Meatball The Bear Saved By Online Campaign

By Greg Milam, US Correspondent

A 500lb black bear, whose repeated visits to a Los Angeles neighbourhood earned him celebrity status, will be allowed to live thanks to an online campaign to save him.

Meatball, named because of his habit of taking frozen meatballs from garage freezers, has been moved to a wild animal sanctuary in the mountains of southern California.

He became a fixture on American television screens through the summer, rummaging through bins and clambering over garden fences.

Officials from the California Department of Fish and Game captured him a number of times and returned him to his home in the Angeles National Forest but Meatball kept coming back.

He may have travelled up to 200 miles to reach the same neighbourhood. Usually a bear that demonstrates such an interest in residential areas would be put down.

But the publicity around Meatball's story has saved his life: a massive online campaign, led by a Twitter account in his name, has prompted a fundraising drive to build his new home.

Bobbi Brink, founder of the Lions, Tigers and Bears sanctuary near San Diego which Meatball now calls home, said they have already raised half of the $250,000 (£155,000) needed to craft a new six-acre habitat.

She said: "It is heart-warming that people care about animals as much as we do. He is a very loved bear, a very special bear. He's beautiful.

"He's got a great sense of humour, he's funny and smart and I can't wait to get him out into the habitat because he wants out now."

Meatball now enjoys a diet including grapes and, his particular favourite, peanut butter sandwiches.

Although black bears are generally considered to be less of a threat to humans, experts regularly issue advice to people living near bear habitats on what to do in the event of an encounter with the animal.

Their appearances in Los Angeles neighbourhoods have become more frequent as bears seek out regular sources of food.

Some in the suburb of Glendale believed Meatball had worked out which day rubbish bins were put out for collection.

Meatball will share his home with one male and three female bears in a sanctuary which also houses big cats rescued from private collections or abuse.

Wildlife experts say it would be impractical to re-home more wild bears - Meatball is the lucky one.

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Gang Rape Victim Cremated In New Delhi

The body of a woman who was gang raped on a bus in New Delhi has been cremated at a private ceremony held amid tight security.

The 23-year-old medical student was savagely beaten and raped for almost an hour before being thrown out of the moving vehicle.

She was transferred to Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore for specialist treatment, but later died from severe organ failure.

Her body was flown back to India from Changi Airport with her parents, who were at her bedside when she was pronounced dead.

At the brief cremation ceremony in the southwestern Dwarka district of the city, the funeral pyre was lit after relatives and friends said their final prayers.

According to several mourners, the student was due in February to marry her boyfriend, who was injured in the same attack.

Mourner Meena Rai (L) says the victim was planning to get married

"They had made all the wedding preparations and had planned a wedding party in Delhi," Meena Rai, who had been shopping with the victim for wedding outfits, was reported as saying.

The funeral took place just hours after police said the six accused of murdering the student could face the death penalty if convicted.

Sky's India Correspondent Alex Rossi said: "The general thinking behind it as far as the prosecution service is concerned is that the way she was treated on that bus, the manner in which she was subjected to such a brutal attack, the fact that she was thrown from the bus whilst it was still moving and was unconscious suggests that they're fairly confident now that there was pre-meditation in the attack."

Thousands take part in a candlelight vigil for the victim in New Delhi

Her uncle has called for those responsible to be given the "strictest possible sentence".

"This is a very sad day, and a very very sad happening," he said. "My condolences are with my niece's family."

Sonia Ghandi, the president of India's National Congress, has promised to fight for change.

She said: "(The death) strengthens our resolve to fight with all our might, and all the powers of our laws and our administration, for the safety and protection of all women of our country, and to ensure swift and fitting punishment for the perpetrators of such brutal acts."

Police had braced for violent protests, but most passed of peacefully

More than 1,000 protesters gathered in New Delhi city centre for a sit-in, demanding political change to protect women from violence.

Thousands more took part in a candlelight vigil.

The area is home to the president's palace, the prime minister's office and key defence, foreign affairs and home ministries.

Authorities feared a repeat of demonstrations a week ago, where police fired tear gas and water cannon at activists after violence broke out.

Police spokesman Rajan Bhagat said: "We have booked all six accused under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code.

The horrific crime has sparked an angry debate over women's safety in India

"It is a non-bailable offence which carries the death sentence."

Formal charges are expected to be filed by January 3.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said he was deeply saddened by the woman's death and described the reaction to the case as "perfectly understandable from a young India and an India that genuinely desires change".

"It would be a true homage to her memory if we are able to channel these emotions and energies into a constructive course of action," he added.

After boarding a bus on December 16, the student was attacked by the men who took turns raping her and assaulted her with an iron bar before they threw her off the moving vehicle.

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'US Can Learn From Australia's Gun Laws'

By Jonathan Samuels, Australia Correspondent

When Martin Bryant massacred 35 people with semi-automatic weapons at a tourist spot in Tasmania in 1996, then-Australian prime minister John Howard reacted swiftly by pushing for tough new national gun laws.

Just 12 days after the shootings at Port Arthur, legislation was agreed which banned most people from owning rapid fire rifles and shotguns.

In a government buyback scheme more than 600,000 weapons were handed in and destroyed.

There have been no mass killings since.

Neil Noye was the local Mayor at the time. Speaking to Channel 9 about the recent US killings he said: "It's devastating and my thoughts and prayers go out to those families because I know exactly what they are going through.

"John Howard brought the gun laws in. Some people hated him and some people loved him, but I think that was a good thing."

Now US President Barack Obama is facing the same dilemma after the Newtown school massacre in Connecticut that killed 20 children and six adults.

The 1996 massacre in Tasmania sparked anti-gun protests

While the gun lobby is far more powerful in the US and gun ownership culturally embedded through the constitution, the conservative Mr Howard says now is the time to tackle the politically sensitive issue.

"It will be difficult but it can be done," Mr Howard, who had only been in the job two months when the Port Arthur killings happened, told Sydney's Daily Telegraph.

Speaking earlier this year after another US gun massacre, Mr Howard noted: "If I hadn't done something I would have been squandering the moral authority I had as a newly-elected prime minister."

Australian MP Andrew Leigh has studied and written about the effects of the legislation.

"One in three American households has a gun, and that has terrible consequences when a teenager gets depressed or a family dispute gets out of control," he said.

"There are Australians who wouldn't be walking the streets if it wasn't for the gun buyback. It saved about 200 lives a year it continues to make Australia a safer place today."

The guesthouse frrom where Martin Bryant killed 35 people

The politician believes America can learn a great deal from the Australian experience and says the US "can recognise that you can have both - you can have that culture of sport shooting that Americans prize so dearly but without the tragic gun violence that plagues so many American lives every year".

In 2009 in Australia there were 0.1 gun murders per 100,000 people compared to 3.2 per 100,000 in the US, according to the most recent data from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

Philip Alpers, an analyst on gun violence at the University of Sydney who worked on weapons control in the US for four years, admits drawing parallels between Australia and US is difficult.

"Culturally we are very different. The automatic Australian reaction after Port Arthur was that we need to pull back on gun ownership -  fewer guns are better. Howard had a groundswell of public support on his side," he said.

"In the US, reaction over the past few years has increasingly been, more guns make us safer. Guns are confused with freedom and opinion is so polarised that it might be impossible for Obama to do anything."

Not everyone in Australia has been convinced by the legislation.

The Australian government bought back guns and destroyed them

Colourful independent MP in rural Queensland, Bob Katter, said: "You can ban all the guns in the world but those sort of people find some other way of doing it.

"You create a morbid fascination when you ban them and I think that has a lot to do with some of these terrible incidents that are occurring."

The Sporting Shooters Association of Australia, which lobbied against the Howard laws, says gun death rates were falling anyway.

It points to an independent report by the Melbourne Institute in 2008 which contradicts claims that fewer guns mean fewer homicides and suicides.

"There is little evidence to suggest that it had any significant effects on firearm homicides and suicides," the Melbourne study concluded, referring to the National Firearms Agreement.

Australia still has gun crime of course, especially amongst Sydney's biker gangs, but since Port Arthur no Australian shooting has made global headlines.

Unlike in America guns aren't entwined in Australia's culture, but changing gun laws was still a brave move, as politicians in Washington know all too well.

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Tributes Paid To Shot New York Firefighters

Hundreds of emergency workers have paid tribute to the two upstate New York firefighters who were fatally shot on Christmas Eve in Webster.

Firefighters and other first responders from across the northeast US and Canada lined up with thousands of mourners on Friday and Saturday to pay their respects to Michael Chiapperini and Tomasz Kaczowka.

Police say the 43- and 19-year-olds were gunned down by William Spengler who had set a massive fire to lure firefighters with the express intention of killing them.

Michael Chiapperini (L) and Tomasz Kaczowka

Two firefighters who also responded and were wounded by 62-year-old Spengler attended a wake at a local high school.

Joseph Hofstetter and Theodore Scardino arrived in an ambulance.

They later returned to hospital, where they are listed as being in a satisfactory condition.

A funeral service for Mr Chiapperini was planned for Sunday, and a mass for Mr Kaczowka was due to be held on Monday.

Hundreds of emergency personnel queued for hours to pay their respects

 Police said 62-year-old William Spengler, who served 17 years in prison for manslaughter, set his house on fire before dawn on Monday, then took a a revolver, a shotgun and a semiautomatic rifle and sprayed bullets at the first responders. He then killed himself as seven houses burned on a sliver of land along Lake Ontario. Spengler, who had served 17 years in prison for manslaughter, set his house on fire before dawn on Monday last week, then used a handgun, a shotgun and a semi-automatic rifle to spray bullets at the first responders.

He then killed himself as seven houses burned alongside Lake Ontario. 

A 24-year-old neighbour Dawn Nguyen is charged with buying the guns on Spengler's behalf. 

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Ice Lake Rescue Drama Captured On Video

What should have been a day of sledging thrills turned into a string of near-disasters in California after one person fell into an icy lake.

As they overshot the edge of the ice and fell into the bitterly-cold water, flailing and waving their arms in panic, pals to rushed to their aid.

But it begs the question: How many people does it take to rescue a man who falls into an icy lake?

And the answer? Well, if this video is anything to go by ... lots.

The situation in Wrightwood, California, rapidly became a mass rescue attempt, involving ropes, rubber rings and plastic sledges.

But as dozens of people joined in, several more crashed though ice.

One witness captured the amazing drama on video and posted it on The Tubez website.

Another could be heard saying: "That's seriously not funny ... he can't swim", while a companion screamed: "Call 911!"

Some of the victims remained in the water for up to nine minutes before they were eventually pulled out.

No one was seriously hurt.

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New Galaxies: Hopes To Find 700,000 In 2013

Scientists are hoping the huge radio telescope facility in Western Australia officially opened earlier this year will help them uncover 700,000 new galaxies in 2013.

Two surveys named Wallaby and Dingo will scour vast regions of space to help provide new clues about galaxy evolution.

The £65m Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (Askap) consists of 36 identical 12 metre-wide dishes that work together as a single antenna.

Located in a remote desert region, 196 miles from the port of Geraldton, Askap will also help astronomers investigate one of the greatest mysteries of the universe: dark energy.

This is the anti-gravity force which appears to be causing galaxies to fly apart at an accelerating rate.

Although no one is sure what dark energy is, it accounts for 73% of all the mass-energy in the universe.

Scientists were able to predict Askap's capabilities by combining its specifications with computer simulations.

Dr Alan Duffy, a member of the Askap team from the University of Western Australia, said: "Askap is a highly capable telescope.

Askap is located in a remote desert region

"Its surveys will find more galaxies, further away and be able to study them in more detail than any other radio telescope in the world.

"We predict that Wallaby will find an amazing 600,000 new galaxies and Dingo 100,000, spread over trillions of cubic light years of space."

The telescope will examine galactic hydrogen gas - the fuel that forms stars - to see how galaxies have changed in the last four billion years.

Askap is itself a curtain raiser for an even more ambitious project, the Square Kilometre Array (Ska).

Speaking at the official opening, chief scientist Brian Boyle said the Australian telescope will eventually be linked to similar facilities in South Africa and New Zealand, joining 3,000 dishes.

Due to begin operating in 2019, it will be 50 times more powerful than current radio telescopes and will explore exploding stars, black holes, dark energy and traces of the universe's origins some 14 billion years ago.

He said the Askap telescope would see more than 350 researchers from over 130 institutions undertaking 10 survey science projects.

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Fiscal Cliff: Countdown Begins For Congress

Politicians in Washington are back at work as they attempt to strike a last-minute deal to avoid huge tax hikes and spending cuts set for January 1.

Economists warn the $500bn in fiscal pain due to hit in the New Year could send the country back into recession, and destabilise the global economy in the process.

Aides to both leaders in the Democrat-controlled Senate worked feverishly behind closed doors on Saturday to fashion a deal palatable to both sides.

The Senate convenes Sunday at 1pm (6pm GMT) while the House goes into session an hour later, with no votes expected before 8.30pm ET (11.30pm GMT).

Both chambers would have little time to debate and then pass a deal that has eluded the White House and Congress for weeks.

Barack Obama, who called congressional leaders to the White House on Friday, addressed the crisis once more as he appeared on NBC's Sunday morning talk show Meet the Press.

The president said Republicans were unwilling to see tax rates raised for the richest taxpayers.

"They say that their biggest priority is making sure that we deal with the deficit in a serious way," Mr Obama said.

"But the way they're behaving is that their only priority is making sure that tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans are protected.

"That seems to be their only overriding, unifying theme," he added.

Mitch McConnell and Harry Reid still heading in different directions

Senate Democratic majority leader Harry Reid and Republican minority leader Mitch McConnell are reported to have set a deadline of about 3pm ET (8pm GMT) for a deal.

The parties will then decide whether to put it to the vote on New Year's Eve in the Senate and then the Republican-controlled House of Representatives.

President Obama has pressed lawmakers to clinch a deal, even if they must reach a compromise that lacks the significant deficit-reduction measures both sides had sought.

"I was modestly optimistic yesterday, but we don't yet see an agreement," the president told NBC in the interview recorded on Saturday. "And now the pressure's on Congress to produce."

At least one senior Republican is optimistic of a deal, and a "political victory" for Mr Obama.

Senator Lindsey Graham told Fox News that the odds are "exceedingly good" a deal can get done.

"I don't think people want to go over the cliff," he said.

The US is facing the fiscal cliff because tax rate cuts dating back to George W Bush's presidency expire at the end of the year.

Mr Obama originally insisted on letting the tax cuts expire on households earning more than $250k (£154k) but later upped that threshold to $400k (£246k).

The pending reductions in spending, which will hit everything from social programmes to the military, were put in place last year as an incentive to both parties to find ways to cut America's soaring deficit.

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'Seven Die' In Traffic Officer Fitness Test

Seven people are believed to have died while undergoing a fitness test used to select prospective candidates for traffic officer jobs in South Africa.

The victims were among tens of thousands of applicants competing for 90 provincial traffic officer posts in Pietermaritzburg, in the KwaZulu-Natal Province, according to a report by the state-owned South African Broadcasting Corporation.

More than 35,000 job seekers reportedly applied for the 90 jobs that were up for grabs and around 15,000 people are believed to have taken the physical tests late last week.

The applicants were required to run 2.5miles (4km) in temperatures of more than 30 degrees Celsius.

Some collapsed from dehydration and heat exhaustion and a number received hospital treatment, it was claimed.

The chief transport official for KwaZulu-Natal province, Willies Mchunu, said the tests have now been suspended.

"We will have to check whether adequate medical attention was provided, including medical advice to those who were going to run the four kilometres, which would also include the adequate supply of water," he told the SABC.

South Africa's unemployment rate rose to 25.5% in the third quarter of 2012.

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Subway Murder Suspect To Be Mentally Assessed

A woman charged with murdering an Indian immigrant by pushing him off a New York City subway platform has been ordered to undergo a psychiatric evaluation.

Erika Menendez was arraigned on Saturday night on a charge of murder as a hate crime.

The judge ordered the 31-year-old to be held without bail and to be given a mental health exam.

Menendez, from the Bronx, told detectives she was motivated by hatred of Muslims and Hindus.

An NYPD spokesman said she "made statements implicating herself" in the killing, which happened on Thursday night.

Detectives claimed she told them: "I pushed a Muslim off the train tracks because I hate Hindus and Muslims. Ever since 2001 when they put down the twin towers, I've been beating them up."

Menendez faces from 25 years to life in prison if convicted.

The victim, 46-year-old Sunando Sen, ran a printing shop and lived in Queens.

Sunando Sen (L) and an artist's impression of the suspect

He was born in India and raised a Hindu, according to The New York Times.

He died on the number 7 line in Queens after he was suddenly knocked onto the tracks as a train entered the station.

Police had released security camera video showing a suspect running from the station.

She was described as Hispanic, aged in her 20s and stocky.

Mr Sen was partly identified through his smartphone and a prescription pill bottle, as his body was in such a bad condition.

It was the second time this month a person has been killed after being shoved on to subway tracks.

On December 3, Ki-Suck Han, 58, was pushed in front of a train in Times Square.

Homeless 30-year-old Naeem Davis was charged with murder over Mr Han's death and was ordered to be detained without bail.

Davis has pleaded not guilty and said Mr Han attacked him first. The two men had not met before.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg has urged New Yorkers to keep the incidents in perspective.

"It's a very tragic case, but what we want to focus on today is the overall safety in New York," Mr Bloomberg said.

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Russia Air Crash: Faulty Brakes Likely Cause

Faulty brakes may be to blame for a Russian airliner sliding off the runway and crashing into a motorway, an investigator has said, as the death toll rises to five.

"After landing the pilot uses all the available brake systems on the plane, but for some reason the machine did not stop," a member of the investigation team told Russia's Interfax news agency.

"Most likely it was faulty reverse engines or brakes."

Amateur footage has captured the moment the Tu-204 plane smashes onto the road.

The footage, taken from a vehicle on the motorway, shows luggage and other debris flying from the aircraft and hitting other cars on the road as the plane smashed into the ground.

Loud bangs can also be heard as the plane impacted with the ground and the cars were hit by the wreckage.

The passenger plane was sheared in two

Five people - the pilot, co-pilot, flight engineer and two flight stewards - were killed in the crash and another three seriously injured after the aircraft overshot a runway at Moscow's Vnukovo airport.

The Red Wing Airlines aircraft burst through a perimeter fence on to the motorway at Russia's third busiest airport.

Officials said the plane - travelling from the Czech Republic - was carrying eight crew members and no passengers. It broke into pieces and caught fire after crashing.

The cockpit of the aircraft was sheared off from the fuselage and a large chunk gashed out near the tail during the impact.

Investigators are examining flight recorders and other evidence to try to determine the cause of the accident.

Prior to Saturday's crash, there had been no fatal accidents reported for Tu-204s, which entered commercial service in 1995.

But the state news agency RIA Novosti cited an unidentified official at the Russian Aviation Agency as saying another Tu-204 had gone off the runway at the international airport in Novosibirsk, Siberia, on December 20.

The agency said that incident, in which no one was injured, was due to the failure of the plane's engines to go into reverse upon landing and that its brake system malfunctioned.

Vnukovo is Russia's third biggest airport

The Tu-204 plane is a twin-engine mid-range jet with room to carry about  210 passengers.

The billionaire owner of Red Wing Airlines, Alexander Lebedev, has said the pilot of the aircraft that crashed on Saturday was experienced, with 14,500 hours of flying time.

Witnesses told state channel Rossiya-24 they saw a man thrown from the plane as it rammed into the barrier of the motorway and described pulling other people from the wreckage.

The airport was closed after the crash and flights were routed to Moscow's other airports, Sheremetyevo and Domodedovo.

Russia and other former Soviet republics have some of the world's worst air traffic safety records - with a total accident rate three times the world average, according to the International Air Transport Association.

In April, 31 people were killed after a passenger jet crashed after takeoff in Siberia.

Another 44 people, including the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl ice hockey team, were killed when their aircraft smashed into a riverbank in September 2011.

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