The Islamic State jihadist group recaptured Palmyra today after Syrian armed forces pulled out from the desert city, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
	"Despite the ongoing air raids, IS retook all of Palmyra after the Syrian army withdrew south of the city," said Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman.
	The IS-linked Amaq news agency also reported that IS regained "full control" of the city today.

IS recaptures Palmyra after Syria army withdrawal: monitor

PTI Automatic

Three Ukrainian soldiers were killed and two wounded in the country's rebel east, the bloodiest day for government forces in more than a month, Kiev said today.
	"Over the past 24 hours three Ukrainian soldiers were killed in combat," military spokesman Oleksandr Motuzyanyk told journalists.
	"It happened as a result of an enemy mortar attack near Krasnogorivka," some 20 kilometres west of the de facto rebel capital Donetsk, he said, noting a "sharp increase" in shooting by the pro-Russian rebels.
	Nearly 10,000 people have died since Ukraine's mostly Russian-speaking eastern industrial regions revolted against Kiev's pro-Western government in April 2014.
	Kiev and the West have accused Russia of supporting rebels and deploying troops across the border, claims Moscow has repeatedly denied.

Three Ukrainian troops killed in rebel east: officials

IS recaptures Palmyra after Syria army withdrawal:

Two girls approximately seven or eight years old blew themselves up in a northeastern Nigerian market today, killing themselves and wounding at least 17 others, witnesses said.
	The girls were "seven or eight", a local militia member in Maiduguri, Abdulkarim Jabo, told AFP.
	Emergency services on-site in the town, the epicentre of the Boko Haram jihadist insurgency, said 17 people sustained injuries.
	Maiduguri militia-man Jabo said he saw the girls today immediately before the explosion.
	"They got out of a rickshaw and walked right in front of me without showing the slightest sign of emotion," he said.
	"I tried to speak with one of them, in Hausa and in English, but she didn't answer. I thought they were looking for their mother," he added.
	"She headed toward the poultry sellers, and then detonated her explosives belt."
	The attack was not immediately claimed by Boko Haram but bore all the hallmarks of the jihadists, who have regularly used women and young girls to carry out ...

Nigeria: small girls stage suicide attack at market, 17 hurt

Gambia's incumbent head of state Yahya Jammeh will contest in court the election victory handed to opposition candidate Adama Barrow, his party has said.
	In a shock rejection of his defeat at the polls, Jammeh cited in a speech broadcast late Friday "unacceptable errors" by election authorities.
	He was referring to a readjustment of the votes counted in the December 1 presidential election.
	Jammeh's declaration was "a prelude to a petition that the (ruling) APRC Party is in the process of filing before the Supreme Court of the Gambia against a fraud decision of the IEC (Independent Electoral Commission)," his party said in a statement released late yesterday.
	Jammeh had said Friday that he had previously accepted the electoral results "believing that the Independent Electoral Commission was independent and honest and reliable", but would now "reject the results in totality."
	Jammeh's swift concession of defeat on December 2 had stunned observers and led to celebrations in the ...

Gambia's Jammeh to contest election result in court

Forty-eight Yemeni soldiers were killed in a suicide bombing claimed by the Islamic State group in the southern port city of Aden, officials said today in an updated casualty toll.
	"We have 48 dead and 29 wounded," all soldiers, Abdel Nasser al-Wali, health department chief for Aden, told AFP, revising an earlier toll of 35 dead.
	The bomber detonated his explosives belt as hundreds of troops had gathered to collect their monthly pay at a barracks in Al-Sawlaban near Aden's international airport.
	IS claimed responsibility.
	"A martyr from the Islamic State denotated his explosives belt in Al-Sawlaban military camp in Aden during a gathering of the Yemeni army," the IS-affiliated Amaq news outlet said.
	Yemeni authorities have for months pressed a campaign against jihadists who remain active in the south and east of the war-torn country.
	IS and its jihadist rival Al-Qaeda have taken advantage of a conflict between the government and the Huthi rebels, who control the capital Sanaa, ..

48 soldiers dead in IS-claimed Yemen attack: new toll

More than 20 people were killed today in a suicide truck bombing in the Somali capital Mogadishu, police said, in a fresh strike claimed by the Al-Qaeda-linked Shabaab group.
	"The tally we have made so far indicates that more than 20 people, most of them civilians, were killed in the blast," said Ibrahim Mohamed, a Somali police commander.
	He said the toll might rise further as the injured and dead had been taken to different hospitals around the city. It was unclear how many people had been in the vicinity of the blast.
	Abdikadir Abdirahman Adem, director of Mogadishu's AMIN ambulance service, said his staff had transported 48 injured people to hospital.
	"The bomber targeted a civilian area. There were porters and other small-scale traders in the area when the blast occurred," said Mohamed.
	Mogadishu residents described hearing a huge blast outside the city's busy seaport, seeing a plume of smoke that rose above the skyline.
	A spokesman for the city adminstration, Abdifatah ...

Somalia suicide truck bombing kills more than 20

Scoreboard at stumps on day four of
the fourth cricket Test between India and England here.
     England 1st innings 400
     India 1st innings (overnight 451-7; V Kohli not out 147, J. Yadav not out 30)
     L. Rahul b Ali                   24
	M. Vijay c & b Rashid           136
	C. Pujara b Ball                 47
	V. Kohli c Anderson b Woakes    235
	K. Nair lbw b Ali                13
	P. Patel c Bairstow b Root       15
	R. Ashwin c Jennings b Root       0
	R. Jadeja c Buttler b Rashid     25
	J. Yadav st Bairstow b Rashid    104
	B. Kumar c Woakes b Rashid        9
	U. Yadav not out                  7
     Extras: (B-5, LB-8, W-3)          16
     Total: (10 wickets, 182.3 overs) 631
     Fall of wickets: 1-39, 2-146, 3-262, 4-279, 5-305, 6-307, 7-364, 8-605, 9-615
     Bowling: Anderson 20-5-63-0, Woakes 16-2-79-1, Ali 53-5-174-2, Rashid 55.3-5-192-4, Ball 18-5-47-1, Stokes 10-2-32-0, Root 10-2-31-2
     England 2nd innings
	A. Cook lbw b Jadeja          18
	K. Jennings ...

Mumbai, Dec 11 (AFP) Scoreboard at stumps on day four of

Two little girls approximately seven or eight years old blew themselves up in a northeastern Nigerian market today, killing themselves and wounding at least 17 others, witnesses said.
	The girls "must have been seven or eight", a local militia member in Maiduguri told AFP.
	Emergency services on-site in the town, the epicentre of the Boko Haram jihadist insurgency, said 17 people sustained "relatively serious" injuries.

Young Nigerian girls blow themselves up at market, 17 hurt

Qatar, the world's largest liquified natural gas producer, announced today it is to merge state-owned Qatargas and RasGas to create a "truly unique global energy operator".
	Saad Sherida al-Kaabi, president and chief executive of state-owned Qatar Petroleum, said the move to the merger would begin right away and the companies would begin operating under a single entity, named Qatargas, within 12 months.
	He said the move would save "hundreds of millions of dollars".
	"The integration aims to create a truly unique global energy operator in terms of size, service and reliability," he told reporters at a news conference.
	Kaabi added that there would be no job losses on the "operating side", but it was unclear if there would be cuts elsewhere.
	Qatargas, in its present form, is the largest LNG producer in the world, according to its website.
	RasGas, holds no assets but oversees and manages all LNG operations in the energy-rich emirate.
	Both companies have joint ventures with oil ...

Qatar to merge state-owned giant gas producers

Iran Air said today it had finalised a contract to buy 80 planes from US firm Boeing, the official IRNA news agency reported.
	"Fifty of the planes are 737 and the other 30 are the long haul 777 that will be delivered to Iran Air in a period of 10 years," said Farhad Parvaresh, chief executive of the national carrier, who signed the contract with Boeing officials in Tehran.
	 IRNA reported that the contract was worth USD 16.6 billion (15.7 billion euros).
	Following an initial agreement in June, the sale of the planes was given final approval by the US government in September.
	Washington lifted many of its sanctions on Iran under a nuclear deal that came into force in January, but many restrictions have remained in place that mean companies trading with Tehran must receive explicit approval from the White House.

Iran signs contract to buy 80 Boeing planes: official

Two girls blow themselves up in Nigeria market, at least

The death toll from twin bombings near an Ankara football stadium has risen to 38 and left 166 people injured, Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said today.
	A total of 30 police, seven civilians and an unidentified person have been killed in the blasts, Soylu said.

Turkey twin blast toll rises to 38: interior minister

US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter arrived in Iraq today to discuss the coming stages of the ongoing offensive to retake the city of Mosul from the Islamic State jihadist group.
	Carter had arrived in Baghdad and would "survey key locations directly supporting the battle for Mosul," the Pentagon said in a statement.
	The United States leads an international coalition providing assistance in the shape of air strikes, equipment, training and advising on the ground to Iraqi forces battling the jihadists.
	US forces are stationed in Qayyarah, the main staging base for the southern front of the Mosul offensive that was launched on October 17, as well as in the autonomous Kurdish region.
	Around 5,000 US troops are deployed in Iraq as part of an "advise and assist" mission to support Iraqi federal and Kurdish peshmerga forces battling jihadists.
	US special forces are also active on the ground in Iraq, as well as in neighbouring Syria, where another offensive is under way to retake the ...

US defence chief in Iraq to review Mosul op

Scoreboard at tea on day four of the
fourth cricket Test between India and England here.
     England 1st innings 400
     India 1st innings (overnight 451-7; V Kohli not out 147, J. Yadav not out 30)
     L. Rahul b Ali                   24
	M. Vijay c & b Rashid           136
	C. Pujara b Ball                 47
	V. Kohli c Anderson b Woakes    235
	K. Nair lbw b Ali                13
	P. Patel c Bairstow b Root       15
	R. Ashwin c Jennings b Root       0
	R. Jadeja c Buttler b Rashid     25
	J. Yadav st Bairstow b Rashid    104
	B. Kumar c Woakes b Rashid        9
	U. Yadav not out                  7
     Extras: (B-5, LB-8, W-3)          16
     Total: (10 wickets, 182.3 overs) 631
     Fall of wickets: 1-39, 2-146, 3-262, 4-279, 5-305, 6-307, 7-364, 8-605, 9-615
     Bowling: Anderson 20-5-63-0, Woakes 16-2-79-1, Ali 53-5-174-2, Rashid 55.3-5-192-4, Ball 18-5-47-1, Stokes 10-2-32-0, Root 10-2-31-2
     England 2nd innings
	A. Cook lbw b Jadeja          18
	K. Jennings lbw ...

Mumbai, Dec 11 (AFP) Scoreboard at tea on day four of the

South Korea's finance minister vowed Sunday to keep Asia's fourth-largest economy "strong and stable" after a decision by lawmakers to impeach President Park Geun-Hye threatened to hurt growth.
	Yoo Il-Ho's comments came after parliament voted Friday to impeach Park, stripping away her executive powers over an influence-peddling scandal and opening up a new period of uncertainty for the country.
	"The Korean government is mindful of the severity of the current situation," Yoo told foreign reporters.
	"I promise you that we will do everything we can to keep our economy strong and stable."
	South Korea has been struggling with soaring household debt, low birth rates and rising youth unemployment with its economy expanding at the slowest pace in recent years.
	Yoo said the latest political crisis was another burden for an economy already hammered by external uncertainties such as falling oil prices and growing protectionist tendencies by major economies.
	"The biggest vulnerability from .

S Korea vows to keep economy strong, stable after Park ouster

Squeezed out of Twitter and other social media websites cracking down on hate speech, far-right activists are finding a home on a new platform that promises never to censor content.
	Launched in August, Gab has become known as a safe haven for the "alt-right" movement dominated by the white supremacists who are helping fuel America's deepening polarization.
	The social network currently has 100,000 members and another 200,000 on its waiting list, according to the company.
	"All are welcome to speak freely," spokesman Utsav Sanduja, who is a Canadian-us-cHindu with roots in India, said.
	Gab is unable to accommodate all those who want to join, he adds, because it is still in its test phase.
	The social network's rise comes amid Twitter's suspension of political activists for purportedly promoting racist and harassing comments.
	One of the new "Gabbers," Richard Spencer, heads the white supremacist National Policy Institute, whose account Twitter has suspended.
	Spencer, whose "Hail ...

Promising no censorship, social network Gab draws 'alt-right'

Fierce fighting and heavy bombardment saw more than 10,000 people flee rebel-held areas of the battleground Syrian city of Aleppo since midnight, a monitoring group said today.
	"They fled towards government-held areas in west Aleppo and districts newly controlled by regime forces in the north and centre of the city," said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
	A resident in the city's southeast told AFP that he saw large crowds of people fleeing during the night towards regime-held districts in west Aleppo.
	According to the Observatory, fighting raged on several fronts between rebels and regime forces in southeast Aleppo, while regime raids and artillery fire continued to pound rebel-held areas.
	An AFP correspondent in west Aleppo said that heavy bombardment of the east was heard through the night, and that it was so intense that it rattled windows in western districts.

More than 10,000 flee rebel-held Aleppo since midnight:monitor

At least 16 people died early today in a suicide truck bombing outside the busy sea port of the Somali capital Mogadishu, the director of the ambulance service said.
	"We assisted 48 wounded people and carried 16 others who were killed in the blast," said Abdikadir Abdirahman Adem, director of Mogadishu's AMIN ambulance service.
	Mogadishu residents described a huge blast that could be heard across the city and a plume of smoke that rose above the skyline.
	A spokesman for the city adminstration, Abdifatah Omar Halane, confirmed the blast but gave a lower toll of "nearly 10" killed. He said investigations were underway.
	The Al-Qaeda aligned Shabaab militant group claimed responsibility in a statement distributed on its Telegram messaging account.
	It said the target was a military base close to the port and claimed to have killed "nearly 30". The group frequently exaggerates the number killed in its attacks.
	The Shabaab is fighting to overthrow the internationally-backed government .

Suicide bombing 'kills 16' in Somali capital

Turkey declared a one-day morning today after twin blasts ripped through the heart of Istanbul following a football match killing 29 people, mainly police, and wounding 166, the state-run Anadolu news agency said.
	Prime Minister Binali Yildirim also ordered flags to fly at half mast after a car bombing near a football stadium followed by a suicide bombing at a nearby park, Anadolu said.
	Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said 27 of those killed were police and two were civilians, adding that 10 suspects had already been detained.
	No group has claimed the blasts which were the latest in a year that has seen Istanbul and other Turkish cities rocked by a string of attacks blamed on Islamic State jihadists and Kurdish militants.

Turkey declares day's mourning after Istanbul bombings

Vietnam has arrested five former bank employees for alleged mismanagement, including an ex-managing director and his deputy, the latest executives to be punished in the scandal-hit sector.
	Tran Phuong Binh, his deputy Nguyen Thi Ngoc Van and three others were arrested for "violating laws on financial and banking activities", according to a statement from the partially state-owned Dong A Bank yesterday.
	The statement did not elaborate on what crimes the five are accused of, but state-run Thanh Nien newspaper said Binh is suspected of causing major financial losses as a result of poorly managed loans.
	All five were originally dismissed in August 2015, Dong A Bank's statement added, when the bank was put under special supervision for suspected illegal activities, according to reports.
	   Dong A Bank, one of the country's smaller banks and based in Vietnam's financial hub Ho Chi Minh City, was established in 1992 and lists the city's communist party office as one of its major ...

AFP

AFP

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