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Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Canada turned 176 people away after imposing Ebola travel ban

HEALTH-EBOLA/USA

Newly-released figures show an estimated 176 people were turned away from Canada after the imposition of a partial travel ban from Ebola-affected countries in West Africa.


35 killed in stampede at New Year's event in Shanghai

China Shanghai Stampede

Thirty-five people have been killed in a stampede during New Year’s celebrations in downtown Shanghai, China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency is reporting.


Las Vegas police helicopter crashes into residential street, 2 injured

Police Helicopter Crash Vegas

Two police officers are hospitalized after a Las Vegas police helicopter crashed on a residential street northeast of downtown.

Palestinians sign onto world court to pursue war crimes against Israel

Mideast Israel Palestinians

Stung by a resounding defeat in the UN Security Council, the Palestinians announced Wednesday that they joined the International Criminal Court to pursue war crimes charges against Israel.


Afghanistan rocket strike kills at least 26 during wedding party

Sangin district

Afghan police say that at least 26 people have been killed by a rocket that hit a house during a wedding party in the southern province of Helmand.

Philippine island spared storm due to strong vertical wind shear

Tropical depression Jangmi

Satellite equipment that captures high-resolution photos of weather systems has spotted a wind shear credited with breaking apart a tropical depression after it crossed the southern and central Philippines.


New 2015 U.S. laws: Wine shipments to Tom Brady OK'd, tiger selfies banned

New Laws Around The Country

New U.S. state laws taking effect Thursday give livestock in California more living room, approve direct-to-consumer wine shipments in Massachusetts and levy the ultimate punishment on wannabe teen drivers in Nevada by denying them licences if they skip too much school.

Exodus banned in Morocco over portrayal of God

Christian Bale as Moses

Morocco has banned Ridley Scott’s biblical epic Exodus, provoking an angry response from filmmakers and politicians.


South Korean activists to drop The Interview into North by balloon

North Korea-The Interview-Kim Jong Un

A South Korean activist says he’ll launch balloons carrying DVDs of Sony’s The Interview toward North Korea to try to break down a personality cult built around Kim Jong Un.


Southern California winter blast strands motorists

California Drought Snow Survey

Fire crews had to rescue 136 motorists stranded on a highway in Southern California after snow, rain and gusty winds hit the area.


Dawn spacecraft hones in on dwarf planet Ceres

NASA Ceres asteroid Dawn spacecraft

NASA’s Dawn spacecraft is now just months away from reaching the dwarf planet Ceres after starting its approach mode.

New Year's Eve: Sydney, Auckland are first to ring in 2015

NewYear-celebration

Across the globe, revellers looking for a respite from the gloom will converge on the beaches of Brazil, the shores of Sydney harbour and the potentially snowy streets of Las Vegas (yes, really) to welcome 2015. Here’s a look at how the world is celebrating.


Italy rescues 970 migrants abandoned by smugglers

Italy-migrants-ship

The Italian Coast Guard has safely rescued 970 migrants, many of them believed to be Syrians, after smugglers abandoned them on a cargo ship in rough seas.

Gambian president returns to country after apparent coup attempt

Yahya Jammeh

Gambia’s President Yahya Jammeh arrived back in Banjul on Wednesday, official sources said, one day after gunfire erupted around the presidential palace and the government denied media reports of a coup attempt.


AirAsia Flight QZ8501: How passenger jets avoid bad weather

AsiaAir Flight QZ8501

Aviation experts say that poor weather alone is almost never the sole cause of a commercial airliner crash but pilots will try to avoid nasty systems if possible.


Back to the future: How science fiction envisioned 2015

Back to the Future 2

All of us have at one point or another pondered the future, but novelists, TV writers and film directors do it for a living. Here are a few times when pop culture ventured into the future to make bold – and sometimes even accurate – predictions about the year 2015.


King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia hospitalized

IRAQ-CRISIS/KERRY

Saudi Arabia’s elderly King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz was admitted to a hospital in the capital Riyadh on Wednesday for medical tests, state media reported on Wednesday, citing a royal court statement.

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

AirAsia Flight QZ8501: Missing plane believed located by sonar

INDONESIA-AIRPLANE/

A sonar image showing a large, dark object under the sea was presumed to be the missing AirAsia plane, an official with Indonesia’s search and rescue agency said on Wednesday.


U.S. transfers 5 Guantanamo prisoners to Kazakhstan

SECURITY GUANTANAMO

Five men held for a dozen years without charge at the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, have been sent to the Central Asian nation of Kazakhstan for resettlement.

AirAsia Flight QZ8501: How familes learned about the fate of passengers

Indonesia Plane

CBC’s Adrienne Arsenault reports on how some friends and families of the 162 victims of AirAsia Flight QZ8501 learned the fate of their loved ones when a local station carrying a search and rescue news conference cut suddenly to live pictures of a woman’s body floating in the Java Sea.

U.S. cities outshine those in Germany in satellite images

Berlin ISS

German cities at night appear in satellite images as darker than U.S. cities of similar size, according to a new study.


Palestinian resolution calling on Israeli withdrawal from territories fails at UN

United Nations Palestinians Israel

The UN Security Council on Tuesday rejected a Palestinian resolution calling for Israel to withdraw from Palestinian territories by late 2017.

Ebola outbreak: Canadian volunteers to West Africa doubles since call to action

Ebola Canadian Red Cross

The number of Canadians who are volunteering to take part in the government’s efforts to stop the deadly spread of Ebola in West Africa has doubled since the government put out a call to action last month.

Boy, 2, accidentally shoots and kills woman in Walmart

Hayden Idaho

Authorities in northern Idaho say a 2-year-old boy accidentally shot and killed a woman after he reached into her purse at a Walmart store and her concealed gun fired.

Cuba's time-warp classic automobiles

CUBA-USA/AUTOS

As the U.S. economic embargo begins to lift, Cuba’s retro classics could finally begin to fade from the scene as newer models become more widely available. Here’s a look at some picturesque survivors photographed in recent years.


'Nut rage' ex-Korean Air executive faces arrest warrant

Cho Hyun-ah

A South Korean court on Tuesday approved the arrest of a former Korean Air Lines Co. executive who delayed a flight over a bag of macadamia nuts.


United Airlines, Orbitz sue Skiplagged over layover price loophole

carry-on baggage stewardess flight attendant airplane overhead

A large U.S. airline and one of the world’s biggest online travel agencies are suing an entrepreneur from New York City for developing a web system that can help flyers save money by taking advantage of a loophole in the pricing of flights with layovers.


George H.W. Bush returns home from hospital

George H.W. Bush

Former President George H.W. Bush has been released from a Houston hospital after a stay of about a week for treatment of shortness of breath.

Family recounts horrors of Norman Atlantic ferry escape

Greece Ferry Trial by Fire

Nothing could have prepared the Tsonas family members, who conquered flames, wind and giant waves to escape a flaming ferry, for the terror they would encounter aboard the Norman Atlantic.


Malaysia flood response criticized as thousands flee homes

MALAYSIA-FLOODS/

Malaysia’s worst flooding in a decade has forced nearly a quarter of a million people from their homes, officials said on Tuesday, with the government coming under renewed fire for its perceived slow response.


'I'd be fine,' says Jennifer Lawrence in new PSA to combat Ebola ignorance

Jennifer Lawrence

Jennifer Lawrence and her Mockingjay co-stars, Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth, appear in a new public service announcement that aims to clarify information about the Ebola virus.

Monarch butterfly may need U.S. endangered species protection

Monarch Butterfly Migration

Monarch butterflies may warrant U.S. Endangered Species Act protection because of habitat loss and destruction of milkweed plants, a U.S. government agency says.

Canadian teacher's wife calls testimonies on alleged sex assaults 'inconsistent, illogical'

Neil Bantleman Indonesia Child Abuse Charges

Canadian teacher Neil Bantleman is hopeful that he will be declared innocent of sexually assaulting children in Indonesia, his wife tells CBC News after the latest session of his trial wraps.


AirAsia plane ends up stuck in mud after overshooting Philippine runway

Philippines Plane Overshoots Runway

An AirAsia Zest plane carrying 159 people overshot the runway and got stuck in a muddy field at an international airport in the central Philippines after landing from Manila in windy weather Tuesday, officials said. There were no reports of injuries.


Greek frigate, helicopter heading to suspected migrant ship after distress call

migrant ship Othonoi Greece

Greece is sending a navy frigate and a helicopter to locate a cargo ship believed to be carrying hundreds of migrants in the northern Ionian Sea after authorities received a distress call from someone on board the ship, authorities said.

2 Albanian tugboat sailors die in attempt to secure Greey ferry

Greece-ferry-fire

Two Albanian tugboat sailors died Tuesday during operations to secure a Greek ferry adrift for three days since a fire broke out on a car deck, with 10 people killed in the ensuing chaos.

2014 in technology, in photos

Aerofex hover bike prototype

Ground-breaking discoveries, landmarks in space exploration, and an ingenious invention or two make up our list, in pictures, of the year in technology and science.


Ebola outbreak: Patient from Scotland transferred to London hospital

Ebola-Scotland-England

A health worker who was the first person diagnosed with Ebola in Britain was being transferred to a London hospital from Scotland early on Tuesday, the Scottish government said.


In memoriam: The stars who died in 2014

Obit Lauren Bacall

As the year comes to a close, we pay tribute to some of the notable figures who died in 2014 from the world of arts and entertainment.

Luise Rainer, first actor to win consecutive Academy Awards, dead at 104

Luise Rainer

Luise Rainer, a star of cinema’s golden era who won back-to-back Oscars but then walked away from a glittering Hollywood career, has died. She was 104.


Alexei Navalny, Kremlin critic, given suspended sentence in fraud case

Alexei Navalny

Alexei Navalny, the anti-corruption campaigner who is a leading foe of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was found guilty of fraud and given a suspended sentence of three-and-a-half years on Tuesday.

Monday, December 29, 2014

Republican congressman to resign, while another is under fire for 2002 speech

Michael Grimm

U.S. Representative Michael Grimm of New York, who pleaded guilty last week to a federal felony tax charge, will resign his seat on Jan. 5 because he does not feel he can be completely effective in Congress, he said on Monday.

L.A. police shot unarmed man 3 times, once in the back, autopsy shows

LA Police Shooting

A 25-year-old black man killed in a fight with Los Angeles police was shot three times in his right side, right arm and back, an autopsy report released Monday states.

Air search for missing jet resumes over expanded area

INDONESIA airasia search

The air search for a missing AirAsia jet carrying 162 people resumed Tuesday morning with more assets and an expanded area, Indonesia’s Search and Rescue Agency chief Henry Bambang Soelistyo said.

'Expect things to get worse:' Ruble falls as Russian economy shrinks

Russia crisis ruble economy contraction

The Russian ruble’s slide and the country’s economy are expected to worsen as oil prices tumble, according to the country’s chief economist, upon news that the currency fell six per cent today.


China's pollution solution: limit new car sales

China Pollution Paradox

One of China’s most industrialized cities has put a cap on sales of new cars with residents only permitted to acquire a new vehicle either by lottery or auction.


AirAsia Flight QZ8501: What we know about the missing plane so far

AirAsia

Searchers looking for the missing AirAsia Flight QZ8501 jetliner may have spotted suspicious oil slicks and other objects, but many questions remain about the fate of the Airbus A320 that disappeared during stormy weather over the Java Sea.


Prosecutors asked to look into death of hippo that fell from truck

CHINA-TAIWAN/HIPPO

A hippopotamus in Taiwan that was injured after jumping out of a truck last week has died, and prosecutors have been asked to look into the case, AFP reported on Monday.


Canadian shot by U.S. border agent at Ambassador Bridge charged

Ambassador Bridge

A Canadian man shot by a U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent at the Ambassador Bridge in Detroit has been charged.

Army couple forced to relocated wedding — for Obama's golf game

Obama Vacation

A couple getting married near U.S. President Barack Obama’s vacation spot in Hawaii learned the hard way that the big day rarely goes exactly as planned.


Ebola case confirmed in Glasgow hospital

Default Headline Image - News

A health-care worker has been diagnosed with Ebola and is receiving treatment in Glasgow, according to the Scottish government.

Boy's jump from burning apartment into rescuer's arms captured on video

alabama fire

A three-year-old boy jumped from the second storey of a burning apartment building in Birmingham, Ala., into the arms of a relative — in a dramatic early Christmas morning rescue recorded by a cellphone camera.