7 DAYS LIVE: 2015

Thursday, December 31, 2015

Palestinian in West Bank rams Israeli forces with car, shot dead

A Palestinian drove his car into Israeli forces in the northern West Bank on Thursday before being shot dead, the Israeli army said.

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'Affluenza' teen held at Mexican immigration holding center

MEXICO CITY (AP) — A Texas teen known for using an "affluenza" defense in a fatal drunken-driving accident is being held at a Mexico City immigration detention center in one of the capital's poorest areas, where he will likely spend weeks, if not months, as he appeals deportation.

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Rouhani says Iran has right to develop missiles, expands programme

President Hassan Rouhani ordered his defence minister on Thursday to expand Iran's missile programme, in response to a U.S. threat to impose sanctions over a ballistic missile test Iran carried out in October. "As the U.S. government is clearly still pursuing its hostile policies and illegal meddling ... the armed forces need to quickly and significantly increase their missile capability," Rouhani wrote in a letter to Defence Minister Hossein Dehghan, published on the state news agency IRNA. U.S. President Barack Obama's administration is preparing new sanctions against international companies and individuals over Iran's ballistic missile programme, sources familiar with the situation said on Wednesday.

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France deploys over 100,000 police for New Year's Eve

More than 100,000 police will be deployed throughout France to guard New Year's Eve celebrations that come six weeks after the jihadist attacks in Paris, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said Thursday.

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Canada misses Syrian refugee target for 2015 as 6,000 arrive

(Reuters) - Canada will bring in more than 6,000 Syrian refugees by the end of 2015, missing its already delayed target of accepting 10,000 by year-end, the Canadian government said on Thursday. Immigration Minister John McCallum said he expects Canada to reach that goal by mid-January, and meet its larger target of accepting 25,000 refugees by the end of February. Canada's recently elected Liberal government campaigned on a promise to accept 25,000 refugees by the end of 2015.

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Osborne Accused After Banking Review Scrapped

The Chancellor is under fire after a City regulator dropped its review into Britain's banking culture. Shadow chancellor John McDonnell said that if George Osborne does not use his influence to keep the Financial Conduct Authority's (FCA) review going, he will be letting down the public. Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron, meanwhile, said that any "hope of change and progress" had been "dashed" as a result of the decision.

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Ukraine to investigate suspected computer attack on energy grid

Ukraine will investigate a suspected computer malware attack on its energy grid, the energy ministry said on Thursday, an incident the country's secret service has blamed on Russia. A power company in western Ukraine, Prykarpattyaoblenergo, said on Dec. 23 that a swath of the area it serves had been left without energy, including the regional capital Ivano-Frankivsk, due to "interference" in the work of the system. The Ukrainian Security Service SBU later blamed Russia, which has not so far commented on the allegation.

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Correction: GOP 2016-Carson's Enterprises story

WASHINGTON (AP) — In a story Dec. 25 about Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson's business enterprises, The Associated Press reported erroneously that Lawrence Noble, a campaign-finance expert quoted in the story, was from the Campaign Finance Center. He is from the Campaign Legal Center.

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Biggest Dutch department store chain declares bankruptcy

People shop at a Christmas market in Amsterdam

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Belgium detains six people over New Year's attack plot

By Robert-Jan Bartunek and Philip Blenkinsop BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Belgian police detained six people during house searches in Brussels on Thursday as part of an investigation into an alleged plot to carry out an attack in the capital on New Year's Eve. Police carried out searches at six locations in the Belgian capital and one just outside the city, seizing computers, mobile phones and equipment for airsoft, a sport involving guns that shoot non-lethal plastic pellets. Two Belgian nationals arrested earlier this week and named as 30-year-old Said S. and 27-year-old Mohammed K., are being held on suspicion of planning a terrorist attack, prosecutors said.

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Before Mosul, Iraqi army may face fight at the gates of Baghdad

By Ahmed Rasheed and Stephen Kalin BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi forces may face a big battle near Baghdad before they can try to retake the Islamic State stronghold of Mosul: Falluja, a long-time bastion of Sunni Muslim jihadists at the capital's western gates. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's government and the U.S.-led coalition backing it have been cagey so far in plans for Falluja, which lies between Baghdad and Ramadi, the capital of western Anbar province that the Iraqi military recaptured this week from the militants. Falluja was the first Iraqi city to fall to Islamic State in January 2014, six months before the group that emerged from al Qaeda swept through large parts of Iraq and neighbouring Syria.Abadi said on Monday the army would head next to Mosul, the biggest urban centre under Islamic State control.

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Nigeria demands MTN pay $3.9 bn telecoms fine as deadline expires

Nigeria expects MTN to meet a deadline for paying a record $3.9 bn fine despite a court challenge

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Syrian rebels push back after government onslaught

Fighters try to reclaim land lost near Sheikh Maskin after major offensive by government forces and Russian air power.

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IOC to cut diesel, petrol prices from Friday

REUTERS - Indian Oil Corp (IOC) will cut the price of diesel by 2.3 percent from Friday and that of petrol by 1 percent, reflecting changes in global fuel prices. The retail price of diesel will be cut ...

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Ex-member of Bosnia's presidency charged with war crimes

A former Serb member of Bosnia's tripartite presidency has been charged with crimes against humanity and war crimes against Croats and Muslims in the 1992-1995 war, a Bosnian prosecutor said on Thursday.

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Israeli police question PM's wife over household spending

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli police questioned the wife of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday over her alleged inflated household spending, the latest in a string of accusations that have led critics to portray the first couple as a petty pair who improperly use state funds to subsidize an excessive lifestyle.

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Istanbul blanketed in snow and flights disrupted

Hundreds of flights were cancelled on Thursday from Istanbul's two main airports after the city was hit by a picturesque but troublesome snowfall on the last day of the year.

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New York Man Accused Of New Year Attack Plot

An alleged Islamic State supporter has been arrested in New York on suspicion of planning a terrorist attack on a restaurant on New Year's Eve. http://ift.tt/1Vscj3A

2 Sentenced to Death in Killing of Bangladeshi Activist in 2013

By JULFIKAR ALI MANIK from NYT World http://ift.tt/1YRoSeg

Ringing In 2016 Around The World

Ringing In 2016 Around The World
A few cities, including Paris and Brussels, have canceled fireworks over fears of terrorist attacks. But in most of the world's major cities, celebrations are going forward as planned.

Read more on NPR

21 Injured on Air Canada Flight After Sudden Turbulence

By IAN AUSTEN from NYT World http://ift.tt/1Uia6GS

Hot: Someone Made a Google Chrome Filter to Block Donald Trump From Your Internet

Hot on TIME.com

Someone Made a Google Chrome Filter to Block Donald Trump From Your Internet

It comes with three settings — mild, aggressive and vindictive.

Published on December 31, 2015 at 09:00AM

Shared at 603 shares/hour

Read more: http://ift.tt/1ZDxlyF

Mother of 'affluenza' teen is jailed in Los Angeles

The mother of a fugitive Texas teen known for using an "affluenza" defense in a fatal drunken-driving accident is jailed in Los Angeles on Thursday after being deported from Mexico, police said. ...

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High security in C. African Republic as vote count starts

UN troops stood guard over the main vote-counting centre in Bangui on Thursday after a peaceful election in the Central African Republic aimed at turning the page on years of inter-religious violence.

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Oil market to end 2015 in downbeat mood; hangover to be long, painful

NEW YORK/LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices steadied on Thursday but were still headed for a second year of steep declines after a race to pump by Middle East crude producers and U.S. shale oil drillers created an unprecedented global glut that may take through 2016 to clear. Global oil benchmark Brent and U.S. crude's West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures were on track finish 2015 down more than 30 percent after another year that showed the helplessness of Saudi Arabia and others in the once-powerful Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to support oil prices. The U.S. shale industry, meanwhile, surprised the world again with its ability to survive rock-bottom crude prices, churning out more supply than thought, even as the sell-off in oil slashed by two-thirds the number of drilling rigs in the country from a year ago.