Boxing great Muhammad Ali was hospitalised with a mild case of pneumonia that was caught early and should result in a short hospital stay, an Ali spokesman said

Muhammad Ali hospitalised with pneumonia

Press Trust of India

Three men who served long US prison terms for spying received a standing ovation in Cuba's parliament today, shaking their fists in victory as President Raul Castro declared that detente with Washington won't change the communist system he leads.
	The last imprisoned members of the "Cuban Five" spy ring were freed this week in a sweeping deal that included the liberation of American contractor Alan Gross and a Cuban spy for the US from their jail cells in Cuba, and pledges to restore full diplomatic relations and loosen US restrictions on trade and travel to the island.
	US President Barack Obama says the changes are designed to encourage reform in Cuba's one-party system and centrally planned economy.
	Castro rejected that idea in his address to the twice-annual meeting of the National Assembly, saying "we must not expect that in order for relations with the United States to improve, Cuba will abandon the ideas that it has struggled for."
	Castro expressed gratitude to Obama for the .

Raul Castro says detente won't change Cuban system

PTI Automatic

President Barack Obama's secret negotiations on Cuba suggest he's willing to make bold and risky moves if he can keep tight control and rely on a few close aides.
	It's a pattern he followed during clandestine talks with Iran that led to an interim nuclear deal and the under-the-radar discussions with China on a climate change agreement.
	Such diplomatic breakthroughs have buoyed Obama and may help counter charges that his responses to other international matters, including the rise of Islamic State militants and Russia's aggression in Ukraine, are weak and ineffective.

Obama takes foreign policy risk, but on his own terms

The search for documents is on for immigrants who may qualify for a work permit and reprieve from deportation under measures President Barack Obama announced last month.
	Applicants must prove they were in the country continuously since January 2010 a tall order for many accustomed to avoiding trails. For critics, conditions are ripe for fraud.
	The administration has not said which documents it will accept, but advocates are taking guidance from a 2012 reprieve for immigrants who came to the country as young children. The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program allows vehicle registrations, baptism records, mortgages, postmarked letters and those are just some suggestions from the agency.
	Denver immigration attorney Laura Lichter suggests using movie rental receipts, veterinarian bills and customer loyalty programs that detail purchase histories.

Immigrants build document trails to remain in US

President Barack Obama is kicking off his annual winter vacation in his birthplace of Hawaii.
	Air Force One touched down late yesterday at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, with the president, first lady Michelle Obama and their daughters on board. The Obamas were to spend roughly two weeks on the island of Oahu before returning to Washington in early January.
	Typically, Obama spends the vacation playing golf on Hawaii's lush courses, dines out at Honolulu restaurants, and joins his kids for hikes and shave ice treats. Obama has no public events planned during his stay.
	Before departing the White House, Obama said he was looking forward to some quiet time and to spending Christmas with his family. He also wished reporters a "mele kalikimaka." That's Hawaiian for "Merry Christmas.

Obama touches down in Hawaii for annual vacation

Saudi Arabia's Interior Ministry says government forces have shot and killed four gunmen in a restive eastern town that is heavily populated by minority Shiites.
	Interior Ministry spokesman Mansour al-Turki said in a statement that among those killed is a man who had shot and killed a Saudi officer nearly a week earlier. Al-Turki described the four men killed as "terrorists" and says a policeman was moderately wounded in the exchange of gunfire.
	The town of al-Awamiya, where today's shooting took place, is also the hometown of revered Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr, an outspoken government critic who was sentenced to death in October for inciting violence and sectarian strife charges he denies.
	His death sentencing outraged his Shiite supporters who complain of discrimination from the Sunni leadership.

Saudi police kill 4 gunmen in eastern province

An ageing white lion given to the Cincinnati Zoo by performers Siegfried & Roy had to be euthanized because of age-related health issues.
	The zoo says Future one of two male African white lions loaned permanently by Siegfried and Roy in 1998 was put down Thursday. He was 17 years old and had struggled to walk in recent days.
	Mark Campbell, the zoo's director of animal health, says it was the humane thing to do. The average lifespan for lions in North American zoos is nearly 17 years.
	Future and his brother, named Sunshine, came to the Cincinnati Zoo when they were 3 months old. They are considered a threatened species.

Ageing white lion euthanized at Ohio zoo

Bombs targeting commercial streets and an army patrol killed 12 people in and around Baghdad today, Iraqi authorities said.
	Police officials said a bomb exploded on a commercial street in the town of Madain, about 20 kilometres (14 miles) southeast of the capital, killing four people and wounding nine others.
	In the northern Baghdad suburb of Taji a bomb blast near shops killed three people and wounded 11 others. A roadside bomb struck an army patrol in the western suburbs, killing three soldiers and wounding six others, police officials said.
	In Baghdad, a bomb exploded in the city centre near a bakery shop, killing two people and wounding four, security officials said. They said all the dead were civilians.
	Medics confirmed the casualty figures. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to the media.

Bombings kill 12 in Iraq

The Pentagon said today that four Afghans from the Guantanamo Bay detention centre have been returned to their home country in what US officials are citing as a sign of their confidence in new Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.
	Obama administration officials said they worked quickly to fulfil the request from Ghani, in office just three months, to return the four, who had been cleared for transfer as a kind of reconciliation and mark of improved US-Afghan relations.
	There is no requirement that the Afghan government further detain the men, identified as Mohammed Zahir, Shawali Khan, Abdul Ghani and Khi Ali Gul.
	Eight Afghans are among the 132 detainees remaining at Guantanamo.
	The move is the latest in a series of transfers during the past two months. President Barack Obama has been pushing to reduce the number of detainees as he tries to make progress toward his goal of closing the globally condemned detention center for suspected terrorists.
	Administration officials, speaking on a .

US sends 4 Afghans back home from Guantanamo

Chinese President Xi Jinping today urged Macau to guard against interference by what he called hostile external forces, following the prolonged pro-democracy protests in nearby Hong Kong.
	Beijing had accused foreign forces of fostering the pro-democracy Occupy Central movement in Hong Kong, where protesters demanded a right to nominate candidates for the territory's next leader.
	The 79-day demonstration ended in mid-December with both Beijing and Hong Kong's leaders refusing to bow to the protesters' demands.
	Xi was visiting Macau to mark the 15th anniversary of its return to Beijing and to host the swearing-in ceremony of Macau's newest chief, Chui Sai On. Chui was the only nominee for the position and was elected by a 400-person panel believed to be pro-Beijing.
	Both Hong Kong and Macau are special administrative regions where Beijing allows greater autonomy under a "one country, two systems" arrangement. However, Beijing does not want to the more liberal regions to become ...

China's Xi cautions Macau against foreign forces

The World Health Organisation says the worst Ebola outbreak on record has now killed more than 7,000 people, with many of the latest deaths reported in Sierra Leone.
	New figures published late yesterday showed the recorded death toll in the three countries hit hardest by the outbreak - Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea - had climbed to 7,373, up from 6,900 on Wednesday. A total of 392 of those new deaths were in Sierra Leone.
	The new totals include confirmed, probable and suspected Ebola deaths. The WHO says there have also been six Ebola deaths in Mali, eight in Nigeria and one in the United States. The total number of cases in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia now stands at 19,031, up from 18,569.

WHO: Recorded Ebola deaths top 7,000

Islamic extremists in northeast Nigeria are turning their guns on elderly people, killing more than 50 this week in a new tactic that has instilled more fear in areas the militants call an Islamic caliphate.
	Residents from five villages say people too elderly to flee Gwoza local government area are being rounded up and taken to two schools where the militants open fire on them. The villages are about 130 kilometres southeast of Maiduguri, the Borno state capital.
	"What they are doing now is to assemble the aged people, both men and women ... And then they just open fire on some of them," said Muhammed Gava, a spokesman for civil defence groups in the area. More than 50 people had been killed at Government Day Secondary School in Gwoza, he said.
	A villager who had fled said more elderly people are being gathered and shot at Uvaghe Central Primary School. The villager spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of endangering his trapped parents.
	Government officials did not ...

Extremists in Nigeria lining up elderly and shooting them

North Korea today proposed a joint investigation with the US into the hacking attack against Sony Pictures Entertainment, warning of "serious" consequences if Washington rejects a probe that it believes will prove Pyongyang had nothing to do with the cyberattack.
	US officials blame North Korea for the hacking, citing the tools used in the Sony attack and previous hacks linked to the North, and have vowed a response. The break-in resulted in the disclosure of tens of thousands of confidential Sony emails and business files, and escalated to terrorist threats that caused Sony to cancel the Christmas release of the movie "The Interview." The comedy is about a plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
	On Saturday, an unidentified Foreign Ministry spokesman in Pyongyang said North Korea knows how to prove it's not responsible for the hacking, so the United States must accept its proposal for the joint investigation.
	"The US should bear in mind that it will face serious ...

North Korea proposes joint probe over Sony hacking

The UN General Assembly overwhelmingly approved a resolution asking Israel to pay Lebanon over USD 850 million in damages for an oil spill caused by an Israeli air force attack on oil storage tanks during its war with Hezbollah in July 2006.
	The assembly voted 170-6 in favor of the resolution, with three abstentions yesterday. Israel, the United States, Canada, Australia, Micronesia and Marshall Islands voted "no."
	General Assembly resolutions are not legally binding but they do reflect world opinion.
	The resolution says "the environmental disaster" caused by the destruction of the tanks resulted in an oil slick that covered the entire Lebanese coastline and extended to the Syrian coastline, causing extensive pollution.
	Israel's UN Mission said in a statement late yesterday that the resolution is biased against Israel.
	"Israel Immediately responded to the oil slick incident by cooperating closely with the United Nations Environment Programme, as well as other UN agencies and ...

UN asks Israel to pay Lebanon USD 850 M for oil spill

Russian prosecutors today asked a court to sentence President Vladimir Putin's chief foe to 10 years in prison, but the defiant opposition leader vowed to keep up his fight against the Kremlin regime.
	Alexei Navalny, 38, rose to prominence with his investigations of official corruption and played a leading role in organizing massive anti-Putin street protests in 2011 and 2012. But within a month of the government's May 2012 crackdown on the opposition, investigators slapped Navalny with several criminal cases.
	In a trial last summer, Navalny was found guilty of embezzlement and sentenced to prison, but he was released the next day after thousands of people protested in the streets of Moscow. He was given a suspended sentence instead.
	In their closing arguments in a separate trial in a Moscow courthouse, prosecutors asked a judge today to convict Navalny and imprison him for nine years, with an additional year added because of the prior conviction.
	Navalny and his brother Oleg are .

Russia seeks 10 years in prison for Putin foe

Chinese state media say a Beijing court has sentenced a former employee of the Forbidden City to be executed for stabbing two of his supervisors to death on the museum's grounds.
	The state-run Beijing News says Zheng Zhibiao argued at his trial in early December that he had been concerned over a lack of protection of artifacts held at the former palace of China's emperors.
	The vast network of ceremonial halls, imperial apartments and other buildings is Beijing's premier tourist attraction.
	Beijing News says Zheng, a display designer at the museum's exhibition division, had complained about a lack of professionalism in protecting and renovating the museum.
	It wasn't clear what prompted him to kill the two supervisors, although the paper says prosecutors argued he had a personal grudge.

Ex-worker at China's Forbidden City gets death

In the first such attack since September, a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip struck southern Israel today, the Israeli military said.
	The military said air raid sirens were sounded in the Eshkol region bordering the Palestinian coastal territory. The projectile landed in an open field, causing no injuries or damage, according to police.
	Israel fought a 50-day war this summer with Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that controls Gaza. Hamas launched thousands of rockets and mortars toward Israel, which carried out an aerial campaign and a ground invasion.
	The war left more than 2,100 Palestinians dead, according to Palestinian and UN officials. On the Israeli side, 66 soldiers and six civilians were killed.
	Also today, fierce clashes erupted between Palestinian protesters and Israeli forces at a West Bank military checkpoint and near the village of Turmus Aya, though no injuries were reported.
	The village was the site of a Palestinian-Israeli scuffle earlier this month during ..

Israeli military says Gaza rocket hits Israel

President Vladimir Putin says Russia will continue its ambitious military modernisation programme with a particular emphasis on nuclear strategic forces.
	Speaking at today's meeting with top military brass, Putin said the nation's nuclear forces are a "major factor in maintaining global balance," adding that "they effectively include a possibility of large-scale aggression against Russia."
	Russia-West relations have plummeted to post-Cold War lows over the Ukrainian crisis.
	Putin said the military is set to receive 50 new intercontinental ballistic missiles -- a significantly higher number than in previous years.
	The huge military buildup is continuing despite Russia's economic woes triggered by a combination of Western sanctions and slumping prices of oil.
	The rouble collapse this week stoked up fears of high inflation and a banking crisis.

Putin: Russia military modernisation plan to go on

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today praised Liberia on its efforts to combat Ebola during his second visit here since the start of the outbreak that now has killed more than 6,900 people in West Africa.
	"We have reasons to be cautiously optimistic that this terrible outbreak can be defeated," said Ban at a press conference with Liberia's president.
	"Our response strategy is working -- where people are gaining access to treatment, where contacts are being traced, burials are becoming safer, communities are mobilizing to protect themselves," he said.
	Nearly 3,300 of the Ebola deaths have been in Liberia, where health officials say the spread of the virus has shown signs of slowing in recent weeks.
	Concern has grown about the situation in neighboring Sierra Leone, where the Ebola is now spreading the fastest in the region.
	"Just one case can trigger an epidemic and we have a long way to go," said Ban.
	His visit to Liberia comes on the eve of crucial midterm ...

UN chief visits Ebola-ravaged West African nations

Chrysler is recalling about 288,000 older Ram pickup trucks in North America and elsewhere because the rear axle can seize or the drive shaft can fall off.
	The recall covers Ram 1500 pickups from the 2005 model year.
	Chrysler says in documents posted today by US safety regulators that the rear-axle pinion nut can come loose. That can cause problems that make the trucks spin out of control.
	The recall comes after an investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that began in June.
	The agency found 15 complaints, including seven drivers who reported that the wheels locked at speeds over 50 miles per hour. Chrysler says there have been three crashes and one injury due to the problem.
	The recall includes nearly 257,000 trucks in the US, another 22,000 in Canada, 8,800 in Mexico and 400 outside North America.
	The affected trucks were made from January 28, 2004 to August 3, 2005, according to the documents.
	In one complaint to NHTSA in February 2013, a pickup ...

Chrysler to recall about 288K Ram pickup trucks

An Afghan official says a mortar attack has killed a woman and wounded another eight people, including six children.
	Sarhadi Zwak, the spokesman for the governor of Laghman province in eastern Afghanistan, says Taliban insurgents fired several mortar rounds in Dawlar Shah district today.
	He says one woman was killed, and two women and six children were wounded. The Afghan army immediately returned fire, he said.
	Afghanistan's insurgency, led by the Taliban, has become increasingly virulent in recent months as foreign troops have withdrawn ahead of the official end of the U.S.-led combat mission.
	From a peak in 2010 of 140,000, US and NATO forces will be cut to a training and support mission of 13,000 from January 1.

AP

AP

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