The United States on Thursday slapped economic sanctions on four petroleum firms that US officials accuse of moving oil exports for the Quds Force of Iran's Revolutionary Guards.
The new sanctions come three weeks after the US killing of the Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani in a missile strike that Washington claimed was preemptive.
The US Treasury identified four entities -- two based in Hong Kong, one in Shanghai and another in Dubai -- saying they had together transferred "hundreds of millions of dollars' worth" of exports from the National Iranian Oil Company, thereby helping finance the Quds Force.
"Iran's petrochemical and petroleum sectors are a primary source of funding for the Iranian regime's global terrorist activities and enable its persistent use of violence against its own people," Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement.
Washington has recently also targeted other Iranian entities in the commodities, including metals companies and oil companies accused 

US sanctions 4 petro firms tied to Iran's Quds Force

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The head of the World Health Organization on Thursday urged China to ensure transport lockdowns in several cities are "short in duration" as it tries to prevent the spread of a deadly virus.
"China has taken measures it believes appropriate to contain the spread of coronavirus in Wuhan and other cities. We hope that they will be both effective and short in their duration," Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters in Geneva.

WHO urges China to keep city lockdowns short

Buckingham Palace dismissed suggestions that Prince Charles deliberately ignored US Vice President Mike Pence at a Holocaust memorial ceremony in Jerusalem on Thursday, saying the two had a "warm and friendly chat" before event.
A video, which was circulating widely on social media, shows the prince chatting with various dignitaries at the ceremony at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial centre in Jerusalem.
Charles, 71, then approaches Pence, briefly looks at him, but moves on without shaking the US vice president's hand and greets Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
"Shortly before the Yad Vashem memorial event began, the prince and Vice President Pence had a warm and friendly chat, which is why they did not greet each other again in the room," said a statement from the office of the Prince of Wales said.
In his address to the ceremony, where more than 40 heads of state and government were marking 75 years since the liberation of the Nazi death camp Auschwitz, Prince Charles ...

Palace denies claims Prince Charles snubbed Pence

The head of the World Health Organisation on Thursday said there was "no evidence" at the moment of a deadly new virus in China spreading between humans outside of China.
"Until this time, there is no evidence of human-to-human transmission outside China, but that doesn't mean it won't happen," Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters in Geneva.

'No evidence' of virus spread between humans outside China: WHO

Rahul Mishra and Imane Ayissi made history on Thursday by becoming the first Indian and black African designers to show their clothes on the elite Paris haute couture catwalk.
Only a little more than a dozen of the world's most prestigious luxury labels -- including Dior, Chanel and Givenchy -- have a right to call their clothes haute couture.
All the clothes must be handmade -- and go on to sell for tens of thousands of euros (dollars) to some of the richest and most famous women in the world.
Mishra, an advocate of ethical "slow fashion" who blames mechanisation for much of the world's ills, said "it felt amazing and very surreal to be the first Indian to be chosen." "They see a great future for us -- which will make us push ourselves even harder," the 40-year-old told AFP after his debut show was cheered by fashionistas.
Both Mishra and Cameroon-born Ayissi, 51, are champions of traditional fabrics and techniques from their homelands and are famous for their classy lines.
Ayissi ...

First Indian and black African enter fashion's elite club

A deadly virus outbreak that has prompted China to lock down some 20 million people does not yet constitute an international public health emergency, the World Health Organisation determined on Thursday.
"I am not declaring a public health emergency of international concern today," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters after a two-day emergency meeting in Geneva on the virus.
"This is an emergency in China, but it has not yet become a global health emergency," he said.

New Chinese virus not yet a global health emergency: WHO

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday reassured the mother of an Israeli-American woman jailed in Russia on drugs charges, but stopped short of announcing her release.
Putin, among dozens of world leaders in Jerusalem to mark the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, met Yaffa Issachar on the sideline of talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his official Jerusalem residence.
Putin said that he had sought to reassure the mother: "I told her, and I shall say it again: everything will be fine."
Her daughter Naama Issachar, 26, was arrested in the transit zone of Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport in April as she travelled from India to Israel. Russian authorities said they found nine grammes of cannabis in her checked luggage.
Last month she lost her appeal against a seven-and-a-half-year prison sentence, which Netanyahu has described as disproportionate.
Standing next to Putin, Netanyahu thanked the Russian leader for meeting the woman's mother.
"It was a .

Putin upbeat on Israeli woman jailed in Russia

"The Sopranos" actress Annabella Sciorra, who says Harvey Weinstein raped her in the 1990s, was called to give evidence in his trial Thursday as prosecutors try to prove the fallen movie mogul was a sexual predator.
Weinstein, 67, has pleaded not guilty to sexually assaulting former production assistant Mimi Haleyi and raping actress Jessica Mann, in the high-profile proceedings seen as key to the #MeToo movement.
Sciorra, best known for her role as Gloria Trillo in American mob drama "The Sopranos," alleges that Weinstein raped her in her New York apartment on an unknown date sometime in the winter of 1993-94.
Her allegation is too old to be included on the charge sheet but the prosecution has called her as a witness to support a charge of predatory sexual assault.
That charge, which requires prosecutors to prove he sexually assaulted at least two people, carries possible life imprisonment.
In opening arguments Wednesday, Assistant District Attorney Meghan Hast, told the court that ..

'Sopranos' actress Sciorra takes stand in Weinstein rape trial

China and the United States may have laid down their arms for now in a trade truce, but their technological rivalry is very much still raging, raising the spectre of a high tech cold war.
The coming battle played out this week in the corridors of the World Economic Forum in Davos, where Chinese executives brushed shoulders with Silicon Valley supremos and US diplomats lobbied hard to keep companies from embracing Made in China for their tech revolution.
At the centre of this cold war 2.0 is Huawei, the Chinese telecom giant rolling out of 5G technology that is key to delivering artificial intelligence and the next generation computing globally.
Despite the idyllic winter setting, the tensions over Huawei between Beijing and Washington couldn't be higher.
Huawei has been banned from the United States, which insists on the risk of Chinese espionage and implores its European allies to do the same as the company rolls out deals in major emerging markets led by  Brazil and India.
Making ...

In Davos, the spectre of a tech cold war

Authorities in China reported on Thursday the first death outside of Hubei, the central province where a new SARS-like virus epidemic is believed to have originated.
The health commission in northern Hebei province, which borders Beijing, said in a statement that an 80-year-old man diagnosed with the new virus died on January 22.
The death in Hebei increases the total death toll in China from the virus to 18.

China reports first death outside virus epicentre: official

Bushfires near the Australian capital Canberra forced the city's airport to close on Thursday, as passenger flights were halted to make way for aircraft working to extinguish the blazes, authorities said.
High temperatures and strong winds fuelled an outbreak of new blazes across several areas in eastern Australia on Thursday, ending a period of respite following several days of rains and cooler weather.
The country has been battling an unprecedented wave of wildfires since September that have devastated communities and wildlife.
Flights to and from Australia's capital were suspended around midday (0100 GMT) Thursday "to allow for aviation firefighting operations", a Canberra Airport spokesperson told AFP.
It was unclear how long services would be impacted but the terminal has not been evacuated, she said.
The Australian Capital Territory Emergency Services Agency said the airport had been closed "due to current conditions".
An out-of-control blaze burning south of the airport was ...

Australia capital airport closed as bushfires flare anew

Israel and the United States on Thursday called for action against Iran in front of world leaders marking 75 years since the liberation of Auschwitz, comparing the Iranian threat to that once posed by Nazi Germany.
"There will not be another Holocaust," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the Jerusalem gathering of more than 40 heads of state and government, pointing to what he called "the tyrants of Tehran".
He lamented that "we have yet to see a unified and resolute stance against the most anti-Semitic regime on the planet, a regime that openly seeks to develop nuclear weapons and annihilate the one and only Jewish state."
In a similar vein, US Vice President Mike Pence urged the international community to "stand strong" against Iran, calling it the only country where Holocaust denial is "state policy".
French President Emmanuel Macron, however, rejected such parallels, telling the gathering -- without mentioning Iran, Israel or the US by name -- that "no one has the ...

Israel, US condemn Iran at Holocaust memorial event

Their faces lined by age and haunting memories, about 100 Holocaust survivors joined political leaders Thursday in Jerusalem to recall the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp 75 years ago.
While many of the dignitaries at the sombre ceremony were born after World War II, with no personal memories of Nazi Germany's industrial-scale murder of Jews, for 81-year-old Yona Amit, the event was deeply personal.
Just five years old when she and her family escaped Nazi-occupied Italy for Switzerland, she spoke of her remarkable survival, accompanied by her granddaughter at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial centre.
Amit said her family was forced to flee her home by horse and cart, spending much of the war in hiding.
"We couldn't travel as Jews, because they collected the Jews and they took them straight to Auschwitz," she told AFP.
The escape through the Alps was horrifying, she said: "It wasn't easy, it was the most terrible thing -- the Germans, with their Alsatian dogs looking for ...

'I am here': Holocaust survivors mark Auschwitz liberation

Queen Elizabeth II gave her formal assent on Thursday for Britain to end its decades-long involvement in the European Union and seek a more independent but uncertain future at the end of the month.
The head of state's ceremonial approval of the withdrawal legislation allows Britain to leave its closest neighbours and trading partners after years of bickering and three delays.
Two top EU officials in Brussels are expected to sign the separation treaty on Friday and Prime Minister Boris Johnson -- the pro-Brexit figurehead of Britain's seismic 2016 referendum -- will put his name on it in the coming days.
"At times it felt like we would never cross the Brexit finish line, but we've done it," Johnson said after both houses of the British parliament ratified the withdrawal bill on Wednesday.
"Now we can put the rancour and division of the past three years behind us and focus on delivering a bright, exciting future."
The January 31 split caps a remarkable political comeback for Johnson at .

Queen gives assent for Britain to leave EU

ECB chief Christine Lagarde on Thursday said the bank would study what kind of "role" it could play in combatting climate change as part of a major policy review, warning of "the danger of doing nothing".
While the bank's price stability mandate would always come first, "we should at least try to explore every area where we can actually participate", she told reporters.
"I think that failing to try is already failing." Analysts have suggested the bank could look at "greening" its asset purchases, or that climate risks could be built into its economic forecasting and other aspects of its work, such as banking supervision.

ECB's Lagarde warns of 'danger of doing nothing' on climate

Two children, both eight years old, were killed and five more seriously injured when a school bus slipped off an icy road into a ditch in central Germany on Thursday, officials said.
Local police said the bus had been carrying 22 children to their primary school when the accident happened near the town of Berka in the state of Thuringia.
It is believed the bus slipped on the ice because of a dip in the road, before toppling over an embankment and into a ditch.
Officials said the other 15 children on the bus were treated for light injuries and received psychological assistance.
Contrary to initial reports, the driver was not injured but did suffer from shock.
In a statement on Twitter, Thuringian state president Bodo Ramelow said he was "dismayed" by the news.
Thuringia's interior minister Georg Maier said that there would be a "detailed investigation" of the incident, but added that "today was not the day for speculation".

Two children killed in German school bus crash

The death toll from a violent storm which has wrought havoc on huge swathes of Spain's eastern and southern coastline rose to nine on Thursday as rescuers pressed the hunt for at least five missing people.
The latest death was that of a man whose body was found in a flooded river near Jorba, some 70 kilometres (45 miles) northwest of Barcelona, the emergency services said.
Rescuers in Catalonia had been searching for a missing person in the same area but said it was too early to confirm if it was him.
Catalan rescuers had late on Wednesday found another body of a man who died after falling into the water in Palamos, a port town about 100 kilometres up the coast from Barcelona.
They are also searching for a man who went missing from a merchant ship in the same area, as well as a person in Cadaques near the French border.
Earlier on Thursday, regional officials confirmed the death of a 75-year-old woman whose house collapsed because of heavy rain in Alcoi, a town in the eastern Alicante 

In Spain, toll rises to nine dead as Storm Gloria ebbs

French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday told world leaders commemorating 75 years since the liberation of Auschwitz that the Holocaust must not be used to "justify" hatred and division.
"No one has the right to invoke (those killed by the Nazis) to justify division or contemporary hatred," Macron told a ceremony attended by more than 40 world leaders at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial centre in Jerusalem.

Holocaust must not be used to 'justify' division or 'hate': Macron

Queen Elizabeth II on Thursday formally approved the landmark law facilitating Britain's departure from the European Union at the end of this month.
"Her Majesty the Queen has now granted #RoyalAssent to the #BrexitBill which therefore becomes the #BrexitAct," Brexit Secretary Steve Barclay said on Twitter.
"Enshrined in law, this enables the UK to leave the EU on 31st Jan.

Queen Elizabeth II approves government's Brexit bill

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday called for a summit in 2020 of leaders of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council to "defend peace" in the face of global instability.
Speaking in Jerusalem at an event marking the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, Putin said the world must remember that "disunity in the face of threats can lead to frightening consequences."
Countries must "do everything to protect and defend peace," he said.
"The founder countries of the United Nations, the five states that hold special responsibility to save civilisation, can and must be an example," he said, calling for a meeting "in any place in the world" of the leaders of Russia, China, the United States, France and Britain.
Such a meeting would "play a great role in searching for collective answers to modern challenges and threats," Putin said.
Putin is one of dozens of world leaders in Jerusalem to mark the liberation 75 years ago of the World War II death camp where the 

Putin calls for summit of UN Security Council permanent members

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged action against "the tyrants of Tehran" in a Holocaust memorial speech Thursday, comparing what he considers the Iranian threat to that once posed by Nazi Germany.
"There will not be another Holocaust," Netanyahu told world leaders in Jerusalem.
He lamented that "we have yet to see a unified and resolute stance against the most anti-Semitic regime on the planet, a regime that openly seeks to develop nuclear weapons and annihilate the one and only Jewish state.
"I call on all governments to join the vital effort of confronting Iran."
Israel fiercely opposed a 2015 deal between Iran and world powers that offered Tehran sanctions relief in return for curbs to prevent it from acquiring nuclear weapons.
Netanyahu applauded when US President Donald Trump in 2018 pulled out of the accord and has pushed European powers to follow Washington's lead.
He said Thursday that Israel "salutes President Trump and Vice President (Mike) Pence for ...

AFP

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