One person was killed and dozens injured when a bus carrying 46 people rolled down a bank in New Zealand today, police said.
	The bus was 30 kilometres from the popular holiday resort town of Gisborne, on the east coast of the North Island, when it crashed through a barrier and down a bank at about 10.30 pm (local time) on Christmas Eve.
	Police said one person was confirmed dead, several were airlifted to hospitals with various injuries and 36 were taken by ambulance to Gisborne for further assessment.
	They said it would be several hours before they would be able to release details on whether any of the passengers were foreign tourists.

One dead, several injured in Xmas eve New Zealand bus crash

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A high-level commission that oversees Iran's nuclear deal with world powers will meet in Vienna on January 10 to address a complaint by Tehran about the renewing of sanctions by the United States.
	The meeting was called today by the European Union's foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, who coordinates follow-up of the nuclear deal for its signatories -- Iran, the US, Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia.
	"The meeting will review the implementation of the agreement and discuss the issues raised in the letter (Iranian) Foreign Minister Zarif addressed on 16 December to (Mogherini)," a short statement from the EU said.
	The officials will meet 10 days before the inauguration of Donald Trump, who has promised to tear up the nuclear deal once in the White House.
	Zarif formally requested the meeting after Washington on December 2 extended the Iran Sanctions Act -- which mostly seeks to limit Iran's oil and gas trade -- for another decade.
	Although it received overwhelming ...

Iran nuclear deal powers to meet January 10

Jordan today welcomed the "historic" UN Security Council resolution demanding a halt to Israeli settlements, saying the momentous vote paved a way for a two- state solution.
	The 15-member council passed the resolution yesterday after the US abstained and despite an effort led by Israel and backed by US President-elect Donald Trump to block the text.
	"This historic decision expresses the consensus of the international community on the illegality of Israeli settlements and reaffirms the Palestinian people's historic right (to live) in Jerusalem and its historic lands," Jordan's information minister Mohammad al-Momani said today.
	Some 430,000 Israeli settlers currently live in the West Bank and a further 200,000 Israelis live in east Jerusalem, which Palestinians see as the capital of their future state.
	The resolution demands that "Israel immediately and completely cease all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem."
	It states that ...

Jordan praises 'historic' UN Israel settlement vote

Hamas today welcomed a landmark UN Security Council vote demanding a halt to Israeli settlements in occupied territory, with the Palestinian Islamist movement saying it marked an "important evolution."
	The UN Security Council yesterday demanded that Israel halt settlements in Palestinian territory, after the United States refrained from vetoing the resolution condemning its closest Middle East ally.
	Hamas, which runs the Gaza Strip, remains deeply divided from Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas's Fatah party, which dominates the occupied West Bank.
	"Hamas appreciates the position of the countries that voted in the Security Council for the right of the Palestinian people (to live) on their land," said Hamas spokesman Fawzy Barhoum.
	"We salute this important evolution in international positions," he said, while calling for more such actions to bring about "the end of the occupation."
	Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip in 2005, but has occupied the West Bank for nearly 50 ...

Hamas welcomes landmark UN vote on Israel settlements

Crowds gathered in Bethlehem today for Christmas Eve celebrations ahead of midnight mass at the spot where Christians believe Jesus was born, with more visitors expected than in 2015 due to a drop in violence.
	Dozens of Palestinians and tourists flocked to Manger Square, near the Church of the Nativity, built over the spot where tradition says Mary gave birth to Jesus.
	Some snapped selfies near the square's giant Christmas tree and watched the annual scouts parade in the city, located a short drive from Jerusalem in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
	The scouts marched waving flags and playing bagpipe music.
	Palestinian security forces were deployed in areas leading up to the church and square, conducting searches of some people.
	Christmas carols in Arabic rang out from speakers.
	"It feels pretty awesome. This is my first Christmas away from home... But this is really amazing to be in Bethlehem," said Valeria, a 21-year-old from the US state of Wisconsin.
	Ramzi Al Durzi, a ...

Crowds gather in Bethlehem ahead of Christmas mass

Hopes of a deal to end DR Congo's dangerous political crisis before Christmas were faltering today after fruitless all-night talks over President Joseph Kabila's refusal to quit power.
	Kabila's second and final five-year term ended on December 20, but he has shown no intention of leaving office soon, sparking violent protests that have left at least 40 people dead this week, according to the United Nations.
	The influential Catholic Church has been brokering talks between the government and opposition and hopes rose this week of an imminent deal, with a draft seen by AFP outlining plans for fresh elections at the end of next year, when Kabila would step down.
	But that optimism has been slipping, and negotiators from the two camps left church offices in Kinshasa just before 5:30 AM (1000 IST) without a deal to prevent a fresh descent into conflict in a country that has suffered two horrific wars since 1996.
	"The work is practically finished - the final touches are all that is left ..

All-night talks fail to reach DR Congo deal

Sri Lanka surpassed the world record for the tallest artificial Christmas tree Saturday despite building delays forcing organisers to prune the structure by almost half, an official said.
	Cricket legend Arjuna Ranatunga initiated plans to build the record-breaking tree in Sri Lanka's capital Colombo, but ran into opposition from the Catholic church which said the money would be better spent on charity.
	"Initial opposition... Meant a delay of about 10 days in our construction work," event coordinator Mangala Gunasekera told AFP.
	"Our target was 100 metres (328 feet), but construction delays forced us to cut down the height," he said.
	As of Saturday morning, the tree was about 57 metres (187 feet) tall, he said, two metres taller than an artificial Christmas tree erected in the southern Chinese province of Guangzhou last year.
	The Sri Lankan claim is subject to confirmation by the Guinness World Records.
	Gunasekera said 600,000 coloured LED bulbs would be used to decorate the ...

Sri Lanka's record Xmas tree pruned due to work delays

New Zealand's desire for a confidence-boosting limited overs series against Bangladesh, starting on Monday, has been tempered by the need to ease the workloads of Tim Southee and Trent Boult.
     From the high of winning a Test series against Pakistan in November the switch to the shorter game brought the New Zealanders sharply back to earth early this month when hammered 3-0 by Australia.
     The three ODIs against Bangladesh, which begin in Christchurch on Boxing Day, offer a shot at redemption but coach Mike Hesson is wary about the possibility of burnout with home series against Australia and South Africa to follow.
     "It's always a balancing act with guys that play all three forms, especially the bowlers," Hesson said Saturday, confirming Boult will sit out the last ODI, Southee will miss the three T20s that follow, and other players may also be rested.
     Following the Australia drubbing, New Zealand resisted the urge for wholesale changes but did recall veterans Neil ...

New Zealand weigh workload worries ahead of ODI series

Thai police rescued two baby orangutans in a sting operation after undercover officers arranged to buy the primates over a mobile phone messaging app from wildlife traffickers for nearly USD 20,000, officials said.
	An anonymous tip alerted police to an online advertisement for the endangered animals, who are less than one year old and the size of infants.
	Police then posed as interested buyers and contacted the seller over WhatsApp, according to deputy national park director Adisorn Noochdumrong.
	"They agreed to buy the two orangutans for 700,000 baht (USD 19,400) and transferred a 100,000 baht down payment to a bank account that belongs to a Thai man," he told AFP.
	The undercover officers arranged to pick up the baby apes outside a Bangkok supermarket on December 21, where the orange-furred creatures were delivered by a city taxi driver.
	The driver was arrested but cleared after authorities determined he was not part of the smuggling gang, according to wildlife police officer ...

Baby orangutans rescued in Thai police sting

Philippine authorities urged hundreds of thousands of people to evacuate their homes on Saturday as a strong typhoon threatened to wallop the country's east coast on Christmas Day.
	Nock-Ten is expected to be packing winds of 222 kilometres per hour (138 miles per hour) when it makes landfall on Catanduanes, a remote island of 250,000 people, on Sunday, the US Joint Typhoon Warning Center said.
	It is then expected to hit the country's main island of Luzon, including the capital Manila, on Monday.
	"We issued an advisory to local government units this morning to conduct preemptive evacuations," Rachel Miranda, spokeswoman for the civil defence office in the Bicol region that includes Catanduanes, told AFP.
	Bicol, an agricultural region of 5.5 million people, is often the first area to be hit by the 20 or so storms and typhoons that pound the archipelago each year.
	The most powerful and deadliest was Haiyan, which left 7,350 people dead or missing and destroyed entire towns in ...

Philippines urges evacuations ahead of Christmas Day typhoon

Germany was hunting for possible accomplices of the suspected Berlin truck attacker today, a day after he was killed in a shootout with Italian police in Milan.
	As most of the country was preparing to celebrate Christmas Eve, Germany's under-pressure authorities said hundreds of investigators would be working on the probe throughout the holiday season.
	Tunisian Anis Amri, 24, is believed to have hijacked a truck and used it to mow down holiday revellers at a Berlin Christmas market on Monday, killing 12 people in an attack claimed by the Islamic State group.
	The rejected asylum seeker was the focus of a frantic four-day manhunt after the rampage, but his time on the run was cut short by Italian police.
	Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday thanked Italy and expressed relief that the fugitive no longer posed a threat, but warned that "the danger of terrorism in general endures".
	She pledged a "comprehensive" analysis of how the known jihadist was able to slip through the net in the ..

Germany hunts possible accomplices of Berlin attacker

An interstate bus in Malaysia carrying passengers from Singapore and Myanmar careered off a highway early Saturday, killing 14 people and injuring 16 others, officials said.
	The bus, heading from southern Johor state to the capital Kuala Lumpur, went off the road in the wet before rolling over and ending up in a deep ditch, said Mohammad Yusof Mohammad Gunnos, deputy director of the fire and rescue department.
	The incident happened in the early hours in Johor state. Details of those killed were not immediately known, he said, adding that the injured were being treated in the Muar district public hospital.
	"This pre-Christmas tragedy is so far the most horrific accident in Johor state for 2016," he told AFP.
	Deadly road accidents are common in Malaysia despite efforts to crack down on poor driving, especially during festive seasons when people return to their home towns.

Fourteen dead in 'horrific' Malaysian bus crash

Panama's president ordered the release of a Dutch journalist who had been jailed on criminal defamation charges, saying that "freedom of expression is fundamental for democracy."
	Okke Ornstein was freed shortly after President Juan Carlos Varela signed a decree cutting his sentence and those of 310 other detainees, and granting conditional release to 65 others, his lawyer told AFP.
	Ornstein was arrested on arrival in Panama, where he lives, a month ago. He was serving a 20-month sentence for defamation cases lodged in 2011 and 2012 over articles he had written on his blog.
	In a statement, the Panamanian government acknowledged that the journalist's detention was singled out for concern by rights groups and media watchdogs.
	Immigration authorities will decide whether Ornstein can remain in the country.
	His lawyer, Manuel Succari, said that for the moment Ornstein would stay, along with his daughter.

Panama president frees Dutch journalist accused of defamation

On-going fitness issues have forced Juan Martin del Potro out of next month's Australian Open and his planned warm up event in New Zealand, organisers of the Auckland Classic announced today.
     "Juan Martin del Potro has confirmed he will withdraw from the Australasian swing due to fitness issues," the Classic organisers said in a statement, referring to the two tournaments in January.
     "Del Potro confirmed via his management team overnight that he has not had sufficient recovery time and will be withdrawing from the (Auckland) Classic and the Australian Open."
     The announcement came a month after del Potro staged an incredible comeback to down world number six Marin Cilic of Croatia in an epic five-setter to set Argentina up for their first Davis Cup crown.
     Del Potro was the 2016 tennis comeback success story.
     After missing most of last year because of injury, he began 2016 ranked 1,042th and finished at 38th after a meteoric rise which included wins over Stan ...

Del Potro out of Australian Open

The coach of Russian whistleblower Yuliya Stepanova was hit with a 10-year ban for doping-related offences, the Court of Arbitration for Sport announced.
     Vladimir Mokhnev, the coach of 800-metre runner Stepanova, was found to have violated IAAF rules "relating to possession, trafficking and administration of banned substances", CAS said in a statement.
     Middle-distance runner Anastasiya Bazdyreva, 24, also received a two-year suspension, backdated to August 2015, for "use or attempted use...Of a prohibited substance or a prohibited method".
     Bazdyreva was one of five Russian athletes who the World Anti-Doping Agency recommended be banned for life after they were the subject of doping allegations in a documentary aired by German TV channel ARD last year.
     The cases involving Mokhnev and Bazdyreva were both referred to CAS by athletics' governing body in February with the top sports court stepping in to take over from Russia's suspended athletics federation, the ARAF.
  

Whistleblower Stepanova's coach given 10-year ban

Sri Lanka will be underdogs when they challenge a resurgent South Africa in a three-Test series starting at St George's Park on Monday - but will hope that the traditionally slow pitch in Port Elizabeth will negate South Africa's strong fast bowling attack.
     Even without the injured Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel, South Africa's pace trio of Vernon Philander, Kagiso Rabada and Kyle Abbott is likely to provide a stiff examination of a Sri Lankan batting line-up which has minimal experience of coping with the kind of pitches that are found outside Asia.
     St George's Park, though, usually has less pace and bounce than South Africa's other Test venues and the hosts have a relatively modest record there of six wins, four losses and four draws since returning to Test cricket in 1992.
     It could also provide some assistance for Rangana Herath, Sri Lanka's veteran left-arm spinner who is likely to be the biggest threat to the South African batsmen. Herath took nine wickets and was man 

Sri Lanka underdogs in South Africa series

Hollywood star Carrie Fisher was fighting for her life after suffering a massive heart attack on an airplane, according to media reports which described her condition as "critical."
	Celebrity website TMZ reported that the 60-year-old "Star Wars" actress was flying from London to Los Angeles yesterday when she suffered cardiac arrest, and was given cardiopulmonary resuscitation by an emergency services worker on board.
	Fisher collapsed 15 minutes before the plane landed at LAX, TMZ said citing unnamed sources, and was rushed to a nearby hospital.
	The Los Angeles Times said her condition was "critical," quoting an unnamed source who said the actress was "in a lot of distress on the flight."
	The American actress has talked and written frequently about her years of drug addiction and mental illness.
	She was catapulted to worldwide stardom as the rebel warrior Princess Leia in the original "Star Wars" trilogy, which has been a cultural phenomenon since the release of the films from ...

'Star War' actress Carrie Fisher suffers mid-air heart attack

A customer at a Brazilian brothel went into a jealous rage and killed six people when he was told the prostitute he wanted was with another man, authorities said.
	When the man learned the woman he wanted was unavailable, he returned to his car for a revolver, opened fire and killed the prostitute, her client and four other people, the state security secretariat told AFP.
	The shooting happened Wednesday night at a roadside brothel in Jaboticabal, a city of 70,000 people in the state of Sao Paulo.
	It caused panic at the brothel, where screaming prostitutes and clients ran from the house and hid in sugarcane fields nearby.
	The 27-year-old shooter managed to escape on foot, but turned himself in to police on Thursday.
	Brazilian media reports identified the man as a barber with no criminal record.

Jealous brothel client kills six in Brazil

Italy today hailed its police officer heroes who caught Berlin truck attack suspect Anis Amri on the streets of Milan, with high praise for the rookie who shot him dead.
	Tributes flooded in for Luca Scata, the 29-year-old Sicilian trainee who fired off two rounds after Amri opened fire on his partner Christian Movio, 36.
	Senior officers described Amri as displaying an ice-cold cool as he pulled out a pistol after the officers had asked him to empty his backpack.
	But Scata, baby-faced with a trendy beard, was just as quick. After Movio was hit by a bullet in the shoulder he fired twice in quick succession, sending the suspect to the ground.
	Witnesses said the two policemen had then crouched over Amri in a bid to keep him alive, but the Tunisian died after 10 minutes.
	Scata had only been in the police for nine months and was three months into a probationary period in Milan when he was put to the ultimate test.
	The more experienced Movio was recovering in a Milan hospital after a ..

Italy salutes hero cops who took down Berlin attack suspect

Cristiano Ronaldo called Syria's long-suffering children "the true heroes" as he joined a campaign to provide food, medicine and psychological help for kids in Aleppo and other war-stricken cities.
	"Hello, this is for children of Syria. We know that you have been suffering a lot. I am a very famous player, but you are the true heroes," the Real Madrid and Portugal star said in a video message for Save The Children posted on his social media.
	"Don't lose your hope, the world is with you. We care about you, I am with you," added the footballer.
	Nick Finney, of Save the Children's Syria campaign, said "Ronaldo is not only one of the world's most iconic sports figures, but he also has become a beacon of hope for millions of boys and girls worldwide -- and hope is something that Syria's children need now more than ever."
	At least 15,000 children are among the more than 300,000 people who have been killed in the Syrian war over the past five years, according to aid groups.

Football: Ronaldo calls Syria kids 'the true heroes'

Tiger Woods, who hit the links three years with Barack Obama, was planning to tee off today against White House successor Donald Trump at the real estate mogul's swank Florida golf resort.
	Woods, 40, who returned to the golf circuit this month after a 15-month injury layoff, was due to join the president-elect at his Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, a spokeswoman for his transition team said.
	In February 2013, the former world number teed off with Obama at a private luxury golf resort in Florida. Obama and Woods teamed up to defeat US trade representative Ron Kirk and Houston Astros owner Jim Crane.
	That golf outing was criticised after it came to light that it ended up costing US taxpayers nearly USD 3.6 million, according to a US Government Accountability report published this year.
	Trump's press team said the president-elect and Woods were also to play in a foursome, although they did not reveal the names of the other players in the group or how many holes they 

AFP

AFP

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