The Italian coast guard says two more bodies have been recovered from the Greek ferry fire, bringing the death toll to seven.
	There was no immediate word on where the two bodies were recovered.
	Earlier, authorities found four bodies in the water and the body of one Greek man was recovered Sunday from a lifeboat chute.
	Authorities said that the evacuation was completed in the early afternoon, with a total of 414 people rescued from the ferry boat. The captain was the last to leave.

Italian coast guard lifts Greek ferry fire death toll to 7

PTI Automatic

Two activists charged with insulting Thailand's monarchy because of a play they produced pleaded guilty today to the offence, which carries a punishment of three to 15 years in prison.
	The two, a university student and a recent graduate, were involved in a play performed at Bangkok's Thammasat University in October 2013 about a fictional monarch and his adviser.
	The play, "The Wolf Bride," was performed to mark the anniversary of a successful 1973 anti-dictatorship uprising led by students.
	The military-installed administration that took power from an elected government after a coup in May this year has made defending the monarchy a priority in an effort to ensure stability after 87-year-old King Bhumibol Adulyadej ends his reign.
	In addition to vigorously pursuing prosecutions, it has vowed to seek the return of critics abroad it considers to have insulted the monarchy, a crime known as lese majeste.
	Pawinee Chumsri, the lawyer for Patiwat Saraiyaem and Pornthip Munkong, said ...

Thai theater pair plead guilty to insulting monarchy

Chinese access to Google Inc's email service has been blocked amid government efforts to limit or possibly ban access to the US company's services, which are popular among Chinese who seek to avoid government monitoring.
	Data from Google's Transparency Report show online traffic from China to Gmail fell precipitously on Friday and dropped to nearly zero on Saturday, although there was a tiny pickup today.
	Taj Meadows, a spokesman for Google Asia Pacific, said Google has checked its email service and "there's nothing technically wrong on our end."
	Earl Zmijewski, vice president of data analytics at US-based Internet analysis firm Dyn Research, said his tests showed that China's government had blocked Google IP addresses in Hong Kong used by people on the mainland to access Gmail services.
	Calls to the government regulator, the China Internet Information Office, were unanswered today.
	Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said she did not know about any block but that China ...

Chinese access to Gmail cut, regulators blamed

An Afghan official says four soldiers have been killed while repelling a Taliban attack on an army checkpoint in a volatile region of the southern Helmand province.
	The governor's spokesman Omar Zwak says another three soldiers were wounded in the fighting late yesterday in Sangin district.
	Eight insurgents were killed, he said. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.
	Sangin has seen fierce fighting between government forces and the Taliban in the six months since NATO troops withdrew.
	The US and NATO are formally ending their combat mission this week but will continue to provide training and support to Afghan forces.

Afghan official says 4 soldiers killed in south

Dozens of new Ebola cases have erupted in Liberia, near the border with Sierra Leone, Liberian health officials warned today, marking a setback amid recent improvements.
	The flare-up is due to a number of factors including people going in and out of Liberia and traditional practices such as the washing of bodies, said Liberia's Assistant Health Minister Tolbert Nyenswah.
	Forty-nine cases were reported in in western Grand Cape Mount County between December 1 and 25, Nyenswah told state radio.
	"In a very small population, an increase in the number of (Ebola) cases raises high level of concerns that we need to take very seriously as people of Liberia and people of Grand Cape Mount in particular," he said.
	Nearly 3,400 people have died from Ebola in Liberia over the past year with nearly 8,000 cases total, though health officials say the situation has improved, especially in the capital, Monrovia.
	Sierra Leone, in comparison, has now eclipsed Liberia with more than 9,000 Ebola cases, 

Liberia reports dozens of new Ebola cases on border

A suicide bomber struck a funeral north of Baghdad today, killing at least 10 mourners, officials said.
	The bomber blew himself up inside a funeral tent in a farming area outside the mainly Sunni town of Taji, about 22 kilometers (12 miles) north of Baghdad, a police officer said. Another 20 mourners were wounded, he added.
	The funeral was for the father of two members of pro-government militias, known as Sahwa or Awakening Councils.
	The Sahwa were formed at the height of Iraq's sectarian fighting in 2006 and 2007, and allied with US troops against al-Qaida in Iraq, a precursor to the Islamic State extremist group.
	Two medical officials confirmed the casualty figures, updating a previous toll. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorised to release the information.
	No one has claimed responsibility for attack, but it bore the hallmarks of the Islamic State group, which frequently targets Sunnis allied with the Shiite-led government. The extremist ...

Iraq: Suicide attack on funeral kills 10

Iran held a funeral today for a senior Revolutionary Guard commander who was killed during a battle against the Islamic State extremist group in Iraq.
	State TV said the funeral for Brig Gen Hamid Taqavi was held in a Guard compound in Tehran. He will be buried in his hometown Ahvaz in southwestern Iran tomorrow.
	The Guard said yesterday that Taqavi was "martyred while performing his advisory mission" in Samarra, a town north of Baghdad that is home to a major Shiite shrine. He is the highest ranking Iranian officer known to have been killed abroad since the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, in which he fought.
	Ali Shamkhani, the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, told mourners at the funeral that Taqavi had died defending Iran from extremists, the semi-official Fars news agency reported.
	"Some ask, what is the link between Taqavi and Samarra? The answer is very clear. If Taqavi and his colleagues do not give blood in Samarra, we should give blood" in Iran, he ...

Iran holds funeral for general killed in Iraq

Iraqi officials say a suicide attack on a funeral north of Baghdad killed at least eight mourners.
	A police officer says the suicide bomber blew himself up Monday inside a funeral tent in an agricultural area outside the mainly Sunni town of Taji. Another 20 mourners were wounded.
	Two medical officials confirmed the casualty figures from the attack. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to release the information.
	No one has claimed responsibility for attack, but it bore the hallmarks of the Islamic State group, which frequently targets Sunnis allied with the Shiite-led government.

Iraq: Suicide attack on funeral kills 8

An Indonesian official says objects have been spotted in the sea by a search plane hunting for the missing AirAsia jet.
	Jakarta's Air Force base commander Rear Marshal Dwi Putranto says he was informed today that an Australian Orion aircraft had detected suspicious objects near Nangka island, about 160 kilometres southwest of Pangkalan Bun, near central Kalimantan, or 1,120 kilometres from the location where the plane lost contact.
	"However, we cannot be sure whether it is part of the missing AirAsia plane," Putranto says, "We are now moving in that direction, which is in cloudy conditions.

Australian plane spots objects in sea in AirAsia search area

Press Trust of India

An AirAsia Zest plane with 184 people on board developed a tyre problem in the central Philippine city of Tagbilaran, prompting the airline, which is partly owned by AirAsia Philippines, to cancel the flight, officials said today.
	The incident comes as rescuers search for a missing AirAsia plane that disappeared on a flight from Indonesia to Singapore with 162 on board.
	At least four domestic flights to and from Tagbilaran were cancelled due to the incident yesterday, Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines spokesman Eric Apolonio said.
	The flight had 178 passengers and six crew members.
	The Airbus A320 aircraft's tyre was later fixed, allowing it to resume its flight to the Philippine capital this morning.
	No reason was given for the problem.

AirAsia plane has tyre problem in Philippines

South Korea's Transport Ministry says four officials will be punished for improper conduct during an investigation into a former Korean Air Lines executive who forced a flight to return over a bag of macadamia nuts.
	The ministry said today that the punishment could include dismissals, salary reductions or formal reprimands.
	Earlier this month, then Korean Air executive Cho Hyun-ah forced a plane that was preparing to take off in New York to return to the gate and kicked off the chief flight attendant because she was served nuts in a bag, not on a plate.
	The ministry has been under fire following revelations that some officials leaked information and committed other improper acts during the investigation.

S Korean officials face punishment over nut rage incident

Airline and government officials says that an AirAsia Zest plane developed a tire problem in the central Philippine city of Tagbilaran, prompting the airline, which is partly owned by AirAsia Philippines, to cancel its flight yesterday to Manila with 178 passengers and six crew members, said today.
	The incident comes as rescuers search for a missing AirAsia plane that disappeared on a flight from Indonesia to Singapore with 162 on board.
	Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines spokesman Eric Apolonio said at least four domestic flights to and from Tagbilaran were canceled due to the incident. The Airbus A320 aircraft's tire was later fixed, allowing it to resume its flight to the Philippine capital today morning. No reason was given for the problem.

AirAsia plane has tire problem in Philippines

More than 200 freezing passengers and crew remained trapped on a burning ferry and adrift in rough seas between Italy and Albania today after enduring a second night of smoke, frigid temperatures and gale-force winds awaiting evacuation after fire broke out.
	At least one person died and two were injured in the risky rescue operation.
	The Italian navy said 251 of the 478 people on the ferry, sailing from the Greek port of Patras to Ancona in Italy, had been evacuated by early Monday.
	Most were airlifted by helicopter to other merchant vessels sailing nearby, though a few were flown to hospitals in southern Italy to be treated for hypothermia.
	"Despite the smoke, the dark and the horrible conditions, rescue activities continued without stop throughout the night," Italian navy Capt. Riccardo Rizzotto said, adding that another large Italian navy ship with a helicopter landing pad was headed to the scene to help.
	Greek Merchant Marine Minister Miltiadis Varvitsiotis said 10 merchant ..

Hundreds await evacuation from smoke-filled Greek ferry

Vietnamese police have detained a third blogger in a month in the latest crackdown on dissent in the communist country.
	Blogger Nguyen Dinh Ngoc (48) was taken into custody and his house was searched in the southern commercial hub of Ho Chi Minh City on Saturday. The Ministry of Public Security said in a statement that police were investigating and will deal with Ngoc in accordance with the law, but did not elaborate.
	Over the past month, police in Ho Chi Minh City detained two other bloggers for alleged anti-government postings.
	International human rights groups and some Western governments, including the United States, have criticized Vietnam for jailing people for peacefully expressing their views.
	Hanoi maintains only law breakers are put behind bars.

3rd blogger detained in Vietnam in a month

Security officials and tribal leaders in Yemen say 12 people have been killed in clashes between tribesmen and Shiite rebels north of the capital Sanaa.
	They say Shiite Houthi rebels went to the Arhab district late Saturday to search the home of a tribal chief whom the rebels suspected of being allied with the Sunni Islamist al-Islah party, with which the rebels are at war.
	Clashes erupted when locals resisted the search, leaving nine rebels and three tribesmen dead.
	The officials and tribal leaders say the rebels later destroyed the house, which was believed to be empty. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief reporters.
	The Houthis swept down from their northern stronghold and captured the capital Sanaa in September.

Yemen: 12 killed in clashes north of capital

Saudi Arabia is not planning to trim public salaries, wages and allowances, state-run media has reported, just days after an earlier government statement said efforts were being made to reduce such expenditures in the face of a nearly USD 39 billion deficit that is largely due to falling oil prices.
	The Saudi Press Agency yesterday quoted an unnamed Finance Ministry official as saying there is no validity to comments being made on social media that the government plans to cut wages. The official said that neither Finance Minister Ibrahim al-Assaf nor any other official from the ministry made such statements.
	On Thursday, an official statement carried on SPA in English said there would be "more efforts to reduce current expenditures, especially expenses of salaries, wages, allowances and the like, which represent nearly 50 per cent of the approved budget expenditures" for 2015.
	A hashtag on Twitter about reducing wages has since attracted thousands of comments, reflecting the ...

Saudi: Salaries will not be cut to curb spending

Brazilian authorities say a police officer has been killed and another one wounded in two separate attacks in Rio de Janeiro. The second officer survived a shooting.
	The dead man is military police Officer Ivo Leandro Zaru. Firefighters today found the 34-year-old's body near a dam in a coastal city part of Rio's greater metropolitan region. Police provided few details but said they are investigating the death as a possible homicide.
	Local media reports say Zaru was driving his motorcycle when he apparently was attacked, and the body was found wearing a helmet.
	Another police officer was wounded when he was shot by a group of armed robbers in a Rio de Janeiro neighborhood. Security officials in Rio de Janeiro have been trying to curb a recent wave of police killings.

Brazil policeman killed, other officer hurt in Rio

Five people have died after a fire broke out at a senior-living apartment building in the San Antonio suburb of Castle Hills.
	Authorities say three other residents of the Wedgwood Apartments have been hospitalized after this morning's fire and one is in critical condition. Some 75 additional residents were taken to a local high school.
	Bexar County Fire Marshall spokeswoman Laura Jesse says the cause of the three-alarm fire is under investigation but appears to have originated on the third floor.
	San Antonio Fire Department spokesman Christian Bove says the fire is out.
	He added that the last time the San Antonio area saw a fire of this magnitude was in 2008 at Our Lady of the Lake University, but no one was injured.

5 dead in apartment building fire near San Antonio

Richard Bernstein officially joins the Michigan Supreme Court in a few days. But he's been working off the clock since November, preparing for 10 cases in an extraordinary way memorizing the key points of every brief read to him by an aide.
	Bernstein, 41, has been blind since birth. After winning the election, Bernstein had an assistant at his family's Detroit-area law firm begin reading briefs to him for mid-January arguments, including a medical marijuana case and a labor dispute covering thousands of state employees.
	"It would be much easier if I could read and write like everyone else, but that's not how I was created," Bernstein said. "No question, it requires a lot more work, but the flip side is it requires you to operate at the highest level of preparedness. ... This is what I've done my entire life. This goes all the way back to grade school for me."
	Michigan has never had a blind judge on its highest court, and few other states have. In Missouri, Justice Richard Teitelman 

Blind judge making history on Michigan's top court

A 24-year-old police officer died after being shot by a domestic violence suspect who then killed himself in Arizona.
	Officer Tyler J. Stewart, 24, died yesterday at Flagstaff Medical Center, police said. Stewart is the second Flagstaff police officer ever to be killed in the line of duty.
	Stewart was looking for the man identified as Robert W. Smith, 28, of Prescott about 1:30 p.M. When Smith fired several shots at the officer, police said. Smith then shot himself and was pronounced dead at the scene, police added.
	Investigators do not believe Stewart fired any shots, but they continue to investigate the matter, Sgt. Margaret Bentzen said.
	Stewart had worked at the department for less than a year, police said.
	"It is heartbreaking to lose one of our officers," Mayor Jerry Nabours said. "We collectively mourn for his family and the entire department."
	A candlelight vigil has been scheduled by Stewart's family and the Flagstaff Police Department for Sunday evening at the Officer .

Arizona police officer killed; suspect dead

Egypt today said it banned Ridley Scott's biblical epic "Exodus: Gods & Kings" because the Hollywood blockbuster distorts Egypt's history and presents a "racist" image of Jews.
	The Culture Ministry explained its decision for the first time in a statement issued a few days after the ban was announced. It said the film put forth a reading of Egypt's history that is at odds with the story of Moses told by the world's monotheistic religions. Egypt is a conservative country with a Muslim majority and a sizable Christian minority.
	Censors objected to the "intentional gross historical fallacies that offend Egypt and its pharaonic ancient history in yet another attempt to Judaize Egyptian civilization, which confirms the international Zionist fingerprints all over the film," the statement said.
	The ministry said the movie inaccurately depicts ancient Egyptians as "savages" who kill and hang Jews, arguing that hanging did not exist in ancient Egypt. It said the film also presents a ...

AP

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