palestinians in Gaza since the ceasefire took effect, according to the territory’s Health Ministry, which operates under Hamas authority. The Israeli military said militants have killed three of its soldiers during the same period. Gaza’s Health Ministry said eight Palestinians were also killed in Israeli attacks in the territory on Wednesday. Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) expressed “deep anger” at the strike that killed Shaat and his colleagues, while the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said it was “appalled”. “This isolated strike on journalists

o Russian leader Vladimir Putin and Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu invited to join

GAZA: An Israeli air strike killed an AFP freelancer and two other journalists in Gaza on Wednesday, the territory’s civil defence agency said, while the military said it struck “suspects” operating a drone. Since Oct 10, a fragile US-sponsored ceasefire in Gaza has largely halted the fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas, but both sides have alleged frequent violations. The civil defence agency said three journalists were killed in an Israeli air strike in the Al-Zahra area southwest of Gaza City, naming the dead as Mohammed Salah Qashta, Abdul Raouf Shaat and Anas Ghneim. Shaat had contributed to AFP as a photo and video journalist, but at the time of the strike he was not on assignment for the agency. AFP said it is mourning the loss of Shaat, who would be remembered as a “kind-hearted colleague with a gentle sense of humour and as a The US Embassy in Yemen condemned the “unprovoked attack”. Yemen’s internationally recognised government is a patchwork of groups held together by their opposition to the Iran-backed Houthis, who ousted them from the capital Sanaa in 2014 and now rule much of the country’s north. The Houthis have been at war with the government, backed by a Saudi-led coalition since 2015, in a conflict that has killed hundreds of thousands of Yemenis and triggered a major humanitarian crisis. Fissures in the south came to a head when United Arab Emirates-backed separatists took over two provinces in December, triggering air strikes by Saudi warplanes and a counter-offensive by pro-Saudi militias. – AFP DAVOS: US President Donald Trump was set to show off his new “Board of Peace” and meet Ukraine’s leader at Davos yesterday, burnishing his claim to be a peacemaker a day after backing off his own threats against Greenland. He announced on Wednesday that he was scrapping tariffs against Europe and ruling out military action to take Greenland from Denmark, partially defusing a crisis which has shaken the meeting of global elites. On his second day at the Swiss ski resort, Trump sought to promote the “Board of Peace”, his controversial body for resolving international conflicts, with a signing ceremony for the organisation’s charter.

The fledgling board boasts a US$1 billion (RM4 billion) price tag for permanent membership and Trump has invited leaders including Russia’s Vladimir Putin, Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu and Hungary’s Viktor Orban to join. “I think it is the greatest board ever formed,” said Trump on Wednesday as he met Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who has agreed to join. The launch of the board comes against the backdrop of Trump’s frustration at having failed to win the Nobel Peace Prize, despite his disputed claim to have ended eight conflicts. Originally meant to oversee the rebuilding of Gaza after the war deeply committed journalist”. “AFP demands a full and transparent investigation into his death. Far too many local journalists have been killed in Gaza over the past two years while foreign journalists remain unable to enter the territory freely.“ The Israeli military said troops had “identified several suspects who operated a drone affiliated with Hamas in the central Gaza Strip”. “Due to the threat that the drone posed to the troops, the (military) precisely struck the suspects who activated the drone,“ it said, adding that the details are under review. According to an eyewitness, the journalists were using a drone to take images of aid distribution by the Egyptian Relief Committee in the Gaza Strip when a strike targeted a vehicle accompanying them. The Egyptian aid group confirmed that one of its vehicles was targeted

Israeli strike kills three journalists in Gaza

Attack on govt-allied convoy in Yemen ADEN: A blast targeting a convoy of a Saudi-backed armed group has killed five in Yemen’s southern city of Aden, injuring the commander of the government-allied unit, officials said on Wednesday. for the blast, which comes after clashes in the south between rival factions of Yemen’s government.

“The terrorist attack targeting the convoy of Brigadier-General Hamdi Shukri, commander of the Second Giants Brigade, resulted in the martyrdom of five of our armed forces heroes and the injury of three others,“ said Yemen’s Saudi-backed Presidential Leadership Council in a statement published by Yemeni news agency Saba. A security source said a car bomb on the side of the road in the Ja’awla area in the north of Aden exploded as Shukri’s convoy passed by. Shukri survived the attack, although a medical source said he had sustained shrapnel wounds in his leg. No group has claimed responsibility

Shukri survived the attack, although a medical source said he sustained shrapnel wounds to his leg. – AFPPIC