No charges for New York cop in chokehold death: Media

A grand jury on Wednesday said it would not charge a white New York police officer in the choking death of a black man, US media reported.

Eric Garner, a 43-year-old father-of-six, died after being placed in a chokehold by New York police Officer Daniel Pantaleo while being arrested on suspicion of selling untaxed cigarettes in Staten Island.

The decision comes shortly after a grand jury in the Missouri town of Ferguson declined to charge another white officer who shot dead an unarmed black teen, in a case that triggered nationwide protests.

Read more here

2014 poised for hottest year on record: UN

This year may end as the hottest on record, the UN's weather agency said Wednesday as it recounted a tale of rising seas, crippling droughts and floods since January.

"The year 2014 is on track to be one of the hottest, if not the hottest, on record," the World Meteorological Organisation reported on the sidelines of the UN climate talks in Lima.

Provisional data for 2014 shows that 14 out of the 15 warmest years on record have all occurred in the 21st century, it added.

Read more here

Germans mourn young heroine who stepped in to protect teens 'when others looked away'

Germans flocked to the funeral on Wednesday of a young woman of Turkish origin who has become a symbol of civic courage for giving her life while trying to protect two teenage girls.

Calls have mounted in mass online campaigns and in the German media for Tugce Albayrak, 23, to be posthumously awarded the Federal Order of Merit for her bravery in stepping in to help the teens being victimised in a fast-food restaurant altercation.

After confronting a group of men who were harrassing the girls last month, she received a blow to the head that sent her into a coma.

Read more here

Formula One: Minimum age limit of 18 to be introduced

Formula One will impose a minimum age limit of 18 years old from 2016, the sport's governing body said on Wednesday in a change that would have kept out Dutch teenager Max Verstappen (above) if introduced for next year.

Verstappen was signed by the Toro Rosso team while still only 16 and turned 17 last September.

He will become the youngest ever Formula One driver when he makes his debut in Australia in March.

Read more here

British vlogger 'Zoella' beats JK Rowling with bestseller

A British video blogger has sold more than 78,000 copies of her first book in a week, beating established authors like JK Rowling and Dan Brown.

Girl Online by Zoe Sugg, 24, set a record for sales of a debut novel in Britain, the media reported on Wednesday, citing records that have been kept by Nielsen BookScan since 1998.

Sugg, better known as "Zoella", started out in 2009, handing out beauty and fashion advice on YouTube to a legion of fans via her video blogs or "vlogs".

Read more here