Football: Jose Mourinho sacked as Chelsea manager
Jose Mourinho was sacked as manager of Premier League champions Chelsea on Thursday after a calamitous run of results left the west London club one point above the relegation zone.
A club statement said Chelsea and the 52-year-old Portuguese had parted company by "mutual consent" seven months after he led them to the title by an eight-point margin.
It concludes a spectacular fall from grace for Mourinho, rated as one of the world's best coaches, who declared himself the "happy one" when he returned for a second stint in charge of Chelsea in 2013 after spells at Inter Milan and Real Madrid.
Another heat record means 2015 likely to be hottest ever
The globe shattered yet another heat record in November, continuing a warming trend that is all but certain to make 2015 the hottest year in modern history, US government scientists said Thursday.
Last month marked the hottest November in 136 years, marking seven months in a row of record-breaking temperatures, said the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in its monthly climate report.
That means 2015 is poised to oust 2014 as the most scorching year in contemporary times.
Gene-editing is Science mag's breakthrough of 2015
A gene-editing technique known as Crispr was named on Thursday by the influential US journal Science as 2015's breakthrough of the year, due to its potential to revolutionise health and medicine.
The method has stirred controversy, particularly after Chinese researchers earlier this year announced they had deliberately edited the DNA of nonviable human embryos from a fertility clinic.
However, "clinical researchers are already applying it to create tissue-based treatments for cancer and other diseases," wrote managing news editor John Travis.
Model Bar Refaeli grilled over massive Israel tax evasion
Israel's most famous model Bar Refaeli was arrested and questioned for allegedly evading taxes on millions of dollars of income from abroad by lying about her residency, Israeli authorities said Thursday.
Refaeli is also suspected of receiving benefits of "over a million shekels" (S$365,000) in the form of free accommodation in luxury apartments and cars she did not report, Israel's Tax Authority said in a statement.
Refaeli's mother Zipora was also arrested, with the Tax Authority estimating the unreported income from abroad at "dozens of millions of shekels".
Yiqing Yin becomes first Chinese-born haute couture designer
The first Chinese-born designer was admitted on Thursday into Paris' elite coterie of haute couture creators.
Yiqing Yin, who recently quit as artistic director of Leonard to concentrate on her own label, is also one of the youngest, at 30.
Haute couture exists only in Paris and is sustained by a small number of the world's richest women.
