World News Roundup: Czech, Slovak farmers block borders in protest; Denmark unveils Ukraine aid package, urges allies to give more and more

Following is a summary of current world news briefs. Denmark unveils Ukraine aid package, urges allies to give more Denmark announced a new 1.7 billion crown ($247.4 million) military aid package for Ukraine on Thursday and made an urgent appeal to allies to step up donations to help the country in its war with Russia.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Denmark unveils Ukraine aid package, urges allies to give more

Denmark announced a new 1.7 billion crown ($247.4 million) military aid package for Ukraine on Thursday and made an urgent appeal to allies to step up donations to help the country in its war with Russia. The package will bring total donations by Denmark to Ukraine to 33.3 billion crowns since Russia's invasion two years ago. The NATO member has been a staunch supporter of Ukraine and is among the biggest contributors of military aid relative to the size of its economy.

Yulia Navalnaya says she and daughter Dasha are comforting each other

Alexei Navalny's wife Yulia said on Thursday that she and her daughter Dasha were together and comforting each other following the opposition politician's sudden death last week in a Russian penal colony. Yulia Navalnaya posted a photograph on X showing her and Dasha, huddled together - Yulia looking into the camera with her hand over her mouth, and Dasha wrapped in a black coat and gazing sadly into space.

Czech, Slovak farmers block borders in protest

Farmers from the Czech Republic, Slovakia and other central European countries protested along Czech borders on Thursday, blocking some crossings as they demanded less bureaucracy and changes to EU policy. Farmers across Europe have been stepping up protests this year, including in Poland, France, Germany, Spain and Italy, complaining of low prices and high costs, cheap imports and constraints from the EU's Green Deal climate change initiative.

As war with Russia enters third year, US aid to Ukraine hangs in the balance

Top Biden administration officials spent last weekend in Europe trying to soothe jitters over the prospect of U.S. military aid to Ukraine ending, assuring counterparts from Paris, Berlin and Kyiv as the war enters its third year that Washington will somehow come through. Just two days later, the Republican Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, who has so far blocked passage of a bill that includes $60 billion in new funding for Ukraine, posted a picture of himself smiling with former Republican President Donald Trump, who has opposed aid for Kyiv.

China asks World Court to speak out on 'unlawful' Israeli occupation

China asked the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Thursday to give its opinion on Israel's occupation of the Palestinian Territories, which it said was illegal. "Justice has been long delayed, but it must not be denied," China's Foreign Ministry's legal adviser Ma Xinmin told the court in The Hague, in the Netherlands.

How life in Ukraine has been shattered by two years of war

Wives have become widows, parents long for captured sons, classrooms are empty and farmers can't find the hands to work the land. Unlikely friendships have formed; old ones have fallen apart. Even in the village of Lozuvatka, about 100 km (60 miles) from the frontlines, signs are everywhere of a two-year-old war that has irrevocably changed the face of Ukraine.

Pakistan ex-PM Imran Khan urges IMF to call election audit, his lawyer says

Pakistan's jailed former prime minister Imran Khan will write to the IMF urging it to call for an independent audit of the country's controversial Feb. 8 national elections before it continues talks with Islamabad, his lawyer said on Thursday. Pakistan averted default last summer thanks to a short term International Monetary Fund bailout, but the programme expires next month and a new government will have to negotiate a long-term arrangement to keep the $350 billion economy stable.

Israel hits Gaza's Rafah; Hamas chief's trip raises truce hopes

Israeli bombs on Rafah flattened a mosque and destroyed homes in what residents called one of their worst nights yet, while the Hamas chief was in Cairo for talks Gazans hope could bring a truce in time to head off a full-blown assault on the city. Mourners wept over at least seven corpses in body bags, laid out on cobbles outside a morgue in the city hard against the Egyptian border, where over half of the Palestinian enclave's 2.3 million people are now huddling, mostly in tents.

Israel to test Gaza day-after vision with 'humanitarian pockets'

Israel is seeking Palestinians who are not affiliated with Hamas to manage civilian affairs in areas of the Gaza Strip designed as testing grounds for post-war administration of the enclave, a senior Israeli official said on Thursday. But Hamas said the plan, which the Israeli official said would also exclude anybody on the payroll of the internationally recognised Palestinian Authority (PA), would effectively mean an Israeli reoccupation of Gaza and was doomed to failure.

UK backs outgoing Dutch PM Rutte to become next NATO chief

Britain is backing outgoing Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte to succeed Jens Stoltenberg as the next secretary general of the NATO alliance, the Foreign Office said on Thursday. Stoltenberg's successor when he steps down in October will take office at a crucial time, tasked with sustaining NATO members' support for Ukraine's costly defence against the Russian invasion while guarding against any escalation that would draw the alliance directly into a war with Russia.