UN talks limp towards global 2015 climate deal

Almost 200 countries on Saturday kept alive hopes for a global deal in 2015 to fight climate change after overcoming disputes on greenhouse gas emissions cuts and aid for poor nations at a meeting widely criticised as lacking urgency.

Governments agreed in Poland that a new deal in 2015 would consist of a patchwork of national contributions to curb emissions that could blur a 20-year-old distinction between the obligations of rich and poor nations.

The two-week meeting also created a Warsaw International Mechanism to help the poor cope with loss and damage from heatwaves, droughts, floods, desertification and rising sea levels - although rich nations refused to pledge new cash.

Many said Warsaw had fallen short of what was needed.

"We did not achieve a meaningful outcome," said Naderev Sano, a Philippines delegate who had been fasting throughout the talks to urge action in sympathy with victims of Typhoon Haiyan, which killed more than 5,000 people.

No major nation offered tougher action to slow rising world greenhouse gas emissions and Japan backtracked from its carbon goals for 2020, after shutting down its nuclear industry after the Fukushima disaster.

GREEN PROTEST

Environmentalists walked out on Thursday, exasperated by lack of progress. Rich nations are preoccupied with reviving their weak economies rather than climate change.

"It is abundantly clear that we still have a long way to go," said Christiana Figueres, the UN climate chief.

Negotiators were on course for a 2015 summit in Paris but not on track for limiting global warming to an agreed ceiling of 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial times to avoid dangerous change, she said.

In September, the UN panel of climate experts raised the probability that man-made emissions of greenhouse gases, mainly from burning fossil fuels, were the main cause of warming since 1950 to 95 percent, from 90 in a previous assessment.

Delegates in Warsaw agreed that a new global deal, due to be struck in Paris in 2015 and to enter into force from 2020, would be made up of what they called "intended nationally determined contributions" from both rich and poor nations.

Until now, rich nations that have emitted most greenhouse gases since the Industrial Revolution have been expected to take the lead with "commitments" to cut emissions while the poor have been granted less stringent "actions".

"In the old system you had this firewall between commitments and actions, now there is one word for all," European Commissioner Connie Hedegaard said. "There are many ways to Paris that would be more beautiful and faster."

But developing nations said the rich still needed to lead. "In my understanding the firewall exists and will continue to exist," India's Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan said.

Either way, US climate envoy Todd Stern said there would be no coercion. "It is not like someone is going to stand over you with a club and tell you what to do," he said.

The Warsaw deal called on those nations able to do so to put forward their plans for curbs on emissions by the first quarter of 2015 to give time for a review before a summit in Paris at the end of the year.

Under the last climate pact, the Kyoto Protocol, only the most developed countries were required to limit their emissions - one of the main reasons the United States refused to accept it, saying rapidly growing economies like China and India should also take part.

Until Saturday, the only concrete measure to have emerged in Warsaw was an agreement on new rules to protect tropical forests, which soak up carbon dioxide as they grow.

Developed nations, which promised in 2009 to raise aid to $100 billion a year after 2020 from $10 billion a year in 2010-12, rejected calls to set targets for 2013-19.

A draft text merely urged developed nations to set "increasing levels" of aid.

Scientists still waiting for clear signs of ozone hole healing

Earth's upper atmosphere is still so saturated with ozone-eating chlorine that it will take about another decade for evidence that a nearly 25-year-old ban on such destructive chemicals is working, scientists said.

Full recovery of the ozone layer, which shields Earth from the sun's harmful ultraviolet radiation, should occur around 2070, atmospheric scientist Natalya Kramarova, with NASA's Goddard Space Flight Centre in Greenbelt, Maryland, told reporters at the American Geophysical Union conference in San Francisco last week.
"Currently, we do not see that the ozone hole is recovering," she said. "It should become apparent in 2025."
Researchers report puzzlingly large variations in the size of the annual ozone hole over Antarctica.
In 2012 for example, the ozone hole was the second smallest on record, an apparently positive sign that the 1989 Montreal Protocol agreement - which called for the phasing out of Freon and other damaging chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs - was working.
But scientists say that meteorological effects masked the hole's true size. The year before, they point out, the ozone hole was nearly as big as it was in 2006, the largest on record.
"Currently, small declines in levels of ozone-depleting substances are far too small to show ozone recovery, in comparison with year to year variability," Kramarova said.
With the stratosphere still flush with ozone-destroying chlorine, the size of the annual hole over Antarctica is more dependent on temperature and upper atmospheric winds, scientists said.
As chlorine levels drop, however, the annual ozone holes over Antarctica will consistently decrease in size, they said.
"We've still got so much chlorine up there that the ozone hole area just doesn't depend on chlorine," said atmospheric scientist Susan Strahan, also with NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.
As a result of the Montreal Protocol, scientists expected chlorine levels to decrease by about 5 percent this decade.
Instead, measurements from instruments aboard satellites show chlorine levels increase or decrease by 5 percent every year, Strahan said.
Chlorine is gradually declining, she said, "but it's bumpy road down - some years it's higher, some years it's lower."
By the mid-2030s, chlorine levels are forecast to be 20 percent lower than current levels, leading to consistently smaller ozone holes. A full recovery is expected between 2058 and 2090 and most likely around 2070, scientists said.

Thai PM seeks reconciliation

Embattled Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra called for reconciliation on Tuesday as the streets of the capital, Bangkok, emptied ahead of New Year celebrations, a rare period of calm after weeks of unrest.

Anti-government protesters have vowed to disrupt a February 2 election called by Yingluck in a bid to settle a crisis that has pitted her government against Bangkok's conservative elite and middle class.
The demonstrators have threatened to shut down Bangkok after the New Year, with plans to block roads in up to 20 places, although the scope of their protests has not always matched the promises made by their leader, Suthep Thaugsuban.
Yingluck has not been in Bangkok for more than a week, spending time among supporters in the north, but she used social media to send a message seeking peace and reconciliation.
"On the occasion of New Year 2014, may I ask all Thais to be united in mind, to seek a blessing for the Thai people to love and harmonize and for those who differ in views, be it their political ideology or belief, to reconcile for a peaceful resolution for our nation," she said in a Facebook post.
The demonstrators are determined to topple Yingluck, who they see as a puppet of her self-exiled brother and former premier, Thaksin Shinawatra.
Bangkok's normally gridlocked streets were mostly clear on Tuesday as people headed to the provinces for the holiday.
The latest protests have flared into violence at several protest sites over the past five days. At least eight people have been killed since they began in late November.
On Thursday, a policeman and a protester were killed when an unidentified gunman fired during chaotic clashes outside an election registration centre.
Another protester was killed by an unidentified gunman at another rally site in a pre-dawn attack on Saturday. The Erawan Emergency Centre in Bangkok said another protester had been taken to hospital suffering gunshot wounds to the chest and arm after a shooting at a third site late on Monday.
WORRY ABOUT MILITARY INTERVENTION
The violence is the latest in years of rivalry between Bangkok's middle class and royalist establishment and the mostly poor, rural supporters of Yingluck and Thaksin.
Even though her Puea Thai Party would most likely win the election, Yingluck's position has become more tenuous as the conflict drags on, with street violence opening the possibility of intervention by the politicized military or judiciary.
That became increasingly apparent last week, when the army chief declined to rule out a coup. Thailand's military has launched or attempted 18 coups in 81 years of fragile democracy, including Thaksin's 2006 overthrow.
The military has since sought to ease fears that yet another coup was imminent.
Most of the protests have been centered in Bangkok, although demonstrators have also blocked registration for the polls in seven provinces in the south. The protesters and the main opposition Democrat Party, which has declared it will boycott the poll, have many supporters in the south.
The protesters say the wealthy Shinawatra family has effectively manipulated Thailand's democracy by buying the support of the rural poor with populist policies such as cheap healthcare and subsidies for rice farmers.
Former telecoms tycoon Thaksin and his allies have won every election since 2001. He fled into exile in 2008 before being sentenced to jail on graft charges he said were politically motivated.
Yingluck's party miscalculated badly in November when it tried to force through an amnesty that would have allowed Thaksin to return a free man, sparking the latest round of protests.

Hacker takes over BBC server

A man enters BBC New Broadcasting House in London.

A hacker secretly took over a computer server at the BBC, Britain's public broadcaster, and then launched a Christmas Day campaign to convince other cyber criminals to pay him for access to the system.

While it is not known if the hacker found any buyers, the BBC's security team responded to the issue on Saturday and believes it has secured the site, according to a person familiar with the cleanup effort.

A BBC spokesman declined to discuss the incident. "We do not comment on security issues," he said.

Reuters could not determine whether the hackers stole data or caused any damage in the attack, which compromised a server that manages an obscure password-protected website.

It was not clear how the BBC, the world's oldest and largest broadcaster, uses that site, ftp.bbc.co.uk, though ftp systems are typically used to manage the transfer of large data files over the Internet.

The attack was first identified by Hold Security LLC, a cybersecurity firm in Milwaukee that monitors underground cyber-crime forums in search of stolen information.

The firm's researchers observed a notorious Russian hacker known by the monikers "HASH" and "Rev0lver," attempting to sell access to the BBC server on December 25, the company's founder and chief information security officer, Alex Holden, told Reuters.

"HASH" sought to convince high-profile hackers that he had infiltrated the site by showing them files that could only be accessed by somebody who really controlled it, Holden said.

So far Hold Security researchers have found no evidence the conversations led to a deal or that data was stolen from the BBC, Holden said.

It is common for hackers to buy and sell access to compromised servers on underground forums.

Buyers view the access as a commodity that grants them the chance to further penetrate the victim organization. They can also use compromised servers to set up command-and-control centres for cyber-crime operations known as botnets, run spam campaigns or launch denial of service attacks to knock websites off line.

The BBC offer stands out because the media company is such a high-profile organization, Holden said. "It's definitely a notch in someone's belt."

BBC has some 23,000 staff and is funded largely by license fees paid by every British household with a television.

Justin Clarke, a principal consultant for the cybersecurity firm Cylance Inc, said that while "HASH" was only offering access to an obscure ftp server, some buyers might see it as a stepping stone to more prized assets within the BBC.

"Accessing that server establishes a foothold within BBC's network which may allow an attacker to pivot and gain further access to internal BBC resources," he said.

Media companies, including the BBC, have repeatedly been targeted by the Syrian Electronic Army, which supports Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and other hacker activist groups that deface websites and take over Twitter accounts.

Last January the New York Times reported that it had been repeatedly attacked over four months by Chinese hackers who obtained employees' passwords.

Cracking ice bodes well for Antarctica ship rescue

Barbara Tucker, a passenger aboard the trapped ship MV Akademik Shokalskiy looks at an Adelie penguin walking by on the ice off East Antarctica December 29, 2013, some 100 nautical miles (185 km) east of French Antarctic station Dumont D'Urville and about 1,500 nautical miles (2,800 km) south of Hobart, Tasmania.

Ice that has trapped a Russian ship with 74 people on board in Antarctica appeared to be cracking up on Sunday, raising hopes for a rescue as a powerful Australian icebreaker approached the stranded vessel.

The ice-bound ship, the Akademik Shokalskiy, left New Zealand on November 28 on a privately funded expedition to commemorate the 100th anniversary of an Antarctic journey led by famed Australian explorer Douglas Mawson.

It has been stuck in the ice since December 24. Its passengers include scientists and tourists, many of them Australian, and a Russian crew.

The Australian icebreaker the Aurora Australis is expected to reach the stricken ship at about midnight on Sunday.

A Chinese icebreaker could not break through the thick ice earlier but the weather on Sunday boded well for a rescue.

"The ice conditions seem to have improved and there appears to be some softening and some cracks appearing," Lisa Martin of the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, which is coordinating the rescue, told Reuters.

Just how the rescue would be done would be worked out when the Aurora reached the area, she said.

Those on board were in good condition and have never been in any imminent danger.

"We're primarily looking to the Aurora to get us out," Chris Turney, an Australian professor onboard the beleaguered ship who is leading the expedition, wrote in an email to Reuters on Sunday.

"Hopefully there are some breaks developing in the surface from the weaker winds and sun during today."

The ship is stuck about 100 nautical miles east of the French Antarctic station Dumont D'Urville and about 1,500 nautical miles south of Hobart, Tasmania.

The Aurora is the third icebreaker seconded by the Australian maritime rescue agency to try to reach the hemmed in ship.

The Chinese icebreaker, the Snow Dragon, is on standby at the edge of the ice and within sight of the trapped ship. It has a helicopter on board which could be used in the rescue.

A French icebreaker had also tried to help.

Renewed boost to BCIM

The Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM) regional grouping has agreed to start joint research to settle on ways to establish their dream “economic corridor”.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told a news briefing at Beijing on Saturday that the decision had been taken in the first joint working group meeting at Kunming on Dec 19.

The joint working group meeting was held two months after the first official level meeting in 14 years of BCIM’s preparatory exercises in October in Dhaka.

The spokesperson said the economic corridor would officially set up the mechanism to promote cooperation among the regional grouping.

Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang proposed building the economic corridor during his visit to India last May to boost regional stability and furthering economic partnerships.

The corridor is being seen as an easing process of flowing goods between the world’s two largest economies, India and China, and proving greater economic resources to the burgeoning markets of Bangladesh and Myanmar.

The Chinese foreign ministry’s spokesperson said India, Bangladesh and Myanmar warmly received the initiative.

She said senior government officials of BCIM countries and representatives of relevant international organisations attended the meeting for what she said “in-depth discussions” on the prospects of the economic corridor, priority areas of cooperation and institutional building.

She said they also reached consensus on cooperation “in transportation infrastructure, investment, commerce and trade, cultural and people-to-people exchanges and other specific areas”.

“It is of great significance to the in-depth growth of friendly and cooperative relations among the four countries and the connectivity between East Asia and South Asia,” she said.

China has been pressing ahead with the BCIM concept, as it plans to open up to Southeast and South Asia using Kunming, the capital of China’s Yunnan province, as a hub.

To retrace the historic Southern Silk Road route, a car rally took place this February from Kolkata to Kunming via Dhaka and Mandalay.

The four-member countries with their total GDP of $9,300 billion, have every potential to become a strong block in global politics.

“We stand ready to maintain close communication with relevant countries and departments,” the Chinese spokesperson said.

Capello, Conte call for introduction of 'time-outs'

Russia manager Fabio Capello and Juventus coach Antonio Conte voiced support on Saturday for the introduction of 'time-outs' during matches in a move they said would benefit players, managers and commercial partners.

While time-outs are used extensively in major sports in the United States - baseball, basketball and American football - such a rule change in football would face resistance from many in the game who argue that breaks would interrupt the flow of matches.

Similar concerns have also been voiced in relation to the increased use of technology, such as tracking systems to tell if the ball has crossed the goalline which has been trialled in the English Premier League for the first time this season.

"Time-outs would be nice things to have as, from the bench, it is difficult to communicate a message during the game. So a two-minute time-out would be useful for a manager," Conte, who is aiming to secure a third successive Serie A title with Juve this season, told a conference in Dubai.

Capello also noted the tactical advantages for coaches that a time-out would bring as well as pointing to health and commercial benefits.

"Time-outs to hydrate would leave players in better shape and would allow the clubs to get more revenue," said Capello, who has won multiple league titles in Italy and Spain and was coach of the England team for over four years.

During time-outs in U.S. sports, advertisements can be shown both in the stadium and to live television audiences.

Breaks during matches played in extreme heat or humidity have long been advocated so that players can take on water to replace that lost through sweating.

For the World Cup in Brazil next year, the organisation representing players globally, FIFPro, and Italy coach Cesare Prandelli have called for drinks breaks to be authorised, given temperatures in north-eastern cities such as Fortaleza and Recife often soar above 30 degrees Celsius.

Attitudes towards the importance of players' health have come a long way since 1994 when Jack Charlton, then manager of Ireland, was chastised by FIFA for trying to give his players water during a World Cup match in the U.S. played in searing heat.

Pep Guardiola, coach of European champions Bayern Munich, and the third member of the panel in Dubai, noted that water breaks were granted in the German Super Cup final in July due to the heat and that it had not caused any problems.

Capello added that water breaks were taken in Russia when games are played in high temperatures and that concerns over their disruptive nature were false.

"In Russia, in the heat, they have a one-minute water break to hydrate. I timed them all in the last season and the longest ever was one minute and 10 seconds," he said.

Co-riding on motorbikes banned

The authorities have issued a moratorium on transporting second or third rider on motorcycle from Sunday to ‘ensure public safety.’
The ban will be executed immediately, said a special press release issued by the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority and signed by director of enforcement, Mohammad Motiar Rahman.
The release said the BRTA has been observing that some co-riders sitting behind the motorcycle drivers were impeding public security by terrorizing and vandalising, such as throwing petrol bombs and crude bombs on other people.
The ban was enforced in line with section 88 of the motor vehicle ordinance, 1983.

Strict parenting reduces teen smoking

Parents who set limits are less likely to have kids who smoke, regardless of their ethnic and racial backgrounds, according to a new US study.
Researchers surveyed middle schoolers from diverse backgrounds and found those whose parents had an ‘authoritative’ and ‘structured’ parenting style were also more likely to be discouraged from smoking by their parents and less likely to become smokers.
‘Many past studies have examined broad parenting styles, however this study looked at how specific parenting strategies may help protect youth from cigarette smoking initiation,’ said Cassandra Stanton, an assistant professor in the oncology department at Georgetown University, who led the study.
‘We also note that unlike many studies in the area that are conducted in largely white middle class samples, this study was conducted in an urban multi-ethnic low-income school district,’ Stanton said.
It’s important to identify ways of helping parents prevent kids from starting to smoke, Stanton’s team writes in the Journal of Paediatric Psychology, because the majority of lifetime smokers begin before the age of 18.
Although the number of teenage smokers has declined significantly, one in three young adults reports smoking at least once in the past 30 days, according to a 2012 report by the US surgeon general.
Past research has found links between low discipline, parental disengagement and increased risk of smoking, Stanton’s team notes. Rates of smoking vary among ethnic groups, with white students smoking daily at a rate twice that of African American and Latino students. However, African Americans and Latinos experience significantly higher rates of smoking-related health complications later in life compared with whites.
To delve deeper into which parenting strategies are effective among a diverse set of families, the researchers recruited 459 eighth graders from two low-income inner-city schools in the Northeast. The students averaged 13-years-old, with 29 per cent identifying themselves as Hispanic, 34 per cent as African American, 17 per cent as non-Hispanic white and 20 per cent as other/mixed ethnicity.
The students took a comprehensive survey in class with parental consent. The survey asked about the student’s smoking history and whether the student’s parents smoked. It also asked questions about parenting styles, such as discipline and warmth, and whether the student would receive punishments and discussion of the dangers of tobacco if caught smoking.
The researchers then followed up four years later to assess whether students had smoked.

Federer adds "childhood hero" Edberg to coaching team

Former world number one Roger Federer has made his "childhood hero" Stefan Edberg part of his coaching team and will use him on an occasional basis next year, the Swiss said on Friday.

"I am happy to announce that beginning in Melbourne, Stefan Edberg will join Severin Luethi on my coaching team," Federer, a 17 times Grand Slam champion, announced on his Facebook page referring to next month's Australian Open.

Swede Edberg, also a former world number one, won six Grand Slams, including two Australian Open titles, in the mid-1980s.

"Severin, who has been part of my team for the last seven years, will do most of the weeks and Stefan has agreed to work with us for at least 10 weeks starting at the Australian Open in Melbourne," the 32-year-old Federer added.

"Stefan was my childhood hero, and I am really looking forward to spending time (with) and learning from him."

Federer is the third leading player to hire a former tennis great to help on the coaching side after Andy Murray's link up with Ivan Lendl and world number two Novak Djokovic's decision to recruit Boris Becker to his team.

"I'm really excited to be part of Roger's team and I hope together we can bring out his best tennis," Edberg was quoted as saying on the ATP website (www.atpworldtour.com).

The Australian Open, the first of the season's four Grand Slam tournaments, begins on January 13 with Federer looking for his fifth title there and first since 2010.

The world number six opens his season next week at the Brisbane International, where Briton Murray has been champion for the last two seasons.

Chinese unmanned spacecraft lands on moon

A giant electronic screen displays the mission operation information of China's Chang'e-3 lunar probe as researchers work at the Beijing Aerospace Control Center, in Beijing, December 14, 2013.

China landed an unmanned spacecraft on the moon on Saturday, state media reported, in the first such "soft-landing" since 1976, joining the United States and the former Soviet Union in managing to accomplish such a feat.

The Chang'e 3, a probe named after a lunar goddess in traditional Chinese mythology, is carrying the solar-powered Yutu, or Jade Rabbit buggy, which will dig and conduct geological surveys.

China has been increasingly ambitious in developing its space programs, for military, commercial and scientific purposes.

It has moved in lock step with its emergence as a major global economic and political power.

"The dream for lunar exploration once again lights up the China Dream," Xinhua news agency said in a commentary.

In its most recent manned space mission in June, three astronauts spent 15 days in orbit and docked with an experimental space laboratory, part of Beijing's quest to build a working space station by 2020.

The official Xinhua news service reported that the spacecraft had touched down in the Sinus Iridum, or the Bay of Rainbows, after hovering over the surface for several minutes seeking an appropriate place to land.

A soft landing does not damage the craft and the equipment it carries. In 2007, China put another lunar probe in orbit around the moon, which then executed a controlled crash on to its surface.

China Central Television (CCTV) broadcast images of the probe's location on Saturday and a computer generated image of the probe on the surface of the moon on its website. The probe and the rover are expected to photograph each other tomorrow.

The Bay of Rainbows was selected because it has yet to be studied, has ample sunlight and is convenient for remote communications with Earth, Xinhua said.

The rover will be remotely controlled by Chinese control centres with support from a network of tracking and transmission stations around the world operated by the European Space Agency (ESA).

For more than a decade, China has been modernising its economy and developing in areas long dominated by the West particularly the United States.

The moon landing will be seen as a demonstration of China's ability to engage in sophisticated space operations with dual use potential.

China is also developing its own satellite system to rival the US GPS system and has sold satellites to other countries.

The landing will also be a point of national pride in the country, which is undergoing difficult economic transitions.

US judge says NSA phone surveillance is lawful

A federal judge ruled that a National Security Agency program that collects records of millions of Americans' phone calls is lawful, calling it a "counter-punch" to terrorism that does not violate Americans' privacy rights.

Friday's decision by US District Judge William Pauley in Manhattan diverged from a ruling by another judge this month that questioned the program's constitutionality, raising the prospect that the Supreme Court will need to resolve the issue.

In a 54-page decision, Pauley dismissed an American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit contending that the NSA collection of "bulk telephony metadata" violated the bar against warrantless searches under the Fourth Amendment of the US Constitution.

The judge also referred often to the September 11, 2001 attacks, in which nearly 3,000 people died, and said broad counter-terrorism programs such as the NSA's could help avoid a "horrific" repeat of those events.

"This blunt tool only works because it collects everything," Pauley wrote. "Technology allowed al Qaeda to operate decentralized and plot international terrorist attacks remotely. The bulk telephony metadata collection program represents the government's counter-punch."

The program's existence was first disclosed by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, who is now in Russia under temporary asylum. His leaks have sparked a debate over how much leeway to give the government in protecting Americans from terrorism.

ACLU PLANS APPEAL

Pauley ruled 11 days after US District Judge Richard Leon in Washington, D.C. said the "almost Orwellian" NSA program amounted to an "indiscriminate and arbitrary invasion" that was likely unconstitutional.

Leon also ordered the government to stop collecting call data on the two plaintiffs in that case, but suspended that portion of his decision so the government could appeal.

The ACLU has argued before Pauley that the NSA program was an unwarranted "dramatic expansion" of the government's investigative powers over Americans' day-to-day lives.

Jameel Jaffer, deputy legal director of the ACLU, on Friday said the group was "extremely disappointed" with Pauley's decision, saying it does away with "core constitutional protections. He said the ACLU will appeal to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest declined to comment. US Department of Justice spokesman Peter Carr said the department is pleased with the decision.

Stephen Vladeck, an American University law professor who specializes in national security, said if federal appeals courts in New York or Washington, DC ultimately accept Leon's analysis, "then it seems likely, if not certain, that this case will get to the (Supreme Court) by the end of next year."

President Barack Obama has defended the surveillance program but has indicated a willingness to consider constraints, including whether to give control of metadata to phone companies or other third parties. Intelligence officials have said this could prove costly and slow investigations.

On December 18, a White House-appointed panel proposed curbs on some NSA surveillance operations.

It said that because intelligence agencies could not point to specific cases where telephony metadata collection led to a major counter-terrorism success, the intrusiveness of such intelligence gathering might outweigh the public benefit.

Obama is expected next month to set forth his own proposals for possible surveillance reforms.

RUBBER STAMP, OR VITAL WEAPON?

In rejecting the ACLU motion for a preliminary injunction to block the NSA program, Pauley said the public interest tilted "firmly" toward the government, for which combating terrorism "is an urgent objective of the highest order."

While acknowledging that the program "vacuums up information about virtually every telephone call to, from, or within the United States," he said its constitutionality "is ultimately a question of reasonableness."

Pauley added that he found no evidence that the government had used bulk telephony metadata for any reason other than to investigate and disrupt terrorist attacks.

The program also faces a legal challenge by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a data privacy group. In a statement, the group said it was "obviously disappointed" with Pauley's decision, but that it would continue pursuing its own cases.

Larry Klayman, a conservative legal activist who brought the case before Judge Leon, called Pauley's ruling "an outrageous decision that ignores the legitimate fears of the American people and in effect rubber stamps a police state."

Pauley was appointed to the bench by President Bill Clinton. Leon was appointed by President George W. Bush.

Both cases interpreted a 1979 Supreme Court decision, Smith v. Maryland, that said people have no "legitimate expectation of privacy" regarding phone numbers they dial because they knowingly give that information to phone companies.

While Leon said Smith's relevance had been "eclipsed" by technological advances and the advent of cell phones, Pauley said this did not undermine the finding that people have "no subjective expectation of privacy in telephony metadata."

Rep. Peter King, a New York Republican and chairman of the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Counterintelligence & Terrorism, in a statement said Pauley's decision "preserves a vital weapon for the United States in our war against international terrorism."

The case is American Civil Liberties Union et al v. Clapper et al, US District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 13-03994.

Reports of sexual assault rose 50% in 2013: Pentagon

The number of sexual assaults reported across the U.S. military rose by around 50 percent in the 2013 fiscal year compared with 2012, the Pentagon said on Friday.

The Pentagon said a review of preliminary data from the government's 2013 fiscal year, which began in October 2012, showed there were slightly more than 5,000 reports of sexual assault. The figure was first reported earlier on Friday by the Associated Press.

The data compares with a previously released estimate of a 46 percent increase in sexual assaults in the military during the first nine months of the year.

The latest data related to sexual assaults in the military came a week after President Barack Obama ordered U.S. military leaders to review the problem.

About 10 percent of the reports for the full fiscal year related to incidents that occurred prior to the victim entering military service, compared to about 4 percent of the 3,374 reports registered in fiscal year 2012, said Pentagon spokeswoman Lieutenant Colonel Catherine Wilkinson.

The fact that victims are willing to come forward, including increasingly about incidents that occurred prior to service, suggests growing confidence in the U.S. military's system to respond to such cases, Wilkinson said.

Wilkinson said it was still too early to say how many of the sexual assaults reported by members of the military were blamed on fellow members of the military as many of the investigations were still ongoing.

Obama also signed into law this week a defense bill that aims to end the military's sexual assault crisis.

Sexual assault in the military is traditionally under-reported.

A study from the Pentagon in May found that estimated cases of unwanted sexual contact, a broader category, rose to 26,000 in 2012 from 19,000 in the previous survey, which helped spur demands for reform in Congress.

The reforms signed into law by Obama on Thursday strip commanders of their power to overturn sentences that result from court martials. They eliminate a five-year statute of limitations on reporting rape and sexual assault and establish minimum sentencing guidelines for military personnel found guilty of sex crimes.

Most expensive Brazil World Cup stadium has leaking roof

The most expensive of the 12 stadiums built or revamped for the 2014 World Cup has a leaking roof less than eight months after it was finished, the stadium's operators said on Tuesday.

Secopa, the local government agency that runs the Mane Garrincha National Stadium in Brasilia, will ask the company that rebuilt it to explain why parts of the roof let in rain during last weekend's women's match between Brazil and Chile.

Local media reported that almost the entire lower ring of the stands was soaked although Secopa played down the problem, saying the leaks were not serious and would not affect any of the matches being played there during next year's World Cup.

"Because it is a new, grandiose and complex stadium, some small points are still being corrected and tested but there is nothing that compromises the running of the stadium or the holding of events there," Secopa said in a statement.

The stadium comes with a five-year guarantee and any repair work will be paid for by the builders, Secopa added.

The national stadium in the capital Brasilia cost more than 1.2 billion real (310.92 million pounds). It will stage six World Cup matches including a quarter-final and the third-place playoff.

The venue was inaugurated in May and hosted the opening match of the Confederations Cup between Brazil and Japan in June. It has held 17 major events since then, including several first division football matches, stadium officials said.

The uproar over the scandal of a leaky roof at the 73,000 seat arena is not the first time construction work at Brazilian stadiums has been called into question.

The Joao Havelange stadium in Rio was closed earlier this year, six years after it was built for the Pan American Games.

Engineers ruled that the roof was in danger of collapsing in high winds and said repairs taking 18 months must be carried out for the stadium to be fit to host the 2016 Olympics.

At least three of the six World Cup stadiums still to be finished before the tournament kicks off in June will be handed over behind schedule. A total of five people have died while working on the 12 venues, including one man in Brasilia.

Apple, China Mobile sign long-awaited deal to sell iPhones

Apple Inc said it has signed a long-awaited agreement with China Mobile Ltd to sell iPhones through the world's biggest network of mobile phone users.

In a deal that could add billions of dollars to its revenue, Apple said its smartphones will be available to China Mobile customers starting Jan 17. Pricing and availability details for the iPhone 5S and 5C lines will be disclosed at a later date, it said in a statement.

China Mobile, which has about 760 million customers, will begin registering orders for iPhone from Dec 25, the company said on its account on the Sina-Weibo micro-blogging service.

The tie-up between the pair, in the US company's second-largest market after its home turf, provides a much-needed boost for Apple in a market where it's trailing rivals. It will also give Apple extra firepower in its increasing global rivalry with South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co Ltd.

Apple didn't disclose financial terms of the agreement. Tim Cook, Apple's chief executive, said in its statement that China is an extremely important market for the Cupertino-based company.

In a smartphone market that's booming, Apple's sales have trailed those of its competitors. Shipments of iPhones in the country grew 32 percent year-on-year for the third quarter, about half of China's Lenovo Group Ltd, which had the next slowest growth at 64 percent year-on-year.

SAMSUNG BATTLE

China Mobile could gain 17 million new iPhone activations in 2014 alone, according to research firm Forrester - more than double the 16.8 million iPhones Apple sold in mainland China for the 12 months ended September, according to Forrester data.

But after an expected initial surge, Apple is likely to find itself back in a costly marketing battle with Samsung Electronics.

The deal has been years in the making, with numerous visits by Apple to the state-owned carrier's Beijing headquarters. Negotiations have been tricky, in part because of disagreements over details like revenue-sharing, analysts have said.

China Mobile was the only Chinese carrier not to offer customers the iPhone up to now due to compatibility issues with the carrier's 3G wireless technology, known as TD-SCDMA.

On December 4, Chinese regulators awarded 4G wireless licences to China Mobile Ltd, China Unicom Hong Kong Ltd and China Telecom Corp Ltd, removing the final stumbling block to a deal that industry observers had long expected. The latest iPhone models support 4G technology known as TD-LTE.

China Mobile estimates it does already have about 45 million iPhone users on its network. But these subscribers can only use the company's slower 2G wireless speeds because of the incompatibility with its proprietary 3G technology.

Shares of Apple on Friday closed at $549.02 while U.S. shares of China Mobile ended at $51.63.

BlackBerry steps back on handset business

A salesman arranges a BlackBerry mobile phone inside a display box at a showroom in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad October 13, 2011.

BlackBerry Ltd said on Friday it was entering a handset production deal that lowers the risk it will have to take more massive writedowns on unsold smartphones, and its shares surged even though it posted dismal quarterly results.

The stock rose as much as 17 percent after the company announced the five-year partnership with FIH Mobile Ltd. The Hong Kong-listed unit of Taiwan's Foxconn will initially build low-end devices for sale in Indonesia and other emerging markets. BlackBerry said it hoped to expand the fledgling relationship to its top-of-the-line smartphones.

The deal is unconventional in that BlackBerry will no longer pay upfront for components used in the devices made on its behalf in Foxconn's Indonesian and Mexican factories.

Instead, Foxconn, the trading name of Hon Hai Precision Industry, will take a share of profit on each device in return for taking on inventory management, which can result in writedowns if smartphones go unsold. Foxconn will also help with developing, designing and distributing the handsets.

Chief Executive John Chen, who took the helm at BlackBerry last month, said he expected the Foxconn deal to help BlackBerry's handset business turn cash-flow positive, and for the company as a whole to post a profit for the fiscal year that begins in early 2015.

"It's almost like BlackBerry is disposing of its consumer handset business without actually disposing of it," said Jefferies analyst Peter Misek, who likened the deal to what Hewlett-Packard Co and Dell have done with laptops.

The move, which comes a month after BlackBerry said it was giving up on a plan to sell itself, helped take the sting out of the massive, $4.4 billion loss that it posted for the quarter ended November 30, as smartphone sales shrivelled.

A new line of devices running on BlackBerry 10 software has failed to gain traction, forcing the company to write off $1.6 billion of inventory and supply commitments for the quarter. The previous quarter it wrote off $934 million for unsold phones.

The Waterloo, Ontario-based company pioneered the concept of on-the-go email, and for years its pagers and phones were must-have devices for political and business leaders. But in recent years it has lost its once-dominant market share to Apple Inc's iPhone and a slew of smartphones powered by Google Inc's Android operating system.

As of Thursday's close, the stock had fallen 47 percent this year. It was last trading up 14 percent on Nasdaq at $7.13.

"The most immediate challenge for the company is how to transition the devices operations to a more profitable business model," said Chen, who is credited with turning around Sybase, a database and mobile software company, before it was sold to German software company SAP AG in 2010.

Chen has said he is counting on strong growth in BlackBerry's service business, which manages smartphone traffic on the internal networks of corporate and government clients.

"Just jettisoning all the stuff and driving on with the part of the business that makes money makes a heck of a lot of sense to me and that is very clearly where Chen is going," said Ross Healy, a portfolio manager at Macnicol & Associates who owns a small number of BlackBerry shares.

Carolina Milanesi, an analyst at Kantar Comtech, said the deal is a good move for Foxconn, the world's largest electronic parts manufacturer and a major partner of Apple Inc.

"This might be the first step for them to try and diversify, and experiment with putting their brand on the products they make," she said.

Devices are a challenge

In his first presentation to analysts after the release of BlackBerry's results, Chen struck an upbeat tone tempered with a heavy dose of realism. The mix may have helped soothe nervous investors who had sharply lowered their expectations for BlackBerry after a string of disappointing news.

"It's clear that he's not the old guard, he's not there trying to do what Lazaridis and Thorsten were up to. He's actually been taking some concrete steps," said Mark McKechnie, an analyst at Evercore Partners, referring to BlackBerry's founder Mike Lazaridis and Thorsten Heins, Chen's predecessor.

Chen moved quickly to stamp his authority on BlackBerry, hiring several former colleagues from his time at Sybase and SAP for senior roles in corporate strategy, marketing, and enterprise strategy, a key unit in the stripped-back company.

BlackBerry sold about 4.3 million handsets in the third quarter, with older BlackBerry 7 models accounting for about 3.2 million of that number.

The company recognised hardware revenue on 1.9 million devices, down from 3.7 million in the previous quarter.

On a brighter note, its cash pile grew to $3.2 billion from $2.6 billion a quarter earlier, but that included $1 billion raised by issuing convertible notes to a group of investors last month after calling off a months-long search for a buyer.

Service revenue slipped 13 percent as fewer people paid to use BlackBerry's secure network, and the company said that level of decline could be expected to continue.

Along with the writedown on unsold phones, the company also slashed by $2.7 billion the carrying value of some long-lived assets, mostly licensing deals made when it was far larger.

Quarterly results

The company reported a third-quarter net loss of $4.4 billion, or $8.37 a share, compared with year-earlier net income of $9 million, or 2 cents a share.

Excluding the inventory writedowns and impairment charges, the loss was $354 million, or 67 cents a share.

Analysts on average had expected a loss of 44 cents a share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Revenue fell to $1.19 billion from $2.73 billion as increased uncertainty about the company's fate led to further sales erosion. Wall Street had forecast $1.6 billion.

Morningstar analyst Brian Colello said BlackBerry's turnaround strategy was more important than its latest operating results.

"I don't think it's a surprise that the revenue, operating margin and the business continues to decline. I think the bigger question is, what is the turnaround story at this point?" he said. "They have a lot of different assets that could point the company in different directions."

Obama calls on Congress to do more on Guantanamo Bay

President Barack Obama on Thursday gave credit to Congress for relaxing restrictions on transferring detainees from the US prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to the custody of foreign governments but said lawmakers need to go further.

After signing the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2014, Obama noted that Congress retained regulations that prevent the transfer of prisoners to American soil, where they could be tried in federal court.

"The executive branch must have the authority to determine when and where to prosecute Guantanamo detainees," Obama said in a signing statement released during his Hawaiian vacation.

Prosecuting alleged terrorists in US federal court is "a legitimate, effective, and powerful tool in our efforts to protect the nation," Obama said.

The United States also needs "flexibility, among other things, to act swiftly in conducting negotiations with foreign countries regarding the circumstances of detainee transfers," Obama said.

The regulations could remain an obstacle to the administration's years-long bid to close the Guantanamo Bay prison, where 158 detainees from various countries remain after years of detention without trial at the US Naval Base in Cuba. The prison has been condemned internationally.

While lawmakers of both political parties refused to yield on the ban against bringing prisoners to the United States, they were willing to relax rules for sending prisoners to their home countries.

Among the earlier restrictions was that the administration had to certify that the country where an inmate was being sent was not "facing a threat that is likely to substantially affect its ability to exercise control over the individual." This had all but ruled out politically chaotic Yemen, which is home to the largest group of Guantanamo detainees.

Transfers had also been banned to countries that Washington designated "state sponsors of terrorism," which made it difficult to move Syrian inmates. And prisoners in the past also could not be sent back to any country where previously released Guantanamo detainees had returned to "terrorist activity."

Such rules will be lifted or significantly relaxed under the new law.

Even before the legislation was enacted, the administration had become more active in making transfers, sending two detainees each to Sudan, Saudi Arabia and Algeria.

A Minute With: Ralph Fiennes on Dickens, Shakespeare and Bond

From Shakespeare to "Harry Potter" to the new head of MI6 in the "James Bond" film franchise, Ralph Fiennes has mined the complexity of his characters.

The 51-year-old British actor most recently turned his talents to unearthing the details of British author Charles Dickens' extramarital affair.

Fiennes stars and takes his second turn as director on "The Invisible Woman," out in limited release in U.S. theatres on Christmas Day, chronicling the hushed liaison between 19th century author Dickens and actress Nelly Ternan.

Lounging in the courtyard at Hollywood's famed Chateau Marmont hotel, Fiennes spoke to Reuters about deconstructing Dickens, playing heroes and villains and the next "Bond" film.

Q: What inspired you to want to bring this story of Dickens' life and affair with Nelly Ternan to the screen?
A: Audiences have a vague sense of a jolly man writing slightly sentimental, big sagas which are good entertainment and good stories, but they see the darkness of Dickens in this film. The domestic, arguably we'd say, cruelty of Dickens. Dickens is a man of massive contrast and contradictions, and I like that it might stir it up a bit, people might talk about it.

Q: How do you think Dickens' relationship with Nelly impacted his portrayal of women in his novels?
A: Estella in "Great Expectations" is not a portrait of Nelly, but is Nelly filtered through Dickens' anxiety about wanting and trying to reach her. I think Nelly probably resisted Dickens for a bit, and that resistance plays out in, quote unquote, "Estella's cold heart." ... Nelly was quite tough, she was quite a strong-willed young girl, and I think (his literary heroines) all have bits of her in them.

Q. You've depicted literary characters before, but in playing a renowned author such as Charles Dickens, were you nervous?
A: You're always nervous, you just want any part to be truthful and alive and you just want to honour what you think its truth is ... All the scenes paint a portrait of the Dickens that I felt I got to know reading - a vital family man, centre of the party, centre of attention, quite a controlling father, authoritative, capable of great kindness and charitable events. He can be a very genial host, charming, very funny, attentive, and he can be ruthless and tough and bossy and really cruel, he has a potential for cruelty there.

Q: You've played both heroes and villains, from Shakespeare's Romeo on stage to J.K. Rowling's deadly Lord Voldemort in "Harry Potter." Which do you enjoy better?
A: I don't want to play any more villains, I don't enjoy playing them, I've done it. I enjoy playing complicated people. We talk about good guys and bad guys, but it's reductive. I think I wanted to be an actor because of Shakespeare, and Shakespeare's characters are full of ambivalence and ambiguity. They start out as one thing and end up another, so if there's an interesting journey for a character and the audience have to work hard to follow the path of a character, I like that.

Q: You're well known for your portrayals of Shakespearean leads on stage, but how has Shakespeare evolved for audiences now?
A: My sense is that it's going to be harder and harder for younger people to feel excited by the brilliant, athletic complexity of Shakespeare's language, which for so many centuries has excited people by its beauty and its accuracy and its inventiveness of English, which is so extraordinary.
But we learn in times where English is so reduced by the ... awful communications of Twitter and Facebook that people are dumbing themselves down. The delight of expressing yourself in language or listening to someone, that's being diluted.

Q: You're going to be in the next instalment of the James Bond franchise as the new head of MI6. Can you tell us any more about the new 'M' or the film?
A: I can't, I know nothing, I've not been told anything, I have no information, no dates, no sense of the journey of my character at all! I don't!

Pope Francis pays a Christmas visit to Pope Emeritus Benedict

Pope Francis made a Christmas visit to Pope Emeritus Benedict on Monday and said he found his 86-year-old predecessor looking well, according to television footage released by the Vatican.

Francis, who was elected in March, spent about 30 minutes with Benedict in an ex-convent on the Vatican grounds where the former pope has been living in near isolation.

"It's a pleasure to see you looking so well," Francis told Benedict, who in February became the first pope in 600 years to step down instead of ruling for life.

Television footage released by the Vatican - only the fourth time Benedict has been filmed since his resignation - showed him looking alert and in better health than on previous occasions.

He greeted Francis, 77, at the door of the residence, standing with an ivory-handled wooden cane. They walked to a chapel where they stood and prayed before speaking privately in another room.

When Francis left Benedict, he said, "Merry Christmas, pray for me." Benedict responded, "Always, always, always".

Benedict resigned on February 28, saying he no longer had the physical and spiritual strength to lead the 1.2 billion-member Roman Catholic Church.

Maduro meets with Fidel Castro

The Venezuelan president, Nicolas Maduro, visiting with Fidel Castro, right, in Havana, Cuba, on Saturday.

The Venezuelan president, Nicolas Maduro, says he met with former Cuban leader Fidel Castro in Havana and the two men talked at length about their late friend, Hugo Chavez.
Maduro said on Saturday on his personal Twitter account that he travelled to Cuba to meet Castro and celebrate the anniversary of the creation of the regional bloc ALBA, which was founded by Chavez nine years ago.
Venezuela’s president said Castro ‘talked at length about Chavez’ and recalled the first time they met in Havana in 1994. Chavez, Maduro’s mentor, died of cancer in March.
Maduro didn’t say when he arrived in Cuba or how long he would stay.
Maduro, who has close ties to the government of the president, Raul Castro, also visited Cuba in July.

Party-poopers Bayern triumph in Club World Cup

Bayern Munich swatted aside Raja Casablanca 2-0 in a one-sided Club World Cup final on Saturday that did little to boost the credibility of a tournament which struggled to an anti-climax.

Morocco came to a standstill, an army of Raja fans travelled 250km to the game and King Mohamed was among the 37,000 crowd only for party-pooping Bayern to wrap it up under half an hour.

Defender Dante and midfielder Thiago Alcantara scored the goals on a chilly evening as Bayern added to the Champions League, Bundesliga and German Cup titles they won last season and continued European dominance of the tournament.

European teams have won six of the last seven titles, with Brazilian side Corinthians interrupting the sequence last year, and Saturday's stroll may reinforce the view that it is little more than a pleasant excursion for them before the winter break.

Bayern scored five goals without conceding any in their two games as they added to the two Intercontinental Cup titles they won in 1976 and 2001. They emulated Manchester United, in 1999, and Inter Milan, in 2010, by winning a league, cup, Champions League and world club quadruple in the same year.

Raja, who changed coaches one week before the start of the tournament, had qualified as champions of host nation Morocco rather than of Africa and had already stunned the Concacaf representatives Monterrey and South America's Atletico Mineiro.

But a powerful Bayern team, unbeaten in the Bundesliga since October last year, proved a bridge too far for a side who are a modest ninth in their own league.

NERVOUS HOSTS

"They were a little bit nervous because of the crowd, and the presence of his majesty the King," Raja coach Faouzi Benzarti told reporters. "We were not very aggressive, we were a bit soft."

Benzarti said he was already preparing his players for the less glamorous world of the Moroccan Botola Pro league.

"It will be difficult but we have to return to reality," he said. "We will do everything we can for them to be prepared. This competition will be here again next year, so we have to win the title to qualify again."

His opposite number Pep Guardiola was critical of his Bayern team for not creating more chances after they had gone ahead.

"We started well and played a very good half hour but after that we forgot to attack," he said. "It's not easy to play against a team when you're 2-0 up and you don't know them very well.

"We have to play until the last minute, that's what our profession demands. We passed the ball well but without much intention of creating chances."

Guardiola, who won the same tournament as coach of Barcelona in 2009 and 2011, said the credit lay with predecessor Jupp Heynckes who led Bayern to the treble last season.

"This belongs much more to Jupp and his team than to us," he said.

FALSE NINE

Guardiola started without a recognised striker as winger Xherdan Shaqiri replaced Mario Mandzukic.

Raja, the second team from outside Europe or South America to reach the final, were only briefly in the contest. Mouhssine Iajour fired wide from a half chance in the fifth minute and from that moment the hosts were chasing the game.

Two minutes later, Jerome Boateng headed on a corner to Dante who was left all alone in the penalty area and scored emphatically with a shot on the turn.

Raja goalkeeper Khalid Askri was tested by Thomas Mueller and David Alaba before Thiago Alcantara scored from the edge of the area after Alaba pulled the ball back.

Bayern were in almost complete control with 73 percent of possession although goalkeeper Manuel Neuer offered Raja a chance with a poor clearance in the 38th minute and Chemseddine Chtibi's effort flew just wide of the goal.

The second half was a continuation of the pattern in the first period, with Bayern again enjoying nearly all the possession and Shaqiri hit the bar.

Raja occasionally looked dangerous. Iajour forced Neuer into his first genuine save with a close-range header in the 57th and he also had to block efforts by Vivien Madibe and Badr Kachani.

Obama warns South Sudan after US military aircraft attacked

President Barack Obama was briefed by his national security team on Saturday after four US military service members were wounded when their aircraft were fired upon during a mission to evacuate American citizens from chaotic South Sudan.

"Any effort to seize power through the use of military force will result in the end of longstanding support from the United States and the international community," the White House said in a statement following Obama's call with National Security Adviser Susan Rice and other top aides.

The president, who is vacationing in Hawaii, directed his team to ensure the safety of US military personnel, and to continue to work with the United Nations to evacuate American citizens from Bor, which is caught up in the spiraling conflict in South Sudan.

After the call, Obama "underscored that South Sudan's leaders have a responsibility to support our efforts to secure American personnel and citizens in Juba (South Sudan's capital) and Bor," the White House said.

The US aircraft - three Osprey CV-22s - came under fire while approaching the evacuation site, the US military's Africa Command said in a statement.

"The aircraft diverted to an airfield outside the country and aborted the mission," it added.

On Thursday, Obama said that South Sudan, which achieved independence in 2011 to become Africa's newest nation, "stands at the precipice."

Earlier in the week, Obama deployed 45 US service members to the land-locked country "to support the security of US personnel and our Embassy."