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Retired NATO general new president of the Czech Republic  

 

Retired NATO general Petr Pavel wins the Czech Republic's presidential election over billionaire and former prime minister Andrej Babis, reports AFP.  

 

With 80 percent of the votes counted, Pavel had received just over 56 percent of the votes against Babis's barely 44 percent.  

 

Prime Minister Petr Fiala, who supported Pavel during the election campaign, has congratulated him on his victory, Reuters reports.  

 

The pro-Western Pavel is expected to be able to bring the Czech Republic closer to the EU, while Babis is clearly EU-sceptic. He succeeds Milos Zeman, who previously had close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin but distanced himself after the invasion of Ukraine.  

 

Image from the beating death of Tire Nichols. AP 

 

Police violence in the United States  

Analysis: The question is asked – what does a black man's life mean?

 

The footage of the beating death of Tire Nichols in Memphis is "as shocking as it is poignant," writes Sky News' James Matthews in an analysis. He writes that the videos show how the five policemen quickly stir up the situation and that Nichols is the only one involved who, in vain, tries to calm the situation down. 

 

 "It's hard to watch as he wrestles to the ground and calls out for his mother, the last words he would ever utter," he writes. 

 

DN's Karin Eriksson writes that the incident shows how little has happened in terms of police brutality in the US since the widespread protests in 2020. She writes that the difference between this case and previous cases of police violence that drew attention is that the perpetrators this time are also black. 

 

But even black police officers can be affected by racism in the force, notes Eriksson.  

 

"Last night the question was asked again in the United States: What does a black man's life mean? What does his death mean?”, she writes.   

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Right now  

 

Three dead in new shooting in Los Angeles  

 

Three people have been killed and four are injured after a shooting in Los Angeles, AP reports. The three who were killed were in a car, according to the Los Angeles Times.  

 

According to the newspaper, the perpetrator has not yet been arrested. 

 

The incident is the fourth mass shooting, events in which at least four people were shot, in California in January. 

 

Last year, there were over 600 mass shootings in the United States, according to the Gun Violence Archive. 

 

Illustration image. JUSTIN SULLIVAN / AFP  

 

US growth 

More and more Americans are finding it difficult to pay the car loan  

 

More and more American borrowers are having difficulty paying their loans. That's what TT writes and refers to Bloomberg.  

 

For a specific type of car loan, the percentage of late payments is higher now than it was in January 2009, when the financial crisis hit.  

 

The percentage of overdue car loans with a higher risk class increased to 5.7 percent in December, up from just under 3 percent in 2021 and 5 percent in 2009. 

 

Interest rates on a US car loan averaged 8.02 percent in December, up from 5.15 percent a year earlier, according to the company Cox Automotive.