Japan today marked the 20th anniversary of the Kobe earthquake that killed more than 6,400 people with renewed calls for the quake-prone nation to stay vigilant against the next "Big One."
	More than 14,000 people gathered to commemorate the victims in the western port city of Kobe, where a 7.2-magnitude quake hit at 5:46 am on January 17, 1995.
	The quake, which killed 6,434 people, levelled much of the city and sparked a major review of quake preparedness in the island-nation that suffers about one fifth of the world's most powerful tremors.
	The warning was brought into reality four years ago when a 9.0 magnitude quake struck in March 2011, triggering a huge tsunami that smashed into the country's northeast coast, killing around 18,000 people and creating the world's worst nuclear emergency in a generation.
	Kobe survivors and family members of victims gathered before dawn to lay bouquets and light thousands of candles in a park used as an evacuation centre after the 1995 ...

Japan marks 20th anniversary of killer quake in Kobe

PTI Automatic

A 32-year-old Taiwanese man has died after a three-day gaming binge at an Internet cafe in the island's south, the second such case this year, a report said today.
	The man, identified by his family name Hsieh, was found slumped motionless in his chair in the cafe in Kaohsiung city.
	Other patrons initially thought he was sleeping, but when an employee realised he was not breathing he was rushed to hospital, where he was pronounced dead, the Taipei Times reported.
	Doctors confirmed he had suffered cardiac failure, ruling it a "sudden death" from prolonged computer gaming, the report said.
	"Hsieh was a regular customer here and always played for consecutive days. When tired, he would sleep face-down on the table or doze off slumped in his chair. That is why we were not aware of his condition in the beginning," the employee was quoted as saying.
	It was not clear what Hsieh was playing at the time of his death, with the report describing it only as "combat computer games".
	The case ..

Taiwan man dies after Internet gaming binge: report

Dale Steyn ended a short but brutal rampage by Chris Gayle to open the way for South Africa to beat the West Indies in a rain-affected first one-day international at Kingsmead.
     The hosts won by 61 runs according to the Duckworth/Lewis method when the tourists were bowled out for 164. South Africa made 279 for eight before their innings was cut short by rain after 48.2 overs yesterday.
     Chasing a reduced target, which eventually became 225 runs off 32 overs after another brief interruption, Gayle led the West Indies to a storming start as he and Dwayne Smith put on 51 for the first wicket inside the first six overs.
     Gayle, who played match-winning innings in both Twenty20 internationals he played in ahead of the one-day series, swung at almost everything as he made 41 off 24 balls, with two sixes and five fours.
     He hit two fours in Steyn's first over -- one a top edge over wicketkeeper AB de Villiers -- but swung once too often and edged a catch to De Villiers.
     .

Steyn strike ends Gayle rampage as South Africa win

North Korea is showing no signs of preparing for a new nuclear test, a US think tank has said, citing recent satellite imagery.
	However one or more tunnels at the Punggye-ri nuclear test site are complete and ready for another test should Pyongyang decide to carry one out, the US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University said.
	On its closely-watched 38 North website, the institute said commercial satellite pictures of the Punggye-ri test site revealed no signs of test preparations.
	"As a result, a fourth nuclear test seems unlikely in the near-term, for at least the next two to three months," 38 North said.
	"However, it is quite possible that one or more tunnels at the facility are sufficiently complete to be readied for another nuclear test should Pyongyang make the political decision to move forward."
	The North has so far conducted three nuclear tests at the Punggye-ri site in its northeast, in 2006, 2009 and 2013.
	Pyongyang in November threatened to carry out its fourth ...

No sign of N Korea nuclear test preparations: US think tank

The US military will send nearly 1,000 troops to train Syrian rebel forces as part of a long-planned effort to build up a moderate opposition to take on the Islamic State group, the Pentagon has said.
	The training will take place in Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar and is expected to start in the "early spring," spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby yesterday told a news conference.
	More than 400 trainers would start deploying in the next four to six weeks, backed by a similar number of support troops that will provide help with logistics, communications and intelligence, he said.
	The total troop number "for this mission could approach 1,000," Kirby said. "It might even exceed that."
	About 5,400 Syrian rebels would be trained and armed in the first year of the program, with an initial group of fighters possibly ready to enter battle "before the end of the year," he said.
	The US Congress backed legislation last month to fund the training and equipping of Iraqi forces and moderate Syrian 

Hundreds of US troops to train Syrian rebels: Pentagon

Sao Paulo protesters clashed with police who used tear gas and sound bombs to disperse crowds, as thousands rallied against Brazil's latest round of bus fare hikes.
	Police resorted to force after part of the march veered from its authorized route, and also arrested one member of the anarchist Black Bloc group, whose radical members took position at the front of the crowd.
	Organizers yesterday said the protests, called after authorities increased bus fares by 0.50 reais (20 US cents), brought together some 20,000 demonstrators.
	Authorities said the number was closer to 3,000.
	"It went as usual: the people demonstrated peacefully and the police throw gas," Isabella, a 22-year-old law student, told AFP, wiping sweat off her face after running from police.
	About 1,000 police officers monitored the rally, with part of the demonstration regrouping to carry on after the encounter.
	Protesters also called for free student fares.
	The rally, called by the Free Pass movement, which also ...

Protesters, police clash at Sao Paulo bus fare demo

A suicide bomber killed at least five people and wounded 11 near a marketplace in northeastern Nigeria, an emergency services official has said.
	"It was a suicide bombing," Saidu Ahmed Minin, head of operation of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) yesterday said in Gombe. "Six people were killed including the bomber and 11 others were injured. We evacuated them to the hospital."
	Witnesses said the blast went off at 7:25 pm (local time) in the packed market neighbourhood of Kasuwar Arawa, close to the public university in Gombe, which is capital of Gombe state.
	"The bomber went into the crowd of people waiting to recharge their telephones" at a public charging station "and then set off the explosive," taxi driver Idris Babandada told AFP by telephone. "The explosion shook the whole neighbourhood."
	No one claimed immediate responsiblity for the attack, but Boko Haram militants are increasingly powerful in the north-east of Nigeria and Gombe has been hit by several ...

NE Nigeria suicide bombing kills five, wounds 11

A Muslim American man held two weeks without charge after the 9/11 attacks will get USD 385,000 compensation from the US government and an FBI agent, a rights group has said.
	Abdullah al-Kidd was detained in 2003 as a "material witness," a formulation widely used in the US after the 2001 attacks to ensure suspects were available to testify in terrorism cases.
	Kidd was held in solitary confinement for two weeks. He said he suffered daily strip searches and was detained under harsh conditions including 24-hour illumination of his cell.
	He was then placed on probation for 15 months.
	Kidd was never charged with any crime and was never called to testify at the trial of a student accused of visa fraud for which he was arrested.
	The student's trial resulted in a verdict of not guilty.
	Under the settlement, the US government offered its "regrets" and agreed to compensate Kidd, an American convert to Islam, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) yesterday said in New York.
	"I am ...

Muslim American gets USD 385,000 compensation for arrest

Pope Francis will spend an emotional day in the Philippines today with survivors of a catastrophic super typhoon that claimed thousands of lives, highlighting his concern over climate change.
	The pontiff enjoyed a rapturous reception from millions of Filipinos during the first two days of his trip to the country, reinforcing its status as the Catholic Church's bastion in Asia.
	Francis's five-day visit is partly aimed at helping the Church expand its influence throughout the region, but he has made clear that visiting survivors of Super Typhoon Haiyan is also a top priority.
	"In a particular way, this visit is meant to express my closeness to our brothers and sisters who endured the suffering, loss and devastation caused by Typhoon Yolanda," Francis said in the nation's capital on Friday, referring to Haiyan by its local name.
	Haiyan, the strongest storm ever recorded on land, left 7,350 people dead or missing in November 2013 as it devastated fishing and farming towns on central ..

Pope set for emotional day with Philippine typhoon survivors

Four people were killed and 45 injured in a day of violent protests in Niger's second city against French magazine Charlie Hebdo's publication of a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed.
	Interior Minister Massaoudou Hassoumi said a policeman and three civilians died in yesterday's disturbances in Zinder in which three churches were ransacked and the French cultural centre was burned down.
	Thousands of protesters gathered outside mosques after Friday prayers to vent anger at the depiction of the prophet, which is considered taboo to most Muslims.
	Twenty-two members of the security forces and 23 protesters were hurt in the ensuing clashes, national radio reported, as one Catholic and two Protestant churches were attacked.
	A doctor in the city's hospital told AFP that all of the dead and three of the injured had gunshot wounds.
	Twelve people, including some of France's best-loved cartoonists, died in a jihadi attack on the satirical magazine's Paris offices last week.

Four dead, 45 injured in Niger protests over Mohammed cartoon

A Quebec woman starved herself to death today, on the same day a court was to set a trial date for her alleged drowning of her three young children, local media said.
	Sonia Blanchette had been charged with murdering her children, aged two to five years, in December 2012 at the height of a custody dispute with her partner.
	She had been granted supervised visits with her son and two daughters, but on the day of their death, she was left alone with them.
	Jailed since her arrest, she began a hunger strike several months ago and was moved to a hospital in December weighing only 36 kilograms (80 pounds), according to public broadcaster Radio-Canada.

Quebec woman kills her children, starves herself to death

A teenager from Russia's Muslim region of Dagestan, suspected of a suicide bombing in Istanbul, was said today to have been an Islamic State jihadist and the widow of an Norwegian extremist.
	A policeman and the female suicide bomber were killed in the attack on January 6 in Sultanahmet, the heart of Istanbul's tourist district and home to its greatest concentration of historic monuments.
	Turkish authorities have so far refrained from naming the suicide bomber but reports in Turkey and Russia today identified her as Diana Ramazanova, 18, from the northern Caucasus region of Dagestan.
	The Hurriyet daily said she was the widow of Abu Aluevitsj Edelbijev, a  Norwegian citizen of Chechen origin. The pair were married last year in a religious ceremony, either in Istanbul or in Syria.
	The report said that Ramazanova had entered Turkey on a tourist visa in May 2014 but Edelbijev may have entered the country illegally.
	Last July the pair crossed the border from Turkey into Syria, joining .

Istanbul suicide bomber was teen widow of Norwegian jihadist

Record-breaking temperatures scorched the planet last year, making 2014 the hottest in more than a century and raising new concerns about global warming, US government scientists said today.
	The much-anticipated report by scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) was confirmed by an independent analysis from the US space agency NASA that reached the same conclusion.
	"Record warmth was spread around the world," said the NOAA report.
	"The globally averaged temperature over land and ocean surfaces for 2014 was the highest among all years since record keeping began in 1880."
	For the year, the average temperature was 1.24 degrees Fahrenheit (0.69 Celsius) above the 20th century average, beating the previous record-holding years of 2005 and 2010 by 0.07 F (0.04 C).
	Parts of the world that saw record heat included Russia, western Alaska, the western United States, parts of interior South America, parts of eastern and western coastal Australia, north Africa 

Record-breaking 2014 was hottest in modern history: US

Belgian authorities charged five people with "participating in a terrorist group" following a series of raids to foil alleged imminent attacks against the police, the prosecutor's office said today.
	Three people, including one who survived a deadly police raid in the eastern town of Verviers, were placed in custody and two others conditionally released, prosecutor spokesman Eric Van der Sijpt told AFP.
	He declined to identify the accused.
	The eight other people who had been detained following the raids in Verviers and in the Brussels area will not be prosecuted.
	Van der Sijpt said an examining magistrate issued a European arrest warrant for two Belgians questioned by French customs as they tried to enter Italy after leaving Belgium in the wake of yesterday's raids.
	Belgian newspapers identified the survivor of the raid that killed two alleged militants in Verviers as Marouane T.
	His lawyer, Didier de Quevy, told newspapers from the Sudpresse group that the man denied having been 

Five charged with terrorism after Belgium raids

Standard & Poor's has agreed to pay USD 1 billion to settle US charges that the ratings agency defrauded investors ahead of the housing bust, a person familiar with the matter said today.
	The accord is in the final stages of negotiation and is expected to be announced by the end of the first quarter, the person said.
	The settlement would resolve a 2013 US Department of Justice suit accusing the ratings agency of misrepresenting as safe high-risk securities linked to subprime mortgages.
	The US argued S&P's ratings of the securities were too positive  because it sought to win business from investment banks packaging the toxic mortgage-linked bonds that were at the heart of the 2008 financial crisis.
	S&P initially contested the suit, accusing the Justice Department at one point of attacking the ratings firm as payback for a move by S&P in August 2011 to strip the US of its triple-A credit rating. The Justice Department denied the allegation.

S&P near USD 1 bn deal to settle US subprime suit: source

Britain is to step up police patrols in areas with high Jewish populations, Prime Minister David Cameron said today, while warning that it was impossible to provide "100 per cent protection".
	The move came in the wake of last week's Islamist attacks in Paris, as well as a foiled plot in Belgium yesterday.
	As security for police officers was also tightened, Cameron warned that all Britons should be "incredibly vigilant" in an interview with Channel 4 during a visit to Washington DC.
	"These steps were taken because of what happened in Paris and because of the situation that we face generally," Cameron said.
	But he also cautioned: "There's no way that you can give 100 per cent protection in a free and open society."
	Jewish security charity the Community Security Trust welcomed the move, saying it had received an "unprecedented" number of calls from British Jews following the attacks in France.
	"People are acutely aware that what happened in Paris could happen here," said the ...

Security for British Jews to be tightened says Cameron

The United States and Britain agree to maintain tough sanctions on Russia over its actions in Ukraine, President Barack Obama said today.
	"We agree on the need to maintain strong sanctions against Russia until it ends its aggression in Ukraine and on the need to support Ukraine as it implements important economic and democratic reforms," Obama said during a joint press conference with British Prime Minister David Cameron.
	Western powers have slapped stringent sanctions on Russia for its actions in eastern Ukraine last year which effectively led to the annexation of Crimea.
	Obama has said the sanctions have worked, weakening President Vladimir Putin.
	Economic indicators show Russia is sliding toward recession, a sharp reversal of fortune for Putin who is contending with the first shrinkage in his nation's economy since 2009.
	The ruble has slumped by 40 per cent this year, mostly due to crude oil prices falling by half in the past six months.

US, UK agree on sanctions on Russia over Ukraine: Obama

Italy today brushed aside reports it had paid off Al-Qaeda to secure the release of two Italian aid workers abducted in northern Syria last summer.
	Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni told parliament that claims that a USD 12-million (10-million euros) ransom had been paid to free the two young women were "unfounded rumours" emanating from terrorist organisations which should not be given any credence.
	But he stopped short of categorically denying any money had changed hands, and came under attack for what was interpreted as a deliberately ambiguous presentation of what had happened.
	Greta Ramelli, 20, and Vanessa Marzullo, 21, spent much of the time today being questioned by anti-terrorism prosecutors after arriving back in Rome from Turkey in the early hours of the morning.
	Smiling wearily and with heads bowed, the women were ushered into Ciampino airport terminal and taken to hospital for checks.
	Italian media reported that the women had later told a prosecutor they were unaware .

Italy brushes off reports it paid millions to Al-Qaeda

The US military will send more than 400 troops to train Syrian rebel forces as part of a long-planned effort to build up a moderate opposition to take on the Islamist State group, the Pentagon said today.
	The training will take place Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar and is expected to start in the "early spring," said spokeswoman Commander Elissa Smith.
	The Pentagon also planned to deploy an unspecified number of support troops or "enablers" to provide logistics, intelligence, communications and other assistance, Smith said.
	"The goal for the train and equip program is to build the capabilities of the moderate Syrian fighters to defend the Syrian people; stabilize areas under opposition control; promote the conditions for a negotiated settlement of the conflict in Syria; and empower trainees to go on the offensive" against the IS group, she said in an email.
	The US Congress backed legislation last month to fund the training and equipping of Iraqi forces and moderate Syrian ...

400 US troops to train Syrian rebels: Pentagon

Half-centuries by Hashim Amla, AB de Villiers and David Miller enabled South Africa to score 279 for eight before a storm halted play with 1.5 overs remaining in their innings in the first one-day international against the West Indies at Kingsmead today.
     South Africa were rocked by two early wickets and were pegged back towards the end of the innings but runs flowed freely in between as De Villiers shared partnerships of 99 with Amla and 123 with Miller, both at slightly better than a run a ball.
     Amla and De Villiers, South Africa's champion batting pair, came together with the total 16 for two in the fifth over and the runs soon started to flow.
     Amla reached 5000 one-day international runs in his 104th match - fewer than any other batsman - when he went past 54.
     He hurried to 66 off 66 balls before he was run out attempting a second run to deep point, failing to beat a superb throw from Andre Russell.
     The left-handed Miller made 70 off 68 balls before his ...

South Africa make 279 against West Indies

US Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif met in Paris today to discuss negotiations for a nuclear deal, a US official said.
	The pair, who held a marathon six-hour round of talks in Geneva earlier this week in a bid to nail down a deal, were taking the opportunity to meet again in the French capital on separate diplomatic trips.
	Their talks lasted just under an hour, a US official said.
	Zarif is also due to meet French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius while in Paris.
	The new Zarif-Kerry talks came as their negotiators were also meeting in Geneva.
	Global powers leading the talks, known as the P5+1 are due to open negotiations on Sunday in the Swiss city as a deadline looms for a comprehensive deal which would rein in Iran's nuclear programme in exchange for relief from a tight network of sanctions.
	Both sides have remained tight-lipped about whether any progress is being made.

AFP

AFP

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