The China-owned AMC Entertainment theater chain won US regulatory approval today for its USD 1.2 billion takeover of rival Carmike after agreeing to divest movie theaters in 15 US markets.
	US antitrust regulators required AMC, which is owned by China's Wanda Group, to sell its theaters in those markets to buyers to be approved by the Justice Department.
	The cities, which include Peoria, Illinois and Madison, Wisconsin, are markets where AMC and Carmike are each other's most significant competition, the Justice Department said in a court filing.
	"Moviegoers across the United States have benefitted from head-to-head competition between AMC and Carmike that has kept ticket prices in check," said acting attorney general Renata Hesse.
	"Today's settlement will ensure that movie theatre competition is preserved."
	The Justice Department also required AMC to reduce its stake in National Cinemedia, a cinema advertising company, to avoid excessive concentration in the movie advertising ...

US antitrust regulators clear China-owned AMC to buy Carmike

PTI Automatic

Pope Francis today named Italian Barbara Jutte as the next head of the Vatican Museums, making her the first woman to take charge of the Catholic Church's artistic treasures.
	Jutte, 54, steps up from her current role as deputy director on January 1, taking over from Antonio Paolucci, 77, an art historian and former Italian culture minister.
	Jutte, a native of Rome, has worked at the Vatican since 1996.
	She will be taking over one of the world's greatest collections of artworks, contained in seven kilometres of galleries and including the celebrated Sistine Chapel.
	The museums draw in four million visitors each year despite a relatively hefty standard adult entry price of 16 euros (USD 16.60).
	Most reviews are highly favourable despite some grumbling that the visitor experience is negatively affected by overcrowding.

First woman named to head Vatican Museums

A Russian plane carrying the body of the ambassador assassinated in Turkey landed today in Moscow, where he was to be honoured in a ceremony, news agencies said.
	Andrei Karlov's coffin and his widow travelled back to Russia after the veteran diplomat was shot dead by a 22-year-old Turkish policeman at an art exhibit in Ankara yesterday in what Moscow called an "act of terror".

Plane with body of slain Russian envoy lands in Moscow

Nine people were killed in Kinshasa today during protests to demand that President Joseph Kabila step down after his mandate expired, the spokesman for Democratic Republic of Congo's government said.
	"In Kinshasa there were nine dead, not a single one more," said Lambert Mende.
	The UN's mission in DR Congo, MONUSCO, had earlier said it was probing reliable reports that around 20 people had been killed in the country's capital during protests.

Nine dead in DR Congo as clashes erupt in Kinshasa: govt

A Russian plane carrying the coffin of Moscow's slain ambassador took off from Ankara airport for Russia today, a day after he was killed by a Turkish policeman.
	The coffin of Andrei Karlov, draped in the Russian flag, was loaded onto the plane by an honour guard of six Turkish soldiers following a ceremony on the tarmac of Esenboga airport, an AFP photographer said.
	The ceremony was attended by his widow, Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu, Deputy Prime Minister Tugrul Turkes and top Ankara-based diplomats.
	In a highly unusual scene at an airport in mainly Muslim Turkey, a Russian Orthodox priest said prayers and swung incense over the coffin.
	Throughout the ceremony, a Turkish soldier stood holding a picture of the slain Russian diplomat.
	Before the coffin was taken away to the plane, his widow stepped forward and kissed the coffin in a tearful final farewell.
	The plane is due to arrive in Moscow later in the evening.
	Karlov was shot nine times in the back by Turkish ...

Plane carrying coffin of slain envoy leaves Ankara for Russia

The European Union said it reached agreement today on tightening rules on firearms amid a wave of terror attacks but fell short of demands to ban AK-47 semi-automatic rifles outright.
	The EU's 28 member states announced it had reached a political agreement with the European Parliament that will tighten laws in place since 1991.
	"This agreement provides for tighter controls which will help prevent the acquisition of firearms by terrorist and criminal organisations," said Slovak Interior Minister Robert Kalinak, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency.
	The directive includes measures to make it easier to trace firearms, including standardised marking of components and requiring prompt electronic registration of weapons sales, with information kept in national data files.
	It would also ensure that firearms converted to blank firing ones for use in theatres or television must be registered under the same category as the original weapons.
	The European Council, which groups the .

EU strikes deal to tighten firearms rules

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan today opened the first ever road tunnel underneath the Bosphorus Strait in Istanbul from Europe to Asia, the latest project in his plan of transforming Turkey's infrastructure.
	The opening ceremony - which brought together Turkey's entire ruling elite - went ahead as planned despite the shock assassination of the Russian ambassador to Ankara by a Turkish policeman a day earlier.
	Turkey in October 2013 opened the Marmaray rail tunnel underneath the iconic waterway, the first link beneath the waters that divide Europe and Asia.
	But the new Avrasya (Eurasia) Tunnel is the first tunnel for cars underneath the Bosphorus and aims to relieve congestion in the traffic-clogged Turkish megacity.
	Erdogan, after cutting the ceremonial ribbon, joined a vast cortege of vehicles making the first undersea car journey between the two continents.
	The assassination of Russian ambassador Andrei Karlov yesterday was just the latest in a string of shocking acts of ...

Erdogan opens first road tunnel under Istanbul's Bosphorus

Russia, Iran and Turkey today agreed to guarantee Syria peace talks and backed expanding a ceasefire in the war-torn country, the Russian foreign minister said after talks with counterparts.
	"Iran, Russia and Turkey are ready to assist in preparing the agreement in the making between the Syrian government and the opposition and to become its guarantor," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in Moscow, citing a joint statement.
	"The ministers agree with the importance of widening the ceasefire, of free access for humanitarian aid and movement of civilians on Syrian territory," he added.
	The foreign and defence ministers from key powerbrokers Russia, Iran and Turkey met in Moscow today, a day after Russia's envoy to Ankara was shot dead in the Turkish capital by a gunman shouting about Syria and Aleppo.
	Russia and Iran are on the opposite side of the Syrian conflict from Turkey, with Moscow and Tehran backing President Bashar al-Assad and Ankara supporting those seeking to ...

Russia, Iran, Turkey agree on need to widen Syria truce

The UN rights chief urged the Philippines today to investigate President Rodrigo Duterte for murder, after he boasted that he in the past had personally killed suspected criminals.
	Duterte said in a speech last week that when he was mayor of the southern city of Davao, where he served three terms between 1988 and 2016, he personally killed people to set an example for police.
	He made the comments in a speech to businessmen as he discussed his campaign to eradicate illegal drugs, which has seen police and unknown assailants kill thousands of people since he became president on June 30.
	"The Philippines judicial authorities must demonstrate their commitment to upholding the rule of law and their independence from the executive by launching a murder investigation," UN rights chief Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein said in a statement.
	"The killings committed by Mr Duterte, by his own admission, at a time when he was a mayor, clearly constitute murder," he said.
	"It should be unthinkable for any 

UN rights chief urges Philippines to probe prez for murder

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said today he had agreed with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin that the assassination of Moscow's ambassador to Ankara would not harm cooperation between the two countries, including on Syria.
	"We share the same understanding with Mr Putin that our expanding areas of coop
eration with Russia, particularly on Syria, will not be hampered by this attack," Erdogan said in Istanbul after speaking by phone late yesterday with Putin over the killing of ambassador Andrei Karlov.
	The veteran diplomat was shot in the back by Turkish policeman Mevlut Mert Altintas, 22, in a brazen attack as he opened an exhibition of Russian photography yesterday in the Turkish capital Ankara.
	The killing has shocked Turkey and Russia, which have diverging views over the nearly six-year conflict in Syria.
	Turkey and Russia decided to set up a joint commission to investigate the assassination, with a Russian delegation arriving in Ankara today to inspect the ...

Turkey, Russia agree killing won't harm cooperation: Erdogan

A Jordanian court today sentenced to death an Islamist man accused of killing a Christian writer outside an Amman court in September.
	Nahed Hattar was hit by three bullets on the steps of the court where he had been on trial for insulting Islam after he shared a cartoon on social media that mocked Islamists.
	His 49-year-old killer, Riyad Ismail, a computer engineer who worked for the education ministry, was arrested at the scene and charged with premeditated murder, terrorism and possession of an illegal firearm.
	Today Ismail appeared before the military court, bearded, handcuffed and wearing a brown prison uniform to hear the judge at the state security court sentence him to "death by hanging".
	Judge Ziad al-Edwan said he was sentenced "for having carried out deadly terrorist act, incitement, premeditated murder and illegal possession of a firearm."
	The court also sentenced the man who sold Ismail the gun and the man who introduced him to the weapon merchant to one year in jail .

Killer of Jordan writer sentenced to death

Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova was injured after an attack by a knife-wielding burglar at her home in the eastern Czech town of Prostejov, her spokesman said today.
     "Petra Kvitova was attacked in her flat this morning, it was a random crime, nobody was going to attack or rob her as Petra Kvitova," spokesman Karel Tejkal told AFP.
     "She was injured with a knife during the attempted burglary. Her life is not in danger, she is being treated by doctors," Tejkal added.
     The Dnes daily said she had cuts on her left hand.
     Tejkal said the burglar was still at large.
     The 26-year-old Czech tennis star, the Wimbledon champion in 2011 and 2014, is also recovering from a fatigue fracture on her foot which has ruled her out of the Hopman Cup starting on January 1.
     The world number 11 was hoping to start next year at Sydney on January 8 to warm up for the Australian Open from January 16.

Kvitova attacked by knife-wielding burglar

Australia called up uncapped, Zimbabwe-born all-rounder Hilton Cartwright today as cover for their fast bowlers after the gruelling first Test win over Pakistan.
     Cartwright, 24, joins the squad for next week's second Test in Melbourne as Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Jackson Bird recover from their exertions in the Brisbane heat.
     "We wanted to give ourselves the option of including an all-rounder in Melbourne to ease that workload somewhat," said interim national selector Trevor Hohns.
     "To do that we wanted a batting all-rounder, someone to bowl seam-up and capable of batting in the top six as well, and after considering several names we came to the conclusion that Hilton fits that bill."
     Cartwright, part of Australia's one-day squad for last month's three ODIs against New Zealand, gets the nod ahead of the more established Mitchell Marsh and Moises Henriques.
     Steve Smith's team were taken to the wire by Pakistan before squeezing out a tense 39-run ...

Aussies call up Zimbabwe-born all-rounder

Xmas market carnage was 'terrorist act' likely committed

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov today said there should be no "concessions to terrorists" at talks with his Turkish counterpart on Syria, a day after Moscow's ambassador was murdered in Ankara.
	"This tragedy forces all of us to fight more decisively against terrorism," Lavrov told Turkey's Mevlut Cavusoglu as they sat down together in Moscow.
	"For this reason, I very much hope that our talks and the upcoming three-way meeting with our Iranian colleague will allow us to reach agreements, which will through concrete actions advance the settlement in Syria," Lavrov said, also insisting that they should not allow "any concessions to terrorists".
	The foreign and defence ministers from Russia, Turkey and Iran are meeting in Moscow today for key talks on the conflict in Syria.
	The meetings come after Russian envoy Andrei Karlov was gunned down Monday at the opening of a Russian photography exhibition in Ankara by a Turkish policeman crying "Aleppo" and "Allahu Akbar" (God is ...

Lavrov urges no 'concessions to terrorists' at talks

Russian investigators today arrived in Turkey to help probe the killing of the country's ambassador in Ankara, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.
	"Our presidents agreed that in addition to the actions launched by the Turkish special services, a Russian investigative group would fly to Ankara," Lavrov told Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu at the start of talks on Syria in Moscow.
	"As far as I understand, it has landed in the Turkish capital."
	The same plane will bring ambassador Andrei Karlov's body back to Russia, Lavrov added.
	Cavusoglu told Lavrov that the Ankara street where the Russian embassy is located would be renamed in Karlov's honour.
	The two diplomats also laid flowers in front of a portrait of the slain envoy.
	Karlov, 62, was gunned down Monday at the opening of a Russian photography exhibition in Ankara by a Turkish policeman crying "Aleppo" and "Allahu Akbar" (God is greatest), in what Moscow called a "terrorist act".
	Putin said that the Ankara murder was ...

Russian investigators arrive in Turkey to probe envoy murder

Russian media today reacted with outrage to the killing of the country's ambassador to Turkey but said it was unlikely to derail warming ties between Moscow and Ankara.
	Ambassador Andrei Karlov, 62, was gunned down yesterday at the opening of a Russian photography exhibition in Ankara by a Turkish policeman crying "Aleppo" and "Allahu Akbar" (God is greatest), in what Moscow called a "terrorist act".
	"The murderer was afraid to look him in the eye," ran the banner frontpage headline on pro-Kremlin paper Izvestiya above a dramatic picture of Karlov with his killer looming behind.
	"They did not shoot at Karlov. They shot at Russia," Senator Konstantin Kosachev said in comments published alongside.
	Both Russian leader Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan called the attack a "provocation" aimed at sabotaging ties that have been patched up since a furious dispute over Ankara's downing of a Russian jet in Syria in November 2015.
	Putin also said that the ...

Russia envoy murder won't shatter ties with Turkey: media

Turkish authorities were today holding six people over the assassination of the Russian ambassador to Ankara by an off-duty policeman, as Russia urgently sought answers over the murder.
	With the Turkish capital already on high alert after a string of attacks this year, an individual also fired outside the US embassy in Ankara overnight in a separate incident.
	President Vladimir Putin declared "we have to know who directed the hand of the killer" and the Kremlin said a Russian investigative team were flying to Turkey to probe the murder.
	An unprecedented three-way meeting between the foreign ministers of Turkey, Russia and Iran in Moscow over the Syria crisis was meanwhile set to go ahead despite the killing.
	Ambassador Andrei Karlov was shot four times in the back by Turkish policeman Mevlut Mert Altintas, 22, as he opened an exhibition of Russian photography in Ankara.
	Dramatic images showed Karlov stumble and then crash to the ground on his back as the attacker brandished his ..

Turkey detains six over envoy murder as Russia seeks answers

US-based Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen said he was "shocked and deeply saddened" by the assassination of Russia's ambassador to Turkey in the capital Ankara.
	A Turkish policeman crying "Aleppo!" fatally shot Russian Ambassador Andrei Karlov while he was addressing visitors to a photo exhibition earlier in the day.
	Ankara mayor Melih Gokcek had earlier speculated on his official Twitter account that the gunman may have been linked to the exiled preacher, whom the government blames for the July coup aimed at toppling President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
	"I condemn in the strongest terms this heinous act of terror," Gulen said in a statement yesterday.
	"No terrorist act can be justified, regardless of its perpetrators and their stated purposes," he added. "It is the expectation of the Turkish people and the world that the government investigate the circumstances of this incident, identify those who aided the perpetrator and take the necessary precautions so that such an attack cannot be .

US-based cleric Gulen 'shocked' by Russian envoy's killing

Russian investigators today flew out to Turkey to help probe the killing of the country's ambassador in Ankara Andrei Karlov, the Kremlin told local news agencies.
	"Eighteen people will work in the group. The group will act in Turkey within the framework of the investigation into the murder," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, adding that leaders Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan had agreed the move in a phone call yesterday.

'Russian investigators fly to Turkey to probe envoy murder'

A 5.7-magnitude earthquake followed by 37 aftershocks rattled Ecuador's Pacific coast before dawn Monday, causing three deaths and heavy damage to hotels and homes in resort towns, officials said.
	The northwestern province of Esmeraldas -- hit hard by a devastating temblor in April -- bore the brunt of the new quake, too.
	Three people died and 47 were injured as a result of the quake, according to disaster management agency SGR. At least 700 families had to leave their homes.
	The dead all suffered from heart attacks, said President Rafael Correa, who rushed to Esmeraldas.
	The quake caused a lot of damage to resort facilities in the coastal towns of Atacames and Tonsupa, and many homes also collapsed, Rivera told Radio Publica.
	The quake struck in the Pacific off Atacames and was followed by aftershocks registering as high as 4.2, the Geophysical Institute reported.
	It said the earthquake hit 5.7 after first reporting its magnitude was 5.8.
	The quakes knocked out electricity in .

AFP

AFP

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