Three arrested over Christmas Eve murder
Three men, aged 25, 29 and 35, have been arrested in connection with the murder of a 41-year-old man in Belfast.
Matthew Goddard was found in his house in Chobham Street in east Belfast at around 9.40 pm on Christmas Eve 2014, having been attacked and beaten.
All three are to appear at Belfast Magistrates Court tomorrow.
Police name murdered owner of NI Chinese restaurant
The Chinese restaurant owner who was murdered in front of his wife was Nelson Cheung, police have confirmed.
The 65-year-old father of four was killed after robbers forced his car off the road in a remote area of Northern Ireland.
It is believed his throat was cut.
Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) Detective Chief Inspector Eamonn Corrigan said: "Mr Cheung was a well-liked and well-known man who ran a Chinese restaurant in Randalstown.
"He was a father of four and husband to Mrs Winnie Cheung, who was injured during the attack on the Caddy Road."
Mr Cheung had been travelling home from his Co Antrim business shortly after midnight yesterday when he was stabbed after being intercepted by two vehicles on a rural road.
He was a well-established trader in Randalstown, running the Double Value restaurant on the town's main street, and his knife attack death has sent shockwaves through the community, councillors said.
INM appoints new editors
Fionnan Sheahan, currently INM Group Political editor, has been appointed Editor of the Irish Independent.
Cormac Burke, executive editor at the Irish Independent, has been appointed editor of the Sunday Independent.
Both will report to INM Editor in Chief Stephen Rae and their appointments will begin with immediate effect.
Investigation after workplace accident in Donegal
An inspector from the Health and Safety Authority has begun an investigation at the scene of a workplace accident in Portnoo, Co Donegal in which a man suffered serious injuries yesterday afternoon.
The accident, which involved a teleporter, happened around 4pm at a wood processing plant.
The man in his 60s suffered severe crush injuries to his chest and was airlifted to hospital.
Two hospitalised after kayak capsizes
Two people are recovering in University Hospital Limerick after their kayak capsized in stormy conditions on Lough Derg this afternoon.
The alarm was raised at around 2.30pm when the Irish Coast Guard received a report of an overturned kayak near Holy Island off Mountshannon, Co Clare.
The Coast Guard, a search and rescue helicopter, the Lough Derg RNLI lifeboat and the HSE's National Ambulance Service all responded to the incident.
Study on social media use by Irish journalists
Almost all Irish journalists are using social media services but have not altered traditional, established news gathering practices, according to a study carried out by NUI Galway.
The research found that most journalists would not trust information on social media sites like Twitter or Facebook, unless they were able to verify it independently.
The study was carried out in an online survey of hundreds of people working in traditional and new media outlets.
Over half the respondents said social media had undermined traditional journalistic values.
Blogger flogged in public for insulting Islam
Saudi blogger Raef Badawi was flogged in public this morning near a mosque in the Red Sea city of Jeddah, receiving 50 lashes for "insulting Islam", witnesses said.
In September, a Saudi court upheld a sentence of ten years in prison and 1,000 lashes for Badawi.
He is expected to have 20 weekly whipping sessions until his punishment is complete.
Jackie Chan's son jailed in China for drug offences
Jaycee Chan, the son of actor Jackie Chan, has been jailed for six months in China on a drugs charge, the latest celebrity felled by the government's aggressive anti-narcotics campaign.
The younger Chan, a 32-year-old actor and singer, was formally charged last month with "the crime of sheltering others to take drugs" after testing positive for marijuana, with police saying they found 100 grams of the drug at his home.
He faced a maximum prison sentence of three years.
A judge in Beijing's Eastern District Court, where Chan was being tried, sentenced him to six months in prison and fined him 2,000 yuan (€270), according to a microblog post by the court.
Impeachment hearing against former Thai prime minister
Thailand's parliament has begun an impeachment hearing against former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra that could lead to her being banned from politics for five years.
Ms Yingluck, Thailand's first woman prime minister, was removed from office for abuse of power in May.
Her government was ousted in a military coup days later that ended months of street protests against her by her rivals.
She remains popular among the rural poor who elected her in a 2011 landslide, as does her brother, ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra, and the impeachment hearing could test a fragile calm under military rule.
French author suspends book promotion after Paris attack
French author Michel Houellebecq has suspended the promotion of his new novel 'Submission', a dystopian vision of France under Islamic rule, after this week's massacre at Charlie Hebdo, his agent said.
The book was released on Wednesday - the same day that 12 people were killed when gunmen stormed the magazine's Paris office, including some of France's best known cartoonists.
Mr Houellebecq's friend Bernard Maris, a left-wing economist, was among those killed and the author was "deeply affected by the death", his agent Francois Samuelson said.
36 political prisoners freed in Cuba
At least 36 Cuban political prisoners have been released in the last two days, dissident leaders said, as Cuba moves towards normalising ties with the United States.
Washington and Havana announced a historic bilateral rapprochement in mid-December in which Cuba agreed to free 53 political prisoners as part of a deal to end a five-decade standoff with the United States.
Elizardo Sanchez, a prominent dissident from the Cuban Human Rights and National Reconciliation Committee, said his group had counted more than 36 prisoners who were released.
Russia bans transvestites from driving
Russia has passed a controversial law banning transvestites and transsexuals from driving, prompting sharp criticism from rights activists, including a prominent Kremlin advisor.
The legislation that entered into force this week bans anyone diagnosed with a range of personality and gender identity disorders, including transvestites and transsexuals, from taking the wheel.
The list also includes people with sexual fetishes, voyeurs and paedophiles, as well as pathological gamblers and kleptomaniacs.
The law follows other legislation passed in Russia discriminating against people because of their sexual orientation.
In 2012, President Vladimir Putin signed a law that bans providing information on gays to minors, despite opposition from international rights activists.
Six killed, including four soldiers, in Ukraine clashes
Four Ukrainian soldiers and two civilians have died in a resurgence of rocket and mortar attacks launched just days ahead of planned talks on the crisis, officials said today.
Local authorities in the rebel stronghold of Donetsk said two civilians were killed and seven injured in clashes around the industrial city's disputed airport.
The Ukrainian military said four of its soldiers had also been wounded in the past day.
