Filmmaker Roman Polanski has been questioned by a prosecutor in Poland concerning a US request for his extradition on 1977 sex charges, an official said today.
	Boguslawa Marcinkowska, spokeswoman for the prosecutor's office in Krakow, southern Poland, said the prosecutor questioned the director late yesterday and was writing a report for the court that will decide whether to extradite Polanski.
	She refused to divulge any details of the questioning. In line with Poland's privacy laws, she identified Polanski only as Roman P.
	The Oscar-winning filmmaker is in Poland preparing for a movie he wants to film here in July.
	His movements are restricted by an Interpol warrant in effect in 188 countries, but he is avoiding extradition by traveling only between France, Poland and Switzerland, which in 2010 refused to extradite him. He has Polish and French passports.
	He said today he believes he will not be extradited.
	Last year, Krakow prosecutors refused a US request to arrest Polanski, .

Prosecutor probes Roman Polanski on US extradition motion

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The world's newest jetliner, the Airbus A350, took to the skies today carrying its first paying passengers from the Gulf Arab nation of Qatar.
	The Qatar Airways flight departed the Qatari capital Doha bound for Frankfurt, Germany. It marks the debut of the relatively lightweight, twin-aisle, long-range plane, which promises to connect smaller cities with major aviation hubs nonstop at a cheaper cost for airlines.
	For passengers, the new plane offers wider panoramic windows and larger overhead storage space plus the ability to limit connections.
	The A350 is the third and final major new aircraft in a decade. First there was the double-decker Airbus A380, which debuted in October 2007. It's the world's largest passenger jet, designed to carry up to 525 passengers between some of the largest cities on the planet.
	Then came the lightweight Boeing 787, which carried its first passengers in October 2011. Thanks to its lower operating costs, the jet, marketed by Boeing as the Dreamliner, 

World's newest airliner begins first commercial flight

Both Oklahoma and Florida states plan to execute death row inmates today with a three-drug method that has been challenged in court for creating a risk of unconstitutional pain and suffering.
	Oklahoma prison officials ordered new medical equipment, more extensive training for staff and renovated the execution chamber inside the Oklahoma State Penitentiary to prevent the kind of problems that arose during the execution of Clayton Lockett in April.
	Lockett writhed on the gurney, moaned and tried to lift his head after he'd been declared unconscious, prompting prison officials to try to halt his execution before he died.
	Attorneys for the state say a failed intravenous line and a lack of training led to the problems with Lockett's injection, not the drugs.
	Critics argue the sedative midazolam is ineffective in rendering a person properly unconscious before the second and third drugs are administered.
	Charles Frederick Warner, the 47-year-old Oklahoma inmate scheduled to die today, ..

Oklahoma to resume executions after 9-month delay

A 21-year-old Florida man accused of conspiring to aid al-Qaida and traveling to the Middle East to join terrorist groups has been sentenced to 20 years in prison.
	The US Attorney's Office in Jacksonville reports that Shelton Thomas Bell was sentenced Wednesday. He pleaded guilty last year to conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists and attempting to provide material support to terrorists.
	Authorities say Bell planned to join Ansar Al-Sharia, which is an alias for al-Qaida. The group has taken responsibility for attacks on Yemeni forces, including a suicide bombing during a parade in May 2012. That attack killed more than 100 Yemeni soldiers.
	Investigators say Bell participated in physical, firearms and other training in Florida to prepare for armed conflict. In September 2012, Bell and a juvenile went to Amman, Jordan, and made contact with someone who investigators said could help them travel to Yemen to participate in violent jihad, according to the indictment. The ..

Florida man gets 20 years for terrorism charges

Three bodies were discovered in a clandestine grave at a gang-dominated teen lockup and are believed to be inmates previously thought to have escaped, Honduran authorities have said.
	The dismembered corpses were unearthed yesterday near a perimeter wall at the Renacimiento Center for the Rehabilitation of Minors, criminal investigations chief Ricardo Castro told reporters.
	The wall separates the juvenile detention facility from the country's only women's prison. The facilities are about 12 miles (20 kilometers) north of the capital of Tegucigalpa.
	One of the bodies has already been identified as an inmate who disappeared a year ago and was reported as a fugitive, Castro said. Forensic tests were continuing, and authorities were looking for more possible graves.
	"We are checking the entire grounds of Renacimiento, especially the wettest parts and where there are signs of recently disturbed soil," Castro said.
	More than 160 inmates ages 12 to 18 are housed at Renacimiento, most of .

3 bodies found in clandestine grave at Honduras youth lockup

Wicketkeeper-batsman Morne van Wyk hit an unbeaten century and allrounder David Wiese took a five-wicket haul as South Africa crushed the West Indies by 69 runs in the third Twenty20 international at Kingsmead today.
	Chris Gayle had led the West Indies to victory in the opening two matches of the three-match series, but with the hard-hitting batsman absent due to a back problem the Proteas comfortably avoided a series whitewash.
	Van Wyk, who finished with 114, shared in a century stand with Reeza Hendricks for the first wicket to set South Africa on its way to 195 for three in 20 overs.
	Lendl Simmons' 49 was the best that the West Indies could manage in reply, as Wiese's 5-23 helped to bowl it out for 126.

South Africa beats West Indies by 69 runs in 3rd ODI

The world's oceans are now rising far faster than they did in the past, a new study says.
	The study found that for much of the 20th century until about 1990 sea level was about 30 per cent less than earlier research had figured. But that's not good news, scientists say, because about 25 years ago the seas started rising faster and the acceleration in 1990 turns out to be more dramatic than previously calculated.
	The current sea level rise rate which started in 1990 is 2.5 times faster than it was from 1900 to 1990, according to a study published today in the journal Nature.
	Scientists say that faster pace of sea level rise is from melting ice sheets in Greenland and West Antarctica and shrinking glaciers, triggered by man-made global warming.
	"We're seeing a significant acceleration in the past few decades," said study lead author Carling Hay, a geophysical researcher at Harvard University. "It's concerning for cities along the US East Coast" where water levels are rising even ...

Study: Sea level rise accelerating more than once thought

Costa Rican authorities have seized a boat carrying some 1,800 pounds (810 kilograms) of cocaine off the country's central Pacific coast.
	Public Security Minister Celso Gamboa says a US surveillance plane detected the suspicious vessel yesterday afternoon and notified the Costa Rican Coast Guard, which captured it about 40 miles (60 kilometers) from the city of Quepos.
	Gamboa said today that the 30-foot (9-meter), Ecuador- flagged boat was piloted by five suspects who tossed part of the cargo overboard. Authorities recovered 41 bundles of cocaine.
	The suspects were detained. They include three Colombians and two Costa Ricans, one of whom has a criminal record for extortion and aggravated robbery.
	Traffickers have increasingly been using Costa Rica to smuggle US-bound drugs.

Costa Rica seizes 1,800 pounds of cocaine in Pacific Ocean

A Washington Post journalist detained in Iran for months has been indicted and will stand trial, Iran's state news agency reported today, without elaborating on what charges he faced.
	The report by the official IRNA news agency came the same day as US Secretary of State John Kerry met with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif before talks with world powers resume over the Islamic Republic's contested nuclear program.
	It wasn't immediately clear if the two events were connected, though Zarif earlier said he hoped the case against reporter Jason Rezaian could be "resolved."
	"We will have to wait for the judiciary to move forward, but we will try to provide all the humanitarian assistance that we could," Zarif told journalists in Geneva.
	"We hope that this issue could be resolved but unfortunately there are judicial issues involved which the judiciary has to deal with."
	IRNA quoted Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dowlatabadi saying Rezaian, the newspaper's bureau chief in ...

Report: Detained Washington Post journalist indicted in Iran

Federal regulators have approved an appetite-suppressing implant designed to treat obesity by zapping nerves that connect the stomach and the brain.
	The Maestro Rechargeable System uses electrodes implanted in the abdomen to stimulate the vagus nerve, which signals to the brain that the stomach is empty or full. Patients and doctors can adjust the device settings using external controllers.
	Shares of EnteroMedics rose in trading today after the Food and Drug Administration said it approved the device for certain patients who are severely obese. It's the first medical device approved for obesity since the agency's 2007 approval of a gastric band from Ethicon.
	The FDA approved the device for patients 18 and older who have been unable to lose weight via a supervised weight-loss program and have a body mass index of 35 to 40 with one other obesity-related health condition, such as diabetes.
	BMI is an estimate of body fat based on weight and height. Someone who is 5-foot-9 would be ...

FDA approves appetite-zapping implant for obese patients

At least 10 people were killed today when a bus carrying state prisoners skidded off an icy highway overpass in Texas, slid down an embankment and collided with a passing train, a county sheriff said.
	The overpass on an interstate highway was slick with ice today morning when the Texas Department of Criminal Justice bus left the roadway just west of Odessa, according to Ector County Sheriff Mark Donaldson.
	The Texas Department of Criminal Justice said in a statement that eight prisoners and two corrections officers were killed.
	Donaldson said five injured people were taken to a hospital. A spokeswoman for Medical Center Hospital in Odessa did not have information on the severity of those injuries. Justice department spokesman Jason Clark said the bus was carrying 12 prisoners and three corrections officers to the Sanchez prison in El Paso.
	The white bus came to rest on its side, crumpled with heavy damage to its top and undercarriage.

At least 10 killed when prison bus strikes train in Texas

A prosecutor investigating Argentina's worst terrorist attack is accusing President Cristina Fernandez of reaching a deal with Iran to avoid punishing those responsible.
	The 1994 bombing of the Argentine-Israeli Mutual Association in downtown Buenos Aires remains unsolved, but Argentina and Iran reached an agreement in 2013 to investigate the attack.
	In a statement released today, Argentine Prosecutor Alberto Nisman accused Fernandez and other senior officials of agreeing not to punish at least two former Iranian officials in the case. He asked a judge to call the president and others for questioning.
	The prosecutor in 2013 released an indictment accusing Iran and Hezbollah of organising the attack.
	A federal judge must decide whether to hear the complaint and whether anyone should be called in for questioning.

Argentine prosecutor: President allowed impunity in bombing

NASA evacuated astronauts from its side of the International Space Station today after an alarm indicated a possible toxic leak.
	Officials later said a false sensor reading or computer problem likely set off the alarm, rather than an actual leak of ammonia coolant.
	"No signs of a leak," NASA said via Twitter. "Controllers are assessing."
	In the meantime, the six crew members huddled safely on the Russian side of the orbiting outpost, as Mission Control analyzed the data through the morning.
	"Hey everybody, thanks for your concern," Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti said in a tweet. "We're all safe & doing well in the Russian segment."
	The scare occurred around 4 am EST, well into the station crew's workday.
	As alarms blared, the astronauts followed emergency procedures in turning off non-essential US equipment, taking cover in the Russian quarters, then sealing the hatches between the US and Russian sides.
	NASA said because of the possibility of leaking liquid ...

NASA evacuates its side of space station, but finds no leak

London's iconic black cabs, under pressure from taxi app Uber and other upstarts, got some good news today: They won't have to share their right to drive in the capital's bus lanes with rivals.
	The city's expensive black cabs benefit from a rule that allows them to move around quickly by using lanes set aside for buses. Rivals, such as Uber cars or cheaper taxis known as minicabs, are banned from the lanes.
	That rule was challenged by private taxi firm Addison Lee, which has long argued that it amounted to unfair state support.
	But a European Union court sided with black cab drivers in a ruling, dismissing arguments that the bus lane policy violated European competition laws.
	The Luxembourg-based European Court of Justice said the policy did not use state resources to confer "a selective economic advantage" on London cabs. It also said that black cabs are not comparable to their rivals, because only black cabs can pick up customers without pre-booking.
	"Drivers of black cabs are .

London black cabs get break over rivals on bus lanes

The House of Representatives has voted to overturn protections for immigrants who came to the US illegally as kids.
	The 218-209 vote today would undo a program President Barack Obama announced in 2012 called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.
	The program has extended work permits and temporary protection from deportations to more than 600,000 immigrants who arrived in the US illegally before they turned 16 and who meet other criteria.
	Some moderates and Republicans with heavily Latino districts opposed the legislation and more than two dozen joined Democrats in voting no.
	The vote came on an amendment to a spending bill for the Department of Homeland Security. Obama has threatened to veto the legislation.

US House votes to overturn protections for young immigrants

General Motors says it expects pretax earnings and profit margins to increase this year over last, after adjusting last year for recall costs.
	The company also predicts improved automotive results in all of its regions. It gave no specific numbers. GM is scheduled to release its fourth-quarter and 2014 earnings on February 4.
	GM also reiterated 2016 financial targets of 10 per cent pretax profit margins in North America and a return to profitability in Europe.
	It also expects to maintain strong profit margins in China. Profit margin is the percentage of revenue that a company gets to keep.
	The company expects 9 per cent to 10 per cent profit margins overall by early next decade.
	GM made the predictions at a Deutsche Bank conference for analysts in Detroit on Thursday.
	GM issued 84 recalls last year covering more than 30 million vehicles in North America, costing the company more than USD 2.8 billion.
	The spate of recalls began with faulty small-car ignition switches that are ...

GM predicts pretax earnings, profit margin rise in 2015

France ordered prosecutors around the country to crack down on hate speech, anti-Semitism and glorifying terrorism, announcing today that 54 people had been arrested for those offenses since terror attacks left 20 dead in Paris last week, including three gunmen.
	The order came as Charlie Hebdo's defiant new issue sold out before dawn around Paris, with scuffles at kiosks over dwindling copies of the satirical newspaper that fronted the Prophet Muhammad anew on its cover.
	France has been tightening security and searching for accomplices since the terror attacks began, but none of the 54 people have been linked to the attacks. That's raising questions about whether President Francois Hollande's Socialist government is impinging on the very freedom of speech that it so vigorously defends when it comes to Charlie Hebdo.
	Among those detained was Dieudonne, a controversial, popular comic with repeated convictions for racism and anti-Semitism.
	Like many European countries, France has ...

France arrests 54 for defending terror; announces crackdown

A small Jewish Ultra-Orthodox newspaper in Israel is making waves internationally for removing German Chancellor Angela Merkel from a photo of last week's Paris march out of modesty.
	World leaders had linked arms to march in Paris against terrorism after Islamic extremists killed 17 people.
	Footage of the march shows German Chancellor Angela Merkel in the front row wedged between French President Francois Hollande and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
	HaMevaser readers could not know that, however, as her picture was digitally removed, leaving Abbas standing next to Hollande.
	Israeli media joked it was meant to bring Abbas closer to Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu, who was standing nearby.
	Within the insular Ultra-Orthodox community, pictures of women are never shown out of modesty.

Israel paper cuts Merkel from Paris march photo for modesty

Yemen's al-Qaeda branch today claimed responsibility for last week's massacre at a Paris satirical newspaper, with one of its top commanders saying the assault was in revenge for the weekly's publications of controversial cartoons.
	The claim came in a video posting by Nasr al-Ansi, a top commander of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which appeared on the group's Twitter account.
	The video was the group's official claim of the assault on the Charlie Hebdo offices, although a member of AQAP, as the branch is known, last Friday first confirmed to The Associated Press that the branch had carried out the attack.
	In the 11-minute video, al-Ansi says the Charlie Hebdo attack, which killed 12 people, including editors, cartoonists and journalists, as well as two police officers was in "revenge for the prophet."
	He said AQAP, as the branch is known, "chose the target, laid out the plan and financed the operation" against the weekly, though he produced no evidence to support the ...

Yemen's al-Qaeda claims responsibility for Paris attack

Iran has condemned Charlie Hebdo's new issue as "provocative" and says the new cartoon by the weekly is an insult to Islam and the Prophet Muhammad.
	Foreign ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham says that today's publication of the paper featuring another cartoon "provokes the sentiments of Muslims the world over."
	Iran has strongly condemned the deadly assault by two masked gunmen that killed 12 people last week, including much of the weekly's editorial staff and two police officers. Those who survived published an issue with a print run of 3 million, more than 50 times the usual circulation.
	Afkham says last week's attack against the French satirical weekly was against Islam's teaching. But, she says, the latest cartoon is also insulting to the religion.

Iran condemns new Charlie Hebdo issue as 'provocative'

A new format called Fast4, which some have dubbed disco tennis, was again on display Wednesday with a recovering Rafael Nadal happy to be on the dance floor.
     The occasion was the official opening of the newly renovated Margaret Court Arena that will give the Australian Open, which starts on Monday, its third stadium with a retractable roof.
     On Wednesday, 7,500 fans crammed into the arena for a benefit night for the Rafa Nadal Foundation, which assists socially disadvantaged youth.
     It also showcased the Australian-developed Fast4, which features major rule variations to speed up the action for players and fans -- no advantage scoring, lets are played, and the first to win four games wins the set.
     Nadal's 4-1 first-set win against an Australian junior lasted only 17 minutes.
     The often no-nonsense Nadal, introduced to the crowd through a haze of dry-ice smoke and loud music, clearly enjoyed the new format.
     He joked with the spectators on numerous occasions ..

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