Georges Duboeuf, one of the great wine merchants of the 20th Century, has died at the age of 86. He was best known for turning the release a little-known French product – an ordinary red wine called Beaujolais Nouveau – into a global phenomenon.

By the 1980s, Mr Duboeuf’s enthusiastic promotion of the wine had led to its monthly release date being known across the world as Beaujolais Nouveau Day.

It also earned him the nickname “the Pope of Beaujolais”. Mr Duboeuf died of a stroke at about 18:00 (17:00 GMT) on Saturday at his home in the eastern village of Romanèche-Thorins, his daughter-in-law Anne told AFP news agency.(BBC)…[+]

Indonesian authorities are turning to the technique of cloud seeding to try to stop more rain falling in the flood-hit capital Jakarta. Planes have been sent to inject chemicals into clouds in an effort to alter precipitation. Jakarta and surrounding districts have struggled to cope since a storm on New Year’s Eve left large areas underwater.

At least 43 people are known to have died, with some 192,000 evacuated, and more rain is expected.According to Reuters news agency, two planes have been sent up to shoot salt flares into the clouds, which will hopefully make them break before they reach the Jakarta region. “All clouds moving towards the Greater Jakarta area, which are estimated to lead to precipitation there, will be shot with NaCl (sodium chloride) material,” Indonesia’s technology agency BPPT explained in a statement.(bbc)…[+]

In August 1991, an 11-year-old Canadian penned a brief note to his future self. Mitch Brogan got the idea from his late grandfather Charles – to answer a list of 11 predictions and seal them up in an envelope until 1 January, 2020.

The letter stayed hidden away in a book in his grandfather’s office until his death in 2006, when his grandson came across it by chance. He waited to open it as promised until New Year’s Day. So what did he get right about life in 2020?

The 39-year-old from London, Ontario, said he couldn’t recall much about what he’d written in the note. Inside the envelope was a thin, folded piece of paper and an old, ratty Canadian $1 bill from 1954. But he said when he opened the note, “it all flooded back”. “Looking at my words on the page, I sort of remember [making] the strokes,” he told the BBC.(BBC)…[+]

Liberal Democrat MP Layla Moran has announced she is pansexual and in a relationship with a woman. The MP for Oxford West and Abingdon, who previously only had relationships with men, told PinkNews she is in a relationship with ex-Lib Dem press officer Rosy Cobb.

Pansexuality describes those who are attracted to a person regardless of their sex or gender. “It’s about the person themselves,” said Ms Moran, Speaking to the PinkNews website, Ms Moran – a potential candidate to become the next Lib Dem leader – also criticised Parliament as a “weird, backwards place” for LGBTQ people.

She said coming out in the context of being an MP had been “slightly more difficult” than telling her friends and family. The MP also shared a picture of herself and Ms Cobb on Twitter, writing that she is now “just happy”.(BBC)…[+]

At least 21 people have died in flooding in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, after the city had its most intense rainfall for at least 24 years. The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) measured 377mm (14.8 inches) of rainfall in a day at an airport in East Jakarta.

That’s the most rain in a single day since at least 1996, when records supplied by the agency began. “The rain falling on New Year’s Eve… is not ordinary rain,” said the agency. The agency said the intensity of the rain was due to several factors, including the monsoon season, as well as a high amount of water vapour in the air.

At least 62,000 people have been evacuated out of the city. Some people spent the night on the roofs of their buildings while awaiting rescue.  The heavy rainfall is expected to continue until the weekend. Elsewhere in East Jakarta, 335mm was recorded, while in Bekasi, further east, 259mm fell.Rainfall above 150mm per day is considered extreme by the agency.(bbc)…[+]

Lebanon has received a “red notice” from Interpol for the arrest of fugitive ex-Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn. The request was received by Lebanon’s internal security forces on Thursday and is yet to be referred to the judiciary, Reuters news agency reports.

Mr Ghosn, who was facing trial in Japan for alleged financial misconduct, arrived in Beirut on New Year’s Eve. The private jet on which he escaped reportedly landed in Istanbul first, prompting an investigation by Turkey. According to Turkish media, seven arrests have been made in connection with the case – four pilots, a cargo company manager and two airport workers.  An Interpol “red notice” is a request to police across the world to provisionally arrest a person pending extradition, surrender or other similar legal action. However, Lebanon has no extradition treaty with Japan.(bbc)…[+]

How do you get a teen to put down their phone and talk to you? Jamie Clarke went all the way to Mongolia to find out. Riding through a remote valley in Mongolia on the back of his motorbike, adventurer Jamie Clarke let the hum of the engine and the wind echo in his mind while his thoughts wandered.

After several hours, he pulled over to shake off his helmet and take a look at the map. This was what he loved about adventuring – the solitude, the landscape and the feeling of being in charge of your own destiny. But when his 18-year-old son pulled up right behind him on his own motorcycle, he had a different take on the long ride they had just finished. For him, being alone in his thoughts was novel and unsettling. “Oh my God, that was terrible! I can’t be left with my brain like that!”(bbc)…[+]

The Moscow authorities have dumped artificial snow in the city centre for New Year festivities, as this is now the Russian capital’s warmest December since 1886. The delivery of snow by dumper truck is causing amusement on social media. One tweet, from @WildWildMoscow, joked that now “you can buy anything with the Moscow budget – even winter”.

It is a far cry from “General Winter” – the famous subzero temperatures that helped to defeat Napoleon and Hitler. The head of Russia’s weather forecasting agency, Roman Vilfand, says 2019 was Russia’s warmest year on record. The mild Russian winter is seen as more evidence of global warming – part of a pattern that includes record ice-melting in the polar regions. A strip of artificial snow now lies on one of Moscow’s main avenues – Tverskaya.

Similar snow “dumps” took place at the weekend at Red Square and some other sites in the city centre, which are being closed to traffic for the holiday. A senior city hall official, Alexei Nemeryuk, said the artificial snow on Tverskaya was “a small amount to create a snowboarding hill in time for the New Year celebrations”.(bbc)…[+]

Scores of fires are burning out of control across Australia amid a heatwave that has seen temperatures exceed 40C (104F) in every state. The most dangerous fires on Monday were in the state of Victoria.

About 30,000 residents and tourists were urged to flee East Gippsland – a popular holiday region – but evacuations were later deemed too risky as fires encroached on major roads. A volunteer firefighter died battling a blaze in the state of New South Wales.  In total, 10 people have died in the nation’s bushfire crisis since September.

Meteorologists say a climate system in the Indian Ocean, known as the dipole, is the main driver behind the extreme heat in Australia.  Authorities said the volunteer firefighter was killed and two others suffered burns after their truck rolled over in extreme winds while they were battling a blaze east of the city of Albury.

New South Wales (NSW) Premier Gladys Berejiklian described the death as “heartbreaking”. “Words fail at times like this,” she wrote on Twitter. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said another firefighter was injured in a separate vehicle. “This is awful news for the families and our sympathies are with them. These are testing times. We are so grateful for the courage and dedication of our firefighters,” he tweeted.(bbc)…[+]

Democratic congressman and civil rights icon John Lewis has been diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer. Mr Lewis, 79, said in a statement that he was diagnosed with the advanced cancer after a “routine medical visit”.

He said he would continue to work while receiving treatment, but added that he “may miss a few votes”. “I have been in some kind of fight – for freedom, equality, basic human rights – for nearly my entire life,” his statement said. “I have never faced a fight quite like the one I have now.” Mr Lewis joined Congress in 1987, representing a Georgia district that includes almost 75% of the city of Atlanta and some affluent suburbs. But he is best known as a leading figure in the civil rights movement.(BBC)…[+]