Two of Donald Trump’s children have refused to testify to a fraud inquiry into the family’s business.

Donald Jr, 44, and Ivanka, 40, were ordered to give evidence by New York Attorney General Letitia James. She opened a civil inquiry in 2019 into claims that – before he took office – Mr Trump had inflated the value of his assets to banks when seeking loans. Mr Trump’s lawyers are trying to stop Ms James from questioning the former US president and his children. They have asked a judge to quash the “unprecedented and unconstitutional” bid for their testimony. Mr Trump sued Ms James last month, accusing the attorney general – an elected Democrat – of pursuing a politically motivated witch hunt against him, a Republican.(BBC)…[+]

Grichka and Igor Bogdanoff became France’s most famous twins, hosting a TV science and science-fiction show in the 1980s on a spaceship set. They died of coronavirus within days of each other in hospital, Grichka on 28 December and his brother on Monday. Aged 72, the brothers had not been vaccinated against Covid-19. Their friends said they were convinced their healthy lifestyle would protect them and they were admitted to hospital in mid-December.

Although their families did not specify the cause of their deaths, their lawyer Edouard de Lamaze confirmed they had both contracted the virus. Family friend Pierre-Jean Chalençon said they had left it too late to seek hospital treatment, deciding it was similar to flu. “People have said they were anti-vaxxers but they absolutely weren’t,” he told BFMTV. “Several friends told them to get themselves vaccinated but they felt because of their lifestyle and their [lack of] comorbidity, they weren’t at risk of Covid.”(BBC)…[+]

Four beekeepers have been detained in Chile following a protest calling for government support for their industry. The beekeepers held a demonstration outside the presidential palace in the capital, Santiago. Seven police officers were stung as they tried to remove beehives placed by the protesters to block a main thoroughfare. A prolonged drought has been ravaging beekeeping in Chile, affecting bees’ food sources such as flowers and crops. To highlight their cause, the beekeepers set up some 60 hives containing around 10,000 bees in front of the palace and prevented the police from dispersing the demonstration.(BBC)…[+]

Richard Leakey, who has died days after celebrating his 77th birthday, was a pugnacious man whose achievements were as remarkable as they were diverse. Born on 19 December 1944 in Kenya’s capital Nairobi, he was a world-famous fossil expert, author and conservationist, as well as being an opposition MP, anti-corruption campaigner, economic reformer, and head of the country’s civil service. He was beaten up, threatened and badly injured in a plane crash which saw him lose both his legs. He was branded a racist by then-President Daniel arap Moi, lauded by him, and hired and fired by the president. “I think pressure probably suits me,” Leakey once said with urbane understatement. His first job was studying fossils. His parents, Louis and Mary were famous archaeologists and palaeontologists who spent decades exploring Kenya’s Rift Valley, searching for the origins of mankind.(BBC)…[+]

South Korea’s military suspects a man who crossed the heavily fortified border into the North on New Year’s Day previously defected to the South. Officials believe he is a gymnast who jumped the barbed wire fence into South Korea in 2020. It is not clear why he made the perilous return crossing, or if he is alive or dead.

North Korea has implemented a shoot-on-sight policy at the border to prevent the spread of Covid-19. Thousands of North Koreans have resettled in South Korea, but crossings through the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ), which separates the two countries, are rare. Most make their way via China. Instances of defections from South to North are rarer still, with only a handful of cases recorded in recent years.(BBC)…[+]

An agreement between Virginia Giuffre and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, which could be key to a civil case involving the Duke of York, is to be made public for the first time later. The 2009 settlement between Epstein and Ms Giuffre is to be released on Monday after an order by judges in the US. Prince Andrew’s lawyers believe it could release him from liability in the case brought by Ms Giuffre, who accuses him of sexual assault when she was 17. He has consistently denied the claims. Andrew B Brettler, who represents the duke, had argued at a previous hearing that the “settlement agreement” would end Ms Giuffre’s lawsuit against Andrew. The settlement was reached between Ms Giuffre, also known as Virginia Roberts, and the prince’s former friend and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who died in prison in 2019. Mr Brettler had previously told a New York hearing the agreement “releases Prince Andrew and others from any purported liability arising from the claims Ms Giuffre asserted against Prince Andrew here”.(BBC)…[+]

The combination of Delta and Omicron variants is driving a dangerous tsunami of Covid-19 cases, the World Health Organization (WHO) chief has said. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus’ words came as the US and countries across Europe reported record new cases. France reported Europe’s highest ever daily figure for the second day in a row, at 208,000 cases. And the US has reported a record average of 265,427 cases a day over the last week, according to Johns Hopkins. Denmark, Portugal, the UK and Australia have all also reported record-breaking figures. Poland reported 794 Covid-related deaths on Wednesday, the highest number in its fourth wave of the pandemic. More than three-quarters of these were unvaccinated people.(BBC)…[+]

Mourners are filing past the coffin of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, as his body lies in state at St George’s Cathedral in Cape Town, South Africa. Tutu, a Nobel Peace Prize winner who helped end apartheid in South Africa, died on Sunday aged 90. His official state funeral will be held on 1 January after the lying-in-state period, allowing mourners to file past his body and say their final goodbyes. Large crowds are expected to visit the cathedral over the next two days. The lying in state period had to be extended to two days, “for fear there might be a stampede”, a local priest told AFP news agency.Priests burnt incense as Tutu’s simple wooden coffin was carried into the cathedral.(BBC)…[+]

Afghanistan’s former president has defended his decision to flee the country as the Taliban closed in earlier this year, saying he did it to prevent the destruction of Kabul. The Taliban seized power in August after taking control of the capital. Ashraf Ghani revealed that when he woke up on 15 August he had “no inkling” it would be his last day in Afghanistan. It was only when his plane left Kabul that he realised he was going, Mr Ghani said on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. He was heavily criticised and accused of abandoning the country at the time. He is now in the United Arab Emirates. Mr Ghani made the comments in conversation with Gen Sir Nick Carter, the UK’s former Chief of the Defence Staff, who was guest-editing the Today programme on Thursday.(BBC)…[+]

The mummified body of an ancient Egyptian pharaoh has been studied for the first time in millennia after being digitally “unwrapped”. The mummy of Amenhotep I, who ruled from 1525 to 1504 BC, was found at a site in Deir el-Bahari 140 years ago. But archaeologists have refrained from opening it in order to preserve the exquisite face mask and bandages. Computer topography (CT) scans have now revealed previously unknown information about the pharaoh and his burial. Dr Sahar Saleem, professor of radiology at Cairo University and lead author of the study published in the journal Frontiers in Medicine, said they showed Amenhotep I was about 35 years old when he died.”He was approximately 169cm (5ft 6in) tall, circumcised, and had good teeth. Within his wrappings, he wore 30 amulets and a unique golden girdle with gold beads,” she told PA Media. “Amenhotep I seems to have physically resembled his father: he had a narrow chin, a small narrow nose, curly hair, and mildly protruding upper teeth.” However, Dr Saleem said they did not observe any wounds or disfigurement due to disease that would allow them to give a cause of death. The researchers were able to gain insights about the mummification and burial of Amenhotep, who was the second king of the 18th Dynasty, including that he was the first pharaoh to have his forearms folded across his chest and that, unusually, his brain was not removed.(BBC)…[+]