A centrist US think tank today urged President Barack Obama to ramp up efforts to win support for a pan-Pacific trade pact, saying without it Asian nations will be skeptical of the administration's foreign policy pivot toward the region.
	The Center for Strategic and International Studies said if Obama can work with Republicans and address divisions within his own Democratic party over the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, legislation to facilitate the pact could be passed midyear, enabling TPP's conclusion this fall.
	Since the November elections that saw Democrats lose control of the Senate, Republican party leaders have identified trade as a potential area of cooperation with Obama, but divisive politics and strong opposition to TPP among many Democrats and labor unions still stand in the way of a deal.
	It would create the largest free-trade area in which the United States participates.
	In a year-ahead look at US policy toward Asia, the think tank said in a report that more ...

Obama urged to push harder for pan-Pacific trade pact

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Democrat Jerry Brown made history today when he was sworn in for his fourth term as the governor of California.
	The 76-year-old governor challenged the state, already a leader with far-reaching environmental laws, to set new goals for 2030 and beyond.
	In the next 15 years, he proposed the state increase renewable electricity sources from one-third to 50 percent, reduce petroleum use in vehicles by 50 percent and double the efficiency of existing buildings.
	He called on Republicans and Democrats to tackle the state's infrastructure needs and implement education, health care and public safety reforms.
	Jerry Brown held office from 1975 to 1983 before term limits and returned for a third term in 2011. He defeated Republican challenger Neel Kashkari in a landslide re-election victory in November.
	To date, Brown and Republican Earl Warren are the only California governors to serve three terms. Warren was elected to his third term in 1951 and resigned in 1953 to serve on the US Supreme .

California governor sworn in for record fourth term

Two prospects from the US Ski Team were killed in an avalanche today while skiing near their European training base in the Austrian Alps.
	The US ski team said Ronnie Berlack, 20, and Bryce Astle, 19, died in the incident near the Rettenbach glacier near Soelden, the venue for the annual season-opening World Cup races.
	Berlack, from Franconia, New Hampshire, and Astle, from Sandy, Utah, were part of a group of six skiers who were descending from the 3,056-meter Gaislachkogel when they left the prepared slope and apparently set off the avalanche.
	The other four skied out of the slide and escaped unhurt.
	Officials in the Tyrolean region said an avalanche alert had been declared for the area after days of heavy snowfall and mild temperatures.
	"Ronnie and Bryce were both outstanding ski racers who were passionate about their sport, both on the race course and skiing the mountain," US Ski and Snowboard Association
	President and CEO Tiger Shaw said. "Our hearts go out to the Berlack ...

2 US ski team prospects die in avalanche in Austria

Italian singer, songwriter and guitarist Pino Daniele, whose fusion of blues, jazz, rock and traditional Neapolitan music was heavily inspired by both the beauty and ugliness of his native Naples, has died. He was 59.
	Carlo Saitto, an official at Sant'Eugenio hospital in Rome, told Italian state TV that Daniele died yesterday night after arriving with grave cardiac and respiratory problems.
	Daniele had a history of heart trouble.
	Daniele was so identified with Naples that its mayor ordered flags flown at half-staff. Yet his style was also in constant evolution, as he experimented endlessly with blues and jazz.
	His voice, sexy, bordering on hoarse, alternately soaring or soft, was a distinctive vehicle for songs that often mixed the Neapolitan dialect with Italian and even English.
	One signature song, riffing on the dialect word for Naples, was "Napule E'", a loving tribute to the city's fascinating contradictions. Its opening lyrics, in Neapolitan, speak of the city's thousand ...

Naples musician who mixed blues, jazz, love for city, dies

Buoyed by a resurgent economy, holiday sales, cheap gasoline and a love affair with pickup trucks, Americans headed to car dealers in droves last month, pushing full-year sales to what's likely to be the highest level since 2006.
	Toyota, Fiat Chrysler, Nissan, Honda and General Motors all reported strong December and annual US sales early today, with Nissan and Honda hitting record numbers for the year. Ford faltered but remained the top-selling brand in the US last year.
	The figures pointed to a strong finish for 2014. Analysts are predicting sales of 16.5 million vehicles, up 6 percent from last year and a return to pre-recession levels. And Americans are expected to continue buying cars in big numbers this year.
	Sales are forecast to reach 17 million for the first time since 2005, close to the record of 17.3 million set in 2000.
	While sales will grow this year, they will grow at a slower pace than the double-digit increases the country saw in 2011 and 2012, when the industry ...

Carmakers finish strong in 2014; are even better days ahead?

Rio de Janeiro's military police officials say the commander of an elite division of riot police has been dismissed.
	In a brief statement today, the military police said Col. Fabio Almeida de Souza has been replaced.
	It didn't provide the reason for Souza's dismissal, but news reports say he is suspected of participating in a WhatsApp chat among officers in which they allegedly praised Nazism.
	He's also suspected of allegedly defending the use of violence against protesters during the demonstrations that swept Brazil in 2013.
	G1 internet portal cites Rio state's top security official, Jose Mariano Beltrame, as saying he was "horrified" by the messages in the chat and is seeking a police investigation into Souza.
	Beltrame was speaking at the swearing-in ceremony of Rio's re-elected governor, Luiz Fernando Pezao.

Top Brazil cop dismissed, allegedly over pro-Nazi chat

Burundi's government says 97 people have been killed in fighting which broke out between a rebel group and government soldiers.
	Army spokesman Col Gaspard Baratuza said today that 95 of those killed were members of a rebel group that entered the Central African country from bordering Congo. He said two government soldiers had also been killed in the fighting that started a week ago. Nine rebels were arrested.
	Baratuza said the group is yet to be identified. He said the military buried the bodies of the rebels in the gardens of residents some 60 kilometers northwest of the Burundi capital, Bujumbura.
	Burundi's government released the information after Civil Society Organization in the country accused the government forces of 'summarily' executing unarmed captured rebels.
	The government denied the accusations.

97 people killed in Burundi fighting between troops, rebels

The World Health Organization says at least 8,153 people have died in the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.
	The Geneva-based body said Monday that the total number of confirmed, probable and suspected deaths from the disease comes from 20,656 cases in the three most affected countries a mortality rate of 39 percent.
	The UN health agency says 2,915 deaths have been reported from Sierra Leone, 3,471 in Liberia and 1,767 in Guinea. The current outbreak, which began about a year ago, has also claimed more than dozen lives elsewhere.
	The Ebola virus causes a form of hemorrhagic fever and is transmitted through bodily fluids such as blood, vomit or feces.

UN: Ebola kills 8,153 people in West Africa, infects 20,650

Police are investigating the theft of a bronze plaque from a monument at Mark Twain's gravesite in upstate New York.
	The superintendent of Woodlawn Cemetery in Elmira said today the 12-by-12-inch likeness of the American writer was likely stolen between Christmas and New Year's Day.
	The plaque showing Twain's image was one of two on a 12-foot-tall, 78-year-old granite monument commissioned by Twain's daughter Clara. The other plaque, of Clara's husband, was untouched.
	Twain was born Samuel Langhorne Clemens and grew up in Hannibal, Missouri.
	The author of such classics as "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" and "Tom Sawyer" married Olivia Langdon of Elmira and had a summer home in the upstate city.
	He died in 1910 and was buried in the Langdon family plot at Woodlawn.

Mark Twain plaque stolen from monument at New York gravesite

China has scrapped its export quotas for rare earths, minerals used in mobile phones and other high-tech products, after losing a World Trade Organization case brought by Washington and other trading partners over controls that alarmed global technology producers.
	The change was included in the Ministry of Commerce's trade guidelines for 2015 but there was no separate announcement. Under the new guidelines, rare earths will require an export license but the amount that can be sold abroad will no longer be covered by a quota.
	China's curbs, imposed in 2009, prompted concern about supplies for global technology producers. They led to efforts to reopen or develop new mines in the United States and elsewhere, and by Japan and some other countries to recycle rare earths.
	China has about 30 per cent of global deposits of rare earths but accounts for more than 90 per cent of production. It imposed export limits while it tried to build up domestic manufacturers to capture more of the ...

China eases controls on rare earths after WTO complaint

More than two dozen homes have been destroyed or badly damaged and almost 30 people have sought medical treatment as a result of a massive wildfire that has raged out of control for days across farms and woodland in southern Australia, officials said today.
	Hundreds of fire fighters have taken advantage of milder conditions in recent days to attempt to contain the fire which has razed 12,500 hectares (31,000 acres) of countryside in hills northwest of the South Australia state capital Adelaide, State Premier Jay Weatherill said.
	Since the fire started Friday, 29 people had been injured or hospitalized with conditions such a severe asthma, he said.
	The only serious injury was a farmer who suffered suspected spinal injuries protecting his property, Network Ten television news reported.
	Recovery teams had found 26 houses destroyed or badly damaged as well as more than more 40 scorched barns and sheds, Weatherill said.
	The Country Fire Service said in a statement the fire had not ...

Australian wildfire razes 26 homes, 29 people seek treatment

An Israel-based rights organization says it has filed a war crimes complaint against three top Palestinian leaders it accuses of terrorism, torture and civil rights violations.
	The Shurat HaDin Law Center filed the complaint today at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, The Netherlands, against PLO leaders Jibril Rajoub, Majid Faraj and Rami Hamdallah, the current Palestinian prime minister.
	The suit follows similar complaints the group previously filed against Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
	The move appears to be a longshot as the court receives thousands of such requests and rarely takes action. But it comes a week after the Palestinians announced they would be joining the international court to pursue war-crimes charges against Israel.
	The Palestinians had no immediate comment to the allegations.

Israeli group files war crimes claim against Palestinians

Fighter jets dispatched by Libya's internationally recognised government bombed a Greek-owned tanker ship at an eastern city controlled by Islamist extremists today, killing two crew members and wounding two, Libyan and Greek officials said.
	The bombing highlights the chaos that's gripped Libya since its 2011 civil war that deposed and killed dictator Moammar Gadahfi. Libyan officials apologized for the bombing as the Greek Foreign Ministry demanded compensation for the victims' families and punishment for those behind the attack.
	Libyan military spokesman Ahmed al-Mesmari said jets struck the Liberian-flagged Araevo twice in Darna before his government learned the vessel was commissioned by the local power station. Darna is a base for Islamic extremists who have pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group.
	"We had no information (about the tanker). We treated it as a dangerous and suspicious target that threatens national security," al-Mesmari told The Associated Press. "We ...

Libyan fighter jets bomb Greek tanker ship, killing 2

Thousands of police turned their backs on Mayor Bill de Blasio at the second funeral for an officer gunned down in his squad car, repeating a stinging display of scorn for a mayor who many officers say is anti-police.
	New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and Police Commissioner William Bratton eulogised Officer Wenjian Liu yesterday as an incarnation of the American dream: a man who had emigrated from China at age 12 and devoted himself to helping others in his adopted country.
	The gesture among officers watching the mayor's speech on a screen outside a Brooklyn funeral home added to tensions between de Blasio and rank-and-file police even as he sought to mollify them.
	Police union leaders have said he contributed to an environment that allowed the officers' slayings by supporting protests following the police killings of unarmed black men in New York City and Ferguson, Missouri.
	"Let us move forward by strengthening the bonds that unite us, and let us work together to attain ...

Thousands of police turn their backs on NYC mayor

Syria's western-backed opposition group has elected a new leader, who announced today that his group is not yet willing to go to peace talks in Moscow.
	Khalid Khoja was elected president in a close vote late yesterday during a three-day meeting in Istanbul of the National Coalition.
	The coalition is seen as separate from the military opposition fighting President Bashar al Assad but it is involved in talks with international negotiators looking for ways to end the civil war that has left more than 200,000 dead.
	Khoja replaces Hadi al Bahra, who did not run for re-election.
	The meeting comes amid a push by Russia, a key supporter of Assad, to try to bring the Syrian government and the opposition together in Moscow for talks.
	Russia has said the first stage of talks would include members of both the government-tolerated internal opposition and opposition groups based abroad, including the coalition.
	In the next stage, they would be joined by Syrian government representatives.
	At .

Syria's western-backed opposition elects new leader

A 70-year-old hedge fund founder has been found shot dead inside his Manhattan apartment.
	Thomas Gilbert was shot in the head at his Beekman Place residence on the East Side yesterday, police said. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
	Police were questioning his 30-year-old son, Thomas Gilbert, Jr, today. No charges have been filed.
	It was not immediately known if he had a lawyer.
	Police said a handgun was found near the body. The elder Gilbert founded Wainscott Capital Partners Fund in 2011.
	The fund, which focuses on biotech and health care industries, has USD 200 million in assets.
	Industry publication Hedge Fund Alert said in an August 2013 article that the fund had a net return of nearly 25 percent in 2012.
	Gilbert previously co-founded Syzygy Therapeutics, a biotech asset acquisition fund. He also was founder and CEO of an online teacher-education company called Knowledge Delivery Systems Inc.
	He was a graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Business School.
	The ...

Hedge fund founder, 70, slain in New York City apartment

Highlighting the depth of Indonesia's air safety problems, the transportation ministry announced harsh measures today against everyone who allowed AirAsia Flight 8501 to take off without proper permits including the suspension of the airport's operator and officials in the control tower.
	The routing permits of all airlines flying in the country also will be examined to see if they are violating the rules, said Djoko Murjatmodjo, acting director general of air transportation.
	"Who knows if other airlines are also doing the same thing," he said.
	The crackdown comes as searchers continue to fight bad weather while combing the Java Sea for bodies and wreckage of the Airbus A320 that crashed Dec. 28, killing all 162 passengers and crew on board.
	The plane was traveling between Surabaya, Indonesia's second-largest city, and Singapore on a Sunday. Officials have since said its permit for the popular route was only for Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, and that AirAsia quietly ...

Indonesia cracks down on aviation sector after AirAsia crash

Tunisia's largest political party today chose an ex-interior minister with a long history with the old regime as its candidate for prime minister.
	Habib Essid, 65, who has a month to form a coalition and name a Cabinet, occupied several posts under former dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, including in the Interior Ministry, which manages the police.
	After the revolution that overthrew Ben Ali in 2011, he was the interior minister in one of the transitional governments.
	Tunisia completed its political transition with a string of elections in the final months of 2014, with the most votes going to Nida Tunis, a party that includes many members of the old regime and has promised stability after a transition marked by unrest.
	President Beji Caid Essebsi, who formed the party, was inaugurated last week and is another veteran of the pre-revolutionary system. He received Essid Monday and tasked him with forming a new government.
	Nida Tunis must form a coalition with several other parties 

Tunisia names old regime veteran to form new government

Thousands of Germans are expected to demonstrate in four cities against weekly anti-Islam rallies that have attracted growing numbers of supporters.
     They are opposing a group calling itself Patriotic Europeans against the Islamisation of the West, or PEGIDA, which planned another rally today night in the eastern city of Dresden.
	The crowds at PEGIDA's demonstrations have swelled from a few hundred in October to 17,500 in December, and organisers said similar numbers are expected again. A counter- demonstration was also planned in Dresden.
	In Cologne, where 500 PEGIDA sympathisers were to rally, the leaders of the city's cathedral said they will turn off its exterior lighting to leave the rally in the dark. Two thousand counter-protesters are also expected.
	Another 10,000 anti-PEGIDA protesters are expected in Berlin, and 5,000 in Stuttgart.

Protests in 4 German cities against anti-Islam rallies

Boko Haram Islamic extremists have overpowered a multinational military force and seized its key base on Nigeria's border with Chad, according to residents who took to canoes to escape.
	Scores of soldiers and civilians were killed, while others drowned in Lake Chad, Nigerians taking refuge in a Chadian village said in cell phone calls Sunday night. They said insurgents fired rocket-propelled grenades and automatic assault rifles and hurled explosives.
	"They came in their hundreds driving several Hilux patrol vehicles, trucks and some were on motorcycles and immediately began to throw explosives and bombs," fisherman Audu Labbo told The Associated Press.
	He and others reached by phone Sunday night said the troops from Nigeria and its neighbors Chad, Cameroon and Niger fought on Saturday until they ran out of ammunition. Details on the attack were slow getting out of the remote area.
	Some soldiers removed their uniforms and threw away their rifles, Labbo said.
	A senior security ...

Extremists seize multinational base on Nigeria-Chad border

The bodies of two crew members of the Norwegian cargo ship which sank off the coast of southern Vietnam have been identified as the captain and deputy captain, state media reported today.
	The Thanh Nien (Young People) said the bodies of captain Ronel Acueza Andrin and deputy captain Jerome Maquilang Dincy were brought to southern province of Ba Ria Vung Tau yesterday.
	Their ship, the Bulk Jupiter, sank with 19 Philippino crew members on Friday en route from Malaysia to China, and Vietnamese rescuers aided by commercial ships passing through the area continued to search for the others, according to Vietnamese authorities and the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs.
	The ship's chief cook, Angelito Capindo Rojas, is the only known survivor.
	Rojas told officials that he had no idea what happened with the ship.
	"I don't understand why the ship had the accident and sank," he was quoted as saying "I just knew that the ship, which was on its way, suddenly tilted. I just had time to .

AP

AP

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