Category: World News

Aussie football coach in ransom video

AN Australian man abducted in Yemen has appeared in a new ransom video asking his government to meet the demands of his unidentified kidnappers. The video of the man, identified as Craig McAllister, shows him giving a statement with the barrel of a gun held against his head, a US-based monitor said yesterday.

Senators join forces on legislation to punish Russia WASHINGTON (AP)…

Senate Republicans and Democrats joined forces Tuesday to directly challenge President-elect Donald Trump over Russia’s interference in U.S. elections and for ongoing aggression in other parts of the world. The 10 lawmakers, five from each party, introduced sweeping legislation designed to go beyond the punishments against Russia already levied by the Obama administration and to demonstrate to Trump that forcefully responding to Moscow’s meddling isn’t a partisan issue.

Suit and tie stripped from dress code

SRI Lanka President Maithripala Sirisena on Monday overturned a 26-year-old decree that required top bureaucrats to wear a suit and tie, saying they could now opt for “more comfortable” clothing instead. “We must adopt clothing that suits our weather and climate,” Sirisena said.

Lebanese President on landmark visit today

President of the Lebanese Republic General Michel Aoun will arrive in Qatar today on two-day official visit. Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani will hold official talks with the Lebanese President on bilateral relations as well as regional and international issues of joint interest.

airberlin Offers Special Deals to Europe From the U.S.

Destinations offered include cities throughout Austria, France, Germany, Italy, the Nordics, Switzerland and Eastern Europe. Fares are available from $499 including taxes and most fees based on roundtrip travel to European routes for travel periods from February 1st through June 15, 2017 in economy class and from $2499 from April 1st through June 30th in business class.

Twin Blasts Kill Dozens In Kabul, Afghanistan

Afghan security personnel arrive at the site of two bombs on Tuesday near the Afghan parliament in Kabul. Wakil Kohsar /AFP/Getty Images hide caption Two bomb blasts near the parliament building in Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, have killed at least 30 people and injured at least 70. “The first bomb exploded near a parked minibus,” NPR’s Nishant Dahiya reported.

French presidential candidate Fillon to propose immigration quotas

French conservative presidential candidate Francois Fillon, who is favourite to win this year’s election, will lay out on Wednesday his proposals to cut immigration to a “strict minimum” through the use of quotas, an aide said on Tuesday. Fillon, who is seen beating far-right leader Marine Le Pen if they meet in a runoff in May in the presidential election, will also urge the European Union to tighten its asylum and immigration policy to counter threats from Islamist militants.

Four Local Ladies to Walk 100km to Help Fight Poverty

Janet Broome-Nicholson is a participant of the Teach First NZ program teaching Te Reo Maori, Serene Rountree is a mother of one and Kapiti Photo School student and lives with Gemma Macann who is a leader at Ngatiawa River Monastery, and Liz McGimpsey a breastfeeding mum to two kids under two, hails from Shannon. They call themselves ‘Operation Friends’.

Rescue beacon alerts top 450

A woman climber sustaining severe head injuries on Christmas Day, and a motor boat stuck on a sandbar off Foxton Beach, were among the more than 450 rescue beacon incidents for 2016. The Rescue Coordination Centre of New Zealand received 146 beacon alerts north of Taupo last year, and 107 in the lower half of the North Island.

Optimized treatment relieves pain in chronic pancreatitis

For most patients with chronic pancreatitis , optimized medical and interventional treatment is associated with significant pain relief, according to a study published online Jan. 4 in the Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology . For the study, researchers from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi enrolled 313 consecutive patients with CP who were treated with a well-balanced diet, pancreatic enzymes, and antioxidants.

Inflammatory markers prognostic in primary sinonasal cancer

Pretreatment neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio can predict survival for patients with primary sinonasal cancers , according to a study published online Dec. 29 in Head & Neck . Mario Turri-Zanoni, M.D., from the University of Insubria in Varese, Italy, and colleagues conducted a retrospective review of patients with SNC who had been treated using endoscopic approaches from 2002 to 2014.

PC gets the country to #EatTogether

As Canadians prepare to come together for the country’s 150th anniversary, President’s Choice is taking a new approach and showing how a shared meal is a perfect opportunity to reconnect with each other. In a video launching the “#EatTogether” concept, a woman comes home to her apartment building, silently lamenting how everyone else seems to be buried in their devices.

Nana Akufo-Addo, another Doyen: A message from JB Danquah

The final countdown to the inauguration of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo heralded a new era of hope; a positive change far from the “changing lives, transforming Ghana” mantra touted by losers and schemers of a past government known majorly for chronic deficiency in wisdom, lack of vision, lost mission, and an urgent need to be taught the art of writing speeches given the rules of engagement that allow for quoting others without acknowledgement. After all, English is not a mere language of convenience, but a medium of artistic expressions with flexible borders whose elasticity can be employed depending on the extent of stretch needed to make a point.

Phone part has no link to Corrie McKeague inquiry, police say

April Oliver, girlfriend of missing 23-year-old Corrie McKeague , has revealed she is expecting his child The back of a phone found close to where a missing RAF gunner’s mobile was last detected has no link to the inquiry, police have said. Corrie McKeague, 23, from Fife, vanished while on a night-out with friends on September 24 in Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk.

Fake pastor jailed six months

A fake pastor Akwesi Amoah, who hired musical instruments from one Dr Brenya to be used for church programmes but later sold them in the Central Region, has been sentenced to six months’ imprisonment with hard labour. Delivering the judgment, Fred Obikyere of the Sunyani Magistrate Court B, said Akwesi Amoah must serve six months in prison with hard labour and come back to pay GHA 5,000 to cover the cost of the items.

.com | Morocco faces political impasse after talks collapse

Morocco is facing an unprecedented political deadlock after the Islamist prime minister broke off talks on forming a coalition government following three months of fruitless effort. The impasse – apparently rooted in a power struggle between the Islamist Justice and Development Party and figures close to the royal palace – threatens to provoke a political crisis and possibly even new elections.

Palestinians seek weekend prayers to protest US Embassy move

In this March 17, 2003 file photo, an Israeli border policemen guards the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv as other Israelis line up for U.S. visas. The Palestinians and their Arab allies have been ringing alarm bells over Donald Trump’s plans to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel to contested Jerusalem, increasingly fearful he will move swiftly once he takes office.

Today in History

On Jan. 10, 1967, President Lyndon B. Johnson, in his State of the Union address, asked Congress to impose a surcharge on both corporate and individual income taxes to help pay for his “Great Society” programs as well as the war in Vietnam. That same day, Massachusetts Republican Edward W. Brooke, the first black elected to the U.S. Senate by popular vote, took his seat.

ISIS is targeting civilians as its last Iraqi stronghold slips out of its grasp

Iraqi forces pushed Islamic State fighters back further in Mosul on Tuesday in a renewed effort to seize the northern city and deal a decisive blow to the militant group, though progress was slower in some districts, the army said. Iraqi forces and their allies have captured villages and towns surrounding Mosul and seized at least two-thirds of its eastern districts, military officials say, pushing right up to the eastern bank of the Tigris river in recent days.

How the Yemen War Went from Regional Conflict to Humanitarian Crisis

Yemeni pro-government forces patrol during an offensive against Shiite rebels in Yemen’s western Dhubab district, about 30 kms north of the strategic Bab al-Mandab Strait, on January 9, 2017. What began in 2011 as a popular uprising has now become a catastrophe, with 10,000 dead and a famine looming At the tip of the Arabian peninsula, Yemen’s disastrous war has been raging for nearly two years.

UN: Civilians increasing flee IS-held Mosul; 135,500 now out

Elite counterterrorism forces transport civilians fleeing their homes during fighting between Iraqi security forces and Islamic State militants in Mosul, Iraq, Monday, Jan. 9, 2017. GENEVA – The U.N.’s humanitarian aid agency says an average of 1,000 people have fled the Iraqi city of Mosul each day over the last week amid a stepped-up Iraqi offensive to retake the city from the Islamic State group.

The Latest: 2 men die in Serbia amid Europe’s cold spell

Authorities in Serbia say that a father and son have died from freezing temperatures in the Balkan country’s south which has been the hardest-hit by the dayslong cold spell. Officials say that an 88-year-old man and his 64-year-old son from the village of Duga Poljana were discovered by a man from a neighboring village who delivers bread.

China pledges further cuts in excess steel, coal production

In this photo taken Friday, Dec. 30, 2016, an excavator past by smoke spewing from the sprawling complex that is a part of the Jiujiang steel and rolling mills in Qianan in northern China’s Hebei province. China’s top economic planner pledged Tuesday, Jan 10, 2017 to continue cutting steel and coal production that have been a source of trade friction with many countries.

Russian town wants to name street Trump

The incoming U.S. president is popular in Russia, in part for his praise of Vladimir Putin, and one town is looking for a way to honor Donald Trump. Many in the town of Ryazan, about 150 miles outside Moscow, are hoping for a thaw in U.S.-Russian relations and pinning those hopes on President-elect Trump.

Obama says goodbye

NOVEMBER 16: U.S. President Barack Obama waves before descending from Air Force One upon his arrival on November 16, 2016 in Berlin, Germany. President Obama is scheduled to meet with German Chancellor Angela Merkel tomorrow and hold talks with other European leaders on Friday as part of his last trip to Europe as President before continuing to Peru.