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.

5 killed in artillery fire as Ukraine fighting continues

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Hillary Rodham Clinton will be honoured next month by Emily's List, a Democratic fund-raising powerhouse, as she considers a potential 2016 presidential campaign that could make her the first woman to win the White House.
	Emily's List, which works to elect Democratic women who support abortion rights, said today that Clinton would appear at its 30th anniversary awards gala in Washington on March 3.
	The former secretary of state will receive the group's We Are Emily Award to honour her leadership "as a fighter for women and families," said Stephanie Schriock, the group's president.
	Schriock said Clinton has "dedicated her life to bettering the lives of women and families and has inspired the next generation with a focus on increasing economic empowerment across the country and around the world."
	The political action committee has been among the Democratic groups laying the groundwork for a Clinton campaign, holding events promoting the idea of electing the nation's first female ...

Women's fund-raising group to honour Hillary Clinton

Syrian warplanes struck several rebel-held areas across the country today, killing over 40 people, activists said.
	Air raids on the village of Jassem in the southern Daraa province killed at least 12 people and wounded 25, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
	Daraa-based opposition activist Ahmad al-Masalmeh said 14 were killed in the air raids, including four children and two women.
	The village has seen near-daily air strikes and fighting between government forces and rebels. Rebels have been on the offensive and captured a major military base late last month.
	The Observatory, which relies on a network of activists on the ground, said other strikes hit villages in the northern province of Idlib, in the northern city of Aleppo, and in the town of Douma near Damascus. It said that in some raids government forces used crude bombs hurled out of helicopters.
	Other local organizations also reported the strikes, but gave different death tolls. Conflicting tolls ..

Government warplanes kill over 40 across Syria

A man who spent more than two decades on Delaware's death row has been freed, but prosecutors still hope to revive their murder case against him.
	Forty-two-year-old Jermaine Wright walked out of prison and into the arms of his mother Friday.
	A judge earlier ruled that prosecutors could not use a confession Wright gave to police following the 1991 killing of a liquor store clerk. Prosecutors dismissed the charges against Wright last week in order to appeal the judge's ruling to Delaware's Supreme Court, and Wright was freed for now.
	The judge had noted that Wright was under the influence of heroin and not properly advised of his rights during the police interrogation that resulted in the confession.
	Prosecutors relied heavily on the confession at Wright's 1992 murder trial.

US inmate with more than 2 decades on death row freed

Iraq's former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki today denied he is seeking a political comeback, despite frequent appearances in local media and a recent visit to the country's influential neighbor Iran.
	Al-Maliki, who stepped aside last year after being widely blamed for the Islamic State group's takeover of a third of Iraq said he has no intention of returning to the office he held for eight years unless the people desire it.
	"If the Iraqi people decide to elect me...I won't decline," he said.
	"I was not willing to be (prime minister) but when the job was imposed upon me I stepped up to the call," added al-Maliki, who now holds the largely ceremonial post of vice president along with two other officials.
	"But if asked personally whether I am aiming to (become prime minister) no. I am not," he said.
	His decision to step down as prime minister in August raised hopes for a new government that could roll back the Sunni insurgents and prevent the country from splitting ...

Iraq's al-Maliki denies seeking comeback

Former KGB officer Alexander Litvinenko developed a powerful animosity toward Vladimir Putin, accusing the Russian leader of fomenting war and consorting with criminal gangs, the agent's widow testified today.
	Marina Litvinenko spoke at an inquiry into the death of the ex-intelligence officer, who fled to London in 2000. He died in November 2006 after drinking tea laced with radioactive polonium-210 at a London hotel.
	On his deathbed, Alexander Litvinenko accused Putin, the Russian president, of ordering his killing.
	British officials have also accused the Russian state of being involved in the killing and British police have identified two Russian men as the prime suspects. They deny guilt and Moscow refuses to extradite them.
	Marina Litvinenko told the inquiry that during the 1990s her husband grew increasingly concerned about "dirty business" in the FSB, the successor to the Soviet KGB. She said a turning point came when her husband was working for the anti-terrorism unit of ...

Widow says Litvinenko blamed Putin for Russia's woes

The world's nations have paid tribute to Saudi Arabia's late King Abdullah, praising his development of the oil-rich nation, his generosity to the needy and his promotion of peace in the Middle East.
	At the start of Monday's ceremony, diplomats from the UN General Assembly's 193 member states stood for a minute in silent tribute to his memory.
	UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called Abdullah, who died Jan 23 at the age of 90, "a wise and compassionate leader" and "a champion against global hunger" who sought reconciliation among people of different cultures.
	US Ambassador Samantha Power said Abdullah "planted many seeds for Saudi Arabia's future," especially in education with a scholarship program that today has 87,000 Saudis studying in the United States and 33,000 elsewhere in the world.

World's nations pay tribute to late Saudi King Abdullah

US President Barack Obama is reconsidering whether to send lethal assistance to Ukraine, a senior administration official said today, but continues to have concerns about the effectiveness of that step and the risks of a proxy war between the US and Russia.
	The official said Obama is specifically concerned about the besieged Ukrainian military's capacity for using high-powered, American-supplied weaponry. The president has also argued that no amount of arming the Ukrainians would put them on par with Russia's military prowess.
	The US accuses Russia of supplying the pro-Kremlin separatists that are stirring instability in eastern Ukraine.
	The US has limited its supplies to the Ukrainian military to non-lethal aid, such as gas masks and radar technology to detect incoming fire.
	Some administration officials, including Secretary of State John Kerry and NATO Commander Gen Philip Breedlove, have been pressing Obama for months to expand that assistance to include defensive aid to help ..

Obama reconsidering lethal assistance to Ukraine

More than 1,100 claims were filed in the week before Saturday's deadline to seek payments from the General Motors ignition switch compensation fund. So far, 51 death and 77 injury claims have been granted.
	But the fund's deputy administrator says the grants are very likely to rise as she and her boss, compensation expert Kenneth Feinberg, sort through at least 4,180 claims that came before the deadline passed.
	The last-minute flurry of activity is common in compensation cases, said Deputy Administrator Camille Biros, who has worked with Feinberg on funds for the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the BP oil spill.
	Although most of the claims were filed electronically, some will "trickle in" in the coming days because they were postmarked by the Jan 31 deadline, she said.
	"I can say that there will likely be more" death and injury claims granted, Biros said. "Until we sort through and review the newly submitted documents, we can't make that estimation."
	GM was aware of faulty ignition ...

Death toll from GM ignition switches rises to at least 51

Chip-making giant Intel plans to buy a German company that specializes in broadband access and home networking technologies, as part of a push to reach more households with high-end technology.
	Terms of the acquisition of Lantiq were not disclosed. The deal is expected to close in about three months.
	Lantiq, which is based in Munich, has more than 2,000 patents covering broadband communications.
	Intel officials said in a statement that they expect more than 800 million broadband connected households worldwide by 2018, and a combination of their company with Lantiq "can allow global service providers to introduce new home computing experiences and enable consumers to take advantage of a more smart and connected home."
	Intel Corp has struggled with its response to the trend toward mobile computing.
	The Santa Clara, California, company is the is the world's dominant maker of microprocessor chips that serve as the brains for PCs, but its business has suffered as consumers have ...

Chipmaker Intel to buy German broadband specialist Lantiq

Two small bomb explosions outside a major shopping mall in Thailand's capital were aimed at discrediting the military government, the junta leader said today.
	The government has been under heavy pressure to lift martial law, which has been in place since a coup last May removed an elected government. Analysts say the junta is likely to use yesterday's blasts as a reason to prolong martial law.
	Police said they expect to issue arrest warrants in a few days. One person was slightly injured in the explosions on a walkway between the upscale Siam Paragon mall and an elevated mass transit "Skytrain" station, which was undamaged but briefly shut as a precaution.
	Junta leader and Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha told reporters that security measures will be intensified as a result of the blasts.
	Asked if the perpetrators chose the location to discredit the government, Prayuth replied, "Everybody knows that. Otherwise they would have exploded the bombs in the jungle. Why the hell are you .

Thai leader says blasts aimed at discrediting government

A winter storm is bringing its fury to the Northeast today, causing the cancellation of flights, classes and major court cases, a day after it dumped up to a foot-and-a-half of snow on the Chicago area.
	The weather system moved slowly eastward through into Pennsylvania, New York state and then into the northern region of New England. There residents were celebrating the New England Patriots football team's Super Bowl victory just days after digging out from a massive storm that brought from up to 0.91 meters of snow to some areas.
	More than 2,300 flights were cancelled Monday with about a seventh of them at Boston's Logan Airport. Yesterday, more than 2,000 flights were cancelled in the Midwest, the vast majority of which were in or out of Chicago's two airports.
	The snow storm was expected to deepen off the southern New England coast, bringing accumulations up to 40.6 centimetres to Boston.
	In New York state, a winter storm warning is out for more than 20 counties.
	The ...

Storm heads toward Northeast US after blanketing Midwest

Germany will not provide weapons to Ukraine and supports negotiations and a diplomatic solution to the conflict between the government in Kiev and Russian-backed rebels in eastern Ukraine, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said today.
	"It is my firm belief that this conflict cannot be solved militarily," Merkel said after meeting with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban in Budapest.
	She said she prefers economic sanctions as decided by the European Union and negotiations to "solve or at least mitigate the conflict."
	Fighting in eastern Ukraine has claimed more than 5,100 lives since April and displaced 900,000 people. Despite a September cease-fire and a period of relative calm in December, the fighting has intensified in recent weeks.
	Orban, who has frequently noted the damage to Hungarian exports, especially in the agricultural sector, caused by the sanctions, said Hungary also backs a peaceful solution and will not provide any weapons to Ukraine.
	He mentioned Hungary's great ..

Merkel: Germany won't give weapons to Ukraine, favors talks

Syrian government warplanes carried out several air raids on a rebel-held village in the country's south today, killing at least 12 people and wounding dozens, activists said.
	The airstrikes targeted the village of Jassem in Daraa province, which has been the scene of almost-daily air raids and fighting between government forces and rebels. Rebels have been on the offensive in the area and captured a major military base late last month.
	Daraa-based opposition activist Ahmad al-Masalmeh said 14 were killed in the air raids, including four children and two women. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 12 died and 25 were wounded. The disparate casualty tolls could not immediately be reconciled.
	The airstrike came as the Observatory said that a pro-government faction known as the National Resistance Movement shot dead a man after accusing him of spying for Israel.
	Al-Masalmeh said the dead man was a Syrian army defector from the central province of Hama who was ...

Syrian warplanes kill at least 12 in southern village

South Korean prosecutors today recommended 3 years prison for the former Korean Air executive charged with endangering flight safety after an inflight tantrum over how she was served macadamia nuts.
	Cho, the daughter of Korean Air's chairman, has pleaded not guilty to four charges. In the final day of testimony, she defended her actions as the result of devotion to work.
	Cho ordered the chief flight attendant off a December 5 flight after a heated confrontation with cabin crew, forcing the plane to return to the gate at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York. She was angry at being offered nuts in a bag, instead of on a dish, which she said violated the airline's service rules in first class.
	Her behavior, dubbed nut rage, caused an uproar in South Korea. The incident touched a nerve in a country where the economy is dominated by family-run conglomerates known as chaebol that often act above the law.
	Prosecutors are seeking a 2 year prison sentence for Yeo Woon-jin, the Korean Air ...

Prosecutors recommend 3 years prison for nut rage executive

Belgian police have evacuated hundreds of people from the European Parliament after a suspicious vehicle was spotted nearby.
	Parliament spokesman Jaume Duch Guillot said today that "police evacuated three of the parliament's buildings" in Brussels and cordoned off a suspicious car. Belgian media showed a photograph of a police robot moving toward a vehicle in a nearby street.
	Duch Guillot said about 500 people were evacuated but two of the three buildings, used only for administrative purposes, have since been declared safe.
	Belgium has been on high alert since the Jan. 7-9 Paris terror attacks and a series of police raids on suspected foreign fighters in Belgium and France last month.

EU Parliament evacuated as police check suspicious car

Taliban insurgents, some likely wearing police uniforms, attacked checkpoints in Afghanistan, killing at least nine officers in their latest assault, authorities said today.
	The deadliest of the two attacks targeting a checkpoint in Afghanistan's southern Kandahar province, the heartland of the Taliban. There, gunmen stormed the checkpoint in Maiwand district, killing at least five officers, police spokesman Zia Durani said.
	Durani said police launched an investigation into the assault amid indications one or more of the attackers wore police uniforms.
	In western Herat province, another Taliban assault on a checkpoint killed four police officers in Chashti Sharif district, said Ghulam Rasoul, a district police chief. He said a police officer assigned the checkpoint disappeared after the attack, raising suspicion he escaped with the Taliban and helped facilitate their assault.
	The Taliban claimed both attacks.
	So-called "insider attacks" have plagued both NATO and Afghan forces ...

Taliban attacks on checkpoints kill 9 Afghan police officers

An Afghan official says an attack on a police checkpoint in the southern province of Kandahar has killed five policemen. The Taliban have claimed responsibility for the attack.
	Zia Durani, the spokesman for the provincial police chief, says the attack happened late yesterday in Maiwand district and that an investigation is underway.
	Durani says there are indications one or more of the attackers wore a police uniform.
	Taliban spokesman Qari Yousaf Ahmadi claimed responsibility for the attack in a message to the media.
	The Taliban have stepped up their attacks on Afghan soldiers and security forces in recent months. US and NATO forces concluded their combat mission at the end of last year and Afghan troops took full charge of the country's security.

Taliban attack on checkpoint kills 5 Afghan policemen

The iron gate that stood in front of the home of Myanmar's formerly imprisoned democracy icon, separating her from throngs of supporters as she made speeches challenging the country's then-military rulers, is going on the auction block.
	Soe Nyunt, the current owner, said today the starting bid will be USD 200,000.
	Proceeds will go toward helping Aung San Suu Kyi build a new National League for Democracy party headquarters.
	The Nobel-prize winner, now 69, permanently moved from London to the lakeside house of her mother almost 27 years ago.
	While under house arrest, she would mount a table behind her front gate, holding on the pointed iron spikes as she spoke to supporters through a loudspeaker, touching on everything from corruption to poor standards of education.

Suu Kyi's iron gate up for auction; minimum bid USD 200,000

Police in Thailand today were investigating a pair of bombings outside a luxury shopping mall in the heart of Bangkok, the first such violence reported in the capital since last year's army coup.
	One person was slightly injured in the blasts yesterday night, and police said the small homemade bombs were designed to sow panic, not kill.
	The explosions occurred about 8 pm between the upscale Paragon shopping mall and a mass transit elevated train line, which was undamaged but briefly shut as a precaution.
	"The explosions were caused by two pipe bombs that were controlled by digital clocks. Inside the pipes were flash powder and some nails," said police Col Kamthorn Auicharoen, who heads the explosive ordnance disposal team. He said a Thai man was injured in his left hand.
	He said police were looking into issuing arrest warrants for two male suspects seen on closed-circuit television footage.
	The incident came at a time of slightly raised political temperatures in Thailand, as the ..

1 hurt as small blasts rattle Bangkok mall shoppers

President Barack Obama is weighing into the controversy over deflated footballs and says the National Football League should be considering how officials can control game balls.
	Obama says until the New England Patriots used deflated footballs in the AFC championship game, he didn't realize each team prepares its own footballs and brings them to the game.
	He says he's assuming the league is going to figure out how officials will be in charge of the footballs from start to finish.
	Obama made the remarks yesterday in an interview during NBC's Super Bowl pregame show.
	Obama says the Patriots would have won the game with the Indianapolis Colts regardless of how much the footballs were inflated.
	Asked if it was cheating, the president said: "If you break the rules then you break the rules.

AP

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