Dozens killed in Mexico fireworks blast
An explosion at a fireworks market outside Mexico City has killed at least 29 people, officials say.
Dozens of other people were injured as the blast hit the San Pablito fireworks market, about 20 miles (32km) outside the city.
Video from the scene showed a large number of fireworks rocketing into the air as they caught fire.
Dozens of paramedics and police attended the scene. The cause of the explosions is not yet known.
Locals have been told to avoid the area and keep roads clear.
Smog refugees flee Chinese cities as 'airpocalypse' blights half a billion
Thousands head to pollution-free regions as haze descends on the country’s northern industrial heartland
Tens of thousands of “smog refugees” have reportedly fled China’s pollution-stricken north after the country was hit by its latest “airpocalyse” forcing almost half a billion people to live under a blanket of toxic fumes.
Huge swaths of north and central China have been living under a pollution “red alert” since last Friday when a dangerous cocktail of pollutants transformed the skies into a yellow and charcoal-tinted haze.
Greenpeace claimed the calamity had affected a population equivalent to those of the United States, Canada and Mexico combined with some 460m people having to breathe either hazardous pollution or heavy levels of smog in recent days.
Whatever the motive for the Berlin attack - Isis will always be keen to claim credit
What happened in Germany shows the difficulties in stopping such an attack even when one was half-expectedKim Sengupta
The change of name for Isis' online magazine was a declaration of a change in strategy. It had been called Dabiq after a town in Syria where Islam is meant to triumph over the infidels in a final battle. But now in retreat, losing territory, the jihadists no longer see Armageddon as imminent. They declare, instead, that the jihad will be taken abroad to the enemy, striking at the heart of Western political and spiritual power, symbolically Rome, Rumiyah, as the new publication is titled.
Isis has, of course, carried out attacks on Western targets before. But it has been repeatedly asserting the threat lately and instructing its adherents in Europe and America to strike the enemy at home using any means at hand. Its leaders have openly called for attacks to be carried out this Christmas: so the murders in Berlin, with the use of a truck, should not have come as a surprise.
Crucial reports and 70 bodies left behind in east Aleppo's morgue
Mohamed Kehil left east Aleppo in a rush on Monday December 19, one of the thousands of people evacuated from the bombarded city in the temporary ceasefire. A director of forensic medicine, he has been documenting the deaths of thousands of people killed by the regime's bombing campaign over the last few years with a team of volunteers.
Kehil was evacuated along with thousands of other civilians in coaches on Monday and taken to the neighbouring town of Idlib, where he was able to join family members. But he left Aleppo with a heavy heart, concerned about the fate of thousands of reports, photos and evidence documenting the many unidentified bodies in east Aleppo
Inside Orania, South Africa's whites-only town
By Thomas Page, CNN
Orania is not prime real estate by any stretch of the imagination.
The settlement west of the Orange River in Northern Cape, South Africa lies on arid and weather-beaten land; baked by the harsh summer sun and frigid through the dry winter. It's farmable, but not easy, requiring strong backs and callused hands.
Rising above the scrub the town's symbol flutters atop a flagpole, a young boy rolling up his sleeves, preparing to knuckle down and transform this landscape. It's a romanticized image for a romanticized notion: a place where Afrikaners can be Afrikaners. Tough, resourceful and making do; descendants of Dutch settlers and proud of it.
Pakistan's electronic media faces ethics questions
After PIA plane crash, broadcast media is accused of encouraging sensationalism for ratings instead of good reporting.
Faras Ghani
A passenger plane crashed near Pakistan's capital of Islamabad earlier this month, killing all 48 people on board.
Rushing to flick the TV on to follow the developing story of the air crash, many Pakistanis were soon expressing shock and dismay: the quality of live coverage by TV stations brought back unpleasant memories of the last time a major breaking news was reported. And the time before that.
The Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) plane had crashed just before dusk in a remote, mountainous area. For the news media, that meant difficulty in gaining access to the site or finding witnesses for several hours after the accident.
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