South Africa to release 35,000 from crowded prisons
South African authorities say they are releasing up to 35,000 offenders to ease overcrowding in the nation’s prisons. Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa said nearly 14,600 prison inmates will be released “conditionally or unconditionally,” along with more than 20,000 offenders on probation or parole who qualify to have sentences cut. President Jacob Zuma announced the pardons, known as special remission of sentences, to mark the anniversary of Nelson Mandela winning the nation’s first all-race elections in 1994. Mthethwa said violent criminals and those jailed for sexual, drug-related and weapons offenses will not be freed. Prison overcrowding was being reduced from 34 percent over capacity to about 20 percent. Since 1994, prisoners have been amnestied on several symbolic occasions.

Sudan declares emergency on border
Sudan declared a state of emergency in areas bordering South Sudan, giving authorities broad powers of arrest a day after they detained three foreigners in a flashpoint town along the frontier. The detentions and state of emergency increased tensions along border between the old rivals, who in the past month came to the edge of an all-out war because of renewed fighting in disputed areas. Sudanese officials have accused South Sudan of using foreigner fighters during its assault on the oil-rich Heglig region. Southern Sudanese troops briefly captured the area, among rising international concerns of an escalation in the fighting between the two countries. Sudanese army spokesman Col. Sawarmy Khaled claimed on state television that four people arrested in the Heglig region, including a Briton, a Norwegian, a South African and a South Sudanese, had military backgrounds. He claimed they were carrying out military activities in Heglig, but did not elaborate. Khaled said the arrests prove its government claims that South Sudan uses foreign fighters. But a representative for one of the three said that they were on a humanitarian mine-clearing mission. South Sudan split from Sudan in July last year, but the two countries have not yet agreed on border boundaries and divvying up oil revenues and resources.

Cyclists demand safer streets in Rome
Thousands of cyclists have pedaled through Rome in a demonstration demanding more respect and safety for those who get around the city on bikes. They took to their bikes in a protest that passed city sights such as St. Peter’s Square and the Colosseum to promote the use of bicycles as a way to reduce pollution caused by transport. At one point, responding to a signal by organizers, the protesters got off their bikes and laid down in the street to symbolize the cyclists and pedestrians who are struck and killed by cars.

Obama releases $147M in aid to Palestinians
American aid officials said they will restore development programs for Palestinians after President Barack Obama ended a six-month funding freeze that shut down the local Sesame Street and other projects. An official with the U.S. Agency for International Development confirmed that $147 million, which pays for infrastructure, education, humanitarian aid and health projects, had been restored. In October, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla, froze $192 million earmarked for assistance to Palestinians as a penalty for their United Nations membership bid in September. The Palestinians tried to gain international recognition via admittance to the United Nations, but they did not gather enough support. The U.S. opposed the United Nations bid, saying it preferred negotiations as a way to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Ros-Lehtinen used her power as a lawmaker to put a hold on money Congress had already approved. Congress later released nearly $45 million. Then in March, Congress released another $88.6 million, but with strict limitations that the money could not be used for road construction or Gaza aid, among other areas. Obama announced last Wednesday he would override Congress and waive restrictions on all the remaining funds. He explained the move as in the “national security interests of the United States.” Palestinian lawmaker Abdallah Abdallah said the money “will definitely contribute to the betterment of the economic situation, but it’s not a substitute for American wrong policy.” He ridiculed the U.S. as “impotent” in criticizing Israeli policies like settlement construction in the West Bank. Israeli Foreign Ministry deputy spokeswoman Ilana Stein said “the U.S. may allocate its funds as it sees fit,” but added, “apparently the Palestinians are developing a sense of entitlement to these funds.” The United States has contributed about $500 million annually to the Palestinians over the past decade, including millions to train security forces.

Israeli prime minister explores early elections
In a political development with global implications, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu indicated he soon might call early elections, a decision that could put Mideast peace efforts on hold for months and cast more uncertainty on Israel’s deliberations over whether to attack Iran’s nuclear program. Netanyahu has presided over a diverse yet unusually resilient coalition for three years and is suddenly overwhelmed by challenges. But while he is increasingly under fire for his handling of Iran and the Palestinians, it is more monotonous domestic complications that appear to be driving the coalition unrest.

Top Moroccan newspaper editor released from prison
 A top Moroccan newspaper editor, convicted and jailed under the penal code for his writings, was freed last Saturday after serving a year in prison. Rachid Nini, editor of the country’s most popular daily, al-Massae, was convicted for “trying to discredit and influence a court and publishing information on crimes that haven’t been proven.” The charges stemmed from his vitriolic newspaper columns that attacked powerful members of society. “I denounce my imprisonment and conviction under the penal code, and I hope I am the last journalist to be tried under it,” he said.  The trial and conviction of Nini in June infuriated Moroccan journalists because it was conducted under the criminal code rather than the media law, and was seen as an attack on freedom of expression. The media law does not allow for the imprisonment of journalists.


FDA approves antibiotic to treat and prevent plague
U.S. regulators have approved use of a powerful Johnson & Johnson antibiotic to treat plague, an extremely rare, sometimes-deadly bacterial infection. The Food and Drug Administration also approved Levaquin, known generically as levofloxacin, to reduce risk of people getting plague after exposure to the bacteria that cause it.  The bacteria, called Yersinia pestis, are considered a potential bioterrorism agent. Plague primarily occurs in animals. People can get it from bites from infected fleas or contact with infected animals or humans. About 1,000 to 2,000 human cases occur worldwide each year. The FDA approved Levaquin for plague after tests on African green monkeys infected with the bacteria in a lab found 94 percent of the monkeys given Levaquin survived.

New Law Would Ban Texting While Biking
It could soon be illegal to ride a bicycle and text in California. Sen. Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto), who authored the 2008 California law mandating the use of hands-free technology while driving, has proposed extending this law to bicyclists. Senate Bill 1475 would ban bicyclists from texting or talking without a headset. Bicyclists would be fined $20 for their first offense and $50 thereafter with no additional fees. The new bill was initially part of the 2008 driving ordinance, however the bicycle portion was omitted from the final law. The California Bicycle Coalition supports it. The bill is currently working its way through the state senate. Sen. Simitian would like to make it law by the end of 2012.

WTC is back on top in NYC
One World Trade Center, the giant monolith being built to replace the twin towers destroyed in the Sept. 11 attacks, will claim the title of New York City’s tallest skyscraper. Workers will raise steel columns that will make its unfinished skeleton a little over 1,250 feet high, just enough to reach over the roof of the observation deck on the Empire State Building. The milestone is a preliminary one. Workers are still adding floors to the so-called “Freedom Tower” and it isn’t expected to reach its full height for at least another year, at which point it is likely to be declared the tallest building in the U.S., and third tallest in the world. However, there is often disagreement about who deserves the world’s tallest building title. In this scenario, the issue involves the 408-foot-tall needle that will sit on the tower’s roof. Include it, and the World Trade Center is back on top. Otherwise, it will have to settle for second place, after the Willis Tower in Chicago. Experts and architects have long disagreed about where to stop measuring super-tall buildings outfitted with masts, spires and antennas that extend far above the roof.


Connecticut high school claims record for most twins
The 16 sets of twins in the Class of 2014 at one Connecticut high school could break the world record held by another school in the state. Parents and officials at Staples High School in Westport say they plan to submit documentation to Guinness World Records seeking the record for most twins in the same academic year at the same school. The Guinness website says the current record is held by the 13 sets of twins who graduated in 2010 from Pomperaug High School in Southbury. The Staples twins gathered for a photo and hope to get official recognition by Guinness before the end of the school year.

Flooding scatters invasive plant
Last year’s hurricanes and flooding not only engulfed homes and carried away roads and bridges in hard-hit areas of the country, but it also dispersed aggressive invasive species, In Vermont, the floodwaters from Tropical Storm Irene and work afterward to dredge rivers and remove debris spread fragments of Japanese knotweed, a plant that threatens to take over flood plains wiped clean by the storm last August. The overflowing Missouri and Mississippi rivers last year launched Asian carp into lakes and oxbows where the fish had not been seen before, from Louisiana to the Iowa Great Lakes. Flooding also increased the population along the Missouri River of purple loosestrife, a plant that suppresses native plants and alters wetlands. In Vermont, floodwaters and repair work broke off portions of stems and woody rhizomes of the aggressive Japanese knotweed. The perennial, imported from Asia as an ornamental, was already a problem in Vermont and a dozen other states in the Northeast, the Pacific Northwest and the Midwest. It spreads quickly on riverbanks, floodplains and roadsides, choking out native plants, degrading habitats of fish, birds and insects and deteriorating stream banks The plant, which resembles bamboo when mature, spreads quickly in disturbed soils. Once these invasive plants take over, their root structure and a lack of groundcover and native plants and trees with deeper roots, weakens the stream banks, causing erosion, and flood damage. Once the knotweed becomes established, it’s laborious to remove. The plant, which can grow 12 feet high, needs to be cut down four to five times a year for a number of years or chemicals or machinery will need to be used. Efforts are under way to restore those bare banks with native trees and shrubs that will shade out knotweed.


US to consider sales of new F-16s to Taiwan
A Republican senator has lifted his hold on the appointment of a former Obama aide to a top Pentagon position after the administration said it would consider sales of new fighter jets to Taiwan. Mark Lippert was confirmed as assistant secretary of defense for Asian and Pacific security affairs after Sen. John Cornyn lifted his opposition. Cornyn’s office released a letter from the White House legislative director saying the administration would decide “on a near-term course of action on how to address Taiwan’s fighter gap, including through the sale to Taiwan of an undetermined number of new U.S.-made fighter aircraft.” The administration agreed in September to upgrades of Taiwan’s existing fleet but delayed a decision on selling new planes, which would anger China.