Three killed as Israel and Hezbollah trade fire

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Footage of Hezbollah's attack on an IDF vehicle and Israel's retaliatory shelling of southern Lebanon

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Two Israeli soldiers and a Spanish UN peacekeeper have been killed as Hezbollah militants trade fire with Israeli troops on the Lebanese border.

A spokesman for the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) urged "maximum restraint to prevent an escalation".

The peacekeeper was killed close to the disputed Shebaa Farms area, where an Israeli convoy was earlier hit by anti-tank missiles, killing two soldiers.

The Israeli military responded by firing shells into southern Lebanon.

Hezbollah said it carried out the missile attack in retaliation for an Israeli air strike that killed six of its fighters and an Iranian Revolutionary Guards general in the Syrian Golan Heights 10 days ago.

The case against Chinese human rights lawyer Pu Zhiqiang

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Before his detention last May, Chinese human rights lawyer Pu Zhiqiang often posted his thoughts online. 

Between 2012 and 2014, Mr Pu wrote thousands of dispatches on weibo, China's version of Twitter.

Now just 28 of those messages could be used by the government to put Pu Zhiqiang behind bars for a very long time. 

Mr Pu was once a towering presence in Chinese courtrooms, garnering admiration for his spirited defence of famous dissidents, including the artist Ai Weiwei, and the downtrodden, including poor farmers fighting rural corruption. 

He was famous for his eloquence, sometimes citing classical Chinese poetry in the courtroom. 

'Telling lies'

But Pu Zhiqiang's blunt weibo messages, many of them expressing frustration with the ruling Chinese Communist Party, are forming the state's case against him. 

Police supplied a short list to Pu Zhiqiang's lawyer, Mo Shaoping. 

"From top to bottom, the Communist Party can't get through a single day without telling lies," he posted on 24 July, 2012.

Apple posts the biggest quarterly profit in history

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Apple's China sales are up 70% - and about to grow further, John Sudworth reports

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US technology giant Apple has reported the biggest quarterly profit ever made by a public company.

Apple reported a net profit of $18bn (£11.8bn) in its fiscal first quarter, which tops the $15.9bn made by ExxonMobil in the second quarter of 2012, according to Standard and Poor's.

Record sales of iPhones were behind the surge in profits.

Apple sold 74.5 million iPhones in the three months to 27 December - well ahead of most analysts' expectations.

In a conference call with financial analysts Apple's chief executive Tim Cook said that demand for phones was "staggering".

However, sales of the iPad continued to disappoint, falling by 22% in 2014 from a year earlier.

First lady Michelle Obama shakes hands with Saudi king. So?

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President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama made a quick stop in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday to pay respects to the late King Abdullah, and to hold meetings with the new leader, King Salman bin Abdulaziz. But one aspect of the encounter stood out to reporters covering the receiving line at the palace: the first lady shook hands with the king.

Islamic law generally forbids men from touching women to whom they are not related. However, that rule is often times overlooked when official diplomatic delegations visit the kingdom. 

The White House notes that representatives of the United States, including former Secretaries of State Hillary Clinton and Madeleine Albright, along with German Chancellor Angela Merkel have all visited the Saudi king, and have all shaken hands with members of the Saudi royal family. 

READ: Is Obama-Modi 'bromance' a turning point?

Islamic experts also point to another central theme of Islam: hospitality. When one is a guest in someone's home, they are treated as family.

Pool reporters traveling with the President on Air Force One, also pointed out that in the receiving line at the airport in Saudi Arabia - a more open setting than the palace -- Michelle Obama stood next to but slightly behind the President, and held a small black clutch purse in front of her with both hands.

Grim wait as Australians face prospect of Indonesian firing squad

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(CNN)For several days after receiving a letter from the Indonesian president rejecting his plea for clemency, Myuran Sukumaran couldn't paint.

"I felt really sorry for him," said award-winning Australian artist Ben Quilty, who has been mentoring Sukuamaran, a convicted drug smuggler, in Bali's Kerobokan prison since late 2011.

"But I also said, 'Myuran, what are you doing? Are you just going to sit around and wait for this? You've got nothing else to do, go back to work and start making paintings.'"

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