Australian Open organisers Saturday introduced a scaled air quality rating to determine when play can be suspended following stinging criticism after days of toxic smoke during qualifying.
Air quality in Melbourne was among the worst on the planet on Tuesday and only marginally better Wednesday because of smoke from bushfires that have devastated huge swathes of the country.
It was recommended that people and their pets stay indoors, but qualifying for the opening Grand Slam of the year went ahead regardless.
Slovenian Dalila Jakupovic was forced to retire from her match after a distressing coughing fit, while Britain's Liam Broady claimed "multiple" players needed asthma medication.
Broady also was seething over what he considered a lack of clarity on the decision-making process about when to suspend play.
"The more I think about the conditions we played in a few days ago the more it boils my blood," he said.
In the wake of the backlash, organisers Saturday unveiled a five-step "air .

Australian Open sets air pollution limit after bushfire smoke anger

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Rain and thunderstorms doused long-burning bushfires across much of eastern Australia Saturday, but they also brought a new threat of flooding in some areas.
Major bushfires continued to rage in regions of the south and southeast of the country that have so far missed out on the rain, including in wildlife-rich forests on Kangaroo Island off the southern coast.
The fire service in New South Wales (NSW) state, the country's most populous and the hardest hit by the crisis, said 75 fires continued to burn Saturday, down from well over 100 a few days earlier.
"Rain continues to fall across a number of fire grounds," the state's rural fire service said, adding that "benign conditions" of rain and cooler temperatures were helping efforts to contain the remaining blazes.
To the north, Queensland state was hit by severe storms overnight, causing some flash flooding and road closures though no deaths or injuries were reported.  Both states have suffered from one of the longest droughts in ...

Rainstorms douse bushfires across eastern Australia

The number of people infected by a mystery SARS-like virus that has killed two people in China is likely hundreds more than officially reported, researchers have said.
Chinese authorities have said pneumonia linked to the virus has hit at least 41 people in the country, with the outbreak centred around a seafood market in the central city of Wuhan.
But a paper published Friday by scientists with the MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis at Imperial College in London said the number of those affected in the city was likely to be well over a thousand.
The scientists at the Centre -- which advises bodies including the World Health Organization -- said they estimated a "total of 1,723 cases" in Wuhan would have been infected as of January 12.
The researchers took the number of cases reported outside China so far -- two in Thailand and one in Japan -- to infer how many were likely infected in the city, based on international flight traffic data from Wuhan's airport.
"For Wuhan .

'Hundreds' likely affected by Chinese virus: researchers

A deaf man in New York has filed a class action lawsuit against three pornographic websites on grounds he cannot enjoy their content fully without closed captions.
In a filing Thursday in Brooklyn federal court, Yaroslav Suris sued Pornhub, Redtube and YouPorn and their Canadian parent company MindGeek, arguing they violated an anti-discrimination law called the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Suris, who already sued Fox News over similar violations, named several racy-sounding videos that he said he wanted to watch in October and this month.
"Without closed captioning, deaf and hard of hearing people cannot enjoy video content on the defendants' websites while the general public can," Suris wrote in his 23-page complaint.
Suris said he wants the porn sites to provide closed captioning and is also seeking undisclosed damages and interests.
Pornhub Vice President Corey Price sent AFP a statement asserting that the website does in fact have a closed captions category and provided a ...

Deaf New Yorker sues porn sites for lack of closed captions

Boeing said Friday it discovered a new flaw in the software on the grounded 737 MAX aircraft, but hopes to resolve the matter shortly so that it does not further delay the plane's expected return to service.
"We are making necessary updates and working with the FAA on submission of this change and keeping our customers and suppliers informed," the company said a statement, referring to the US Federal Aviation Administration.
"Our highest priority is ensuring the 737 MAX is safe and meets all regulatory requirements before it returns to service." The statement did not elaborate on the nature of the problem.
According to a person with knowledge of the matter, the glitch causes other onboard software to malfunction during startup.
Boeing uncovered the new problem during a "technical review" last week, the person said, calling the problem "minor" and adding that it should not delay the plane's return to service.
Boeing and the FAA are currently reviewing fixes to the aircraft's MCAS ...

Boeing finds 'minor' new 737 MAX software glitch

A Pennsylvania court on Friday slashed a USD 8 billion ruling against US pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson, imposed by a jury because the company failed to warn that a psychiatric drug could cause breast growth in men.
The court said the company now only is liable for punitive damages of USD 6.8 million, although the company still intends to appeal the decision.
The jury in October ordered Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceuticals to pay damages after plaintiff Nicholas Murray told the Philadelphia court that the drug Risperdal, prescribed to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, had made him grow breasts.
The company said that although the court "appropriately reduced the excessive punitive damages award, we will continue to move ahead with an appeal of this verdict."
It said it was unable to present the jury with "vital evidence" showing how the drug label "appropriately outlined the benefits and risks associated with the medicine."
The company is ...

US court slashes USD 8 bn Johnson & Johnson damages over drug side effect

Toyota on Friday said it was moving assembly operations for its popular Tacoma pickups from the United States to Mexico but pledged that no US jobs would be affected.
The announcement came a day after the US Senate approved the new US-Mexico Canada Agreement on trade, which importantly revamps the rules for manufacturing and cross-border trade in autos.
Since 2010, the Tacoma has been produced at a plant in San Antonio, Texas that employs 3,200 workers with an annual capacity of 208,000 vehicles.
But this will come to an end in 2021, the company said in a statement, and all production will then take place at a factory in Baja California, Mexico.
Beginning in 2022, the San Antonio plant will switch to producing the Toyota Sequoia SUV, which had previously rolled off the assembly line in Princeton, Indiana.
It was unclear how US President Donald Trump would take the news. In an angry tweet, Trump in 2017 had blasted Toyota's decision to send production of the Corolla sedan to Mexico and 

Toyota shifts Tacoma pickup assembly from US to Mexico

Six Burkina Faso soldiers were killed Friday when their vehicle was hit by a roadside explosive in a northern province, security sources said, in the latest attack on the country's armed forces.
No group claimed immediate responsibility for the bomb, but jihadist violence in Burkina Faso has been blamed on militants linked to both Al-Qaeda and Islamic State groups.
"A homemade bomb killed six soldiers and inured another" during a patrol in a wildlife reserve in Soum province, the army said in a statement.
Earlier, the number of dead had been put at five.
A military sweep of the area was begun following the attack, the military added. "Reinforcements were sent to the zone to clear the area while the wounded were evacuated," a military source said.
A wave of attacks at December killed 35 civilians, mostly women, and dozens of soldiers in an assault on a military base and a town in the north of the country.
Burkina Faso, as well as neighbouring Mali and Niger, has seen frequent jihadist .

Six Burkina troops killed in roadside bomb attack

Wall Street stocks again finished at records on Friday, capping a positive week of trade-related news and mostly solid corporate earnings.
At the closing bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average stood at 29,342.33, up 0.2 per cent.
The broad-based S&P 500 gained 0.4 per cent to 3,329.24, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 0.3 per cent to 9,388.94.

US stocks end at records again, S&P 500 +0.4 pc

US authorities will begin screening passengers Friday arriving on direct or connecting flights from a Chinese city at the heart of a mysterious SARS-like virus responsible for two deaths.
Travellers from Wuhan to the United States will undergo entry screening for symptoms associated with the new coronavirus at three airports: San Francisco, New York's JFK and Los Angeles.
China has now reported 45 cases linked to the virus, Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) official Nancy Messonnier told reporters in a press call, most linked to a seafood and live animal market in Wuhan, while two cases have been found in Thailand and one in Japan.
The CDC said that based on current information, the risk to Americans from the virus, known by its technical name 2019-nCoV, is currently deemed low. Nevertheless it was enhancing precautionary measures.
The CDC will deploy 100 additional staff to the three airports, with incoming passengers asked to fill out a questionnaire and submit to a ..

US to screen passengers for China mystery virus

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday urged Iran to hand over the damaged black boxes from last week's downed airliner to France, saying it has one of the few laboratories capable of properly examining them.
"Iran does not have the level of technical expertise and mostly the equipment necessary to be able to analyze these damaged black boxes quickly," Trudeau said.
So, he said, "the right place to send those black boxes to get proper information from them and in a rapid way" is France, adding "that is what we're encouraging the Iranian authorities to agree to.

Trudeau urges Iran to send downed jetliner's black boxes to France

Russia's acting Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Friday urged Iran and the United States to wind down tensions after Iranian forces accidentally downed a Ukrainian passenger jet.
Lavrov said the tragedy was a "very serious red flag" and a signal that everyone should "start working on de-escalation and not on constant threats".
"An increase in tensions between Iran and the United States will not help settle any single crisis in the region, if only because the tensions will be increasing," he said.
Iran and the US seemed to be on the brink of conflict earlier in January after an American drone strike killed a top Iranian general in Baghdad.
This prompted retaliatory Iranian missile strikes against Iraqi bases housing US troops.
Iran then accidentally downed a Ukrainian airliner while on high alert. The tragedy killed 176 people, mostly Iranians and Canadians.
Tehran admitted the disaster was caused by human error several days later.
Lavrov said he did not want to "find excuses for ...

Russia's Lavrov calls for US-Iran de-escalation

Britain's finance ministry on Friday said it had added Lebanon's entire Hezbollah movement to its list of terrorist groups subject to asset freezing.
The ministry previously only targeted the Shiite organisation's military wing but has now listed the whole group after the government designated it a terrorist organisation last March.
The change requires any individual or institution in Britain with accounts or financial services connected to Hezbollah to suspend them or face prosecution.
The group had "publicly denied a distinction between its military and political wings," the Treasury said in a notice posted on its website.
"The group in its entirety is assessed to be concerned in terrorism and was proscribed as a terrorist organisation in the UK in March 2019," it added.
"This listing includes the Military Wing, the Jihad Council and all units reporting to it, including the External Security Organisation."
Brian Hook, the US special representative for Iran, said the United States ...

UK adds entire Hezbollah movement to terror blacklist

Pep Guardiola defended his Manchester City stars on Friday following reports they flew in 22 Italian Instagram models for their delayed Christmas party after last weekend's 6-1 Premier League win at Aston Villa.
The defending champions were not allowed to attend City's own Christmas event as Guardiola was concerned there would be a repeat of the 2018 gathering that saw several players out into the early hours.
But the City manager said he is a big believer in the value of his squad relaxing together.
Guardiola made it clear he was aware of the recent party and had no problem with players letting off steam.
"I knew (about) it. When they have time, they make a lot of dinners together, with the staff. They did it many times anyway," Guardiola told reporters on Friday.
"And I like it when they are together outside here, they do it sometimes at home, sometimes in a restaurant as was the case. It was nice."
Guardiola's side, second in the table, 14 points behind Liverpool, host Crystal ...

Guardiola relaxed over Man City party with 'Instagram models'

Premier League chiefs have advised referees to use pitchside monitors to make a final decision on red cards, according to reports on Friday.
Officials in the English top-flight were initially believed to have been told the monitors should be used only occasionally when the Premier League brought in VAR this season.
No referee has gone to review a decision using the monitors in the Premier League, instead relying on VAR to make the calls.
Michael Oliver did check the monitor before issuing a red card to Crystal Palace's Luka Milivojevic during an FA Cup third-round tie against Derby on January 5.
Palace boss Roy Hodgson was asked after that game whether he would like to see more referees follow Oliver's lead and said: "No, not particularly.
"If it is going to be the referee's decision on the field that counts why do you bother with the VAR people sitting there in Stockley Park?"
But Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp said he felt pitchside monitors should be used.
"The only reason for ...

Premier League refs told to use monitors for red cards: reports

A Renaissance historian has unearthed the oldest known image of Venice dating from the 14th century, showing how even then the city of canals gripped the imagination of visitors.
Sandra Toffolo, a researcher at the University of Saint Andrews in Scotland, found the sketch in a manuscript describing Italian pilgrim Niccolo da Poggibonsi's 1346-1350 voyage to Jerusalem which took him through the bustling port city.
"The discovery of this view of the city is of great importance for our understanding of images of Venice, because it shows that even from very early on, the city held great fascination for contemporaries," Toffolo said in a statement published by Saint Andrews earlier this month.
The drawing in pen, while quite rudimentary and lacking the linear perspective which was only to be adopted in the following century during the Renaissance, shows what appears to be a crowded city with churches, palaces with parapets, canals and even gondolas.
Besides the Holy Land, da Poggibonsi's ..

Oldest image of Venice discovered dating back to 14th century

US President Donald Trump will renew his running battle with young climate campaigner Greta Thunberg when they join the A-list movers and shakers attending the 50th anniversary of the Davos conclave next week.
From climate change to tensions in the Middle East, via trade conflicts and fears of pandemics, the more than 3,000 delegates at the World Economic Forum will thrash out challenges as imposing as the surrounding Swiss Alps.
The WEF has come a long way since its inaugural edition in 1971 and if the main business of Davos remains deal-making among corporate titans, climate change has come to dominate the catalogue of long-term planetary risks identified in a pre-meeting report compiled by the forum.
After trolling each other on Twitter, Trump and the 17-year-old Thunberg will bring rival messages to the well-heeled crowd. The Swede's impassioned speech, and famously hard stare at the US leader, at the UN General Assembly in September symbolised anger over climate inaction.
Climate 

Trump and Thunberg face off as Davos warms to climate action

Lesotho's prime minister confirmed Friday that he would resign after police linked him to the murder of his estranged wife nearly three years ago.
Thomas Thabane had faced calls from senior members of his All Basotho Convention (ABC) party to step down after police said there was evidence connecting him to the 2017 killing.
However, Thabane did not address the allegations against him when he announced his resignation plans at a press briefing in the capital Maseru.
Thabane gave no timeframe for his departure, but said he would nevertheless continue in his role as leader of the ABC.
"Truth be told, I have become of age and my strength has lessened, hence I announce before you today that I have an intention to step down and when such time comes I will let you know," the 80-year-old said.
He said he had worked as long as he could for the well-being of the Basotho, an ethnic group native to Lesotho and South Africa.
"I am convinced that there is still much to do."
Thabane's 58-year-old ...

Lesotho PM confirms resignation after alleged link to wife's murder

Armenian investigators on Friday said they had found the dead body of a former security chief bearing a gunshot wound, but they did not elaborate about possible foul play.
"The body of the former director of the National Security Service Grigory Kutoyan was found with traces of a gunshot wound," the south Caucasus country's investigative committee said in a statement.
The 39-year-old was the second senior ex-security official to turn up dead recently after a former police chief was also discovered in September with a gunshot wound.
From 2011-2016 Kutoyan worked as an aide to Armenia's former president Serzh Sarkisyan, who was ousted following a popular uprising in 2018 after he tried to remain in power by switching to prime minister.
Kutoyan headed the security service for two years up to 2018 when he lost his job following Armenia's  "velvet revolution".
His successor as security chief, Artur Vanetsyan, complained that many documents were missing from the files. Last year he too was .

Ex-security chief turns up dead in Armenia

A painting found stashed inside a wall at an Italian museum has been confirmed as the stolen "Portrait of a Lady" by Austria's Gustav Klimt, prosecutors said on Friday, two decades after it went missing.
"It is with no small emotion that I can tell you the work is authentic," Prosecutor Ornella Chicca told reporters, referring to the painting discovered last month by gardeners inside an external wall at the Ricci Oddi Gallery of Modern Art in Piacenza.
Museum officials had initially said they could not immediately determine whether the painting was indeed the stolen Klimt until scientific tests were performed.
Painted in 1916-1917, the Expressionist work depicts the face and torso of a young woman with brown hair, over an emerald green background.
The painting -- which the museum estimated could be worth between 60 and 100 million euros (USD 67-111 million) -- went missing in February 1997 while the museum was closed for work.
In December, gardeners removing ivy from a wall found a ...

Painting found in Italy wall is stolen Klimt

Almost exactly two years after the death of renowned French chef Paul Bocuse, the Michelin Guide has retracted the coveted three-star ranking his restaurant held for an unprecedented 55 years, prompting anger and dismay from many of his peers.
The Auberge du Pont de Collonges, near food-obsessed Lyon in southeast France, was the oldest three-starred restaurant in the world, having held the accolade without interruption since 1965.
The Michelin Guide told AFP on Friday that the establishment "remained excellent but no longer at the level of three stars" and will have only two in the 2020 edition of the famous red book -- known as the "Bible" of French cuisine.
The Bocuse d'Or organisation, which holds the annual international cooking competition he created, greeted the announcement with "sadness" and expressed its "unwavering support" for the restaurant.
Bocuse's family and his kitchen team said they were "upset" by the decision, and celebrity chef Marc Veyrat, who recently sued the ...

AFP

AFP

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