The Philippines: Firefighters battled a blaze for the second day at a southern Philippine shopping centre where some two dozen employees are feared to have been trapped in the four-storey building, an official said. It is unclear when firefighters can break into the NCCC Mall. Details of the casualties were sketchy. "The fire hasn't totally been put out," Romina Marasigan, spokeswoman of the government's disaster-response agency, said.
United States: President Donald Trump allegedly said that Haitian immigrants to the US "all have Aids" and new Nigerians in the country should "go back to their huts," according to a US news report. The comments were made during a heated meeting in the Oval Office in June between Trump and his most senior advisers, according to the New York Times, who cited two unnamed officials in the report. Trump also complained about 2500 new migrants from Afghanistan, which he said was "a terrorist haven" according to the newspaper. White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders denied that the President had made derogatory statements about migrants during the meeting.
Australia: The mother of the man accused of trying to kill 18 pedestrians when he allegedly drove at them in Melbourne's CBD has spoken of his drug problem. "Beautiful son, drug no good. Three years sick, very sick. All the time he's sick," Shakiba Jalaly told the Herald Sun. "Very, very beautiful son. Beautiful son, drug no good, all the time drug." An emotional Jalaly was barred from approaching her son Saeed Noori, 32, as he appeared in a Melbourne court on Saturday, charged with 18 counts of attempted murder and one of conduct endangering life over the incident on Flinders Street on Thursday. Police say the accused man came to Australia via a refugee programme in 2004 and he has a history of mental illness and drug use.
Australia: A national memorial for the victims of MH370 will be built at Perth's Elizabeth Quay, with a tender released for expressions of interest. The Malaysia Airlines flight disappeared en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014 with 239 people on board. The tender closes on January 31 and the project is expected to be completed by mid next year.
United States: A federal judge in Seattle partially lifted a Trump Administration ban on certain refugees after two groups argued that the policy prevented people from some mostly Muslim countries from reuniting with family living legally in the US. The judge ordered the federal government to process certain refugee applications but said his directive did not apply to people without a "bona fide relationship" to a person or entity in the US.
