WASHINGTON, 11 January 2023, (TON): Divisive new Speaker Kevin McCarthy faces the first test of his ability to lead the chaotic US House of Representatives as Republicans seek to approve a rules package determining how they will govern.

An evening vote on the blueprint which has caused alarm over its concessions to the Republican right comes on the heels of one of the most turbulent weeks ever in the lower chamber of Congress.

Lawmakers almost came to blows in the newly Republican-controlled House as McCarthy was forced to go through 15 rounds of voting over four days to overcome a far right blockade to his candidacy.

A publicly available 55-page rules package lays out Republican priorities for the remainder of Democratic President Joe Biden’s term and the operating procedures the party will adopt.

NEW DELHI, 11 January 2023, (TON): Indian authorities will demolish some buildings in a northern Himalayan town near the China border after evacuating families in the past few days, an official said, as hundreds of houses developed cracks in the area popular with pilgrims.

Experts and residents have long warned that large-scale construction work in and around Joshimath town, including for power projects built by companies like state-run NTPC, could lead to land subsidence.

NTPC, India’s largest power producer, says its tunnelling and other work is not responsible for the cracks in the town of about 17,000 people.

Joshimath is a gateway to Hindu and Sikh shrines and is popular with tourists looking to trek parts of the Himalayas.

SALVADOR, 11 January 2023, (TON): Thousands of Brazilians who support former president Jair Bolsonaro invaded the Supreme Court, presidential palace and Congress on Jan. 8 in an episode that closely resembled the U.S. Capitol insurrection in 2021.

The groups were able to break through police barricades along the capital Brasilia’s main boulevard and storm the buildings, damage furniture, smash windows and destroy artworks. As they unleashed chaos in the capital, Bolsonaro was holed up in Florida, home to his ally, former U.S. President Donald Trump.

The incident sparked accusations that Bolsonaro’s actions stoked the flames of dissent and ultimately produced the uprising.

WASHINGTON, 11 January 2023, (TON): The United States will host the 10th Conference of the States Parties of the UN Convention against Corruption in Atlanta, Georgia from December 11-15, 2023.

The conference is the preeminent global forum focused on implementation of the anti-corruption commitments enshrined within the treaty.

It will convene the 189 states parties to the UNCAC, as well as a variety of civil society stakeholders from around the world to focus on ways to advance anti-corruption obligations and policy priorities.

The United States looks forward to hosting this important meeting during the 20th anniversary of the UNCAC.

BEIJING, 11 January 2023, (TON): China began retaliating on Tuesday against South Korea and Japan, two of the countries which have imposed COVID-19 curbs on travellers from China, the last major economy to reopen its borders after three years of isolation.

China’s embassy in Seoul said it has suspended the issuance of short-term visas for visitors from South Korea.

Japan’s Kyodo news agency reported that Beijing has imposed similar measures against Japan.

China reopened its borders on Sunday, removing the last major restriction that was part of a “zero-COVID” regime which it abruptly began dismantling in early December after historic protests against the curbs.

DUBAI, 11 January 2023, (TON): a Navy spokesman said “the US Navy seized over 2,100 assault rifles from a ship in the Gulf of Oman it believes came from Iran and were bound for Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels.”

It was the latest capture of weapons allegedly heading to the Arab world’s poorest country.

The seizure last Friday happened after a team from the USS Chinook, a Cyclone-class coastal patrol boat, boarded a traditional wooden sailing vessel known as a dhow. They discovered the Kalashnikov-style rifles individually wrapped in green tarps aboard the ship, said Cmdr.

Timothy Hawkins, a spokesman for the Navy’s Mideast-based 5th Fleet.

The Chinook, along with the patrol boat USS Monsoon and the guided missile destroyer USS The Sullivans, took possession of the weapons.

TORONTO, 11 January 2023, (TON): Canada confirmed Monday the purchase of 88 US F-35 fighter jets to replace its aging fleet for 19 billion Canadian dollars, the largest investment in 30 years.

The order was announced last March by Ottawa.

Defense Minister Anita Anand said “as our world grows darker, with Russia’s illegal and unjustifiable invasion of Ukraine, and China’s increasingly assertive behavior in the Indo Pacific, this project has taken on heightened significance.”

She said “this is the moment that we need to ensure the defense of our country including our Arctic.”

The agreement with Washington and US companies Lockheed Martin and Pratt & Whitney calls for the first aircraft to be delivered in 2026 and the entire fleet between 2032 and 2034.

RAMALLAH, 10 January 2023, (TON): Palestinian prime minister Mohammad Shtayyeh on Monday described a raft of Israeli measures as a “new war” against the Palestinian Authority aimed at pushing it “to the brink”.

Israel’s new right-wing government said on Friday that it will withhold millions of dollars in tax revenues from the Palestinian Authority.

This followed the Authority’s successful lobbying for a UN General Assembly vote referring Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories to the International Court of Justice.

The Palestinian premier said the retaliatory measures amounted to “a new war against the Palestinian people, their capabilities and their funds, and a war against the national authority (PA) and its survival.”

BEIJING, 10 January 2023, (TON): The Foreign Ministry announced “China’s new Foreign Minister Qin Gang is starting his term with a weeklong trip to five African countries.”

Qin, who until recently was ambassador to the United States, will visit Ethiopia, Gabon, Angola, Benin and Egypt from Jan. 9-16, spokesperson Wang Wenbin said at a daily media briefing. In Egypt, Qin will also meet the secretary-general of the Arab League.

The new foreign minister is following in the footsteps of his predecessors, who have for more than three decades started each year with a trip to Africa.

Wang said “it shows that China attaches great importance to the traditional friendship with Africa and the development of China-Africa relations.”

TEHRAN, 10 January 2023, (TON): The judiciary said “Iran has sentenced to death three people accused of killing three members of the security forces during the protests triggered by the death of Mahsa Amini.”

The Islamic republic has been rocked by civil unrest since the September 16 death of Kurdish Iranian Amini, 22, following her arrest for allegedly violating Iran’s strict dress code for women.

The latest sentences, which can still be appealed, bring to 17 the total number of people condemned to death in connection with the more than three months of protests.

Four of those convicted have been executed and two others are on death row after their sentences were upheld by the country’s supreme court.