January 13, 2023

*) Ukraine says its forces hold out against Russia in Soledar Ukrainian forces in the eastern city of Soledar are holding their positions and inflicting significant losses on Russian forces, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said. Two Ukrainian units in Soledar, which Zelenskyy said "are holding their positions and inflicting significant losses on the enemy.” The mercenary group Wagner, run by an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, claims to have taken Soledar after intense fighting that it said had left the town strewn with Ukrainian dead. *) Black man Keenan Anderson 'Tased to death' by US police Keenan Anderson, cousin of a Black Lives Matter [BLM] co-founder has died in the hospital, hours after police in Los Angeles repeatedly restrained and tasered him with a stun gun. Anderson went into cardiac arrest four hours later and died at a hospital in Santa Monica. Los Angeles Police Department released body-cam footage of the incident on January 3rd, showing Anderson pleading for help while police officers are seen restraining him and tasering him multiple times. According to Los Angeles Police Chief Michel Moore, Anderson attempted to flee after a car crash and police used force to restrain him. *) Senior Türkiye official condemns Sweden over provocative PKK/YPG event Türkiye urges Sweden to cut its support to terrorists and their sympathisers in the Nordic country immediately, after loyalists of the PKK/YPG terror group organised a provocative event in capital Stockholm. Turkish Communications Director Fahrettin Altun accused Stockholm of going back on its past promises to Ankara. Altun said, “We are not interested in words but rather in action. We anticipate the commitments made in the Madrid trilateral memorandum to be fulfilled." *) Israeli troops kill three Palestinians in occupied West Bank raids Israeli forces killed three Palestinians in two separate incidents in the occupied West Bank, Palestine's Health Ministry said, as Israeli troops reported opening fire on fleeing suspects and "bei