Peruvian ex-President Pedro Castillo’s pre-trial detention in prison was extended to 18 months on Thursday, amid a deepening diplomatic spat with left-leaning countries opposed to his removal and as deadly protests extended into a second week.

At least 15 people have been killed in the protests, according to statements from authorities.

A judicial panel within the Supreme Court ordered the extended period of pre-trial detention for Castillo as prosecutors continued an investigation into criminal charges against him.

The decision did not touch on the merits of accusations faced by Castillo, who has been charged with rebellion and conspiracy, but a Supreme Court judge heading up the panel cited the risk of flight by the deposed president.

Castillo has denied all the charges and has said he remains the country’s lawful president.

Protesters gathered outside the jail where he was detained, holding up banners criticizing new President Dina Boluarte and calling for Congress to be shuttered.

“We only want the voice of the people to be heard. The people are demanding that they bring back our president,” said protester Gloria Machuca.

Protests have threatened logistics at major copper mines and led to a curfew being declared across swaths of the Andean country.

The leftist Castillo, a former teacher and son of peasant farmers, won a narrow election victory last year running under the banner of the Marxist Free Peru party. He was removed by an overwhelming vote of lawmakers who accused him of “permanent moral incapacity” just hours after he ordered the Congress dissolved on Dec. 7.

Four nations led by leftist presidents – Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia and Mexico – this week signed onto a joint statement declaring Castillo “a victim of undemocratic harassment.”

A bloc of left-wing countries meeting in Havana, including Cuba, Bolivia, Venezuela and Nicaragua, also backed the jailed Castillo, rejecting what they described as “the political framework created by right-wing forces.”

Foreign Minister Ana Cecilia Gervasi, new to the post after Boluarte took over from Castillo last week, responded Thursday morning by summoning home Peru’s ambassadors in Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia and Mexico for consultation.

Gervasi wrote on Twitter that the consultations “relate to interference in the internal affairs of Peru.”

She did not specify when the talks would take place or what other actions Boluarte’s government might take.

Peru’s constitution allows a president to shut down Congress, but only if lawmakers twice approve motions of no confidence in the president’s Cabinet, which did not happen on the day of his ousting last Wednesday.

Boluarte’s week-old administration, which she has said will be a transitional government, has been recognized by Chile’s leftist president and by Uruguay, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Canada and the United States.

Protesters continued to block roads on Thursday, despite the government’s enacting a state of emergency a day earlier. That granted special powers to the armed forces and police and limited citizens’ freedoms, including the right to assembly.

The public ombudsman, saying the armed forces had used firearms and dropped tear gas bombs on protesters from helicopters, demanded the practices be immediately stopped.

The political crisis is presenting a risk to production at major copper mines in the Andean nation, the world’s second-largest producer of the metal. Highway blockages, particularly in key mining regions in the south, have begun to complicate supply to and from mines, such as MMG’s (1208.HK) huge Las Bambas mine, which produces some 2% of the world’s copper.

Other major mine operators in Peru include Anglo American (AAL.L) and a partnership of BHP (BHP.AX) and Glencore (GLEN.L) on the vast Antamina deposit.

Late on Thursday, the government imposed a curfew on 15 local provinces, mostly in rural Andean regions.

Local television showed a line of dozens of vehicles stranded on the side of a key coastal highway south of Lima and hundreds of protesters placing stones on roads in the regions of Puno and Arequipa and the tourist hub of Cusco.

The protests have also stranded dozens of tourists, including children, in a remote mountain town.

A large union, the General Confederation of Workers, weighed in with a call for a “day of fighting,” as protesters demanded immediate elections and the resignation of Boluarte.

In a post on Twitter before the pre-trial detention ruling came down, Castillo blasted a meeting between the U.S. ambassador to Peru and the presidential palace. Without citing evidence, he said it had led to the order to deploy troops and the “massacre my defenseless people.”

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A landslide killed at least 12 people while they slept at a campsite in Malaysia early on Friday, officials said, as search teams scoured thick mud and downed trees for more than 20 people still missing.

The landslide in Selangor state, on the outskirts of capital, Kuala Lumpur, occurred about 3 a.m. (1900 GMT), tearing down a hillside into an organic farm with camping facilities, the state fire and rescue department said in a statement.

More than 90 people were caught in the landslide and 59 had been found safe, with 22 still missing, according to messages on social media by the department.

In addition to the 12 dead, eight were hospitalised, it said.

One of those taken to the hospital was pregnant, while others had injuries ranging from minor cuts to a suspected spinal injury, health minister Zaliha Mustafa told a news conference.

District police chief Suffian Abdullah said the dead were all Malaysians and included a child about 5 years old.

Almost 400 people from several agencies had been deployed, with search-and-rescue efforts ongoing, he told a news conference.

The landslide came down from an estimated height of 30 metres (100 ft) above the campsite, and covered an area of about one acre (0.4 hectare), according to the fire and rescue department’s state director.

Footage from local television showed the aftermath of a large landslide through a steep, forested area beside a road, while other images on social media showed rescue workers clambering over thick mud, large trees and other debris.

“I pray that the missing victims can be found safely soon,” Malaysia’s minister of natural resources, environment and climate change, Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad, tweeted on Friday morning, one of several ministers who were heading to the scene. “The rescue team has been working since early. I’m going down there today.”

The disaster struck about 50km (30 miles) north of Kuala Lumpur in Batang Kali town, just outside the popular hilltop area of Genting Highlands, an area known for its resorts, waterfalls and natural beauty.

Pictures posted on the Father’s Organic Farm Facebook page show a farmhouse in a small valley, with a large area where tents can be set up.

Selangor is the country’s most affluent state and has suffered landslides before, often attributed to forest and land clearance.

The region is in its rainy season but no heavy rain or earthquakes were recorded overnight.

A year ago, about 21,000 people were displaced by flooding from torrential rain in seven states across the country.

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A New York appeals court on Thursday ruled that Yeshiva University must formally recognize an LGBTQ student group, rejecting the Jewish school’s claims that doing so would violate its religious rights and values.

The ruling by the Appellate Division in Manhattan marked the latest setback for the university in its fight to avoid recognizing Y.U. Pride Alliance in a case that conservative U.S. Supreme Court justices have signaled interest in reviewing. read more

The court upheld a judge’s ruling that the school did not qualify as a “religious corporation,” which would exempt it from prohibitions against discrimination by a place or provider of public accommodation under the New York City Human Rights Law.

That law bans discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, religion, race, gender, age, national origin and some other factors.

The unanimous four-judge panel also said requiring Yeshiva to recognize the club did not violate its rights under the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment to the free exercise of religion, saying the law was “neutral and generally applicable.”

Katie Rosenfeld, a lawyer for Y.U. Pride Alliance, in a statement said the ruling affirmed that the school “cannot discriminate against its LGBTQ+ students by continuing its refusal to recognize the YU Pride Alliance.”

Yeshiva, a Modern Orthodox Jewish university based in Manhattan, in a statement said it would “continue on appeal to defend against the claim that we are not a religious institution.”

YU Pride Alliance agreed in September to hold off on forcing Yeshiva to recognize it while the school pursued its appeals after the school briefly halted all student club activities. read more

It did so after the U.S. Supreme Court in a 5-4 decision earlier that month declined to block the New York judge’s June ruling requiring it to recognize the club.

Four conservative justices dissented including Justice Samuel Alito, who said Yeshiva’s First Amendment rights appeared to be violated and that the court would likely take the case up if Yeshiva lost its lower-court appeals.

China put a priority on protecting rural communities from COVID-19 on Friday as millions of city-dwellers planned holidays for the first time in years after Beijing abandoned its stringent system of lockdowns and travel curbs.

China’s move last week to start aligning with a world that has largely opened up to live with the virus, followed historic protests against President Xi Jinping’s signature ‘zero-COVID’ policies designed to stamp out COVID.

But the excitement that met this dramatic u-turn has quickly given way to concerns that China is unprepared for the wave of infections to come, even though officials have been trying to downplay the dangers posed by the less severe new COVID strain.

China reported 2,157 new symptomatic COVID-19 infections for Dec. 15 compared with 2,000 a day. The official figures, however, have become less reliable as testing has dropped. It also stopped reporting asymptomatic figures on Wednesday.

There is particular concern about China’s hinterland in the run up to China’s Lunar New Year holiday starting on Jan. 22.

Rural areas are likely to be inundated with travellers returning to their hometowns and villages, which have had little exposure to the virus during the three years since the pandemic erupted.

China’s National Health Commission on Friday said it was ramping up vaccinations, especially for the elderly, and building stocks of ventilators, essential drugs, and test kits in rural areas.

Mainland China’s international borders remain largely shut, but recent decisions to abandon testing prior to domestic travel and disable apps that tracked people’s journey history have freed up people to move around the country.

Multiple cities including the capital Beijing and those in the southwest Sichuan, central Hunan and eastern Zhejiang and Anhui provinces have also opened new vaccination sites to encourage the public to take booster shots, the state-run Global Times newspaper reported.

“Go all out” was the message from China’s state asset regulator in a statement late Thursday that urged government-owned drugmakers to ensure supplies of COVID-related medicines.

On the streets, there are increasing signs of chaos during China’s change of tack – including long queues outside fever clinics, runs on medicines and panic buying across the country.

SF Express (002352.SZ)
, one of China’s largest courier services, said on its official WeChat account that it sent in workers from across the country to keep deliveries going in Beijing amid staff shortages and soaring demand.

It also said it had started a “fast track” for emergency shipments such as medicines and daily necessities, with demand in the capital 300% above normal levels in recent days.

The COVID scare in China also led people in Hong Kong, Macau and in some neighbourhoods in Australia to go in search for fever medicines and test kits for family and friends on the mainland.

For all its efforts to quell the virus since it erupted in the central city of Wuhan in late 2019, China may now pay a price for shielding a population that lacks “herd immunity” and has low vaccination rates among the elderly, analysts said.

That has dented the prospects for any near-term rebound in growth, even if the opening up should eventually revive the world’s second largest economy.

JP Morgan on Friday revised down its expectations for China’s 2022 growth to 2.8%, which is well below China’s official target of 5.5% and would mark one of China’s worst performances in almost half a century.

China is bracing for “a transitional pain period”, analysts at the bank said, adding they expected infections to spike in the months after the Lunar New Year holidays before the economy starts to recover in the middle of 2023.

Investors are also waiting to hear about government plans to revive the ailing economy.

President Xi, his ruling Politburo and senior government officials are holding their annual Central Economic Work Conference this week, according to three sources with direct knowledge of the matter.

State media, however, have been unusually silent about the meeting and Bloomberg reported earlier this week that the start of the conference had been delayed due to surging infections in Beijing.

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Twitter on Thursday suspended the accounts of several prominent journalists who recently wrote about its new owner Elon Musk, with the billionaire tweeting that rules banning the publishing of personal information applied to all, including journalists.

Responding to a Tweet on the account suspensions, Musk, who has portrayed himself as a free speech absolutist, tweeted: “Same doxxing rules apply to ‘journalists’ as to everyone else,” a reference to Twitter rules banning the sharing of personal information, called doxxing.

Musk’s tweet referred to Twitter’s Wednesday suspension of @elonjet, an account tracking his private jet in real time using data available in the public domain. Musk had threatened legal action against the account’s operator, saying his son had been mistakenly followed by a “crazy stalker”.

It was unclear if all the journalists whose accounts were suspended had commented on or shared news about @elonjet.

“Criticizing me all day long is totally fine, but doxxing my real-time location and endangering my family is not,” Musk tweeted on Thursday.

He had tweeted last month that his commitment to free speech extended “even to not banning the account following my plane, even though that is a direct personal safety risk”. He later tweeted there would be a seven-day suspension for doxxing.

He followed up on Thursday by posting a poll asking Twitter users to vote on when to reinstate accounts of those who had doxxed his “exact location in real-time.”

Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Among the journalist accounts suspended was that of Washington Post reporter Drew Harwell (@drewharwell), who wrote on social media platform Mastodon that he had recently written about Musk and posted links to “publicly available, legally acquired data.”

Sally Buzbee, the Post’s executive editor, said Harwell’s suspension undermined Musk’s claims that he intended to run Twitter as a platform dedicated to free speech.

Twitter also suspended the official account of Mastodon (@joinmastodon), which has emerged as an alternative to Twitter since Musk bought it for $44 billion in October. Mastodon could not immediately be reached for comment.

In a move Musk said reflected his commitment to free speech, Musk reinstated the account of former President Donald Trump, who had been suspended from Twitter over his actions surrounding the Jan. 6, 2021, siege of the U.S. Capitol.

“I hope that even my worst critics remain on Twitter, because that is what free speech means,” Musk had tweeted in April.

Twitter is operating with much-diminished staff as thousands have been fired since Musk took over. It is now leaning heavily on automation to moderate content, doing away with certain manual reviews and favoring restrictions on distribution rather than removing certain speech outright, its new head of trust and safety Ella Irwin told Reuters this month.

The accounts of Times reporter Ryan Mac (@rmac18), CNN reporter Donie O’Sullivan (@donie), and Mashable reporter Matt Binder @MattBinder were also suspended on Thursday, as was that of independent journalist Aaron Rupar (@atrupar), who covers U.S. policy and politics.

Mac recently posted a number of Twitter threads on the @elonjet suspension and interviewed Jack Sweeney, the 20-year-old operator of the account.

A spokesperson for The New York Times said: “Tonight’s suspension of the Twitter accounts of a number of prominent journalists, including The New York Times’s Ryan Mac, is questionable and unfortunate. Neither The Times nor Ryan have received any explanation about why this occurred. We hope that all of the journalists’ accounts are reinstated and that Twitter provides a satisfying explanation for this action.”

CNN said “the impulsive and unjustified” suspensions were concerning but not surprising. The network said it had asked Twitter for an explanation and would reevaluate its relationship with the platform based on that response.

The other reporters could not immediately be reached for comment.

If you were to ask a friend which Korean drama series they’d recommend, chances are last year’s Squid Game would be high on their list.

Not only did the show pull off a record-breaking 1.65 billion hours of viewing in its first 28 days on Netflix, it also won multiple prestigious awards—including two Emmys, one for outstanding lead actor and one for outstanding guest actress in a drama series. But most importantly, it showcased on a global scale the South Korean entertainment industry’s creativity and ability to innovate on the small screen.

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This year was another stellar year for K-drama and general Korean content at Netflix, following a 500 million-dollar investment in South Korean production stages and content in the past two years. The streaming platform reported that over 60% of their users watched Korean content in 2022. In the past year, Korean content has made it on Netflix’s Weekly Top 10 chart in more than 90 countries—and three of its top 10 most popular non-English shows ever are from South Korea (Squid Game, All of Us Are Dead, and Extraordinary Attorney Woo).

Whether you’re a complete newcomer looking to dip your toe in Netflix’s pool of Korean dramas or a seasoned fan looking to expand your list of shows to watch, here are the 10 best shows that dropped this year. All titles are available to watch on Netflix USA and are listed in no particular order.

 

Extraordinary Attorney Woo

Legal dramas are nothing new, but Extraordinary Attorney Woo brings a fresh spin to the genre by featuring an autistic rookie lawyer as the titular character. Park Eun-bin sensitively portrays Woo Young-woo, who uses her savant-like attributes (including a photographic memory) to represent her clients and help solve legal cases. Many viewers have praised the show for its nuanced depiction of issues surrounding workplace accessibility and the various prejudices people with disabilities face in society. The 16-episode drama series became Netflix’s sixth most popular non-English show of all time, spending 20 weeks on the Global Non-English Top 10 list—the only show to do so since Squid Game.

All Of Us Are Dead

Fans of the zombie genre will enjoy this series about a group of Korean teenagers who find themselves trapped in a school amid a mysterious virus outbreak that turns victims into angry flesh-eating monsters. Based on a webtoon, Now at Our School by Joo Dong-geun, All Of Us Are Dead is a blood-soaked emotional roller coaster featuring convincing performances from rookie actors. The plot is driven mainly by the usual adolescent angst and apprehension about the future, but what separates this teenage hormone-fueled series from other shows is the drama fueled by just how far a person—especially one who’s been bullied—will go for vengeance.

Read More: Squid Game and All of Us Are Dead Made Her a Star. Now Lee You-mi Is Forging Her Own Path

Juvenile Justice

Veteran actor Kim Hye-soo returns to the small screen for Juvenile Justice, a procedural legal drama. Kim plays Sim Eun-seok, a newly appointed judge at a juvenile court who has made it abundantly clear she dislikes young offenders and believes the law must severely punish them. Balancing her temperament is associate judge Cha Tae-joo (played by Kim Moo-yeol) who believes in giving second chances. The series tackles issues like murder and sexual abuse, and viewers are encouraged to ask themselves whether the punishment that Eun-seok metes out fits the crime. The series is particularly captivating in developing the arc of Eun-seok as it slowly unveils the reasons behind her disdain for juvenile offenders and her years-long pursuit of justice.

Twenty-Five Twenty-One

Twenty-Five Twenty-One is a coming-of-age story that takes place in the late ‘90s, when the IMF crisis crashes South Korea’s economy. The plot centers on Na Hee-do (played by Kim Tae-ri of Mr. Sunshine fame), a high school student who dreams of becoming an Olympian fencer one day, and her blossoming romance with Baek Yi-jin (played by Nam Joo-hyuk), a student forced to drop out of college when his family loses their fortune because of the financial crisis. Their relationship is told through the eyes of Hee-do’s 15-year-old daughter Kim Min-chae (played by Choi Myung-bin) who chances upon her mother’s diary in present-day South Korea. The 16-episode series is peppered with wistful moments that speak to the relatable experience of growing up in a society that is undergoing massive changes.

Read More: The 10 Best TV Shows of 2022

Business Proposal

Webtoon-turned-drama-series Business Proposal is a light-hearted rom-com that checks all the boxes for a casual weekend binge-fest. Shin Ha-ri (played by K-pop singer Kim Se-jeong) is a young food researcher who, at her best friend’s behest, takes her place on a blind date for an arranged marriage, with the intent to chase the potential suitor away. It turns out, however, that the man who shows up is none other than Kang Tae-moo (played by Ahn Hyeo-sop), the CEO of the company Ha-ri works for. But instead of being scared away, he ends up proposing a business deal—a fake engagement to get his grandfather off his back in exchange for monetary payments to Ha-ri who needs to support her parents. The misadventures that ensue are often cute and hilarious, even if they border on the outlandish.

Narcos-Saints

In a bid to provide for his kids, noraebang (karaoke) owner Kang In-gu (played by Ha Jung-woo) joins his friend’s business importing skate fish from Suriname to South Korea. After opening up a factory in Suriname, In-gu is introduced to Pastor Jeon Yo-han (played by Hwang Jung-min), a Korean church leader who has built a reputation as a Good Samaritan, helping protect local businesses from gangs and corrupt authorities. However, In-gu realizes that it’s all a front when he’s falsely accused of committing a crime: the skate fish he’s importing are found stuffed with cocaine, which is later traced to Pastor Jeon. In-gu is approached by Choi Chang-ho (played by Park Hae-soo) an agent with the National Intelligence Service (Korea’s CIA) looking for someone who can infiltrate Pastor Jeon’s inner circle. With no other options available, In-gu teams up with Chang-ho to bring down the pastor’s drug empire. The show, which is loosely based on real events, was not spared from controversy: the portrayal of Suriname as a narco-state prompted its government to explore legal action against the show’s producers.

Read More: The 10 Best Movies of 2022

Thirty-Nine

Grab your tissues: Son Ye-jin (Crash Landing On You) returns to the small screen in a tearjerker about the lifelong friendship between three women on the cusp of turning 40. The trio—made up of Cha Mi-jo (played by Son), Jeon Chan-young (Jeon Mi-do) and Jang Joo-hee (Kim Ji-hyun)—find their friendship put to the test when one of them is diagnosed with a terminal illness. The lows these women face are offset by the highs that come with finding small moments of joy as they support each other through the pain of inevitable loss. The show is a balm for the soul and viewers couldn’t get enough: Thirty-Nine was on Netflix’s Global Weekly Top 10 for five weeks this spring.

The Sound of Magic

This six-episode musical drama is based on Annarasumanara, a webtoon by Ha Il-kwon. Yoon Ah-yi (played by Choi Eung-sun) is a high school student who’s fallen on desperate times and is struggling to make ends meet for her sister and herself. One day, she crosses paths with Ri-eul (Ji Chang-wook), a man who lives in an old deserted amusement park and claims to be a magician. Ah-yi is initially wary of Ri-eul, but soon finds herself wondering if magic is real. As they spend more time together, Ah-yi discovers that there might be something darker to Ri-eul’s magic than she is willing to admit. Could he even be capable of murder? The Sound of Magic is a bit of an unpredictable ride: it grapples with sensitive issues like abandonment and sexual abuse—but somehow successfully balances the darkness with soft acoustic duets and carefully choreographed numbers.

Read More: The 10 Best Movie Performances of 2022

Once Upon A Small Town

Han Ji-yul, a Seoul-based veterinarian (played by Chu Young-woo) is duped by his grandfather into temporarily moving to the quaint Huidong Village in the countryside, and running the elder’s animal clinic while his grandparents enjoy a belated honeymoon. At first, Han, who is itching to return to Seoul, is a fish out of water, and acts coldly toward the local residents. But he eventually softens, especially towards An Ja-young, the nosy local policewoman (played by Joy of K-pop group Red Velvet). The underrated rom-com is made up of 12 episodes and each episode only runs around 30 minutes, making this a light-hearted weekend binge, no serious viewing commitments required.

Our Blues

Featuring A-list actors including Lee Byung-hun (Red 2, Squid Game), Shin Min-a (Hometown Cha-cha-cha), Cha Seung-won (One Ordinary Day), Uhm Jung-hwa (Dancing Queen), Han Ji-min (One Spring Night) and Kim Woo-bin (The Heirs), this slice-of-life drama weaves together multiple separate narratives of residents living in South Korea’s paradisiacal Jeju Island. Each episode focuses on a different relationship dynamic and introduces themes from friendship—in the story of two former high school sweethearts reuniting—to forgiveness—in the story of a mother and her estranged son. The show succeeds in giving time for each of the characters’ stories to breathe, and interconnecting them in a way that makes the island community come to life on the screen. Our Blues spent nine weeks in the Global Non-English Top 10 most-watched list, reaching the second top-most spot worldwide.

A landslide killed at least nine people as they slept at a campsite in Malaysia early on Friday, officials said, with search teams scouring thick mud and downed trees for about two dozen people still missing.

The landslide in Selangor state, on the outskirts of capital, Kuala Lumpur, occurred about 3 a.m. (1900 GMT) on the side of a road near an organic farm with camping facilities, the state fire and rescue department said in a statement.

More than 90 people were caught in the landslide and 60 had been found safe, with 25 still missing, according to a message on social media by the National Disaster Management Agency.

In addition to the nine dead, seven were injured, it said.

District police chief Suffian Abdullah said the dead were Malaysians and included a child about 5 years old.

Almost 400 people from several agencies had been deployed, with search-and-rescue efforts ongoing, he told a news conference.

The landslide fell from an estimated height of 30 metres (100 ft) above the campsite, and covered an area of about one acre (0.4 hectare), according to the fire and rescue department’s state director.

Footage from local television showed the aftermath of a large landslide through a steep, forested area beside a road, while other images on social media showed rescue workers clambering over thick mud, large trees and other debris.

“I pray that the missing victims can be found safely soon,” Malaysia’s minister of natural resources, environment and climate change, Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad, tweeted on Friday morning. “The rescue team has been working since early. I’m going down there today.”

The disaster struck about 50km (30 miles) north of Kuala Lumpur in Batang Kali town, just outside the popular hilltop area of Genting Highlands, an area known for its resorts, waterfalls and natural beauty.

Pictures posted on the Father’s Organic Farm Facebook page show a farmhouse in a small valley, with a large area where tents can be set up.

Selangor is the country’s most affluent state and has suffered landslides before, often attributed to forest and land clearance.

The region is in its rainy season but no heavy rain or earthquakes were recorded overnight.

A year ago, about 21,000 people were displaced by flooding from torrential rain in seven states across the country.

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The Los Angeles regional head of the U.S. agency that enforces U.S. labor laws has sided with scholarship basketball and football players at the University of Southern California (USC) seeking recognition as employees and the right to unionize.

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) director of the agency’s Region 31 office issued a finding of merit in an unfair labor practice charge brought by the student athletes against USC, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Pac-12 athletic conference.

The parties to the case were informed of the decision on Thursday, according to NLRB spokesperson Kayla Blado.

It marks the first such ruling since the NLRB’s top lawyer issued a legal opinion in September 2021 asserting that college athletes should be classified as employees, and thus protected by U.S. labor law, when providing services that generate profits through athletic activities their schools control.

The 2021 memo by Jennifer Abruzzo, the agency’s general counsel, put colleges and universities on notice that the NLRB’s 32 regions would support college players’ valid organizing efforts, effectively inviting athletes to unionize. read more

A separate case filed by college athletes in Indianapolis against the NCAA and others has been held in abeyance pending the outcome of the USC case.

Region 31’s finding of merit was based on its determination that USC, the Pac-12 and the NCAA, as joint employers, “have maintained unlawful rules and unlawfully misclassified scholarship basketball and football players as mere ‘student athletes’ rather than employees entitled to protections under our law,” Abruzzo said on Thursday.

Under the finding of merit, the parties may either settle their dispute, or the regional director will prosecute the athletes’ case on their behalf before an administrative law judge, who could order remedies.

The judge’s ruling could then be appealed to the full NLRB, which would render a decision as to whether USC, NCAA and Pac-12 are employers under labor law, and could order its own remedies.

USC issued a statement suggesting it would contest the ruling, saying the “matter remains at an initial stage,” and that “no final ruling will be issued until there has been a full hearing based on all the relevant facts of law.”

“We look forward to presenting those facts, along with 75 years of favorable legal precedent,” the university said.

The USC Trojans, whose quarterback Caleb Williams was just named the year’s Heisman Trophy winner, rank among the leading collegiate football teams in the United States.

The NCAA did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters, and the Pac-12 declined to comment.

The National College Players Association, which brought the charges on behalf of 113 USC athletes, also could not be reached for comment.

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Ukrainian defence chiefs predicted Russia will launch a new offensive early next year that could include a second attempt to take the capital Kyiv, as Western allies stepped up their support with additional funding and military training.

Moscow’s new offensive could happen as soon as January, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, General Valery Zaluzhniy and General Oleksandr Syrskiy were quoted as saying in interviews with The Economist magazine on Thursday.

The push could be launched from the eastern Donbas area, the south or neighbouring Belarus, and could include another ground assault on Kyiv, which Moscow failed to capture early in the invasion, the officials said.

“The Russians are preparing some 200,000 fresh troops. I have no doubt they will have another go at Kyiv,” Zaluzhniy was quoted as saying.

Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said in remarks published in The Guardian on Thursday that evidence was mounting that Russia planned a broad new offensive.

He speculated this could occur in February when half of the 300,000 troops conscripted by Russia in October to support the war would complete training.

“The second part of the mobilisation, 150,000 approximately … do a minimum of three months to prepare. It means they are trying to start the next wave of the offensive probably in February, like last year. That’s their plan,” Reznikov told The Guardian.

Both sides have ruled out a Christmas truce and there are currently no talks aimed at ending the conflict, Europe’s largest since World War Two.

Tens of thousands of people have been killed, millions more displaced and cities reduced to rubble since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24 in a “special military operation,” saying it needed to protect Russian speakers from Ukrainian nationalists. Ukraine and its allies call it an unprovoked war of aggression.

With Russia’s invasion in its 10th month, European Union leaders agreed on Thursday to provide 18 billion euros in financing to Ukraine next year and hit Moscow with a ninth package of sanctions. The measures designate nearly 200 more people and bar investment in Russia’s mining industry, among other steps.

“Our joint determination to support Ukraine politically, financially, militarily and in the humanitarian area for as long as necessary remains unbroken,” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said after talks among the 27 national EU leaders in Brussels.

In Washington, the U.S. military announced it will expand training in Germany of Ukrainian military personnel. Starting in January, 500 troops a month will be trained, building on more than 15,000 Ukrainians trained by the United States and its allies since April.

The programme is on top of those to teach Ukrainians to operate billions of dollars worth of specialised Western military equipment that the United States and its NATO allies have provided.

The U.S. Senate passed a bill for a record $858 billion defence budget next year, authorising $45 billion more than proposed by President Joe Biden. The bill, which Biden is expected to quickly sign into law, provides Ukraine at least $800 million in additional security assistance in 2023.

Ukraine has repeatedly urged its allies to send more air defences to counter Russian missile bombardment including against its energy infrastructure.

Russia has fired barrages of missiles on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure since October, disrupting power supplies and leaving people without heating in freezing winter conditions.

Russian shelling killed two people in the centre of Kherson, the southern city liberated by Ukraine last month, said Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the president’s office on Thursday. The shelling also knocked out the city’s electricity, officials said.

In his nightly video address, Zelenskiy said Russian forces had shelled Kherson more than 16 times on Thursday alone and were continuing what he called a brutal large-scale offensive in the eastern Donbas region.

Ukraine’s military General Staff said Russia’s main focus remained on the eastern cities of Bakhmut and Avdiivka, but that it was also trying to get a stronger foothold in the southern region of Zaporizhzhia.

Reuters was unable to immediately verify the battlefield accounts.

Earlier this week, Reuters reported that the United States is finalising plans to offer Ukraine the Patriot missile defence system – one of the most advanced systems, and one which could require months of training.

The Kremlin said the United States was getting “deeper and deeper into the conflict” and that Patriot systems would be legitimate targets. Russia’s foreign ministry said on Thursday this applied to all weapons supplied by the West.

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