A dummy Hellfire missile that had been wrongly shipped to Cuba in June 2014 has been returned to the Unites States.
The missile, which did not contain explosives, had been shipped to Spain for a NATO training exercise, the Wall Street Journal said.
It was then taken to Germany and eventually to Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris for onward delivery to Florida.
The missile was instead loaded on to an Air France flight to Havana.
The incident could have led to a serious loss of military technology, officials told the Wall Street Journal.
The whole affair has been embarrassing for the Americans, who have had to ask the Cubans if they could have their highly sensitive missile back.
The missile arrived on a flight from Paris “by mistake or mishandling in the country of origin,” said a Cuban Foreign Ministry statement.
“Cuba acted with seriousness and transparency and co-operated to find a satisfactory solution to this issue,” it added.
The AGM 114 Hellfire is a laser-guided missile that can be deployed from an attack helicopter or an unmanned drone.
US officials were worried that Cuba could share the advanced technology inside the missile with countries such as North Korea, China or Russia, sources close to the investigation told the Wall Street Journal.
The US and Cuba, old Cold War enemies, restored diplomatic relations in July 2015 after more than 50 years.
The two countries have been working to rebuild their economic and trade ties.
An announcement is expected on February 16 about the reinstatement of scores of commercial flights between US cities and Havana.
At least three people were killed and scores were injured in a highway pileup involving more than 50 vehicles in Pennsylvania, authorities say.
The crash, on I-78 in Lebanon County – 75miles north-west of Philadelphia – left trucks and cars strewn across three lanes of traffic and the central reservation.
The Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency said 40 people had been taken to hospital and 70 to a temporary shelter.
Drivers have been urged to use caution during the icy weather.
A spokeswoman for Penn State Hershey Medical Center said three patients had been brought in a critical condition, three more with moderate to severe injuries and four with minor injuries.
The accident happened at 9:30 a.m. at mile marker 7.5 and the interstate is shut down in both directions, state police said.
Agency spokesman Cory Angell said drifting snow had been reported in the area of the crash, which took place in strong winds on the eastern carriageway of Interstate 78 near Bethel Township.
“You could be driving down the interstate and all of a sudden conditions change because the winds are drifting the snow,” he said.
Witnesses described a scene of devastation with reports that some people remain trapped in vehicles.
“The snow just started and it was a total whiteout. The car in front of us just disappeared,” driver Ashley Fisher told NBC News.
“We were able to stop, but a couple cars slid and hit the shoulder. It was a mess.”
Officials have warned people in the north-eastern US to stay indoors during what the National Weather Service described as “life-threatening temperatures”.
Pakistan’s President Mamnoon Hussain has denounced St Valentine’s Day, saying the festival has no connection with his country’s culture and should be avoided.
The president told students that it was a Western tradition and conflicted with Muslim culture.
Mamnoon Hussain’s remarks came after a district in north-western Pakistan banned Valentine’s Day celebrations.
Valentine’s Day is popular in many cities in Pakistan, but religious groups have denounced it as decadent.
Earlier this week, the local government in Kohat, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, told police officers to stop stores from selling Valentine’s Day cards and items.
Kohat district is run by a religious political party and borders Pakistan’s conservative tribal areas.
Meanwhile, the Peshawar local council also passed a resolution to ban celebrations of what it called a “useless” day.
However, officials in both places later said the bans had been discarded or ignored for being unpopular.
Earlier this week, there were unconfirmed media reports that Valentine’s Day gifts had been banned in the capital Islamabad – although this was subsequently denied by the government.
Indian PM Narendra Modi has wished Afghan President Ashraf Ghani a happy birthday on a wrong date.
Narendra Modi tweeted his best wishes to Ashraf Ghani, writing: “Praying for your long life & exceptional health and a joyful journey ahead.”
Ashraf Ghani gently responded on Twitter only to point out his birthday is, in fact, on May 19: “Greetings from Munich Mr. PM. Although my Birthday is on 19th May, but I’d still like to thank you for your gracious words.”
Ashraf Ghani’s profile on Google lists his birthday as being on February 12, which may explain the mistake.
Photo Reuters
It is not known if Narendra Modi himself wrote the erroneous tweet. His posts are reportedly written by his social media manager, Hiren Joshi.
Also, it is unlikely Ashraf Ghani, who is at Munich Security Conference, wrote the polite reply, as any posts written by the president himself are signed AG.
Given there at least 22.2 million Twitter users in India and that Ashraf Ghani has more than 176,000 followers, the mistake was spotted by plenty of people.
One Twitter user in India, replied to Ashraf Ghani: “We don’t care when you b’day is , if our honorable PM has wished you today, we will celebrate it today.”
Another, Richard Rego, said it was “the biggest international joke from someone occupying the biggest chair in the biggest democracy”.
A number of drugs could help protect against Alzheimer’s disease, acting like statins for the brain, scientists say.
In experiments on worms, University of Cambridge researchers identified drugs which prevented the very first step towards brain cell death.
They now want to match up drugs with specific stages of the disease.
According to experts, it was important to find out if these drugs could work safely in humans.
Statins are taken by people to reduce the risk of developing heart disease and the Cambridge research team says its work may have unearthed a potential “neurostatin” to ward off Alzheimer’s disease.
Rather than treating the symptoms of the disease, a neurostatin could be used as a preventative measure to stop the disease appearing in the first place.
Photo Getty Images
The cancer drug bexarotene, for example, was found to stop the first step which leads to the death of brain cells in worms genetically programmed to develop Alzheimer’s disease.
In previous trials in humans, researchers tested the drug at a later stage of the disease to see if it would clear amyloid plaques from the brain but the trials were unsuccessful.
Writing in Science Advances, Prof. Michele Vendruscolo, senior study author from the University of Cambridge, said the research team wanted to find out more about the mechanics of every stage of the disease’s development.
“The body has a variety of natural defenses to protect itself against neurodegeneration, but as we age, these defenses become progressively impaired and can get overwhelmed.
“By understanding how these natural defenses work, we might be able to support them by designing drugs that behave in similar ways.”
Brazil has deployed more than 220,000 soldiers across the country to warn people about the risks of the Zika virus.
The South American country is at the center of an outbreak of the Zika virus, which has been linked to a surge in babies being born with underdeveloped brains.
Brazil has 462 confirmed cases of microcephaly, and is investigating another 3,852 suspected cases.
Troops will hand out 4 million leaflets advising people about the risks of the virus, carried by mosquitoes.
However, critics have said the move would not helping reduce mosquito numbers or stop the spread of Zika.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared a global public health emergency over the possible connection between Zika and microcephaly, a condition marked by abnormally small heads in newborn babies that can result in developmental problems.
The link with Zika has not been confirmed, but the WHO and other public health bodies have said it is strongly suspected.
On February 12, the WHO said it expected that a link would be established within weeks between Zika, microcephaly and another neurological disorder, Guillain-Barre syndrome.
The microcephaly cases have been centered in north-east Brazil, but the Zika outbreak has affected people in more than 20 countries in the Americas.
Some governments have advised women to delay getting pregnant. Already-pregnant women have been advised not to travel to the countries affected.
Rio de Janeiro is to host the Olympic Games in August. A diving test event is to take place in the city next week, and organizers said on February 12 that some of the 270 athletes taking part had expressed their concern over the Zika virus.
According to a new research presented at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, more than 5.5 million people worldwide are dying prematurely every year as a result of air pollution.
Most of these deaths are occurring in the rapidly developing economies of China and India.
The main culprit is the emission of small particles from power plants, factories, vehicle exhausts and from the burning of coal and wood.
The data was compiled as part of the Global Burden of Disease project.
Scientists involved in the initiative say the statistics illustrate how far, and how fast, some nations must travel to improve the air their citizens breathe.
Breathing in tiny liquid or solid particles can increase the risk of heart disease, stroke, respiratory complaints and even cancer. And while developed nations have made great strides in addressing this problem these past few decades, the number of citizens dying as a result of poor air quality in developing countries is still climbing.
According to the study, air pollution causes more deaths than other risk factors like malnutrition, obesity, alcohol and drug abuse, and others. The Global Burden of Disease project puts it as the fourth greatest risk behind high blood pressure, dietary risks and smoking.
In China, there are said to be about 1.6 million deaths a year; in India, it is roughly 1.3 million. This data is from 2013, the most recent year for which it is available.
The key sources of pollution concern are slightly different in each nation, however.
In China, the dominant factor is particle emissions from coal burning.
The project calculates this source alone is responsible for more than 360,000 deaths every year.
Even though China has targets to restrict coal combustion and emissions in the future, it may struggle to bring down the number of deaths because it is acquiring an aging population and these citizens are naturally more susceptible to the illnesses associated with poor air quality.
In India, the problem that draws particular attention is the practice of burning wood, dung, crop residues and other materials for cooking and heating.
This “indoor pollution” causes far more deaths than “outdoor pollution”.
Looking at the broad economic trends in India, the research team says the country runs the risk of having even poorer air quality in the future.
Oil prices soared as much as 12% on February 12 after new suggestions that OPEC nations were set to cut oil production.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the United Arab Emirates’ energy minister said that OPEC members were ready to reduce output.
Meanwhile, Venezuela’s oil minister said oil-producing nations were on a “very good path” to clinch a deal.
However, traders said sharp falls on February 11 may have triggered some bargain-hunting.
Eulogio Del Pino, the Venezuelan minister, who recently visited Russia and Saudi Arabia as part of a global tour to drum up support among both OPEC and non-OPEC producers, said “we’re on a very, very, very good path” to reducing production.
Brent crude closed up $3.30 at $33.36 a barrel in New York after falling below $30 on February 11.
After sinking to a 12-year low of $26.05 on February 11, US crude settled up 12%, or $3.23, to $29.44 a barrel – its biggest one-day rise since 2009.
Many traders were skeptical about the Journal‘s report, pointing out that Venezuela and Russia had tried in vain earlier this week to stir Saudi Arabia and other major producers into agreeing to output cuts.
However, some believe that prices would rebound sooner or later if production tightened or demand rose.
Commerzbank analysts said: “We expect declining US oil production, in particular, to drive the oil price back up to $50 per barrel by the end of the year.”
Friday’s price rises were also aided by figures from oil services company Baker Hughes, which said that US energy companies cut the number of oil rigs for the eighth consecutive week to the lowest levels since January 2010.
Drillers removed 28 oil rigs, bringing the total rig count down to 439, Baker Hughes said.
The jump in oil prices helped to boost sentiment on stock markets.
Wall Street was trading higher on February 12, with the S&P 500 rising 1.8% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average up close to 2% in late trading.
Bill Murray has offered to pay for mobile phones he allegedly threw from a rooftop California bar after their owners tried to take photos of him.
The comedian was annoyed by camera flashes after fans spotted him at the lounge in the seaside town of Carmel, reports say.
Bill Murray is alleged to have grabbed at least two phones before throwing them.
Police reportedly spoke to him but have decided not to press charges.
The owners were happy to be compensated rather than press charges, the TMZ website quoted police as saying.
According to the TMZ, Bill Murray was “hanging out” on February 11 at the Vesuvio rooftop lounge, “a popular watering hole for celebs” playing in an annual golf tournament.
Californian broadcaster KSBW reported that a tequila party hosted by the actor and singer Justin Timberlake was being held at the venue.
The restaurant owner told TMZ that Bill Murray had not been drinking at the bar but got angry when “a few patrons got star struck and took his picture”.
“The flashes were going off only 10 feet away from Bill,” the owner said, “and he got so angry he got up and chucked their phones off the second storey rooftop.”
A police spokesman told People magazine that officers were called to “a disturbance” but that Bill Murray had already left by the time they arrived.
Venezuela’s opposition plans to speed up moves to oust the government of President Nicolas Maduro after it took control of the National Assembly.
Parliament speaker Henry Ramos Allup said proposals would be presented in a matter of days – rather than months.
A day earlier, Nicolas Maduro was given backing by the Supreme Court for a declaration of economic emergency, giving him greater powers.
The country is facing a shortage of many staple goods and rampant inflation.
Venezuela’s economy is heavily dependent on oil exports and has suffered substantially in the past year given the sharp fall in crude oil prices in international markets.
Energy rationing has been imposed, blamed by government ministers on critically low water levels caused by drought at 18 of the country’s hydro-electric dams.
The National Assembly speaker and other opposition leaders had previously announced they planned to challenge Nicolas Maduro in six months’ time.
However, Henry Ramos Allup now says Venezuela cannot afford to wait.
“Nobody doubts now that that six-month timeframe is too long,” he said.
“It is not we who impose the timing, it is the needs of the country.”
“In the next few days we will have to present a concrete proposal for the departure of that national disgrace that is the government,” he told a news conference.
Henry Ramos Allup called on President Nicolas Maduro to revoke the decree on emergency measures.
He also attacked the Supreme Court over the decree, saying if what it “has done is not a coup, I don’t know what to call it”.
Most if not all Supreme Court judges have been appointed either by Nicolas Maduro or his predecessor, the late Hugo Chavez. It rarely rules against the government.
Nicolas Maduro defended the court’s ruling and said the measures were necessary to deal with the crisis.
“This decision was taken by the highest court of the country, in accordance with the constitution,” the president said.
Nicolas Maduro’s decree was issued on January 14. It is valid for 60 days and it can be renewed by the president.
The government says businessmen linked to the opposition have been hiding basic staples such as flour, sugar and toilet paper as part of a strategy to undermine the economy and oust Nicolas Maduro’s democratically elected government.
He was elected in April 2013 to a six-year term, replacing Hugo Chavez, who died of cancer after 14 years in office.
The Venezuelan constitution says that a referendum to replace the president can be called any time after the first three years of his term, which will be in April 2016.
Four million signatures are needed to trigger a recall referendum.
The governing Socialist Party suffered a heavy defeat in December’s legislative election. It lost control of the National Assembly for the first time in 16 years.
MyShake is a free app for Android phones that has the ability to recognize earthquake shaking using the sensors in every smartphone.
The new app can sense an earthquake even when the phone is being carried in a pocket or a bag.
It turns a smartphone into a mobile seismometer.
The researchers want users to download MyShake app, in the first instance, to help test and improve its capabilities.
Ultimately the idea is that recruited phones will be part of a network that not only gathers data but also issues alerts.
Destructive ground motions take time to move out from the epicenter of a large quake, meaning people at more distant locations could receive several seconds’ vital warning on their phones.
“Just a few seconds’ warning is all you need to <<drop, take cover and hold on>>,” said Prof. Richard Allen from the UC Berkeley Seismological Laboratory.
Prof. Richard Allen has a paper about MyShake in this week’s Science Advances journal, but he has also been demonstrating it here in Washington DC at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
MyShake relies on a sophisticated algorithm to analyze all the different vibrations picked up by a phone’s onboard accelerometer.
This algorithm has been “trained” to distinguish between everyday human motions and those specific to an earthquake.
The achieved sensitivity is for a Magnitude 5 event at a distance of 10km (6.2 miles) from the epicenter.
In simulations, the app detects a quake correctly in 93% of cases.
All this is done in the background – much like health apps that monitor the fitness activity of the phone user.
Once triggered, MyShake sends a message to a central server over the mobile network. The hub then calculates the location and size of the quake.
False positives are filtered out because the server is connected to existing seismic and GPS monitoring stations, and – if the public take up MyShake – thousands of other phones.
MyShake is available for Android devices; an iOS version is very likely to come in the future.
Pope Francis has met Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill at Havana airport to hold historic talks.
Both leaders have called for restored Christian unity between the two churches.
The meeting was the first between a Pope and a Russian Church head since the Western and Eastern branches of Christianity split in the 11th Century.
In a joint declaration, Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill also urged the world to protect Christians from persecution in the Middle East.
The two-hour talks took place during Pope Francis’s stopover on his way to Mexico. Patriarch Kirill is visiting Cuba, Brazil and Paraguay.
The two leaders embraced and kissed each other at the start of the meeting on February 12.
“I’m happy to greet you, dear brother,” the Russian Church leader said.
“Finally,” Pope Francis said.
At a news conference after the meeting, Patriarch Kirill said the discussions were “open” and “brotherly”, while Pope Francis described them as “very sincere”.
“We hope our meeting contributes to the re-establishment of this unity wished for by God,” their joint declaration said.
The document called on the world community to defend Christians, saying that “in many countries of the Middle East and North Africa whole families, villages and cities of our brothers and sisters in Christ are being completely exterminated.”
“Their churches are being barbarously ravaged and looted, their sacred objects profaned, their monuments destroyed.”
Patriarch Kirill has been the head of the Russian Orthodox Church since February 2009, while Pope Francis took up his role in March 2013.
The Roman Catholic Church has more than a billion members worldwide, while the Russian Orthodox Church numbers about 165 million.
The Russian Church is the largest and most powerful in the Orthodox faith, which is made up of a number of separate churches.
Vatican has ties with Istanbul-based Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew I – nominal head of Eastern Orthodox Churches, but Cuba talks is the first between a Pope and a Patriarch of Russian Church.
The Russian Church is the largest and most powerful Church in Orthodoxy.
Cuba was reportedly chosen as the place of their first meeting because it is far from Rome, Istanbul and Moscow with all their historical baggage of schism.
The Diary of Anne Frank has been removed from Wikisource after the site became aware it had fallen foul of copyright law.
The book repository briefly hosted a digital copy of Het Achterhuis, the first version of the diary compiled by Anne Frank’s father Otto, which was published in 1947.
The book had been put online in the belief that the copyright expired in January 2016, 70 years after Anne Frank’s death.
However, under US law the book is protected until 2042.
Wikisource removed the book voluntarily.
The Wikimedia Foundation, which runs Wikipedia as well as Wikisource, said its action was “an unfortunate example of the overreach of the US’ current copyright law”.
“In general, the US copyright for works published before 1978 is 95 years from date of publication,” it said.
“Foreign works of countries that are treaty partners to the United States are covered as if they were US works.”
The removal of the book has highlighted confusion over the copyright status of Anne Frank’s famous diary, because so many different editions exist and legislation varies around the world.
Under European law, books typically leave copyright 70 years after the author’s death and can then be reproduced freely.
Anne Frank died in 1945, which suggests that her elements of the original Dutch language version of the diary is now copyright free.
However, since the book was compiled and edited by Anne Frank’s father Otto Frank, who omitted much of the content in her original manuscripts, some people argue that he created a new version of the text which should be protected by its own copyright.
Otto Frank died in 1980, which would mean the copyright of the 1947 edition does not expire in many countries until 2050.
The eurozone economy expanded by 1.5% in 2015, the statistics agency Eurostat has announced.
In Q4 of 2015, the 19 countries that use the euro grew 0.3%, compared with the previous three months, Eurostat has said.
The 28 countries of the EU also grew 0.3% in Q4, to a GDP growth rate of 1.8% for the full year.
Growth slowed during 2015, suggesting that more action may be needed to stimulate economies from the European Central Bank (ECB).
Eurostat also announced on February 12 that industrial production had fallen 1% in December compared with the previous month, both for the eurozone and the EU.
Year on year, it fell 1.3% in the eurozone and 0.8% in the EU.
The biggest contraction in GDP came in Greece, where the economy shrank 0.6% in Q4 of 2015, which was better than had been expected.
However, the contraction in Q3 turned out to have been bigger than previously thought, being revised from 0.9% to 1.4%.
Germany’s economy expanded by 0.3% in Q4 of 2015 to an annual rate of 1.7%.
The German statistics agency said that government spending was “markedly up”, while household consumption rose slightly.
The figures follow surprisingly poor industrial production data for December 2015.
World powers gathered in Munich, Germany, have agreed to seek a nationwide “cessation of hostilities” in Syria to begin in a week’s time.
The halt will not apply to the battle against jihadist groups ISIS and al-Nusra Front.
The 17-member International Syria Support Group (ISSG) also agreed to accelerate and expand aid deliveries.
The announcement comes as the Syrian army, backed by Russian air strikes, advances in Aleppo province.
The move threatens to encircle tens of thousands of civilians in rebel-held parts of the major city of Aleppo.
The Syrian government has not yet responded, though a key rebel coalition welcomed the announcement.
More than 250,000 people have been killed and 13.5 million displaced in almost five years of fighting in Syria.
Secretary of State John Kerry admitted the ceasefire plan was “ambitious” and said the real test would be whether the various parties honored the commitments.
“What we have here are words on paper, what we need to see in the next few days are actions on the ground,” he said.
A task force chaired by the US and Russia will work to implement the truce through consultations with Syria’s rival groups.
Aid deliveries for besieged Syrian communities are due to begin as early as February 12.
Hohn Kerry made the announcement alongside his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov and the UN special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura.
Sergei Lavrov said there were “reasons to hope we have done a great job today”. An earlier proposal from Russia envisaged a truce starting on March 1.
At the news conference John Kerry again suggested that Russian strikes were targeting what the West sees as moderate opposition forces, rather than terrorists, as Moscow says.
The ISSG also agreed that peace talks involving the Syrian government and rebels should resume as soon as possible.
Initial talks were suspended just days after they began earlier this month in Geneva, in the wake of the Aleppo offensive.
Thousands of people displaced by the fighting have been stranded at the border with Turkey and aid agencies have warned of a rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation.
Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders clashed over support for President Barack Obama in their first debate since the New Hampshire primary.
The former secretary of state sought to cast herself as the protector of Barack Obama’s legacy, sharply attacking Senator Bernie Sanders for criticizing the president.
“The kind of criticism I hear from Senator Sanders, I expect from Republicans,” Hillary Clinton said.
Nevada and South Carolina, states with large minority populations, vote next.
At the PBS NewsHour televised debate, Hillary Clinton repeatedly emphasized her ties to Barack Obama who is extremely popular among minority voters.
Meanwhile, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders took pains to tailor to his message of economic fairness to address disparities in black communities.
Hillary Clinton also stressed her pragmatism, questioning Bernie Sanders’ pledges to provide universal healthcare and free higher education.
“We have a special obligation to make clear what we stand for which is why we can’t make promises we can’t keep,” Hillary Clinton said.
Immigration reform was also a major topic of discussion. Both Democratic candidates supported creating a path to citizenship for the nearly 11 million undocumented immigrants in the US and they decried a recent uptick in deportations by the Obama administration.
Criticizing the anti-immigrant positions of Republican front-runner Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders said immigrants should not be scapegoats for economic uncertainty.
“We have got to stand up to the Trumps of the world, who are trying to divide us,” the senator said.
Hillary Clinton is trying to rebuild her campaign after Bernie Sanders decisively won the New Hampshire primary.
She received a much-needed endorsement from an influential bloc of black Democrats in Congress on February 11.
Bernie Sanders won the New Hampshire primary by 22 percentage points and lost the Iowa caucuses narrowly, but both states have nearly all-white populations.
He now faces the challenge of finding votes among the sizable Latino and black electorates in Nevada and South Carolina.
Hillary Clinton has strong support among Latinos and African-Americans and is expected to do well in the two states.
A recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist poll in South Carolina gave Hillary Clinton a lead of 74 over Bernie Sanders’ 17% among black voters.
On February 11, the political action committee of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) publicly endorsed Hillary Clinton as their Democratic presidential candidate, giving an added boost to her campaign.
“We must have a president that understands the racial divide, not someone who just acquired the knowledge recently but someone…who has lived it and worked through it down through the years,” CBC Chairman G. K. Butterfield told reporters on February 11.
Recognizing the need to do more to court the black vote, Bernie Sanders met civil rights leader the Reverend Al Sharpton in New York on February 10.
However, Al Sharpton declined to say which candidate he would back after the meeting.
It is still unclear who the winner of the Democratic contest will face in the Republican race, with Donald Trump, John Kasich and Ted Cruz finishing first, second and third in the New Hampshire primary.
Both Republican and Democratic parties will formally name their presidential candidates at conventions in July.
Americans will finally go to the polls to choose the new occupant of the White House in November.
Japan’s shares plunged on February 12, following global markets, after a stronger yen against the dollar hurt the country’s big exporters.
Nikkei 225 fell as much as 5.4% in early trade. By the close, the benchmark index had recovered slightly, but was still down 4.85% to 14,952.61 points.
That was below the psychologically important level of 15,000 points and its lowest close since October 2014.
Today’s losses end what has been a turbulent week of trade for Japan.
The index has shed more than 11% over the trading week, which was short because of a public holiday on February 11.
Japan’s big exporters were hurt on February 12 as the dollar fell to a 15-month low against the yen. A stronger yen against the dollar hurts Japan’s exporters, as it makes their products more expensive to purchase overseas.
Auto maker Toyota finished Japan’s trading day down 7%, while Honda lost 5.5% and Nissan shed 5.8%.
Overnight, benchmark indexes in London, the US and Europe posted sharp declines amid continued worries about oil prices and over the strength of the global economy – particularly the outlook for the world’s largest economy, the US.
US Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen’s gloomy economic assessment on February 10 was continuing to hurt investor sentiment around the world, analysts said.
Janet Yellen said financial conditions in the US had become “less supportive” of growth, dousing hopes of a second rise in interest rates in the near future.
NYPD officer Peter Liang has been convicted of manslaughter for fatally shooting an unarmed black man in a darkened stairwell.
Peter Liang, 28, could face up to 15 years in prison for killing 28-year-old Akai Gurley in 2014.
Advocates for police accountability have closely watched the case because US police officers who injure or kill civilians rarely face criminal charges.
Akai Gurley’s death came amid several high-profile cases in which officers killed unarmed black men.
The deaths of black men, such as Eric Garner in New York and Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, sparked protests across the US.
Authorities declined to bring charges against the officers involved in those cases.
The officer’s supporters have said Peter Liang, who is Chinese American, is being made a scapegoat for previous injustices. His defense team said the shooting was an accident, not a crime.
However, prosecutors said Peter Liang, a newly recruited officer, handled his weapon recklessly and did little to help Akai Gurley after he was shot.
“Instead of shining a light, he pointed his gun and shot Akai Gurley,” prosecutor Joe Alexis said in his closing argument.
Peter Liang testified that he was patrolling a stairwell inside a public housing complex in Brooklyn when he was startled by a sound and fired his weapon by mistake.
The bullet ricocheted off the wall and hit Akai Gurley, who was standing on a lower floor.
“I was panicking. I was shocked and in disbelief that someone was hit,” said Peter Liang who wept during his testimony.
Brazil expects to develop a vaccine for the Zika virus in about a year, health officials say.
However, two more years would be needed for any large-scale rollout, health minister Marcelo Castro said.
Brazil is at the center of an outbreak of the Zika virus that has been linked to a surge of brain malformations in newborn babies.
Separately, officials have said the death of a third adult in Brazil had possible links to Zika.
Marcelo Castro announced that Brazil would invest $1.9 million in research for the Zika vaccine over the next five years, in partnership with scientists at the University of Texas.
Researchers have agreed that the testing of the vaccine would happen simultaneously in mice and monkeys, and not separately, to speed up the process, he said.
Photo AFP/Getty Images
A vaccine could be ready for distribution within three years, Marcelo Castro added.
The World Health Organization (WHO) declared a global public health emergency over the possible connection between Zika and microcephaly, a condition marked by abnormally small heads in newborn babies that can result in developmental problems.
The link with Zika has not been confirmed, but the WHO and other public health bodies have said it is strongly suspected.
Brazil has seen more than 4,000 suspected cases of microcephaly since October – a huge surge considering it had fewer than 150 cases in the whole of 2014.
Officials there believe as many as 1.5 million people could be infected by Zika.
Brazil has also announced a partnership with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for studies about the possible relation between the virus and the condition.
The microcephaly cases have been centered in north-east Brazil, but the Zika outbreak has affected people in more than 20 countries in the Americas.
Some governments have advised women to delay getting pregnant. Already-pregnant women have been advised not to travel to the countries affected.
Brazilian researchers found the Zika virus in the body of a 20-year-old woman who died last April from respiratory problems in the north-eastern state of Rio Grande do Norte, the health minister said.
Two other patients last year also died from complications while they were infected with the virus, before the outbreak had been discovered.
“We are still studying this in greater detail,” Marcelo Castro said at a press conference.
WHO director general, Margaret Chan, is expected to visit Brazil on February 23, Brazil’s health minister said.
The last four occupiers of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon have surrendered, the FBI confirms.
The militia took over the refuge on January 2, protesting against government “interference” in the lives of ranchers in the western US.
The development comes hours after the FBI surrounded the group at the site.
In late January, one protester was shot dead when the FBI and police arrested the leaders of the occupation.
Just before 10:00 local time on February 11, three of the remaining four militia, Sandy Anderson, 47 of Riggins, Idaho; her husband Sean Anderson, 48 and Jeff Banta, 46 from Yerington, Nevada surrendered and walked into the custody of the FBI.
David Fry, 27, who remained holed-up, said he was feeling “suicidal”.
“Liberty or death,” he said.
David Fry added: “I declare war against the federal government because they have been trampling on my first amendment rights.”
On a live broadcast streamed on the internet, David Fry described how the others had walked out with hands in the air, holding an American flag.
An hour later, to cries of “hallelujah”, David Fry could be heard saying: “I’m walking towards them right now,” as he too surrendered to the FBI.
The four had spent their last night at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, camping in the grounds around 30 miles south of the city of Burns on the snowy desert plains of Harney County in north-eastern Oregon.
The attempt to resolve the stand-off was brokered by a Republican member of Nevada’s state assembly, Michele Fiore, who travelled to the bird reserve to witness the surrender along with a preacher, Franklin Graham.
In the final moments of the siege, activists KrisAnne Hall and Gavin Seim pleaded with David Fry to give himself up.
David Fry’s arrest brings the 41-day occupation of the federal complex to an end.
The FBI said in a statement that “no one was injured, and no shots were fired” during the arrests on February 11.
Fifty two inmates have been killed in a battle between rival groups at Topo Chico jail near Monterrey, northern Mexico.
Other 12 people were injured in Topo Chico jail after prisoners fought with “sharp weapons, bats and sticks”, Nuevo Leon state Governor Jaime Rodriguez said.
A fire was also started in a storage room. Officials say the situation is under control and no inmates escaped.
Crowds of relatives outside the jail blocked roads, demanding information.
Some threw sticks and rocks and tried to pull the prison gate open as riot police blocked their way.
The incident comes just days before Pope Francis is due to visit a prison in the northern city of Ciudad Juarez, an area notorious for violence between drugs cartels.
Initial reports said up to 60 people had died and anxious families of inmates had to wait several hours before Jaime Rodriguez confirmed the numbers.
The governor said the fight had started around midnight and lasted about 30-40 minutes, during which time the two groups of inmates set fire to a storage area.
Jaime Rodriguez said one faction was led by a member of the notorious Zetas drug cartel, Juan Pedro Zaldivar Farias, also known as Z-27.
He said the other group was led by Jorge Ivan Hernandez Cantu, whom Mexican media identified as a member of the rival Gulf cartel.
It is not clear if either of the two men are among the victims.
Jaime Rodriguez said all those killed were male inmates and that five of the injured were in a serious condition.
“We are experiencing a tragedy stemming from the difficult situation that they are living through at penitentiary facilities,” he told a news conference.
“We can confirm the deaths of 52 people. The process of identifying victims continues.”
Speaking later, Jaime Rodriguez said security was being beefed up at other prisons and some inmates had been transferred out of Topo Chico.
He said that although rioters had not had guns, one inmate appeared to have been shot dead by a guard who was protecting a group of women inmates.
A report by the National Human Rights Commission in 2014 said the Topo Chico prison housed about 4,600 inmates but was only designed to hold 3,635.
Six people have been shot dead after a gunman opened fire at an education department office in Saudi Arabia’s southern Jazan province, officials have said.
Two other people have been wounded in the assault, in the remote community of Ad Dair, next to the border with Yemen.
The attacker has been arrested, an official said.
Photo Wikimedia
No motive has been given for the attack, and authorities say they are treating it as a criminal act.
The suspect has not been identified but the AFP news agency, quoting Al-Ekhbariya state TV, reported that the man was not an employee but had some business at the ministry.
Earlier reports suggested the attacker was a teacher.
Criminal mass shootings are rare in Saudi Arabia but the country has faced recent attacks by ISIS.
Saudi Arabia has led an air campaign against Shia Houthi rebels in Yemen and violence in the border region has been frequent in recent months.
North Korea has announced it is cutting two key communication hotlines with South Korea, amid rising tensions after Pyongyang’s recent rocket and nuclear tests.
The move comes after South Korea suspended its operations at the jointly-run Kaesong industrial park in North Korea.
Kaesong complex is one of the last points of co-operation between the two Koreas and a key source of revenue for Pyongyang.
North Korea has called the shutdown “a declaration of war” and has designated Kaesong as a military zone.
South Korea says the suspension is aimed at cutting off money North Korea uses for nuclear and missile development.
Pyongyang carried out its fourth nuclear test last month, and launched a satellite into space on Sunday, drawing international condemnation.
North Korea previously cut communication hotlines with the South in 2013, but reopened them after relations improved.
The hotlines, which are intended to defuse dangerous military situations, include one used by the military, and another used to communicate with the UN Command at Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). A third hotline is maintained by the Red Cross.
On February 11, North Korea vowed to seize the assets of South Korean companies in Kaesong, and said all workers from the south had to leave by 17:30 local time.
South Korean companies had already started withdrawing managers, equipment and stock after Seoul announced the suspension.
According to South Korean officials, all 280 workers who had been at the facility finally crossed into the South several hours after the deadline expired.
The current Kaesong shutdown came as the US Senate voted unanimously in favor of tougher sanctions against North Korea.
The draft legislation targets any person or entity trading or financing anything related to weapons of mass destruction, conventional arms proliferation, North Korea’s nuclear program, money laundering, narcotics trafficking, human rights abuses, activities that threaten US cyber security, and the import of luxury goods.
All were already sanctioned, but the measures aim to tighten the restrictions.
The bill also authorizes $50 million for radio broadcasts into North Korea and humanitarian aid programs.
The House of Representatives passed a similar bill last month. The two will now have to be reconciled into a final measure needing President Barack Obama’s sign-off.
Eddie Jordan, Sabine Schmitz, Chris Harris and Rory Reid will join Chris Evans and Matt LeBlanc in presenting the new series of Top Gear.
The BBC Two program returns in May.
The new presenters were signed after Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond left Top Gear in 2015.
German racing driver Sabine Schmitz will become Top Gear’s first female presenter in 15 years. The last was Vicki Butler-Henderson in 2001.
Speaking about her new role, Sabine Schmitz said: “The chance to combine both driving and filming was too good an opportunity to pass up.”
“I’ve appeared on Top Gear a few times in the past, so I know we’re going to have a lot of fun,” she added.
Photo Top Gear
Sabine Schmitz has already been filming a sequence with Chris Evans for the new series that “will leave even the most hardened speed-demons gasping for breath when it debuts on TV”, the BBC said in a statement.
Her fellow co-presenter motor journalist Chris Harris is well known for fronting various motoring programs on YouTube.
Referencing Top Gear‘s cheeky and irreverent style, Chris Harris said: “I’m quite gobby and happy to get into trouble, so I’m hoping I can underpin the program with journalistic credibility but still cause some mischief.”
Rory Reid was recruited to Top Gear from the show’s 2015 public auditions, but previously presented for CNET’s Car Tech channel, and also had a starring role in Sky 1’s Gadget Geeks series.
He said: “When I submitted my 30-second audition tape, I knew the odds were very firmly against me, as the auditions were open to absolutely everybody.
“To be the only person to make it through the open audition process makes me immensely proud.”
