Earthquake of 7.2 magnitude hits off Chile coast
A 7.2-magnitude earthquake has hit off the central coast of Chile, the US Geological Survey says.
The epicentre was 95km (60 miles) northwest of Temuco with a depth of 17km, the USGS said.
It added that there was no current widespread tsunami threat, although there are reports of people fleeing the area.
An 8.8-magnitude earthquake in the same area last February caused widespread destruction and left dozens dead.
There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage from the quake, which hit at 1720 (2020 GMT).
It was centred about 600 kilometres (370 miles) southwest of the capital, Santiago.
Russia grounds all Tu-154Bs after fatal fire
Russia's airlines must ground their Tu-154B planes, after a fire in Siberia which killed three people, the country's transport watchdog says.
At least 43 were injured when the plane, carrying 124 people, burst into flames before take-off from Surgut.
Russia's transport safety regulator said the ban would remain in place until the cause of the disaster had been established.
The "black box" voice and data recorders have been recovered.
The plane exploded in a fireball on Saturday.
The Tu-154B is one version of the Tu-154 dates from the Soviet era, and is used extensively on domestic air routes in Russia and the former Soviet Union.
There are 14 Tu-154Bs still in service in Russia, according to the RIA Novosti news agency.
The Kolavia plane was taxiing for a flight to Moscow, when a fire started in one of its engines, an emergency services spokesman said.
The fire then caused a powerful blast which destroyed the plane and caused flames across an area of 100 square metres, he said.
Most of the passengers were evacuated before the explosion.
"There was a thick, black smoke and people started to panic. They were literally stepping on each other's heads," said Sergei Grigoriyev, a singer with the band Na-Na who were on board.
"I saw my life flash before me," he said, according to Itar-Tass news agency.
Fellow band member Vladimir Politov said the group had escaped out an emergency exit over the wing and were all unharmed.
The Tu-154 entered service in the 1970s but a series of crashes triggered concerns over its safety record.
Russia's national carrier airline Aeroflot took all its remaining 23 Tu-154 aircraft out of service in January 2010.
Polish President Lech Kaczynski was killed last year when a Polish Airforce Tu-154 crashed in western Russia.
Queensland city flooding 'faster than expected'
Floodwaters in the Australian city of Rockhampton are rising faster than expected, Queensland authorities say.
The city has already been badly hit, with many people being forced to flee.
More than 20 towns have already been cut off or flooded across an area larger than France and Germany, with more than 200,000 people affected.
Earlier, a woman swept from the road in her car has become the first victim of the widespread flooding, and at least two others are reported missing.
While waters are receding in some areas, in Rockhampton - a city of 77,000 - they have yet to reach their peak.
Floodwaters are expected to reach nine metres (30 feet) on Monday and peak at 9.4 metres on Wednesday, threatening as many as 4,000 homes.
Rockhampton's airport, a major regional hub, was closed to commercial traffic due to flooded runways, while many main roads and railways into the town had been cut off, and power supplies were disrupted.
The city could be isolated for up to 10 days, reports say.
"These waters are exceptionally fast, they're not to be trifled with and they're not to be taken lightly," said Alistair Dawson, Queensland's assistant police commissioner.
Meanwhile, the weather bureau has warned Queensland residents of another severe storm, which is forecast to bring "damaging winds, very heavy rainfall, flash flooding and large hailstones".
One Rockhampton resident told the BBC there had been panic-buying in the city.
"Lots of people have been stocking up on fuel. I also heard about one woman who brought 20 loaves of bread from a supermarket," said the resident, Petros Khalesirad.
Rockhampton Mayor Brad Carter has said about 40% of the city could be affected, and warned the floods had swept snakes downstream.
"Snakes have been swimming at people's feet as they make their way through the waters," he said. "I know one guy who killed four snakes this morning, one of which was a Taipan - the more it bites, the more it injects venom that could easily kill."
Iran 'shoots down Western spy drones' in Gulf
Iran's Revolutionary Guards have shot down two "Western spy drones" in the Gulf, a senior Iranian commander has been quoted as saying.
"Many" other drones have been shot down over an unspecified period of time, the Fars news agency quoted him as saying.
The head of the Revolutionary Guards' air force wing, Amir Ali Hajizadeh, produced no evidence to support the report.
He said this was the first time news of the incidents had been reported.
The drones were mainly being used in Iraq and Afghanistan but "some violations against our soil" had also occurred, the commander said.
The Revolutionary Guards were set up following the Islamic revolution in 1979, and its commanders have frequently delivered warnings to Israel.
Last August Iran unveiled what it said was its first domestically built drone, the Karrar.
It said it had a range of 1,000km (620 miles) and could carry two 250-pound (115kg) bombs, or a precision bomb of 500 pounds.
There is no independent corroboration of the latest Iranian claims.
The Fifth Fleet of the US navy is based in Bahrain, on the other side of the Gulf from Iran, which has threatened to block shipping through the strategic Strait of Hormuz, if it is attacked.
UN to investigate Ivory Coast violation reports
UN peacekeepers have been instructed to do all they can to investigate sites of alleged human rights violations, following November's disputed election.
The UN says it had tried to go to the site of one reported mass grave, but was blocked by security forces loyal to incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo.
Human rights groups claim allies of Mr Gbagbo have been abducting opponents.
Meanwhile, regional group Ecowas and the African Union are due to meet to Mr Gbagbo for more talks on Monday.
So far Mr Gbagbo has refused demands from the world community to stand down in favour of his rival in the 28 November presidential polls, Alassane Ouattara, who is internationally recognised as the victor.
Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga, who is leading AU negotiations, is in the Nigerian capital Abuja, where he had dinner with President Goodluck Jonathan.
Mr Odinga said he would travel to Abidjan on Monday for talks with Mr Gbagbo and Mr Ouattara, before returning to Abuja later in the day to brief President Jonathan.
UN spokeman Martin Nesirky said UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon told Mr Ouattara in a phonecall on Saturday that he was "alarmed by the reports of egregious human rights violations".
"He (Mr Ban) said UNOCI had been instructed to do everything possible to gain access to the affected areas both for prevention and to investigate and record the violations so that those responsible will be held accountable," Mr Nesirky said in a statement.
The UN says some 200 people have been killed or have disappeared in the past month - mostly supporters of Mr Ouattara.
It says it has received reports of at least two mass graves and has been repeatedly blocked from investigating one of them, on the outskirts of Abidjan. When investigators tried to go, truckloads of men with guns showed up and forced them to leave.
The other reported site lies in the centre of the country, near Gagnoa.
The Gbagbo government has repeatedly denied the existence of any mass graves.
UN human rights chief Navi Pillay has written to Mr Gbagbo to tell him he could be held criminally accountable for abuses.
Mr Ouattara has asked for the International Criminal Court in the Hague to send a mission to the country to investigate the reports, and reiterated the call on Saturday.
The UN has also expressed concern that some of the homes of opponents to Mr Gbagbo have been marked to identify the ethnicity of their occupants, indicating signs the country could be heading for ethnic violence.
Some of Ivory Coast's neighbours have threatened to oust Mr Gbagbo by force. The UK has said it would back military intervention, if sanctioned by the UN.
In an address for the new year, Mr Gbagbo said the pressure for him to quit amounted to "an attempted coup d'etat carried out under the banner of the international community".
He reiterated a call for the UN peacekeeping mission (UNOCI) to leave the country.
UN peacekeepers are protecting Mr Ouattara, who is holed up in a hotel in the main city, Abidjan.
The election was intended to reunify the country which has been divided since a 2002 conflict.
Mr Ouattara was initially proclaimed the winner by Ivory Coast's election commission, but the Constitutional Council said Mr Gbagbo had won. Both men have been sworn in as president.
Chris Brown’s New Year’s Resolution: ‘Shut the Hell Up’
Chris Brown has learned a lesson from his recent Twitter spat with Raz-B .
The singers became embroiled in a war of words after they exchanged insults on the microblogging site.
Brown later issued an apology to Raz-B to end the feud – and he’s now vowed to tone down his antics in 2011.
He writes on Twitter, “Since new years is coming up my resolution is to shut the hell up.”
Copper enters 2011 at record high
The price of copper has hit a new all-time high, rounding off a year in which industrial metals rebounded strongly.
It peaked at $9,631.75 per metric tonne on the London Metal Exchange, its highest ever level, before falling back slightly.
The metal has risen 30% in value this year, with half of that rise coming in the last month.
The rally has been driven by the global economic recovery and most countries holding low stockpiles.
In demand
Demand for copper and other industrial metals is outstripping supply, as industrial output by the emerging markets economies surges ahead of their pre-recession levels.
Manufacturing in Europe - and even in the US according to recent data - has also picked up, the latest data suggests.
In most parts of the world, future copper prices suggest there will be further near-term rises in the metal's value.
Global copper inventories are down by about a third this year, and traders say that with supplies so tight, the risk is that prices could rise more rapidly if the recovery gathers pace.
The major exception to this trend is China, which is sitting on a large stockpile that it built up during 2009, but is expected to be used up during the coming months.
Prices in dollars have also been supported by the relative weakness of the US currency, compared with the euro and particularly the Chinese yuan.
Copper is not the only industrial metal to do well this year. The price of nickel is up by a quarter, while tin has risen more than 55% in 2010.
'Bullish trend'
And other commodities have also been climbing in what has been a particularly strong year, though most prices still remain well short of levels seen during the commodities surge of 2007-08 that helped precipitate the global recession.
Energy prices, led by a 13% rise this year in the price of oil, have hit new post-recession highs, also driven by the global recovery, as well as the oil cartel Opec's apparent unwillingness to increase supply.
Meanwhile, precious metals have shot up amid fears over the debts and loose monetary policies in Europe and the US.
Palladium - a precious metal that is also used industrially in the production of car exhaust catalytic converters - rose 94% this year.
"It is still a positive picture for metals next year," said Darren Heathcote, head of trading at Investec in Sydney.
"There is sufficient demand from investment perspective to maintain a relatively bullish trend, in gold in particular."
Other commodities which are also well up include wheat, which rose 44% this year, as well as corn and soybean.
The long-term trend of rising demand for these crops is part of the reason for such strong price growth, but so too were short-term supply problems this year due to poor weather conditions, including a drought that forced Russia to suspend wheat exports.
LeBron torn on entering All-Star dunk contest
LeBron James wants to be part of the dunk contest at All-Star weekend. He's just not sure it's a smart idea.
One of the game's best dunkers, James acknowledged Friday that he often considers committing to be part of the field, then finds himself waffling.
James said at some points he tells himself, "Yeah, I'm going to do it," but then he thinks about the wear and tear on his body and reconsiders.
At the 2009 All-Star weekend in Phoenix, James said he planned to enter the 2010 contest, then eventually backed off. This year's dunk contest is Feb. 19 in Los Angeles.
James noted that competing against the likes of Blake Griffin would be a challenge and says, "he's already got the home court advantage."
Carmelo rejoins Nuggets after sister's death
Carmelo Anthony practiced with the Denver Nuggets Friday, returning to the team after taking eight days to mourn the death of his sister.
The Nuggets' star forward left the team Dec. 22 and missed five games while helping his family deal with its loss. He was expected to play Saturday when the Nuggets host the Sacramento Kings.
Anthony was glad to be back on the court with his teammates.
"There's no place like the gym, especially when you go through tough times like I just went through,'' he said. "But I'm glad to be back, glad to be here. My spirits are up. The worst is over with and I'm back here and I can just focus on basketball.''
Michelle Anthony, a 38-year-old mother of four, died on Dec. 21 in Baltimore. The cause of the death was not disclosed, though the Nuggets released a statement that she had died of a "pre-existing condition.''
Anthony and his family attended the funeral of Michelle Anthony on Monday and he returned to the Denver area Wednesday. He worked out on his own Thursday.
Anthony had been extremely close to his sister and felt the loss keenly.
"My sister was somebody who actually raised me with my mother,'' Anthony told a small group of reporters after the Nuggets' practice session. "We've been through thick and thin. Everybody's who had a sister knows the type of relationship a brother and sister have.''
The two had talked over the phone all the time after his games.
"I'm going to miss her calling me after every game, telling me what I did wrong, telling me what I did good and giving me some encouragement. But I know she's watching,'' Anthony said. "I know she's looking down. I'm going to try to keep my head up high, do what I've got to do on the basketball court and continue playing like I've been playing trying to get some wins.''
Anthony also thanked his teammates, members of the organization and fans for their support and encouragement in recent days.
Coach George Karl said it was good to have Anthony back and that he also had the impression that Anthony felt the same way.
"His body seemed like it wanted to be here,'' Karl said. "We ran a lot because we wanted to get him back into shape. He was feeling like he could run up and down the court and he played well. Practice was good because I think everybody was fresh. Hopefully, he'll be able to help us win some games very quickly.''
Karl, who has dealt with throat and neck cancer over the last year, also recognized that sometimes the practice and game-day ritual take a backseat to the real-life issues that come along.
"I think we do get pulled back to the reality of life,'' Karl said. "And that's a pretty tough one - that young and having children and trying to figure out your family responsibilities. I just hope Melo's OK, he stays strong through it and celebrates his sister's life along the way.''
Fireworks herald opening of Festival Village
The Crucian Christmas Festival Village opened with majorettes and fireworks Thursday night, as hundreds of people gathered to pay tribute to the honoree, Corrine Milligan, and to taste the traditional favorites served up around the grounds.
Music blasted from speakers. People mingled and tried the johnny cake and passion fruit available from the booths. The cruise ship Ocean Regatta - a 500-passenger ship - still was docked at the Ann Abramson Pier and was a brightly lit backdrop to the ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Milligan lined up alongside Miss St. Croix Taryn Mashburn, Festival Prince Shakiem Crosley, Festival Princess Quanisha Christensen, Festival Duchess Kleshelle Gaskin and a number of politicians to cut the ribbon just before 7:30 p.m.
"We're getting ready to start 11 big days of Crucian Christmas Festival," said festival spokeswoman Melody Rames, as things were about to begin.
The Festival Village was named the "Corrine Pate Palace," in honor of Milligan's booth - No. 13 - where she has served up food at festival for almost 30 years.
"I think I deserve it," Milligan said. "I work hard."
But Thursday night, Milligan said she was going to take it easy.
"I'm going to be relaxed tonight," she said. "I'm the queen tonight."
After the ribbon-cutting, the group made their way down to the stage, where Milligan was honored with plaques, certificates and flowers.
Crucian Christmas Festival President Davidson Charlemagne said he was very happy that the festival was able to come together after the heavy rains that flooded the area in November