An Afghan official says the Taliban  have shot and killed three people in western Farah province.  Mohammad Naser Mehri, spokesman for the provincial governor,  says the attack unfolded when a group of Taliban fighters  stopped a bus travelling in the Bala Buluk district today.
The Taliban searched the bus and spotted three members of  the Afghan security forces. The insurgents then seized the  three, took them of the bus and killed them, leaving their  bodies by the road.
Mheri says the authorities have deployed security forces  to patrol the highway around the clock for the safety of  travelers.
The Taliban have so far not claimed responsibility for  the attack or made any statements about it.

Afghan official: Taliban kill 3 people in country's west

PTI Automatic

A US grand jury has  charged a Utah man with threatening to kill President Donald  Trump during his visit last month to announce changes to two  national monuments.
An indictment released yesterday by the US attorney's  office in Utah alleges that 33-year-old Travis Luke Dominguez  submitted messages to a police tip line threatening to kill  the president and to harm police officers if they tried to  intervene.
The charges say Dominguez also threatened to carry out a  mass shooting or use explosives at a movie theatre.
US attorney's spokeswoman Melodie Rydalch says in a  statement that Dominguez was arrested after he was seen near  the theatre.
No attorney was available for Dominguez, and a message  left at a phone number publicly listed for him was not  immediately returned.

Charges: Utah man threatened to kill Trump, attack theatre

President Donald Trump's former  campaign chairman sued special counsel Robert Mueller and the  Justice Department, saying prosecutors had overstepped their  bounds by charging him for conduct that he says is unrelated  to Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
The lawsuit by Paul Manafort, filed in federal court  here, is the most direct challenge to date to Mueller's legal  authority and the scope of his mandate as special counsel.
It comes amid Republican allegations of partisan bias  among members of Mueller's team, which for months has been  investigating whether the Trump campaign coordinated with  Russia to influence the outcome of the US election.
The lawsuit also takes aim at Deputy Attorney General Rod  Rosenstein, who is overseeing Mueller's investigation and  recently said he was satisfied that the former FBI director  was staying within the scope of his authority.
Manafort was indicted in October on charges, including  money-laundering conspiracy, related 

Manafort sues Mueller, Justice Department over Russia probe

Former heavyweight champion  Mike Tyson is becoming a California marijuana entrepreneur.
TheBlast.com reports that Tyson and partners on December  20 broke ground on a plot for a cannabis resort in California  City, a remote Mojave Desert town that's about a 177-kilometre  drive north of Los Angeles.
Partner Robert Hickman tells the website that the  undeveloped lands are primed to be cultivated and that Tyson  Ranch will be an oasis.
In a video of the event, California City Mayor Jennifer  Wood thanks Tyson for his commitment to the community, saying  the industry will provide medical marijuana to people in need,  revenue, jobs and income for residents.
Calls and emails from The Associated Press to a Tyson  representative and the mayor were not immediately returned.

Mike Tyson breaks ground on California marijuana ranch

Three cars on an Amtrak train  carrying more than 300 people from Miami to New York derailed  in snowy Savannah, Georgia, in the aftermath of a brutal  winter storm but no injuries were reported, authorities said  early today.
Amtrak spokesman Jason Abrams said the Silver Meteor  train No 98 was backing slowly into the Savannah station about  10 pm yesterday, hours after the storm clobbered the Southeast  coast, when two sleeper cars and a baggage car derailed.
"All three cars, a baggage car and two sleeper cars, are  fully upright," Abrams said in an email early today to The  Associated Press.
He said there were 311 passengers on board, in addition  to crew, but he had no reports of anyone hurt.
Abrams' statement said the main train was to continue its  journey north though some of the sleeping car passengers had  to be put aboard a different train.
He didn't say what caused the three-car derailment, and  the statement also gave no immediate indication whether the  fierce storm that .

3 cars on Amtrak train with 311 passengers derail, none hurt

An activist promoting the Tibetan  language stood trial today in western China for inciting  separatism after he appeared in a documentary video produced  by The New York Times, highlighting the risks that Chinese  citizens often face when speaking to the foreign media on  sensitive issues.
Tashi Wangchuk's lawyer Liang Xiaojun told The Associated  Press that a judge in Qinghai province heard oral arguments  for four hours and will issue a verdict at an unspecified  date.
Tashi, 32, has pleaded not guilty. If convicted, he could  face a prison term of five years or as many as 15 years, Liang  said.
Liang says prosecutors presented evidence focused on a  nine-minute video the Times made in 2015 that told of how  Tashi tried to sue local officials for denying Tibetans  language and culture education. The Times' website is blocked  in China.
Tashi was detained in January 2016, two months after The  Times published its video and accompanying article. Liang said  Tashi, who has been in ...

China tries Tibetan language advocate featured in NY Times

Turkey's state-run news agency says  warrants have been issued for the detention of 70 military  officers suspected of links to a network led by US-based  cleric Fethullah Gulen.
Anadolu Agency said prosecutors in the central Turkish  province of Konya issued warrants against 58 officers still on  active duty as well as 12 officers who were previously sacked  from the armed forces.
Police operations to detain the suspects were underway in  27 provinces, the agency reported.
Turkey accuses Gulen of masterminding a military coup  attempt in July 2016. Gulen denies the accusation.
Turkey declared a state of emergency and launched a  massive crackdown after the coup, resulting in some 50,000  arrests and the dismissal of more than 110,000 people from  state jobs, including the military.

Turkey seeks to detain 70 officers suspected of coup links

Rescuers finished pulling 51 bodies from  the wreckage of a bus that tumbled over a cliff in Peru in one  of the deadliest vehicle accidents in the nation's history,  authorities have said.
Nearly everyone on board was killed Tuesday after the  passenger bus collided with a tractor trailer on a narrow  stretch of highway known as the "Devil's Curve."
Firefighters and police worked for more than 24 hours to  recover the remains, tying bodies onto stretchers and pulling  them up the cliff with ropes. The bus landed on a rocky,  isolated beach north of Lima with no road access.
Six survivors were taken to hospitals, including one man  who told doctors he escaped harm by jumping out of a window  moments before the bus fell into the abyss.
"The patient is totally stable with just some cuts and a  fracture to his arm," Dr Victor Viru, director of the Chancay  Hospital, told a local television station yesterday.
The crash's death toll is equal to that of a 2013  accident that is the ...

Death toll rises to 51 from bus plunging over cliff in Peru

West Indies cricket coach Stuart  Law has defended out-of-form batsman Chris Gayle, saying  critics who suggest his international career may be over  "write him off at your peril."
The 38-year-old Gayle scored only 38 runs in four innings  on the West Indies' disastrous tour to New Zealand which ended  yesterday with a 119-run loss in the third Twenty20  international.
The tourists lost the two-match Test series 2-0, the  three-match one-day series 3-0 and the Twenty20 2-0 with one  match washed out.
Gayle looked largely disinterested, missing one of the  one-day matches with a reported virus. He was out for a duck  in his latest innings on Wednesday, throwing up his gloves to  defend himself against a relatively innocuous short-pitched  ball from Tim Southee.
Gayle came to New Zealand immediately after scoring 146  from 69 balls for the Rangpur Riders in the final of the  Bangladesh Premier League, after which he proclaimed himself  the best T20 batsman in world cricket.
His ...

Stuart Law says Chris Gayle still has much to offer Windies

Iran today charged that the US  "has crossed every limit" in international relations by  expressing support for Iran's anti-government protesters and  said President Donald Trump's "absurd tweets" have encouraged  disruption.
In a letter to UN officials, Iranian Ambassador Gholamali  Khoshroo complained that Washington was intervening "in a  grotesque way in Iran's internal affairs."
He said Trump and Vice President Mike Pence were  personally stirring up trouble.
"The President and Vice-President of the United States,  in their numerous absurd tweets, incited Iranians to engage in  disruptive acts," the ambassador wrote to the UN Security  Council president and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
The US didn't immediately respond to the letter, which  maintains that Washington "has crossed every limit in flouting  rules and principles of international law governing the  civilized conduct of international relations."
At least 21 people have been killed and hundreds arrested  in ...

Iran says Trump's 'absurd tweets' have incited disruption

Thieves today stole precious Indian  jewels from the famed Al Thani Collection that were on show in  a Venetian palace, making off with a brooch and a pair of  earrings by mixing in with the crowd on the final day of the  exhibition, police said.
The stolen jewels were considered to be of lesser value  than some of the highlights of the Al Thani Collection, which  includes gems dating from the time of the Mughal Empire.
But police said they were made of gold, platinum and  diamonds and news reports estimated their value in the  millions of euros.
Venice police said the security alarm went off at around  10 AM at Venice's Doge's Palace and police immediately sealed  the area. But by then, the thieves had already made their  escape from the museum, known as the Palazzo Ducale and one of  Venice's top tourist destinations on the edge of St Mark's  Square.
Venice police chief Vito Gagliardi told the ANSA news  agency the thieves managed to delay the triggering of the  alarm system, ...

Thieves steal famed Indian jewels from Venice exhibit

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un  reopened a key cross-border communication channel with South  Korea for the first time in nearly two years today as the  rivals explored the possibility of sitting down and talking  after months of acrimony and fears of war.
The sudden signs of easing hostilities, however, came as  President Donald Trump threatened Kim with nuclear war in  response to his threat earlier this week.
In his New Year's address Monday, Kim said he was willing  to send a delegation to next month's Winter Olympics in South  Korea.
But he also said he has a "nuclear button" on his desk  and that all US territory is within striking distance of his  nuclear weapons, comments Trump latched onto Tuesday when he  boasted of a bigger and more powerful "nuclear button" than  Kim's.
The two leaders exchanged crude insults last year, as the  North received new UN sanctions over its sixth and most  powerful nuclear test explosion and a series of  intercontinental ballistic missile ...

N Korea reopens cross-border communications with S Korea

Irish police are investigating the  fatal stabbing of one person and the injuring of at least two  others.
Detectives say terrorism is one line of inquiry.
Irish media report that the stabbing victim is a Japanese  man who was attacked on the street and stabbed in the back  today in Dundalk, located just south of the border with  Northern Ireland. He died at the scene.
The reports say the other injuries took place in other  parts of Dundalk and involved people being attacked with an  iron bar.
Police say one man has been arrested and detained at the  Dundalk Police Station in the Republic of Ireland. Witnesses  are being sought and three sites are being examined for  evidence.
Police said today the extent of the injuries has not been  determined.

1 detained as Irish police probe fatal stabbing attack

A violent storm packing winds up to  160 kph battered parts of western Europe today, derailing  trains, toppling trees and halting flights.
Authorities said one person was killed and at least 15  others were injured in France and Switzerland.
The high winds played havoc on transport, derailing  trains in Switzerland and Germany and leaving hundreds of  thousands of homes across France, Switzerland, Britain and  Ireland without power.
Officials said one skier was killed in the French Alps  after being hit by a falling tree in Morillon in Haute-Savoie.
Several people were injured when a train was blown off  the tracks near Lenk, a town south of Bern, the Swiss capital,  local media reported.
In western Germany, a train derailed near Luenen when it  crashed into a tree that had fallen onto the tracks, according  to the dpa news agency. No injuries were reported.
The storm forced the cancellation of flights at Zurich  and Basel airports and toppled a truck on a Swiss highway.
Thousands of 

Severe storm batters western Europe; 1 dead, 15 injured

Police say they have detained a 46-  year-old woman after they found two dead babies in her  apartment in a village in eastern Germany.
They said in a statement today the two infants died  "quite a while ago," and that criminal acts could not be ruled  out.
Police said they were tipped off Tuesday night about one  dead baby, but when they searched the apartment in Benndorf in  the state of Saxony-Anhalt, they found another dead infant.
The bodies will undergo an autopsy to determine the cause  of their deaths.
Police declined to say where they found the bodies, but  several local media reported that the babies were inside a  freezer and that an ex-partner of the woman tipped off police  about the gruesome find.

German police detain woman who had 2 dead babies at home

British police have arrested five men  and one woman on suspicion of belonging to a banned far-right  extremist group.
West Midlands Police said the six suspects aged between  21 and 37 were arrested today under the Terrorism Act.
They are accused of belonging to National Action, which  was banned in 2016. At the time it was the first far-right  extremist group outlawed in Britain.
Police are searching several properties in relation to  the arrests.
The six suspects have not been charged or identified.  They are being questioned by counter-terrorism police.
Police say the arrests were pre-planned and there is no  threat to public safety.

6 arrested in UK for suspected ties to right-wing extremists

Officials say extreme seasonal  pressure on Britain's hospital system means many non-urgent  procedures must be put off for weeks.
National Health Service England officials are telling  hospitals to delay some procedures to free up staff and beds  to deal with emergency patients.
The restrictions are set to last until at least the end  of January and are predicted to affect around 55,000  operations.
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt today apologised for the  problems.
"It is absolutely not what I want," he told Sky News. He  said there is no question the hospitals are facing real  pressures at the moment.
NHS England director Bruce Keogh says the pressures may  increase because of "early signs" of spreading flu.
Many hospitals are operating at or near full capacity,  with reports of long waits for treatment in emergency rooms.

Badly strained UK hospitals to delay non-urgent procedures

In a surprise move, Ethiopia's  leader today announced plans to drop charges against political  prisoners and close a notorious prison camp in what he called  an effort to "widen the democratic space for all."
This is the first time the government has acknowledged  holding political prisoners.
Prime Minster Hailemariam Desalegn's comments came after  anti-government protests engulfed much of the restive Oromia  and Amhara regions in recent months, bringing many businesses,  universities and transport networks to a standstill.
The sometimes deadly protests, the most serious since the  current government came to power in 1991, spread into other  parts of the East African country, leading to a months-long  state of emergency that has since been lifted.
"Political prisoners that are facing prosecutions and are  already under arrest will be released," Hailemariam said. "And  the notorious prison cell that was traditionally called  Maekelawi will be closed down and turned into a museum."
It 

Ethiopia to release all political prisoners, close camp

Saudi Arabia's ambassador to Lebanon  has assumed office after presenting his credentials to the  president, ending a diplomatic tussle between the two  countries.
Ambassador Walid al-Yaacoubi and his Lebanese counterpart  in Saudi Arabia were caught in an apparent dispute over  representation, with each country delaying accreditation of  the other's diplomat, though both were named months ago.
The delay highlighted lingering tensions between Saudi  Arabia and Lebanon following the bizarre, now-reversed  resignation of Prime Minister Saad Hariri from Riyadh.
The resignation at the time was widely perceived as  Saudi-orchestrated.
Al-Yaacoubi presented his credentials to President Michel  Aoun today, after Lebanese Ambassador Fawzi Kabbara, a member  of Hariri's political party, was approved in Riyadh.
He had been named to the post in July but remained  unaccredited in Saudi Arabia.

Saudi diplomat approved in Lebanon, ending diplomatic tussle

The US military says it has carried  out a drone strike in Somalia that killed two al-Shabab  extremists and destroyed a vehicle carrying explosives,  "preventing it from being used against the people in  Mogadishu."
The US Africa Command statement says the airstrike  occurred early yesterday about 50 kilometres west of the  capital.
It says no civilians were killed.
Mogadishu is frequently targeted by the al-Qaida-linked  al-Shabab. The extremist group was blamed for the October  truck bombing that killed 512 people in the capital.
The US military carried out more than 30 drone strikes  last year against al-Shabab and fighters linked to the Islamic  State group after the Trump administration approved expanded  operations in the Horn of Africa nation.
This is the first drone strike this year in Somalia.

US airstrike in Somalia destroys vehicle carrying explosives

Israel's internal security agency  says it has busted an Iranian espionage ring operating in the  West Bank and arrested its Palestinian leader.
The Shin Bet said in a statement today that 29-year-old  Mohammed Maharmeh of Hebron is suspected of being enlisted by  a relative in South Africa and working as an Iranian  operative.
Maharmeh was allegedly tasked with enlisting suicide  bombers and gunmen for attacks against Israelis.
The Shin Bet says Maharmeh received USD 8,000 from Iran  for his activity.
Israel has long accused Iran of funding Palestinian  militant groups responsible for attacks against Israel, such  as Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
The Shin Bet's announcement came shortly after the  Israeli military said that Islamic Jihad was believed  responsible for firing Iranian-made mortars at Israel from the  Gaza Strip last week.

AP

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