A man who pleaded guilty to trying to sell firearms believed to have been owned by Saddam Hussein's family was fined USD 5,000 by a federal judge.
	Howard Blumenthal, 76, of Fort Lee, New Jersey, had faced up to five years in prison.
	Seven guns with an estimated value of USD 250,000 to USD 350,000 were seized in December 2012. Among the firearms were a .357 semi-automatic pistol featuring a gold medallion "QS." That's presumed to indicate the late Iraqi president's son, Qusay.
	Other guns included two .357 Magnums, a .32-caliber semi-automatic pistol, two 12-gauge shotguns and a semi-automatic, .45-caliber pistol with gold leaf and gold inlays and bearing the initials "QS."
	Blumenthal was recruited to help round up potential buyers for the smuggled guns, prosecutors have said. They say he went to a New Jersey restaurant in July 2012 to meet with three other people who were indicted in the scheme, so they could discuss the sale of six of the seven weapons.
	The investigation into the 

US man fined in Saddam Hussein family gun plot

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Nearly three dozen prisoners awaiting trial in a crowded jail in a provincial city north of the Haitian escaped by sawing through steel bars, authorities have said.
	Thirty-four prisoners crawled through the window at the jail in Saint Marc and fled into the darkness, according to officials with the Haitian National Police.
	Saint Marc Police Commissioner Berson Soljour said four of the men had been recaptured, but the rest remained at large. He said all of those who escaped had been awaiting trial, including one facing a charge of murder.
	All five guards who were on overnight duty at the jail have been detained on suspicion of aiding the escape, Soljour said yesterday.
	Saint Marc is a port city about 100 kilometers north of the capital and is the largest city between Port-au-Prince and Cap-Haitien. Police were circulating photos of the men throughout the central Artibonite region.
	Haitian prisons are notoriously overcrowded and rife with problems, with many inmates spending years .

Haiti police say 34 inmates flee in prison break

Chip maker Cypress Semiconductor is buying flash memory product maker Spansion in an all-stock deal worth USD 1.59 billion.
	Spansion stockholders will get 2.457 shares of Cypress stock for every Spansion share they own. Shareholders of each side will own about 50 per cent of the new company, which will keep the name Cypress Semiconductor Corp.
	The companies valued the deal at USD 4 billion. They expect it to close in the first half of 2015, and they expect to cut annual costs by USD 135 million within three years.
	Cypress President and CEO T J Rodgers will be CEO of the combined company, which is expected to have USD 2 billion in annual revenue. Spansion Chairman Ray Bingham will be non-executive chairman.
	Cypress shares rose 82 cents, or 7.9 per cent, at USD 11.25 in aftermarket trading. Spansion Inc shares jumped USD 3.09, or 13.5 per cent, to USD 25.94.
	Spansion is based in Sunnyvale, California, and it had USD 972 million in revenue in 2013. The company filed for Chapter 11 ..

Cypress Semiconductor buying Spansion for USD 1.59B

Police say one person has been killed and another four seriously injured after a furnace apparently exploded in a factory in eastern Germany.
	Authorities told the dpa news agency yesterday that some 30 people were at work at the time of the evening explosion at the chemical plant in Pirna, near Dresden.
	More than 100 emergency personnel responded to help put out the fire and rescue the employees.
	All houses within 100 meters of the factory were evacuated and others in the area were told to keep their doors and windows closed.
	The cause of the explosion was under investigation.

Factory explosion in Germany kills 1, injures 4

Police searched today for a suspect following three shootings in north-central West Virginia that caused local schools to be placed on lockdown.
	Monongalia County sheriff's Chief Deputy Perry Palmer said the shootings occurred this morning. More details weren't immediately available and it wasn't immediately clear whether anyone was injured.
	911 director Mike Wolfe said police are searching for Jody Hunt in the case. Police also are searching for a 2011 Ford F-150 extended cab truck with a license plate that's blacked out and unreadable.
	"We ask that everyone stay vigilant and use their discretion about whether they should leave their homes," Wolfe said.
	West Virginia University said there was no immediate threat to its campus.
	"The incident is not associated with WVU nor did it occur on or near campus," the university said in a news release.
	Palmer said officers from the West Virginia State Police, Westover Police and the Monongalia County Sheriff's Department are helping the ..

Suspect sought in 3 shootings in US state

State police say four people are dead in three shootings in north-central West Virginia.
	State police spokesman Lt Michael Baylous says two of the shootings happened in the Westover area and the other occurred in the Cheat Lake area.
	All three shootings occurred today.
	Baylous identified the two victims from the Cheat Lake shooting as 39-year-old Sharon Kay Berkshire of Westover and 28-year-old David Frum.
	Officials say police are searching for a suspect named Jody Hunt in the case.
	More details weren't immediately available.

Police: 4 dead following 3 shootings in US

NASA's quest to send astronauts out into the solar system begins this week with a two-laps-around-Earth test flight.
	The new Orion spacecraft is not going to Mars just yet; Thursday's debut will be unmanned and last just 4½ hours. But it will be the farthest a built-for-humans capsule has flown since the Apollo moon missions, shooting 3,600 miles out into space in order to gain enough momentum to re-enter the atmosphere at a scorching 20,000 mph (32,000 kph).
	The dry run, if all goes well, will end with a Pacific splashdown off Mexico's Baja coast. Navy ships will recover the capsule, a la Apollo, for future use.
	This initial Orion is rigged with 1,200 sensors to gauge its durability for the day when astronauts do climb aboard during the decade ahead. Advertised destinations include an asteroid to be corralled in lunar orbit for human exploration in the 2020s, followed by Mars in the 2030s.
	Lockheed Martin Corp. Built the capsule and is staging the USD 370 million test flight for .

NASA launching new Orion spacecraft on test flight

Spurred by the Ferguson, Missouri shooting, President Barack Obama is calling for USD 75 million in federal spending to get 50,000 more police to wear body cameras that record their interactions with civilians.
	However, Obama is not seeking to pull back federal programs that provide military-style equipment to local law enforcement.
	The president was making the announcement Monday from the White House during a series of meetings with his Cabinet, civil rights leaders, law enforcement officials and others. At least for now, Obama is staying away from Ferguson in the wake of a racially charged uproar over a grand jury's decision last week not to charge the police offer who fatally shot unarmed 18-year-old Michael Brown.
	Obama is proposing a three-year USD 263 million spending package to increase use of body-worn cameras, expand training for law enforcement and add more resources for police department reform. The package includes USD 75 million for the small, lapel-mounted cameras to .

Obama wants more police wearing body cameras

Edward Snowden, co-winner of the Right Livelihood Award, has called on the United Nations to propose new measures to protect individual privacy and human rights.
	Speaking by video link to the award ceremony in Swedish Parliament, the former NSA systems analyst said Monday that the prize recognizes "the work of so many people."
	Snowden remains exiled in Russia after leaking NSA documents to journalists in 2013. He split the honorary portion of the award with Alan Rusbridger, editor of the Guardian, which has published a series of articles on government surveillance based on documents leaked by Snowden.
	The 1.5 million kronor (USD 210,000) cash portion of the award was shared by Pakistani human rights activist Asma Jahangir, Basil Fernando of the Asian Human Rights Commission and US environmentalist Bill McKibben.

Snowden calls on UN to protect privacy, rights

Supreme Court justices are vigorously debating the Digital Age question of where the line should be drawn between free speech and illegal threats.
	The case argued today involves a man convicted of making violent threats after he posted Facebook rants about killing his estranged wife, harming law enforcement officials and shooting up a school.
	Lawyers for Anthony Elonis say he didn't mean to threaten anyone. They contend the government must prove he actually intended his comments as actual threats to others. The government argues the real test is whether his words would make a reasonable person feel threatened.
	Several justices seemed concerned that the government's position is too broad and risks sweeping up language that is protected by the First Amendment.

Supreme Court considers Facebook threats case

Acclaimed Egyptian novelist and educator Radwa Ashour, who used her often deeply personal writing style to champion human rights issues, has died after a long battle with cancer. She was 68.
	She chronicled her fight against cancer in her novel "Heavier than Radwa," set against the turbulent days of Egypt's revolution. She died yesterday and her funeral was today.
	Born in Cairo in 1946, Ashour's writing won multiple awards, including the Constantine Cavafy Prize for Literature in 2007 and the Owais Prize in 2011. She wrote more than fifteen books, the best-known of which is the "Granada" trilogy, which chronicles the rise and fall of Arab civilization in Spain.
	"I sometimes refer to her as a 'woman of steel' because she seemed so indefatigable ... And it's hard for those of us who knew her to believe that anything could win when it took her on," said Barbara Romaine, a professor at Villanova University who translated three of her books, adding that Ashour played an important role ...

Acclaimed Egyptian novelist Ashour dies at 68

The Ebola epidemic and the war in Syria have cast a spotlight on the inadequacies of the United Nations as it tries to operate in a globalised world with a power structure that hasn't changed since 1945.
	To many who know the UN well, the organisation has grown bloated with age, is underfunded and shows few signs of righting itself.
	That was evident when an internal report by the UN health agency revealed that cronyism and incompetence in its leadership may have contributed to the spread of Ebola.
	Since the UN was born after World War II, it has grown from 51 members to 193. As it approaches its 70th anniversary next year, it is hobbled by bureaucracy, politics and an inability among its five most powerful members to agree on many things, including how to bring peace to Syria.
	"If you can imagine any big multinational corporation keeping its structures the same as in 1945, it would have been destroyed by now in the marketplace," said Patricia Lewis, a nuclear physicist who led the .

Syria, Ebola failures highlight UN shortcomings

A US Air Force pilot was killed when an F-16 crashed late last night while returning to its base in the Middle East.
	Col Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman, said the jet developed a problem related to maintenance shortly after takeoff, turned around and crashed before landing. Warren said the pilot apparently turned around before engaging in any combat mission.
	The crash is being investigated. Warren said it was too early to say why the pilot was unable to eject.
	The US Central Command, which is in charge of American military operations in the Mideast, did not disclose the identity of the pilot, but it said it did not occur in either Iraq or Syria where a US-led coalition has been bombing Islamic State extremists.
	Citing sensitivities of host nations, Warren would not identify where the accident occurred.

US Air Force pilot killed in crash in Mideast

Iraq's prime minister said today that he has retired 24 Interior Ministry officials as part of efforts to restructure the country's security apparatus and enable it to better confront the threat from the Islamic State militant group.
	Haider al-Abadi's announcement came as fighters with the Sunni extremist group attacked a police checkpoint near Iraq's border with Syria, killing at least 15 Iraqi officers in an assault that underscored the depth of the country's turmoil in the face of the IS group's onslaught.
	The retirement of two dozen interior ministry officials is part of al-Abadi's efforts to "restructure the security forces and make them more effective in the face of terrorism," according to statements on his official Twitter and Facebook pages. Al-Abadi, who became Iraq's prime minister in September, has already retired a number of senior military officials as part of his push to reform the force. Today's statements did not identify the individuals or the ranks of officials ...

Iraqi premier sacks 24 interior ministry officials

It's a robot unlike any other, inspired by the world's fastest land animal and controlled by video game technology.
	The robot, called the cheetah, can run on batteries at speeds of more than 16 kph, jump about 40 centimetres high, land safely and continue running for at least 15 minutes -- all while using less power than a microwave oven.
	It's the creation of researchers at the Massachusetts of Technology, who had to design key elements from zero because of a lack of, or shortcomings in, existing technology.
	That includes powerful, lightweight motors, electronics that control power for its 12 motors and an algorithm that determines the amount of force a leg should exert during the split second that it spends on the ground while running.
	That's the key to helping the robot maintain balance and forward momentum.
	An onboard computer organises data from various sensors and sends commands to each motor.
	"This is kind of a Ferrari in the robotics world, like, we have to put all the ...

MIT engineers have high hopes for cheetah robot

Rivals and allies are paying tribute to former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who plans to step down from Parliament at a national election in May.
	Prime Minister David Cameron says Brown has "given a huge amount in terms of public service and his contribution in government and in Parliament."
	Brown is due to make a speech today in his home town of Kirkcaldy, Scotland. British media say he will announce he is leaving Parliament after 32 years.
	Brown served as Treasury chief under Prime Minister Tony Blair for a decade from 1997, becoming prime minister when Blair stepped down in 2007.
	He won praise for his handling of the 2008 financial crisis, but his premiership was dogged by gaffes and he failed to win the 2010 election.

Ex-British PM Gordon Brown to leave politics

An aide to a Republican congressman has resigned after her critical comments about President Barack Obama's daughters touched off a backlash.
	Elizabeth Lauten, communications director to Rep Stephen Fincher, commented on Malia and Sasha Obama's pose and dress at a White House ceremony last week in which the president pardoned a turkey, a presidential tradition for the harvest holiday of Thanksgiving, when Americans partake in a feast that features the turkey as its centerpiece.
	She wrote that the girls should have shown more class in both their dress and behavior.
	Lauten later apologised for the comments on her Facebook page that had drawn harsh criticism.
	Jessica Carter, chief of staff for Fincher, today said that Lauten resigned. Carter had no additional comment.

US aide resigns over criticism of Obama daughters

A billion-dollar class-action lawsuit over Apple's iPod music players heads to trial tomorrow in a California federal court after nearly a decade in legal wrangling.
	Attorneys for consumers and electronics retailers claim Apple Inc used software in its iTunes store that forced would-be song buyers to use iPods instead of cheaper music players made by rivals.
	The software is no longer used, but the plaintiffs argue that it inflated the prices of millions of iPods sold between 2006 and 2009 to the tune of USD 350 million.
	Under federal antitrust law, the tech giant could be ordered to pay three times that amount if the jury agrees with the estimate and finds the damages resulted from anti-competitive behavior.
	Underscoring the case's hoary origins, it was filed in January 2005, which is eons ago by Silicon Valley standards, one of the key witnesses will be legendary Apple CEO Steve Jobs, who died in 2011 but will be heard in a videotaped deposition.
	"The fact that this case is ...

Jurors to hear Steve Jobs testimony at Apple trial

About USD 1 billion in loans under a UN initiative for poor countries to tackle global warming is going toward the construction of power plants fired by coal, the biggest human source of carbon pollution.
	Japan gave the money to help its companies build three such plants in Indonesia and listed it with the United Nations as climate finance, The Associated Press has found.
	Japan says these plants burn coal more efficiently and are therefore cleaner than old coal plants.
	However, they still emit twice as much heat-trapping carbon dioxide as plants running on natural gas. Villagers near the Cirebon plant in Indonesia also complain that stocks of shrimp, fish and green mussels have dwindled.
	Japan's coal projects highlight the lack of rules to steer the flow of climate finance from rich to poor countries, a critical part of UN talks on global warming, which resume today in Lima, Peru. There is no watchdog agency that ensures the money is spent in the most effective way, and no ...

Climate funds for coal highlight lack of UN rules

About 30 prisoners escaped from a jail in a provincial city north of the Haitian capital, a police official said today.
	The male prisoners managed to cut the bars of the jail in Saint Marc, jump to an adjacent Catholic church and flee into the night, said Charles Roubins, an investigator with the Haitian National Police.
	Authorities were still attempting to determine the number of prisoners who escaped and none have been recaptured. Details about the men who escaped were not immediately available.
	One officer has been detained on suspicion of aiding the escape, Roubins said.
	Saint Marc is a port city about 60 miles (100 kilometers) north of the capital and is the largest city between Port-au-Prince and Cap-Haitien.
	Haitian prisons are notoriously overcrowded and rife with problems, with many inmates spending years in pre-trial detention.
	About 330 prisoners, including many both charged and convicted of serious crimes, escaped in August from a prison in Croix-des-Bouquets using ..

Haiti police say about 30 inmates in prison break

Liberia and Guinea have met a Dec. 1 target for isolating 70 per cent of people infected with Ebola and safely burying 70 per cent of those who die, the World Health Organization said today.
	Only last week, the UN health agency had said only Guinea was on track to meet the targets for getting the deadly Ebola outbreak under control in the three hardest-hit West African countries.
	But at a news conference in Geneva, WHO's Dr. Bruce Aylward said the organization had revised its conclusion based on more analysis of its data. Sierra Leone also probably met the targets in the west of the country, he said, and likely will improve to the 70 per cent target nationwide "in the coming weeks."
	Aylward also told reporters that WHO's ambitious plan to stop the deadly Ebola outbreak in West Africa has shown it possible to quickly reduce the "yawning gap" between disease levels and the capacity to respond.
	"You can catch up with Ebola even on this scale," he said. However, he added that it ...

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