North Korea
North Korea today fired two ballistic missiles into the sea in the fourth such launch this month. Pyongyang on Jan 5 and Jan 11 carried out test firings of a purported hypersonic missile and, on Friday, test-fired ballistic missiles from a train. Some analysts see such tests as the North showing off its military capabilities to pressure South Korea and the US into concessions. Pyongyang accuses Washington and Seoul of engaging in the same game by carrying out annual joint military drills.
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Mali
Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta, the former president of Mali, has died aged 76. Keïta, who swept to power in 2013 on a wave of optimism, was toppled by the military in 2020 after huge protests erupted against him. Mali’s military rulers have since launched a second coup, failed to hold promised elections and been kicked out of the African Union and regional body ECOWAS. Keita’s cause of death has not been specified.
More from Al Jazeera here.
Covid
In news that should come as a surprise to absolutely nobody, a report from Oxfam has found that the pandemic made the rich richer and the poor poorer. The wealth of the 10 richest men on the planet doubled, Oxfam said, while plummeting incomes for the world’s poorest people contributed to about 21,300 deaths each day. “There's been a new billionaire created almost every day during this pandemic,” Oxfam’s Danny Sriskandarajah told the BBC. “Meanwhile 99% of the world's population are worse off because of lockdowns, lower international trade, less international tourism, and as a result of that, 160 million more people have been pushed into poverty."
More from BBC here.