Category World News

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One Battle After Another and Adolescence have dominated this year’s Golden Globes, taking home four awards each.

A politically charged black comedy loosely based on the 1990 novel Vineland, One Battle After Another won best comedy or musical on Sunday at the 83rd edition of the annual awards in Los Angeles.

The film, directed by Paul Thomas Anderson and starring Leonardo DiCaprio, also won the honours for director, screenplay and female in a supporting role.

Netflix hit Adolescence, which kickstarted a global conversation about online misogyny, won best limited series, anthology series or motion picture made for television, in addition to acting awards for three of its stars.

Actor Timothee Chalamet, 30, nabbed his first Golden Globe, picking up the award for best actor in a musical or comedy for his role in the sport comedy-drama Marty Supreme.

“My dad instilled in me a spirit of gratitude growing up: Always be grateful for what you have,” Chalamet said in his acceptance speech.

“It’s allowed me to leave this ceremony in the past empty-handed, my head held high, grateful just to be here. I’d be lying if I didn’t say those moments didn’t make this moment that much sweeter.”

Here is where things stand on Monday, January 12:

Fighting

• More than 1,000 apartment buildings in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, are still without heating three days after a devastating Russian attack, according to Ukrainian authorities.
• Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said in a statement on Telegram that not a single day passed this week without Russian attacks on energy facilities and critical infrastructure, which have totalled at least 44.
• A Ukrainian drone attack on the Russian city of Voronezh killed a woman and wounded three other people on Sunday, the region’s governor, Alexander Gusev, said.
• The governor said that more than 10 apartment buildings, about 10 private houses, a secondary school and several administrative buildings were also damaged in the attack on Voronezh.
• Russia’s Ministry of Defence claimed control of the village of Bilohirya in Ukraine’s southeastern Zaporizhia region, according to the TASS state news agency.
• The Ukrainian Ministry of Defence’s main intelligence directorate said that Russia deployed the new jet-powered “Geran-5” strike drone against Ukraine this month, for the first time. The Geran is a Russian variant of the Iranian-designed Shahed. The drone can carry a 90kg (200-pound) warhead and has a range of nearly 1,000km (620 miles).

Military aid

• The European Union’s defence commissioner, Andrius Kubilus, said the bloc should consider setting up a combined military force that could eventually replace US troops in Europe. Kubilus, a former Lithuanian prime minister, said such a force, numbering up to 100,000, would be a possible option to better protect Europe.

Politics and diplomacy

• The head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said it was now up to Russia to show it is interested in peace, after Kyiv and its allies agreed to implement a 20-point peace plan and security guarantees, which would take effect following a ceasefire.
• Von der Leyen said that, under the plan, Ukraine would rely first on its own armed forces, which she said were well-trained and battle-experienced. It would be the task of the Europeans to make sure the Ukrainian army is also well equipped, she said.
• Von der Leyen added that the second line of defence would be the so-called Coalition of the Willing – 35 states, including most EU countries as well as Canada, the UK, Australia, New Zealand and Turkiye.

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United States President Donald Trump has said that Washington is considering “strong options” in response to the protests in Iran, including possible military intervention.

“We’re looking at it very seriously. The military is looking at it, and we’re looking at some very strong options. We’ll make a determination,” he told reporters on board Air Force One late on Sunday.

He said Iran’s leadership had called, seeking “to negotiate” after his threats of military action, and that a “meeting is being set up”.

But he added that “we may have to act before a meeting”.

Trump’s latest threat came as Iranian leaders issued a stark warning against military intervention, with Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf saying “In the case of an attack on Iran, the occupied territories [Israel] as well as all US bases and ships will be our legitimate target”.

The protests began on December 28, when merchants at Tehran’s Grand Bazaar closed their shops over the Iranian rial’s plummeting value. The demonstrations quickly spread nationwide, with grievances evolving from economic concerns over soaring living costs to broader opposition against Iran’s clerical establishment, who have governed the country since the Islamic Revolution in 1979.

According to Iranian state media, at least 109 security personnel have been killed during the unrest, and authorities have not confirmed the number of demonstrators who have lost their lives.

But opposition activists based outside the country say the death toll is higher and includes hundreds of protesters.

A nationwide internet blackout has also persisted for more than 72 hours, according to monitoring groups.

The unrest in Iran is unfolding as Trump pursues an assertive foreign policy, having abducted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, and discussing acquiring Greenland by purchase or force.

Trump was scheduled to meet with senior advisers on Tuesday to discuss options for Iran, a ⁠US official told the Reuters news agency. The Wall Street Journal reported that options included military strikes, using secret cyberweapons, widening sanctions and providing online help to antigovernment sources.

Trump said on Sunday that he plans to speak with billionaire Elon Musk about restoring internet in Iran.

“He’s very good at that kind of thing, he’s got a very good company,” Trump told reporters in response ⁠to a question about whether he would engage with Musk’s SpaceX company, which offers a satellite ​internet service called Starlink that has been used in Iran.

The US leader also spoke on his plans for Greenland and Venezuela.

On Greenland, he called for the Danish Arctic territory to “make a deal”, and said “we are talking about acquiring it, not making a short term deal”.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has said her country faces a “decisive moment” over the future of Greenland after US President Donald Trump renewed his threats to seize the Arctic territory by force.

Ahead of meetings in Washington, DC, from Monday, on the global scramble for key raw materials, Frederiksen said that “there is a conflict over Greenland”.

“This is a decisive moment”, with stakes that go beyond the immediate issue of Greenland’s future, Frederiksen added in a debate with other Danish political leaders.

“We are ready to defend our values – wherever it is necessary  – also in the Arctic. We believe in international law and in peoples’ right to self-determination,” the prime minister posted on Facebook.

Germany and Sweden backed Denmark against Trump’s latest claims to the self-governing Danish territory.

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson condemned the US’s “threatening rhetoric” after Trump repeated that Washington was “going to do something on Greenland, whether they like it or not”.

“Sweden, the Nordic countries, the Baltic states, and several major European countries stand together with our Danish friends,” Kristersson told a defence conference in Salen, in which the US general in charge of NATO took part.

Kristersson said a US takeover of mineral-rich Greenland would be “a violation of international law, and risks encouraging other countries to act in exactly the same way”.

Germany reiterated its support for Denmark and Greenland ahead of the Washington discussions.

Before meeting his US counterpart, Marco Rubio, on Monday, German Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs Johann Wadehpul held talks in Iceland to address the “strategic challenges of the Far North”, according to a Foreign Ministry statement.

“Security in the Arctic is becoming more and more important”, and “is part of our common interest in NATO”, he said at a joint news conference with Icelandic Minister for Foreign Affairs Thorgerdur Katrin Gunnarsdottir.

The United Kingdom’s Telegraph newspaper reported on Saturday that military chiefs from the UK and other European countries were drawing up plans for a possible NATO mission in Greenland.

The newspaper said that UK officials had begun early-stage talks with Germany, France and others on plans that could involve deploying UK troops, warships and aircraft to protect Greenland from Russia and China.

UK Secretary of State for Transport Heidi Alexander told Sky News that talks on how to deter Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Arctic were “business as usual”.

“It’s becoming an increasingly contested geopolitical region, with Russia and China… you would expect us to be talking to all our allies in NATO about what we can do to deter Russian aggression in the Arctic Circle,” Alexander said.

In an interview with the Reuters news agency, Belgian Minister of Defence Theo Francken said that NATO should launch an operation in the Arctic to address US security concerns.

“We have to collaborate, work together and show strength and unity,” Francken said, adding that there is a need for “a NATO operation in the high north”.

Francken suggested NATO’s Baltic Sentry and Eastern Sentry operations, which combine forces from different countries with drones, sensors and other technology to monitor land and sea, as possible models for an “Arctic Sentry”.

Trump claims that controlling Greenland is crucial for US national security because of the rising Russian and Chinese military activity in the Arctic.

A Danish colony until 1953, Greenland gained home rule 26 years later and is contemplating eventually loosening its ties with Denmark.

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United States President Donald Trump’s administration has opened a criminal investigation into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, in a development set to heighten concerns about the independence of US monetary policy.

Powell said on Sunday that the central bank had been served with grand jury subpoenas related to his testimony about renovations to the Fed’s headquarters in Washington, DC.

“The threat of criminal charges is a consequence of the Federal Reserve setting interest rates based on our best assessment of what will serve the public, rather than following the preferences of the president,” Powell said in a rare video message.

“This is about whether the Fed will be able to continue to set interest rates based on evidence and economic conditions – or whether instead, monetary policy will be directed by political pressure or intimidation.”

Barcelona have retained the Spanish Super Cup with a thrilling 3-2 El Clasico win over Real Madrid in Saudi Arabia.

Raphinha struck twice for the Catalans on Sunday, with Robert Lewandowski also on target as they beat Xabi Alonso’s team for a record-extending 16th triumph, despite Frenkie de Jong’s late red card.

After Raphinha sent Barcelona ahead, Vinicius Junior pulled Madrid level with a fine individual goal to kick-start a frenetic end to the first half in Jeddah.

Lewandowski chipped Barca back in front, but Gonzalo Garcia struck deep in stoppage time to send the teams level at the break.

The battle was decided by a deflected Raphinha effort after 73 minutes, as Barca claimed the fourth trophy of coach Hansi Flick’s reign.

His Madrid counterpart, Xabi Alonso, began with French superstar Kylian Mbappe on the bench after he missed the semifinal win over Atletico with a knee sprain.

Hansi Flick, who led Barca to four Clasico wins over Madrid last season in four clashes, opted for Lewandowski up front over Ferran Torres and brought teenage star Lamine Yamal back in on the right wing.

It was a scrappy start in the Saudi Arabian evening heat, with Barcelona keeping the ball and Madrid sitting deep to resist them while looking to find Vinicius Junior on the counter.

The Brazilian had not scored in his previous 16 matches, but offered a potent threat, flying down the left and forcing Joan Garcia into the first save.

Raphinha also sprinted back to slide in on his compatriot as Vinicius tried to break through.

Barca began to turn up the heat on Madrid, and Raphinha found a breakthrough after 36 minutes.

Moments after the winger fired a fine chance badly wide, he made up for it with a low, early strike from just inside the area, across Thibaut Courtois and into the bottom corner.

Madrid pulled level with a superb Vinicius strike, floating in from the left, nutmegging Jules Kounde and tucking past Garcia.

Barcelona went back ahead four minutes into first-half stoppage time, with Lewandowski dinking home after being played in by Pedri.

However, Madrid rapidly hit back just before the interval through Gonzalo Garcia, who finished well while falling after Dean Huijsen’s header bounced back to him off the crossbar.

Slowing down

The second half was a calmer affair, with fewer chances as the teams slowed down.

Garcia saved from Rodrygo Goes’s low effort, while Courtois beat away a Yamal strike.

Mbappe was warming up on the sideline when Barcelona nosed ahead, with Raphinha’s shot from outside the box deflecting in off Raul Asencio to leave Courtois with no chance.

The Brazilian is in superb form, and it was his seventh goal in his last five matches across all competitions.

Alonso sent on Mbappe for the last 15 minutes, trying to find a third goal and force a penalty shootout.

The French forward could not get sight of the goal, but Barca midfielder De Jong was sent off for a high lunge on him.

Despite Madrid’s numerical advantage, Barca had the best chance in stoppage time, with Marcus Rashford firing wide when through on goal.

Asencio might have grabbed an equaliser at the death, but headed straight at Garcia.