Can North Korea remain a 'hermit'?

December 23, 2014 - Daily News Briefing

The regime's apparent fear of a Hollywood comedy shows how vulnerable it is.

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Veteran politician Beji Caid Essebsi has won Tunisia's first free presidential election, official results showed on Monday, the final step in a transition to democracy after an uprising that ousted autocrat Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali in 2011. But rioting broke out in one southern city, with police firing teargas to disperse hundreds of youths who burned tires and blocked streets to demonstrate against the victory of an official from Ben Ali's old guard. Essebsi beat rival and incumbent Moncef Marzouki with 55.68 percent of the vote against 44.32 percent, the results showed.

Many young immigrants who are protected from deportation under new Obama administration policies are expected Monday to begin pursuing Arizona driver's licenses. The Arizona Department of Transportation said it is anticipating a rush of immigrant applicants in the weeks ahead at Motor Vehicle Division offices statewide. A preliminary injunction issued Dec. 18 by US District Judge David Campbell bars the state from enforcing Gov. Jan Brewer's policy of denying the licenses to about 20,000 immigrants.

The top aide to former Chinese President Hu Jintao has been placed under investigation for unspecified disciplinary violations, the official Xinhua News Agency said Monday, in a sign that President Xi Jinping is removing his predecessor's influences while consolidating his power. The evening announcement came two years after the former aide, Ling Jihua, fell out of political favor when a lurid scandal involving his alleged cover-up of his son's death in a speeding Ferrari disrupted his political ascent.

A white Milwaukee police officer who was fired after he fatally shot a mentally ill black man in April won't face criminal charges, the county's top prosecutor said Monday. Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm said Christopher Manney won't be charged because he shot Dontre Hamilton in self-defense. Manney is at least the third white police officer to avoid charges in the past month after a confrontation that led to a black man's death.

Big-city police departments and union leaders around the country are warning the rank and file to wear bulletproof vests and avoid making inflammatory posts on social media in the days after a man ambushed two New York City police officers and shot them to death inside their patrol car. The slayings of Officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu on Saturday afternoon in Brooklyn heightened fears about the safety of law enforcement officials nationwide, though authorities haven't said if they believe any threats are imminent.

The police killings of unarmed blacks in Ferguson, Missouri, and elsewhere – and the investigations and tumultuous protests they inspired – was the top news story of 2014, according to The Associated Press' annual poll of US editors and news directors. In a year crowded with dramatic and often wrenching news developments around the world, the No. 2 story was the devastating outbreak of Ebola in West Africa, followed by the conflict in Iraq and Syria fueled by the brutal actions of Islamic State militants.

Raspy-voiced, Grammy-winning singer Joe Cocker, best known for his cover of the Beatles' "With A Little Help From My Friends" and "You Are So Beautiful," has died, his agent said on Monday. He was 70. The death was confirmed by Marshall Arts, the company of Cocker's agent, Barrie Marshall, in England, which gave no other details.

“The object of the Monitor is to injure no man, but to bless all mankind.” – Mary Baker Eddy

The Daily News Briefing is published Monday through Friday by The Christian Science Publishing Society in Boston, Massachusetts.

To send a comment to the Editor, email editor@csmonitor.com.

“The object of the Monitor is to injure no man, but to bless all mankind.” – Mary Baker Eddy

The Daily News Briefing is published Monday through Friday by The Christian Science Publishing Society in Boston, Massachusetts.

To send a comment to the Editor, email editor@csmonitor.com.

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