News Headlines - 02 January 2019

▽Japan's Emperor Akihito draws record numbers for farewell New Year's speech - CNN

Japan's emperor drew record numbers of well-wishers to the Imperial Palace in Tokyo for his annual New Years' speech -- his last before he abdicates in April.
The Imperial Household Agency told CNN that the number of well-wishers exceeded 140,000 for Emperor Akihito's New Year address to the public, which takes place every year on January 2, breaking the former record, set last year with 126,720 people.

▽No sign of progress after Trump meets lawmakers on shutdown | Reuters

A meeting between U.S. congressional leaders and President Donald Trump on Wednesday yielded no sign of an agreement to end a partial government shutdown now in its 12th day as the president stuck to his demand for $5 billion in funding for a border wall.

▽Somalia Says UN Special Envoy Violated Norms, No Longer Welcome - Bloomberg

Somalia said the United Nations special representative Nicholas Haysom was no longer welcome in the Horn of Africa nation, accusing him of meddling in internal affairs... Haysom was appointed in September as envoy to the nation struggling to shake off an insurgency by Al-Qaeda-linked militants. The foreign ministry order came after an attack on the UN compound in the capital, Mogadishu, in which three people were injured.

▽Lion kills young worker at North Carolina wildlife sanctuary | Reuters

A lion at a North Carolina private wildlife sanctuary fatally mauled a 22-year-old worker on Sunday before being shot and killed by local law enforcement, officials said.
The sheriff’s office in Caswell County, North Carolina, said Alexandra Black, who started her job as an intern at the facility two weeks ago, was part of a team doing routine cleaning of an enclosure when she was attacked, local media reported.

▽Queen's Brian May Releases 'New Horizons' Single to Celebrate Epic Flyby

Astrophysicist Brian May, lead guitarist for the band Queen, released a new single called "New Horizons" just after midnight EST (0500 GMT) on New Year's Day to highlight the flyby, which peaked about 30 minutes later when the NASA spacecraft zoomed within 2,200 miles (3,500 kilometers) of Ultima Thule.
Ultima lies about 4 billion miles (6.4 billion km) from Earth and is now the farthest-flung celestial body ever to be visited by a spacecraft. [New Horizons at Ultima Thule: Full Coverage]