A group of pro-Syrian regime hackers briefly took over the Twitter account of France's Le Monde newspaper early today, tweeting several messages including one reading "Je ne suis pas Charlie".
	The tweet was a negative reference to the "Je Suis Charlie" (I am Charlie) hashtag that became a popular way of showing solidarity in the wake of this month's Islamist attack on the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo that left 12 people dead.
	The Syrian Electronic Army (SEA) also managed to tweet in support of Palestine and against the bombing of Syria before the account was suspended.
	Le Monde's account was back up this morning with a tweet reading: "Our account was hacked, but we have it back under control. We apologise for the fake messages posted in our name."
	It said it would file a complaint against persons unknown.
	The paper said yesterday that the group had tried and failed to hack its website on Sunday and Monday. The hackers had attempted to get into its Twitter account by ...

Syrian group hacks French newspaper's Twitter account

PTI Automatic

Syria has gone a year without a reported polio case, the World Health Organization said today, after a massive immunisation campaign triggered by the disease's appearance in the war-torn country.
	The agency said "the outbreak seems to have been brought under control" in Syria after a push to immunise millions of children across the Middle East.
	"It's a very encouraging sign that Syria's returning to a polio-free status," Chris Maher, the WHO's polio eradication manager, told AFP.
	He said the landmark did not guarantee that Syria was polio-free, but it did suggest that the mass immunisation had been successful.
	The WHO confirmed a polio outbreak in Syria in late 2013, reporting at least 10 cases of the disease in children hit with acute flaccid paralysis.
	The announcement triggered global concern and prompted an inter-agency, international effort to vaccinate millions of children across the Middle East.
	To date, 27 million children have been immunised in eight countries -- Syria, 

No new polio cases in Syria reported for a year: WHO

The West Indies collapsed to 122 all out in the third one-day international against South Africa at Buffalo Park on Wednesday.
     Marlon Samuels made 26 but no other West Indian batsmen reached 20 in a dismal performance on a good pitch.
     Vernon Philander took two wickets inside the first two overs and finished with three for 27, while leg-spinner Imran Tahir claimed a career-best four for 28.
     It was no surprise that the West Indies batted first on a dry pitch expected to get slower and lower in the second half of the match, especially after they had conceded 439 for two after sending South Africa in to bat in the previous match in Johannesburg last Sunday.
     But the tourists were in trouble almost immediately and were unable to mount any substantial partnerships.
     Philander had opening batsmen Dwayne Smith and Chris Gayle caught behind and fast bowler Dale Steyn followed up with the wickets of Narsingh Deonarine and Denesh Ramdin as the West Indies stumbled to 43 ...

West Indies bowled out for 122

The United States and Cuba opened two days of historic talks in Havana today to end decades of Cold War-era animosity and reestablish diplomatic relations.
	The meetings in Havana follow the historic decision by US President Barack Obama and Cuban leader Raul Castro in December to seek normal diplomatic relations.
	US deputy assistant secretary of state Alex Lee and Cuban foreign ministry official Josefina Vidal sat down for the first day of closed-door talks in the capital's Convention Center, which will focus on migration issues.
	Their opening remarks were not broadcast.
	The reopening of mutual embassies, closed since relations broke in 1961, will be at the center of tomorrow's talks, which will be led on the US side by Roberta Jacobson, the US assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs.
	Jacobson will be the highest-ranking American official to visit the communist island since 1980 when she lands later today.
	On the eve of the talks, US President Barack Obama ...

Cuba and US open groundbreaking talks in Havana

Authorities in Myanmar have detained 155 Chinese nationals for illegal logging, China's foreign ministry said today, denying reports that its citizens had been trapped by an armed conflict there.
	The case is the latest wrinkle in relations between Myanmar and China, which has continued to assert its growing economic clout in the Southeast Asian country even as some Chinese-led projects have sparked fierce local opposition.
	Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said a joint working group met each of the 155 detainees separately this week and "confirmed that they were in good physical and spiritual condition".
	She did not provide any details regarding the date or circumstances of their detention.
	A report by China's official Xinhua news agency said a Chinese consular working group met detainees on Monday in Myitkyina, the capital of northern Myanmar's Kachin state.
	Myanmar presidential office spokesman Zaw Htay confirmed Chinese nationals had been arrested in Kachin but 

China confirms 155 detained in Myanmar for illegal logging

A tropical storm which battered Madagascar at the weekend left 46 people dead, according to a final toll published by the authorities today.
	More than 120,000 people were left homeless or otherwise affected by the storm known as Chedza which lashed the Indian Ocean island with heavy rains for days, according to the national disaster management office.
	On Monday, the authorities had said 14 people had perished.

Madagascar tropical storm claims 46 lives

China's e-commerce boomed in 2014 with transactions reaching around 13 trillion yuan (USD 2.09 trillion), the government said today, as Beijing looks online for new drivers of growth.
	The commerce ministry did not define transactions, beyond saying that the term included both business-to-business and retail transactions.
	Spokesman Shen Danyang said in a statement that they grew 25.0 per cent year-on-year in 2014.
	China's National Bureau of Statistics said yesterday that online retail sales alone were at 2.8 trillion yuan in 2014, up 49.7 per cent.
	China has the world's biggest online population - 632 million last year - and online shopping has exploded in recent years as consumers turned to the Internet for cheaper products and overseas goods that are believed to be safer than domestic options, such as baby formula.
	During its 24-hour shopping promotion Singles Day on November 11, the country's e-commerce giant Alibaba said consumers spent a record USD 9.3 billion, up 60 per cent 

China's e-commerce transactions hit USD2 trillion in 2014

Israeli police today arrested a man suspected of hacking into the computers and stealing the work of international recording artists including Madonna, police said.
	A law enforcement source said that the investigation was linked to a complaint filed by a local representative of the US star, although no names were mentioned in an official police statement.
	"The investigation by the national cyber unit began after a complaint from the Israeli representative of an international female artist," police spokeswoman Luba Samri said in the statement to AFP.
	"The man is suspected of offences of accessing computer material, intellectual property theft and fraud," she said, adding that the undercover Israeli investigation was carried out in collaboration with the US Federal Bureau of Investigation.
	She said the 38-year-old suspect was believed to have stolen work from a number of artists.
	Icelandic singer Bjork said yesterday she would release her new album "Vulnicura" months ahead of ...

Israel police arrest man over hacking stars' computers

Spanish world number three Rafael Nadal survived a massive scare before winning a gruelling five-setter with American qualifier Tim Smyczek at the Australian Open on Wednesday.
     The 14-time Grand Slam champion prevailed 6-2, 3-6, 6-7 (2/7), 6-3, 7-5 in 4hr 12min and will now play unseeded Israeli Dudi Sela in the third round.
     Nadal looked to be suffering from stomach cramps during the match and called for the trainer and doctor early in the third set.
     He took a tablet and continued on but at one changeover motioned to his player box that he was experiencing a stomach ailment. He was physically ill on the court.
     "For me after a tough period of time out of competition in the last seven months and just playing a few matches, today was a little bit humid and I felt very tired after the first set and for the whole match," he said.
     "I tried to have my best attitude and always with the support of the fantastic crowd."
     The Spanish great appeared to be making some .

Nadal survives five-set scare at Open

North Korea threatened today to reconsider proposals for dialogue with South Korea, condemning this week's propaganda balloon launch by US and South Korean activists as an "intolerable" provocation.
	The threat came two days after North Korean defectors led by Park Sang-Hak teamed up with activists from the US-based Human Rights Foundation to launch some 100,000 anti-Pyongyang leaflets over the border by balloon.
	The launch was an "intolerable provocation" hurting the dignity of North Korea's leadership, the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland said in a statement on the North's official Korean Central News Agency.
	It accused the United States of instigating the exercise and warned South Korea it may face "destruction" if it continues to overlook the balloon launches by "human scum".
	"We cannot but think over whether dialogue is necessary with South Korea, which could not even control a grave situation developing on its soil while reading the face of a US ...

N Korea threatens to reconsider dialogue with South

France unveiled a raft of measures today to curb radicalisation and better monitor jihadists two weeks after an Islamist killing spree in Paris that sent shockwaves across Europe.
	Jitters from the worst attack on French soil in decades have spread to the country's neighbours and the European Union is also expected to reveal new counterterrorism measures today.
	In Paris, Prime Minister Manuel Valls announced more than 700 million euros (USD 800 million) will be spent over the next three years on "the fight against terrorism" after the January 7-9 shootings which left 17 people dead.
	The attacks by known Islamists exposed weaknesses in French intelligence, and Valls said some 3,000 people with jihadist ties needed to be monitored, adding that the number of people with links to "terrorist networks" in Syria and Iraq had soared 130 per cent in the past year alone.
	In response, France will create 2,680 new jobs to fight extremism, just under half of them in the intelligence ...

France unveils raft of anti-terror measures after attacks

A car bomb on a shopping street in Syria's  government-controlled third city of Homs killed seven people and wounded 30, the provincial governor said today.
	It was the latest in a string of deadly attacks targeting the Akrameh neighbourhood of the central city.
	"This is a cowardly terrorist act," Governor Talal Barazi said.
	The neighbourhood is majority Alawite, the sect to which President Bashar al-Assad belongs, and has been hit by multiple attacks, as well as mortar fire.
	In October, a twin car bomb attack outside a school in the district killed 54 people, including 47 children, sparking outrage in the city.
	More than 200,000 people have been killed since the conflict in Syria erupted in March 2011.

Car bomb kills seven in Syria's Homs: governor

A Frenchman came within three weeks of allowing a 73 million euro lottery win to evaporate after carrying the winning ticket around in his wallet for a month, the lottery company said today.
	The man from northeastern France, an online subscriber to Euromillions, hit the jackpot on December 2, but he had stopped routinely checking his numbers.
	Winners have two months to present their tickets.
	"It's a story with a happy ending," the man told Francaise des Jeux, who run the lottery in France. "To think that for more than a month I didn't realise I was carrying around a lottery ticket worth USD 84 million in my wallet every day!"
	When he finally showed up at a lottery outlet, he was told: "We've been waiting for you.

Frenchman cashes in 73mn euro lottery win... A month on

Hong Kong pro-democracy newspaper tycoon Jimmy Lai was arrested and released by police today after turning himself in, the latest figure targeted in a broadening investigation which protest leaders describe as harassment.
	Tension remains high in the semi-autonomous southern Chinese city after more than two months of street blockades by demonstrators seeking free leadership elections. Lai's home and office were firebombed last week and he was also targeted during the protests.
	The rallies ended in December when protest camps were cleared, but police have vowed to investigate the "principal instigators".
	Lai, 66, whose company produces the outspoken Apple Daily newspaper, had been asked to report to Wanchai district police headquarters Wednesday.
	He spoke briefly to reporters after more than two hours inside.
	"I have been arrested," he said, after his release.
	He added that he had been accused of two offences, "organising and assembling an illegal assembly, and participating in an 

Hong Kong media tycoon arrested over protests

Russia today responded disparagingly to President Barack Obama's annual State of the Union address, claiming it showed that the United States wanted to dominate world affairs.
	"Americans have set a course for confrontation," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters.
	"Obama's address yesterday shows that there's just one thing at the heart of (their) philosophy: 'We are number one' and the rest should acknowledge that."
	"This is a bit out of date and does not correspond to modern realities," Russia's top diplomat added in televised remarks.
	"It shows that the United States wants to dominate the world," he said, adding that "being first among equals" was not enough for Washington.
	In his keynote speech yesterday, Obama said that "big nations can't bully small", a reference to Russia's annexation of Crimea and support for pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.
	He praised US policies towards the Kremlin over Ukraine, saying they left Moscow isolated and its economy 

US 'wants to dominate the world': Russia

A photo of the founder of Germany's new anti-"Islamisation" movement showing him wearing an Adolf Hitler-like moustache and hair style surfaced in German media today.
	Bild daily quoted PEGIDA spokeswoman Kathrin Oertel as saying the photo of Lutz Bachmann was "a joke".
	It cited Bachmann himself as saying he had taken the picture, which shows him with a small black moustache and wet hair swept into a side-parting reminiscent of the Nazi leader, around the time of the publication of a bestselling satirical audiobook about Hitler entitled "He's Back".
	The 41-year-old, who founded PEGIDA - "Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the Occident" - in October, posted the picture on Facebook long before he became publicly known, regional news outlet MOPO 24 said.
	PEGIDA has held near weekly marches in the eastern city of Dresden that have grown over the past three months, voicing anger against Islam and "criminal asylum seekers".
	MOPO 24 also claimed that comments under ...

Photo of German anti-Islam leader in Hitler pose surfaces

Cuba will host the most senior US official to visit the island in 35 years  today for two days of groundbreaking talks to shed their Cold War-era rivalry.
	The meetings in Havana follow the historic decision by US President Barack Obama and Cuban leader Raul Castro in December to seek normal diplomatic relations.
	"In Cuba, we are ending a policy that was long past its expiration date," Obama said in his annual State of the Union speech late Tuesday, urging the US Congress to lift the decades-old embargo.
	"When what you have done doesn't work for fifty years. It's time to try something new," he said.
	Roberta Jacobson, the US assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, will be the highest-ranking American official to visit the communist island since 1980 when she lands today.
	Cuba will be represented by Josefina Vidal, director of the foreign ministry's US affairs, for the two days of talks.
	"We hope to establish civilized relations between countries that have ...

Cuba to host highest-level US official since 1980

Western countries are trying to use the Ukraine conflict to topple President Vladimir Putin and wreck Russia's economy, the president's spokesman said in an interview published today.
	"In the West they are trying to kick out Putin, to isolate him in international politics, to throttle Russia economically due to their interests, to bring down Putin," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
	"If it was not for Crimea, they would think up another reason," Peskov claimed in an interview with Argumenty i Fakty weekly.
	He insisted that Russia's economic situation was under control despite "illegal sanctions" over its annexation of Crimea and support for separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine, which along with low oil prices have led to the ruble plunging in value.
	"I'll remind you what Putin said (in December): everything is under control, we know what to do, how to do it, and we have everything we need to do it."
	Peskov said Russia could not resolve the crisis in Ukraine as the West ...

'West trying to throttle Russian economy, overthrow Putin'

Philippine officials accused China today of expanding reclamation work in disputed waters of the South China Sea, as the US again called for restraint in the territorial conflict.
	Philippine and US officials spoke as the longstanding allies ended a two-day strategic dialogue in Manila, reaffirming defence and economic cooperation.
	"The Chinese activities in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) continue to be a serious concern, arising from reports of greater development in reclamation," Philippine defence undersecretary Pio Lorenzo Batino told reporters.
	Batino refused to elaborate on the progress of the reclamation, saying only: "It's very serious. It has grown."
	Philippine foreign undersecretary Evan Garcia described the Chinese reclamation work as "massive" and a violation of an agreement among South China Sea claimants not to build new structures until a binding code of conduct is in place.
	"It is not helpful in finding a way forward. It is not an example of what ...

Philippines says China expanding South China Sea reclamation

A New York court handed a four-year prison sentence to a Bitcoin exchange operator who sold virtual currency used to buy drugs on the Silk Road underground website.
	Robert Faiella, 55, and an accomplice were charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering and running an unlicensed money transmitting business.
	Faiella, who pleaded guilty in September 2014, was also ordered to pay $950,000.
	He and accomplice Charlie Shrem, 25, were accused of running a company allowing people to use cash to buy Bitcoins, and issuing $1 million in the virtual currency that is based on a mysterious computer algorithm.
	Shrem was convicted to two years in prison on December 19.
	Meanwhile Silk Road was closed by US authorities in 2013, and its alleged mastermind, Ross Ulbricht, is on trial in New York.
	Manhattan federal prosecutor Preet Bharara said in a statement that from December 2011 to October 2013, Faiella sold Bitcoins on Silk Road -- which only accepts payment in the virtual currency -- ...

Bitcoin dealer sentenced to four years in US prison

Authorities in Yemen's second city Aden shut its international airport today in protest against attacks by Shiite militiamen on the president and other state figures.
	Aden's main security body said in a statement that it was closing its airport, its seaport and entrances to the city due to "dangerous developments in the capital" and "attacks on the symbol of national sovereignty and constitutional legitimacy, President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi."
	The Shiite militiamen, known as Huthis, seized control of Yemen's presidential palace and attacked Hadi's residence yesterday in what officials said was a bid to overthrow the government, drawing condemnation from the UN Security Council.
	Aden is the main city in southern Yemen, which was an independent country from 1967 to 1990 and where a strong separatist movement still exists.
	The Huthis have abducted Hadi's chief of staff, Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak, a southerner, and have encircled the residence of Prime Minister Khalid Bahah since Monday, ..

AFP

AFP

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