Fitch ratings agency has put the EU's 500-billion-euro bailout fund on review for a possible downgrade, triggered by concerns over France's battle to tame a ballooning budget deficit.
	The agency said in a statement that it had placed a "rating watch negative" on the "AAA" score of the European Stability Mechanism -- a USD 650-billon fund set up during the eurozone crisis to bail out troubled countries and their banks.
	The move comes a day after Fitch placed a rating watch negative on France's 'AA+' score.
	A downgrade of France, the eurozone's second-largest economy and a key contributor to the ESM, would call into question the creditworthiness of the bailout fund, Fitch said.
	France is battling through a deep economic crisis, with zero growth in the previous two quarters and sky-high unemployment.
	Paris announced last month that next year's budget deficit -- the shortfall between revenue and spending -- will hit 4.3 per cent of annual economic output, well above the 3.0-per cent .

Fitch places EU rescue fund on rating watch negative over

PTI Automatic

Award-winning US stage and screen actor Neil Patrick Harris will host the next Oscars show, organizers announced.
	The star, who has hosted both Broadway's Tony and TV's Emmy awards shows in the past, will front the 87th Academy Awards on February 22, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said yesterday.
	The high-profile hosting job is a prime gig in Hollywood, at the climax of its annual awards season. Harris will follow Ellen DeGeneres last year and a who's who of showbiz over the decades.
	"It is truly an honor and a thrill to be asked to host this year's Academy Awards," said the star of 2005's "How I Met Your Mother," in an Academy statement.
	"I grew up watching the Oscars and was always in such awe of some of the greats who hosted the show," added Harris, whose latest film "Gone Girl" came out this month in the United States.
	He added: "To be asked to follow in the footsteps of Johnny Carson, Billy Crystal, Ellen DeGeneres and everyone else who had the great fortune 

Neil Patrick Harris to host 2015 Oscars

Iran and the US still aim to strike a mammoth nuclear deal by a November 24 deadline, a US official said after talks involving US Secretary of State John Kerry that yielded no apparent major breakthrough.
	"We have not discussed an extension. We believe in keeping the pressure on ourselves," the senior US State Department official said after six hours of "very intense" discussions in Vienna.
	"If you take the pressure off yourself, then you never have to make hard decisions. Deadlines help people to make hard decisions, and there are hard decisions to be made here. And we must."
	She added: "Everyone has been working incredibly hard... these are incredibly complex negotiations, the detail is extraordinary.
	"Until everything is agreed, nothing is agreed, and you can get 98 per cent of the way, and the last two percent may kill the entire deal."
	It was unclear whether Kerry would resume his talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif today, when Zarif was scheduled to ...

US resists extension of Iran nuclear talks

A pair of American astronauts stepped outside the International Space Station for a spacewalk to do repairs and upkeep at the orbiting outpost, NASA said.
	Reid Wiseman and Barry "Butch" Wilmore finished their spacewalk after six hours and 34 minutes, right on schedule, the US space agency said yesterday.
	Their first task was to replace a suitcase-sized power regulator for a solar array that had failed in May.
	The operation required some careful coordination with the time when the space station passed under Earth's shadow, so that electricity was not being generated by the solar array.
	Then, the astronauts set to their next task of moving equipment to make space for international docking adapters scheduled to be delivered to the complex in 2015.
	These "will configure the station for future commercial crew vehicles and provide an additional berthing port for commercial cargo spacecraft," NASA said.
	They aso replaced an external TV camera that had lost its zoom capability, and ...

US astronauts conduct spacewalk to repair ISS

The United Nations has said police in the Democratic Republic of Congo had killed and abducted dozens of people during a heavy-handed crack down on youth gangs in the capital.
	Operation Likofi (which means "punch" in the local Lingala language) claimed at least 42 victims, including four children, many of whom were shot in their own neighbourhoods or even walking out of their homes, the UN's human rights office in Kinshasa said.
	The report said at least nine people had been summarily executed and 32 were forcefully "disappeared," but warned the number could be far higher as many witnesses and relatives of victims refused to speak out for fear of retaliation.
	"Most of the executions were carried out by shooting, strangling, or hanging," and many of the bodies were then dumped in the river or buried in mass graves, said the report.
	The UN said a high-ranking officer in Kinshasa had overseen the killings and several other police had carried out the orders, which happened during a ...

UN says dozens killed, missing in DR Congo gang raids

Two airmen died when their small military plane crashed while rehearsing stunts for the anniversary of the Bolivian air force, a local television station said.
	The Bolivia-made Tiluchi FAB-542 crashed in a Santa Cruz aerodrome during a landing maneuver, the ATB television network said yesterday, which showed images of the wreckage.
	Authorities did not immediately say what caused the crash, but witnesses said it was possible the plane's engine failed.
	Military police officials said the two victims -- a colonel and a lieutenant -- were killed instantly.

Two killed in Bolivian military plane crash

The Ebola epidemic is "the most serious international public health emergency in recent years," British, US, French, German and Italian leaders agreed in a conference call today.
	A 75-minute video conference call between British Prime Minister David Cameron, French President Francois Hollande, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and US President Barack Obama focused on cooperation to fight the outbreak, a spokesman for Cameron said.
	"Leaders agreed that this was the most serious international public health emergency in recent years and that the international community needed to do much more and faster to halt the rise of the disease in the region," the prime minister's office said in a statement.
	"Each leader set out what they are doing to help the countries affected and then discussions focused on how to improve coordination of the international effort."
	Cameron proposed that plans to tackle the disease could be decided at a Friday summit in Milan 

Ebola 'most serious' health emergency in years: leaders

Oil-rich Kuwait tripled the prices of diesel and kerosene today, ending decades of heavy subsidies, while putting off a similar decision on electricity and water charges.
	Planning Minister Hind al-Sabeeh said a joint meeting of the cabinet and higher planning council decided to hike the prices of diesel and kerosene to 170 fils (59 cents) a litre from 55 fils (19 cents).
	Very few consumers in Kuwait use diesel or kerosene and instead prefer petrol whose price of about 22 cents a litre has been kept unchanged.
	Sabeeh, who was cited by the official KUNA news agency, said the meeting also ended subsidies on aviation fuel for foreign carriers that make fewer than 5,000 flights a year into Kuwait.
	The cabinet decided in May to end subsidies on diesel in principle and ordered a committee to study the impact of the move on consumers before its implementation.
	Sabeeh said that at the latest meeting charges were also reviewed for heavily-subsidised electricity and water, but that further .

Kuwait triples diesel, kerosene prices

The UN Security Council called today on the international community to "accelerate and dramatically expand" aid to combat the spread of Ebola.
	In a unanimously adopted statement, the 15-member body warned that the world's response "has failed to date to adequately address the magnitude of the outbreak and its effects."
	The council urged all member states and multilateral organizations to "accelerate and dramatically expand the provision of resources and financial and material assistance."
	It called for mobile laboratories, field hospitals, trained clinical personnel, therapies, vaccines and diagnostics, and protective gear.
	At the same time, it urged states as well as airlines and shipping companies to keep open trade and travel links with the West African countries most affected by the outbreak.
	"They expressed their continued concern about the detrimental effect of the isolation of the affected countries as a result of trade and travel restrictions imposed on and to the ...

UN Council: World must 'dramatically expand' Ebola fight

US-led airstrikes have killed "several hundred" jihadist fighters in and around Kobane, but the Islamic State group could still seize the besieged strategic Syrian town, the Pentagon said today.
	"We believe that we have killed several hundred ISIL fighters in and around Kobane," Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters, adding that the majority of the town's population has fled as jihadists continued to pour into the region in an attempt to take the town.
	"Kobane could still fall, it could very well still fall," Kirby added.
	"ISIL has made no secret of the fact that they want that town... And so they have continued to flow fighters to Kobane."
	The battle for the northern Syrian town -- known as Ain al-Arab in Arabic -- enters its second month on Thursday. Kirby said only "hundreds or so" civilians remain.
	"Certainly if Kobane falls to ISIL that's a setback, there's no question about that," Kirby said, but he stressed that the strategy for Operation Inherent Resolve, the new ..

Pentagon: 'Several hundred' IS fighters killed in Kobane

Four UN peacekeepers in the Central African Republic were wounded today in an ambush in the capital Bangui, the United Nations said.
	Deputy UN spokesman Farhan Haq said Christian "anti-balaka" militias ambushed the UN police patrol in the northwestern part of the city near the airport.
	"The peacekeepers returned fire and four were wounded, three by grenade and one by gunfire," he said. "They are currently receiving medical care."
	The nationalities of the wounded peacekeepers were not immediately known.
	Bangui has been hit in recent days by a wave of deadly violence pitting Christians and Muslims that has left 15 dead, including a Pakistani soldier in the UN mission MINUSCA.
	Armed men claiming to be members of the Christian anti-balaka militias set up barricades.

Four UN peacekeepers wounded in C Africa ambush

A strong 5.6 earthquake rocked two cities in western Iran today, injuring at least 16 people but causing only minor damage to homes, US and Iranian sources said.
	The quake occurred just after 5:00 pm (1330 GMT), with the epicentre 51 kilometres (32 miles) east of Dehloran in Ilam province, close to the border with Iraq, according to the US Geological Survey.
	It hit at the relatively shallow depth of 10 kilometres.
	The Iranian Red Crescent Society gave the injured toll, saying the cities of Dehloran and Abdanan, and a total population area of 65,000, were affected.
	"No deaths are reported," it said in an initial statement, classifying damage to houses and residential areas as minor.
	   But the statement said that, due to cold weather, Abdanan's governor had issued an appeal for tents for families whose homes had been damaged.

Western Iran quake injures 16

Hong Kong's justice chief insisted today that any prosecution of plainclothes officers who were filmed beating a handcuffed protester would be handled impartially, as fresh clashes broke out on the city's streets.
	The accused officers were removed from their posts after the assault, which occurred early Wednesday when police swooped to clear newly erected barricades blocking a road near government headquarters in the city's Admiralty district.
	Just 24 hours later a small contingent attempted to retake an underpass on the same road, leading to a confrontation that saw protesters pepper-sprayed and police heckled with chants accusing them of links with criminal triad gangs.
	Crowds intermittently numbering in the tens of thousands have blocked main roads in three districts of the semi-autonomous Chinese city since September 28, protesting at what they call "fake democracy" offered by Beijing.
	They are angered at China's insistence that it vet candidates standing for election as the ..

HK legal chief says govt 'impartial' on police brutality

Fracking technology has driven a boom in natural gas that many hope will prompt a switch away from coal use and put the brakes on the rise in Earth-warming carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.
	But a study today said market forces will undo many of the potential benefits from this burgeoning energy source.
	Ever-cheaper prices will prompt higher energy consumption and CO2 emissions, and discourage investment in lower-emitting alternatives like nuclear, wind and solar, it said.
	"The upshot is that abundant natural gas alone will not rescue us from climate change," said Haewon McJeon of the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, a US government energy research body.
	Advances in hydraulic fracturing -- pumping liquids into stone to break it up and release the gas within -- and horizontal drilling, have unlocked plentiful natural gas supplies, mainly in the United States to date.
	"Global deployment of advanced natural gas production technology could double or triple the global natural gas ..

Natural gas no miracle cure for climate change: study

Polish security services have detained a high ranking officer on suspicion of spying for a foreign country, the Polish defence ministry said today, with media reporting the country in question was Russia.
	"The national defence ministry detained a Polish army officer today (Wednesday) on suspicion of being a member of a foreign intelligence service based on evidence collected by the army counterintelligence service," a defence ministry statement said.
	The Polish PAP news agency and the website of commercial broadcaster TVN24 reported the suspect was taken into custody by Poland's internal security agency ABW.
	"It's a rather important person, with wide-ranging contacts," PAP reported.
	A military prosecutor quoted by TVN said the ABW agents had made the arrest inside a defence ministry building.
	The commercial Radio Zet reported two men had been taken into custody: a Polish army colonel and a lawyer with dual Polish-Russian citizenship.
	Poland -- an ex-communist state of 38 million 

Senior Polish officer suspected of spying for Russia: reports

Malala Yousafzai may have won the Nobel Peace Prize, but she remains an object of hate for many Pakistanis who view her as a Western agent on a mission to shame her country.
	Shot in the head by Taliban insurgents two years ago after she spoke out against them for opposing girls' education, it comes as little surprise that hardline Islamists continue to revile the 17-year-old.
	More difficult for her supporters to comprehend is the outpouring of invective from Pakistan's middle classes, who may be keen to educate their daughters but who object to airing the country's problems abroad.
	"#MalalaYousafzai should b awarded Oscar Award instead of Nobel Prize," tweeted user Adnan Karim Rana, a common refrain among detractors who believe her shooting, hospitalisation and coma were all staged as part of a conspiracy that involved Britain where she now lives.
	Inquilab Khan, a 45-year-old pharmacy owner in Peshawar -- the main city in the Islamist insurgency-racked northwest -- said he did not 

Despite Nobel win, Pakistan's Malala hated by many at home

Oscar Pistorius "ruined our whole family" when he killed Reeva Steenkamp, a South African court heard today, as prosecutors turned the spotlight firmly back on the victim in a last-ditch attempt to secure a prison sentence for the Paralympic athlete.
	After six months of evidence centred on Pistorius and last year's Valentine's Day shooting, Steenkamp's family had their day in court, painting a picture of a thoughtful, caring young woman whose death felt like "the end of the world."
	Acting as a witness for the prosecution, Steenkamp's cousin Kim Martin gave heartfelt evidence about the slain model's journey from "fun-loving child" to victim of a tragedy that "ruined our whole family".
	With the clock ticking down to Pistorius's judgement day, Gerrie Nel and his legal team are battling to scupper arguments that the double-amputee athlete should only carry out community service for shooting dead his girlfriend after he said he mistook her for an intruder.
	Pistorius, 27, was found ...

Reeva Steenkamp's death 'ruined family', court hears

Harry Potter author JK Rowling is working on three new wizard-based movies to be released starting in 2016, studio giant Warner Bros announced Wednesday.
	The first, "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them," will be directed by David Yates, who directed the last four "Harry Potter" movies, and reunite the same filmmaking team.
	It is described as "set in an extension of her familiar wizarding world, featuring magical creatures and characters inspired by Harry Potter's Hogwarts textbook and its fictitious author."
	A second movie is set for release in 2018 and a third in 2020, the studio said. The first movie was announced last month.
	Rowling, who has sold more than 450 million copies of the Harry Potter books, announced in September that Warner Bros had approached her about doing "Fantastic Beasts."
	"I thought it was a fun idea, but the idea of seeing Newt Scamander, the supposed author of 'Fantastic Beasts,' realized by another writer was difficult.
	"Having lived for so long in ..

Three new JK Rowling wizard movies due from 2016

Islamic State jihadists have scored important advances in Iraq despite a sustained US-led air campaign, Washington's envoy to the coalition fighting the group said today.
	It was clear the IS group "has made substantial gains in Iraq" and that it would take time to build up local forces that could defeat them in Syria and Iraq, John Allen, a retired four-star US general, told reporters.
	Although Iraqi government and Kurdish forces had succeeded in halting or pushing back the IS militants in some key battles including around Mosul dam,  the group had "tactical momentum" in other areas, Allen said.
	He acknowledged the United States and its allies were concerned with the situation in Iraq, where IS extremists had seized much of the western Anbar province.
	"The emergency in Iraq right now in Iraq is foremost in our thinking," he said.
	Speaking after a tour of the Middle East in which Allen spoke to coalition partners and Iraqi leaders, Allen emphasized that military power alone would .

IS group has made 'substantial gains' in Iraq: US

Liberian doctors and nurses at the frontline of the Ebola epidemic returned to work today after a two-day strike demanding hazard pay in the country hardest hit by the crisis.
	"We are back on job. Our leaders told us to do so and we have resumed full service until otherwise ordered," said Alphonso Wesseh, a spokesman for staff at the Island Clinic in the capital Monrovia.
	"We wanted people to know that we are not paid the way we should be and this has to change," he said. "We have problems with our families because our wives and children think we are taking too much risk."
	Residents hailed their return.
	"Thank you Lord... To have put reason in the health workers. I ask you to bless and guide them in their work," said 32-year-old Famanta Yassa, whose daughter is being treated for Ebola.
	"You cannot blame the health workers. It is true that they took an oath to save lives but they are taking too many risks. They are making sacrifices because they are not properly paid," she ...

Liberian Ebola medics go back to work after strike

A New Yorker who was in prison for 29 years for a murder was exonerated when a judge determined that his conviction was based on a false confession.
	David McCallum was 16 years old when he and Willie Stuckey were arrested in 1985 for the October 20 kidnapping and murder of 20-year-old Nathan Blenner in Queens.
	Blenner's body was found one day later in a rough area of Brooklyn.
	The two teens were arrested shortly after the discovery of the body, and confessed to the crime. They were convicted the following year and sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.
	"After examining all of the facts and circumstances of the case against McCallum and Stuckey -- the verdict against whom was based entirely on their confessions -- the convictions cannot be sustained," Brooklyn district attorney Ken Thompson said in a statement yesterday.
	Thompson has asked a court to vacate the sentences and free McCallum. A judge was expected to rule later in the day.
	Stuckey died years ago in prison.
	Since ..

AFP

AFP

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