Pope Asks Central American Nations To Help Resolve Cuban 'Humanitarian Drama'

Pope Francis kisses the statue of baby Jesus as he arrives in St Peter's Basilica at the Vatican to celebrate the holy Mass for the families today. (AFP Photo)

VATICAN CITY:  Pope Francis today asked Central American nations to help end the "humanitarian drama" affecting thousands of US-bound Cubans stranded in the region.

"My thoughts at this moment go out to the numerous Cuban migrants who find themselves in difficulty in Central America and some of whom are victims of human trafficking," he said during Angelus prayers.

"I invite all the countries in the region to generously redouble all efforts needed to quickly find a solution to this humanitarian drama," he said.

Thousands of Cubans have been stuck in Panama, Costa Rica and Nicaragua when Costa Rica last month dismantled a people-smuggling ring and Nicaragua, a Cuban ally, closed its border to them.

The Nicaraguan move has forced Costa Rica to make increasingly desperate pleas to other Central American nations to take the Cubans in to allow them to continue their journey to the US.

The United States has a decades-old policy of accepting Cubans if they set foot on its soil.

The number of Cubans trying to flee their island for a new life in the United States jumped this year. Many fear that a thaw in US-Cuban relations announced a year ago will end the American policy of automatically accepting them as refugees.

ISIS Claims Reasonability For Suicide Attack At Bangladesh Mosque

The suicide attack at a mosque during Friday prayers in northwestern Bangladesh wounded 10 people. (Associated Press photo)

DHAKA:  Terrorist group ISIS has claimed responsibility for a suicide attack at a packed mosque of minority Ahmadi community during Friday prayers in northwestern Bangladesh, in which 10 people were wounded.

US-based monitoring group SITE reported that ISIS, which has claimed responsibility for many recent attacks in Bangladesh, said it targeted worshippers at the mosque in Bagmara town, some 250 kilometres from Dhaka, according to bdnews24 online.

The monitoring group quoted ISIS as saying that the bomber detonated an explosive belt at a mosque of the "polytheist Qadiani sect," a derogatory term for Ahmadi Muslims, the report said.

SITE had reported ISIS claiming credit for several previous militant attacks.

The Christmas-day attack came as Muslim-majority Bangladesh celebrated the birth anniversaries of Prophets Mohammad and Jesus Christ amid festivity and tight security.

"The explosion killed the suicide bomber and injured 10 others," a police officer has said.

The attacker had exploded the bomb he had concealed under his garments.

In recent months, homegrown militant group Jamayetul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) and ISIS have claimed responsibility for bomb attacks on a shrine and a mosque of minority Shia Muslims in northern Bangladesh.

Members of other minority groups, including Sufis - who adhere to a mystical form of Islam - have also been attacked and killed in recent months, and two Christian priests have survived attacks claimed by Islamist militants.

Bagmara area is the hometown and stronghold of outlawed JMB kingpin Siddiqul Islam Bangla Bhai, who was executed along with three other top leaders of the Islamist group in 2007.

Bangladesh has seen several violent incidents in recent months, including attacks on foreigners and secular bloggers claimed by the IS, although the government says the attacks have been carried out by local Islamist radical groups.

Last week, six people were injured when two Molotov cocktails exploded at a mosque inside a major naval base in Bangladesh's port city of Chittagong after Friday prayers.

The attacks have alarmed the international community and raised concerns that religious extremism is growing in the traditionally moderate South Asian nation.

Severe Flood Warnings In Parts Of United Kingdom As Army Helps

LONDON:  Parts of northwest England already hit hard by flooding in recent weeks were under severe flood warnings Saturday because of forecasts for more heavy rain, with some areas being evacuated.

The Environmental Agency "red alert" warnings issued Saturday mean there is a danger of loss of life due to flooding in those areas. Some 15 "severe" alerts had been issued by Saturday afternoon, with more expected.

Hundreds of people were evacuated from their homes in the Lancashire area 220 miles (355 kilometre) northwest of London after water breached flood barriers following torrential rains.

Water poured into the streets in some areas. People in some towns were told to abandon their homes for higher ground while others were told to move their valuables and listen to advice from emergency services about possible evacuation.

An Army company has helped build temporary flood defences in Cumbria in the northwest of England as residents struggle following waves of winter storms accompanies by heavy rains.

Floods Minister Rory Stewart said rainfall in the flooded areas is unprecedented.

Parts of northwest England already hit hard by flooding in recent weeks were under severe flood warnings today. (AP Photo)

He said in some areas, a month's worth of rain could fall in one day on ground already saturated from earlier rains.

There were more than 335 additional flood alerts for other parts of England, Scotland and Wales.

The government's emergency ministerial group, known as Cobra, met on Christmas Day to make contingency plans for more rainfall.

Christmas Wildfire Destroys More Than 100 Homes In Australia

SYDNEY:  More than 100 houses were destroyed by a Christmas Day wildfire that tore through a stretch of coastline popular with tourists in southern Australia, forcing thousands to flee their homes, officials said today.

Cooler weather and light rain today eased the immediate threat from the blaze along Victoria state's scenic Great Ocean Road, but officials warned that it could continue burning for weeks.

No one was killed or injured in the fire, said Victoria Emergency Management Commissioner Craig Lapsley.

"You've got to stand proud to say that people are with us - that is, they've walked away from the fire that had every potential to be a killer," Lapsley said.

Hundreds of firefighters spent Christmas battling the blaze, which was triggered by a lightning strike. The fire destroyed 116 houses in the small towns of Wye River and Separation Creek, Lapsley said. Many of the properties destroyed were holiday homes.

The fire has temporarily closed a section of the Great Ocean Road, which winds along Victoria's coastline and past the region's famed "Apostles" - a collection of giant limestone stacks that jut dramatically out of the sea.

Destructive wildfires are common across much of Australia during the southern hemisphere summer. In 2009, wildfires killed 173 people and destroyed more than 2,000 homes in Victoria.

Barack Obama Feels 'Small' Compared With Members Of US Marines

US President Barack Obama is on a 16-day vacation from Washington. He is scheduled to return to the White House just after the start of the new year. (AP Photo)

KANEOHE BAY, HAWAII:  President Barack Obama is one of the most powerful men in the world. He's commander in chief of one of its mightiest militaries, too.

Yet in spite of all that, Obama feels inadequate from time to time. Especially when he's vacationing in Hawaii and working out alongside strapping Marines at their gym.

"The only problem I've got when I'm here is having to work out with Marines in the gym," Obama said during his annual Christmas Day visit with US troops at Marine Corps Base Hawaii in Kaneohe Bay. "Because I generally feel like your commander in chief is in pretty good shape, and then I get next to some guy, you know, curling 100 pounds and it makes me feel small."

Obama works out at the base gym just about every day when he vacations here. With New Year's Day approaching, though, he told the troops he's inspired "to work harder so I can keep up with you next year."

Perhaps using the "workout stuff" his wife, Michelle, had said she was getting him for Christmas.

The 6-foot-1 Obama is known to enjoy a daily workout whether he's at home in the White House, traveling or on vacation. He also plays golf practically every weekend in Washington when the weather cooperates, and he swings his clubs just about daily during extended vacations on Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, or here in his native Hawaii.

The Christmas visit with the troops has become a yearly tradition for the Obamas during their annual vacation on Oahu.

Obama said it's one of their favorite things to do because they get a chance to "say thank you on behalf of the American people."

This year's visit came four days after six US service members were killed in a suicide attack in Afghanistan. In his first public comments on the attack, Obama praised the six individuals as "outstanding, brave men and women."

The six service members, including a New York City police detective who served in the US National Guard, were killed Monday at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan, the largest US facility in the country, when a suicide attacker rammed an explosives-laden motorcycle into a joint NATO-Afghan patrol. The Taliban claimed responsibility.

Obama is on a 16-day vacation from Washington. He is scheduled to return to the White House just after the start of the new year.

China Says Carrier Operations Improving As Navy Chief Visits

BEIJING:  China is getting better and better at operating fighter jets from its lone aircraft carrier, with confident pilots and an increasing number of flying operations, the military's newspaper said today as China's navy chief visited the ship.

The Liaoning, a Soviet-era ship bought from Ukraine in 1998 and refitted in China, has long been a symbol of China's naval build-up.

China wants to develop an ocean-going "blue water" navy capable of defending the world's second largest economy's growing interests as it adopts a more assertive stance in territorial disputes with neighbours in the South China and East China seas.

The official People's Liberation Army Daily said in a front-page editorial that the carrier had achieved "obvious progress" in raising its combat effectiveness since the start of the year.

The number of aircraft based on the carrier and the number of daily flights had both increased, while "many" pilots had qualified to operate the Shenyang J-15 fighter jet on the carrier, the report said.

The navy had therefore made a "key breakthrough" in shifting from the testing phase to being able to operate ship-borne aircraft, the newspaper said.

Chinese navy chief Wu Shengli visited the ship this week, meeting pilots, sitting in an aircraft cockpit and answering questions about how China could speed up the operational capability of the ship, the report said.

It said the drills Wu oversaw happened somewhere in the Bohai Sea, off northeastern China.

The Liaoning has already taken part in operations in the South China Sea, where China has competing claims with Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Brunei.

Successfully operating the 60,000-tonne Liaoning is the first step in what state media and some military experts believe will be the deployment of domestically built carriers by 2020.

Taiwan's Defence Ministry said in September China was building two aircraft carriers that would be the same size as the Liaoning.

Little is known about China's aircraft carrier programme, which is a state secret, although Chinese state media have hinted new vessels are being built.

The Pentagon said in a report earlier this year Beijing could build multiple aircraft carriers over the next 15 years.

'Hello, Is This Planet Earth?' Astronaut Dials Wrong Number On Christmas Call From Space

Astronaut Tim Peake dialed a wrong number from space. (AFP File Photo)

LONDON:  Tim Peake, the first British astronaut on the International Space Station, dialled a wrong number after trying to phone home for Christmas, asking a woman "Is this planet Earth?"

"I'd like to apologise to the lady I just called by mistake saying 'Hello, is this planet Earth?' - not a prank call...just a wrong number!" he tweeted late on Thursday.
 Peake, 43, became the first British astronaut to travel to the space station after blasting off from the Moscow-operated Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan earlier this month for a six-month mission