President Enrique Pena Nieto has brought back a close adviser and Cabinet secretary who had stepped down after arranging a presidential meeting with Donald Trump, a move that angered Mexicans upset by the then- Republican candidate's comments about migrants.
	Pena Nieto appointed former Finance Secretary Luis Videgaray as his new foreign relations secretary yesterday and gave him the job of trying to establish contacts and dialogue for a constructive relationship with Trump's administration, which takes power January 20.
	"It should be a relationship that allows us to strengthen bilateral ties in security, trade, migration and investment," Pena Nieto said. "These goals should be attained by promoting Mexico's interests without undermining its sovereignty or the dignity of Mexicans."
	He also said Videgaray should protect the rights of Mexicans living in the United States.
	In brief comments after his appointment, Videgaray said that "the challenges are enormous, the threats are ...

Mexico brings back adviser who quit because of Trump meeting

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The troubled Oakland Police Department hired its first female leader, who is tasked with restoring confidence in an agency that cycled through three chiefs in as many weeks this summer after several officers were implicated in a sex scandal with an underage girl.
	Anne Kirkpatrick took over a police force yesterday that has been under federal court oversight since 2003 and without a chief for seven months. She has a track record of trying to overhaul troubled departments.
	Chicago's police chief had hired Kirkpatrick this summer to lead reforms. She previously held high-ranking law enforcement posts in Washington state, including as Spokane's police chief for six years through 2012.
	The city hired her to reform a department rocked by a police brutality scandal.
	She will bring that experience to an Oakland agency dogged by a scandal that ensnared two dozen officers throughout the San Francisco Bay Area accused of having sex with the teen daughter of an Oakland dispatcher.
	About a ...

1st female chief taking over troubled Oakland police agency

Ethiopia's state broadcaster says 10,000 prisoners have been pardoned in the restive Oromia region. It is not clear whether they were detained under the country's state of emergency.
	Broadcaster EBC reported today that those pardoned include people who are old, have chronic illnesses or have families and children. It says people sentenced for rape, human trafficking and corruption were not included.
	Oromia has seen violent anti-government protests that spread to other parts of Ethiopia and led to the state of emergency that was declared in October.
	Mualtu Gemechu with the opposition Oromo Federalist Congress says the pardons are welcome but estimates that 60,000 to 70,000 people have been detained in Oromia in recent months.
	He says prisons are full and some people are now being held at private residences.

10,000 prisoners pardoned in restive Ethiopia region

Nearly a century ago, Robert Marchand was told by a coach that he should give up cycling because he would never achieve anything on a bike.
	He proved that prediction wrong again today.
	In a skin-tight yellow and violet jersey, the 105-year-old Frenchman set a world record in the 105-plus age category -- created especially for the tireless veteran -- by riding 22.547 kilometers in one hour.
	"I'm now waiting for a rival," he said.
	Marchand had ridden faster in the past on the boards of the Velodrome National, a state of the art venue used to host the elite of track cycling. But he had warned before his latest attempt that his current form was not as good.
	"I did not see the sign warning me I had 10 minutes left," Marchand said after his effort.
	"Otherwise I would have gone faster, I would have posted a better time. I'm not tired. I thought my legs would hurt, but they don't. My arms hurt, you have to hurt somewhere."
	Three years ago at the same venue, Marchand covered 26.927 ...

105-year-old Frenchman sets cycling record

Egypt's interior ministry says three more suspects have been arrested for alleged involvement in a suicide bombing at a Cairo church last month that killed 27 people.
	A ministry statement today says the three were planning to carry out other "terrorist operations" and that one of the men was found with weapons, including explosives.
	Egypt's Islamic State affiliate has claimed responsibility for the bombing, though authorities have blamed the banned Muslim Brotherhood group.
	Earlier, three men and a woman were arrested over the attack.
	The ministry has said the attacker belonged to a terror cell founded by an Egyptian doctor and funded by Brotherhood leaders living in exile in the Gulf Arab nation of Qatar.
	It said the cell was tasked with staging attacks that would stir sectarian strife.

Egypt says 3 more suspects arrested over Cairo church attack

A preliminary report on a fatal plane crash in the Tennessee mountains has found the pilot was using visual flight rules when weather conditions required flying with instruments.
	Authorities have said 41-year-old pilot David Starling, his 8-year-old son Hunter, and Starling's girlfriend, 42-year-old Kim Smith died in the crash on December 26 when the single-engine plane went down about 15 miles from the Gatlinburg-Pigeon Forge Airport. All were from Bradford County, Florida.
	The Knoxville News Sentinel today quoted the National Transportation Safety Board as saying the weather at the time of the crash was such that it required pilots to fly using instrument flight rules.
	Starling's airman certification from the Federal Aviation Administration shows he wasn't rated to fly with instruments.

Report: Pilot using wrong flight rules at time of crash

The top Democrat in the Senate is warning President-elect Donald Trump about his eventual Supreme Court choice: Name a "mainstream" nominee or Democrats will oppose the individual "with everything we have."
	"My worry is, with the hard right running the show, that the likelihood of the nominee being mainstream is decreasing every day," New York Senator Chuck Schumer said today in an interview.
	Schumer made the comments a day after saying on MSNBC's "The Rachel Maddow Show" that Democrats will "absolutely" do their best to keep the Supreme Court seat open if Trump doesn't nominate someone whom Democrats could support.
	The seat has been vacant for 11 months since the death of Justice Antonin Scalia last February. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., blocked consideration of President Barack Obama's nominee, Judge Merrick Garland, saying the next president should make the pick.
	The strategy paid off, and the Republican Senate will consider whomever Trump nominates.
	As ...

Top Senate Dem warns Trump on Supreme Court pick

Civilian and military officials say civilian self-defense fighters killed three girl suicide bombers targeting a bustling market day in northeastern Nigeria. Officials blamed the Boko Haram Islamic extremist group.
	Madagali council chairman Yusuf Muhammad Gulak says fighters challenged the girls who then ran toward the fighters.
	One girl was shot, activating her explosives and killing her and a companion. Gulak says a third bomber was gunned down as she tried to flee.
	Last month, two women suicide bombers killed 57 people and wounded 177, including 120 children, at Madagali market, 20 kilometers from the scene of today's shootings.
	Boko Haram has used scores of females in suicide bombings, prompting suspicions that some had been kidnapped.
	Boko Haram's 7-year-old Islamic uprising has killed more than 20,000 people.

3 girl suicide bombers gunned down in northeast Nigeria

Romania's Parliament today approved a left-leaning government led by Sorin Grindeanu, who vowed to stop thousands of Romanians emigrating, build highways and encourage the consumption of local produce to create what he called "a normal Romania."
	Before winning confirmation on a 295-133 vote, Grindeanu said he wanted a country "where people have the freedoms and rights that the vast majority of European citizens have."
	President Klaus Iohannis swore in the new government of Social Democrats shortly after the vote, urging it to guarantee an independent justice system and the rule of law, and strengthen its position within the European Union and NATO.
	Iohannis, who beat a Social Democrat in the 2014 presidential election, also suggested the new government's electoral promises of reducing taxes and hiking the minimum salary and pensions would mean exceeding a projected budget deficit of 3 per cent.
	The Cabinet includes an economist who had been poised to become the country's first ...

Romania's Parliament approves left-leaning government

An acquaintance of suspected Berlin Christmas market attacker Anis Amri who dined with him the night before the rampage is under investigation for possible participation in planning the attack, German prosecutors said today.
	He was arrested, but in a separate case.
	The 26-year-old Tunisian had known Amri since the end of 2015 and the pair ate together at a Berlin restaurant the night before the December 19 attack, said Frauke Koehler, a spokeswoman for federal prosecutors. His quarters at a refugee home were searched yesterday.
	The pair's meeting led prosecutors to believe that the man may have been involved in the attack or at least knew that Amri planned to commit one, Koehler said.
	She said that "communications devices" seized in yesterday's search are being evaluated, but federal prosecutors do not currently have enough evidence to seek an arrest warrant against him.
	The man was, however, detained yesterday in a separate case run by Berlin local prosecutors, Koehler said. ...

Germany arrests Tunisian who dined with market attacker

Libya's UN-backed government says warplanes under the command of a rival general have attacked an air base under its control in the country's south.
	In a statement late yesterday, the Tripoli-based government says "several" government-allied troops were wounded when an aircraft they were travelling in was struck in the attack by the eastern forces.
	Libya fell into chaos following the 2011 ouster and killing of longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi. It remains divided between east and west, with no effective government and rival factions and militias.
	Field Marshal Khalifa Hifter answers to Libya's parliament, based in the east.
	Internal conflicts are escalating even as Islamic State militants have been driven out of the central coastal city of Sirte, which had been the extremist group's last bastion in the country.

Libyan government says rival general attacks base in south

A 50-year-old man has been arrested at London Heathrow airport on suspicion of a terrorism offense.
	British police say the man was taken into custody by counter-terrorism officers after arriving in Britain on a flight from Cairo today.
	He was arrested on suspicion of possessing articles which contained information likely to be useful to a person planning an act of terrorism.
	A property in north London was being searched as part of the investigation.
	Police have said that the arrest was pre-planned and not related to the Islamic State group or the conflict in Syria.
	Mounting concern over the possibility of an extremist attack in Britain has led to increased airport security and increased checks of passengers on incoming flights from the Middle East.

UK police arrest man on suspected terrorism link at Heathrow

International Criminal Court judges have rejected a challenge to their jurisdiction over two charges against a former rebel leader on trial for alleged atrocities in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
	Defense lawyers argued that based on provisions of the Geneva Conventions the court did not have jurisdiction to try Bosco Ntaganda on allegations of rape and sexual slavery against child soldiers serving in his rebel militia.
	In a ruling issued today, the panel trying Ntaganda rejected the argument. It said the trial, which started in 2015, can continue on all 18 charges.
	The judges wrote that rape and sexual slavery are "prohibited at all times, both in times of peace and during armed conflicts, and against all persons, irrespective of any legal status."
	Ntaganda denies all the charges.

International Court rejects Congo rebel's legal challenge

A US military spokesman says the number of American and coalition advisers in Iraq has doubled in the past couple of weeks as Iraq pushes to recapture the Islamic State stronghold of Mosul.
	US Air Force Colonel John Dorrian says there are now about 450 coalition advisers in Iraq.
	Dorrian says an unspecified number of those advisers have been inside Mosul occasionally as part of the expanding effort to support Iraqi security forces as they fight dug-in militants.
	The advisers aren't involved in direct combat, but are meant to provide specialized support such as analysis of intelligence.
	The Pentagon says there are 4,935 US troops in Iraq, including trainers and other support forces.
	Dorrian spoke to Pentagon reporters today from his headquarters in Baghdad.

US-led coalition doubles number of advisers in Iraq to 450

Bahrain's Interior Ministry says it has suspended three top officials and referred them to prosecutors over a prison break during which a police officer was killed.
	The ministry tonight identified those referred to prosecutors as the general director of reformation and rehabilitation, the head of reformation and rehabilitation at Jaw prison, and the director of security and protection.
	The ministry says the development came in the course of an investigation ordered into the Sunday prison break that saw 10 inmates escape following an armed assault on the facility.
	The attack on Jaw prison represents a significant escalation of the simmering unrest that has gripped the island nation off the coast of Saudi Arabia since its 2011 Arab Spring protests.
	No group has claimed responsibility for the assault.

Bahrain suspends, investigates 3 officials over prison break

Police increased security around Istanbul today and detained some 20 people with suspected links to the deadly New Year's Eve night club attack as the hunt for the gunman stretched into a fourth day.
	Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said the gunman -- who killed 39 people during New Year's celebrations at the Reina club before reportedly escaping in a taxi -- had been identified, but did not name him.
	Police set up checkpoints across Istanbul as security levels remained high. They stopped cars and taxis, with passengers and drivers holding up their identifications while officers inspected the vehicles.
	The city has been on edge since the attack on the upscale club popular with local celebrities, and today residents beat up a man said to resemble the wanted gunman before handing him over to police, the Dogan news agency reported.
	Some 20 people, including 11 women, were taken into custody in police raids in the Aegean port city of Izmir, the state-run Anadolu agency ...

Istanbul on alert as hunt for gunman reaches 4th day

Scoreboard from Day 3 of South
Africa's second test against Sri Lanka at Newlands today:
	Stephen Cook c Karunaratne b Lakmal 30
	Dean Elgar c Mathews b Herath 55
	Hashim Amla c Chandimal b Lakmal 0
	JP Duminy lbw b Lakmal 30
	Faf du Plessis c Chandimal b Lakmal 41
	Temba Bavuma run out 0
	Quinton de Kock c Chandimal b Kumara 29
	Keshav Maharaj not out 20
	Vernon Philander not out 15
	Extras: (1w, 3nb) 4
	TOTAL: (7 wkts dec) 224
	Overs: 51.5.
	Fall of wickets: 1-64, 2-64, 3-110, 4-136, 5-137, 6-170, 7-192.
	Did not bat: Kyle Abbott, Kagiso Rabada.
	Bowling: Suranga Lakmal 19.5-2-69-4, Nuwan Pradeep 11-0-46-0, Lahiru Kumara 12-0-62-1, Dhananjaya de Silva 3-0-15-0, Rangana Herath 6-0-32-1.
	Dimuth Karunaratne b Philander 6
	Kaushal Silva c Cook b Rabada 29
	Kusal Mendis c Elgar b Philander 4
	Dhananjaya de Silva lbw b Rabada 22
	Angelo Mathews not out 29
	Dinesh Chandimal not out 28
	Extras: (6b, 5lb, 1nb) 12
	TOTAL: (4 wkts) 130
	Overs: 40.
	Fall of wickets: 1-11, 2-25, 3-66, ...

Cape Town, Jan 4 (AP) Scoreboard from Day 3 of South

Vernon Philander and Kagiso Rabada grabbed two wickets apiece today to set South Africa on the road to victory over Sri Lanka in the second test at Newlands.
	After South Africa set Sri Lanka a mammoth 507 to win, Philander took 2-34 and Rabada claimed 2-22 before Sri Lanka reached stumps on the third day on 130-4.
	It took an unbroken partnership of 61 for the fifth wicket between captain Angelo Mathews and vice-captain Dinesh Chandimal to save Sri Lanka from an embarrassing three-day defeat, as they batted out the final hour of the day.
	South Africa's dominance in the game was set up on day two when Quinton de Kock scored his third test century and Philander and Rabada shared eight wickets to bowl Sri Lanka out for 110.
	South Africa began the third day on 35-0 in its second innings, and openers Dean Elgar and Stephen Cook (30) extended their opening stand to 65 before Cook was caught at slip off the bowling of Suranga Lakmal.
	The Sri Lankan paceman struck later in the same over ..

Philander strikes early blow as South Africa chase victory

Lebanon's new government has issued key decrees to prepare the way for oil and gas extraction off its coast, after more than two years of political deadlock had stymied previous efforts.
	The decrees, which came today, authorize regulators to divide the offshore areas into blocks for drilling and exploration and to issue tenders.
	Earlier this decade, geologists discovered a bonanza of gas reserves off the coasts of Lebanon and Israel, sparking a frenzy of development on the Israeli side to tap into the fields.
	Lebanon's government, beset by infighting and corruption, made only marginal progress toward that goal.
	A portion of the reserves lies in territory disputed by the two countries.
	The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah has issued numerous threats warning Israel not to tap into Lebanon's gas reserves.

Lebanese government approves key gas, oil drilling decrees

Donald Trump warned congressional Republicans today against letting Democrats dodge blame for problems with President Barack Obama's health care overhaul, even as the GOP-led Congress takes initial steps toward dismantling the law.
	"Massive increases of ObamaCare will take place this year and Dems are to blame for the mess," the president-elect said in three tweets, using the statute's nickname. "It will fall of its own weight be careful!"
	Trump's advice came as Obama was meeting with congressional Democrats at the Capitol to discuss how to combat the Republican drive to repeal much of his health care overhaul.
	Vice President-elect Mike Pence was meeting separately with House Republicans to discuss the best way to send Obama's cherished law to its graveyard and eventually rally behind legislation to replace it. He planned to have lunch with GOP senators.
	In his tweets, Trump blamed the statute for high deductibles, premium boosts and poor coverage and wrote that Democrats "own the 

Obama, Pence to Capitol as health care overhaul fight begins

People who lost their homes in the devastating earthquake that hit Nepal nearly two years ago are tired of waiting for help to rebuild.
	The slow pace of distributing government grant money for rebuilding has left many people to spend their second winter without a home.
	Nhuchhe Laxmi Prajapati and Shiva Prajapati, who are not related, are building their houses now, by taking out loans with high interest rates.
	Their homes and hundreds of others were damaged during the April 25, 2015, earthquake in the town of Bhaktapur, which is known for brick paved roads, old palaces and artistic Hindu temples. It's just 13 kilometers (8 miles) west of the capital, Kathmandu.
	When the earthquake shook the house of Shiva Prajapati, 12 family members were buried by the falling bricks. Three died and six of the survivors had serious injuries.
	He waited for months for help but finally took out a USD 30,000 loan from the bank at 12 percent interest rate and began constructing a house for the family ..

AP

AP

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