US: Authorities blamed an ice resurfacing machine today for a suspected gas leak that sent dozens of people to hospital after a junior hockey game at a Wisconsin rink.

At least 81 people were treated for carbon monoxide poisoning after the leak was discovered at Poppy Waterman Ice Rink in Lake Delton on Saturday.

GERMANY: Workers launched a three-day strike at five Amazon distribution centres today.

The Verdi union called workers at Bad Hersfeld, Leipzig, Graben, Rheinberg and Werne out on strike until late on Wednesday.

The united services union has been pushing for higher pay, arguing Amazon workers receive lower wages than others in retail and mail-order jobs.

EBOLA OUTBREAK: The UN economic commission for Africa asked today for more debt cancellations for the three West African nations hardest hit by the Ebola virus.

The commission for Africa said that it was crucial that the health crisis should not be a catalyst for financial distress in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia.

The three countries account for only 0.68 per cent of Africa’s GDP.

US: The families of nine people killed and a teacher injured two years ago at the Sandy Hook Elementary School filed a lawsuit against the suppliers of the rifle used in the shooting today.

The negligence and wrongful death lawsuit asserts that the Bush­master AR-15 rifle should not have been for sale because it is a military weapon unsuited for hunting or home defence.

In addition to Bushmaster, the families named firearm distributor Camfour and Riverview Gun Sales, the store where the rifle was bought in 2010.

UKRAINE : The UN said today that more than 1,300 people have been killed since September’s ceasefire.

As of December 12, 4,707 combatants and civilians have been killed since the conflict started in April.

Of these, 1,357 were recorded after the September 5 truce.

Shelling has repeatedly punctured the truce, worsening a humanitarian crisis that has left many civilians without adequate social support.

PHILIPPINES: Military chief General Gregorio Pio Catapang declared a month-long suspension of military and police offensives against Maoist guerillas in observance of the Christmas holidays.

His forces will halt offensives from December 18 to January 19, Gen Catapang said today.

He urged New People’s Army guerillas to similarly declare a holiday respite on attacks, as they have done in past years.

BELGIUM: Three men were detained by police who stormed a flat in Ghent today after reports of a man being taken hostage in an armed siege.

Police were called after four armed men were reportedly seen entering a building in the Dampoort district this morning.

A spokeswoman for the state prosecutor said the victim was safe and well.

She said the incident was not terrorism-related.

FRANCE: A Navajo leader travelled to Paris today and bought seven tribal masks which had been put up for auction despite protests from the US government.

The objects bought at the Drouot auction house for several hundred thousand euros included masks believed to have been used in Navajo wintertime healing ceremonies.

Navajo Nation vice-president Rex Lee Jim said he was as yet unable to determine the origin of the masks.