Mother of Isis Japanese hostage pleads for son's life as 72 hour ransom deadline expires
Brazil’s worst drought in history prompts rationing warning
Lights go out, internet is cut for days, and agriculture is suffering as crisis spreads from São Paulo to Rio de Janeiro and beyond
The taps have run dry and the lights have gone out across swathes of Brazil this week as the worst drought in history spreads from São Paulo to Rio de Janeiro and beyond.
More than four million people have been affected by rationing and rolling power cuts as this tropical nation discovers it can no longer rely on once abundant water supplies in a period of rising temperatures and diminishing rainfall.
The political and economic fallout for the world’s seventh biggest economy is increasingly apparent. Protesters in dry neighbourhoods have taken to the streets, coffee crops have been hit, businesses have been forced to close and peddle-boat operators have had to cease operations because lakes have dried up.
Greeks fatalistic on eve of election that could shake eurozone
Nick Miller
Europe Correspondent
London: Nick Geronimos is just back from lunch in Athens with a mate and he's pretty happy with the world.
"It's 17 degrees and sunny, it's absolutely beautiful, we've had a couple of really good pork chops, some fantastic salads and two carafes of wine – why aren't we all living in Greece? Who cares who the government is?"
Then, Mr Geronimos somehow manages to switch from optimism to pessimism in a way that is truly startling – and very Greek. "You talk to people about the election here (on Sunday) and say 'what's going to happen' and they say 'who cares'," he says.
Doomsday Clock Set at 3 Minutes to Midnight
By Megan Gannon
The world is "3 minutes" from doomsday.
That's the grim outlook from board members of The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Frustrated with a lack of international action to address climate change and shrink nuclear arsenals, they decided today (Jan. 22) to push the minute hand of their iconic "Doomsday Clock" to 11:57 p.m.
It's the first time the clock hands have moved in three years; since 2012, the clock had been fixed at 5 minutes to symbolic doom, midnight. [End of the World? Top Doomsday Fears]
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists doesn't use the clock to make any real doomsday predictions.
Rather, the clock is a visual metaphor to warn the public about how close the world is to a potentially civilization-ending catastrophe. Each year, the magazine's board analyzes threats to humanity's survival to decide where the Doomsday Clock's hands should be set.23 January 2015 Last updated at 09:01
Ebola crisis: Experimental vaccine 'shipped to Liberia'
The first batch of an experimental vaccine against Ebola is on its way to Liberia.
The shipment will be the first potentially preventative medicine to reach one of the hardest hit countries.
But experts say that, with Ebola cases falling, it may be difficult to establish whether the jab offers any protection against the virus.
It has been produced by British company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and the US National Institutes of Health.
Meaningful protection
GSK said a plane carrying some 300 initial doses of the vaccine was expected to arrive in Monrovia on Friday.
The company hopes the first volunteer will be immunised in the next few weeks.
Asking Obama what he can do for India
The US President Barack Obama’s annual State of the Union address on Tuesday was heavily focused on domestic issues. Jobs, economy, taxes, opportunity, immigration, a recalcitrant Congress – the burning domestic issues on top of Obama’s agenda could have been anticipated.
On foreign policy issues, Obama spoke very little and his remarks were notable on the Middle East, talks with Iran on the nuclear issue and relations with Russia. He said the US intends to fight the Islamic State without “getting dragged into another ground war in the Middle East.” So, that settles it – no ‘boots on the ground’ in Iraq. With regard to Syria, interestingly, he touched on the US’ continued support of “a moderate opposition” that could help him in the fight against terrorism. But he made no reference to ‘regime change’ in Syria.
Unsurprisingly, Obama was polemical about “Russian aggression” and Ukraine’s “democracy”. He insisted that sanctions against Russia are working. The punch line was a direct barb at “Mr. Putin’s aggression” – only foreign statesman that Obama finger-pointed – and was triumphalist that Russian economy is “in tatters”. Curiously, however, he dodged Russian-American relationship as such, leaving the field open, perhaps, for secretary of state John Kerry.
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