Malaysian security forces have killed a key member of a Philippine Islamist militant group in a shootout in waters off Sabah in Borneo, the Philippine military said today.
	Abu Sayyaf leader, Abraham Hamid, had led the kidnapping of several foreigners from a tourist resort in the volatile southern Philippines last year, two of whom were later beheaded.
	"The death of Hamid is a big blow to the (Abu Sayyaf) as it neutralised one of the notorious bandits and will degrade their capability for spotting and kidnapping victims in the future," said regional military spokesman Major Filemon Tan.
	Two other militants were killed alongside Hamid in the shootout with Malaysian police in Lahad Datu in eastern Sabah, he said.
	The Abu Sayyaf beheaded two Canadian hostages after demands for millions of dollars were not met, but released two others, a Norwegian and Filipina, after ransoms were believed to be paid.
	Tan said Hamid had also been involved in the kidnapping of four Indonesian crewmen in 

Malaysia police kill key Abu Sayyaf militant in shootout

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Tens of thousands celebrated the impeachment of South Korean President Park Geun-Hye at a rally in Seoul today, but amid the euphoria there was lingering anger, and anxiety at the prospect of an extended period of political uncertainty.
	For the seventh straight week, protesters gathered en masse in the streets of the capital, but the mood was generally festive, after lawmakers yesterday voted overwhelmingly to impeach the deeply unpopular Park over a corruption scandal.
	Although the move stripped Park of her substantial executive powers, activists said they intended to keep up the pressure, with the impeachment still requiring final approval from the Constitutional Court -- a process that could take months.
	And many were adamant that the president should resign immediately and face criminal prosecution.
	"We are still hungry" the crowd in Seoul's Gwanghwamun chanted, as they also sang along to the revised lyrics of a Christmas song that read: "Only after she is out, will it be a ...

S Koreans celebrate Park impeachment, but anxiety also

A US-backed alliance of Arab and Kurdish fighters announced today "phase two" of its campaign for the Islamic State group's Syrian bastion of Raqa.
	The announcement came after US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter told a security forum in Bahrain that Washington was sending an additional 200 troops to join the 300 it has already deployed in support of the offensive.
	The Syrian Democratic Forces will "begin phase two of the campaign, which aims to liberate territory west of Raqa and isolate the city," spokeswoman Jihan Sheikh Ahmed told reporters.
	Speaking in the village of Aaliyah, north of Raqa, Ahmed said the SDF had captured 700 square kilometres (270 square miles) of territory since it began its advance on the city on November 5.
	The alliance had also grown in size, she said, with more than 1,500 local fighters joining forces with the SDF after being "trained and equipped by the international coalition."
	The SDF's coordination with the US-led coalition "will be stronger and more 

US-backed alliance announces 'phase two' of Raqa campaign

The Islamic State group will not be defeated on the battlefield alone but by teaching tolerance and creating economic opportunity, Germany's defence minister said today.
	"We should complement the coalition against terror with a coalition for education," Ursula von der Leyen told a Gulf security conference.
	She said members of the US-led coalition fighting the jihadists needed to counter the "brutal lies" of IS with a message of hope for a better future.
	"Google, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and many more platforms have been weaponised," she told the Manama Dialogue.
	"People without prospects are easily led to believe such false promises and such brutal lies.
	"To win the war we have to dominate the Internet. But to win peace we have to offer hope and prospects."
	French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian echoed the theme in an address to the same forum.
	He too said the jihadists could not be defeated by military means alone as they fed off poverty and underdevelopment.
	France ..

German minister says schools, jobs key to defeating IS

A Greek police officer was injured Saturday by a gunman who apparently killed himself to evade arrest after a shootout in central Athens, a police source said.
	The suspect took out a gun and started firing at officers during a random street check near the capital's busy central market, the source told AFP.
	He then tried to flee but was soon discovered dead behind a building.
	The officer shot in the exchange was taken to a hospital. His injury is not life-threatening and nobody else was hurt.
	The authorities were not treating the incident as terror-related at this stage, the source added.

Officer hurt in Athens shootout: police source

OPEC was today seeking to persuade other oil producers to lower production as part of a newly-struck global pact to stem a crude glut and lift painfully low prices.
	The Vienna meeting, which includes major producer Russia, aims to nail down details on implementing the accord reached late last month.
	Analysts however remained divided over the gathering's impact as doubts lingered regarding countries' willingness to freeze output.
	"We do not expect the outcome of this meeting to play a significant role in rebalancing the oil market," Vienna-based analyst group JBC Energy said yesterday.
	The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed on November 30 to lower its monthly output by 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd) to 32.5 million bpd as of January.
	Under the deal, OPEC also wants oil-producing nations outside the group to lower their output by 600,000 barrels a day.
	Arriving shortly before the start of the talks, cartel chief Mohammed Barkindo of Nigeria expressed ...

At 'historic' talks, OPEC pushes for non-member cuts

At least four people died today and 23 were injured in a blast when a train transporting gas derailed in the northeastern Bulgarian village of Hitrino, emergency services said.
	Around 20 homes were smashed and many of the residents of the village of some 800 people were evacuated, Nikolay Nikolov, the head of fire safety and civil defence at the police said.
	Nikolov said firemen were looking for survivors.
	The train was carrying 20 tankers of propylene gas and four tankers of propane butane. It derailed at the Hitrino railway station and the train's two last tankers hit a power line, local police spokeswoman Assia Yordannova said.
	The blast occurred at 5:37am (local time) at the village, located about 100 kilometres from Varna, Bulgaria's main port on the Black Sea.

Four killed in Bulgarian train blast

Chile marks the 10th anniversary today of the death of late dictator Augusto Pinochet, who has gradually become a national pariah even as his legacy continues to dominate the country.
	Pinochet, who ruled Chile with an iron fist for 17 years, died of a heart attack on December 10, 2006 at age 91, without ever being brought to justice for the crimes committed by his regime.
	He had stepped down 16 years earlier, but continued to enjoy the staunch support of many conservative Chileans - so much so that more than 50,000 people turned out to mourn him.
	In a sign of the changing times, less than 100 people are expected to attend the only ceremony remembering him this today: a small, private mass at his former residence in Los Boldos on the central Chilean coast, where his ashes lie.
	The government of President Michelle Bachelet, whose father was tortured to death at the hands of Pinochet's agents, said the anniversary had little relevance for modern-day Chile.
	"Pinochet is a figure of ..

Pinochet shadow looms over Chile 10 years after death

IMF chief Christine Lagarde goes on trial in France on Monday over a massive state payout to a flamboyant tycoon when she was finance minister in a case that risks tarnishing her stellar career.
	Lagarde denies the charges of negligence, arguing she was acting "in the state's interest" in making the payment to Bernard Tapie, the former owner of sportswear giant Adidas and Olympique Marseille football club.
	If found guilty, Lagarde could receive a one-year prison sentence and a 15,000 euro (USD 15,900) fine.
	Whatever the outcome, the case risks damaging the image of 60-year-old Lagarde, a former corporate lawyer who progressed through the finance ministry to her current role as one of the world's most powerful women.
	The case also threatens the credibility of the International Monetary Fund, whose last three managing directors have faced trial.
	Lagarde, who was named to a second term in February this year, has received the full backing of the IMF over the case.
	She will be tried ..

IMF chief Lagarde on trial in France over tycoon case

Turkey's ruling party is to submit a bill to parliament today expanding the powers of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a move supporters believe will streamline the political system but opponents fear will lead to one-man rule.
	The constitutional change, which has been sought by Erdogan since he became president in 2014, would see Turkey switch to an executive presidency along the lines of the United States or France.
	But it has become the latest polarising issue surrounding the Turkish strongman, who has been accused by opponents of increasingly authoritarian rule especially after the attempted coup in July.
	The drive for the change comes at a critical time for Erdogan, with the relentless crackdown after the coup straining ties with the West and the Turkish lira under severe pressure.
	"Our proposal to change the constitution will be submitted to the Turkish parliament tomorrow," Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said yesterday.
	The announcement followed months of talks between the .

Turkey to submit Erdogan powers bill to parliament

More than 100 authors from around the world signed a letter to Chinese President Xi Jinping today - Human Rights Day - to urge an immediate end to China's "worsening crackdown" on rights, a global writers group said.
	Since he came to power in 2012, Xi has overseen a crackdown on dissent, with hundreds of lawyers, activists and academics detained and dozens jailed.
	His ruling Communist party tolerates no opposition to its rule. Newspapers, websites, and other broadcast and print media are strictly controlled. An army of censors patrols social media and many Western news websites are blocked.
	"China and the rest of the world can only be enriched by these opinions and voices," said the letter, organised by the London-based PEN International writers association, which advocates for free speech.
	"We therefore urge the Chinese authorities to release the writers, journalists, and activists who are languishing in jail or kept under house arrest for the crime of speaking freely and ...

Writers call for end to China's human rights crackdown

Israel will Monday receive its first F-35 stealth fighter jets, hailed as technological marvels whose helmets alone cost more than most people's homes but criticised for their price and initial flaws.
	Built by US aerospace giant Lockheed Martin, the first two planes' arrival in Israel is being welcomed as a major event for the country's military as it seeks to maintain dominance in the turbulent Middle East.
	US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter is to attend the arrival along with his Israeli counterpart Avigdor Lieberman at the Nevatim air base in the country's south.
	The delivery of the first two of 50 F-35s to be purchased by Israel comes as the years-long development of the most expensive plane in history reaches a critical stage.
	While a list of countries have ordered the planes, Israel, which receives more than USD 3 billion a year in US defence aid, will be the first with an operational F-35 squadron outside the United States.
	"I think we don't fully understand the big ...

Israel readies for 'super-tech' stealth fighters

After the South Korean parliament's impeachment of President Park Geun-Hye, the spotlight now shifts to the nine judges of the Constitutional Court who could yet slam the door on those seeking to remove her from office.
	The lawmakers' vote yesterday suspended Park's sweeping executive powers, but it requires final approval by a two-thirds majority of the court - a lengthy and uncertain process that could take up to six months.
	On paper, the court might be expected to favour Park, as nine of its justices were appointed by her or her conservative predecessor, Lee Myung-Bak.
	But public opinion is hugely in favour of removing Park from the presidential Blue House, with the most recent opinion polls showing support for impeachment running at around 80 per cent.
	So the justices will be under extreme pressure to uphold parliament's decision, especially as the opposition-sponsored impeachment motion was adopted with the support of a significant number of lawmakers from Park's own ruling ..

Vote puts S Korea impeachment ball in Constitutional Court

The United States and Germany led calls for Russia to be exiled from international competition after the McLaren report said doping in sport in the country represented an "institutional conspiracy".
     More than 1,000 athletes in the summer and winter Olympics and Paralympics "can be identified as being involved in or benefiting from manipulations to conceal positive testing", said Canadian lawyer Richard McLaren.
     Drug test samples at the Sochi Winter Olympics in 2014 were even manipulated by the addition of salt and coffee, said the report prepared for the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
     "It's another staggering example of how the Olympic movement has been corrupted and clean athletes robbed by Russia's state-supported doping system," said Travis Tygart, the head of the US anti-doping body (USADA).
     "The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has to act and clean athletes won't be satisfied until WADA is empowered to be a truly independent global regulator and the ...

Russia faces calls for total ban over doping

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced that it will reanalyse all 254 urine samples taken from Russian athletes who took part in the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.
     The IOC said it had also extended the mandate of its own Oswald disciplinary commission to examine all samples collected from Russian athletes during the London Summer Olympics in 2012.
     The decisions were taken, the IOC said, following the publication Friday of Richard McLaren's full report into doping in Russia that revealed an "institutional conspiracy" by Moscow to cheat between 2011-15.
     All 63 blood samples collected from Russian athletes in Sochi have already been reanalysed by the IOC in cooperation with McLaren. All came back negative.
     The IOC said the urine samples would be retested because "McLaren's mandate did not include a full reanalysis of all these samples".
     Turning to the London Games, the IOC said reanalysis of some of the Russian samples was already under way following ...

IOC to reanalyse all 254 Russian urine samples in Sochi

Gambia's President Yahya Jammeh has said he would not recognise the results of December 1 elections and called for fresh polls, a week after he conceded defeat.
	"In the same way that I accepted the results faithfully believing that the Independent Electoral Commission was independent and honest and reliable, I hereby reject the results in totality," he said yesterday in a statement broadcast on state television.
	"Let me repeat: I will not accept the results based on what has happened," he said, condemning "unacceptable errors" on the part of electoral authorities and calling for a new vote.
	Jammeh pointed to an accounting error, identified by the IEC, which awarded victory to his opponent Adama Barrow but with a slimmer margin than initially announced.
	Latest official figures gave Barrow 43.29 per cent of the votes in the presidential election, while Jammeh took 39.64 per cent. The turnout was at 59 per cent.
	Jammeh claimed "investigations" had revealed that numerous voters had ..

Gambia's Jammeh rejects election results

Two female suicide bombers has killed 45 people and wounded 33 others when they detonated their explosives in a crowded market in Nigeria's restive northeast, the emergency service said
	The army yesterday put the death toll at 30.
	"From our updated records we have 45 dead and 33 injured in the twin suicide bomb explosions in Madagali," said Sa'ad Bello of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) in Adamawa state.

Nigeria suicide attacks toll reaches 45: emergency service

45 killed in twin blasts in Nigeria: emergency service

Britain's Prince Andrew has issued a rare statement to deny any rifts with his older brother and heir to the throne Prince Charles over giving more significant roles to his two daughters.
	The denial follows reports of mounting tension between the two men, including the allegation that Andrew had said any husbands of Eugenie and Beatrice should be awarded the aristocratic titles of earls.
	"There is no truth to the story that there could be a split between the Prince of Wales and I over my daughters' participation as members of the Royal Family," Andrew said yesterday in a statement on Twitter.
	"I cannot continue to stand by and have the media speculate on their futures based on my purported interventions, which are completely made up," he said.
	Andrew, the Duke of York, said his daughters' royal engagements were "very much appreciated by my family" and that he wanted them to be "modern, working, young women, who happen to be members of the Royal Family".
	The two princesses have ...

Britain's Prince Andrew denies rift with future king

The UN General Assembly on Friday demanded an immediate ceasefire in Syria and urgent aid deliveries in a resolution adopted by a strong majority as Syrian forces launched another assault on Aleppo.
	The measure drafted by Canada passed by a vote of 122 to 13 in the 193-nation assembly, with 36 abstentions. Russia, Iran and China opposed the resolution.
	Lebanon, Iraq, South Africa, Nigeria and India were among the countries that abstained from the vote on the non-binding text.
	The vote came as Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces carried out more air raids on Aleppo and the United Nations reported that hundreds of men had gone missing after fleeing the battered city.
	"This is a vote to stand up and tell Russia and Assad to stop the carnage," US Ambassador Samantha Power told the assembly ahead of the vote.
	"This is a vote to defend the bedrock principles of how states should act, even in war."
	Power appealed to Syria and its allies to allow civilians to leave eastern Aleppo .

UN votes by strong majority to demand end to Syria carnage,

Bolivia's defense minister said today a plane crash that killed 71 people traveling to Colombia aboard a Bolivian-registered charter plane was "murder," accusing the pilot of flying with insufficient fuel.
	"This was definitely no accident. This was a homicide. What happened in Medellin was murder," Defense Minister Reymi Ferreira told journalists.
	The LaMia airlines plane slammed into the mountains outside Medellin last week, killing most of Brazilian football team Chapecoense Real as they traveled to a match.
	A harrowing recording has emerged of the pilot radioing the control tower to report he was out of fuel.
	Investigations are ongoing, but Colombia's civil aviation safety chief has said the plane disregarded international rules on fuel reserves.
	Bolivia has suspended the airline's permit and arrested its manager and his son, who is an official in the civil aviation authority.
	Ferreira accused the plane's pilot, Miguel Quiroga, who died in the crash, of ignoring regulations ..

AFP

AFP

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