Top News Stories –

Fifa: Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini get eight-year bans –
Fifa president Sepp Blatter and Uefa boss Michel Platini have been suspended for eight years from all football-related activities following an ethics investigation. They were found guilty of breaches surrounding a £1.3m ($2m) “disloyal payment” made to Platini in 2011. The Fifa ethics committee found Blatter and Platini had demonstrated an “abusive execution” of their positions. “I will fight for me and for Fifa,” Blatter, 79, said at a news conference. Platini said the decision was a “masquerade” intended to “dirty” his name. Both men continue to deny wrongdoing and intend to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas). Swiss Blatter and 60-year-old Frenchman Platini have also been fined £33,700 ($50,000) and £54,000 ($80,000) respectively. [BBC] In September Swiss police opened a separate investigation into criminal mismanagement or misappropriation over a TV rights deal.
Sepp Blatter

Martin Shkreli fired from drug firm KaloBios following arrest –
Martin Shkreli has been fired as chief executive from the drug company KaloBios Pharmaceuticals. It comes just days after his arrest by the FBI for securities fraud. In a short statement, the company said he had also stepped down voluntarily from the board. Mr Shkreli, who came to prominence after his company raised the price of a lifesaving HIV drug by 5,000%, has pleaded not guilty to the fraud charges. He has already resigned as head of the company which made the drug, Turing Pharmaceuticals. The FBI has accused Mr Shkreli of using assets from his former company, Retrophin, to illegally pay off debts at MSMB, the hedge fund he managed. He was released on $5m (£3.53m) bail. [BBC]
Martin Shkreli

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Fire-breathing Backflip with Steve-O – The Slow Mo Guys

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Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

• War in Afghanistan (2015–present)
  • 2015 Bagram suicide bombing
    • A suicide-bomb attack on a joint Afghan-U.S. patrol near Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan‘s Parwan Province, kills at least six U.S. soldiers and wounds another six. The Taliban‘s spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, claims responsibility for the attack in a message on Twitter. (Reuters) (The Washington Post)
  • Taliban forces overrun the Sangin District in Afghanistan‘s southern Helmand Province following clashes with Afghan security forces which left dozens dead. Taliban militants have reportedly surrounded the local police compound with around 170 officers trapped inside the compound, according to a local official. (FRANCE 24)
  • At least three rockets hit the capital Kabul, with two landing in the diplomatic zone of the Wazir Akbar Khan neighbourhood near the U.S. embassy building, while the other struck near the presidential palace complex. There were no reports of any casualties. (Reuters) (RT)
• Terrorism in Kenya, War in Somalia
  • At least two people are killed in a attack, near the north-eastern village of El Wak in Mandera County near the Somali border. A group of Kenyan Muslims traveling on a bus ambushed by suspected Al-Shabaab insurgents, protected Christian passengers by refusing to be split into groups, according to eyewitnesses. (BBC)
• Iraqi Civil War (2014–present), Military intervention against ISIL
  • Around 20 people, including civilians and Islamic State militants, are killed in airstrikes on Mosul in northern Iraq. (Reuters)
• 2015 PKK rebellion
  • Fighting continues to rage between the Turkish Army and PKK militants across southeastern Turkey, with the Kurdish-majority cities of Cizre and Silopi both becoming war zones as street-to-street fighting takes place. Turkish tanks shelled civilian houses in Silopi, while a Turkish military helicopter was damaged by PKK fire as it attempted to land in Cizre. Also, two Turkish soldiers were killed and six others wounded in a roadside bombing near the town of Bitlis. Many within Turkey are saying a civil war is now underway. (Al Jazeera)
  • Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan says military operations will continue in southeast Turkey and vowed that Kurdish rebels (PKK) along with their supporters, “will be buried in the trenches they have dug”. The state-run Anadolu Agency reports at least 115 PKK militants have been killed since December 15. (The Guardian)

Arts and culture

• Pope Francis, in his annual pre-Christmas speech, urged the Roman Curia (cardinals and bishops who direct Holy See actions), to follow his “catalogue of virtues,” e.g., to show more maturity, honesty, humility, and sobriety in their tasks. He listed “Curial antibiotics” to treat the “15 ailments of the Curia” he outlined last year and which still plague the Vatican. (AP via Berlin Record) (National Catholic Reporter)

Health and medicine

• The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) lifts the 32-year-old, lifetime ban on blood donations from gay and bisexual men. Men can donate if they haven’t had sex with another man in the previous year. The FDA stance is in line with other countries, such as Australia, Brazil, Canada, New Zealand, and the U.K., and is consistent with rules on recent blood transfusion or accidental exposure to another individual’s blood. (The Guardian) (The Washington Post) (FDA)

International relations

• Armenia–Russia relations
  • Russia reinforces the joint Armenian–Russian run Erebuni Airport, home to the Russian 3624th Air Base, with six attack and transport helicopters. The Russian Defence Ministry said the Mi-24 and Mi-8 helicopters had been transferred from a military base in the southern Russian region of Krasnodar Krai to the air base in Erebuni, Armenia. (Radio Free Europe)
• War in Donbass
  • The European Union extends Russian sanctions for interference in Ukraine another six months, until 31 July 2016. The EU says it’s extending the sanctions because the Minsk peace accords would not be fully implemented by the end of this year.(Bloomberg) (Voice of America)

Politics and elections

• Slovenian same-sex marriage referendum, 2015
  • Slovenian voters reject a bill legalizing same-sex marriage in the country with only 36% of registered voters supporting it, while over 63% of voters voted against the bill. (CNN)
• Spanish general election, 2015
  • In Sunday’s elections, Spain’s center-right ruling People’s Party (PP) wins 123 seats (35.1%), and the center-left Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) takes 90 (25.7%) of the 350 seats in parliament, thereby ending Spain’s two-party system since neither major party won an absolute majority. Turnout was 73 percent. Spain’s new political forces, Podemos and Ciudadanos (C’s), get 69 and 40 seats, respectively. Smaller parties split the remaining 28 seats, 17 to Catalonia parties which favor secession. It appears that a coalition government will be necessary. PSOE has declined to join the PP, which actually doesn’t want that either. King Felipe, who ascended the throne in June 2014, is constitutionally empowered to mediate. (Stratfor) (Fortune)(International Business Times) (BBC)
• United States presidential election, 2016, Republican Party presidential candidates, 2016
  • South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham ends his campaign for the Republican Party nomination for President. During his campaign he has failed to poll above single digits nationally or in the early voting states. (USA Today)
• Israeli Vice Prime Minister Silvan Shalom (Likud party) resigns because of allegations he sexually harassed several women during his career. Israel’s attorney general has started an investigation of Shalom, who also resigned his Interior Minister position andKnesset seat. (Reuters) (UPI)

Sports

• 2015 FIFA corruption case
  • FIFA’s ethics committee issues an eight-year ban on President Sepp Blatter and UEFA President Michel Platini from any football-related activity for a CHF 2,000,000 (£1.3m/US$2.02m) payment to Platini that Blatter approved. Ethics judges decided the pair, who were also fined, broke rules on conflict of interest, breach of loyalty, and offering or receiving gifts. Both men deny wrongdoing and intend to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). (BBC Sport) (Reuters) (Al Jazeera) (FIFA text via Channel NewsAsia)

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