Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr: Saudi Arabia executes top Shia cleric

Image copyrightReuters

Image captionSheikh Nimr al-Nimr, seen here in an undated photograph, was a vocal critic of the Saudi authorities

Saudi Arabia has executed the prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, the interior ministry said.

He was among 47 people put to death after being convicted of terrorism offences, it said in a statement.

Sheikh Nimr was a vocal supporter of the mass anti-government protests that erupted in Eastern Province in 2011, where a Shia majority have long complained of marginalisation.

Shia-lead Iran said Saudi Arabia would pay a "high price" for the execution.

A foreign ministry spokesman said Riyadh "supports terrorists... while executing and suppressing critics inside the country".

Iran is the main regional rival of Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia.

The executions were carried out simultaneously in 12 locations across Saudi Arabia.

Those also put to death include Sunnis convicted of involvement in al-Qaeda-linked terror attacks in 2003.

Of the 47 executed, one was a Chadian national while another was Egyptian. The rest are Saudis.

The cleric's nephew, Ali al-Nimr, who was 17 when he was arrested following the demonstrations and also faces execution, was not listed as one of those killed.

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Profile: Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr

Image captionNews of Sheikh Nimr's execution prompted an angry response from Shia authorities

• In his 50s when he was executed, he has been a persistent critic of Saudi Arabia's Sunni royal family
• Arrested several times over the past decade, alleging he was beaten by Saudi secret police during one detention
• Met US officials in 2008, Wikileaks revealed, seeking to distance himself from anti-American and pro-Iranian statements
• Emerged as a figurehead in the protests that began in 2011 inspired by the Arab Spring
• Said to have a particularly strong following among Saudi Shia youth

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Protests broke out in early 2011 in the oil-rich Eastern Province in the wake of the Arab Spring.

Sheikh Nimr's arrest in the following year, during which he was shot, triggered days of protests in which three people were killed.

His death sentence was confirmed in October 2014, with his family saying he had been found guilty among other charges of seeking "foreign meddling" in the kingdom.

Sheikh Nimr's supporters say he advocated only peaceful demonstrations and eschewed all violent opposition to the government.

His brother, Mohammed al-Nimr, said he hoped any reaction to the execution would be peaceful.

But an MP in Iraq's governing Shia coalition said the death aimed at "provoking sectarian fighting", while Lebanon's Shia council called it a "grave mistake", Reuters reported.

Police in Bahrain, which has seen tensions between the majority Shia population and its Sunni rulers, fired tear gas on protesters angry at the execution.

Saudi authorities deny discriminating against Shia and blame Iran for stirring up discontent.

Saudi Arabia carried out more than 150 executions last year, the highest figure recorded by human rights groups for 20 years.

Natalie Cole, R&B and jazz singer, dies aged 65

Natalie Cole, whose hit songs included the duet Unforgettable with her father Nat "King" Cole, has died aged 65.

The Grammy-winning singer died on Thursday night at a hospital in Los Angeles, her publicist told the Associated Press news agency.

She rose to fame as an R&B artist with tracks such as This Will Be and Inseparable.

The singer had recently cancelled a series of performances, including one on New Year's Eve.

"Natalie fought a fierce, courageous battle, dying how she lived... with dignity, strength and honour. Our beloved mother and sister will be greatly missed and remain unforgettable in our hearts forever,'' said a statement from her son Robert Yancy, and sisters, Timolin and Casey Cole, AP reported.

US civil rights activist Rev Jesse Jackson was among the first to tweet his condolences: "#NatalieCole, sister beloved & of substance and sound. May her soul rest in peace. #Inseparable."

Image captionCole, with Motown records founder Berry Gordy, in 2014

Image captionCole's jazz standards - evoking the sound of her father - brought her a whole new fanbase

The singer had battled drug problems and hepatitis in the past, and underwent a kidney transplant in 2009.

Her greatest success came with her 1991 album, Unforgettable... With Love, which paid tribute to her father with reworked versions of some of his best-known songs, including That Sunday That Summer, Too Young and Mona Lisa.

On the hit track Unforgettable, her voice was remixed with her father's, 25 years after his death.

The album went on to win six Grammys, including album of the year, as well as song of the year for the title track.

Image captionThe young Natalie performed on Top of the Pops in the 1970s

The daughter of crooner Cole and jazz singer Maria Hawkins - who worked with Duke Ellington - Natalie grew up surrounded by music in an affluent neighbourhood of Los Angeles.

Her father died from lung cancer when she was only 15, and she struggled to come to terms with his death. However, she appeared to find solace in music.

She began performing in college and had early success with her debut album Inseparable in 1975. The album track, This Will Be, became a top ten hit and went on to win Cole a Grammy for best female R&B performance.

Cole was also named best new artist at the Grammys - and the album's title track, Inseparable, became another chart hit.

Drug addiction

The follow-up albums Natalie and Unpredictable cemented her success, with tracks such as Sophisticated Lady and I've Got Love On My Mind bringing further chart glory.

In 1977, she had two platinum albums and her own Christmas special - and two years later she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

But her drug issues came to prominence in the 1980s and there followed a predictable slump in her career, as she battled addiction.

She re-emerged on the music scene in 1987, signed to a new label and with a new sound. Jump Start (My Heart) and her cover of Bruce Springsteen's Pink Cadillac were among her notable pop hits, while 1989's Miss You Like Crazy won her international acclaim.

Image captionSinger Cole reinvented herself as a pop star in the 1980s

She returned to the classic standards associated with her father in the 1990s, telling the Associated Press, she had to "throw out every R&B lick that I had ever learned and every pop trick I had ever learned".

"I didn't shed really any real tears until the album was over,'" Cole said. "Then I cried a whole lot.

"When we started the project, it was a way of reconnecting with my dad. Then when we did the last song, I had to say goodbye again."

In 2008, 17 years after Unforgettable... with Love, Cole released Still Unforgettable, which included not only songs made famous by her father but other artists, including Frank Sinatra.

Image captionCole, with the Grammy award she won for When I Fall in Love, in 1994

Image captionThe singer appeared on BBC chat show Parkinson in 2002, not long after the publication of her autobiography

The same year, she was diagnosed with Hepatitis C - which she believed was the result of her intravenous drug use in the early years of her fame.

Her battle with drugs, including heroin and crack cocaine, was charted in her 2000 autobiography Angel on my Shoulder.

She underwent a successful kidney transplant in 2009 - after being inundated with offers of kidneys from fans - and continued to tour and make public appearances on TV shows, including American Idol.

"I am a walking testimony to you can have scars,'' she told People magazine. `"You can go through turbulent times and still have victory in your life.''

Cole was married three times, and had one son.

Hottest '15 Tech Gadgets Led By Fitbit, Apple And...?

From wearables to drones to autonomous cars to virtual reality gear, the coolest new tech toys and gadgets will be on display at the Consumer Electronics Show next week.

Before the show floor opens on January 6, let's look back at some of the hottest tech gadgets of 2015:

Fitbit's (NYSE:FIT) Charge HR debuted in January of 2015. The company says the $150 device is the No. 1 selling fitness tracker and wearable in the U.S. The Charge HR and Fitbit's more expensive GPS watch, Surge, have automatic exercise recognition and heart rate tracking.

Fitbit's app was the most-downloaded iPhone app the day after Christmas, suggesting strong Fitbit device sales during the holidays.

Fitbit's stock has been in a downtrend since peaking in August.Shares are down more than 40% from that high. But they're still up 50% from their June IPO price of 20.

The Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Watch was also one of the hottest sellers this holiday season, according to analysts. And in early November, before Black Friday, Canalys said Apple had shipped nearly 7 million smart watches since their April launch.

Apple also launched its new Apple TV in October. With indications of a big usage jump after Christmas, that suggests a boost in sales.

However, Apple stock didn't perform well this year. Shares fell 1% for the year as of Wednesday's close. Apple is about 20% below its all-time high reached in April.

Alphabet's (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Google in October updated its Chromecast streaming stick, which uses your smartphone, tablet or laptop as a remote. The new model enables faster streaming and better performance in congested areas. Alphabet says that some 20 million Chromecasts have been sold since their launch in mid-2013.

Alphabet is trading 2% below its high reached in Tuesday's session. Shares are up 10% since breaking out of a base in October, and gained nearly 50% this year.

Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) has its own Amazon Fire TV streaming devices, which the e-commerce giant says were some of its biggest sellers during Black Friday. And its top seller across all products $100 and over was the Echo, a speaker that doubles as a voice-command service. The Echo was on Oprah's favorite things list for 2015.

Amazon is trading just 1% below its high set on Tuesday, when it reached profit-taking zone. Shares are now up 18% since breaking out of a base in October, and popped 122% in 2015.

Looking ahead, virtual reality gear from Sony (NYSE:SNE) and Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) are slated to begin sales in 2016. And Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) soon plans to ship developer kits for its augmented reality headset, the HoloLens.

Investor's Business Daily will be at CES in Las Vegas next week to show you the latest and greatest in consumer electronics products.Read 

Ramadi residents fleeing ISIS: 'They wanted to use us as human shields'

Habbaniyah, Iraq Standing in the entrance of her tent on a chilly winter night in the Iraqi desert, Nada Saleh describes the terrifying moment her family almost became part of ISIS' last stand in Ramadi.

As government forces mounted their final assault to retake the key city -- controlled by the Sunni terror group since May -- ISIS began to pull families out of their homes and move them to the eastern part of the city.

Saleh says she and her six children watched as her husband stared down the militants, refusing to allow them to take his family.

Hundreds of families have fled fighting in Ramadi for a camp 25 miles east in Habbaniyah.

The fighters dragged Saleh's husband away with a sword to his neck. Although he eventually managed to escape, he's been taken in for government questioning.

But the few hundred families massed here at this camp in Habbaniyah, a 25-mile drive east of Ramadi in Anbar Province, are the lucky ones.

Just a day ago these people were still inside Ramadi -- and although they're exhausted and cold, they're much safer here than at home.

Witness: "Dogs are eating their heads"

The Iraqis say roughly 1,000 families remain trapped in Ramadi's eastern districts, some of which isstill controlled by ISIS. The government believes they are being used as human shields.

One young woman who arrived in Habbaniyah with her family last night told CNN described desperate conditions as they fled Ramadi.

"We have been without food for two months, no water for the past 10 days," she said.

"We were surprised when we left our home and drove outside the city, we only saw destroyed houses and roads. We could not recognize the city. It looked like another city."

Hundreds of families have fled fierce fighting in Ramadi to a camp at Habbaniyah.

The woman said most of the ISIS fighters in Ramadi either fled or were killed as the army moved in.

"We saw them when we left our houses, we saw their dead bodies in the streets," she said. "Dogs are eating their heads. We only saw their hands and their legs."

The woman and her family would have left sooner, but ISIS was threatening to kill anyone who tried to escape.

"We were waiting for the Iraqi army to secure a safe path for us. They told us not to leave until they do it for us," she said. "I believe they (ISIS) wanted to use us as human shields, along with our kids."

Ramadi in ruins

The woman is among the tens of thousands of people who have left the city during the devastating, months-long effort to snatch it back from the clutches of ISIS.

Iraqi forces, backed by Western air power, finally drove ISIS out of the heart of Ramadi earlier this week.

Iraqi TV showed soldiers raising the national flag over Ramadi's government compound to mark the Iraqi military's first major win over ISIS, which controls significant territory in Iraq and Syria.

But during the live coverage, explosions and gunfire could be still be heard in the background. And although up to a quarter of the city remains in the militants' hands, it didn't stop Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi from declaring that 2016 "will be the year we drive ISIS out of Iraq."

Iraq raises flag over Ramadi 01:48

Local officials will face a raft of challenges in rebuilding the ruined city, where the U.S.-led coalition says it has carried out more than 630 airstrikes in the campaign to retake it from ISIS since July. The city will need to restore basic infrastructure like electricity and running water, as well as its residents' sense of security.

Back at Habbaniyah, night falls as men gather around a makeshift fire and women and children huddle in their tents.

The camp was built to hold all the families rescued from Ramadi. For now, many of these tents -- too many -- stand empty.

But while the winter chill here is bitter, and although many of these desperate people have lost their life's possessions, just to be here at all -- to be safe -- is enough for now.