The first family's longtime personal chef is leaving the White House.
	The White House says the newly married Sam Kass is moving to New York, where his wife lives. Kass has worked for the first family since President Barack Obama was in the Senate. Kass moved to Washington after the 2008 presidential election to serve as the Obamas' primary chef.
	 But he has also taken on policy work, serving as executive director of first lady Michelle Obama's anti-childhood obesity initiative and becoming the White House's first-ever senior adviser on nutrition.
	In a statement, Obama says Kass "has made a real difference for our next generation." Mrs. Obama says Kass will "continue to be a leader in the vitally important work to build a healthier country.

Obamas' longtime personal chef leaving White House

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The US Geological Survey says an earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.6 has struck in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of western Panama.
	The quake struck at 3:54 am today, 12 miles (20 kilometers) off Punta de Burica, close to the border with Costa Rica. It was at a relatively shallow depth of 12.4 miles (20 kilometers).
	The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre said there was no danger of a tsunami, and there were no immediate reports of damage.

6.6-magnitude earthquake recorded off Panama

Typhoon Hagupit weakened into a tropical storm today, leaving at least 21 people dead and forcing more than a million people into shelters but sparing most of a central Philippine region still haunted by last year's monster storm.
	While the worst was over in central island provinces, where the sun peeked today after days of stormy weather, Manila and outlying provinces braced as Hagupit, or "smash" in Filipino, blew nearer with maximum sustained winds of 105 kilometers per hour and gusts of 135 kph.
	Forecasters said the storm was expected to slam into a Batangas provincial town about 110 kilometers south of Manila by nightfall. Although considerably weaker from its peak power, the storm remains potentially dangerous and could still whip storm surges that could overwhelm coastal villages, they said.
	Traumatised by the death and destruction from Typhoon Haiyan last year, more than 1 million people fled to emergency shelters and safer ground.
	"The worst is over for them. It's a big ..

Philippine typhoon weakens but leaves 21 dead

The US and NATO ceremonially ended their combat mission in Afghanistan today, 13 years after the Sept. 11 terror attacks sparked their invasion of the country to topple the Taliban-led government.
	NATO's International Security Assistance Force Joint Command, which was in charge of combat operations, lowered its flag, formally ending its deployment.
	US Gen. John F. Campbell, commander of NATO and US forces, said that the mission now would transition to a training and support role for Afghanistan's own security forces, which have led the fight against the Taliban insurgents since mid-2013.
	"The Afghan security forces are capable," Campbell said. "They have to make some changes in the leadership which they're doing, and they have to hold people accountable."
	From Jan. 1, the coalition will maintain a force of 13,000 troops in Afghanistan, down from a peak around 140,000 in 2011. There are around 15,000 troops now in the country.
	The mission ends as the Taliban is increasing its ...

US, NATO ceremonially end Afghan combat mission

A vehicle struck and killed a black bear on a road in Florida, and three people from another vehicle who got out to help were struck and killed by a third vehicle, police said.
	Several others were reported injured.
	Seminole Police Department spokesman Gary Bitner told The Associated Press that yesterday's events apparently happened quickly.
	He said four people were injured so severely that they were taken by helicopter to a hospital.
	He said four others were taken by ambulances. The woman in the initial crash with the bear was not hurt.
	The identities of those involved weren't immediately available, Bitner said.
	Accident reconstruction experts were on the scene. "They are still trying to figure everything out," he said.

3 dead in crash after vehicle strikes, kills bear

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani is criticizing widening corruption in his country in unusually blunt term, saying money once "given under the table now is being given on the table."
	Rouhani made the comments today at a meeting of an anti-corruption campaign aired live on state television.
	They come as Iran is in the middle of a plan to decentralize and privatize its economy.
	Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei repeatedly has warned officials over possible corruption during implementing the program.
	In May, Iran executed a billionaire businessman Mahafarid Amir Khosravi, convicted of being at the heart of a USD 2.6 billion state bank scam in Iran, the largest since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
	Today, Rouhani said: "The continuation, the deepening and the expansion of corruption is endangering ... The Islamic Revolution.

Iran's president criticizes widening corruption

New South Wales state premier Mike Baird says a planned state funeral for fallen cricket star Phil Hughes has been called off.
     Hughes died on November 27, two days after being struck by a short-pitched ball during a domestic first class match at the Sydney Cricket Ground. He was 25.
     More than 5,000 people, including former Australia teammates and players from around the world, attended a funeral service in Hughes' hometown of Macksville, New South Wales last Wednesday.
     New South Wales planned a state funeral to honour Hughes' contribution to cricket in his home state, but Baird said today the ceremony had been cancelled after consultation with Hughes' family and Cricket Australia.
     "All parties felt that given the enormous outpouring of support at last Wednesday's funeral, that a State Memorial Service would no longer need to be held," Baird said in a statement.

State funeral for Phil Hughes cancelled

The widow of the South African hostage killed during a rescue attempt in Yemen says she has chosen to forgive her husband's killers.
	In a statement released yesterday, Yolande Korkie said she was heartbroken by her husband Pierre Korkie's death.
	Issuing a statement for the first time since Korkie was killed by al-Qaida militants during a US-led rescue mission on Saturday, Yolande Korkie thanked Gift of the Givers, the South African aid organization that supported her campaign for her husband's freedom, and the Yemeni tribes who directly negotiated for his release with his al-Qaida captors.
	Pierre Korkie was supposed to be released yesterday after 18 months of captivity under a deal struck by the aid group. Instead, his body is being flown to South Africa today.

South African hostage's widow forgives his killers

Veterans who survived the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor that launched the United States into World War II have attended 73rd anniversary ceremony with the help of canes, wheelchairs and motorized scooters.
	Wearing purple orchid lei, about 100 Pearl Harbor and World War II survivors attended the ceremony overlooking a memorial that sits atop the sunken battleship USS Arizona yesterday.
	Many of them arrived well before the sun came up.
	This year's anniversary is the 10th consecutive one that USS Utah survivor Gilbert Meyer has attended. But it's getting harder for Meyer, 91, to travel to Hawaii from San Antonio, Texas.
	Asked if he planned to attend next year's anniversary, he responded with a chuckle, "That's like asking me if I'll still be alive."
	Harold Johnson, 90, is making it a goal to attend the 75th anniversary, even though traveling from Oak Harbor, Washington state, isn't always easy. "I've got a little scooter that's a real life saver," the USS Oklahoma survivor ...

Survivors gather to remember Pearl Harbor attack

Yemeni security officials say a boat carrying African migrants has capsized off the country's western coast, killing 70.
	They say most of the migrants were from Ethiopia, and the small boat sank Sunday due to high winds and waves in the Red Sea. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to reporters.
	Tens of thousands of migrants make the treacherous journey between the Horn of African and Yemen every year, refugee organizations say.
	The United Nations has documented more than 200 deaths at sea so far in 2014 which they say exceeds the combined totals of 2011, 2012 and 2013.

African migrant boat capsizes off Yemen, 70 dead

A protest in California turned violent when masked demonstrators smashed windows and threw objects at police. Demonstrations around the country continued over a New York City grand jury's decision not to indict a white police officer in the chokehold death of an unarmed black man.
	Officer Jenn Coats, a spokeswoman for the Berkeley Police Department, said several businesses were looted and damaged and two officers were injured when a splinter group broke off from a peaceful demonstration Saturday night in that California city. Protesters threw rocks, bricks, bottles, pipes and other objects at officers, damaging some squad cars.
	By early Sunday, at least six people were arrested, Coats said.
	Thousands of demonstrators have protested peacefully in New York and elsewhere since the announcement Wednesday that a grand jury would not indict a white officer in the death of
 	Eric Garner, a black man who repeatedly gasped "I can't breathe!" while he was being arrested for selling loose, ...

Protest of chokehold death turns violent

Typhoon Hagupit knocked out power, left at least three people dead and sent nearly 900,000 into shelters before it weakened today, sparing the central Philippines the type of massive devastation that a monster storm brought to the region last year.
	Shallow floods, damaged shanties and ripped off store signs and tin roofs were a common sight across the region, but there was no major destruction after Hagupit slammed into Eastern Samar and other island provinces.
	It was packing maximum sustained winds of 140 kilometres per hour and gusts of 170 kph on today, considerably weaker from its peak power but still a potentially deadly storm, according to forecasters.
	The typhoon, which made landfall in Eastern Samar late yesterday, was moving slowly, dumping heavy rain that could possibly trigger landslides and flash floods.
	Traumatised by the death and destruction from Typhoon Haiyan last year, nearly 900,000 people fled to about 1,000 emergency shelters and safer grounds. The government, 

No major damage in Philippine typhoon; 3 dead

Israel's Antiquities Authority says it has caught six Palestinians digging illegally for antiquities in a remote desert region where archaeologists believe undiscovered Dead Sea Scrolls are buried.
	Antiquities inspector Uzi Rotstein said the arrest comes after a yearlong operation to stop looting in the Judean Desert, thought to be the source of scroll fragments which have recently trickled onto the local antiquities market.
	The Antiquities Authority says the suspects were caught in late November looting a previously excavated cave and stealing a 2,000-year-old hair comb. The Authority accuses them of digging for Dead Sea Scrolls.
	The Dead Sea Scrolls are the world's oldest biblical manuscripts. Their discovery in 1947 was one of the 20th century's greatest archaeological finds.
	The Antiquities Authority says the suspects were indicted in court today.

Israel accuses Palestinians of looting antiquities

Another Sierra Leonean doctor has died from Ebola, the 10th to succumb to the disease, a health official said today.
	Dr Aiah Solomon Konoyeima died yesterday, according to Chief Medical Officer Brima Kargbo. His death came a day after two other doctors died from Ebola, emphasising the tremendous toll the disease has taken on health care workers.
	Konoyeima worked at a children's hospital in the capital and tested positive for Ebola about two weeks ago. He was treated at the Hastings Ebola Treatment Center, which is staffed exclusively by Sierra Leonean medical personnel, as compared to many other treatment units, which are run by international organisations or employ some foreign staff.
	Because Ebola is transmitted through the bodily fluids of the sick and dead, it is sometimes called the "caretakers' disease." Hundreds of health workers have been infected in this outbreak.
	In the current outbreak, Ebola has sickened more than 17,500 people, mostly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra ...

10th Sierra Leonean doctor dies from Ebola

Syrian government warplanes carried out at least eight strikes today against Islamic State militants attacking a key military air base in eastern Syria, activists said.
	The Islamic State group launched its assault on the sprawling air field just outside of the city of Deir el-Zour last week, touching off fighting that activists say has killed more than 150 people on both sides. For IS, seizing control of the base would eliminate the last significant government presence in the area and provide a major morale and propaganda boost.
	The Local Coordination Committees activist collective and the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said today's airstrikes targeted four areas near the base.
	After IS fighters succeeded in storming part of the base, the Syrian military yesterday launched a counterattack, bolstered by heavy air raids, to push the militants back. Scattered clashes on the ground continued today with fighting on several fronts around the base, activists said.
	A ...

Syrian planes target IS attack on eastern air base

A Saudi activist and family members say two Saudi women have been detained for six days for defying the kingdom's driving ban.
	Police stopped the women after they drove into Saudi Arabia from the United Arab Emirates on December 1.
	Loujain al-Hathloul, 25, had been planning to defy the kingdom's ban on women driving by crossing into her country from neighboring UAE, where she has a driver's license.
	An activist says Saudi border guards confiscated her passport, forcing her to wait at the crossing for nearly 24 hours.
	The activist and relatives say that when Maysa al-Amoudi, 33, arrived at the border to deliver food, water and a blanket to al-Hathloul, she too was subsequently arrested for driving. All spoke anonymously for fear of government reprisal.

Relatives: 2 Saudi women held 6 days for driving

Rebels in eastern Congo killed at least 34 civilians in overnight attacks, the latest in a series of deadly raids, a coalition of civil society groups said today.
	Members of the Allied Defense Forces rebels attacked three villages around the town of Beni, more than 300 kilometres north of Goma, the provincial capital, according to the coalition from North Kivu province.
	On his Twitter account, Martin Kobler, head of the UN peacekeeping mission in Congo, condemned the attack and called for Congolese forces and the UN peacekeepers to respond. He said troops from both forces were in the area today.
	More than 250 people have been killed in attacks around Beni in the past two months, according to the civil society group.
	Eastern Congo is home to a myriad of armed groups and militias, many vying for control of the region's vast mineral resources. The UN peacekeeping force is authorised to battle the rebels groups but has been criticised for doing too little to protect civilians.

Group: 34 killed by rebels in latest Congo attack

The Israeli military says it has opened a criminal investigation into one of the deadliest airstrikes of the last Gaza war.
	At least 24 members of the Abu Jamea family were killed in the July 20 strike on their home. They included 18 children between the ages of six months and nine years, according to death certificates obtained by The Associated Press.
	The apparent target was a local Hamas military commander.
	The military said Sunday there was "reasonable suspicion" of a deviation from army procedure. The incident is among eight new investigations announced by the army yesterday.
	Israeli human rights groups have demanded an independent investigation of the war, saying the army is not equipped to investigate itself.

Israel to probe one of deadliest Gaza war strikes

Police say gunmen have freed more than 200 prisoners in the latest jailbreak in Nigeria.
	Deputy Superintendent Ibrahim Gambari said police recaptured at least 10 escapees from the medium security prison in central Niger state by this morning.
	Yesterday's attack was the third jailbreak in the past two months in the West African nation.
	More than 300 inmates broke out of a prison bombed by gunmen in southwest Ekiti state on Dec. 1; 144 escaped from south-central Kogi state on Nov. 3 when gunmen bombed a prison wall.
	The two earlier jailbreaks were blamed on the Boko Haram Islamic extremist group. It is not known how many hundreds of Boko Haram suspects are held in Nigerian jails.
	Prison officials say 70 percent of inmates are awaiting trial, many for years.

Gunmen free 200+ inmates in Nigeria jailbreak

Typhoon Hagupit knocked out power, mowed down trees and sent more than 8,00,000 people into shelters before it weakened today, sparing the central Philippines the type of devastation that a monster storm brought to the region last year.
	Shallow floods, damaged shanties and ripped off store signs and tin roofs were a common sight across the region, but there were no confirmed deaths or major destruction after Hagupit slammed into Eastern Samar and other island provinces.
	It was packing maximum sustained winds of 140 kilometres per hour and gusts of 170 kph today, considerably weaker from its peak power but still a potentially deadly storm, according to forecasters.
	The typhoon, which made landfall in Eastern Samar late yesterday, was moving slowly, dumping heavy rain that could possibly trigger landslides and flash floods.
	Traumatised by Typhoon Haiyan's massive death and destruction, more than 8,00,000 people fled to about 1,000 emergency shelters and safer grounds. The ...

No major damage as Philippine storm weakens

Militants attacked a police station in an Iraqi village north of Baghdad, killing at least nine people today, officials said.
	The attack started at dawn with a suicide car bomber hitting the blast walls that surround the police station in the village of al-Salman outside the town of Tarmiyah, a police officer said. He said an assault by armed militants followed.
	He said the attack killed five police officers and four civilians, while wounding 11 people.
	Two medical officials confirmed the causality figures. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to release the information.
	Tarmiyah is about 50 kilometers north of Baghdad. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. Iraqi forces, backed by US-led airstrikes, are fighting the extremist Islamic State group, which now controls about a third of the country.
	The attack came a day after a string of bombings targeting Shiite areas around Baghdad killed 10 people amid tight security ...

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