While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, Jan 29
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Trump leaps into Mid-East fray with plan that favours Israel, angers Palestinians
US President Donald Trump on Tuesday proposed creating a Palestinian state as part of a Middle East peace solution, drawing Palestinian condemnation for imposing strict conditions and for agreeing to let Israel maintain control of long-contested West Bank settlements.
Trump announced his plan for Israeli-Palestinian peace at a White House event with embattled Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu standing at his side. It includes what Trump called a four-year freeze by Israel on new settlement activity.
Although Trump's stated aim was to end decades of conflict, the plan he advanced favoured Israel, underscored by the absence of Palestinians from Trump's announcement.
It seemed unlikely to advance Israeli-Palestinian talks that broke down in 2014.
Wuhan virus: China agrees to WHO sending experts to study virus
China has agreed that the World Health Organisation (WHO) will send international experts there as soon as possible to increase understanding of a new coronavirus and guide the global response to the outbreak, the UN agency said on Tuesday.
In a statement after a two-day visit by WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who met Chinese President Xi Jinping as well as the health and foreign ministers, it said that a better understanding of the virus' ability to spread from person to person was urgently needed to advise other countries.
"The discussions focused on continued collaboration on containment measures in Wuhan, public health measures in other cities and provinces, conducting further studies on the severity and transmissibility of the virus, continuing to share data, and for China to share biological material with WHO," the WHO said.
Major Caribbean quake shakes Miami and Cayman Islands
A powerful magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck in the sea in the western Caribbean on Tuesday, sending workers into the streets and triggering evacuations as buildings shook across the Cayman Islands, in Jamaica, and in downtown Miami.
The epicentre of the quake was between Jamaica, the Cayman Islands and Cuba, at a shallow depth of 10km.
The region appeared to have avoided major damage and the International Tsunami Information Centre said an earlier threat of a tsunami wave had largely passed.
Kobe Bryant's death: All nine bodies recovered from helicopter crash scene
Rescuers recovered the bodies of all nine victims from a helicopter crash near Los Angeles that killed NBA legend Kobe Bryant, the coroner's office said on Tuesday.
Three bodies were retrieved from the scattered wreckage by a special response team on Sunday - the day of the crash. The remaining six were located as the search resumed in rugged terrain Monday, it said.
The remains were "removed from the crash site and transported to the department's forensic science centre" for examination and identification, the Los Angeles County coroner's office said in a statement.
Ex-roommate of Weinstein accuser Mimi Haleyi backs up sex assault allegation
The former roommate of Mimi Haleyi, one of the women who has accused Harvey Weinstein of sexual assault, took the stand on Tuesday in the former Hollywood mogul's rape trial.
Elizabeth Entin told jurors that Haleyi, visibly upset, told her in the summer of 2006 that Weinstein forced oral sex on her. "I said, 'Miriam, that sounds like rape'," Entin testified, using Haleyi's full first name.
Weinstein, 67, has pleaded not guilty to sexually assaulting Haleyi and Jessica Mann.
