News in Brief (19-2-2019)

More migrants cross into Brazil

amid Venezuela standoff

CARACAS, Feb 18: Hundreds of Venezuelan migrants continue to cross into Brazil each day, as the standoff between Venezuela's president and the opposition leader intensifies. Brazil's government is preparing to deliver much-needed aid to Venezuela. Many of those migrants will be applying for asylum and many of them will be seeking medical care. — Al Jazeera

Polluted black snow sparks

health fears in Siberia

NOVOSIBIRSK, Feb 18: Residents of Prokopyevsk feared for their health on Sunday as blackened snow allegedly caused by a local coal processing factory covered the Siberian town. Some expressed concern over children's health as playgrounds and schoolyards were covered in the dirty snow. Others suspected it could be toxic. The town is among others affected in the Siberian region of Kuzbass, which is home to 2.6 million people and one of the world's largest coal fields. — Al Jazeera

Yemeni warring parties agree

on port city pullout

CAIRO, Feb 18: The United Nations says Yemen's warring parties have agreed on the first stage of a mutual pullout of forces from the key port city of Hodeida, a humanitarian aid lifeline that had been blocked by fighting. A UN statement late Sunday said the agreement by the Redeployment Coordination Committee - which includes members of Yemen's internationally recognised government and their adversaries, the Shiite Houthi rebels - came after two days of meeting behind the Hodeida front line. — AP

Polish PM cancels Israel visit amid new tensions

WARSAW, Feb 18: Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki canceled his plans to attend a meeting of central European leaders in Israel starting Monday amid new tensions over how Polish behavior during the Holocaust is remembered and characterised. Morawiecki informed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's of his decision by phone Sunday, Michal Dworczyk, who heads the prime minister's chancellery, said. Poland's foreign minister, Jacek Czaputowicz, plans to attend instead, he said. — AP

Abe mum on reports he

nominated Trump for Nobel

TOKYO, Feb 18: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his chief spokesman have declined to say if Abe nominated President Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize. Abe noted while speaking in Parliament on Monday that the Nobel committee does not disclose the parties behind nominations for a half-century. He said, "I thus decline comment." — AP