Politically sidelined since a 2009 UN summit almost ended in a bustup, climate change has resurfaced as a priority but faces a brutal test at talks opening in Lima on Monday.
	The 12-day haggle will show what happens when high-minded global vows enter an arena where national interest rules the roost.
	"Things are still fragile, but there's been good news," said French climate negotiator Laurence Tubiana -- pointing to recent political noises, and pledges of money, to protect Earth's climate system.
	The meeting in the Peruvian capital is tasked with steering 196 parties toward the most ambitious climate pact in history  "the matrix for managing climate issues for the next 30 years," according to Tubiana.
	Due to be signed in Paris in December 2015 and take effect from 2020, the accord would roll back carbon emissions and ease the threat of misery, ecosystem damage and species loss for future generations.
	Given the UN's shaky record on climate change, the challenge is vast.
	The last .

Climate rhetoric faces the devil in the detail

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Pakistan and New Zealand teams and officials on Friday observed a minute's silence and wore black armbands to join the world in mourning young Australian batsman Phillip Hughes.
     Hughes, 25, died yesterday from a rare head injury after a devastating on-field blow in a first-class match in Sydney, leaving the whole cricketing world in a shock.
     Pakistan and New Zealand teams abandoned the second day's play in the third and final Test yesterday after the tragic news of his death as a mark of respect.
     Before heading out on Friday, the New Zealand players placed their bats outside the team's dressing with their national black caps on them to join the "#putoutyourbats" campaign launched in Australia to pay tribute to Hughes.
     Hughes played his last international match in Abu Dhabi, the third and final one-day against Pakistan in October, in which he made five.
     The second day's play in the third and final Test between Pakistan and New Zealand resumed with Pakistan ...

Pakistan and New Zealand players mourn Hughes's death

The remains of an American soldier who went missing in fighting near the Cambodian border during the Vietnam War have been identified and returned to his family, the US Embassy in Phnom Penh said today.
	US Defense Department scientists were able to uncover the identity of Staff Sergeant James L Van Bendegom using DNA analysis, 47-years after he disappeared when his patrol was overrun, the embassy said.
	At the time of his capture, aged just 19, Van Bendegom was assigned to Company B, 1st Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division.
	His unit came under attack on July 12, 1967 and returning American POWs later stated that the soldier had died in Cambodia from wounds sustained during the battle.
	In 1986 a Vietnamese national in a Thai refugee camp handed over what he claimed to be the remains of a former soldier to US officials.
	"At the time, the information provided by the Vietnamese national did not correlate with any unaccounted-for American service members," a ...

US Vietnam War vet's remains repatriated after 47 years

Indonesia has ordered officials to eat local street food at meetings instead of fancy foreign fare and stop holding lavish parties, the latest moves by the new government to crack down on bureaucratic excess.
	Snacks such as cassava, steamed corn and yam cakes should be served at official gatherings and the number of guests invited to high-ranking bureaucrats' parties should be limited to 400, a minister said.
	President Joko Widodo, who took office last month and is known as a modest figure from a humble background, has made reining in official spending and trimming back the graft-ridden nation's bloated democracy a key goal.
	He has already slashed travel and meeting budgets for next year, and last week sought to lead by example when he flew economy class to Singapore for his son's graduation, winning widespread praise online.
	Announcing the latest moves late yesterday, Yuddy Chrisnandi, minister for bureaucratic reform, ordered officials to "stop anything that is excessive".
	He ..

Indonesian officials ordered to eat street food to trim budget

Planes were flipped and roofs ripped off when hail and powerful winds tore through Australia's east coast, leaving an AUD 100 million damage bill as the army helped clearing up.
	The storm, which officials said was one of the worst seen in the country and the strongest to hit the city of Brisbane in three decades, rained hailstones the size of tennis balls on cars and buildings late yesterday, flooding streets and injuring 39 people.
	Gusts of up to 87 mph, as strong as a Category Two cyclone, also uprooted trees and brought down power lines.
	   In one of the more dramatic scenes, at least four light planes were flipped over at Archerfield Airport,6.8 miles from Brisbane's central business district.
	"It looks like the apocalypse," one resident of an apartment building that had its metal roof wrenched off by the storm and blown more than 100 metres told reporters.
	Queensland state Premier Campbell Newman said it was the "biggest storm that has hit Brisbane since 1985" but was ...

'Supercell storm' batters Australian city

A woman has died and three other people were missing after a heavy storm triggered flash flooding in southeastern France, the government said.
	The woman's body was found next to her car by the side of a river, said Pierre Soubelet, the representative of the Var department on the Mediterranean coast. The woman was understood to have been out with her daughter at the time.
	"Her daughter has not been found. It is likely that the child has died," he said yesterday.
	According to witnesses two more people had fallen into the river, he added.
	Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve gave a toll of "one dead and three people missing" late yesterday.
	In the village of La Londe, in the same area, divers were searching a river after witnesses said a car had been washed away.
	Earlier this month, storms in southern France left six people dead, including a mother and her two small sons whose vehicle was swept away on a submerged bridge.

One dead, three missing in French floods

Gunmen on camels have killed 15 civilians and wounded 10 others in an attack in Sudan's South Darfur, the region's government said in a statement.
	The attack took place in the Hammadeh area 80 kilometres north of the state capital Nyala, the statement carried by official new agency SUNA said Wednesday.
	"We have formed a commission of inquiry into the killing of the citizens in the Hammadeh area," state governor Adam Jar al-Nabi told SUNA.
	One of those wounded who talked to SUNA from the hospital in Nyala said the group had been visiting family in Hammadeh and were returning on Tuesday when the attack took place.
	"Gunmen on camelback attacked us and opened fire on the vehicle, and killed 13 people," the man named as Abdul Karim said.
	Two of the casualties died on Wednesday morning from their wounds, he added.
	The report did not say how many gunmen had attacked the vehicle and gave no indication of their identity.
	The troubled western region of Darfur has been wracked by ...

Gunmen on camels kill 15 in Darfur: local govt

More than 100 people have been killed in several days of fighting between two clans in Sudan's oil-rich West Kordofan region, tribal leaders have said.
	The clashes started on Sunday over a land dispute between two sub-groups of the powerful Misseriya tribe in Al-Quwik area near the border with South Sudan.
	The fighting between the Zioud and the Awlad Amran groups left 133 people dead, the head of the Misseriya, Mokhtar Babo Nimir, told AFP yesterday.
	Babo Nimir did not know how many people had been wounded but said the figure was "high".
	Both sides were using heavy machine guns in the clashes, which were still raging yesterday, a second tribal leader in the area said.
	"Until this evening there are no government troops on the ground to separate the fighters and more than 100 have been killed from both sides," said the leader, whose clan was not involved in the clashes.
	The Misseriya is one of the biggest Arab tribes in Kordofan, and its clans are mostly nomadic cattle ...

Over 100 dead in clashes in Sudan's Kordofan: tribes

The British Library will bring together the four remaining copies of the Magna Carta for the first time in February as Britain celebrates the 800-year anniversary of the famous constitutional charter.
	Two copies of the document seen as a precursor for modern constitutions and human rights laws come from the library's archive and the others are held in Lincoln Cathedral and Salisbury Cathedral.
	The jealously-guarded parchments will only be in the one place for public viewing on a single day, February 3, before the biggest-ever exhibition about the document and its interpretation through the centuries opens at the library in March.
	The library, which will have only its two copies for viewing during the show, will hand out 1,215 tickets by ballot to see the four documents the number picked to evoke the year 1215 when the charter was drawn up.
	The Magna Carta was issued by King John of England to resolve a political crisis with rebel barons by agreeing to curbs on his powers such as ..

Four last copies of Magna Carta united for first time

A United Nations agency declared a state of "emergency" in Gaza City today, after two days of heavy rains and flooding in the war-ravaged Palestinian enclave.
	"Hundreds of residents in the flooded areas around Sheikh Radwan storm water lagoon have evacuated their homes," the UN agency for Palestinian refugees said, referring to a northern district.
	Some 100,000 Palestinians throughout Gaza remain homeless three months after a ceasefire ended a bloody 50-day war between Israel and Hamas militants, with reconstruction yet to begin.
	While no casualties have been reported from the flooding, UNRWA said it was supplying "emergency fuel to municipalities, water, sanitation and health facilities".
	Robert Turner, its director of operations in Gaza,said the agency was "very concerned about such severe storms this early in the season and on the back of unprecedented damage and destruction" from the war.
	Thousands of Gazans were displaced last December after torrential rain hit the coastal ..

UN declares Gaza City emergency for floods

Paris has returned 250 ancient artefacts to Egypt that were illegally imported into the country and seized by French customs officials, the foreign ministry said today.
	Amulets, rings, funerary statues and pitchers, dating from 2000 BC to the Roman, Byzantine and Medieval eras were returned to the Egyptian embassy.
	Foreign ministry spokesman Romain Nadal said the artefacts were from "two batches of archaeological items ... identified by the Louvre museum as authentic."
	French customs seized the items at Paris's main airport Charles de Gaulle in March and November 2010, hidden in the baggage of travellers coming from Cairo.
	Customs authorities said in a statement it was the third time this year that France had returned illegally imported cultural artefacts to foreign authorities.
	In February, President Francois Hollande returned an extremely valuable ancient terracotta statue from Nigeria's Nok civilisation seized by customs in 2012 to authorities in the country.
	And in early ...

France returns 250 antiquities seized by customs to Egypt

The planet's poorest nations like Ethiopia, Malawi and Angola have failed to cash in on strong economic growth due to a lack of structural reforms and left them wallowing in poverty, the UN warned today.
	In its annual report on the world's least developed countries, or LDCs, the UN Conference on Trade and Development said that booming economic growth in the 48 nations on its list was having only minor impacts on living standards and the fight against widespread poverty.
	"The LDC paradox arises from the failure of LDC economies to achieve structural changes despite having grown vigorously as a result of strong export prices and rising aid flows", UNCTAD said.
	The 48 countries, most of them in sub-Saharan Africa, had jointly seen their economies grow 5.6 per cent in 2013, far above the 1.2-per cent growth seen in developed countries.
	Yet nearly half of the population in LDCs continue to live in extreme poverty, almost 30 per cent of people are undernourished and few are in secure ...

Most of world's poorest nations stuck in a structural rut: UN

Gunfire and explosions rocked Kabul today as Taliban militants attacked a central district that houses several embassies and foreign compounds, hours after a suicide bomber targeted a British embassy vehicle, killing six people.
	Attacks across Kabul have increased in recent weeks as US-led NATO forces prepare to wrap up their 13-year combat mission against Taliban insurgents at the end of this year.
	Fears are growing that Afghanistan could tip into a cycle of violence as the NATO military presence declines, with the national security forces already suffering high battlefield casualties.
	Sporadic gunfire and grenade blasts erupted for at least 45 minutes in the Afghan capital's central district today in the evening, though the target was not confirmed and police were unable to give immediate details.
	The attack came hours after a suicide bomber rammed his explosives-packed car into a British embassy vehicle in Kabul, killing one Briton and five Afghans.
	The Taliban used a ...

Blasts, gunfire in Kabul after suicide bomber hits UK embassy

Brazil great Pele, 74, was on Thursday taken into a "special care" unit in a Sao Paulo hospital after his health worsened, three days after being admitted with a urinary infection, the hospital confirmed.
     "Edson Arantes do Nascimento (Pele) remains in hospital. To receive the best care he was transferred in order to be monitored in a special care unit," read a statement released by the Albert Einstein hospital in Sao Paulo.
     Pele underwent surgery for kidney stones on November 13 before being released two days later.
     The unit to which the three-time World Cup winner has been admitted is strictly speaking a step before intensive care and will allow him to be monitored more closely than in a regular ward.
     "The patient has been transferred to a room where he will be more closely monitored, but it is not intensive care, it is an intermediate stage," a hospital spokesman explained to AFP.
     After confirming that he had been taken in on Monday, the hospital had said ...

Pele in 'special care' as condition worsens - hospital

Eight people have died in the west African nation of Benin from an outbreak of Lassa fever, while 170 others have been placed under observation, officials said today.
	Fourteen suspected cases of the virus have been identified, with two confirmed and eight deaths in the small country bordering Nigeria, said a joint statement from the WHO, Benin's health ministry and UNICEF.
	The outbreak has occurred in the north of the country of some nine million people.
	"A total of 170 contacts have been identified in the towns of Tanguieta and Cobly and are under daily monitoring," the statement said.
	According to the WHO, Lassa fever is an acute hemorrhagic illness which belongs to the arenarvirus family of viruses, which also includes the Ebola-like Marburg virus.
	It was first identified in 1969 in the north Nigerian town of the same name.
	The virus, which is endemic in rodents in west Africa, is transmitted to humans by contact with food or household items contaminated with the animals' ...

Eight dead from Lassa fever in Benin, 170 under observation

British detective writer P D James, the creator of the best-selling series featuring poetry-writing sleuth Adam Dalgliesh, died today at the age of 94.
	Faber and Faber, which published James since her first book in 1962, said she died peacefully at home in Oxford, and paid tribute to "one of the world's great writers".
	James sold millions of novels and won numerous international awards for crime writing, drawing on three decades of work in the civil service including in forensics work.
	Fellow authors lined up to pay tribute, with Patricia Cornwell remembering her encouragement and Ian Rankin praising her "sharp intellect" and "ready wit".
	Prime Minister David Cameron said he was saddened to hear of the death of "one of the UK's greatest crime writers, who thrilled and inspired generations of readers".
	Born Phyllis Dorothy James, the author only started writing in her late 30s and published her first novel, "Cover Her Face" at the age of 42.
	The book introduced Scotland Yard ...

British detective writer P D James dies aged 94

Iraqi forces held off a jihadist assault on the government headquarters in the capital of Anbar province, deploying reinforcements in the key battleground against the Islamic State group, officers said today.
	Security forces, backed by tribesmen, managed to defend the complex in Ramadi, which lies 100 kilometres (60 miles) west of the Iraqi capital and is one of the last major urban areas in Anbar under Baghdad's control.
	The attack by IS fighters on Ramadi, as well as clashes in the northern province of Kirkuk, follow gains made elsewhere by government forces battling to recapture ground from the Sunni extremists.
	"We were able to stop the militants from advancing in the government complex," said army Colonel Haytham al-Daraji who was involved in the defence of the area yesterday.
	Four members of the security forces were killed and 21 wounded, according to the officer and a doctor.
	Daraji said that more than 10 air strikes were carried out against the jihadists in Al-Hoz, an ...

Iraqi forces hold off jihadist attack on Ramadi

Andy Murray announced his engagement to longtime girlfriend Kim Sears on Wednesday while also dispensing with two members of his backroom staff in Dani Vallverdu and Jez Green.
     The 2013 Wimbledon champion, who was originally coached by his mother, Judy, has retained Frenchwoman Amelie Mauresmo, herself a former Grand Slam winner, as his head coach, while his engagement to Sears follows their nine years as a couple.
     But two of the men who have played such a big part in Murray's professional life will no longer be involved after he parted company with friend and hitting partner Vallverdu and fitness coach Green.
     Murray's management company, who also announced his engagement, said the coaching split was "mutual", with the 27-year-old Scot adding: "We sat down at the end of the season and decided that a change would be best for all of us.
     "My off-season training and Australian Open preparations have already begun and I am very excited for the new year.
     "I thank ...

Murray on the way to get hitched as coaches get ditched

China's defence ministry said today that it was in talks with Russian counterparts about joint military exercises next year, after Moscow announced drills were planned for the Mediterranean Sea and Pacific Ocean.
	Chinese defence ministry spokesman Geng Yansheng told reporters at a monthly briefing that China and Russia were "conducting consultation" over next year's joint military exercises.
	But after Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu visited Beijing last week, Moscow's defence ministry said in a statement: "New joint naval exercises are planned next spring in the waters of the Mediterranean Sea.
	"Joint exercises are also planned in the Pacific Ocean."
	The prospect of joint exercises by the two military powers in the Mediterranean is likely to raise eyebrows in Europe given what is seen there as increased muscle-flexing by Russia after it annexed Crimea and supported rebels in eastern Ukraine.
	US General Philip Breedlove, NATO's top military commander, said yesterday he was .

China says in talks with Russia over 2015 military drills

The United Nations' Ebola response mission admitted today it was going to miss its target for beating the deadly epidemic in Sierra Leone due to a chronic shortage of hospital beds.
	The UN Mission for Ebola Emergency Response (UNMEER) set a "70-70-60" goal in early October to isolate and treat 70 per cent of suspected Ebola cases in west Africa and safely bury 70 per cent of the dead within 60 days.
	"The 70-70-60 national strategy is unlikely to be met on December 1," Amadu Kamara, UNMEER's crisis manager for Sierra Leone, told a news conference in the capital Freetown.
	"We will not be able to meet the deadline because we've not been active in isolating possible infected cases by taking them to holding and treatment centres.
	"There have been a combination of factors including finding treatment centres and beds for infected people."
	UNMEER chief Anthony Banbury warned in October that Ebola numbers risked rising "dramatically" and overwhelming the response if the target, announced .

Sierra Leone to miss target for beating Ebola: UN

Nigeria's influential ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo has accused the current leader Goodluck Jonathan of misreading the Boko Haram crisis and allowing the threat to escalate to "gargantuan" heights.
	Obasanjo, still a key power broker in the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has launched a series of scathing attacks against Jonathan in recent months and has publicly urged him to not seek re-election -- calls the president has ignored.
	"Initially President Jonathan's understanding of the Boko Haram phenomenon suffered from wrong reading and wrong imputation," Obasanjo said at a book launch event late yesterday.
	"That is what led us to where we are today."
	He described the five-year Islamist uprising as a "gargantuan danger to the nation" and blamed Jonathan for taking "more than three years" to understand the root causes of the conflict, including poverty and unemployment.
	Jonathan has been roundly criticised for his handling of the Boko Haram conflict but the comments from ...

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