NATO signs deal to buy 1,000 Patriot
missiles in face of Russia threat
BRUSSELS, Jan 03: NATO members in Europe have signed a contract for up to 1,000 Patriot missiles to bolster air defences in the face of the threat from Russia, the alliance said Wednesday. The announcement of the contract, estimated to be worth $5.5 billion, comes as Moscow has unleashed repeated barrages of deadly missile and drone strikes against Ukraine in recent days. NATO's procurement agency said the deal agreed by an initial group of countries including Germany, the Netherlands, Romania and Spain would see Patriot missile production stepped up in Europe. Alliance chief Jens Stoltenberg welcomed the "timely announcement to invest in up to 1,000 new Patriot air defence missiles to bolster the alliance's security". "Russian missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian civilians, cities and towns show how important modern air defences are. —AFP
Trump appeals Maine ballot ban
WASHINGTON, Jan 03: Former US president Donald Trump filed an appeal on Tuesday against a ruling by the top election official in Maine that would keep him off the presidential primary ballot in the northeastern state. Maine last week joined Colorado in barring Trump from appearing on the primary ballot because of his role in the January 6, 2021 assault on the US Capitol by his supporters. Trump's attorneys urged the Maine Superior Court to toss out the ruling by Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, a Democrat, calling her a "biased decisionmaker" who "acted in an arbitrary and capricious manner." — AFP
12 killed in Assam road accident
GALAGHAT, Jan 03: At least 12 people have been killed and 25 others injured after their bus collided head-on with a truck in Assam's Golaghat district. The accident occurred in the Balijan area near Dergaon on Wednesday morning, according to news agency ANI. The bus was headed towards Tilinga Mandir from the Kamarbandha area. It collided with a truck coming from Jorhat in the opposite direction, according to Rajen Singh, the Golaghat superintendent of police. Ten bodies were recovered from the scene and Dergaon Community Health Centre, he said. "Twenty-seven injured persons were referred to Jorhat Medical College & Hospital where two people succumbed to their injuries," he said. Law enforcers would investigate the incident and take legal action, the police superintendent added.-bdnews24.com
S Korea opposition leader in ICU
SEOUL, Jan 03: South Korea's opposition Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung remained hospitalised in intensive care on Wednesday, a day after a knife attack on him shocked political leaders who were vying for the upper hand in a major election three months away. Surgeons operated on Lee for more than two hours late on Wednesday to repair a major blood vessel in his neck that was sliced when an assailant lunged and stabbed him with a knife. "The act of terror against Chairman Lee Jae-myung was clearly a challenge against democracy and a threat against democracy," Democratic Party floor leader Hong Ik-pyo said at a party leadership council meeting. — Reuters
Extreme cold grips the Nordics
COPENHAGEN, Jan 03: Temperatures fell below minus 40 degrees Celsius (minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit) in the Nordic region for a second day in a row Wednesday, with the coldest January temperature recorded in Sweden in 25 years. In Kvikkjokk-Årrenjarka in Swedish Lapland, the mercury dropped to minus 43.6 C (minus 46.5 F), the coldest temperature in the country in January since 1999, Sweden's TT news agency reported. On Tuesday, Nikkaluokta, a village inhabited by indigenous Sami people in northern Sweden, recorded a temperature of minus 41.6 C (minus 42.8 F). The village is in Lapland, which stretches from northern parts of Norway through Sweden and Finland to Russia. — AP
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