PAKISTAN: Police said they arrested 21 members of the Pakistani Taliban today.

The group is suspected of a number of terrorist attacks, but details of the crimes of those arrested were not released.

Though the Pakistani military has long been accused of maintaining ties to the Taliban in Afghanistan, which is once again in government after routing a US-led occupying army in 2021, Pakistan’s Taliban is outlawed.

UNITED STATES: The minimum wage in New York City rose by a dollar to $16 (£12.60) an hour today in the first of a series of scheduled annual raises.

It compares favourably with Britain’s minimum wage, which is due to rise to £11.44 an hour in April.

In the rest of the state the rate rises from $14.20 to $15.

UKRAINE WAR: Russia and Ukraine exchanged barrages of missiles and drones today, with at least one killed by Russian and five by Ukrainian bombardments.

A Russian missile struck a Lviv museum dedicated to Nazi collaborator Roman Shukhevych, a Ukrainian Insurgent Army commander involved in the Galicia-Volhynia massacres of tens of thousands of Poles, prompting city Mayor Andriy Sadvovyi to declare “a war for our history.”

Ukraine’s post-2014 regime portrays wartime Nazi collaborators as “freedom fighters” against the USSR.

DENMARK: Queen Margrethe II will abdicate after a 52-year reign on January 14, with the throne going to Crown Prince Frederik.

Denmark is one of 10 European countries that retain a hereditary monarchy, the largest of which are Britain and Spain. Denmark’s claims the oldest lineage, dating back to Viking ruler Gorm the Old in 936AD.