Alice Marke and her family aren't celebrating Christmas the way they used to: The deadly Ebola epidemic in Sierra Leone means no festive parties at the beach, no carolers singing at night.
	Authorities this year have banned any activities that could further the spread of the highly contagious virus now blamed for killing more than 7,000 people in West Africa over the past year.
	"We will stay at home glued to our radio and television sets for broadcast of Christian services and prayers for the country, especially for the speedy end to the deadly Ebola disease early in the New Year," Marke says.
	Faith is important in this country with a sizeable Christian population still recovering from a brutal civil war that ended more than a decade ago. It's not uncommon to see Biblical verses painted on public transport buses.
	Now Ebola is spreading fastest in Sierra Leone's Western Area, which includes the capital of Freetown. It's believed that more than half of all new cases come from this ...

Sierra Leone bans Christmas parties amid Ebola

PTI Automatic

Authorities are investigating the deaths of six children and two adults in an apparent murder-suicide in a home in the state of Mexico.
	A statement from the state prosecutor's office today said the children apparently were asphyxiated. They were found on a mattress pad in the home in Ecatepec about 15 miles north of Mexico City. A woman who appeared to have been beaten was found on a bed.
	A man who investigators believe killed the other seven and then committed suicide was found hanging from a window.
	Authorities did not release their identities or how they were related, but local media reported that the man had killed his ex-wife and their six children.

8 dead in apparent murder-suicide in Mexico

Pope Francis is celebrating Christmas Eve with a late-night Mass in St Peter's Basilica just days after excoriating his staff for a laundry list of sins.
	Many of the same cardinals, bishops and priests who received the dressing down will be in St Peter's Basilica for the Mass. Several have spoken out in recent days saying Francis was merely asking them to examine their consciences and use the Christmas season to heal.
	Today's Mass kicks off a busy few weeks for the 78-year-old pontiff that includes his traditional Christmas day speech, New Year's Eve vespers and 2015 greetings a few hours later.
	On Jan 11, he will baptize babies in the Sistine Chapel and a day later board a plane for a week long trip to Sri Lanka and the Philippines.

Pope celebrates Christmas Eve Mass after excoriating staff

Power companies struggled to restore electricity to thousands of people in Mississippi today, a day after a powerful storm swept through the southeastern US and killed at least four people.
	Police in Columbia, Mississippi were stationed at all major intersections because traffic lights were swept away or destroyed amid yesterday's powerful storms. The severe weather also injured 50 people and damaged or destroyed an unknown number of homes and businesses.
	The roof was ripped off the building of the Jack Morris Gas Co, a natural gas supplier.
	Teams from the National Weather Service office in Jackson arrived in Marion and Jones counties today to determine whether a tornado was responsible for the limited swath of damage that cut across southern Mississippi.
	In Alabama, authorities said thunderstorms left trees and power lines down across the state and flooded several roads.
	The National Weather Service issued a tornado watch in south Georgia as thunderstorms continued in many parts 

Severe storms slam US South, killing at least 4

A Kurdish rebel commander has warned that fighting in Turkey's southeast could resume by June if efforts to end a 30-year insurgency make no progress by then, news reports said today.
	Murat Karayilan's comments came days after Turkish and Kurdish officials declared a "new phase" in the peace process after widespread protests by Kurds in October had threatened to derail the talks.
	Karayilan told Iraq-based Roj News that imprisoned Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan would be freed from prison by April and wiykd attend a congress of his Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, if the talks progress according to a plan drawn up by Ocalan himself. However, Karayilan threatened to resume hostilities before Turkey's June elections if the government fails to advance the peace process by then. His comments were carried by Turkish and Kurdish media today.
	"If steps are not taken, we will start the war before the elections," Karayilan was quoted as telling Roj News.
	Turkish Deputy Prime Yalcin Akdogan .

Kurdish rebels threaten renewed violence in Turkey

A suburban St Louis police officer shot and killed a man who pointed a gun at him, only a few miles from where the fatal shooting of a black man by a white officer led to weeks of protests earlier this year, police said today.
	A crowd of about 100 people were gathered early today at the scene in Berkeley, Missouri, close to the town of Ferguson, where 18-year-old Michael Brown died in August.
	Authorities did not immediately identify the man who was shot. But the St Louis Post-Dispatch reported that a woman at the scene, Toni Martin, said he was her son, 18-year-old Antonio Martin.
	A statement from St Louis County police spokesman Sgt Brian Schellman said a Berkeley police officer was conducting a routine business check at a gas station around 11:15 pm (local time) yesterday when he saw two men and approached them.
	One of the men pulled a handgun and pointed it at the officer, Schellman said. The officer fired several shots, striking and fatally wounding the man.
	The second man ...

Police officer in Missouri kills man who pulled gun

Chinese police in the southwestern province of Guangxi stopped a group of "religious extremists" from illegally crossing into neighboring Vietnam after shooting one person dead and detaining 21 others, local authorities said.
	The statement yesterday on the official website for the city of Chongzuo did not identify the religion, but Chinese authorities usually blame religious extremism for violence involving members of the Muslim ethnic minority of Uighurs in the country's far west region of Xinjiang.
	Beijing also warns that religious extremists have been seeking to leave China to train with militant groups.
	The Chongzuo government said police received a tip that the group was to enter Vietnam through the border town of Pingxiang and that they ambushed the group's two vehicles on Sunday night.
	As police handcuffed members of the group, one member suddenly jumped out of bushes and stabbed at a policeman with a knife, the statement said.
	Two officers immediately shot and killed that 

Chinese police kill 'religious extremist'

Israel's police said today they are investigating dozens of public figures and politicians in a major corruption case that could impact upcoming elections.
	Police didn't name the politicians involved when making the announcement today. After a yearlong covert operation, police said they are investigating 30 suspects including a deputy minister, a former minister, mayors and others.
	In a statement, police said officials are suspected of nepotism, and illegally transferring funds to various bodies.
	Deputy Interior Minister, Faina Kirshenbaum, of Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman's Yisrael Beteinu party, confirmed that she had been called in for questioning while denying any wrongdoing.
	"I am sure of my integrity and I have no clue what the investigation is about," Kirshenbaum told Channel 2 TV.
	Yisrael Beteinu is an important player in Israeli elections set for March. It is not clear how the police investigation would affect the politicians involved or the elections.
	Lieberman ...

Israeli police probing major political corruption case

The Senate report on the CIA's interrogation program and the spy agency's official response clash on almost every aspect of the long-secret operation, including the brutality and effectiveness of its methods and the agency's secret dealings with the Bush White House, Congress and the media. Both reports largely agree on one major CIA failure: the agency's mismanagement of the now-shuttered program.
	The 525-page summary from the Senate Intelligence Committee paints a chaotic landscape of bureaucratic dysfunction, showing an agency unprepared to take control of terrorist prisoners, unqualified field interrogators who overstepped their legal authority and CIA bosses ignorant about exactly how many detainees were warehoused in their overseas prisons. CIA oversight, the Senate committee found, "was deeply flawed throughout the program's duration."
	The CIA agrees in its official response that "the agency made serious missteps in the management and operation of the program." But it said ...

Senate, CIA agree torture program was mismanaged

St. Louis County police say a man who pulled a gun and pointed it at an officer has been killed the St. Louis suburb of Berkeley, Missouri.
	Sgt. Brian Schellman says a police officer with the city of Berkeley was conducting a routine business check at a gas station around 11:15 p.M. Today when he observed two male subjects and approached them.
	Schellman says one of the men pulled a handgun and pointed it at the officer as he approached. The officer then fired several shots, striking and fatally wounding the suspect. Schellman says the second suspect fled.
	The St. Louis Post Dispatch reports a group of about 60 people have gathered at the scene.
	Berkeley is about two miles (three kilometers) from Ferguson, where a police officer fatally shot 18-year-old Michael Brown in August.

Police: Officer in Missouri shot, killed man who pulled gun

Spain's new King Felipe VI is giving his first Christmas Eve speech amid intense interest over what he might say about his sister Princess Cristina's indictment two days ago on tax fraud charges.
	The speech watched by millions on TV is the most important national address by Spanish kings.
	Cristina is the first royal family member ordered to trial since the monarchy was restored in 1975.
	She is accused of benefiting from an alleged scheme by her husband that put embezzled funds into a company owned by the couple.
	Cristina's lawyers say she is innocent and will appeal the trial order for her, her Olympic handball medalist turned businessman husband, Inaki Urdangarin, and 15 others.
	Felipe speaks Wednesday night. He became king in June after his father Juan Carlos abdicated.

Spain's king to give speech after sister indicted

Japan's parliament re-elected Shinzo Abe today to serve another term as prime minister after his party won a snap election earlier this month.
	Abe won 328 votes out of the 470 cast by lawmakers in a special session of the lower house today. Since the ruling Liberal Democrats hold only two lower house seats, two other lawmakers also cast votes for Abe.
	Following a similar vote by the upper house, Abe will name his cabinet, replacing only his defense minister. The cabinet members are then to be presented in a formal ceremony to Emperor Akihito at the Imperial Palace.
	The victory by the ruling Liberal Democrats and their coalition partner the Komei Party was viewed as an endorsement by the public of Abe's strategies for reviving Japan's stagnant economy, despite a record low turnout.
	Former Defense Minister Akinori Eto was among cabinet ministers appointed in a reshuffle in early September. He was one of several ministers whose political funding reports were questioned by opposition .

Japan parliament re-elects Abe as prime minister

Severe weather slammed the southern US two days before Christmas killing at least four people and knocking out power to thousands.
	In Mississippi, Gov Phil Bryant declared an emergency for two southeastern counties where officials said four people died in the storms and several more were injured. His office said thousands were without power last night around Columbia, which is about 130 kilometres southeast of Jackson.
	Jones County Emergency Management director Marda Tullos said a man and woman were killed inside a mobile home in the storm's path in Laurel. About 80 kilometres southwest, Marion County coroner Norma Williamson told WDAM that two people were killed in Columbia. One person was in a trailer park, another at a strip mall.
	She said the Marion County hospital emergency room in Columbia was dealing with many patients.
	Photos tweeted by from several local media and the National Weather Service in Jackson showed damage to a drug store, car dealership, day care and the strip 

Severe weather slams southern US; 4 killed

A 20-year-old Kansas man has been sentenced to nearly eight years in prison for stealing the wedding ring from the hand of a dying woman last year in the drive-thru of a fast-food restaurant.
	The Wichita Eagle reports Sedgwick County District Judge Christopher Magana sentenced Keith Byron Hickles Jr on Monday to 94 months. He was one of three men convicted of stealing items from 43-year-old Danielle Zimmerman after she suffered a brain aneurysm on December 29 in the drive-thru of a Taco Bell restaurant in Wichita.
	Zimmerman, who had gone to the restaurant to get dinner for herself, her husband and two teenage sons, crashed her truck into the speaker box. She died the next day.
	Police recovered her purse December 30, but the ring remains missing.

Man sentenced for stealing dying woman's ring

A Canadian man has been sentenced to life in prison for killing and dismembering his Chinese lover and mailing the body parts to schools and political parties across a horrified country.
	Luka Magnotta, a former porn actor, was convicted yesterday by a jury of first-degree murder in the 2012 slaying of Jun Lin, 33, after eight days of deliberations. The conviction carried a mandatory life sentence, with the possibility of parole after 25 years.
	"He wanted to be judged by a jury of his peers," Magnotta's lawyer Luc Leclair said on his client's behalf. "He accepts the verdict. For quite some time he has been preparing for the verdict with his father, some friends and his therapist. He has been focusing on rebuilding his life."
	Leclair said Magnotta will take some time to examine the merits of an appeal. He has 30 days to file one. Magnotta was also convicted on four related charges and given maximum sentences allowed under Canada's Criminal Code, ranging from two to 10 years, for ...

Canada dismemberment killer gets life in prison

Federal authorities have said they have dismantled a ring that imported tons of drugs from South America and invested most of the billion-dollar proceeds in construction projects across Puerto Rico.
	Among the 17 suspects facing drug-trafficking and money-laundering charges are local businessmen and lawyers, according to US Attorney Rosa Emilia Rodriguez.
	The suspected leader of the group, Carlos Morales Davila, had been arrested in 2011 and ran the organisation from prison, where he is currently serving a 12-year sentence, said Pedro Janer, acting special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration's Caribbean division, yesterday.
	Janer said he believes the organisation has been dismantled with the 17 arrest warrants issued yesterday following a federal grand jury indictment. Some of the suspects were already in prison while others were arrested in Puerto Rico, officials said.
	The group is suspected of transporting large amounts of cocaine and heroin from South America .

17 accused in billion-dollar Puerto Rico drug ring

Irish doctors who have been keeping a brain-dead pregnant woman on life support in hope of saving her 17-week-old foetus pleaded in court today to be permitted to turn off the machines because their treatment was becoming horrific and could not end in a successful birth.
	Dublin High Court heard harrowing testimony from seven doctors, the woman's partner and father in a case that has reignited debate over the inadequacy of abortion law in Ireland, a predominantly Catholic country with a constitution that gives the foetus an equal right to life. All agreed that the foetus appeared doomed.
	"My daughter is dead. The chances of the foetus surviving are minimal, we have been told. I want her to have dignity and be put to rest," the woman's father told a packed courtroom. The court withheld their identities from the public to protect the family's privacy.
	He said his daughter's two young children had been told that their mother was dead, but would rest in the hospital with nurses "until ..

Doctors: Take pregnant Irishwoman off life support

Federal health officials are recommending an end to the nation's lifetime ban on blood donations from gay and bisexual men, a 31-year-old policy that many medical groups and gay activists say is no longer justified.
	The Food and Drug Administration said today it favors replacing the blanket ban with a new policy barring donations from men who have had man-on-man sex in the previous 12 months. The new policy would put the US in line with other countries including Australia, Japan and the UK.
	Activists, however, questioned whether requiring a year of celibacy from gay men before a donation amounted to a significant policy shift.
	The lifetime ban dates from the early years of the AIDS crisis and was intended to protect the blood supply from what was a then little-understood disease. But many medical groups, including the American Medical Association, say the policy is no longer supported by science, given advances in HIV testing.
	Gay activists say the ban is discriminatory and ...

US moves to end ban on blood donations by gay men

Republican Congressman Michael Grimm of New York City admitted today to federal tax evasion, pleading guilty to charges he had fought as he won re-election this year but that now leave his congressional future in question.
	Grimm entered a guilty plea to one count of aiding in the filing of a false tax return. He had been set to go to trial in February on charges of evading taxes by hiding more than $1 million in sales and wages while running a Manhattan health-food restaurant.
	Grimm, joined in court by two attorneys, acknowledged sending his accountant underreported receipts and using the leftover money to pay employees off the books and cover other expenses.
	Sentencing was scheduled for June 8. Prosecutors said a range of 24 to 30 months in prison would be appropriate, while the defense estimated the appropriate sentence as between 12 and 18 months.
	News of the planned plea quickly brought pressure from Democrats for Grimm to resign his seat.
	The Democratic Congressional ...

Congressman Grimm of NYC pleads guilty to tax evasion

FBI agents in Puerto Rico raided the headquarters of Doral Bank today.
	The raid took place at the bank's information technology offices in Hato Rey, according to US Attorney Rosa Emilia Rodriguez.
	Authorities declined to provide details about the investigation, though Rodriguez said it might be related to a probe into the June 2011 killing of New Jersey bank executive Maurice Spagnoletti.
	The 56-year-old was fatally shot as he drove home on one of San Juan's main highways, and authorities said it seemed like a professional attack. He had been an executive vice president at Doral for about six months.
	His widow previously accused bank officials of conspiring to kill him for uncovering alleged fraud at the Puerto Rico-based institution, but she withdrew the suit and the bank issued a statement saying the claim was "without merit and lacks any credibility."
	Doral Bank also has been involved in a multimillion-dollar feud with the local government. The bank maintains it is owed a USD .

FBI raids Doral Bank offices in Puerto Rico

Sony Pictures Entertainment announced today a limited theatrical release of 'The Interview' beginning Thursday, putting back into the theatres the comedy that prompted an international incident with North Korea and outrage over its cancelled release.
	Sony Entertainment CEO Michael Lynton said today that Seth Rogen's North Korea farce "will be in a number of theatres on Christmas Day." He said Sony also is continuing its efforts to release the film on more platforms and in more theatres.
	"While we hope this is only the first step of the film's release, we are proud to make it available to the public and to have stood up to those who attempted to suppress free speech," said Lynton.
	Moviegoers celebrated the abrupt change of fortune for a film that appeared doomed, as 'The Interview' began popping up in the listings of a handful of independent theatres today, including the Alamo Drafthouse in Texas and Atlanta's Plaza Theatre.
	"The people have spoken! Freedom has prevailed! Sony ...

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