ADVISORY - Headlines from BNO News at 4:20 p.m. EST

[News_Editor]

ADVISORY - Headlines from BNO News at 4:20 p.m. EST

2011-12-24 04:23:21 GMT+7 (ICT)

The following are stories BNO News is following as of 4:20 p.m. EST on Friday, December 23rd, 2011.

UNITED STATES

-- U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday signed a two-month extension of a package which includes a payroll tax cut and an extension of unemployment benefits into law, according to the White House. U.S. House speaker John Boehner on Thursday agreed to a compromise to get the bill passed.

-- The U.S. government on Thursday offered a reward of up to $10 million for information leading to the capture of Yasin al-Suri, who is accused of operating from Iran as a facilitator and financier for al-Qaeda.

-- Initial claims for unemployment insurance in the United States dropped to 364,000 in the week ending December 17, a decrease of about 4,000 when compared to the previous week, the U.S. Labor Department (DOL) reported on Thursday. This is the lowest level it has been since April 2008.

INTERNATIONAL

-- A Chinese court on Friday sentenced veteran rights activist Chen Wei to nine years in prison, one of the harshest sentences involving a dissident this year. The court in Suining in southwestern Sichuan province found the 42-year-old guilty of 'inciting subversion of state power.' Chen published essays online that mentioned the 1989 Tiananmen protests, calling for freedom of speech and reform.

-- Buckingham Palace says that Prince Phillip, husband of Queen Elizabeth II, was taken to Papworth Hospital in Cambridge for 'precautionary tests' after experiencing chest pains on Friday.

-- A Russian satellite designed to provide communication between vessels, airplanes and coastal stations on the ground, crashed minutes after liftoff Friday, according to local media.

-- Two explosions in the Syrian capital have killed more than 40 people, with more than 150 inured, the government says. A General Security Directorate base and another security agency were targeted on Friday. The United States and Russia have both condemned the violence.

-- The death toll after a ship carrying Australia-bound immigrants sank off the coast of Indonesia on Saturday evening has risen to at least 95, officials said on Friday. Around 100 people remain missing.

-- At least 11 people were killed and 80 others wounded on Friday when a pipeline exploded in western Colombia, Caracol Radio reported on its website. A fire broke out after the blast, damaging more than 100 homes.

-- The United Nations (UN) World Food Program (WFP) on Friday confirmed two of its staff members and a colleague from a partner organization were shot dead in Somalia's central Hiran region. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the killing and expressed condolences to the families of the three humanitarian workers.

-- At least 50 people sustained minor injuries early Friday afternoon when two strong earthquakes, measuring 5.8 and 6.0 on the Richter scale, struck off the New Zealand city of Christchurch. Several buildings collapsed, and power outages were reported in the region.

-- At least 72 people were killed and more than 200 were injured when a series of explosions hit the Iraqi capital of Baghdad throughout Thursday, according to security officials. The bomb blasts occurred as political turmoil shakes through the Iraqi government and comes days after the last U.S. troops left the country.

-- The Turkish government on Thursday suspended all ties with France after the lower chamber of its parliament approved a draft bill which proposes a prison sentence and/or a large fine for those who deny genocides recognized by France. This includes the 'genocide' of Armenians by the Ottoman government during World War I, which Turkey has refused to use the word 'genocide' for.

BUSINESS

-- A U.S. federal judge on Thursday ruled that Texan financier Allen Stanford is mentally fit to stand trial for allegedly operating a $7 billion Ponzi scheme. His lawyers had argued he suffers from memory loss following a prison attack in September 2009.

SPORTS

-- Mike Millbury, a former National Hockey League (NHL) player, had his assault and battery on a child charge against him dropped on Friday, according to local media close to the courthouse. The U.S. athlete was previously accused of assaulting a 12-year-old youth hockey player on December 9th.

-- World road race champion and Tour de France green jersey winner Mark Cavendish has been voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year. He is the third cyclist to win, and the first since 2008. Northern Irish horse racing jockey Tony McCoy (also known as AP McCoy) won in 2010.

HEALTH

-- The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) on Thursday urged for global action to prevent the severe malnourishment of as many as one million children in West and Central Africa's Sahel region. The biggest challenge is to distribute specially developed ready-to-use therapeutic foods to the region. UNICEF appealed for $65.7 million to respond to the crisis earlier this month.

-- The Indian government on Thursday put a draft law before parliament which seeks to provide subsidized food to more than half of the country's 1.2 billion population. Up to 75 percent of the people in rural India would be covered under the bill, which provides 'priority households' with 7 kilograms (15.5 pounds) of rice, wheat and coarse grains for just 6 rupees ($0.11 dollar).

-- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that it has approved Isentress (raltegravir) for use with other antiretroviral drugs for the treatment of HIV-1 infection in children and adolescents.

ENTERTAINMENT

-- Rapper Tyler the Creator was arrested in West Hollywood, California, on Thursday evening, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. The entertainer, whose real name is Tyler Okonma, is being charged with felony vandalism after allegedly damaging sound equipment at a venue he had just performed at. He was released on a $20,000 bond.

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