00:00Good day. Welcome to the Gulf News Update for Thursday, January 29. Here are the top
00:09stories at this hour.
00:12The Ayesh militants have said they will execute a Jordanian pilot immediately if Amman does
00:17not hand over a female suicide bomber, Sajid al-Rashavi, by sunset today.
00:22Japan waits in anguish for news of a journalist the extremists are also holding.
00:27In a new audio recording, a voice identifying itself as Japanese freelancer Kenji Joto says
00:32his captors will kill Muad al-Tafazbeh if the Iraqi woman on death row in Jordan is
00:37not handed over by the end of the day.
00:40The Indian government has fired its top foreign ministry official, replacing her with its
00:44current ambassador to the United States, S.J. Shankar, took over as India's new foreign
00:49secretary. The government cut short Sujata Singh's tenure by six months without giving
00:53a reason.
00:55Serena Williams will play Maria Sharapova in the Australian Open final after the top
00:59two seeds won the respective semi-final. Sharapova beat fellow Russian Ekaterina Makarova 6-3-6-2
01:06before Williams won an all-American clash against Madison Keys 7-6-6-2.
01:12Tributes have been paid to popular local golfer Ashok Bakshi, aged 75, who died of a suspected
01:17heart attack on the sidelines of the Omega Dubai Desert Classics Pro-Am at Emirates Golf
01:22Club on Wednesday. Bakshi, who served as Emirates Golf Club captain for a year in 2002, had
01:28been warming up on the driving range ahead of the afternoon Pro-Am when he was due to
01:32represent Team Gulf News 3 alongside European tour professional Romain Wattel when he collapsed.
01:38It's another musical weekend in Dubai, with Shenandoah Connor taking the stage at Irish
01:43Village and tabla maestro Zakir Hussain creating an Indo-Celt fusion on Saturday at Dubai World
01:48Trade Center. If you feel you haven't enjoyed the fabulous
01:52weather enough, fly with the three-day Dubai International Kite Festival. The festival
01:56will attempt to break a Guinness World Record with the most number of kites being flown
02:00simultaneously at Jumeirah Beach. And finally, the weather. Today's high across
02:04the UAE will be 29 degrees Celsius, dropping to 14 degrees at night.
02:08That's all for now. Thanks for watching. A reminder that our next news bulletin will
02:13be on Sunday. But as always, you can get the latest news at gulfnews.com
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