Germany is set to hold a snap election on February 23 after an agreement was reached among parties in the country’s fractured parliament on Tuesday, according to reports from public broadcaster ARD.

Last week, Germany’s governing coalition collapsed after disagreements over the country’s weak economy led Chancellor Olaf Scholz to sack his finance minister, leaving him in a minority government with the Green Party.

The exact date for an election needs to be confirmed by the president, but only following a vote of confidence that Scholz must call.

The confidence vote will be held on December 16 following an agreement from all parliamentary parties, according to ARD.

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier needs to rubber-stamp the date of the election, but reports suggest this is a formality. Steinmeier said at an unrelated event in Berlin on Tuesday that “our country needs a government that is capable of taking action.”

“That is why we must not lose any time now. We must find answers to the question of how we can make our state better able to act,” Steinmeier added.

The greater clarity on a date for elections, originally due to be held in September 2025, comes just a week after Scholz’s government coalition fell apart as he fired his finance minister, Christian Lindner, following a major disagreement on Germany’s economic future.

Scholz initially announced that he planned to hold a confidence vote on January 15, but he came under immediate pressure from the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU) opposition party to hold them earlier.

Friedrich Merz, leader of the CDU, said last week, “there is absolutely no reason to wait until January” to call the confidence vote.

Scholz’s position on the date seemed to shift over the weekend. On Friday, he tweeted that he would “like to facilitate new elections as soon as possible.” Then, on Sunday evening, he told German TV that he would be willing to call the confidence vote before Christmas.

Scholz is currently leading a minority government with the Greens. His government has grown increasingly unpopular in Germany, with Scholz also one of the least popular chancellors ever, according to a September opinion poll.

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, the most senior leader in the Church of England, has resigned over his handling of a child abuse case, according to his official account.

“Having sought the gracious permission of His Majesty The King, I have decided to resign as Archbishop of Canterbury,” Welby said in a statement on Tuesday.

Pressure had been mounting on Welby in recent days, following an independent review into “sickening abuse” committed by John Smyth, a deceased British lawyer considered the worst serial abuser linked to the Church of England.

The incriminating report, commissioned by the church and released November 7, tracked a “worrying pattern of deference” to Smyth, concluding that “a serious crime was covered up.”

In Welby’s resignation statement, he said the review “has exposed the long-maintained conspiracy of silence about the heinous abuses of John Smyth.”

“When I was informed in 2013 and told that police had been notified, I believed wrongly that an appropriate resolution would follow,” Welby added. “It is very clear that I must take personal and institutional responsibility for the long and retraumatising period between 2013 and 2024.”

It is unclear when Welby will leave his post. In his resignation statement, he said: “exact timings will be decided once a review of necessary obligations has been completed, including those in England and in the Anglican Communion.”

Summer camps

Smyth perpetrated “traumatic physical, sexual, psychological and spiritual attacks” on as many as 130 boys and young men, with abuse spanning from the 1970s up until his death, in 2018 – according to the Makin Review.

He was accused of abusing his own family members, as well as attendees of evangelical Christian summer camps he helped run for students from Britain’s prestigious private colleges in the 1970s and 1980s.

From 1984 to 2001, when Smyth relocated to Zimbabwe and then South Africa, church officers “knew of the abuse and failed to take the steps necessary to prevent further abuse occurring,” the report added. Welby worked at the summer camps that Smyth helped run. The pair exchanged Christmas cards and Welby donated small sums of money to his “missions” in Zimbabwe.

In 2017, Channel 4 News reported on Smyth’s abuse. After the publication of the independent review earlier this month, Welby told the network he “did not” ensure the allegations were pursued as “energetically” and “remorselessly” as they should have been, when he rose to the highest rank in the church, in 2013. He was first ordained as a priest in 1993.

The church’s review found that there was a “missed opportunity” in 2012 and 2013 by the highest levels of the church to “properly” report him to law enforcement.

The review said that “it is not possible to establish whether Justin Welby knew of the severity of the abuses in the UK prior to 2013,” adding: “It is most probable that he would have had at least a level of knowledge that John Smyth was of some concern.”

The Bishop of Newcastle was the most high-ranking church official to call for Welby’s resignation. On Monday, Helen-Ann Hartley told the BBC that it would be untenable for members of the clergy to “have a moral voice… when we cannot get our own house in order.”

Throughout his tenure, Welby has demanded accountability from those accused of mishandling abuse, including his predecessor, George Carey, and the former Bishop of Lincoln. Until now, there’s been no historical precedent for an Archbishop of Canterbury resigning over child abuse.

A doctor accused of criticizing the war in Ukraine in front of a patient was convicted Tuesday of spreading false information about the Russian military and sentenced to 5 and a half years in prison, part of an unrelenting Kremlin crackdown on dissent.

Dr. Nadezhda Buyanova, 68, was arrested in February after Anastasia Akinshina, the mother of one of her patients, reported the pediatrician to authorities. Akinshina alleged that Buyanova told her and her son that his father, a Russian soldier who apparently was killed in Ukraine, was a legitimate target for Kyiv’s troops and had blamed Moscow for the war.

A video of the outraged Akinshina complaining about Buyanova was widely publicized, and chief of Russia’s Investigative Committee Alexander Bastrykin personally demanded a criminal case be brought against the doctor.

Buyanova, who was born in western Ukraine, denied the accusation, insisting she never said what she was accused of saying. In a tearful closing statement to the court last week, she had urged it to acquit her.

Her defense argued the prosecution failed to present evidence that the purported conversation took place, including any recordings of it, and alleged that her accuser fabricated the story out of animosity toward Ukrainians, according to the independent news site Mediazona, which reported all of the hearings in the trial.

In her closing statement to the court, Buyanova said it was “painful” to read the accusations in the indictment, and broke down.

“A doctor, especially a pediatrician, is not capable of wishing harm to a child, his mother, or traumatizing the child’s psyche. Only a monster is capable of this – and of the words that I allegedly said to them,” Mediazona quoted her as saying.

Buyanova’s case drew national attention, with more than 6,500 people signing an online petition demanding her freedom and supporters regularly attending court hearings. As the judge read out the verdict, they shouted, “Disgrace!” before bailiffs escorted everyone from the courtroom.

Her lawyer, Oscar Cherdzhyev, told reporters afterward that the verdict was “unexpectedly harsh” and “monstrously cruel.”

“We didn’t expect this,” he said.

“Spreading false information” about the army has been a criminal offense since March 2022, when Russia adopted a series of laws prohibiting any public expression about the invasion that deviated from the official narrative. Authorities started actively using them against critics and protesters.

According to OVD-Info, one of Russia’s leading rights groups that tracks political arrests, more than 1,000 people have been implicated in criminal cases on charges related to speaking or acting out against the war.

At least 15 people have been killed and 14 injured in clashes between inmates at one of Ecuador’s largest and most notorious prisons, local authorities say.

The violence broke out early Tuesday in one of the pavilions at Litoral Penitentiary in the coastal city of Guayaquil, according to national prison agency SNAI.

Both Guayaquil, Ecuador’s largest city, and the prison itself are notorious for violent confrontations between rival gangs.

By Tuesday afternoon, authorities said they had managed to regain control of the prison and carried out a large-scale search.

Murder charges will be filed against at least nine inmates, the Attorney General’s Office said.

Ecuador’s prison system has long been the main theater of violence in the country, with hundreds of inmates killed in recent years as members of competing criminal organizations square off.

Security forces have often struggled to confront the gangs inside the overcrowded facilities, where inmates have been known to take control of branches of the penitentiaries and run criminal networks from behind bars, according to Ecuadorian authorities.

This is just the latest violent episode at Litoral Penitentiary, which has seen riots and massacres in recent years and is widely considered the country’s most dangerous prison.

Last year, more than 30 people were killed, some of them beheaded, during a multi-day uprising at the prison, while in September 2021, clashes between rival gangs left more than 100 people dead.

Two months ago, the penitentiary’s director María Daniela Icaza was killed in an armed attack while she was driving home.

Litoral Penitentiary is among five facilities that make up a major prison complex in Guayaquil.

In January, notorious gang leader José Adolfo “Fito” Macías escaped from one of those facilities, in a jailbreak that kicked off a wave of violence across the country.

Following the escape, President Daniel Noboa declared a state of emergency, deploying the armed forces across the country to crack down on gangs and criminal groups.

The Princess of Wales will host her annual Christmas carol concert on December 6, with a focus on “how much we need each other, especially in the most difficult times of our lives,” Kensington Palace has announced.

It will be the princess’ fourth “Together at Christmas” carol service at Westminster Abbey and it will broadcast in the United Kingdom on Christmas Eve.

Catherine began the festive tradition in 2021, surprising British television viewers with a piano performance of “For Those Who Can’t Be Here” with Scottish singer-songwriter Tom Walker, recognizing the impact of the pandemic.

Linked to the prince and princess’s Royal Foundation charity, this year’s concert will “shine a light on individuals from all over the UK who have shown love, kindness and empathy towards others in their communities,” a statement from Kensington Palace said.

Some 1,600 people, nominated for their commitment to helping people in need, will be joined at Westminster Abbey by members of the royal family and other well-known faces.

Carols will be sung by the Westminster Abbey choir alongside performances from musicians including Paloma Faith, Olivia Dean, Gregory Porter and young performers from Restore the Music.

Fifteen “Together at Christmas” community carol services will also take place across the UK.

Last year’s concert saw the prince and princess accompanied by their three children and other members of the royal family.

The news comes after Kate’s back-to back appearances at Remembrance Day events in London at the weekend.

In September, the princess announced she was cancer-free and would be taking a phased approach to resuming public royal duties. Last month, she accompanied William on visit to Southport in northwest England, where the couple met with the bereaved families of three children killed in a knife attack in July.

South Korean actor Song Jae-lim, a former model who rose to prominence in K-dramas, was found dead in Seoul on Tuesday. He was 39.

Born in 1985, Song began his entertainment career with the 2009 film “Actresses.”

He gained widespread recognition for his portrayal of a royal guard in the 2012 historical drama “Moon Embracing the Sun,” and reached further fame through an appearance on the reality show “We Got Married.” His final performance was in the musical “La Rose De Versailles,” which ended in October.

The final posts on Song’s Instagram account, two selfies shared in January, have accumulated more than 61,000 likes. Comments are disabled on the account.

South Korean stars paid tribute to Song following the news of his death.

“This is mad… Jae-lim… you were such a cheerful guy… I can’t believe this. I’m so sorry for not contacting you or caring for you enough,” actor Park Ho-san said alongside a photo taken with Song posted on Instagram.

In another Instagram post, actor Hong Seok-cheon said: “I’m sad that I can’t see your wonderful smile again… I’m so sorry, rest in peace.”

The recent deaths of K-pop idols and K-drama stars have highlighted ongoing concerns about mental health and industry pressures in South Korea’s entertainment industry.

ASTRO boy band member Moon bin died last year at age 25. K-pop singer and actress Sulli was also 25 when she died in 2019. And two years earlier, boyband SHINee’s Kim Jong-hyun was found dead at his home at age 27.

Entertainment agencies have implemented various mental health support systems, including counseling services and more flexible schedules, but observers say the highly competitive nature of K-entertainment, combined with intense public scrutiny, and expectations of perfection in appearance and behavior, are affecting stars.