US President Joe Biden called on Republicans to help “finish the job” of delivering for hard-working families in his annual State of the Union address. The Democrat stressed the importance of finding consensus as he addressed a divided Congress, where the lower chamber now has a Republican majority. But a series of interruptions and heckles showed the uphill task it will be to find co-operation. In their speech, Republicans accused the president of “woke fantasies”. Mr Biden’s words were received by a packed chamber and high-profile guests – including U2’s Bono – as well as Supreme Court justices. Over the president’s shoulder at the rostrum in the House of Representatives was one of his most vocal critics, the Republican Speaker Kevin McCarthy. Mr Biden extended an olive branch to the opposition party, which took over the lower chamber last month with vows to investigate the president’s family and Cabinet. “To my Republican friends, if we could work together in the last Congress, there is no reason we can’t work together in this new Congress,” said the president. “We’ve been sent here to finish the job!” he added.(BBC)…[+]

There are strong indications that Russian President Vladimir Putin decided to supply the missile that downed flight MH17 in 2014, international investigators say. The aircraft was hit by a Russian-made missile over Ukraine, killing nearly 300 people. Prosecutors said there was evidence that Mr Putin decided to provide the missile to Moscow-backed separatists. There is no suggestion that Mr Putin ordered the aircraft be shot down. Russia denies all involvement in the downing of the plane. The prosecutors said on Wednesday that they had exhausted all leads and could not continue with any more criminal proceedings. The Boeing 777 was flying from the Dutch capital to Kuala Lumpur when it was hit by a Russian-made surface-to-air missile in July 2014 during a conflict between pro-Russia rebels and Ukrainian forces in the Donbas region of Ukraine. Of the 298 passengers and crew, 196 were Dutch while many of the other passengers came from Malaysia, Australia, the UK, Belgium and other countries.(BBC)…[+]

New Zealand’s navy has intercepted a floating haul of cocaine in the Pacific Ocean in what the country says is its largest drug bust ever. The stash – weighing total 3.2 tonnes (3,200kg) and worth NZ$500m (£263m; $316m) – was found drifting hundreds of kilometres northwest of New Zealand. Police believed it was destined for Australia, where it would have been enough to serve that market for a year. The packages were strung up with buoys and some labelled with a Batman symbol.Pictures released by New Zealand police and defence officials also showed cocaine packets labelled with a black four-leaf clover symbol. These were the “trademark logos” for the drug producers, believed to be in South America, said New Zealand officials. “This is the largest find of illicit drugs by New Zealand agencies, by some margin,” said New Zealand’s police commissioner Andrew Coster on Wednesday. “It is more than New Zealand would use in 30 years,” he added.(BBC)…[+]