Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that an Israeli soldier convicted of manslaughter for shooting a Palestinian as he lay wounded in the occupied West Bank should be pardoned. An opinion poll run by the Isreali television station, Channel 2, showed that two thirds (67 percent) of respondents backed the prime minister’s call. Only the country’s President Reuven Rivlin has the power to grant pardons who said any pardon would be considered “in accordance with standard practices and after recommendations from the relevant authorities,"

A meeting of China’s State Council’s executive announced on Wednesday that local government will take over approval of 53 administrative items, mainly covering business activities such as qualification certificates for private schools and certain business permits. The move represents a continuing effort to delegate authority with a total of 230 administration items having been delegated to local governments since 2013. The meeting, chaired by Premier Li Keqiang, also stressed the importance of streamline regulations to create a more dynamic market environment which should be the cornerstone for development. 

A fragile ceasefire in Syria brokered by Russia and Turkey last week has come under threat amidst accusations by Turkey that the Syrian government has violated the truce due to fighting in the Wadi Barada region near the capital Damascus. The Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said the ongoing violence is jeopardizing the next round of negotiations due to be held in Astana the capital of Kazakhstan later this month. Cavusoglu’s comments follow some of Syria’s largest rebel groups “freezing” their support for the peace talks on Tuesday. 

The mayor and the Party head of Panzhihua, Southwest China's Sichuan Province were shot and injured on Wednesday. The gunman, thought to be a senior local official, then killed himself after the attack. The motive behind the attack remains unclear although local media quoted sources close to the suspect as saying that he had been complaining about the Party chief and how the chief had made things difficult for him. Neither victims' injuries are believed to be life-threatening. Gun violence is relatively rare in China due to strict gun ownership laws.

Vice-president-elect Mike Pence has said that repealing “Obamacare” should be a "first order of business" for Donald Trump and Congress. The 2010 Affordable Care Act, often referred to as “Obamacare” is seen as a key achievement of the Obama regime extending health coverage to an estimated 20 million Americans but has also been beset with issues of soaring health insurance premiums for some. President Obama urged fellow Democrats in office to fight for his healthcare bill in a private meeting as he himself prepared to leave office. While most Washington observers think repealing it could be relatively straightforward finding a replacement will be more difficult.

Twelve children were injured, three seriously, by a man in a knife attack at a kindergarten in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Wednesday afternoon. The man entered the kindergarten in Youyi Township, Pingxiang City claiming he needed to pick up a child before slashing several children with a kitchen knife. The police apprehended the attacker shortly after the attack who, according to the Global Times newspaper confessed that he committed the crime because he held a grudge against someone in his village.  

Shanghai Jiao Tong University professor Wu Xiaolin and his team have developed an Artificial Intelligence program that can identify criminals with 90 percent accuracy just by looking at pictures of their faces. Wu and his team collected almost 2,000 ID card photos of criminals and non-criminals and fed the data into the computer. The AI was then able to predict who did and did not have a criminal records of other photos. Wu said he doesn’t agree with judging people by their appearance and he hopes his findings are neither exaggerated nor misinterpreted. 

 105 year-old cyclist sets new world record. 

French cyclist Robert Marchand set a new world record at the age of 105. The centenarian cycled 22.547 kilometers (14.01 miles) in one hour, the furthest anyone over the age of 105 has ridden in 60 minutes. The special “over 105” category was created just for him and he previously set the record for the furthest anyone over the age of 100 had cycled in an hour in 2012 of 26.927km. despite the record breaking achievement Marchard told AFP news afterwards “"I'm not in such good shape as I was a couple of years back," adding "I am not here to be champion. I am here to prove that at 105 years old you can still ride a bike."