A new draft constitution for Belarus, which President Alexander Lukashenko has touted as a solution to a political crisis but the opposition rejects as a sham, will be drawn up this year, Lukashenko said in an interview to be broadcast on Sunday.
Belarus has seen protests since an Aug. 9 presidential election which Lukashenko says he won but the opposition says was stolen. Thousands of protesters have been rounded up and nearly all opposition political figures have been driven into exile or jailed.
Though demonstrations have ebbed over the past five months, social media videos showed hundreds of protesters on Sunday carrying red and white opposition flags at small rallies in Minsk, chanting for Lukashenko to resign.
From early in the crisis, Lukashenko has promised unspecified constitutional reforms. At one point he even suggested he would step down once a new constitution is adopted. The opposition has consistently rejected the proposal as a stunt to keep him in power.
In excerpts from an interview with Russian television taped in December but not previously broadcast, RIA news agency quoted Lukashenko as saying he believed the new draft constitution would be finished by the end of 2021.
-And then the people will determine at a referendum if there should be a new constitution or not- he said. It was his firmest statement so far about the timing of the reform.
The date of the referendum would be announced when parliament convenes on Feb. 11-12, he was quoted as saying.
Exiled opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya said a new election should be held this year, and a new constitution drawn up with no input from Lukashenko.
-A person who has lowered themselves to using terror against Belarusians has nothing to do with the main law of the country- she said in a social media statement. “He will continue to promote his manipulative (plan) to deceive us once again and to buy time for himself.-

Belarus has seen protests since an Aug. 9 presidential election which Lukashenko says he won but the opposition says was stolen

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko meets with medical workers as he visits a local hospital in the town of Stolbtsy in Minsk Region, Belarus December 8, 2020.

Lukashenko promises new Belarus draft constitution by end of this year

The Philippines has secured 30 million doses of a Covid-19 vaccine developed by US drug maker Novavax, officials said Sunday, as the country braces for a surge in infections after a huge religious event.
This is only the second vaccine deal signed by the national government, which has faced growing criticism for its slowness in procuring jabs for the archipelago where nearly half a million infections have been recorded.
It hopes to secure 148 million doses this year from seven companies -- enough for around 70 percent of its population. But the government has warned it will depend on global supply. 
In an agreement with the Serum Institute of India, the world's largest vaccine maker, the Philippines will buy 30 million doses of the jab developed by Novavax, the government's vaccine task force said in a statement. 
The price has not been finalised but the vaccine will be available from the third quarter. 
The Novavax vaccine is in late-stage human trials in the United States, Mexico and Britain and is "expected to be approved for use by international regulators", the statement said. 
Previously, the Philippines signed a deal with AstraZeneca for 2.6 million doses of its vaccine developed with Oxford University. The government hopes to secure another 30 million from the company using public and private funding.
No vaccine has been approved by the country's Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which is required before it can be rolled out across the country of 110 million people.
Three drug makers -- Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Russia's Gamaleya -- have applied for emergency use authorisation.
Duterte sparked outcry last month after he revealed that members of his security team had been given a vaccine made by China's Sinopharm. 
Health authorities are warning of a surge in infections in the coming weeks after the Christmas holidays and a massive religious gathering on Saturday.
Several hundred thousand Catholics ignored official pleas to stay home and instead flocked to a church for a glimpse of a centuries-old statue of Jesus Christ believed to have miraculous healing powers.
Authorities said it could be a super-spreader event and urged participants to self-isolate.&nbsp;&nbsp;

This is only the second vaccine deal signed by the national government

The Philippine government hopes to secure 148 million vaccine doses this year from seven companies - enough for around 70 per cent of its population

Philippines secures 30 million Novavax vaccine doses

At least 61 suspects were detained across Turkey for selling counterfeit gold in the market, according to security sources on Friday.
The financial crimes police branch in Istanbul uncovered a network producing fake and low quality gold bars in eight different workshops in the city's Fatih district. They were gaining unfair profit by putting it on the market in Anatolian cities.
As a result of the six-month technical and physical follow-up carried out as part of the investigation, the identities and addresses of 103 suspects were determined, said the source on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on speaking to the media.
Police are on the lookout for 42 other suspects.

Police on lookout for 42 other suspects involved in production, sales of fake, low quality gold

The financial crimes police branch in Istanbul uncovered a network producing fake and low quality gold bars in eight different workshops in the city's Fatih district

Turkey: 61 detained over fake gold production

Vice President Mike Pence will attend the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden, according to a source familiar with the plans.
CNN previously reported that Pence was planning to attend the inauguration, but he was waiting on an invitation.
Word of Pence's intention to watch President-elect Joe Biden take his oath of office in person spread just one day after the first major break between Pence and President Donald Trump -- when Pence defied the President by performing his constitutional duty to certify the election results.
Pence had faced intense pressure from Trump and his supporters to somehow stop the ceremonial vote counting during a joint session of Congress, although he told the President it was not within his power to do so. A mob incited by Trump earlier in the day Wednesday descended on the US Capitol where Pence was presiding over the counting of the Electoral College results, forcing him and his family to flee the chamber when the pro-Trump rioters infiltrated the building.
Biden said Friday that he was glad Pence would be attending.
-He's welcome. I think it's important that as much as we can stick to what have been the historical precedents of how an administration changes should be maintained. And so Mike, the vice president, is welcome to come. We'd be honored to have him there, and to move forward in the transition- Biden said.
President Donald Trump announced on Twitter, before his account was suspended, that he would not be attending.
Biden said Trump's decision to skip his inauguration is "one of the few things he and I have ever agreed on."
-It's a good thing, him not showing up- Biden told reporters Friday in Wilmington, Delaware, at a news conference after he introduced Cabinet nominees.
-He exceeded even my worst notions about him. He's been an embarrassment to the country, embarrassed us around the world. He's not worthy to hold that office- Biden said.
House Democrats are preparing articles of impeachment, expected to be introduced as soon as Monday. The President-elect did not weigh in on whether Congress should impeach Trump and remove him from office over his actions leading up to his supporters' riot at the Capitol this week.
Biden said there's no doubt he wants Trump, whom he called "one of the most incompetent presidents in the history of the United States of America," out of office as soon as possible. He said if Trump had several months left in office, he would push for his impeachment. Now, though, Biden said, "The quickest way that will happen is us being sworn in on the 20th. What action happens before or after that is a judgment for Congress to make."

Word of Pence's intention to watch President-elect Joe Biden take his oath of office in person spread just one day after the first major break between Pence and President Donald Trump

Pence will attend Biden's inauguration

UNICEF has condemned a terrorist Boko Haram suicide attack in the Central African country of Cameroon that killed at least 15 civilians, including five children ranging from age 3 to 14.
-I condemn this horrific act and call for the immediate cessation of attacks against children, their families and communities. There is absolutely no justification for the targeting or use of children to carry out attacks- UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore said in a statement late Saturday.
The attack took place Friday in the village of Mozogo in Cameroon's Mayo Tsanaga department, Midjiyawa Bakari, governor of the Far North Region, told Anadolu Agency.
Boko Haram terrorists stormed the village, firing shots in the air. Villagers fled to a park, where the terrorists brought a girl strapped with explosives, according to Bakari. At least 15 people, including children, were killed in the suicide blast.
-I continue to be deeply concerned about the increasing number of attacks against civilians in the Far North, North-West and South-West regions of Cameroon. The rise in violence has exacerbated a national humanitarian crisis and there are now an estimated 3.2 million children in need across the country- Fore said.
-Conditions for vulnerable children and families have only been made worse by mass school closures, disease outbreaks and the socioeconomic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Based in Nigeria near the Cameroonian border, Boko Haram terrorists regularly attack civilians and military posts in northern Cameroon.
Boko Haram launched a bloody insurgency in 2009 in northeastern Nigeria but later spread its atrocities to neighboring Niger, Chad, and Cameroon, prompting a military response.
More than 30,000 people have been killed and nearly 3 million displaced in a decade of Boko Haram’s terrorist activities in Nigeria, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Violence committed by Boko Haram has affected some 26 million people in the Lake Chad region and displaced 2.6 million others, according to the UN Refugee Agency.

'There is absolutely no justification for targeting or use of children to carry out attacks,' says UN official

UNICEF has condemned a terrorist Boko Haram suicide attack in the Central African country of Cameroon that killed at least 15 civilians, including five children ranging from age 3 to 14

UNICEF condemns terrorist suicide attack in Cameroon

Power was gradually being restored to major cities across Pakistan Sunday after it was hit by a massive electricity blackout, officials said.
The electricity distribution system in the nation of more than 210 million people is a complex and delicate web, and a problem in one section of the grid can lead to cascading breakdowns countrywide.

The latest blackout was caused by "an engineering fault" in southern Pakistan at 11:41 pm local time on Saturday (1841 GMT), which tripped the system and caused power plants to shut down, power minister Omar Ayub Khan told a press conference in Islamabad.

-Our experts are trying to determine the exact location of the fault.-
Khan said that will take "another few hours as the area is still covered in dense fog", but that power had been partially restored in most areas of Punjab, the most populous province, as well as the economic hub Karachi in the south.

"We hope to bring the system back to its full capacity by this evening, but it will take some time for nuclear and thermal power plants to get operational," Khan tweeted.

People were cracking jokes and exchanging memes on Twitter, Facebook and WhatsApp, mostly ridiculing Prime Minister Imran Khan's government and its performance after the breakdown.

"Power breakdown in Pakistan is blackmailing Imran Khan," tweeted Musarrat Ahmedzeb in reference to the premier's recent statement accusing Shiite protesters of blackmailing him after killing of 10 miners.

"What a start for the new year... let us seek Allah the Almighty's mercy," read another tweet, while a message on WhatsApp said: "new Pakistan sleeps in a night mode".

There were no immediate reports of disruption at hospitals, which often rely on back-up generators.

Netblocks, which monitors internet outages, said web connectivity in the country "collapsed" as a result of the blackout.

Connectivity was at "62 percent of ordinary levels", it said in a tweet.

This was Pakistan's second major power breakdown in less than three years. In May 2018, power was partially disrupted for more than nine hours.

In 2015, an apparent rebel attack on a key power line plunged around 80 percent of Pakistan into darkness.

That blackout, one of the worst in Pakistan's history, caused electricity to be cut in major cities nationwide, including Islamabad, and even affected one of the country's international airports.

Problem in one section of the grid can lead to cascading breakdowns countrywide

Vehicles headlights light a dark street during widespread power outages in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, Jan. 10, 2021.

Pakistan hit by nationwide power blackout

Authorities have pinpointed the location of two black boxes from a crashed Indonesian jet, they said Sunday, referring to cockpit voice and flight data recorders that could help explain why the aircraft went down with 62 people aboard.
The announcement came as divers pulled body parts, wreckage and clothing from waters off Indonesia's capital Jakarta.
-We have located the position of the black boxes, both of them- said Soerjanto Tjahjanto, head of Indonesia's transport safety agency.
-Divers will start looking for them now and hopefully it won't be long before we get them.-
The Sriwijaya Air Boeing 737-500 went into a steep dive about four minutes after it left Soekarno-Hatta international airport in Jakarta on Saturday afternoon.
Indonesia's President Joko Widodo expressed his "deep condolences", and called on citizens to "pray together so that victims can be found".
But the frantic search involving helicopters and a flotilla of warships appeared to offer no hope of finding any survivors.
The search and rescue agency said it had so far collected five body bags with human remains as well as debris from the crash site in the Java Sea.
A piece of child's clothing, a broken tyre and wheel, life jackets and wreckage from the plane's body were found, according to authorities and AFP reporters on the scene.
Among the passengers was Beben Sofian, 59, and her husband Dan Razanah, 58.
-They took a selfie and sent it to their kids before taking off- the couple's nephew Hendra told AFP.
All 62 people on board, passengers and crew, were Indonesian, authorities said. The count included 10 children.

Distraught relatives waited nervously for news at the airport in Pontianak, the city on Indonesia's section of Borneo island which had been flight SJ182's destination, about 90 minutes flying time over the Java Sea.
-I have four family members on the flight -- my wife and three children- Yaman Zai said on Saturday evening as he sobbed.
-(My wife) sent me a picture of the baby today... How could my heart not be torn into pieces?-
Data from FlightRadar24 indicated that the airliner reached an altitude of nearly 11,000 feet (3,350 metres) before dropping suddenly to 250 feet. It then lost contact with air traffic control.
The transport minister said Saturday that the jet appeared to deviate from its intended course just before it disappeared from radar.
Poor weather, pilot error or a technical problem with the plane were potential factors, said Jakarta-based aviation analyst Gerry Soejatman.
-But it's way too early to conclude anything- he added.
-After the black box is found we can start putting the puzzle together.-
Sriwijaya Air, which operates flights to destinations in Indonesia and Southeast Asia, has said only that it was investigating the loss of contact.
It did not immediately comment when contacted by AFP again on Sunday.

In October 2018, 189 people were killed when a Lion Air Boeing 737 MAX jet crashed near Jakarta.
That crash -- and another in Ethiopia -- saw Boeing hit with $2.5 billion in fines over claims it defrauded regulators overseeing the 737 MAX model, which was grounded worldwide following the two deadly crashes.
The 26-year-old 737 that went down Saturday was not a MAX variant.
-Our thoughts are with the crew, passengers, and their families- Boeing said in a statement, adding that it was in contact with the airline.
Indonesia's aviation sector has long had a reputation for poor safety, and its airlines were once banned from entering US and European airspace.
In 2014, an AirAsia plane headed from Surabaya to Singapore crashed with the loss of 162 lives.
Domestic investigators' final report on that crash said major factors included a chronically faulty component in a rudder control system, poor maintenance, and the pilots' inadequate response.
A year later, in 2015, more than 140 people, including scores on the ground, were killed when a military plane crashed shortly after take-off in Medan on Sumatra island.

Indonesia's aviation sector has long had a reputation for poor safety, and its airlines were once banned from entering US and European airspace

The Sriwijaya Air Boeing 737-500 went into a steep dive about four minutes after it left Soekarno-Hatta international airport in Jakarta on Saturday afternoon

Indonesia says located black box recorders from crashed plane

Fifty-seven percent of Americans want Republican President Donald Trump to be immediately removed from office after he encouraged a protest this week that escalated into a deadly riot inside the U.S. Capitol, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll.Most of them were Democrats, however, with Republicans apparently much more supportive of Trump serving out the final days of his term, which ends on Jan. 20.
The national public opinion survey, conducted Thursday and Friday, also showed that seven out of 10 of those who voted for Trump in November opposed the action of the hardcore supporters who broke into the Capitol while lawmakers were meeting to certify the election victory of Democrat Joe Biden.
Nearly 70% of Americans surveyed also said they disapprove of Trump’s actions in the run-up to Wednesday’s assault. At a rally earlier in the day, Trump had exhorted thousands of his followers to march to the Capitol.
The chaos on Capitol Hill, in which a police officer and four others died, has been widely condemned by both Democrats and Republicans.
Democrats in the House of Representatives plan to introduce misconduct charges on Monday that could lead to a second impeachment of Trump, two sources familiar with the matter said.
-If the President does not leave office imminently and willingly, the Congress will proceed with our action- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a statement.

The public’s reaction is divided by political party, as it has been on almost every major issue in the Trump era. While almost everyone condemned the violent confrontation, calls for Trump’s ouster came mostly from Democrats.
Altogether, the majority of Americans who said they want Trump to leave office before his term ends includes about nine out of every ten Democrats polled but just two in ten Republicans.
Some 30% said the president should be removed using provisions in the 25th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which allows the vice president and Cabinet to remove the president if he is unable to discharge his official duties.
Another 14% said Congress should impeach and remove Trump from office, and 13% said Trump should simply resign.
Trump, who lost the Nov. 3 election by about seven million votes, called on his supporters on Wednesday to march on Congress, telling them at a rally that “you will never take back our country with weakness.”A small minority of the American public -- 12% -- said they supported the actions of those people who took part in the riot.
Seventy-nine percent of adults, including two-thirds of Republicans and Trump voters, described the participants as either “criminals” or “fools.” Nine percent saw them as “concerned citizens” and 5% called them “patriots.”
The Reuters/Ipsos poll was conducted online, in English, throughout the United States. It gathered responses from 1,005 American adults, including 339 who said they voted for Trump. The results have a credibility interval, a measure of precision, of 4 percentage points.

Most of them were Democrats, however, with Republicans apparently much more supportive of Trump serving out the final days of his term

U.S. President Donald Trump is seen making remarks on a television monitor from the White House Briefing Room, after his supporters interrupted the certification by the U.S. Congress of the results of the 2020 U.S. presidential election at the Washington Capitol, in Washington, U.S., January 6, 2021.

Majority of Americans want Trump removed immediately after U.S. Capitol violence

Fifty-five Syrian migrants were brought back to land by Albanian authorities after being stranded for hours in rough waters in the Adriatic sea in an effort to reach Italy, police said on Saturday. 
The Syrians, including women and children, were trapped by bad weather for more than three hours in an inflatable boat off Albania's Adriatic coastline on Friday, police from the port town of Vlore said.
"The rescue operation and evacuation of the people on board took place in very bad conditions in the midst of a storm and high waves at sea", the police statement said.
Sixteen of the boat passengers, including three children, were hospitalised afterwards, while the others are expected to be brought to a migrant centre. 
Albania is a key transit country for many migrants and refugees from Asia, Africa and the Middle East who are trying to reach Western Europe via the so-called Balkan route.
Despite the pandemic, the number of intercepted migrants passing through Albania more than tripled in 2020 compared to the year prior, police data shows.&nbsp;&nbsp;

The Syrians, including women and children, were trapped by bad weather for more than three hours in an inflatable boat off Albania's Adriatic coastline

Sixteen of the boat passengers, including three children, were hospitalised afterwards

Dozens of Syrian migrants rescued off Albanian coast

The novel coronavirus continues to infect more people and claim lives in Latin American countries, according to data from official sources late Friday.

According to Brazil’s Health Ministry, at the end of the week the number of deaths reached 201,460 with the latest additions. A total of 52,035 new infections were registered, bringing the tally to over 8.13 million.
Sao Paulo stands out as the region most affected by the outbreak, with over 1.52 million cases and 48,029 deaths.
There have been over 7.11 million recoveries in Brazil, the country with the highest population in South America and the largest number of cases after the US and India.

Mexico’s Health Ministry announced that the death toll from the pandemic reached 132,069, with 1,038 additional fatalities.
There are 14,362 new cases in the country, where the number of infections reached over 1.5 million and the total number of recoveries stands at 1.13 million.

Argentina’s Health Ministry reported a total of 44,273 deaths since the start of the pandemic, with the addition of 151 more deaths over the past day.
A total of 13,346 new infections were recorded over the past 24 hours, bringing the country’s case count to date to over 1.7 million.
The country, with a population of some 45 million people, reported over 1.49 million recoveries to date.

The number of deaths in Colombia reached 45,431, with 364 more deaths over the past day, according to the country’s Health Ministry.
A total of 18,221 cases were reported in the country, bringing the tally to over 1.75 million. The number of recoveries reached over 1.59 million.

Peru’s Health Ministry said 2,003 new cases were seen in the country, bringing the total number of infections to over 1.29 million.
With 96 additions over the past day, the death toll reached 38,145, it added. The number of recoveries to date is at 966,447.

Chile’s Health Ministry announced that death toll stood at 16,974, with 61 additional lives lost.
The number of cases reached 633,381 with 4,205 new infections over the past day, while the number of recoveries reached 595,799.

According to the local media in Guatemala, a total of 4,972 people lost their lives to COVID-19, with 44 additions over the past day.
The number of infections reached 142,064 as 990 new cases were reported in the country.
A total of 129,990 people have recovered so far.

Brazil reports 962 virus deaths over past day, Mexico 1,038, Argentina 151, Colombia 364, Peru 96, Chile 61, and Guatemala 44

Members of the military forces amid the new coronavirus pandemic patrol the streets, at the areas with a high number of COVID-19 cases in Bogota, Colombia, on January 08, 2021.

Latin America continues to grapple with coronavirus

Japan and Brazil have inked a deal on safeguarding the biodiversity of the Amazon rainforest, according to Kyodo News.
During a visit to Brazil, Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi and his Brazilian counterpart Ernest Araujo late Friday agreed to coordinate in the areas of the digital economy and environmental protection, Kyodo reported.
The two signed a memorandum of understanding on protection of the biodiversity of the Amazon rainforest.
Motegi was also received by Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro. During their talks, they discussed ways to boost bilateral trade investments, also confirming “plans to improve the business environment to promote Japanese companies' investment in the South American country."
Motegi also got Bolsonaro’s support for this summer’s Tokyo Olympics, postponed from 2020 due to the novel coronavirus outbreak.
After his five-nation Latin America tour, including Mexico, Uruguay, Argentina, and Paraguay, Motegi is expected to visit the African countries of Kenya and Senegal.

Japanese, Brazilian foreign ministers agree to coordinate in fields of digital economy, environmental protection, says Kyodo

Japan and Brazil have inked a deal on safeguarding the biodiversity of the Amazon rainforest

Japan, Brazil sign deal for Amazon's biodiversity

A Sriwijaya Air plane with 62 people on board lost contact after taking off from Indonesia’s capital Jakarta on a domestic flight on Saturday and rescuers said suspected debris had been found in the sea off the city.

The Boeing 737-500, en route to Pontianak in West Kalimantan, disappeared from radar screens after taking off just after 2.30 p.m. (0730 GMT).
Indonesian Transport Minister Budi Karya told a news conference that 62 people had been aboard, including 12 crew. Another official had said earlier there were 56 passengers and six crew.
Bagus Puruhito, head of the country’s search and rescue agency Basarnas, said teams had been dispatched to search the waters north of Jakarta. No radio beacon signal had been detected, the agency said.
Agus Haryono, another official with the agency, told Reuters that debris suspected to be from the plane had been found in the sea, but it had not been confirmed that it came from the missing flight.
Reliable tracking service Flightradar24 said on its Twitter feed that Flight SJ182 “lost more than 10,000 feet of altitude in less than one minute, about 4 minutes after departure from Jakarta”.
Sriwijaya Air, an Indonesian airline, said in a statement it was gathering more detailed information regarding the flight before it could make a fuller statement.
The nearly 27-year-old Boeing 737-500 was much older than Boeing’s problem-plagued 737 MAX model, one of which crashed off Jakarta in late 2018, killing all 189 people aboard the Lion Air flight. Older 737 models are widely flown and do not have the system implicated in the MAX safety crisis.
A Boeing spokeswoman said, “We are aware of media reports from Jakarta, and are closely monitoring the situation. We are working to gather more information”.
Indonesian television channels showed pictures of suspected wreckage.
-We found some cables, a piece of jeans, and pieces of metal on the water- Zulkifli, a security official, told CNNIndonesia.com.Nurhasan, a fisherman in the area known as Thousand Islands, told local media that he and his crew had found several pieces of metal.
It was raining at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport when the plane took off for Pontianak, around 740 km (460 miles) away.
Video images from the airport showed pictures of relatives of the passengers in tears as they awaited news of what had happened.

Rescue official Agus said 50 people were taking part in the search and that they would search into the night.
Founded in 2003, Jakarta-based Sriwijaya Air group flies largely within Indonesia.
The airline has a solid safety record until now, with no onboard casualties in four incidents recorded on the Aviation Safety Network database, though a farmer was killed when a Boeing 737-200 left the runway in 2008 following a hydraulic problem.
The Boeing 737 is the world’s most-sold family of aircraft and has undergone several makeovers since it entered service in 1968.
The 737-500 is two generations of development before the most recent 737 MAX, which has been embroiled in a worldwide safety crisis following crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia. It does not use the software system implicated in those crashes.
Nonetheless, experts say planes such as Sriwijaya’s leased 737-500 are being phased out for newer fuel-saving models. Civil jets typically have an economic life of 25 years, meaning they become too expensive to keep flying beyond that compared to younger models, but they are built to last longer.

The Boeing 737-500, en route to Pontianak in West Kalimantan, disappeared from radar screens after taking off just after 2.30 p.m.

A member of the rescue team looking for an Indonesian plane that lost contact after taking off from the capital Jakarta holds suspected debris, at sea, January 9, 2021.

Indonesian plane feared to have crashed with 62 aboard

Two people died in Spain and troops rescued drivers trapped by snow as Storm Filomena caused travel chaos across the country, with Madrid seeing the heaviest snowfall in decades.The airport in Madrid was closed and skiers glided down Gran Via, normally one of the busiest streets in the capital.
A woman died after she was trapped in her car when a river burst its banks near Malaga, southern Spain, and a homeless person froze to death in the eastern city of Calatayud, authorities said.
-Let’s avoid travel and follow the instructions of the emergency services- tweeted Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez. -Let’s be extremely careful in the face of the storm #Filomena.-
Aena, which controls the country’s airports, said Madrid’s Barajas airport, which closed on Friday night, would remain closed for the rest of Saturday. It said at least 50 flights to Madrid, Malaga, Tenerife and Ceuta, a Spanish territory in North Africa, were cancelled, according to Aena.
The State Metereological Agency said it was the biggest snowfall in Madrid since 1971, while José Miguel Viñas, a metereologist from Spanish National Radio, said that between 25 cm and 50 cm (10-20 inches) fell in Madrid, making it the largest snowfall since 1963.
Soldiers worked to reach drivers stranded for hours on roads around Madrid. “We continue the rescue of vehicles on the A4, A5, M40 and M607,” tweeted the Unit for Military Emergencies, which deployed 147 soldiers.
Patricia Manzanares, who was trapped in her car on the M-40 motorway in Madrid since 7 p.m. on Friday, told RTVE television: “I have been stuck here without water or any other help.”
The head of the Madrid region’s emergency service, Carlos Novillo, appealed for people not to go out in their cars.
-We have worked intensely. We have rescued 1,000 vehicles. We ask for patience, we will reach you all- he said.
Madrid and four other regions were on red alert on Saturday as more heavy snowfalls were forecast, according to the State Meteorological Agency (Aemet).

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez: Let’s avoid travel and follow the instructions of the emergency services

Stranded driver on an access road to  the M - 30 motorway during a heavy snowfall in Madrid

Two die in Spanish storm, troops deployed to help motorists stranded by snow

Indonesia's Sriwijaya Air lost contact with a plane that left Jakarta on Saturday, according to Indonesia's Head Of National Transportation Safety Committee, Suryanto Cahyono.
Sriwijaya Air flight SJY 182 from Jakarta to Pontianak lost contact at 2:40 p.m. Western Indonesian Time (2:40 a.m. ET) on Saturday, according to state-run Antara news agency.
In a statement, Sriwijaya Air said that they were "in contact with various related parties to get more detailed information" regarding the incident and that they will "immediately issue an official statement" when more information was clear.
Flight SJY 182 lost contact 11 nautical miles north of Jakarta's Soekarno--Hatta International Airport at an altitude of 11,000 feet while climbing to 13,000 feet, Antara reported.
The plane dropped 10,000 feet in less than a minute before disappearing from the radar, according to the global flight tracking service Flightradar24. The drop happened about four minutes after takeoff, it said.

Indonesia's search and rescue agency, Basarnas, has sent a ship to the Thousands Islands -- a chain of islands to the north of Jakarta's coast -- to check the location where the plane is suspected to have lost contact, Cahyono said.
The Transport Ministry said it is investigating and coordinating with Basarnas and the National Committee for Transport Safety.
The plane, registered PK CLC, is a Boeing 737-500. The aircraft is 26 years old, according to Flightradar24.
A Boeing spokesperson told CNN in a statement that they are "aware of media reports from Jakarta, and are closely monitoring the situation."
"We are working to gather more information," they said.

The plane dropped 10,000 feet in less than a minute before disappearing from the radar, according to the global flight tracking service Flightradar24

Relatives of passengers on board the missing plane wait for news at Supadio airport in Pontianak

Indonesia's Sriwijaya Air plane loses contact after taking off from Jakarta

Three people were killed after an avalanche swept through a ski resort outside the Arctic city of Norilsk overnight, Russian investigators said Saturday.
The Investigative Committee, which probes major crimes, said it was notified at 00:30 local time (1730 GMT) that an avalanche had buried four buildings under snow at the Otdelnaya Gora ski complex in the town of Talnakh, 25 kilometres (16 miles) north of Norilsk. 
Rescuers had recovered the bodies of a 38-year-old woman, her 18-month-old child and 45-year-old husband. A 14-year-old was found alive and hospitalised with frostbite.
The Investigative Committee added that it had opened a criminal case into deaths by negligence as a result of safety violations.
Video published by the emergencies ministry showed rescuers during the night shovelling snow off a building packed to its roof. 
On Saturday morning the emergencies ministry branch in Siberia's Krasnoyarsk region, which includes Norilsk, said all of the missing people had been found and it was ending the search and rescue mission.
Rescue volunteer Maxim Inikhov told journalists all of the buildings were unoccupied at the time of the avalanche except for one housing the director of the resort's ski lift, Vlad Popov, his wife and their two children.
-We have a very strong blizzard so there were very few people vacationing today at the ski resort- Inikhov told Rossiya-24 television.
Norilsk, Russia's northernmost city, 2,878 kilometres (1,788 miles) northeast of Moscow, often experiences huge snowstorms, including blizzards last month that featured wind gusting up to 27 metres per second.
Avalanche accidents are not uncommon in Russia. 
In spring 2019, seven climbers died in an avalanche in Siberia's Altai mountains.

The Investigative Committee added that it had opened a criminal case into deaths by negligence as a result of safety violations

Rescuers and volunteers take part in a search operation after an avalanche hit a ski resort in the Siberian city of Norilsk, Russia January 9, 2021.

Avalanche kills three at Russian Arctic ski resort

At least six people have died and nearly 50,000 evacuated in Malaysia after monsoon rains pounded the country's east coast, authorities said Friday, causing what residents described as the worst flooding in half a century.
Authorities have stepped up rescue operations after locals complained they had to fend for themselves earlier this week.
Heavy rains continued to batter the region on Friday, swelling the number of people abandoning their homes to more than 47,000, officials said.
-I have lost everything. The water has covered my roof- 59-year-old factory worker Tan Kong Leng told AFP, tears filling his eyes.
Floods hit the region during the rainy season every year and regularly result in mass evacuations; but those in the affected areas say this year's are the worst in decades.
Many roads, including the main expressway that links the east coast states, have been closed. 
The worst-hit state is Pahang, where around 27,000 people have been evacuated in recent days, according to the social welfare department.
In one village in the state cut off by floods, residents were evacuated in an excavator on Wednesday, while others were forced to swim through deep waters.
Tan, the factory worker, and his wife took shelter at his plywood factory. They had just minutes to put their clothes in their car and flee to higher ground before the fast-rising waters engulfed their home.
-I am sad. All my fittings and fixtures are destroyed. My biggest fear is that more rain will pour in the coming days. Look! There are dark clouds moving in fast- he said.
In one of the worst-hit districts in Pahang, residents complained that narrow and rubbish-filled drains contributed to the deluge.
Mentakab resident Muhammad Fadzil Wahab said he and other locals have formed their own patrol units to prevent house break-ins.
-We scout the entire flooded village at night with our small boats and torch lights- he told AFP.
-My family members are safe at the evacuation centres.-
Adding to the complexity of rescue efforts, Malaysia is seeing a surge in coronavirus cases, reporting its biggest daily rise on Thursday. 
But Fadzil said government help has started to intensify, including boats and military trucks.
-Thank Allah food, boats and medical assistance is now available- he said.

The worst-hit state is Pahang, where around 27,000 people have been evacuated in recent days

Monsoon rains on the east coast of Malaysia have caused flooding and forced almost 50,000 people to evacuate

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World

Lukashenko promises new Belarus draft constitution by end of this year

Philippines secures 30 million Novavax vaccine doses

Turkey: 61 detained over fake gold production

Pence will attend Biden's inauguration

UNICEF condemns terrorist suicide attack in Cameroon

Pakistan hit by nationwide power blackout

Indonesia says located black box recorders from crashed plane

Majority of Americans want Trump removed immediately after U.S. Capitol violence

Dozens of Syrian migrants rescued off Albanian coast

Latin America continues to grapple with coronavirus

Japan, Brazil sign deal for Amazon's biodiversity

Indonesian plane feared to have crashed with 62 aboard

Two die in Spanish storm, troops deployed to help motorists stranded by snow

Indonesia's Sriwijaya Air plane loses contact after taking off from Jakarta

Avalanche kills three at Russian Arctic ski resort

Six dead, nearly 50,000 evacuated in Malaysia floods