Happy hump day, here is all the news you need to read today.
Winter Olympics - Kim Jong-un’s sister will attend the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in South Korea on Friday. Pyongyang notified Seoul that Kim Yo-jong would be accompanying Kim Yong-nam, North Korea’s nominal head of state, along with Choe Hwi, the head of the national sports guidance committee, and Ri Son-gwon, who led inter-Korean talks last week, according to the Seoul ministry.
Japanese wedding postponed - The wedding of Japan’s Princess Mako is to be postponed for two years because of ‘insufficient preparations’ as the imperial palace denied speculation the decision was related to criticism of her fiance’s family background. Mako and her college classmate Kei Komuro, a commoner, announced their engagement last September and were to wed in November.
Autocratic tendencies - Donald Trump has asked the Pentagon to organise a large military parade in Washington, US. The president made the request in late January, after reportedly being impressed by a French Bastille Day parade last year. ‘It was one of the greatest parades I've ever seen,’ he later said. ‘We're going to have to try and top it.’
DNA history - The first modern Britons, who lived about 10,000 years ago, had ‘dark to black’ skin, a DNA analysis of Britain’s oldest complete skeleton has revealed. It was initially assumed that Cheddar Man had pale skin and fair hair, but his DNA strongly suggests he had blue eyes, a very dark brown to black complexion and dark curly hair.
Rocket launch - Elon Musk has launched his new rocket, the Falcon Heavy, from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. For this experimental and uncertain mission he decided on a playful payload - his old cherry-red Tesla sports car. A space-suited mannequin was strapped in the driver's seat, and the radio set to play a David Bowie soundtrack on a loop.
German coalition - Germany's centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) have reached an agreement on a coalition government with Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives (CDU/CSU). A deal on distributing ministries is believed to have been one of the last major hurdles towards forming a coalition. The agreement looks set to end more than four months of wrangling since inconclusive elections in September.