President Donald Trump has called  the wife of John McCain as the Arizona senator is hospitalised  for cancer treatments.
The White House said Trump called Cindy McCain yesterday  to send his best wishes and check on her and her husband.
John McCain was admitted this week to Walter Reed Medical  Center due to side effects from his cancer treatment.
The Republican was diagnosed earlier this year with  glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer.
McCain has frequently been a thorn in Trump's side and  cast the deciding vote that scuttled Republican efforts to  overturn the Affordable Care Act earlier this year.
McCain's office has said he should be able to return to  the Senate soon to vote on the GOP tax cut package.

Trump calls wife of hospitalised Sen John McCain

PTI Automatic

Egypt reopened today  an ancient library which holds thousands of centuries-old  religious and historical manuscripts at the famed St Catherine  Monastery, a UNESCO World Heritage site, in South Sinai.
The inauguration ceremony was attended by Egyptian and  western officials.
It comes after three years of restoration work on the  eastern side of the library that houses the world's second  largest collection of early codices and manuscripts,  outnumbered only by the Vatican Library, according to Monk  Damyanos, the monastery's archbishop.
"The library is now open to the public and scholars,"  said Tony Kazamias, an adviser to the archbishop, adding that  restoration work is still underway without specifying a  completion date.
The ancient library holds around 3,300 manuscripts of  mainly Christian texts in Greek, Arabic, Syriac, Georgian, and  Slavonic among other languages. It also contains thousands of  books and scrolls dating to the 4th century.
At least 160 of the manuscripts ...

Egypt reopens ancient library in Sinai after renovations

A Nigerian military official  says four abducted Chinese nationals have been rescued after a  gun battle with sea pirates.
Army spokesman Maj. Ojo Adelegan says the four  expatriates were kidnapped yesterday while travelling from  Lagos to Ondo state in the south.
He says the military received a distress call and  captured one of the kidnappers. He says some of the Chinese  nationals were wounded and all are receiving treatment.
The military declines to give names or other details.
China's embassy has not yet commented.
Kidnapping for ransom is common in Nigeria but generally  involves no fatalities. Hostages are returned unharmed once  money exchanges hands, though a German construction worker was  killed in southwestern Nigeria in 2015.

Nigeria military rescues 4 Chinese nationals from pirates

The Australian government today won  a crucial by-election that restores its tenuous grip on power  that was threatened by a constitutional ban on dual citizens  sitting in Parliament.
The conservative Liberal Party candidate John Alexander  regained his Sydney electorate, defeating Kristina Keneally,  the Las Vegas-born candidate for the center-left Labor Party  who was once leader of the New South Wales state government.
Alexander had been forced to quit over a constitutional  ban of dual citizens sitting in Parliament. The former  champion tennis player was able to re-contest the electorate  he had held since 2010 because he renounced the citizenship he  inherited from his British-born father.
The by-election returns Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's  government to the single-seat majority it held in October when  the High Court created a constitutional crisis by ruling that  five lawmakers were ineligible to sit in Parliament.
They included Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce, who 

Australian government restores grip on power in by-election

Military authorities say  Nigerian soldiers have arrested more than 400 people  associated with the Boko Haram extremist group hiding on the  islands of Lake Chad, including fighters, wives and children.
Col. Onyema Nwachukwu says the two-week operation netted  the largest number of arrests of Boko Haram fighters in recent  months in northeast Nigeria.
It included air and ground offensives targeting  insurgents' locations.
Nwachukwu says the military arrested 167 Boko Haram  fighters, 67 women and 173 children who were family members of  the insurgents.
The women and children will be handed over to authorities  of displacement camps after investigations.
Nwachukwu says another 57 insurgents were arrested during  a separate operation in another part of the troubled region.  Boko Haram has been blamed for more than 20,000 deaths during  its eight-year insurgency.

Nigeria troops arrest 400-plus Boko Haram fighters, families

President Donald Trump's  administration is blocking two pregnant teens in the country  illegally and being held in federal custody from obtaining  abortions, the American Civil Liberties Union has said, a  repeat of the situation that led to a high-profile court fight  earlier this year.
Both girls arrived in the country as unaccompanied minors  and are being held in federal shelters, the ACLU said  yesterday, though it didn't say where.
The ACLU earlier this year represented a pregnant teen in  the same circumstances in Texas, helping her obtain an  abortion following a lawsuit.
Yesterday, the ACLU filed court papers updating the  lawsuit filed in that earlier case to include the two  additional teens, saying the facts of their cases are similar.
The ACLU is asking a federal judge to order the  government not to interfere with or obstruct the girls' access  to abortions.
"Both minors have asked their respective doctors and  their shelters for an abortion, but to date," the ...

Lawsuit: 2 immigrant teens in US custody can't get abortions

It began with sweets and pocket  money when he was 10 years old special attention from the  religious cleric who ran the Pakistani madrassa, or Islamic  school, the boy attended.
And it escalated to rape and months of sexual abuse, the  now 28-year-old young man says.
"I feel rage now when I think after he raped me he took a  bath and right away he left to lead the prayers," the man, an  economist who lives in Islamabad, told The Associated Press.
"After that I came to know from three or four of my  classmates that the mufti used to do the same with them."
Speaking English, at times searching for the right words  and at others apologising for the explicitness of his  conversation, he described the cleric's advances: how he took  him to another mosque that was not associated with the  madrassa the boy attended and then raped him.
He said he suppressed memories of the abuse for years,  but after reading an AP report last month revealing widespread  abuse by clerics in Pakistan's ...

Fear, shame preserve silence of abuse by clerics in Pakistan

Britain and China pledged today to  promote London as a center for offshore use of Beijing's  currency and cooperate in clean energy research and promoting  trade as the UK prepares to leave the European Union.
Officials announced the agreements following an economic  dialogue led by Britain's finance minister, Philip Hammond,  and a senior Chinese economic official, Vice Premier Ma Kai.  The event was attended by a delegation of British business  leaders and economic officials.
British leaders are looking to China for trade and  investment as they try to fashion a new global role and offset  reduced access to the other 27 nations of the European common  market.
The two sides agreed to promote international use of  China's tightly controlled yuan and develop yuan-based  business in London. That could help to shore up the British  capital's status as a global financial center outside the EU.
"The two sides will discuss future trade arrangements and  push for the conclusion of a ...

China, Britain pledge cooperation as UK leaves EU

Nine more women accused a  prominent US appeals court judge of subjecting them to  inappropriate sexual conduct or comments.
The latest allegations against Judge Alex Kozinski of the  9th US Circuit Court of Appeals go back decades and include  women who met him at events, according to the Washington Post.  The accusations include inappropriate touching and lewd  comments.
Leah Litman, a law professor at the University of  California, Irvine, told the Post that the judge talked about  having just had sex and pinched her side and leg at a  restaurant the night before they appeared together on a panel  at her school in July.
Christine Miller, a retired US Court of Federal Claims  judge, said Kozinski grabbed her breasts during a car ride in  1986 after a legal community function in the Baltimore area.  She said it came after she declined his offer to go to a motel  and have sex.
A lawyer who was not identified said Kozinski approached  her when she was alone at a legal event in Los ...

Newspaper: More women accuse US judge of sexual conduct

North Korea's friends and  enemies have joined forces in opposing its determination to be  recognised as a nuclear weapons state and calling on leader  Kim Jong Un to negotiate the denuclearisation of the Korean  Peninsula, but the North gave no sign of budging on its  nuclear ambitions.
In a very rare appearance by a North Korean at the UN  Security Council, Ambassador Ja Song Nam told a ministerial  meeting that the country's possession of nuclear weapons was  "an inevitable self-defensive measure" to defend the country  against "the US nuclear threat and blackmail."
Ja never mentioned the possibility of talks. Instead, he  called the council meeting "a desperate measure plotted by the  US being terrified by the incredible might of our republic  that has successfully achieved the great historic cause of  completing the state nuclear force."
He pointed to the November 29 launch of an  intercontinental ballistic missile, which experts say could  reach the US mainland.
South Korea's ...

N Korea unmoved as world unites against its nuke ambitions

A fireworks explosion in Mexico  has killed four people and sent five more to the hospital days  after the country's holiday season kicked off in earnest.
The State of Mexico says in a statement that the today  morning blast in the town of San Lorenzo Octeyuco damaged four  of six buildings on a property where fireworks were being made  and stored. It did not give a cause.
Fireworks are a mainstay of holidays in Mexico including  Christmas, New Year's and this week's celebrations of the  Virgin of Guadalupe.
However explosions are relatively common amid what is  widely criticised as lax safety practices and oversight of the  industry.
On December 20, 2016, a massive, chain-reaction blast  ripped through an open-air fireworks market outside Mexico  City, killing at least 36.

Fireworks explosion kills 4, injures 5 in Mexico State

A deal has been reached  that will spare the life of a dog ordered put to death after  he bit a 12-year-old girl in a case that generated criticism  from the Humane Society of Utah.
Lindsy Bray, the owner of the Australian Shepherd named  Dexter, agreed Thursday to pay a USD 145 fine for dog-at-large  and dog licensing violations. A judge had imposed the original  death sentence for the dog.
In return for Bray's payment, officials in the small city  of Santaquin dropped the dog-attack charge filed after Dexter  escaped a fenced yard in October 2016 and nipped a girl.
Though the bite broke no skin, city regulations state  that any animal that has bitten, clawed, chased or harassed a  person must be put down within five days.
The Humane Society joined Bray in criticising the penalty  imposed on Dexter, saying it was the 5-year-old dog's first  offense and that the rule is so broad that a dog jogging with  its owner could be considered vicious if it was following the  owner.
The ...

Utah dog that bit girl wins reprieve, won't be put to death

A former Uber security  specialist accused the company of dispatching a team of spies  to steal its rivals' trade secrets and using shady tactics to  thwart its competition in the ride-hailing market, according  an inflammatory letter unsealed by a federal judge.
Those tactics allegedly included impersonating other  people, illegally recording conversations and hacking into  computers.
Former Uber manager Richard Jacobs, who was fired earlier  this year, made the explosive claims in a 37-page letter that  sought a big payoff for being forced out of the company.
The letter, written by a lawyer on Jacobs' behalf, has  already reshaped a high-profile trial pitting Uber against  Waymo, a Google spin-off that accuses its rival of stealing  its self-driving car technology.
The letter also has become evidence in a criminal  investigation being conducted by the US Justice Department.
US District Judge William Alsup, who is overseeing the  Waymo-Uber case, took the unusual step of recommending 

Inflammatory letter sheds light on Uber's alleged misconduct

Calming winds gave  firefighters a chance to gain ground against a huge wildfire  in coastal mountains northwest of Los Angeles but the blaze  continued to surge west, endangering thousands of homes, as  forecasts called for a renewal of gusty winds.
The so-called Thomas Fire, the fourth-largest in  California history, was 35 per cent contained last night after  sweeping about 1,036 square kilometers of Ventura and Santa  Barbara counties since it erupted December 4.
Between Thursday night and yesterday, the blaze claimed  another 3,000 acres as it fed on brush and timber killed by  California's long drought or a week of hot, dry weather.
Santa Barbara has had only a tiny amount of rain since  Oct. 1, the start of the new water year, and is more than 3  inches below normal to date.
Firefighters continued to carve firebreaks above the  communities of Santa Barbara, Carpinteria, Summerland and  Montecito and state fire officials said evacuations would be  called as needed as flames ...

Deadly California wildfire continues to grow

The outgoing US Army Europe commander  says America's continued commitment to European security in  the face of Russian aggression is in Washington's interest.
Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges said yesterday in Wiesbaden that the  US wants Russia to be "once again part of the international  democratic community," according to prepared remarks.
But, he says Russia "must abide by its agreements and  international law and norms and respect the sovereignty of  European nations."
He emphasised the importance of NATO's Eastern European  deterrence missions.
Hodges says America's commitment to NATO "remains  unshakable and as firm as it always has been," and that  "stability and security in Europe directly affect stability,  security and economic prosperity in the United States."
Hodges' deputy, Maj. Gen. Timothy McGuire, becomes acting  commander until a permanent replacement is confirmed.

American army commander says US committed to NATO, Europe

Toronto billionaire and  philanthropist Barry Sherman and his wife have been found  dead in their mansion and police said they were investigating  the deaths as suspicious.
Const. David Hopkinson would not identify the two bodies  found yesterday at the home of Apotex founder Bernard "Barry"  Sherman and his wife Honey. But Ontario health minister Eric  Hoskins said the couple had been discovered dead.
Hopkinson said it was early in the police investigation  and authorities "are inside investigating and taking apart  the scene."
"The circumstances of their death appear suspicious and  we are treating it that way," Hopkinson said at a news  conference held outside the couple's home.
Hopkinson said police were called to the Shermans' home  in an upscale neighbourhood of north Toronto just before noon  yesterday in response to a "medical complaint."
He declined to say whether the bodies showed signs of  trauma and did not provide details on the time or cause of  death.
Hopkinson said the 

2 found dead at home of Apotex founder Barry Sherman

North Korea's latest missile  test, which US experts say indicated an increasing  technological sophistication, did not demonstrate an imminent  threat of nuclear attack on the United States, Defense  Secretary Jim Mattis said today.
"No, not yet," Mattis said when a reporter asked whether  the Nov. 29 test indicated a full capability to strike the US.
"It has not yet shown to be a capable threat against us  right now," Mattis added. His remark suggested he believes the  Trump administration has additional time to pursue diplomacy  before resorting to military options for eliminating the  North's nuclear arsenal.
"We're still doing the forensic analysis," he added,  apparently referring to intelligence agencies' study of  imagery of the flight of the missile and its payload, which  presumably included a mock warhead.
The Trump administration has not publicly disclosed what  it knows about what happened to the missile's re-entry  vehicle, which detaches from the missile body during ...

North Korea short of posing imminent missile threat: Mattis

The German government says it backs  an "open and free internet" following the US decision to  repeal net neutrality rules.
A spokeswoman for the Economy Ministry said yesterday  that Germany had "taken note" of the US move but declined to  comment directly on it.
However, spokeswoman Beate Baron said the German  government supports rules introduced across the European Union  last year forbidding discriminatory access to the internet.
Baron told reporters in Berlin that "an open and free  internet is indispensable for the successful development of a  digital society that everyone wants to take part in."
The Republican-controlled US Federal Communications  Commission on Thursday repealed Obama-era rules requiring all  web traffic to be treated equally.

German government says it backs 'open and free internet'

A Spanish court today granted China's  extradition request for 121 Taiwanese citizens accused of  belonging to Spain-based gangs that swindled people in China  out of millions of euros by telephone.
Interpol told Spain about the scam a year ago, and  Spanish and Chinese authorities cooperated in an operation  that nabbed a total of 269 people.
Officials said the gangs made contact with people in  China, pretending at first they were friends or family and  warning them of fraud scams.
In later calls, they pretended to be police investigating  the scams and convinced many of the victims to put money into  bank accounts run by the gangs.
The National Court ruled there was no impediment to the  extradition. Spain has an extradition treaty with China and no  diplomatic relations with Taipei.
Part of the legal arguments at the extradition  proceedings in Madrid centered on diplomatic disputes over  Taiwan. China claims sovereignty over the democratic, self-  ruled island, which split from ..

Spanish court allows extradition of 121 Taiwanese to China

The Russian Central Bank says it has  started bailout proceedings for one of the country's biggest  private lenders, Promsvyazbank.
The Central Bank says that, as Russia's ninth-largest  lender with 1.3 trillion rubles (USD 22 billion) in assets,  Promsvyazbank is considered "systemically important" to the  financial system.
It has sent administrators to take temporary charge of  Promsvyazbank and is providing financial help to support its  liquidity.
It's the third major private lender to be bailed out this  year, following similar arrangements for Otkritie, once  Russia's largest private lender, in August and B&N Bank in  September.
The Central Bank says Promsvyazbank is "continuing to  work as normal, fulfilling its obligations and making new  deals."
Promsvyazbank is majority-owned by brothers Alexei and  Dmitry Ananiev, the latter of whom is also the chairman.

Russia bails out major private lender Promsvyazbank

Britain's finance minister told the  Chinese premier there are "many opportunities" for closer  commercial ties as he started a visit today aimed at  developing trade as the United Kingdom prepares to leave the  European Union.
British leaders are looking to China for trade and  investment as they try to fashion a new global role and offset  reduced access to the European common market.
Chinese officials believe a post-Brexit Britain needs  China more than ever but its companies are uneasy about the  future of a market they see as one of Europe's most welcoming.
Philip Hammond was in Beijing for an annual "economic  dialogue" that has taken on added significance this year. He  was accompanied by an unusually large delegation of  businesspeople and British economic officials for such an  event.
Premier Li Keqiang, China's top economic official,  expressed confidence in "steady and sound growth" of Chinese-  British relations regardless of what happens between London  and the EU.
"We ...

AP

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