Russia

Today's headlines: Yemen and Lebanon sites included on Unesco's endangered heritages list; Taiwan's 71-year-old former vice-president Chen Chien-jen, a Catholic, will be the new prime minister; police arrest four student leaders for attempting to screen the BBC documentary critical of PM Modi; the Duma approves the law extending the genomic registration requirement to everyone.

Today's headlines: Pyongyang imposes a five-day lockdown for cases of unspecified 'respiratory illness'; Hanoi wants to open up the arms market to foreign companies; A cold wave hits north-east Asia halting transport halted and leaving one victim in Japan; Russia classifies the Andrei Sakharov foundation as an 'undesirable organisation'.

The Chinese have doubled their purchases from Russia, but the values are far from those in Europe. The EU and Britain have reduced imports of Russian hydrocarbons in response to Putin's war in Ukraine. The Kremlin has similar problems with oil sales.

Today's headlines: WHO opens investigation into contaminated cough syrup produced in India and Indonesia, the probable cause of the deaths of more than 300 children; an appeal by a headmaster in Kabul urging fathers to accompany their daughters to school; Taiwan's president in a letter to the Pope rules out the "option" of war with Beijing; the first woman pastor ordained in the Holy Land.

Thousands of wild animals fall victim to banned agricultural pesticides. A side effect of Moscow's war on Ukraine. The complaint of hunters and fishermen in south-west Russia. Only the authorities in Stavropol admitted the problem and intervened.

Today's headlines: Chinese tourists return to Thailand's beaches after three years of Covid closures; the Taliban have arrested five people, including two Chinese, for trafficking in rocks containing lithium; Dubai is ready to build the first mosque with a 3D printer; a meeting between Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders on the Lačin corridor is under consideration.

Russia and China launch plans to help families to reverse the demographic trend. The war in Ukraine has exacerbated the problem of depopulation and aging in Russia. Chinese subsidies considered insufficient by experts. The Kremlin running out of funds.

On the Feast of the Baptism of Jesus, just past according to the Orthodox calendar, the Russian rite of immersion in the water of the kupel, through an opening in the frozen ice in the form of the Cross: if one survives the triple immersion in the water of icy death, then one can truly hope for new life.

Events and campaigns to choose a candidate for the 2024 presidential elections have begun. Uncertainty over the future role of the historic refounder Zyuganov, lukewarm on the attack on Ukraine. Russian Communists attempt to 'rebuild their patriotic virginity'.

For several observers, the Russians could wage war against another former Soviet republic. Kazakhstan's north is home to a large Russian-speaking population. The western regions, rich in gas and oil, are more attractive. Putin would intervene to save Kazakhstan 'from Western globalist exploitation'.

The Russian Orthodox Church remains faithful to the Julian calendar and celebrated it on 14 January. The Korjaks of Kamčatka start the year at the winter solstice, on 21 or 22 December. So do the čukči on the Alaskan border. In the Urals, khanty and mansi await the arrival of the crows in spring.

The great tune of Putin's propaganda, expressed in an increasingly radical and apocalyptic terms, echoes the latest statements by Iranian ayatollahs against charges of oppression of women and people: “We have our culture and our values, and no one can impose another way of life on us.”