Dozens injured in Japan eatery explosion Firefighters operate at the site where a large explosion occurred at a restaurant in Sapporo in northern Japan on Monday. The explosion destroyed wooden buildings housing the restaurant and a real estate office in Sapporo, the capital city of Japan’s northern main island of Hokkaido, on Sunday night, injuring 42 people, police and local media said. First female president in Georgia sworn in Georgia on Sunday swore in its first female president, Salome Zurabishvili, as opposition parties continue to denounce her election as fraudulent* and demand snap parliamentary polls*. The inauguration* paved the way for a new constitution to come into force, transforming the country into a parliamentary republic with a largely ceremonial president. The event was held in the mediaeval town of Telavi. French-born Zurabishvili, 66, took the oath of office in the courtyard of an 18th-century manor that belonged to Georgia’s penultimate* king Heraclius II. Trump’s ex-lawyer Cohen sentenced to 3 yrs in jail U.S. President Donald Trump’s former lawyer has apologized for covering up the “dirty deeds” of his ex-boss as he was sentenced to three years for multiple crimes including hush money payments implicating the U.S. president. Pleading for leniency in a packed Manhattan courtroom before U.S. District Court Judge William H. Pauley III, Michael Cohen said he had been led astray* by misplaced admiration for Trump. An emotional Cohen, 52, Trump’s longtime “fixer,” told the court he accepted responsibility for his personal crimes and “those involving the U.S. president.” Time’s Person of the Year announced Time magazine has recognized journalists, including the slain Saudi columnist Jamal Khashoggi, as its 2018 Person of the Year in what it said was an effort to emphasize the importance of reporters’ work in an increasingly hostile world. The designation wasn’t intended as a specific message to the magazine’s runner-up choice, U.S. President Donald Trump, who has denounced “fake news” and called some reporters enemies of the people, said Ben Goldberger, executive editor. Suspected food poisoning kills 11 in India Police have arrested three people after at least 11 died of suspected food poisoning following a ceremony to celebrate the construction of a new Hindu temple in southern India. Police officer Musharraf said Saturday that more than 130 sick people were recovering from poisoning in various hospitals in the Chamarajnagar district of the Karnataka state, 180km south of Bangalore, the state capital. Saudi Arabia condemns US Senate resolution Saudi Arabia denounced the U.S. Senate’s resolution to hold Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman responsible for the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, accusing Americans of interfering in “internal affairs.” The Senate passed a resolution last week to officially condemn bin Salman, calling for the Saudi Government to “ensure appropriate accountability for all those responsible for Jamal Khashoggi’s murder.”(SD-Agencies)SD-Agencies | 