News Headlines - 11 January 2021

▽North Korea's Kim Jong Un crowned as party general secretary - Nikkei Asia

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was crowned general secretary of the Workers' Party, tightening his grip on the ruling party 10 days before the inauguration of Joe Biden as U.S. president, the official Korean Central News Agency reported on Monday.
KCNA said the party's congress elected Kim as general secretary on Sunday, changing his official title from chairman. Kim became the country's supreme leader in 2011 following the death of his father, Kim Jong Il, and received the title of party chairman in 2016.
He reinstated his predecessors' post of general secretary and has now taken it. In North Korea, the title of general secretary is symbolic, meaning the top leader of the party.

▽Coming-of-Age ceremonies in Japan take myriad forms amid pandemic

Ceremonies to mark the Coming-of-Age Day in Japan were held online or outdoors Monday, with some municipalities canceling the event altogether to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus amid a recent countrywide surge.
The customary indoor event was moved outside in the western city of Higashiosaka, Osaka Prefecture, to the Hanazono Rugby Stadium, as new adults congregated in the stands wearing kimono and suits.
Meanwhile, the city of Saitama near Tokyo streamed an online ceremony, which only included some new adults who assumed membership of its organizing committee.

▽Bar association seeks Giuliani expulsion after Capitol attack | PBS NewsHour

Rudy Giuliani is facing possible expulsion from the New York State Bar Association over incendiary remarks he made to President Donald Trump’s supporters last week before they violently stormed the U.S. Capitol.
The organization said Monday that it has opened an inquiry into whether Giuliani should remain a member. Its bylaws state that “no person who advocates the overthrow of the government of the United States” shall remain a member.
Removal from the bar association, a voluntary membership organization dating to 1876, is not the same as being disbarred and banned from practicing law. That can only be done by the courts.

▽Someone Wrote ‘Trump’ on a Florida Manatee - The New York Times

The sighting in Florida this week of a manatee with “Trump” in block letters on its back has prompted an investigation and a plea for help from a nonprofit conservation group.
The Center for Biological Diversity said it was offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to a conviction “for the cruel and illegal mutilation” of a threatened manatee in the Homosassa River in Citrus County, on Florida’s Gulf Coast.

▽Salmond accuses Sturgeon of misleading parliament - BBC News

Alex Salmond has accused Nicola Sturgeon of misleading parliament, calling evidence she gave to an inquiry into the handling of sexual harassment claims against him "simply untrue".
Mr Salmond's comments emerged in a written submission to a separate investigation into whether the first minister breached the ministerial code.
The submission has been shared with the Holyrood committee.