Breaking News: January 2019

Thursday, January 31, 2019

'Why I fled Saudi Arabia and sought asylum in the UK'

Two Saudis who sought asylum in the UK explain why they risked everything.

from BBC News - World https://bbc.in/2SdhEnb

Richard E Grant in tears over Barbra Streisand's reply to 1970s fan letter

The actor and superfan was "overcome with emotion" when Streisand replied to his childhood letter.

from BBC News - World https://bbc.in/2MGAb66

The Lord of the Ringos? Peter Jackson to direct a Beatles film

The Lord of the Rings director will use unseen footage of the tense sessions for their final album.

from BBC News - World https://bbc.in/2SdIgEx

Bulgarians decry ‘eco vandalism’ on coast

Social media outcry puts controversial construction on Bulgaria's Black Sea coast under scrutiny.

from BBC News - World https://bbc.in/2Uxh9C1

Why some Japanese pensioners want to go to jail

Japan is in the grip of an elderly crime wave. Poverty and loneliness are two of the possible causes.

from BBC News - World https://bbc.in/2sUSv2f

How do you compost a human body - and why would you?

A US state could become one of the first places in the world to allow corpses to become fertile soil.

from BBC News - World https://bbc.in/2S04WbU

The Indians sharing their villages with crocodiles

In most places, a crocodile would send people scurrying in fear. But not in this part of India.

from BBC News - World https://bbc.in/2Sbqv8X

Maduro and Guaidó: Who is supporting whom in Venezuela?

The international community is split over who it recognises as the country's current president.

from BBC News - World https://bbc.in/2BbqOqp

Nastya Rybka: Model who got caught up in the Trump-Russia row

The story of Nastya Rybka, who was questioned in a Thai jail by the FBI about the Trump-Russia inquiry.

from BBC News - World https://bbc.in/2HHJ9kz

Why Dutch fear Brexit no deal will leave onions to rot

Imagine onions - tonnes of them, rotting in a customs queue. It's a Dutch farmer's Brexit nightmare.

from BBC News - World https://bbc.in/2DLoiZL

Learning With: ‘A Merciless Cold Lingers in the Midwest’

By KATHERINE SCHULTEN from NYT The Learning Network https://nyti.ms/2GcDKj6

Exclusive: Sri Lanka halts imports of Johnson & Johnson Baby Powder pending asbestos tests

Sri Lanka has halted imports of Johnson & Johnson Baby Powder until the company proves its product is free from cancer-causing asbestos, two government officials and the product's local distributor told Reuters.

from Reuters: Top News https://reut.rs/2G9WlfE

China's military-run space station in Argentina is a 'black box'

LAS LAJAS, Argentina - When China built a military-run space station in Argentina's Patagonian region it promised to include a visitors' center to explain the purpose of its powerful 16-story antenna.

from Reuters: Top News https://reut.rs/2sUvzQG

Purported hackers stole U.S. evidence to discredit Mueller probe: filing

U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller's office said on Wednesday that self-proclaimed hackers in Russia stole evidence in an attempt to tarnish its investigation of a firm charged with funding a Russian propaganda campaign to interfere in the 2016 U.S. election.

from Reuters: Top News https://reut.rs/2Ge2aIX

Russia, U.S. last-ditch talks to break nuclear pact deadlock fail: agencies

Russia and the United States failed to bridge their differences over a landmark Cold War-era arms treaty at last-ditch talks in Beijing, Russia's deputy foreign minister was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies on Thursday.

from Reuters: Top News https://reut.rs/2HG8Qlz

Soft power: Australia uses hard game to tackle China in Pacific

Australia will direct more foreign aid to develop the sport of rugby league in the Pacific, officials say, bolstering a soft power offensive against China's growing influence in the region.

from Reuters: Top News https://reut.rs/2MHV6px

Myanmar court rejects appeal by jailed Reuters reporters

A Myanmar court on Friday rejected the appeal of two Reuters reporters sentenced to seven years in jail on charges of breaking the Official Secrets Act, saying the defense had not provided sufficient evidence to show they were innocent.

from Reuters: Top News https://reut.rs/2CfNaXG

Don't deal in Venezuelan gold, White House says, in anti-Maduro push

The White House warned traders on Wednesday not to deal in Venezuelan gold or oil following its imposition of stiff sanctions aimed at forcing socialist President Nicolas Maduro from power.

from Reuters: Top News https://reut.rs/2UnWvUC

Tug-of-war: U.S. refiner Citgo caught in Venezuela political upheaval

Citgo Petroleum Corp, the eighth largest U.S. refiner and Venezuela's top foreign asset, is in the middle of a tug-of-war as the Trump administration tries to use the company as leverage to topple Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

from Reuters: Top News https://reut.rs/2DKxyNH

Citgo expatriate workers in U.S. ordered to return to Venezuela: sources

Venezuela has told dozens of expatriate staff working for Citgo Petroleum Corp in the United States that they must return to Caracas by the end of February, people familiar with the matter said, following U.S. sanctions aimed at forcing socialist President Nicolas Maduro from power.