Sony today said it was asking Japanese regulators for permission to delay its earnings release next month after a cyberattack at its Hollywood film unit compromised "a large amount of data".
	The Japanese firm said its US-based Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) subsidiary will not have time to put together its financial statements after the attack, linked to its controversial North Korea satire "The Interview," which has been widely blamed on Pyongyang.
	The Tokyo-based firm, which was due to publish its earnings for the fiscal third quarter on February 4, said the hack attack was unlikely to have a material impact on its financial results.
	But it now wants to extend the deadline to file the numbers until the end of March.
	The company said it still planned to issue a press release and hold an earnings conference on the originally scheduled date.
	This was to provide updated forecasts of its results "to the extent reasonably possible, based on the information available on that ...

Sony seeks to delay earnings over 'The Interview' cyberattack

PTI Automatic

King Abdullah II of Jordan and other Middle Eastern dignitaries left the Davos World Economic Forum today, flying home early on news of the death of the Saudi King Abdullah, event organisers told AFP.
	The Jordanian king was set to address the world's financial and political elite in a speech at 1845 IST, but the address was cancelled, WEF planners said.
	Saudi Arabia's Prince Turki Al Faisal Al Saud, the half-brother to King Abdullah, also left the posh ski resort, cancelling a today morning appearance alongside ministers from Canada and Germany.
	The elderly King Abdullah died earlier today and was replaced by another half-brother Salman as the absolute ruler of the world's top oil exporter and the spiritual home of Islam. He is to be buried later today.

Jordanian king quits Davos forum after Saudi monarch's death

A stunned Roger Federer was dumped out of the Australian Open today in his worst showing since 2001 as Andy Murray, Eugenie Bouchard and Simona Halep battled to stay in the title hunt.
     In the tournament's biggest upset, the Swiss world number two had no answer to unseeded Italian Andreas Seppi, who he had conquered in their past 10 meetings.
     "Just a bad day. I wish I could have played better but clearly it was tough losing the first two sets," Federer said after crashing out in the third round.
     "I had chances to get back into it but let it slip. It's a disappointing loss."
     The defeat was the 17-time Grand Slam winner's earliest exit in Melbourne in 14 years and aside from his second round Wimbledon flop in 2013, was the Swiss legend's worst performance at a major in more than a decade.
     Federer was chasing his fifth Australian Open crown, but has now not won a Grand Slam title since Wimbledon in 2012.
     He started sluggishly and from when he was broken to ...

Federer dumped from Open as Murray, Bouchard survive

A record batting blitz by Luke Ronchi and Grant Elliott set New Zealand up for an overwhelming 108-run win over Sri Lanka in their fifth one-day international in Dunedin today.
     In a stunning display of power hitting, Ronchi (170 not out) and Elliott (104 not out) bludgeoned an unbeaten 267 to lift New Zealand from 93-5 to 360-5 in their 50 overs in a world record sixth-wicket stand.
     Sri Lanka had their own century-maker in Tillakaratne Dilshan and looked to be in with a chance as long as he was at the crease.
     But when Dilshan fell for 116 it sparked a spectacular collapse in which Sri Lanka lost eight wickets for just 41 runs in eight overs.
     The end came with more than six overs remaining as, for the second game in a row, Sri Lanka showed little fight in the lower order to let New Zealand go 3-1 up in the series.
     In the fourth ODI in Nelson on Tuesday, their last six wickets were whittled out for just 31 runs.
     Faced with a daunting target of 361 to win in 

Ronchi, Elliott record stand sets up New Zealand win

A British backpacker has been discovered dead on the popular Thai tourist island of Koh Tao, police said today, four months after a British couple were found murdered there.
	Police said the body of Christina Annesley, 23, was discovered inside a bungalow room at a resort on the eastern side of the island on Wednesday.
	There were no immediate signs of criminal activity but her body will be sent to the mainland for an autopsy.
	"There was no trace of a fight and her body has no wounds," local police officer Lieutenant Colonel Napa Senathit told AFP by telephone, adding that investigators discovered three kinds of medicine in her room, but no recreational drugs.
	The autopsy is not likely to be carried out before Sunday as officials have to wait for a ferry to the mainland.
	"There is no ferry today so we will send her body on Saturday night to arrive on the mainland Sunday morning," Lieutenant Colonel Napa said.
	Many of Annesley's final tweets -- under the handle @chrstinadarling -- .

British backpacker found dead on Thai tourist island

Ten crew members are missing after a Chinese fishing boat collided with an unidentified cargo ship off South Korea's southern island of Jeju, coast guards said today.
	The cargo ship fled the scene as the 138-tonne Chinese boat sank in the open sea, some 160 kilometres (100 miles) off the resort island.
	"Ten people are missing and three others were rescued," a Jeju coast guard spokesman told AFP.
	Three South Korean rescue boats and two Chinese rescue boats were searching the area, backed by six Chinese fishing boats, he said.
	The collision took place yesterday as the Chinese fishing boat was anchoring because of rough seas.

10 missing in boat crash off S Korea: coast guard

A powerful 6.8-magnitude earthquake struck off the Pacific nation of Vanuatu today, the United States Geological Survey said, but no tsunami threat was detected.
	The quake hit at a depth of 218 kilometres (135 miles) about 84 kilometres from Vanuatu's capital Port Vila, at 5.31pm local time (0331 GMT), the USGS said.
	The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said there was no threat of a tsunami. The USGS originally put the magnitude at 6.9.
	Government agency Geoscience Australia duty seismologist Marco Maldoni said the threshold for an undersea earthquake that could potentially generate a tsunami was a magnitude of 6.5 and a depth of 100 kilometres.
	"This one, being 200 kilometres deep, does not meet that requirement. The deeper the earthquake is, the less likely it is to generate a tsunami," Maldoni told AFP.
	"They (Vanuatu) would have felt some tremor, but no damage. It's quite normal for that part of the world to have these sorts of earthquakes."
	Vanuatu is part of the "Ring of ...

6.8-magnitude quake off Vanuatu, no tsunami threat: USGS

Argentine President Cristina Kirchner said she believes that a prosecutor who died under suspicious circumstances was murdered in a plot to implicate her government in a cover-up of a 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center.
	Alberto Nisman, lead prosecutor in the two-decade-old case, was found dead with a gunshot wound to the head in his home Sunday -- one day before he was to go before a congressional hearing to accuse Kirchner of shielding Iranian officials implicated in the attack which left 85 dead.
	Investigators have said Nisman appeared to have committed suicide, but have not ruled out homicide or an "induced suicide."
	In a post on her Facebook page, Kirchner contended that Nisman was killed to immerse her government in scandal after he had been "used" to publicly accuse her of involvement in the cover-up.
	"I'm convinced that it was not suicide," Kirchner said.
	"Prosecutor Nisman's charges were never in themselves the true operation against the government. They collapsed .

Kirchner: Argentine prosecutor killed to discredit me

Yemeni leader Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi offered to resign amid a standoff with a powerful Shiite militia in control of the capital, throwing his country deeper into political turmoil.
	In his letter of resignation Hadi, a key US ally in the fight against Al-Qaeda, said he could no longer stay in office as the country was in "total deadlock".
	"I believe that I have not been able to achieve the goals for which I took up my duties," he said, adding that Yemen's political leaders had failed "to lead the country to calmer waters".
	Prime Minister Khalid Bahah also tendered his resignation, saying he did want to be part of the collapse of the country.
	A senior official told AFP that Yemen's parliament had rejected Hadi's resignation.
	"Parliament... Refused to accept the president's resignation and decided to call an extraordinary session for today morning," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
	The shock announcements came after the militia, known as Huthis, tightened their .

Yemen thrown into turmoil as president resigns

The United States withdrew more diplomatic staff from crisis-torn Yemen as it sought to assess the fast-moving political turmoil that has seen the cabinet and US-backed president resign.
	The US embassy was already working on bare bones staffing after most of the diplomatic personnel was ordered to leave in September at the start of a Shiite militia sweep into the capital, Sanaa.
	"In response to the changing security situation in Yemen, the United States Embassy in Sanaa has further reduced its American personnel working in Yemen," a senior State Department official said.
	The embassy remained opened though, and "we will continue to operate as normal, albeit with reduced staff," the official added yesterday.
	How many Americans remained in the fortified embassy remained unclear and the official stressed Washington would "continue to re-align resources based on the situation on the ground."
	Yesterday's events appeared to catch Washington by surprise, with the State Department saying .

US pulls more staff out of Yemen

Saudi Arabia's elderly King Abdullah died today and was replaced by his half-brother Salman as the absolute ruler of the world's top oil exporter and the spiritual home of Islam.
	The royal court said in a statement that Abdullah, believed to be around 90, died at 1:00 am local time (0330 IST), expressing its "great sadness and mourning".
	Salman, 79, had been defence minister and previously governor of the capital Riyadh.
	Another of the late monarch's half-brothers, Moqren, was named the new crown prince.
	Abdullah will be buried later today following afternoon prayers, and citizens would be invited to pledge allegiance to the new monarch and the crown prince at the royal palace, the statement said.
	The royal court did not disclose the cause of Abdullah's death, but he was hospitalised in December suffering from pneumonia and had been breathing with the aid of a tube.
	Under Abdullah, who took the throne in 2005, Saudi Arabia has been a key ally of Washington in the Arab world, ...

Saudi King Abdullah dies, Salman is new ruler

Oil prices surged today following the death of Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah, with investors watching to see if the country will change its policy of maintaining high production in the face of plunging prices and a global supply glut.
	US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for March delivery soared as much as 3.1 per cent in New York after the Saudi royal court announced the death.
	In early morning Asian trade, the contract was up USD 73 cents, or 1.58 per cent, at USD 47.04 a barrel.
	Brent crude for March jumped USD 1.09, or 2.25 per cent, to USD 49.61.
	The surge in prices comes after months of steep falls caused by weak global demand, an oversupply of the black gold and a refusal by the OPEC cartel, of which Saudi Arabia is a key member, to cut down on output.
	"The market is probably uncertain over what the new king would do about this over supply issue," said Daniel Ang, an investment analyst with Phillip Futures in Singapore.
	"The market was just pricing this ...

Oil surges after Saudi King's death

A world-record partnership by centurions Luke Ronchi and Grant Elliott rescued New Zealand from an early collapse to ensure a commanding 360-5 in the fifth one-day international against Sri Lanka today.
     Their 267-run stand, smacked in 30 overs at Dunedin's University Oval, is the highest sixth-wicket partnership in ODI cricket and began when New Zealand were in dire straits at 93-5 after 20 overs.
     The innings ended with Ronchi unbeaten on 170, his maiden ODI century, while Elliott was 104 not out for his second ton.
     After being sent into bat on a green-tinged wicket, New Zealand's top order fell rapidly before Elliott and Ronchi turned the mission around.
     Ronchi, whose lusty hitting carried New Zealand home in the fourth ODI in Nelson on Tuesday, had nine sixes and 14 fours in his innings and faced 99 deliveries
     Elliott, dropped on 47 by stand-in Sri Lanka captain Lahiru Thirimanne, faced 96 balls and hit two sixes and seven fours.
     Thirimanne, promoted to 

Ronchi, Elliott break record to rescue New Zealand

The United States believes it has killed about 6,000 jihadists in its air strikes against the Islamic State group, defense officials have said.
	Pentagon chief Chuck Hagel, however, warned against resorting to "body counts" to measure progress in the war.
	The estimate of how many IS fighters had been taken out by US-led air raids was first cited by Washington's ambassador to Iraq, Stuart Jones, in an interview aired yesterday by Al-Arabia television.
	US defense officials reluctantly confirmed the figure but insisted the military was not placing a priority on the measurement, which carried uncomfortable echoes from the Vietnam conflict -- when American commanders cited daily "body counts" to convey progress in the war.
	There was no independent confirmation of the casualty estimate and it remains unclear how many civilians might have been inadvertently killed in the strikes.
	But if accurate, it would suggest the coalition has inflicted astounding damage on the IS group since the air 

Pentagon says US has killed thousands of jihadists

A shamanic ritual ended in tragedy in Ecuador when six people died at a hot springs, apparently after inhaling toxic gases, authorities said today.
	The bodies, including four members of a single family, were found yesterday at the hot springs in the northern Andean province of Imbabura, the officials said.
	"It's an accidental death resulting from the inhalation of toxic gases emanating from the thermal waters," the interior ministry said in a statement.
	Local firefighter Carlos Lopez told AFP that toxicological tests had not yet been performed, "but it is confirmed that it is from inhalation of gases."
	Members of the community indicated that the victims were taking part in a ritual led by two shamans, both of whom also died, according to Lopez.
	A seven-year-old boy found alive said his mother had not allowed him to join the others bathing at night in the hot springs, so he stayed in their car and went to sleep, investigators said.
	At the site, authorities found homemade cane ...

Six die in shamanic ritual in Ecuador

Burkina Faso will hold presidential and legislative elections on October 11, interim president Michel Kafando announced today, put an ending to uncertainty over the political calendar.
	The decision came days after political parties, the interim government and the electoral commission put forward possible dates for the first vote since the overthrow of president Blaise Compaore.
	Burkina Faso's military seized power on October 31 after Compaore was ousted in a popular revolt sparked by his bid to extend his 27-year hold on power.
	A National Transitional Council then took over governing the west African state of 18 million people.
	The government has now decided to hold "simultaneous presidential and legislative elections on October, 11, 2015," Kafando said on the margins of a meeting with media chiefs in the presidential palace.
	Neither Kafando nor military-ruler-turned-prime-minister Lieutenant Colonel Isaac Zida, who took power after the popular uprising, are eligible to run in ...

Burkina presidential and legislative votes set for October

The hand structure of early human ancestors who lived 3.2 million years ago suggests they had the ability to grasp and use tools, even if they hadn't invented them yet, anthropologists said Thursday.
	Until now, Australopithecus africanus, which lived two to three million years ago in what is now South Africa, were not believed to have made tools the first evidence of which dates back to 2.6 million years ago but their hands suggest otherwise, according to a study in the journal Science.
	A creature with an ape-like face and long arms, but that had a large brain and walked upright on two feet, Australopithecus africanus appears to have descended from the trees, gained hand dexterity and became capable of fine motor movements.
	The new findings are based on a new study of the internal spongy structure of bone, called trabeculae, which can reveal how the bones were used while the individuals were alive.
	For instance, trabecular bones look very different in humans and chimpanzees, which 

Three-million-yr-old ancestor had human-like hands: study

At least 16 people were killed when a bus overturned and caught fire in northwestern Mexico, local authorities reported.
	The bus was bound for the northern border city of Tijuana when it crashed on a road in Ciudad Obregon, the head of the state of Sonora's civil protection agency said.
	"What we know at the moment is that the bus overturned and caught fire and that 16 fatalities were recovered," civil protection chief Carlos Jesus Arias said.
	He said 20 people were taken to area hospitals to be treated for injuries.

16 killed in Mexico bus crash: official

Top European diplomats waded into the political fray in Washington over Iran, urging US lawmakers to hold off on new sanctions and pleading for time to allow nuclear talks to succeed.
	"Maintaining pressure on Iran through our existing sanctions is essential,"  four European foreign policy chiefs warned in a joint op-ed in the Washington Post.
	"But introducing new hurdles at this critical stage of the negotiations, including through additional nuclear-related sanctions legislation on Iran, would jeopardize our efforts at a critical juncture."
	EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini joined forces with British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond and his French and German counterparts, Laurent Fabius and Frank-Walter Steinmeier, to urge Congress to give diplomacy "the best possible chance to succeed."
	"While many Iranians know how much they stand to gain by overcoming isolation and engaging with the world, there are also those in Tehran who oppose any nuclear deal. We should not give .

Give Iran diplomacy a chance, Europeans urge Congress

Argentine President Cristina Kirchner she believed that a prosecutor who died under suspicious circumstances was murdered in a plot to implicate her government in a cover-up of a 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center.
	Alberto Nisman, the lead prosecutor in the two-decade-old case, was found dead with a gunshot wound to the head in his home Sunday one day before he was to go before a congressional hearing to accuse Kirchner of shielding Iranian officials implicated in the attack, which left dozens dead.
	Investigators have said Nisman appeared to have committed suicide, but have not ruled out homicide or an "induced suicide."
	In a stunning post on her Facebook page, Kirchner contended that Nisman was killed to immerse her government in scandal after he had been "used" to publicly accuse her of involvement in the cover-up.
	"I'm convinced that it was not suicide," Kirchner said.
	"Prosecutor Nisman's charges were never in themselves the true operation against the government. They .

Argentina Prez says prosecutor killed in plot against her

Pakistan spinner Saeed Ajmal today raised hopes that he will pass a bowling action test after he was suspended last year, but ruled out any chance of featuring in next month's World Cup.
     The 37-year-old will travel to Chennai, India later Thursday and have a reassessment test on his bowling action in the International Cricket Council (ICC) accredited laboratory.
     He was reported during the Galle Test against Sri Lanka in August last year and he was subsequently suspended from bowling a month later after a bio-mechanic analysis found his action illegal.
     "I have worked really hard to overcome the flaws and I am hopeful that I will be cleared," Ajmal told media.
     "I am going to give test on five various deliveries and I am quite hopeful that I will return as spearhead of the team after getting clearance."
     After his suspension Ajmal did remedial work under former Pakistan great Saqlain Mushtaq and claimed to have cleared unofficial tests.
     Ajmal ruled out any ...

AFP

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