WorldNews

[attach=full]19487[/attach] Jailed Saudi blogger Raef Badawi in his first letter from prison has written of how he "miraculously survived 50 lashes", part of his sentence for "insulting Islam", a German news weekly said Friday. Badawi, 31, recalled that he was "surrounded by a cheering crowd who cried incessantly 'Allahu Akbar' (God is greatest)" during the whipping, according to a pre-released article from Der Spiegel's edition published Saturday. Badawi received the first 50 of the 1,000 lashes he was sentenced to outside a mosque in the Red Sea city of Jeddah on January 9. "He's in a poor condition," his wife Ensaf Haidar was quoted as saying. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19486[/attach] RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Rio de Janeiro's hotel bed shortage was eased on Friday, as online home share startup Airbnb inked a deal to be the official "alternative accommodations" sponsor of the 2016 Olympic games. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19480[/attach] FREETOWN, Sierra Leone (AP) — Sierra Leone's 6 million people were told to stay home for three days, except for religious services, beginning Friday as the West African nation attempted a final push to rid itself of Ebola. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19479[/attach] Canada's BlackBerry said Friday it posted a modest profit in the past quarter, beating expectations despite a continued slide in its revenues. Its fourth quarter revenues, meanwhile, were $660 million -- down 32 percent from a year earlier and 16 percent from the prior quarter. Approximately 1.6 million BlackBerry smartphones were sold through to end customers in the quarter, the company said. For the full fiscal year, BlackBerry narrowed its losses. Continue reading...

JERUSALEM (AP) — An Israeli district court has indicted an Arab Druse from the Golan Heights on suspicion of spying for Syria. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19478[/attach] At least one person was killed on Friday in a car bombing near a hotel in Somalia's capital Mogadishu, police said. The blast, which was heard across the city and was followed by the sound of bursts of gunfire, hit an area near the Maka al Mukarama hotel, a police official told AFP. There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but central Mogadishu, including the hotel itself, has been a frequent target of Somalia's Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab militants. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19477[/attach] Islamist rebels made fresh advances Friday on the edges of Idlib city in northwest Syria, after fierce clashes that have left dozens of dead, a monitoring group said. "The fighters have advanced on the northwestern and southeastern sides of the city," said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. There are refugees from other parts of the country who are in Idlib," said Ibrahim al-Idlibi. On Tuesday, a new coalition of Islamist rebels launched a coordinated attack against Idlib city, which is held by government forces. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19475[/attach] Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond will join the Iran nuclear talks in Switzerland this weekend, a foreign ministry spokesman said on Friday. Hammond, who is on a visit to the United States, earlier this week said an agreement was "deliverable" but urged Iran to make "tough decisions". A spokesman for French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, who has warned against a soft deal leaving Iran with the possibility of obtaining nuclear weapons, has said he will join the talks on Saturday. Fabius and Hammond will join US Secretary of State John Kerry and his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif in Lausanne. Continue reading...

BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand is facing bans on new international flights and increased inspections after the International Civil Aviation Organization said there are significant concerns about the country's aviation safety. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19474[/attach] JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — An estimated 4,000 foreign fishermen are stranded on a number of remote islands in eastern Indonesia, including men revealed in an Associated Press investigation to have been enslaved, an aid group said. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19473[/attach] SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Saudi Arabia bombed the northern stronghold of Yemen's Shiite rebels and other key military installations on Friday as a coalition led by the Gulf kingdom carried out airstrikes for a second day. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19472[/attach] The Germanwings co-pilot said to have deliberately crashed his Airbus with 149 others aboard into the French Alps suffered serious depression six years ago, German daily Bild reported Friday. The co-pilot sought psychiatric help for "a bout of heavy depression" in 2009 and was still getting assistance from doctors, the newspaper said, quoting documents from Germany's air transport regulator Luftfahrtbundesamt (LBA). Andreas Lubitz, 28, was receiving "regular individualised medical" treatment, Bild reported, adding that Germanwings' parent company Lufthansa had transmitted this information to the LBA. Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr said that Lubitz had suspended his pilot training, which began in 2008, "for a certain period," but did not give more details. Continue reading...

CARLSBAD, Calif. (AP) — Mirim Lee birdied all four par-5 holes and finished with a bogey-free 7-under 65 on Thursday to take the first-round lead in the Kia Classic. Continue reading...

By Byron Kaye SYDNEY (Reuters) - The Australian state of New South Wales is expected to re-elect its conservative government on Saturday, endorsing the country's largest ever privatization, the partial sale of a state-owned electricity network worth around A$17 billion ($13 billion). Electricity privatization has been a divisive issue in the country's most populous state for two decades, but opinion polls suggest the state premier Mike Baird has won over voters with his promise to use the proceeds to fund road and rail projects to ease congestion in traffic-choked Sydney. With a population of more than 7 million, New South Wales (NSW) accounts for nearly a third of Australia's national economy with gross domestic product expected to pass A$500 billion in the 2014/15 financial year. Some of the world's biggest infrastructure investors including State Grid Corp of China [sTGRD.UL] and Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-Shing's Cheung Kong Infrastructure Holdings Ltd have lined up to bid for the NSW power asset, as have several of Australia's top investment funds, according to local media. Continue reading...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Despite U.S. and international regulations requiring that airline pilots be screened for mental health problems, little effective, real-world checking takes place, pilots and safety experts say. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19468[/attach] DECEPTION ISLAND, Antarctica (AP) — Deep below the ice, far from the playful penguins and other animals that bring tourists to Antarctica, is a cold and barren world that by all indications should be completely void of life. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19467[/attach] SEPANG, Malaysia (AP) — Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton suffered an engine failure in Friday's opening practice session for the Malaysian Grand Prix while his teammate Nico Rosberg set the fastest time at Sepang International Circuit. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19461[/attach] SANAA, Yemen (AP) — The turmoil in Yemen grew into a regional conflict Thursday, with Saudi Arabia and its allies bombing Shiite rebels allied with Iran, while Egyptian officials said a ground assault will follow the airstrikes. Continue reading...

PANAMA CITY (AP) — Pope Francis is sending a top emissary to a gathering between U.S. President Barack Obama and the leaders of Latin America. Continue reading...

By Kieran Guilbert LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The British government should make cuts to its 86 million pound aid budget for Nepal unless the country takes action to combat poor governance and "endemic" corruption, a parliamentary committee said on Friday. The Department for International Development (DFID)'s funding has seen Nepal make huge progress in health, water and sanitation, but this spending will only be justified if governance improves, the International Development Committee (IDC) said. DFID should also address the needs of women and girls in Nepal, who are at risk of trafficking, early marriage, domestic abuse and murder, by working to change social norms and ensure justice for victims, the IDC said in a report. Continue reading...

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. resistance to a Chinese-led Asian regional bank has left it isolated among its Asian and European allies and given some heft to China's frequent complaints that Washington wants to contain its rise as a world power. Continue reading...

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies presented powerful members of the U.N. Security Council with suggested elements for a resolution that would impose an arms embargo on the Shiite rebels who have thrown Yemen into turmoil and caused its Western-backed president to flee. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19456[/attach] COLLEGE PARK, Maryland (AP) — University of Maryland journalism students are raising money to launch a line of bracelets emblazoned with the names of journalists imprisoned around the world to raise money for the cause, and awareness of their plight. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19455[/attach] Incredulity, shock, disbelief and horror. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19454[/attach] BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — A federal appeals court on Thursday threw out a case accusing President Cristina Fernandez and other top officials of a major cover-up deal with Iran, giving a victory of sorts to an administration that has been rocked by the mysterious death of the prosecutor who made the allegation. Continue reading...