News summary for Friday, January 26, 2018

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By BNO NEWS

A quick look at the most important news of the last 24 hours:

  • A group of scientists has moved the symbolic ‘Doomsday Clock’ a half-minute closer to midnight, saying world leaders have failed to respond effectively to the looming threats of nuclear war and climate change. The group also called attention to deception campaigns on the internet and the media’s tendency to cover scandals over serious reporting about long-term threats.

  • At least 41 people have been killed in a fire at a hospital in South Korea, officials say. The blaze at Sejong Hospital in Miryang, which is located in the country’s southeast, is believed to have started in the emergency room on the first floor. At least 79 others have been injured.

  • U.S. President Donald Trump has offered Democrats a deal that would provide a path to citizenship for up to 1.8 million young people who were illegally brought to the United States as children. In return, Trump seeks a $25 billion fund to build a wall on the border with Mexico and an end to so-called chain immigration and the diversity visa lottery.

  • An upper jawbone with several teeth has been found in a cave in Israel and several dating techniques suggest the fossil is between 175,000 and 200,000 years old. The finding suggests that humans left the African content at least 50,000 to 75,000 years earlier than was previously known.

IN BRIEF

  • Trump ordered the firing of Special Counsel Mueller last summer, but he backed down after the White House counsel threatened to resign, according to multiple media reports.

  • North Korea, in an apparent breach of UN sanctions, has shipped coal to Russia, from where they were delivered to South Korea and Japan, Western intelligence sources have told Reuters.

  • Ireland’s parliament has agreed to end the state’s prohibition of alcohol sales on the Christian holiday of Good Friday. The restrictions have been in place since 1922.

  • Fights broke out at several supermarkets in France as customers fought to get their hands on Nutella, which was being sold at a 70% discount. Police had to be called and several people suffered injuries. (watch video)

  • Trump will visit the United Kingdom “in the coming months,” officials have said after months of speculation about the planned trip. It is now being described as a “working visit,” not a state visit.

  • A judge in Brazil has seized the passport of former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and banned him from leaving the country, just a day after his corruption conviction was upheld. Lula hopes to participate in the upcoming presidential election.

  • Oscar-winning actor Casey Affleck, who was accused of sexual harassment in 2010, will not present at this year’s Academy Awards as was previously expected.

UPCOMING EVENTS

January 30: Catalan parliament is expected to choose a new president. .Sacked leader Carles Puigdemont, who is in self-imposed exile, is the sole candidate but is opposed by Madrid.

January 30, 9 p.m. ET: President Trump delivers State of the Union address before a joint session of Congress.

January 31: Super blue blood moon.

January 31 or early February: SpaceX to launch its massive Falcon Heavy rocket for the first time.

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