Main News of January 27

A roundup of what has happened in the past 24 hours

WORLD

* Hundreds of gay rights campaigners gathered for a mass rally in Paris on Sunday to support President Francois Hollande’s plans to legalize gay marriages and adoptions by June, local media reported

* Four people died and more than 400 others were injured in the Egyptian city of Port Said during a funeral procession for the victims of Saturday's violence, the country's health ministry said

* A fire at a night club in Santa Maria, southern Brazil, has probably left at least 232 dead, local police said

* French-led forces in Mali are advancing on the key northern city of Timbuktu after seizing the Islamic rebels’ stronghold of Gao, western media reported

* European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton has called on all the sides of escalating confrontation in Egypt to show restraint during the country’s transition to democracy

* The documentary, Pussy Riot: a Punk Prayer, directed by Mike Lerner and Maxim Pozdorovkin, won a special award at the US Sundance Film Festival, the festival’s website reported

* The United States will intensify its involvement in the military operation in Mali, where the French-led offensive against radical Islamists entered its third week, the Department of Defense said in a statement

* Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez recovered from respiratory infection he contracted after undergoing cancer surgery in Cuba, the Venezuelan information minister said

* Venezuelan authorities decided to evacuate all inmates of the Uribana jail, where more than 50 people were killed in a riot on Friday, Penitentiary Services Minister Iris Varela said

* Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi will not travel to Ethiopia to take part in Sunday’s African summit due to ongoing unrest in the country, presidential spokesman Yasser Ali said

* The first of six Patriot batteries being deployed by NATO along Turkey's border with Syria was declared operational on Saturday, the alliance said in a statement

 

RUSSIA

* Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said he sees “no flexibility” in a dispute over US missile defense plans, warning that a new arms race could emerge if talks fail

* Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has made a “grave, possibly fatal mistake" and his chances of retaining power are getting "smaller and smaller" every day

* The ban on adoption of Russian children by Americans has no relation to the US Magnitsky Act, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said in the interview with CNN

* Twenty people have gone missing when a Russian fishing boat capsized in the Sea of Japan, Russia’s Emergency Situations Ministry said

* The heirs of the deceased Georgian businessman Badri Patarkatsishvili have closed a deal to sell control of Borjomi mineral water producer to Russia-based Alfa-Group, the heirs’ representative said, referring to the businessman’s widow and Borjomi co-owner Inna Gudavadze

* The Catholicos-Patriarch of the Georgian Orthodox Church, Ilia II, praised his five-day visit to Russia as “historic” upon his arrival to Georgia 

 

SPORT

* The Olympic legacy of Sochi 2014 could include a near-abandoned resort and elite cross-country skiers forced to live in temporary builders' accommodation due to costs, a senior official said

* The proposed signing of two Russian Muslim footballers has sparked a racism row in Israeli football, with the deputy prime minister saying Sunday he was shocked and ashamed by the furious reaction of some fans

* Eastern Conference leader Avangard Omsk is to strengthen its ranks for the KHL playoffs by signing former Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Sergei Gusev and Metallurg Novokuznetsk wing Alexander Bumagin, a source in the Siberian team told R-Sport

* Russia's bobsled coach Pierre Lueders accused the Germans of systematically breaking competition rules to generate extra speed