Kangaroos 'Fainting' In Australia Heatwave

Bats are said to be dropping from trees and kangaroos collapsing with exhaustion as Australia basks in a record-setting heatwave.

Weather forecasters Down Under say some parts of the sparsely populated Pilbara region along the rugged northwest coast approached 50C (122F) on Thursday.

The overall record high of 50.7C (123.3F) for the country was set in 1960 in Oodnadatta, South Australia state.

It is expected to be broken in the next few days if current conditions continue.

In the last few weeks, records many years old have been broken in northern parts of the massive country.

Since December 27, records have been set at 34 locations across Australia - some by large margins.

In the mining town of Narrabi in New South Wales, the new record of 47.8C (118F) exceeded the previous record by 3.6C (6.5F).

The extreme temperatures come on the heels of Australia's hottest year on record in 2013, beating the previous record year of 2005, with mean temperatures 1.2C (2.2F) above the 1961-90 average.

Western Australia resident Gian Tate, 60, from Emu Creek, in the Pilbara region, said she was spending all day under a fan to cope with the intense heat

"We've just got to live with it; there's nothing you can do," she said.

An Australian Bureau of Meteorology image of temperatures on January 2

Karly Braganza, manager of climate monitoring at the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, said the late arrival of the monsoon in northern Australia, which has a cooling effect, is contributing to the searing heat.

He said global warming was also playing a role.

In Winton, famous for being one of the hottest spots in Queensland, a "large number" of parrots, kangaroos and emus have recently been found dead.

Tom Upton, chief executive of Winton Shire Council, said: "That's as much to do with the extended dry as it is with the heatwave."

Conservationists say at least 50,000 bats have been killed by the heat in the state's southeast.

Hunters say exhausted kangaroos are staying constantly around waterholes.

Brazil is also sizzling, with the heat reaching 49C (120F). Zookeepers in Rio de Janeiro have been giving animals ice pops to beat the heat.

The southern hemisphere's high temperatures have come as parts of North America have been locked in a deep freeze caused by a "polar vortex'.

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Israel's Ex-PM Ariel Sharon 'Close To Death'

The hospital treating Ariel Sharon has said the former Israeli leader's condition has deteriorated and he is "close to death".

Mr Sharon, who has been comatose since suffering a stroke eight years ago, suffered a downturn in his health last week with a decline in key bodily organs.

The Sheba Medical Center said his condition has worsened and his family is by his bedside.

Sharon, one of Israel's most controversial and iconic figures, suffered the stroke at the height of his political power as he appeared to be cruising toward re-election.

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Afghan Inmates Deemed A Threat By US To Be Freed

Afghanistan is to free all but 16 of 88 prisoners regarded as a security threat by the United States.

The US is strongly opposed to their release because it says the prisoners are responsible for more than 60 Nato coalition and 57 Afghan deaths.

America also fears they could return to the battlefield as Nato withdraws.

A meeting chaired by Afghan President Hamid Karzai "ordered the Bagram prisoners' dossier review board to free those prisoners who are innocent and against whom there is no evidence", a statement said.

The statement said that of the 88 prisoners at the centre of the dispute, there was no evidence against 45 of them and only circumstantial information against 27. The remaining 16 would be kept in jail.

Bagram jail was handed over to the Afghans in 2012

US General Joseph Dunford, commander of Nato forces in Afghanistan, had lodged an official objection to the plan, saying it was against the agreement signed when Bagram jail was handed over in March.

Last week a group of US senators met Afghanistan's President Karzai in Kabul to warn him that releasing the detainees from Bagram - also known as the Parwan Detention Facility - would be a "major step backwards".

Bagram jail was passed to Afghan control by the US after a public stand-off with Karzai, who has depicted the jail as a symbol of Afghanistan's efforts to regain its national sovereignty.

The move could further damage relations between the two countries, which have been strained over President Karzai's refusal to sign a security deal to shape the US military presence after most foreign troops leave this year.

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Japan Chemical Plant Blast Kills Five

At least five people have been killed in an explosion at a chemical factory in central Japan, according to reports.

Twelve others were injured in the blast at the Mitsubishi Materials complex in Yokkaichi City, police said.

Ranko Hirai, a spokeswoman at Mitsubishi Materials, said: "We confirmed that there was an explosion at our plant in Yokkaichi, where we produce silicon materials." 

Maintenance crews were said to have triggered the suspected hydrogen blast shortly before 2pm local time while working on heat exchange equipment used in the production of silicon products. 

Television footage showed stretchers laid out for victims and a pipe and machinery parts on the ground.

Yokkaichi City lies roughly 220 miles (350 km) west of Tokyo

A worker at a nearby plant said: "I heard a boom and saw white smoke rising from the plant ... I don't remember there ever being such a serious accident in Yokkaichi before."

Authorities said the situation at the plant is now under control, although a detailed investigation into the cause of the accident could not begin while a danger of secondary explosions remained.

Meanwhile a Tokyo-based spokesman for the plant has confirmed reports that the factory was closed for several months in 2010 after inspectors found it had been generating high-pressure gas without the necessary authorisation.

Mitsubishi Materials makes a wide range of products including car parts, silicon wafers for memory chips used in consumer electronics and cement for road and bridge construction.

Thursday's explosion was the most deadly industrial accident in Japan since February 2012 when an undersea tunnel collapsed at an oil refinery, trapping five people.

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Syria Chemical Weapons Destruction In Germany

Germany has said it will help destroy Syria's chemical weapons stockpile on home soil to assist international efforts to end the almost three-year conflict.

The country's foreign and defence ministries said they had accepted a request from the United Nations to help destroy some of the waste material from Syrian chemical weapons at a facility in the northern city of Munster.

"The government decided following a request by the UN-Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons that Germany is prepared to make a substantial contribution to the elimination of Syrian chemical weapons," the ministries said in a joint statement.

Speaking in Berlin German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said: "Nobody who possesses the technological capabilities required can really refuse.

"The destruction of chemical weapons could be the first decisive step towards enabling a de-escalation of the Syrian conflict."

Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen added: "Germany has safe technology and a lot of experience with destroying remnants of chemical arms. It is sensible for us to use this capability for the sake of the international community and with it, make a worthy contribution to the peace process." 

Under the terms of the agreement, the weapons will first be destroyed onboard a ship at sea. The remnants left by the process will then be transported to the Munster facility. 

Syria's conflict has been ongoing for nearly three years

The first shipment of toxic chemicals was loaded onto a Danish cargo vessel in the Syrian port of Latakia on Tuesday.

Last month Sky News reported that the UK had also volunteered to destroy 150 tonnes of two industrial-grade chemicals. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office stressed that "chemicals, not chemical weapons" would be incinerated in the UK.

The Syrian government agreed to hand over its chemical arsenal last September as part of a deal brokered by the United States and Russia to rid Syria of its chemical arsenal by June 30.

Syria submitted to the deal following US threats of military invention in the wake of a sarin gas attack outside Damascus, which US authorities said left more than 1,400 people dead.

According to UN estimates more than 100,000 have been killed since the uprising against President Bashar al Assad began in March 2011. More than two million people have fled the country, many to neighbouring Jordan and Lebanon.

On Thursday, at least 16 people were killed and dozens wounded when a car bomb was detonated near a school in Syria's central Hama province, state media reported. The Britain-based opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, put the death toll at 18.

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Man-Eating Tiger Hunted In India After Deaths

A search is on for a tiger who is believed to have killed four villagers in northern India over the past 12 days.

The beast attacked and killed a 40-year-old woman on Wednesday in a village in the state of Uttar Pradesh, its fourth victim since it is thought to have strayed from a tiger reserve, an official said.

State forest officials and police - with the help of two elephants - have been searching for the tiger in Moradabad district in the hope of driving it back to the Jim Corbett National Park, an area that is popular with tourists.

"We have identified four bodies that were killed by the tiger as they bore teeth and claw marks," a senior official from the district said.

"We have launched a thorough search and hope it will go back to its natural habitat."

The state government has also started "a process to declare the animal a man-eater as soon as possible" which means the protected tiger can be killed, the official said.

Frightened villagers have been protesting against the authorities' failure to capture the animal since the first death was reported at the end of last month.

Officials suspect the tiger has come from the Jim Corbett National Park - home to some 200 tigers - although the boundary is about 110km (68 miles) from Moradabad district.

India has around 1,700 tigers - half of the world's rapidly shrinking wild tiger population - but has been struggling to halt the big cat's decline in the face of poachers, international smuggling networks and loss of habitat.

The country's tiger population has plunged from the estimated 40,000 it had when it gained independence in 1947.

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Sex Trafficking Case: Alleged Gangsters Charged

Alleged gang members who are accused of branding prostitutes with barcodes and tattoos, and trading them "as if they were property", have been charged following an investigation into sex trafficking.

The group of 24 men and women are said to be part of a criminal enterprise that spanned 46 cities in 23 states.

They allegedly used Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram to lure girls and women, posting rap videos and making promises of glamorous lifestyles.

Victims are said to have been branded with tattoos and barcodes and sold or gifted among gang members.

US attorney Laura Duffy said: "The kind of sex trafficking described in this indictment is nothing less than modern-day slavery.

"Unfortunately, more gangs are expanding from traditional pursuits like drug dealing into this lucrative business.

"These gangsters are preying upon our youth and we are using every law enforcement resource to keep our children and our communities safe from these predators."

The defendants, who are accused of being part of the BMS group based in San Diego's North Park district, have been charged with racketeering including sex trafficking, murder, kidnapping, robbery and drug-related crimes.

Of the 24 indicted, 14 could be jailed for life if convicted because the charges against them include sex trafficking of a minor, sex trafficking by force or transportation of minors for prostitution.

The US Justice Department said 49 women and 11 girls were offered help to start a new life.

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Brazil: Girl Dies After Bus Fire Attack

By Karine Mayer, Senior News Editor in Rio de Janeiro

Inmates of Brazil's most notorious jail are being blamed by police after a six-year-old girl was killed by a gang who torched a packed bus.

Ana Clara Santos Souza died three days after suffering 95% burns when armed men set fire to the vehicle while passengers were still on board.

Hundreds of people attended her funeral, demanding an end to a wave of gang-led terror that has swept the region since December.

Authorities in the northeastern city of Sao Luis believe the attack was ordered by gang leaders in revenge for a crackdown on violence in Pedrinhas prison.

CCTV footage shows a man board the bus and pull a handgun from his trousers.

As he orders people out of the vehicle, other armed gang members appear in the road and train their weapons on the terrified passengers.

The bus suddenly bursts into flames with people still on board, although at least one passenger manages to jump off.

But Ana appears to fall in the footwell of the bus before scrambling off engulfed in flames, which she desperately tries to put out.

Riot police have been deployed to control violence in the Pedrinhas jail

Her family said the gang had ignored her mother's pleas for mercy.

A relative told Brazil's O Globo newspaper: "Her mother asked the criminals not to harm the children, but they showed no mercy and set fire to the girl."

Her father, Wenderson de Sousa, said:  "I've just buried my daughter. It's terrible pain. There is no logic to this - such cruelty." His wife and one year-old daughter are still in hospital.

Four other people - including Ana's mother and older sister - were injured as four buses were set alight and a police station targeted in a drive-by shooting in the city on January 3.

The Maranhao state government says the attacks were ordered by criminals at the notorious Pedrinhas jail, where at least 62 inmates died last year.

Officials said in a statement: "The attacks are in reaction to recent measures to curb jail violence."

Brazil, which has the world's fourth-largest prison population, has been shocked by footage of the beheading of three Pedrinhas prisoners - apparently filmed on a mobile phone by other inmates.

The gruesome film is narrated by the killers, who gleefully display their victim's heads like trophies as they stand over pools of blood.

In October Maranhao asked for government help after several outbreaks of violence between rival gangs and military police were deployed after the beheadings in December.

Eight suspects have been arrested over the violence in Sao Luis and extra troops have been deployed across the city, state security secretary Aluisio Mendes said.

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Paedophile Dutroux's Ex-Wife Seeks Italy Refuge

The former wife of notorious serial child killer and paedophile Marc Dutroux is seeking refuge in Italy after nuns in Belgium told her they no longer wanted her to live with them, according to reports.

Michelle Martin was freed on parole in 2012 after 16 years in prison, on condition that she move into a Belgian convent near the central city of Namur.

However, the nuns are now moving to Brussels and do not want her to come with them.

Martin, whose move into the convent caused widespread anger, has now asked the authorities for permission to go elsewhere, possibility to a religious community in Italy.

The Dutroux's house, where three of the bodies of the victims were found

On January 2, she was told she would be allowed to go there for a week, in the hope she would get permission to stay at the Cristo e La Riposta community, in the small village of Bagno a Ripoli near Florence, Sudpresse reported.

"We do not know when she will come," Sudpresse cited the centre's Canadian pasteur Paul Schafer as saying.

"At this point, we have not discussed a permanent residency with us. First of all, there will be a stay of five to seven days so that she can reflect and rest," Mr Schafer said.

Marc Dutroux was denied parole last year

"A Belgian evangelical group told me (of her case) and I responded favourably.

"We know that she is in the eye of the media in Belgium and we are ready to offer her a spiritual retreat in our group, nothing more," he added.

Dutroux was jailed for life in 2004 for the kidnap and rape of six girls, and the murder of four of his victims, in one of the most infamous episodes in Belgium's criminal history.

Protests last September at the prospect of Martin's release

Former schoolteacher Martin, who was arrested in 1996, was sentenced at the same time as her then ex-husband, for helping him hold the girls captive and for complicity in the deaths of two who were found starved to death in a locked cellar.

Martin married Dutroux in 1983 and had three children with him before they divorced in 2003.

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NJ Governor Sacks Aide Over Traffic Scandal

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has sacked one of his top aides linked to lane closures at one of the world's busiest bridges.

Deputy Chief of Staff Bridget Anne Kelly is accused of engineering political payback against a New Jersey town mayor, who did not endorse Mr Christie's re-election.

Chris Christie denies involvement in the alleged revenge scheme

Mr Christie at a news conference on Thursday that he is "embarrassed and humiliated" by the accusations his office orchestrated last year's lane restrictions at the George Washington Bridge.

He said he made the decision to fire Ms Kelly "because she lied to me".

Mr Christie apologised to the people of New Jersey for what he said was his "failure as the governor of this state to understand the nature of this problem sooner than I did".

Ms Kelly is the latest casualty in a widening scandal that threatens to upend Mr Christie's second term and likely run for president in 2016.

Documents show she arranged traffic jams to punish the mayor of Fort Lee.

On Thursday, the governor continued to deny knowing about the lane closings and previously said no one on his staff was involved.

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