Half a million Filipinos fled their homes as differing forecasts about the path of a dangerously erratic typhoon one predicting it will graze the capital, Manila prompted a wide swath of the country to prepare for a weekend of destructive winds and rain.
	Typhoon Hagupit Filipino for "smash" was expected to hit the central Philippines late today, lashing parts of a region that was devastated by last year's Typhoon Haiyan and left more than 7,300 people dead and missing. The typhoon regained strength today but forecasters said it will begin rapidly weakening as it approaches land.
	"I'm scared," said Haiyan survivor Jojo Moro. "I'm praying to God not to let another disaster strike us again. We haven't recovered from the first."
	The 42-year-old businessman, who lost his wife, daughter and mother last year in Tacloban city, said he stocked up on sardines, instant noodles, eggs and water.
	Dozens of domestic flights were canceled and inter-island ferry services were suspended. About half 

500,000 Filipinos evacuated as storm's path widens

PTI Automatic

Thousands of people marched through Haiti's capital demanding that long-delayed elections be held and calling for the president and prime minister to resign.
	Protesters in Port-au-Prince yesterday burned tires and threw rocks at police, who responded with tear gas. No deaths or major injuries were reported.
	It was Haiti's third anti-government protest in about a month and the first one in recent years to push through the security perimeter at the National Palace.
	Some protesters carried pictures of Russian President Vladimir Putin asking him for help. They accused the US of supporting Haiti's current leaders although Washington has pushed Haiti's government to hold the elections.
	President Michel Martelly was supposed to call elections in 2011 for a majority of Senate seats, the entire Chamber of Deputies and local offices. But both he and Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe have accused six legislators of blocking the vote by preventing a quorum to approve an electoral law.
	The six ..

Anti-government protesters clash with Haiti police

Vice President Joe Biden will lead the US delegation for the January 1 inauguration of Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff.
	Sending such a high-level official to the inauguration suggests the White House is still seeking to repair its relationship with Rousseff following spying revelations.
	The Brazilian leader was outraged when documents released by National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden showed the US had been monitoring her communications. The revelations led Rousseff to cancel plans to come to Washington for a rare state visit.
	Biden also visited Rousseff earlier this summer while he was in Brazil for the World Cup. The Brazilian president was re-elected in October.

Biden to attend Rousseff inauguration in Brazil

A Chinese man conspired to export devices that can be used in nuclear production to Iran for what an alleged conspirator called "a very big project and secret one," according to a federal indictment.
	Sihai Cheng, also known as Alex Cheng, was brought to the United States yesterday after being arrested in Britain earlier this year. He is expected to make an initial appearance in US District Court in Boston on Monday.
	In a 2013 indictment, Cheng is accused of conspiracy, illegal exporting of US goods to Iran and smuggling.
	Cheng allegedly established shell companies in China to receive pressure-measuring sensors known as "pressure transducers" from the Shanghai subsidiary of Massachusetts-based MKS Instruments Inc, according to the indictment.
	The instruments can be used for various commercial applications, but they can also be used in centrifuges to convert natural uranium into a form that can be used in nuclear weapons.
	Cheng is accused of conspiring with Seyed Abolfazl Shahab ...

US: Man exported parts for 'secret' Iran project

With global warming leading to increased traffic to a vulnerable Arctic, the US Coast Guard is proposing a 4.6-mile (7-kilometer) wide shipping route through the Bering Strait to try to protect the region.
	Any accident in the sensitive area can be a major problem and traffic has increased tremendously, so the Coast Guard mapped out a voluntary two-way route akin to a highway for ships said agency project officer Lt Kody Stitz.
	"We see more traffic and envision more traffic to continue," Stitz said.
	Last year ships went through the Bering Strait 440 times, twice the rate of 2008, according to a study in the journal Marine Policy.
	Retired Coast Guard Vice Admiral Roger Rufe said that's an indication that climate change has made the region more passable for ships, with ships able to sail through formerly icy waters during more months in the year. He said shippers like the route because it can provide a shorter and quicker way to go from Europe to Asia.
	But the ice melting also ...

Coast Guard proposes Bering Straits shipping route

Secretary of State John Kerry has asked the head of the US Senate Intelligence Committee to "consider" the timing of the expected release of a report on the CIA's harsh interrogation techniques.
	The expected release of the report has raised concerns about potential backlash to Americans and US interests around the world.
	The official said Kerry yesterday called Sen Dianne Feinstein to talk about the implications of publicly releasing her committee's report given the current tense situation in numerous world hotspots.
	The official, however, said the administration's support for its release remained unchanged. The official was not authorized to discuss the private call by name and spoke on condition of anonymity.
	A phone message and email to the Democrat's staff was not immediately returned.
	The Senate Intelligence Committee is poised to release the first public accounting of the CIA's use of torture on al-Qaida detainees held in secret facilities in Europe and Asia in the years ...

Kerry to US senator: Consider timing of CIA report

A top English human rights lawyer has opened an official Belfast fact-finding probe into why a criminal trial against an alleged Irish Republican Army rapist collapsed.
	The case has been front-page news in Ireland ever since Mairia Cahill, one of the three women who accused the alleged IRA man of rape, went public in October with her story and accused Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams of leading a cover-up designed to protect the attacker and silence his victims. Adams denies this.
	Cahill and the two other women, who have retained legal anonymity, met the fact-finder yesterday to discuss his investigation.
	All three withdrew their testimony before the trial began, citing frustration over legal delays and prosecutors' tactics.
	The investigator, Keir Starmer, said he would report his findings this spring.

Belfast investigation opens into IRA rape case

The family of a 12-year-old who had a pellet gun when he was shot by a Cleveland police officer has filed a wrongful death lawsuit, saying two officers acted recklessly when they confronted the boy in a terrifying manner and fired within seconds.
	The federal lawsuit filed against the city and the two officers yesterday, also said they waited four minutes before anyone provided medical help to Tamir Rice.
	The shooting has sparked protests across Cleveland and is one of a number of recent deaths involving police across the United States that have drawn public outrage.
	Surveillance video released by police shows Tamir being shot within two seconds of a patrol car stopping beside him at a park on Nov 22. It shows the boy reaching in his waistband for what police later discovered was an airsoft gun, which shoots nonlethal plastic projectiles.
	He died the next day.
	Police were responding to an emergency call about a gun at a playground.
	Police have said officer Tim Loehmann believed ..

Family of boy shot dead by Ohio officer files suit

Pele has recorded a video message from his hospital room to thank his fans around the world for praying for him while he underwent treatment for a urinary tract infection.
	"I want to take this opportunity to thank all of you, from all over the world, who worried about my health," Pele said in the video posted today on his Twitter and Facebook accounts. "Thank God, I'm fine. I have recovered, I'm here with my family."
	The video, which the hospital said was recorded on Wednesday, begins with Pele playing a guitar while seated next to family members. Then he speaks both in Portuguese and in English.
	"Don't worry, thank you very much," the 74-year-old Pele said. "I know everybody worried about my health, but I am OK." Pele has been hospitalised since November 24 after being diagnosed with a urinary tract infection that stemmed from a November 13 surgery to remove kidney stones.
	"Thank you everybody who has been praying for me and my family," he said.
	Doctors at the Albert Einstein ...

Pele records message from hospital thanking fans

Sierra Leone today said that between 80 and 100 new cases of Ebola are being reported every day and the country now hardest-hit by the deadly virus desperately needs over 1,000 beds to treat victims.
	Sierra Leone's Finance Minister Kaifalah Marah painted a grim picture to the UN Economic and Social Council today of the challenges facing his West African nation which failed to meet a World Health Organisation interim goal of isolating 70 per cent of Ebola patients and safely burying 70 per cent of victims by December 1.
	The two other hard-hit countries, Liberia and Guinea, did meet the deadline, and the UN's Ebola chief Dr. David Nabarro said the number of new cases in Liberia has dropped from 60 per day in September to 10 per day now.
	But Nabarro and WHO Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan stressed that Ebola that a much greater effort is needed to reach the elusive goal of zero new cases.
	"The Ebola outbreak is the largest, longest, most severe and most complex Ebola epidemic in ..

Sierra Leone seeing 80-100 new Ebola cases daily

A water truck collided with a bus on a busy provincial Venezuelan highway, killing at least eight people and injuring 13, according to the country's fire chief.
	Preliminary investigations suggest that the brakes failed as the truck was going downhill and it slammed into the bus during the early morning rush on Wednesday near the central city of Miranda, said William Martinez, commander of the national fire service.
	The head-on collision destroyed the bus, and rescue crews had to cut through the steel frame of the vehicle to reach some of the victims as traffic backed up for miles.
	Details on the conditions of the injured passengers were not immediately available. They were taken to hospitals near the crash scene, about 50 kilometers east of Caracas.

Venezuela bus crash kills at least 8, injures 13

A British tribunal today ruled that intelligence gathering practices used by the national electronic eavesdropping agency GCHQ do not constitute a privacy violation.
	The five judges of the Investigatory Powers Tribunal today rebuffed arguments brought by privacy advocates reacting to US intelligence analyst Edward Snowden's disclosures about widespread data collection by US and UK agencies.
	The ruling follows five days of hearings in July on the alleged mass harvesting of data, which government officials refused to confirm or deny.
	The tribunal said that for the purposes of its review, it assumed the allegations made by Snowden to be true. It found that the current eavesdropping practices, even as described by Snowden's leaked information, are "lawful and human rights compliant."
	It said the methods used must be seen in the context of protecting national security at a time when the terrorist threat to Britain was judged to be "substantial" and has since been raised to "severe," ...

UK panel OKs surveillance practices

Spain's Marine Rescue service said today it has saved 28 African migrants from an inflatable boat in waters off southeast Spain, and is searching for 23 others believed missing after the vessel ran into stormy weather.
	A spokeswoman said the rescue took place in the Mediterranean Sea, 32 kilometres off Cabo de Gata cape. She said the rescued migrants confirmed there had been 51 people aboard the 10-metre-long boat and that many had fallen into the sea when the vessel ran into high waves and winds on yesterday.
	The official spoke on condition of anonymity in keeping with the service's regulations
	African migrants seeking a better life in Europe often try to reach Spain by crossing the Mediterranean Sea from Morocco in small boats.

28 rescued from migrant boat off Spain, 23 missing

President Barack Obama was meeting today with the king of Jordan, a key Mideast ally sandwiched between the Islamic State militant front lines in Iraq and a Syria that is struggling under the burden of an influx of refugees fleeing the fighting.
	Obama and King Abdullah plan to discuss their efforts to counter the Islamic State in a White House meeting.
	Jordan is one of five Arab nations that have participated in US-led airstrikes against the militants in Syria, and Abdullah said he's consulting with other Arab leaders about taking a stronger stand against the Islamic State.
	"It's clearly a fight between good and evil," Abdullah said on "CBS This Morning."
	"Nations in the Arab and Islamic world have to stand up and say, you know, 'We're against this,' and explain to our people, 'There's a right and a wrong of this,'" Abdullah said.
	"And people have to make a decision. This is our war. This is a war inside of Islam. So we have to own up to it. We have to take the lead. And we have .

Obama discussing Islamic State with Jordan's king

Pope Francis today urged the Catholic Church's top theologians to listen to what ordinary Catholics have to say rather than just making their own pronouncements on hot-button issues.
	Francis, whose near-disdain for theologians is well-known, told the International Theological Commission that they must "humbly listen" to what God tells the church by paying attention to how ordinary Catholics live out their faith.
	The Vatican's orthodoxy and theology watchdog, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, has long been assailed for issuing critiques of Catholic academics without even consulting them or advising them that they were under investigation.
	Francis said theologians must "open their eyes and ears to the signs of the times.

Pope to theologians: Listen to ordinary faithful

The US trade deficit fell slightly in October as exports rebounded while oil imports dipped to the lowest level in five years.
	The deficit edged down 0.4 per cent to USD 43.4 billion, a drop from a revised USD 43.6 billion in September, the Commerce Department reported today.
	Exports climbed 1.2 per cent to USD 197.5 billion, recovering after a September dip. Imports were up as well, rising 0.9 per cent to USD 241 billion but that increase was tempered by a 0.6 per cent fall in imports of petroleum, which dropped to the lowest level since November 2009. The average price of a barrel of oil dipped to USD 88.47, the lowest point since February 2011.
	Through October, the deficit is running 4.8 per cent below the same period in 2013. A lower deficit provides a boost to economic growth.
	The lower deficit reflects in part growth in US exports, which have climbed to record levels this year, giving a boost to American manufacturers. But there is a concern that economic weakness in Europe .

US trade deficit drops to USD 43.4 billion in October

France's defence minister suggested today that two warships ordered by Russia may never be delivered because of its actions in Ukraine.
	Last month, President Francois Hollande suspended the delivery of the first of the ships "until further notice" due to tensions over Ukraine. It was the second postponement of the delivery.
	Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said in a TV interview Friday that the delivery may never happen if the situation doesn't change.
	"The Russians must realise this," he said on BFM TV. Russian annexed Crimea and is accused of supplying pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine with manpower.
	The sale of the two helicopter carriers would be the biggest arms transaction by a NATO country to the Kremlin. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov responded by putting the blame on France.
	"This is not our problem. It's a problem for the reputation of France," he said Friday at a news conference in Basel, Switzerland, where he was attending a meeting of the Organisation for 

France: possible Russia may never get warships

A court today convicted a 20-year-old German of joining the Islamic State terrorist group and sentenced him to 3 years and 9 months in prison.
	Judges found Kreshnik Berisha, whose parents are from Kosovo, guilty of membership and activity for a foreign terrorist organization, the Frankfurt regional court said in a statement.
	Berisha, a Muslim who once played for a Jewish football club, turned to radical Islam three years ago. He traveled to the Turkish city of Istanbul in July 2013, where he and six others were picked up by Islamic State recruiters and taken to Syria, the court said.
	Berisha underwent combat training and took part in combat operations near the Syrian city of Hama, but was largely kept away from the front line.
	While in Syria he maintained contact with his family in Germany and agreed to their pleas for him to return home five months later. Berisha was arrested at Frankfurt Airport in December 2013.
	Judges said Berisha's sentence took account of the fact that he ..

Prison sentence for German who joined IS

China has provided the US with a list of alleged fugitives amid a campaign to track down corrupt officials and others who have fled abroad, the State Department's representative to recent law enforcement talks said today.
	William Brownfield, the assistant secretary for international narcotics and law Enforcement affairs, said the sides identified a "finite number of individuals and agreed to develop a strategy to address each of those."
	From there, the sides would "see if we could build from that to a larger solution to the problem," Brownfield said.
	China and the US have no extradition agreement, although the law offers alternatives. Wanted persons can be dealt with through prosecution in the country to which they fled or be expelled for immigration violations. Their assets can also be seized if determined to have been illegally acquired, leaving them little option but to return home.
	An American official speaking on condition of anonymity said China provided more than 100 names, 

China presents US with list of alleged fugitives

A UN peacekeeper who contracted Ebola in Liberia will be flown to the Netherlands for treatment, a Dutch Health Ministry spokeswoman said today.
	The Nigerian soldier will go into isolation at a "calamity unit" at the University Medical Center Utrecht, according to Inge Freriksen.
	He is expected to arrive in Amsterdam over the weekend and be transferred by ambulance to nearby Utrecht.
	Late Thursday, the UN mission announced that the soldier had tested positive for the dreaded disease a day earlier. This is the third case of Ebola among mission personnel, according to Karin Landgren, the top UN envoy in the country. The previous two died.
	The mission has so far identified 16 people who came into contact with the soldier, and they have been quarantined, she said. Areas the peacekeeper visited while symptomatic have been decontaminated.
	The man will be the first Ebola patient hospitalised in the Netherlands. He is being treated in a Dutch hospital at the request of the World Health ..

UN peacekeeper in Liberia tests positive for Ebola

A court in Volgograd has convicted four men for their roles in the twin suicide bombings that killed 34 people in the southern Russian city a year ago and heightened security fears ahead of the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, investigators announced today.
	All four men are from Dagestan, a republic in Russia's North Caucasus that is the centre of an Islamic insurgency.
	Alautdin Dadayev and Ibragim Magomedov were found guilty of complicity in terrorism for sheltering the two suicide bombers as they prepared the explosives they later used to blow themselves up in a train station and on a crowded electric trolleybus, the spokesman for the federal Investigative Committee said.
	Both men were sentenced to 19 years in prison.
	Brothers Magomed and Tagir Batirov were convicted of transporting the suicide bombers to Volgograd in a heavy truck by hiding them inside a load of hay, investigative agency spokesman Vladimir Markin said in a statement.
	They were each sentenced to five years and 10 ...

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