Paris attacks: Raid destroys new terrorist cell ready to strike
A "commando" of people arrested or killed in a massive police raid in a Paris apartment Wednesday were a terror unit capable of staging a fresh attack, the city prosecutor said.
"A new team of terrorists was neutralised and all indications are that given their arms, their organisational structure and their determination, the commando could have struck," said Paris prosecutor Francois Molins.
The fate of Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the suspected mastermind of the Paris attacks, remained unknown after the massive police assault on his alleged hideout, Molins said, as he outlined a seven-hour raid of "extreme difficulty" which saw police fire nearly 5,000 rounds of ammunition in a battle with a group holed up in two apartments.
Paris attacks: Many mourn police dog killed in Saint-Denis raid
The death of a police dog named Diesel during a raid in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis evoked an outpouring of grief on social media on Wednesday.
The raid, which targeted the suspected Paris attack mastermind Abdelhamid Abaaoud, also resulted in the death of a woman suicide bomber and another militant.
The hashtag #JeSuisChien, which means "I am dog," went viral and trended worldwide on Twitter Wednesday morning and trended first on Twitter in France in honour of Diesel.
Islamic State shows photo of improvised Russian plane bomb
Islamic State in Iraq and Syria's (ISIS') official magazine carried a photo on Wednesday of what it said was the improvised bomb that brought down the Russian airliner over Egypt's Sinai Peninsula last month, killing all 224 people on board.
The photo showed a can of Schweppes Gold soft drink and what appeared to be a detonator and switch on a blue background.
The group said it had initially planned to bring down a plane belonging to a country participating in the US-led coalition bombing it in Syria and Iraq but changed course after Moscow started its own airstrikes campaign in Syria.
Weekly sex makes for happy couples: US study
How much sex is enough? Just once a week is all it takes for optimal happiness among married heterosexual couples and those in long-term relationships, said a US study Thursday.
The findings are based on surveys of more than 30,000 Americans collected over four decades, and are published in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science.
"Although more frequent sex is associated with greater happiness, this link was no longer significant at a frequency of more than once a week," said lead researcher Amy Muise.
Tennis: Nadal imperious as Murray crumbles at World Tour Finals
Rafael Nadal showed he was getting back to his best as he crushed Andy Murray at the World Tour Finals on Wednesday with an impressive 6-4, 6-1 victory.
The Spanish fifth seed was dominant as the British world No. 2's game fell apart in front of a home crowd at the 17,800-capacity O2 Arena in London.
The first set of the group stage match was a high-level contest featuring impressive rallies and smart drop shots, but in the second, Murray's game fell away as Nadal turned the screw.
