What do the backers of Brazil's ransacking of official buildings stand for? Jair Bolsonaro's backers were inspired by the 2021 storming of the US Capitol by Donald Trump supporters. In both cases, it started with unfounded claims of election fraud long before the vote and ended in violence. We ask about Bolsonaro's successor vowing to pursue those who financed last Sunday's riot, a movement that was once again organised over social media.

Soledar, a salt-mining town of 10,000 people in eastern Ukraine, is the new focal point of a war where the Kremlin badly needs some good news from the battlefield. We ask who controls the town that's a gateway to the Donbas city of Bakhmut, where the Russians have been pushing for months.

The retirement age in France is to be raised from 62 to 64 years, Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne has announced. The move is part of the reforms President Emmanuel Macron has been considering since he was first elected in 2017. The issue of changing the pension system in France is an explosive one. It has been a rolling topic on the agenda of successive presidents and governments since at least 1993. Each time, there have been strikes against it. This time around, unions have already called for strikes and protests on January 19.

Scenes of open revolt in Brazil - protestors invaded the Presidential palace and the Supreme court in the capital Brasilia. An angry mob of supporters of the defeated presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro. The far-right mob caused huge damage to the headquarters of the three Powers in Brasília: the Palácio do Planalto, the Congress, and the Federal Supreme Court.

The UK is in the grip of a new winter of discontent. Strikes are taking place this Thursday across the board. Rail workers continue their rolling dispute that has stopped train services; they are calling for a better wage and conditions package. Health workers are striking over similar issues. Stories of nurses turning to food banks to feed their families are not anecdotal. Hospitals are reporting being overwhelmed by the combination of a staff shortage and the Covid-19 pandemic. Also out on strike this Thursday are driving instructors, rural finance adjudicators and London bus workers.

The US Congress recovenes but cannot yet get down to work because there is no House speaker elected. Quick explainer here: the US Congress is in two chambers. The Senate is where the Democrats have the majority. The House of Representatives is where the problem lies. Without a House speaker, the wheels of power cannot turn. And a split in the majority party there, the Republicans, is causing a seizure in the motor of governance.

Why did China suddenly go from draconian Covid restrictions to an "anything goes" approach? The nation where the coronavirus originated kept a lid on it for three years and an easing was expected after the October Communist Party congress. But to go from Covid protests in November to suddenly opening the floodgates and stopping the count on casualties makes for a stunning U-turn.

Sometimes a single person really can change the world. Pelé not only captured the planet's heart with his Midas touch, he also made football the world’s top spectator sport, acting as the graceful ambassador for the beautiful game. The king also put Brazil on the map. As a nation mourns, we ask about the Black shoeshine boy from the favelas who made a point – like the recently departed Queen Elizabeth II – of staying out of his country’s politics, both through dictatorship and democracy.

When did the French get so good at football? Perennial losers back in the 1980s, the defending World Cup champions are now in their second consecutive final, their fourth since 1998. Back then, a nation feted a win on home soil and a golden "black, blanc, beur" generation. On Wednesday night, France celebrated another black, white and Arab generation. The communion even included opposing fans, proud of a Morocco that's the first African and first Arab side to reach the final four at a World Cup.

We've seen African summits in Paris, Brussels, Beijing and Ankara. For the second time ever, after 2014, Washington is hosting an African leaders' summit. With superpower rivalries heating up, no long lectures are planned on human rights and corruption. Instead, the Biden administration is bowing to the African Union’s own blueprint for sustainable growth. Is it the same script as former colonial powers France and Britain?