A Lebanese military official says a daylong battle with Syria-based militants near the border has killed eight soldiers.
	The official says Lebanese troops found the bodies of three missing soldiers today on the outskirts of the northeastern Lebanese village of Ras Baalbek.
	Late yesterday, an army statement said another five soldiers were killed in the fighting.
	The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, said the attackers belong to the Islamic State group that controls large parts of Syria.
	In August, al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front and Islamic State group fighters conducted a joint raid in the border town of Arsal and captured some two dozen soldiers. Since then, they have killed four of the soldiers.

Official says 8 Lebanese troops killed fighting militants

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Just months before the 50th anniversary of the heavyweight rematch between Muhammad Ali and Sonny Liston, boxing fans are getting a chance to own a piece of one of the most hotly debated title fights of all time.
     Both pairs of gloves from the May 25, 1965, bout in Lewiston, Maine -- won by Ali with a first-round knockout from what some saw as a "phantom punch" -- go up for auction Feb. 21 in New York. They are expected to fetch more than USD 1 million.
     Footage of the fight does not make it clear whether Ali's quick right hand actually connected, and many fans booed. Even the most famous photos of the fight show an enraged Ali standing over Liston as he lay on the canvas, gesturing and yelling at him to get up and fight.
     Given the controversial way the bout ended, the boxers' gloves were seized by George Russo, the boxing commissioner for Maine. The gloves remained in the Russo family until they were purchased several years ago by a California collector who is now ...

Gloves from infamous Ali-Liston rematch going to auction

A 19-year-old woman who tried to go to Syria to help Islamic State militants has been sentenced to four years in prison.
	Shannon Conley learned her punishment in Denver federal court yesterday as her parents watched.
	Wearing a black and tan headscarf with her jail uniform, she tearfully told the judge that she has disavowed jihad and that the people who influenced her misconstrued the Quran.
	Conley pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization in September under a deal that requires her to divulge information she may have about other Americans with similar intentions.
	FBI agents say Conley wanted to marry a suitor she met online who told her he was fighting with the extremists. She repeatedly told them she wanted to fight alongside him or use her skills as a nurse's aide to help.
	Judge Raymond Moore said the sentence was meant to deter others with similar intentions. Earlier in the hearing he expressed doubt that Conley .

US woman who tried to help terrorists receives 4 years

Cuba says it's demanding that the United States drop much of its support for dissidents on the island as part of the restoration of diplomatic relations.
	A US delegation visited Havana this week to negotiate the reopening of US and Cuban embassies. A central US demand is unrestricted movement of US diplomats in Cuba.
	The head of Cuba's delegation told The Associated Press yesterday that Cuba has linked granting that right to the US reducing support for dissidents. Cuba has long objected to the US offering Cubans Internet access and classes inside the US Interests Section.
	Asked about free movement for diplomats, Josefina Vidal said that dropping such aid "wasn't presented as a condition, but, yes, we said that for Cuba, this consideration is associated with better behaviour.

Cuba ties diplomatic renewal to US ending aid to dissidents

More than $300,000 in world-class wine stolen from a famed Napa Valley, California, restaurant has been recovered from a private cellar on the other side America.
	The wine was stolen on Christmas night from the French Laundry restaurant, which is rated three stars in the Michelin guide and has twice been named the best in the world by Restaurant Magazine.
	Napa County sheriff's Capt. Doug Pike says it's unclear how the 76 bottles of mainly rare French wine ended up in Greensboro, North Carolina, the Santa Rosa Press Democrat reported. No arrests have been made. Officials from the Greensboro Police Department were not immediately available for comment Friday.
	The stolen wine included Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, a single bottle of which can cost up to USD 10,000. Winery owners use laser and digital technology on its corks and capsules to curb counterfeiting and theft. An online wine list shows the bottles sell for USD 3,250 to USD 7,950 at the restaurant. Screaming Eagle wines, one ..

USD 300,000 in wine stolen from famed restaurant is found

Pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine rejected a previously signed peace deal and announced a new multi-pronged offensive against Ukrainian government troops.
	The main separatist leader in the Donetsk region said the insurgents won't join further peace talks and another rebel went even further saying they will not abide by a peace deal signed in September.
	Separatist leader Alexander Zakharchenko said rebel fighters launched the new offensive to gain more territory and forestall a Ukrainian attack. He declared they will push the government troops to the border of the separatist Donetsk region and possibly even further.
	"Attempts to talk about a cease-fire will no longer be undertaken by our side," Zakharchenko said.
	The peace deal signed in September in the Belarusian capital of Minsk envisaged a cease-fire and a pullout of heavy weapons from a division line in eastern Ukraine. It has been repeatedly violated by both sides, and there has been a surge in fighting and deadly mortar .

Pro-Russian rebels reject peace deal, launch offensive

British police say that the number of arrests for suspected Syria-related terror offenses in the country increased six-fold last year.
	Scotland Yard said police made 165 arrests across the country for offenses including the financing, commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism, and attending a terrorist training camp. That compares to 25 Syria-related arrests in 2013.
	Counter-terrorism policing coordinator Helen Ball said Friday police have been running "exceptionally high numbers of investigations, the likes of which we have not seen for many years."
	She said most of the disrupted plots appeared to be inspired or directed by terrorism overseas.
	In August, the terror threat level in Britain was raised from "substantial" to "severe," the second-highest level, in response to threats from extremist groups in Iraq and Syria.

UK police: Syria-related terror arrests jump 6-fold

A new UN report says more than 3,000 villages were destroyed in Darfur during targeted attacks on civilians early last year as hundreds of thousands of people fled the escalating violence.
	The panel of experts report circulated Friday found multiple arms embargo and sanctions violations by Sudan's government in the chaotic western region. Violations included using ammunition manufactured in Khartoum and an armored personnel carrier.
	The UN presence in Sudan is increasingly fragile.
 	President Omar al-Bashir recently ordered the expulsion of top UN officials and called for an exit strategy for the joint UN-African Union peacekeeping force in Darfur.
	Fighting in Darfur erupted in 2003, when rebels took up arms against the government, accusing it of discrimination and neglect. More than 400,000 people were displaced last year.

UN: 3,300 villages destroyed in Sudan fighting in early 2014

A university student detained at an airport over Arabic language flashcards that included the word "bomb" has won a USD 25,000 settlement from the federal government.
	The settlement Friday over the 2009 stop of Nicholas George at Philadelphia International Airport also includes more police training.
	The Justice Department is funding the settlement, though a US court cleared federal agents of liability over their 30-minute questioning of George.
	George says city police separately detained him for more than four hours, sometimes handcuffed. A lawyer for the city says the stop was justified.
	George was flying back to Pomona College from his Philadelphia-area home and had the flashcards in his pocket to study.
	He is now a 27-year-old Google programmer in California. Neither city nor federal officials acknowledge wrongdoing in the settlement.

Student stopped at airport over Arabic flashcards wins USD25K

For the first time, Indonesian divers were able today to enter the fuselage of the AirAsia jetliner that crashed last month into the Java Sea and retrieved six bodies, an official said.
	The operations chief at the National Search and Rescue Agency, Suryadi Bambang Supriyadi, said the divers spotted some more bodies inside the fuselage.
	"Today we have evacuated six bodies from inside the fuselage," Supriyadi said. "Some other bodies are still there but their position among other debris made it difficult for our divers."
	A total of 65 bodies have now been recovered from AirAsia Flight 8501, which crashed Dec 28 with 162 people on board while flying from Surabaya, Indonesia's second largest city, to Singapore. Authorities believe many of the other bodies are still inside the fuselage.
	Rescuers have been struggling with strong currents and poor visibility in an attempt to lift the fuselage of the Airbus A320 and what appears to be the plane's cockpit from the seabed at a depth of 30 ..

Divers enter crashed AirAsia plane's fuselage for first time

Militants affiliated with the Islamic State group have posted an online warning that the "countdown has begun" for the group to kill a pair of Japanese hostages.
	The posting which appeared today shows a clock counting down to zero along with gruesome images of other hostages who have been beheaded by the Islamic State group.
	The militant group gave Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe a 72-hour deadline which expired today to pay a USD 200 million ransom for the two hostages. The posting on a forum popular among Islamic State militants and sympathisers did not show any images of the Japanese hostages.
	In the past the website has posted Islamic State group videos very quickly, sometimes before anyone else. Nippon Television Network first reported the message in Japan.
	The status of efforts to free the two men was unclear.
	Government spokesman Yoshihide Suga, when asked about the latest message, said Japan was analysing it.
	"The situation remains severe but we are doing everything ..

IS-linked militants say countdown for Japan's hostages began

A letter from a wealthy survivor of the Titanic grumbling about "disgraceful" treatment in the press has sold at auction for USD 11,875.
	The Boston-based RR Auction house says the May 1912 letter written by aristocratic fashion designer Lady Lucile Duff-Gordon sold yesterday.
	The buyer's identity was not disclosed.
	Duff-Gordon and her husband were among a dozen people who survived in a lifeboat built for 40.
	Tabloids dubbed it the "Money Boat" because her husband was said to have bribed the crew to row away faster from the sinking ship. The Duff-Gordons were cleared by the British Wreck Commissioner's inquiry.
	Lady Duff-Gordon was upset at media coverage and wrote to a friend: "We didn't seem to have done the right thing in being saved at all! Isn't it disgraceful.

Letter from Titanic survivor sells for USD 11,875 at auction

Republican supporters of Gov Bobby Jindal have created a fund raising committee to back a possible 2016 presidential campaign by the Louisiana governor.
	Paperwork setting up the political action committee, called Believe Again PAC, was filed yesterday with the Federal Election Commission, according to Brad Todd. Todd is a consultant for the new committee and co-founder of Jindal's political advisers OnMessage Inc.
	The committee, known as a Super PAC, or political action committee, will be able to raise unlimited amounts of money to help Jindal but won't be able to coordinate with him directly.
	The first Indian-American governor in the US, Jindal's second term ends next year. He can't run for re-election because of term limits.

Committee created to boost Bobby Jindal presidential bid

Saudi Arabia's new king, Salman bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud, is a veteran of the country's top leadership, versed in diplomacy from nearly 50 years as the governor of the capital Riyadh and known as a mediator of disputes within the sprawling royal family.
	Salman, 79, had increasingly taken on the duties of the king over the past year as his ailing predecessor and half-brother, Abdullah, became more incapacitated. Abdullah died before dawn today at 90 years old.
	Salman had served as defence minister since 2011 and so was head of the military as Saudi Arabia joined the United States and other Arab countries in carrying out airstrikes in Syria in 2014 against the Islamic State, the Sunni militant group that the kingdom began to see as a threat to its own stability.
	He takes the helm at a time when the ultraconservative Muslim kingdom and oil powerhouse is trying to navigate social pressures from a burgeoning youth population - over half the population of 20 million is under 25 - seeking ..

Saudi's new king, Salman, a force for unity in royal family

With the Ebola outbreak weakening in West Africa, Sierra Leone eased restrictions on movement and commercial activity today even as the president warned that the fight against the deadly disease is not yet over.
	The outbreak has sickened more than 21,000 people, nearly half of them in Sierra Leone. But the number of new infections is now falling in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia, the three most affected countries.
	President Ernest Bai Koroma announced in a national broadcast that, starting Friday, the country would lift all district quarantines and extend business hours on Saturdays. Koroma said that while people must remain vigilant, easing the restrictions would jump-start the economic recovery.
	In addition to its human toll, Ebola has hammered the economies of the three most affected West African nations, including cutting people off from their farms, shutting markets and hampering the movement of goods.
	Sierra Leone plans to reopen schools in March, and Koroma also outlined .

Sierra Leone eases blocks on travel, business as Ebola wanes

His changes looked minute to the outside world. But in a kingdom where ultra-conservative Muslim clerics have long held a lock on all aspects of society, King Abdullah's incremental reforms echoed mightily.
	When Abdullah took the unprecedented step of opening a new university where men and women could mix in classrooms, part of his gradual campaign to modernize Saudi Arabia, grumbling arose among the hard-liners who form the bedrock of the powerful religious establishment. One sheikh dared to openly say that the mingling of genders at the king's university was "a great sin and a great evil."
	Abdullah sent a tough signal: He fired the critic from the state-run body of clerics who set the rules for Saudi life.
	As one of the world's largest oil exporters, Saudi Arabia is governed by a mix of tribal traditions and perhaps the world's strictest interpretation of Islam. Its royal family prefers to act quietly in the background, shies away from direct confrontation, avoids putting itself .

King Abdullah a gradual modernizer in Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia's new king promised today to continue the policies of his predecessors in a nationally televised speech, taking control of the kingdom after the death of its 90-year-old ruler.
	King Salman bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud's comments come as the oil-rich Sunni kingdom began mourning King Abdullah, who died early today after nearly two decades in power.
	"We will continue adhering to the correct policies which Saudi Arabia has followed since its establishment," Salman said in the speech aired on the state-run Saudi 2 television station.
	Salman also made an oblique reference to the chaos gripping the greater Middle East as the extremist Islamic State group now holds a third of both Iraq and Syria.
	"The Arab and the Islamic nations are in dire need for solidarity and cohesion," the king said.
	Salman, 79, had increasingly taken on the duties of the king over the past year as his ailing predecessor and half brother, Abdullah, became more incapacitated.
	Salman had served as defence ..

New Saudi king promises to continue predecessors' policies

Russian-backed separatists in east Ukraine say 24 of their fighters have been killed in a rocket attack on the recently captured airport outside their main stronghold city of Donetsk.
	Rebel defense spokesman Eduard Basurin said the terminal was targeted by Ukrainian government forces today with Uragan multiple rocket launchers.
	The separatist seizure ofthe virtually obliterated airport this week after months of bitter battles was a major blow for beleaguered Ukrainian offensives in the east.
	Diplomats from Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany met this week to thrash out a tentative dividing line from which the warring sides would pull back their heavy weapons.
	Separatists have warned, however, that they intend to continue their advances and take more territory.

Ukraine rebels say 24 fighters killed by rockets at airport

Marcus J. Borg, a prominent liberal theologian who attracted praise and controversy by helping to lead efforts to analyze Jesus as a historical figure, has died at age 72.
	Borg died Wednesday at his home in Portland, Oregon, according to his publisher, HarperOne. The publisher announced Thursday that Borg had been suffering from idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a scarring or thickening of the lungs that makes it difficult to breathe.
	A popular speaker, frequent television commentator and the author or co-author of more than 20 books, Borg was among a group of scholars known as the Jesus Seminar that emerged in the 1980s and offered a skeptical look at the accounts of his life in the Gospels.

Liberal theologian Marcus Borg dead at 72

Tech specialists and companies are reporting that China is blocking VPN services that let users skirt online censorship of popular websites such as Google and Facebook.
	The virtual private network provider Golden Frog wrote on its blog that the controls have hit a wide swath of VPN services. Another provider, Astrill, informed its users that the controls have started hitting iPhone access to services such as Gmail this year.
	The Chinese government blocks thousands of websites to prevent what it deems politically sensitive information from reaching Chinese users. Many foreigners in China as well as millions of Chinese depend on VPNs to connect to servers outside the country and access blocked information.
	China-based entrepreneur Richard Robinson said the controls have particularly hurt small- and medium-sized foreign companies.

China blocks VPN services that skirt online censorship

Police say they have arrested a deputy head from Indonesia's top corruption-fighting body, days after the official said a national police chief hopeful was a graft suspect.
	Police spokesman Ronny Franky Sompie said today that Bambang Widjojanto, 55, one of the Corruption Eradication Commission deputies, was arrested for alleged false testimony when he was dealing with a regional election dispute as a lawyer in 2010.
	Two weeks ago, President Joko Widodo nominated Lt. Gen. Budi Gunawan as National Police chief, but a day before parliament held a confirmation hearing on his nomination the commission declared him a graft suspect. Parliament still endorsed his nomination.
	The case is seen as a test of Widodo's commitment to reform after being elected in July, largely on the back of his clean image.

AP

AP

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