BBC news with Nick Kelly.
Sony Pictures has announced a limited theatrical release of the Interview, the comedy about the North Korean leader that was withdrawn after a big cyber-attack on the company and reports of threats against cinemas. From Log Angeles here's Alice Livehead.
President Obama praised Sony's decision to backtrack. He had been critical when the company said it was pulling the film Interview after anonymous online threat which the department of homeland security had no credible intelligence about. Sony Pictures confirmed the film would have a limited theatrical release in the US on Christmas Day, that means independent art house cinemas who wanted to show the film all alone. Sony said it only pulled the film because the big multi-player theater companies refused to screen it on safety grounds and said it was continuing efforts so the movie reaches the largest possible audience.
US Health officials have recommended lifting the lifetime ban on blood donations from gay and bisexual men. They say, in the future, donations should be accepted from men who’ve refrained from sex for a year. The controversial ban was introduced during the early years of the AIDS crisis. But many medical groups have argued it is no longer supported by science. The lifting of the ban will bring the US in line with a number of countries with similar short-term bans.
A Canadian porn actor who killed a Chinese student and posted his body parts to politicians and schools has been found guilty of murder. Luka Magnotta had pleaded not guilty to the killing on the grounds of diminished responsibility. Lee Carter is in Toronto.
It took jurors more than a week to reach their verdict, but in the end they determined that Luka Magnotta’s crimes were premeditated. The murder and dismemberment of the 33-year-old university student Lin Jun in May, 2012, shocked even seasoned officers from Montreal’s homicide squad. Mr.Magnotta filmed part of his crime and posted the video on the Internet. He then sent Lin Jun’s body parts in the post to, among others, the Canadian prime minister. Mr.Magnotta then fled Canada and after an international manhunt, he was arrested at an Internet cafe in Berlin.
The authorities in Peru have decided to evacuated a remote Amazon community after it was raided by 200 members of uncontacted and indigeous tribe armed with bows and arrows. Nokolas Russia reports.
This is the third time this year that the Mashco-Piros have arrived in Monte Salvador searching for food and other objects. But last Thursday they came while most of villagers were away and ransacked their homes and killed some of the domestic animals. No one has been injuried but the Peruvian police said it was necessary to take the villagers to a bigger town to safeguard their lives. A local indigeous organisation has asked the government to protect the Mashco-Piro's land much of which has been taken over by logging concessions and drug traffickers.
World news from the BBC.
France is stepping up security in public areas after 3 violent attacks over these many days. The Prime Minister, Manuel said there will be extra police on the streets and an additional 300 soldiers will be deployed around the country for the Christmas period. Mr. Valls said France was facing terrorist threat and possible copycat attacks.
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has criticized the Ukrainian parliament for its decision to announce the country’s non-alliance status and walk towards the membership of NATO alliance. Mr. Lavrov called the step counterproductive and said it would cause tensions. Parts of eastern Ukraine are controlled by pro-Russian separatists and Russia annexed Crimea earlier this year. Opinion polls suggest that support of NATO membership has risen since the conflict which Russia began.
Police in the Indian state of Assam said at least 36 people have been killed by militants in the area closed to the boarder of Bhutan. U reports from Mumbai.
The attacks took place on Tuesday evening in remote villages in 2 separate areas of Assam. The dead include some women. They were allegedly gun down by a militant group fighting for a separated homeland for the Bodo tribe in the state. Police say the attacks are in retaliation to an operation by Indian security forces in which some members of the separatist group were killed. Investigations are underway and military troops had been rushed to the area.
Pope Francais has sent a message of solidarity to Christians in the Middle East in the face of what he called all kinds of abuses and inhuman acts. The pope said Christmas hymns in the region will be accompanied by tears and sighs, without mentioning Islamic State by name. He said a new terrorist organization of previously unimaginable dimensions have driven many Christians and other minorities from their native land.