While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, Jan 18
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The missiles are the latest in a string of weapons tests conducted by Pyongyang this year.
PHOTO: AFP
US calls on N Korea to 'cease' its 'unlawful' missile launches
The United States called on North Korea Monday (Jan 17) to "cease its unlawful and destabilising activities," after Pyongyang fired two suspected ballistic missiles in its fourth weapons test this month, a State Department spokesman said.
In a call with South Korean and Japanese officials, the US special representative on North Korea, Sung Kim "expressed concern" about the missile launches and urged Pyongyang to return to dialogue "without preconditions," the statement from spokesman Ned Price said.
He also "reaffirmed the US commitment to the complete denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula, as well as its ironclad commitment to the defense of its allies," South Korea and Japan.
EU chief von der Leyen to isolate after Covid-19 exposure
EU chief Ursula von der Leyen's driver tested positive for Covid-19.
PHOTO: AFP
European Union (EU) chief Ursula von der Leyen will miss a session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, including a speech by France's President Emmanuel Macron, after a possible Covid-19 exposure, she said on Monday (Jan 17).
The president of the European Commission had been due to attend several meetings at the assembly's Strasbourg seat for its first full session of the year and of France's six-month EU presidency.
"My driver has tested positive for Covid-19. Regretfully, I must, therefore, cancel my participation... I am returning to Brussels," she tweeted.
Israel cuts Covid-19 isolation to five days
Until last week, the isolation period was 10 days.
PHOTO: AFP
Israel's Health Ministry on Monday (Jan 17) said that it would shorten the mandatory isolation period for those who tested positive for Covid-19 to five days from seven days, following an initial cut last week, provided they are asymptomatic.
Until last week, the isolation period was 10 days.
The latest decision, which takes effect on Wednesday, brings Israel in line with recommendations in the United States.
Coronavirus: Vaccinate whole world to end pandemic, UN chief tells Davos
Vaccination rates in high-income countries are seven times higher than in African countries.
PHOTO: AFP
UN chief Antonio Guterres told the all-virtual Davos forum on Monday (Jan 17) that the world must vaccinate everybody against Covid-19 to ensure a way out of the pandemic.
The face-to-face gathering of political and corporate power players in the Swiss Alps is online for the second year in a row due to a pandemic that shows no sign of abating.
"The last two years have demonstrated a simple but brutal truth - if we leave anyone behind, we leave everyone behind," said the United Nations Secretary-General.
Texas synagogue hostages had offered their captor tea
Four congregants managed to escape after the rabbi threw a chair at the hostage-taker and then rushed for an exit door.
PHOTO: AFP
Worshippers invited a stranger into a Texas synagogue when he knocked on their door and offered him tea before he brandished a gun and held them hostage in a 10-hour siege the FBI called a "terrorism-related matter, in which the Jewish community was targeted."
Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker, who was among the four congregants taken captive on Saturday (Jan 15), the Jewish sabbath, told CBS on Monday that he and others managed to escape after he threw a chair at the hostage-taker and then rushed for an exit door.
The FBI identified the man as Malik Faisal Akram, a 44-year-old British citizen.
