BRIEF – ME! – DAILY NEWS BRIEFING
In today’s briefing update, The headlines are: Lebanon has formed a new government after months of mass protests and financial crisis. But the new government is unlikely to satisfy the demonstrators.
KFC Australia’s newest advert has caused an online backlash and has been labelled as ‘sexist’, but one publication asks if it was all just a clever PR stunt?
In Baghdad, the latest clash between protesters and security forces has claimed one life and wounded dozens more after Iraqi forces fired live rounds and tear gas.
DAVOS 2020, President Trump’s keynote speech was not what anyone wanted to hear. This year’s gathering had one focus and that was climate change – but not for Trump.
Space, the UK will lead a new space mission to reveal the truths about climate change.
Entertainment, Ozzy Osbourne has revealed he has Parkinson’s Disease. The legendary rocker spoke to Good Morning America about his ‘challenging’ year.
All this and more in today’s news briefing – A daily roundup of all the news headlines that you need to know, summarised as part of WTX News Briefing.
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Lebanon forms a new government amid financial crisis and mass protests
Arab News reports Lebanon announced it has formed a new government, breaking months-long impasses amid ongoing mass protests and economic turmoil.
The Cabinet of 20, mostly specialists backed by political parties, is now led by Hassan Diab – a 60-year-old professor at the American Univerity of Beruit.
But the move is unlikely to make protesters happy. They have been calling for sweeping reforms and a government made up of independent technocrats that could deal with the country’s economic and financial crisis.
Not long before the Cabinet was announced, thousands of people took to the street closing major roads in Beirut and other parts of the country in protest of the new government.
Read the full story on Arab News
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Victim of PC culture or clever PR stunt? KFC apologises over ad featuring boys staring at woman’s breasts
RT News reports KFC has apologised for its ad showing two young boys staring at a woman’s semi-exposed breasts after a local group complained it was “sexist” and the video went viral.
The 15-second-long ad was posted to KFC Australia’s YouTube channel and has been airing on TV for weeks. It seems KFC should have been able to foresee the controversy, so did the fast-food giant know what it was doing?
Collective Shout, which campaigns against “the objectification of women and the sexualisation of girls” said the ad was reinforcing “the false idea that we can’t expect better from boys” and described it as another manifestation of the idea that “boys will be boys.”
Read the full story on RT News
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Baghdad protest turns deadly as youths block highway
France24 says Iraqi riot police opened fire Tuesday amid clashes with anti-government protesters on a central Baghdad highway.
One person has been killed and over a dozen injured in the latest clash between demonstrators and security forces.
The clashes on the key Mohammed al-Qassim highway broke out when riot police moved in to disperse a crowd of mostly young men who had gathered there. The protesters burned tires, halted traffic along the key artery and some protesters hurled Molotov cocktails at the riot police.
Police retaliated with live rounds and tear gas leaving at least 14 protesters wounded with their injuries ranging from severe to moderate. One protester died after being struck by a tear gas canister to the head, according to police.
Read the full story on France24
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Trump snubs Davos vision in another America-first speech
CNN says President Trump’s speech at Davos was not what the audience wanted to hear.
At a conference dedicated to multilateralism and earnest discussion of the world’s most pressing problems, Trump used his keynote address to reel off a list of his domestic accomplishments, promote the US economy and dismiss climate activists as “prophets of doom.”
He didn’t take questions from his host or the audience made up of leading executives, bankers and politicians.
Davos 2020 was heavily focused on how business and the economy must change to save the planet. But taking the stage before Greta Thunberg slammed leaders for doing “basically nothing” to reduce carbon emission, Trump touted America’s role as the world’s biggest oil and gas producer and dismissed climate activists.
Read the full story on CNN
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Space mission to reveal ‘truths’ about climate change
BBC News says the UK is going to lead a space mission to get an absolute measurement of the light reflected off Earth’s surface.
The information will be used to calibrate the observations of other satellites, allowing their data to be compared more easily.
Called Truths – the new spacecraft approved for development by European Space Agency member states in November.
The data collected will help reduce the uncertainty in projections of future climate change.
Scientists and engineers met on Tuesday to begin planning the project. The agency has allocated £27.7m for the initial design phase, with the scientific lead on the mission to be taken by Britain’s National Physical Laboratory.
Read the full story on BBC News
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Ozzy Osbourne reveals he has Parkinson’s Disease
Sky News reports Ozzy Osbourne has revealed he is battling Parkinson’s Disease. 
The Black Sabbath frontman, 71, said he was diagnosed with a form of the condition called PRKN 2 in February last year.
“It’s been terribly challenging for us,” he told Good Morning America.
“I did my last show New Year’s Eve at The Forum. Then I had a bad fall. I had to have surgery on my neck, which screwed all my nerves.”
Read the full story on Sky News
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