Albania's ex-president is accused of corruption
Albania's former prime minister and president Sali Berisha was placed under house arrest on Saturday after accusations of corruption, news agencies write. According to prosecutors, Berisha used his influence as prime minister to favor his son-in-law's business between 2005 and 2009.
The 79-year-old is today the leader of the country's largest opposition party, the Democratic Party of Albania. He denies wrongdoing and in turn accuses Prime Minister Edi Rama of a political attack aimed at silencing the opposition.
The prosecutor has not yet presented his final indictment.
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New Year's celebration
New Year in danger after storms in England - trains cancelled
Flooding in a tunnel in the south of England is causing trouble for New Year's revelers who intended to ring in the new year abroad, reports Sky News. All Eurostars trains to and from London have been canceled on Saturday, and many travelers are now stranded at train stations.
Among them are Christina David and Georgina Benyamin from Sydney.
They have been traveling around Europe for three weeks and the plan was that on Saturday morning they would take the train to Paris.
- There were lots of people crying... we don't know where to go, we have nowhere to live, says David.
There is really bad weather all over England during the New Year's weekend.
Warnings have been issued in several parts of the country, writes Sky.
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Political situation in Somalia
The breakaway state of Somaliland in new talks with Somalia
After two days of mediator-led talks, Somalia and the breakaway state of Somaliland have agreed to try to resolve the conflicts between the parties, AFP reports.
Somaliland declared independence from Somalia in 1991, but has not been recognized by the international community. Through the new agreement signed in Djibouti, they promise to cooperate on security issues, against organized crime and for peace in the conflict-ridden region.
The most recent negotiations stalled in 2020. As recently as September this year, Somaliland's government rejected all talks of reunification. It has previously been a priority for Somalia, but now the hard line seems to have softened, according to Al Mayadeen TV channel.
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Parliamentary elections in Serbia
Biggest protest so far in Belgrade - calls for re-election
After two weeks of daily protests since Serbian elections on December 17, several thousand people gathered in the largest demonstration yet in Belgrade on Saturday, according to AFP.
- The election must be redone, said opposition leader Marinika Tepic, who was helped onto the stage by her colleagues, weakened by her hunger strike since the election, according to Reuters.
International election observers and independent organizations have documented undue influence and vote buying by President Aleksandar Vucic's SNS party.
In a clip from the demonstration on the TV channel N1 Beograd, the actor Svetlana Bojkovic reads out a long list of allegations of irregularities. One of them was cancer patients who were allegedly persuaded to support the ruling party in exchange for being promoted on the waiting list.
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The Israel-Hamas war|The attacks
Netanyahu: The war will last for many months
The
war in Gaza will continue for many more months, Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu said in a televised speech on Saturday evening,
according to AFP.
There will be no talk of a break until Hamas is "eradicated" completely and all hostages have been released, was the message.
- Step by step we are depriving Hamas of their capabilities [...] we will also eliminate the leaders.
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Elon Musk's X/Twitter
The FT forecast: Musk drives X out of business by 2024
Social media platform X will go out of business in 2024. That's one of the predictions when Financial Times writers look into the crystal ball.
Silicon Valley correspondent Richard Waters notes that Elon Musk has a habit of trying to justify with threats of bankruptcy, as he did in both Tesla and Space X.
"But this time, when advertising collapses and attempts to create new revenue streams fail, the likelihood is high that it will happen," he writes.
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