A mother of seven accused of spying for Ukraine was released from custody in Russia today following public outrage.
	Svetlana Davydova, 37, was arrested Jan 21 at her home in the town of Vyazma, west of Moscow. The Federal Security Service, the main KGB successor, had detained her on charges of treason that carry a prison sentence of up to 20 years.
	Even though released, Davydova's case is still pending. Her youngest child is a 2-month-old baby whom she was breastfeeding.
	Investigators haven't revealed details of the accusations, but her husband, Anatoly Gorlov, says Davydova called the Ukrainian Embassy after she had overheard a serviceman on a bus saying he and his comrades were preparing for a trip and decided he was talking about being sent to Ukraine.
	Gorlov attributed her release to a wave of public anger that followed Davydova's arrest, which rights defenders and opposition activists denounced as absurd.
	"I think it happened thanks to a clear stance taken by the civil ...

Russian mother of 7 suspected of treason released

PTI Automatic

A Muslim student who had been planning to join Islamic extremists in Syria has been jailed in Britain for 3.5 years.
	David Souaan was sentenced today after having been found guilty in December of preparing for terrorist acts.
	The 20-year-old Souaan had visited Syria in 2013 and was trying to returning there when he was arrested at Heathrow Airport in May.
	Judge Peter Rook said Souaan had been "vulnerable to extremist views" because of his youth and immaturity. Souaan came to Britain in 2013 on a student visa to study international relations at Birkbeck College in London.
	British officials say hundreds of Britons have joined extremists in Syria. Security officials warn that many may try to launch terror attacks inside Britain when they return.

Muslim man jailed in UK for planning to join rebels in Syria

Ethnic Tamil leaders told a visiting US diplomat today that Sri Lanka's new government is not moving fast enough to free prisoners detained without trial and return private land seized by the military during a decades-long civil war.
	US Assistant Secretary of State Nisha Biswal met with Tamil National Alliance (TNA) leaders as part of her two-day visit to Sri Lanka.
	Lawmaker M A Sumanthiran said the party had hoped the government would release some prisoners before the country's independence day tomorrow and would quickly hand back land to its owners.
	The surprise election victory of President Maithripala Sirisena last month and his government's early steps to end repression have stirred hopes in Washington that Sri Lanka and the US can revive strained ties.
	After meeting with Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera yesterday, Biswal said Sri Lanka could count on the US "to be a partner and a friend in the way forward." Samaraweera is scheduled to visit Washington next ...

Tamil leaders say Sri Lanka slow to release prisoners, land

Alexander Litvinenko could not have poisoned himself accidentally with radioactive polonium, and received threats for years before his death, the former Russian spy's widow said today.
	Marina Litvinenko told an inquiry that her husband could not have acquired nuclear materials because it was illegal and he would "not do any illegal things in this country."
	A former Russian security services agent who moved to London and became a strong critic of the Kremlin, Litvinenko became sick after drinking tea laced with polonium-210 at a London hotel on Nov 1, 2006.
	He died on Nov 23, a day after signing a statement blaming Russian President Vladimir Putin for his poisoning. She said his last words to her were "I love you so much.'"
	Marina Litvinenko said her husband had received threats after he spoke out against the Kremlin.
	In 2002 he received an email from a former colleague saying "get your will ready in advance." The couple's London home was later fire-bombed.
	Two weeks before he ...

Widow says Russian ex-spy could not have poisoned himself

Indonesia's government is preparing to execute eight drug smugglers, including seven foreigners, an official said today.
	The spokesman for the attorney general's office, Tony Tribagus Spontana, said two Australians, Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan, are among the foreigners.
	He did not provide the others' nationalities, but the attorney general earlier told Parliament that they are from Brazil, Nigeria, France, Ghana and the Philippines.
	Sukumaran, 33, and Chan, 31, are being held in Kerobokan Penitentiary on the tourist island of Bali. They filed for judicial reviews last week, but Spontana ruled out the requests.
	They are among nine Australians who were arrested in 2005 on charges of attempting to smuggle 8.3 kilograms of heroin to Australia from Bali. The group has been dubbed the "Bali Nine" by Australian media.
	Indonesia has extremely strict drug laws. On January 18, it executed six drug convicts including foreigners from Brazil, Malawi, Nigeria, the Netherlands and Vietnam, 

Indonesia to execute 8 for drugs, including 7 foreigners

Iran's semi-official Fars news agency says a private plane carrying a Saudi national and an Iranian pilot has gone missing in northern Iran.
	Today's report said the pilot lost communication shortly after departing Ramsar airport yesterday at around noon as visibility dropped to about 800 meters (875 yards) because of fog.
	It said Iran's Red Crescent was searching for the two men in a nearby wooded area.
	Fars said the Saudi was honeymooning in the country with his Iranian wife, who was not on the plane.

Plane carrying Saudi national, pilot goes missing in Iran

Standard & Poor's is paying about USD 1.38 billion to settle government allegations that it knowingly inflated its ratings of risky mortgage investments that helped trigger the financial crisis.
	The McGraw Hill Financial subsidiary Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC reached a settlement with the Justice Department over ratings issued from 2004 through 2007.
	The settlement also resolves lawsuits filed by the attorneys general of 19 states and the District of Columbia. McGraw Hill Financial Inc said the settlement contains no findings of violations of law by itself, S&P Financial Services or Standard & Poor's Ratings Services.
	The credit rating agency's agreement represents one of the government's key efforts to hold accountable market players deemed responsible for contributing to the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. The settlement announced today came after months of negotiations.
	The Justice Department filed civil fraud charges against ...

S&P paying USD 1.38B to settle charges over crisis-era ratings

Three soldiers on an anti-terror patrol in the southern French city of Nice were attacked by a man with a knife today, a French police union official said.
	Sarah Baron said the extent of the soldiers' injuries is not yet clear. She said the attacker was detained but two people with him are believed to have fled after the stabbing in the city center, near the Galeries Lafayette department store.
	France has been on high alert since the attacks in the Paris region by three Islamic extremists that left 20 people dead, including the gunmen. More than 10,000 soldiers have been deployed around the country to protect sensitive locations, including major shopping areas, synagogues, mosques and transit hubs.
	Earlier today, French authorities arrested seven men and a woman suspected of involvement in a network to send fighters to join Islamic extremists in Syria.
	Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said those arrested in the Paris and Lyon areas are not suspected of links to the Jan 7-9 ...

French soldiers attacked by man with knife in Nice

Veteran newsman Al Webb has died in England after a long career in which he received a military medal for valor while covering the war in Vietnam. He was 79.
	His wife Elizabeth Webb said today that he died Jan. 25 at a hospital in Banbury, 75 miles (120 kilometers) northwest of London from complications from pneumonia and diabetes.
	He spent most of his career covering the world for United Press International and received the Bronze Star for his role in helping to evacuate a gravely wounded U.S. Marine at the height of the Vietnam War.
	Webb was seriously wounded by shrapnel from a rocket explosion during an attempted evacuation during the Tet Offensive on Feb. 19, 1968. The Marine, who suffered a gunshot wound to the throat, did not survive.
	Looking back two decades after the war, he wrote: "It is noise you remember - the sharp 'thwack' of a sniper's bullets inches from your head, the eerie keening of a Marine dying of the wound that had blown away a third of his skull, the evil ...

Veteran newsman Al Webb dies at 79; honored for bravery

Israeli police say a crash involving a bus and a tractor has killed eight people and wounded at least 20.
	Police spokeswoman Luba Samri says it is not immediately clear what caused today's collision on a highway near the southern town of Lehavim.
	Talal al-Krenawi, mayor of the nearby town of Rahat, told Channel 2 TV that the passengers were Bedouin residents of the area returning from a trip to Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque.
	Rescue helicopters hovered above the scene, where some 30 ambulances were dispatched to treat the wounded. The windows on the left side of the bus were smashed.
	A tow truck carried two tractors, and other vehicles were also damaged. Samri said police closed the road following the crash.

Israel highway crash kills 8, injures 20

Coke is coming out with premium milk that has more protein and less sugar than regular. And it's betting people will pay twice as much for it.
	The national rollout of Fairlife over the next several weeks marks Coca-Cola's entry into the milk case in the US and is one way the world's biggest beverage maker is diversifying its offerings as Americans continue turning away from soft drinks.
	It also comes as people increasingly seek out some type of functional boost from their foods and drinks, whether it's more fiber, antioxidants or protein. That has left the door open for Coke step into the milk category, where the differences between options remain relatively minimal and consumption has been declining for decades.
	"It's basically the premiumization of milk," Sandy Douglas, president of Coca-Cola North America, said at an analyst conference in November. If developed properly, Douglas said it is the type of product that "rains money."
	Fairlife, which Coca-Cola formed in partnership ..

Coke bets on 'premium milk' to boost declining category

Ride-sharing service Uber is partnering with Carnegie Mellon University on a Pittsburgh research lab they say could lead to the development of driverless cars.
	The partnership announced yesterday includes Uber funding for faculty chairs and graduate fellowships at the private research university.
	San Francisco-based Uber says the Uber Advanced Technologies Center will also focus on mapping and safety technologies in support of its ride-sharing mission.
	Uber operates in 200 cities in 54 countries, including Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and Harrisburg. It competes with Lyft and other ride-sharing startups, as well as traditional taxi and limousine services.
	Uber and Carnegie Mellon say they'll build the new lab near the university's National Robotics Engineering Center in the city's Lawrenceville neighborhood.
	Mayor William Peduto says the lab furthers Pittsburgh's reputation as a center of innovation.

Uber, Carnegie Mellon partnering on Pittsburgh research lab

China has 649 million people online, but they are drifting away from microblogging sites after a government crackdown on free speech.
	China's online population was already the world's largest.
	Of those counted in the government-backed China Internet Network Information Center's annual report released today, 557 million were using mobile devices.
	The number of microblog users dropped in 2014 by 32 million to 249 million, a decline that shows the sites failed to recover from the 2013 crackdown that chilled discussion on China's Twitter-like sites.
	Meanwhile, newer products -- especially the instant messaging service WeChat -- are rapidly gaining popularity.
	The report also says the number of users of mobile instant message services grew 17.8 per cent to 508 million.

China has 649 million people online, less are microblogging

Indonesian divers have discovered six more bodies from the wreckage of the crashed AirAsia plane, bringing to 90 the total number bodies retrieved from the jetliner.
	AirAsia Flight 8501 crashed into the Java Sea on December 28 with 162 people on board while flying from Surabaya, Indonesia's second-largest city, to Singapore.
	The National Search and Rescue Agency and traditional divers are continuing the search after the military halted its own efforts due to the difficulty of lifting the fuselage from the water.
	Agency spokesman Jusuf Latif said Tuesday that the discoveries brought to 90 the total bodies retrieved from the crash.
	Some of the bodies were found floating off Sulawesi island, about 1,000 kilometres east of the crash scene.

Indonesian divers retrieve 6 more bodies from AirAsia crash

Eight men charged with one of the world's biggest jewel heists went on trial today in Paris, accused of stealing more than USD 113 million worth of luxury watches, necklaces, earrings and other valuables from a Harry Winston boutique in two operations.
	Many of the jewels have never been found. Charges against the men included armed robbery in an organized gang, association with a criminal enterprise and receiving stolen goods.
	Four men dressed as building painters entered the store near the Champs-Elysees, a popular tourist area, by a service entrance in 2007, tying up staff and stealing 360 items of jewellery and 120 watches, according to judicial documents.
	A year later, the store was targeted again. Four men three wearing wigs and dressed as women walked in the main entrance and stole 297 pieces of jewelry and 104 watches in less than 20 minutes, according to the documents.
	"Look at all the TV series of jewel heists, where you have people wearing masks, flak jackets. And here, .

Paris: 8 on trial for heists of over USD 100 million in jewels

The United Nations has raised the death toll from fighting in eastern Ukraine to over 5,350 people and is condemning the high number of civilians killed in the indiscriminate shelling there.
	Hostilities between Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian troops resumed with a vengeance in January after a month of relative calm.
	The UN Human Rights office said today at least 5,358 people have been killed since the fighting began in April, including at least 224 civilians in the past three weeks alone The agency urged both sides to make the protection of civilians an "utmost priority."
	Rebels in the separatist stronghold of Donetsk said today that artillery fire killed at least eight people and wounded 22 others in the past day.

Escalation in Ukraine fighting raises death toll over 5,350

Coke is coming out with premium milk that has more protein and less sugar than regular. And it's betting people will pay twice as much for it.
	The national rollout of Fairlife over the next several weeks is one way the world's biggest beverage maker is seeking to diversify its offerings as Americans continue turning away from soft drinks.
	It also comes as people increasingly seek out some type of functional boost from their foods and drinks, whether it's more fiber, antioxidants or protein.
	That has left the door open for Coke step into the milk case, where the differences between options remain relatively minimal.
	"It's basically the premiumization of milk," Sandy Douglas, president of Coca-Cola North America, said at an analyst conference in November. If developed properly, Douglas said it is the type of product that "rains money."
	Fairlife, which Coca-Cola formed in partnership with dairy cooperative Select Milk Producers in 2012, says its milk goes through a filtration ...

Coke bets on 'premium milk' to boost category

French director Jean-Jacques Annaud, who fell out of favor in China after portraying Chinese troops invading Tibet, said he had "incredible freedom" to turn best-selling book "Wolf Totem" into a movie at the invitation of Chinese producers.
	Annaud said he did not yield to censors' requests to alter scenes but made the film as he wanted to in China, where movies need approval from government regulators.
	"I think being your own censor is very bad, so I did the screenplay very freely," he told The Associated Press today.
	Set in 1967 during the Cultural Revolution, "Wolf Totem" tells the semi-autobiographical story of a student sent from the city to the Inner Mongolian steppes for re-education. He lives with the nomads, develops a respect for freedom and nature and becomes fascinated with the wolves. But then a government official orders all the wolves in the area to be killed.
	Many were surprised the book "Wolf Totem," first published in 2004, was approved by the censors because it ..

French director Annaud 'touched' to make key Chinese film

The United Nations' top court has ruled that Serbia did not commit genocide in Croatia during the bloody wars sparked by the breakup of the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s.
	The International Court of Justice said today that Serb forces committed widespread crimes in Croatia early in the war, but they did not amount to genocide.
	The 17-judge bench is also considering a Serb claim that Croatia committed genocide during a 1995 military campaign to seize back territory from rebel Serbs. The court's president is still reading that part of the judgment.
	Croatia brought the case to the world court in 1999, asking judges to order Belgrade to pay compensation.

UN Court: Serbia did not commit genocide in Croatia in 1990s

French authorities arrested seven men and a woman today suspected of involvement in a network to send fighters to join Islamic extremists in Syria, the latest roundup after France's deadliest terrorist attacks in decades.
	Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said those arrested today in the Paris and Lyon areas are not suspected of links to the January 7-9 attacks.
	Police are trying to thwart new violence and find possible accomplices to three radical Islamic gunmen who attacked a kosher grocery and newspaper Charlie Hebdo. The men claimed allegiance to extremists in the Mideast.
	Three of those arrested today had traveled to Syria and returned in December 2014, a French official said, though it was unclear whether they joined the Islamic State group or another group.
	The network began sending French fighters to Syria in May 2013, and at least one of them was killed there, the official said. Other members of the network are still in Syria.
	The group did not appear to be involved in 

French police arrest 8 suspected in Syria extremist network

Authorities in the rebel stronghold of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine say at least 5 people have been killed and 13 injured by artillery fire yesterday.
	The city hall said in a statement early today that artillery fire has damaged homes in four districts of the city.
	Hostilities between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian government troops resumed in January after a month of relative calm. Their main offensive is now directed at Debaltseve, a railway junction once populated by 25,000 people that lies between the rebel-held cities of Luhansk and Donetsk.
	Recent talks to settle the conflicts broke down on Friday with both sides blaming each other for derailing the peace process to end a conflict that has killed more 5,100 people.

AP

AP

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