Morning news brief: Japanese PM Kishida to meet Biden on Jan 13, Twitter lifts ban on political ads, and more

Russia’s defence ministry blamed the illegal use of mobile phones by its soldiers for the deadly New Year’s attack in Makiivka that killed 89 soldiers. In other news,JapanesePrime Minister Fumio Kishida is set to pay a visit to US President Joe Biden on January 13, the White House said in a statement. Finally,Twitter Inc has announced the reversal of a 2019 ban on political ads and said that it will expand, to allow them on the social media platform.

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Russia blames mobile phones for missile strike in Makiivka that killed 89

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“It is already obvious that the main reason for what happened was the switching on and massive use - contrary to the prohibition - by personnel of mobile phones in a reach zone of enemy weapons,” the ministry said in a statement. "This factor allowed the enemy to track and determine the coordinates of the soldiers' location for a missile strike."

Japan PM Kishida to meet Biden at the White House on January 13

"President Biden looks forward to welcoming Prime Minister Kishida Fumio of Japan to the White House on Friday, January 13th to further deepen ties between our governments, economies, and our people," the statement said.

On top of the agenda will be security issues regarding North Korea, Ukraine and China, and a "free and open Indo-Pacific".

The company in a tweet announced the move and said "We believe that cause-based advertising can facilitate a public conversation around important topics. Today, we're relaxing our ads policy for cause-based ads in the US. We also plan to expand the political advertising we permit in the coming weeks."

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