Week in review: World

The first week of 2022 was full of events across the world. The Business Insider Bangladesh has picked the top five of the events which surfaced on the international media outlets most and held the attention of the global readers. Check the events here with a brief analysis.

Kazakhstan’s govt resigns as fuel protests rage

Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev accepted the government's resignation on Wednesday after a fuel price increase in the oil-producing Central Asian country triggered protests in which nearly 100 police were injured.

Police used tear gas and stun grenades late on Tuesday to drive hundreds of protesters out of the main square in Almaty, the former Soviet republic's biggest city, reports CNN.

Clashes resumed on Wednesday after the Cabinet resigned. A Reuters correspondent saw thousands of protesters pressing ahead towards Almaty city centre, some of them on a large truck, after security forces failed to disperse them with tear gas and flashbang grenades.

Atameken, Kazakhstan's business lobby group, said its members were reporting cases of attacks on banks, stores and restaurants.

Kazakhstan is a tightly controlled country which cultivates an image of political stability, helping it attract hundreds of billions of dollars of foreign investment in its oil and metals industries over three decades of independence.

City authorities urged residents to stay home, saying that the law enforcement operation was continuing.

The protests began after the government lifted price controls on liquefied petroleum gas at the start of the year.

Many Kazakhs have converted their cars to run on LPG because of its low cost.

Biden vows US to act decisively if Russia invades Ukraine

President Joe Biden conferred on Sunday with Ukraine's leader over the Russian troop buildup near its border, promising that the US and allies will act "decisively" if Russia further invades the Eastern European nation.

Biden and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's call came as the US and Western allies prepared for a series of diplomatic meetings to try to de-escalate a crisis that Moscow said could rupture ties with Washington.

"President Biden made clear that the United States and its allies and partners will respond decisively if Russia further invades Ukraine," White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement following the call.

Psaki added that Biden underscored his commitment to the principle of "nothing about you without you," the tenet that it won't negotiate policy that impacts Europe without its allies' input.

Biden has spoken of hitting Russia with economy-jarring sanctions if it moves on Ukraine's territory, but he said last month that US military action is not on the table.

N Korea launches second hypersonic missile in fiery test

North Korea has successfully tested a hypersonic missile, state media reported Thursday, in the first major weapons test by the nuclear-armed nation this year.

This was the second reported North Korean test of a hypersonic gliding missile to date -- following one in September last year -- as Pyongyang looks to add the sophisticated weapon to its arsenal despite international sanctions and condemnation.

Hypersonic missiles move far faster and are more agile than standard ones, making them much harder for missile defence systems -- on which the United States is spending billions -- to intercept, reports AFP.

The missile fired on Wednesday carried a "hypersonic gliding warhead" that "precisely hit a target 700 km away", the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported, without specifying the launcher used for the test.

At least 12 dead in New Year temple stampede in India

At least 12 people have been killed and several others injured after a stampede at a religious shrine in India.

Pilgrims were visiting the shrine of Mata Vaishno Devi in Indian-administered Kashmir on Saturday when the tragedy unfolded, reports BBC.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was "saddened" by the loss of life.

Tens of thousands of people usually visit the shrine every day, and it is thought there was a peak in visitors because of the holiday season.

According to a senior police officer, 14 people were injured in the stampede, with all of them taken to hospital.

The shrine, located near the town of Katra, is among India's most revered pilgrimage sites. Visitor numbers have been capped to around 25,000 because of the pandemic.

It is not yet clear caused the stampede in the early hours of the morning, but some eyewitnesses claimed crowds at the site were not being managed properly.

Fire burns South Africa’s parliament building

A large fire is raging at the Houses of Parliament in the South African city of Cape Town.

Video footage shows a plume of black smoke filling the sky, with huge flames coming out from the roof of the building.

Dozens of firefighters are at the site battling the blaze; it is not yet clear what caused the fire.

It comes hours after Archbishop Desmond Tutu's state funeral at St George's Cathedral, near parliament.

Officials said the fire started on the third floor offices and quickly spread to the National Assembly (the parliament's lower house) chamber, reports the BBC's Nomsa Maseko in Cape Town.

No injuries have been reported and there's no indication of what may have started it, our correspondent adds.

Fire and rescue service officials said it could take another four hours to put the fire out completely because of the carpets and wooden floors in the building.