At least 30 people have been killed in twin bomb attacks claimed by Shebab Islamists in the Somali city of Baidoa, the regional governor said today.
	"The official number of the dead has reached 30 people - all of them civilians - and 61 others have been wounded, 15 of them seriously," Abdurashid Abdulahi, governor of Bay region, told AFP.
	An initial car bomb struck a popular restaurant in a busy part of the regional capital yesterday afternoon, with a suicide bomber nearby hitting people as they fled the area.
	"The explosion occurred in a densely populated area," said Abdirahman Ibrahim, a police officer in Baidoa.
	Another policeman, Abdi Hared, said there were "twin blasts" from a car bomb and a suicide bomber.
	The explosions shredded the roofs of nearby buildings, tore chunks out of vehicles and left bodies, plastic chairs and tables strewn across the road.
	The Al-Qaeda aligned Shebab jihadists claimed responsiblity for the attacks, saying local officials were targeted.
	"The .

At least 30 dead in Baidoa, Somalia, bombings: governor

PTI Automatic

One of Indonesia's oldest red-light districts was demolished today in an operation overseen by hundreds of police and troops, as authorities press on with a plan to close all brothel areas in the Muslim-majority country.
	Dozens of illegal bars and brothels along a polluted riverside strip in north Jakarta -- known locally as Kalijodo -- were reduced to rubble by excavators.
	The bars -- many marked by neon beer signs and illustrations of beautiful women luring men -- were torn down by the machines in a matter of minutes, leaving behind nothing but splintered wood, brick and old mattresses.
	Elsewhere police searched a three-storey hotel for any remaining residents before a digger ripped the entire structure to the ground with a spectacular crash.
	North Jakarta Mayor Rustam Effendi, who oversaw the demolition, said the buildings were illegal and the demolition would make way for a public park.
	"There was open prostitution there and all kinds of other things as a result, like ...

Infamous Jakarta red-light district razed to the ground

At least 30 dead in Baidoa, Somalia, bombings: Governor.

Hong Kong's pro-democracy camp won a key by-election today, with one young activist who advocates independence from China also taking tens of thousands of votes in closely-watched polls at a time of rising political tension.
	While it was a candidate from one of the established pro- democracy parties who won the election, the results showed growing support for the more radical "localist" movement, which advocates far greater autonomy from Beijing amid rising concerns over Chinese interference.
	The movement grew out of the failure of pro-democracy rallies in 2014 to win concessions on political reform and advocates more radical tactics to force change.
	Student Edward Leung, 24, one of the leaders of localist group Hong Kong Indigenous, took more than 66,000 votes in the election held yesterday in New Territories East -- far more than observers expected.
	That secured him third place behind pro-Beijing candidate Holden Chow in second and Alvin Yeung of the established pro-democracy ...

'Localists' gain foothold as democracy camp wins key Hong Kong

Barcelona came from behind to equal a Spanish record of 34 games unbeaten in all competitions by moving eight points clear at the top of La Liga with a 2-1 win over Sevilla.
     Sevilla were the last side to beat Barca back in October and deservedly struck first through Vitolo.
     However, as so often of late, Barca recovered from a slow start thanks to Lionel Messi's brilliant free-kick and Gerard Pique's winner early in the second-half.
     Luis Enrique's men have now matched Real Madrid's record run from the 1988-89 season and in doing so moved 12 points clear of third-placed Madrid.
     Atletico Madrid remain Barca's closest challengers after beating Madrid 1-0 on Saturday.
     "We are in great form, but records don't mean anything. At the end of the day everything is judged by titles," Pique told Movistar+.
     "Our season is well on track, but we need to finish it off."
     Sevilla were a constant threat on the counter-attack, but should have taken the lead from a ...

Barca equal unbeaten record in Sevilla win

Vatican finance chief Cardinal George Pell today admitted the Catholic Church "mucked up" in dealing with paedophile priests and vowed he would not "defend the indefensible" before an Australian inquiry.
	Pell gave evidence from a hotel in Rome via video-link to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Sydney rather than appear in person as he has a heart condition.
	The inquiry is currently focused on the Victorian state town of Ballarat, where Pell grew up and worked, and how the church dealt with complaints, many dating back to the 1970s, against the Catholic clergy.
	Pell, who rose to be the top Catholic official in Australia, said the church historically made grave errors in not properly addressing the issue and was now working to remedy them.
	"Let me just say this, as an initial clarification, and that is I'm not here to defend the indefensible," he said after swearing on the Bible to tell the truth.
	"The church has made enormous mistakes and .

Church mucked up with paedophile priests:Vatican finance chief

Stranded migrants have lay with their children on rail tracks at Greece's northern border, demanding to be allowed to continue their journey, as Germany warned that Europe cannot let the country "plunge into chaos".
	Tensions between European nations worst affected by the migrant crisis are running high, with Austria's Chancellor Werner Faymann accusing Greece of "behaving like a travel agency" for migrants hoping to start new lives elsewhere in Europe.
	But after Balkan countries this week announced a daily cap on migrant arrivals, Athens warned that the number trapped in Greece could soon be in the tens of thousands, as refugee boats continue to land on Greek beaches from Turkey every day.
	"We estimate that in our country the number of those trapped will be from 50,000-70,000 people next month," Greek Migration Minister Yiannis Mouzalas said in an interview with Mega TV, up from 22,000 at present.
	German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Europe could not allow debt-crippled Greece to .

Migrants protest at Greece-Macedonia border as bottleneck

Amnesty International today called for an arms embargo on all warring parties in Yemen, including the Saudi-led coalition battling Iran-backed rebels, ahead of an Arms Trade Treaty meeting in Geneva.
	The rights watchdog said it has documented violations of humanitarian and human rights law, including possible war crimes, by both sides since the Yemen conflict broadened in March last year.
	"Amnesty International is urging all states to ensure that no party to the conflict in Yemen is supplied -- either directly or indirectly -- with weapons, munitions, military equipment or technology that would be used in the conflict until they end such serious violations," it said in a statement.
	The group called "for any authorisation of arms transfers to any party to the Yemen conflict to include a strict, legally binding guarantee that the end use will be in line with international humanitarian and human rights law, and that such arms transfers will not be used in Yemen", it said.
	"The ...

Amnesty urges arms embargo on Yemen warring parties

Peru's government has declared a state of emergency in 16 Amazon rainforest communities due to oil spills in the northeastern Loreto region.
	The measure, announced yesterday in the official gazette, lasts for 60 days and comes more than a month after a spill was reported in Imaza district (population 23,000).
	A second spill was reported on February 3 in Morona district (population 9,000).
	Residents of both districts are overwhelmingly indigenous people.
	The spills were on sections of the Northern Peruvian Oil Pipeline, which moves crude from the jungle over the Andes mountains to refineries through a lengthy route on the northern Peruvian coast.
	Built in the 1970s, the pipeline is operated by state oil concern PetroPeru.
	The state of emergency will provide humanitarian help for the communities and assistance in the cleanup.
	In early February, President Ollanta Humala's government declared a health emergency in the region because the oil had polluted the rivers that provide ...

Oil spill emergency in Peruvian native communities

Donald Trump has come under fire for declining to reject an endorsement by David Duke, a white nationalist and former Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan.
	The frontrunner in the race for the Republican presidential nomination yesterday said he knew nothing about Duke when asked about the matter on CNN's "State of the Union" talk show.
	"I don't know what group you're talking about. You wouldn't want me to condemn a group that I know nothing about. I'd have to look," Trump said.
	Last year, a technology blog unearthed a 1927 report according to which Fred Trump -- Donald Trump's father -- was one of seven men arrested during clashes between 1,000 KKK members and 100 police officers in Queens, New York.
	Trump has denied that "ridiculous" report, telling the Daily Mail, a British newspaper: "He was never arrested. He has nothing to do with this. This never happened. This is nonsense and it never happened."
	The Anti-Defamation League on Thursday had called on Trump to distance himself ...

Trump under fire over white supremacist's endorsement

A gunman opened fire at a Baptist church in Dayton, Ohio today, killing the pastor, local media reported.
	The pastor of the St Peter's Missionary Baptist Church died as result of injuries sustained in the shooting, which took place after 12:30 pm (17:30 GMT), WHIO television said, citing police.
	A witness reported hearing two gunshots after the shooter walked into the pastor's office, the station said.
	Witnesses said police later escorted a man from the church in handcuffs and put him in the back of a police cruiser, the station said.
	Another television station, WDTN, cited witnesses as saying that the pastor had walked toward the pulpit inside the church when his brother, who was seated in a pew, stood up and followed him.
	They heard several shots soon after, which sent congregation running,according to that report.
	More than 20 people were reported to be inside the church at the time of the shooting, WDTN  reported.
	Police could not immediately be reached for comment.

Church pastor killed in Dayton shooting: media

Reformist allies of moderate President Hassan Rouhani won all 30 parliamentary seats in the Iranian capital, a major boost today that pushed them into a nationwide lead in crucial elections.
	Combined with results coming in from more than half the 290 seats up for grabs nationwide from Friday's polls, the pro-Rouhani List of Hope was outpacing its conservative rivals overall.
	A clean sweep in Tehran was followed by steady gains elsewhere, according to preliminary results, in a major fillip for the president, signalling overwhelming public backing for his landmark nuclear deal with world powers last year that ended a 13-year standoff.
	The election outcome is vital to Rouhani's chances of introducing domestic reform in the form of legislation capable of delivering even limited social, political and economic changes.
	The coalition of moderates and reformists representing the president's hopes was on course to wipe out conservatives in Tehran with 90 per cent of ballots counted.
	In ...

Iran president's allies lead elections after Tehran rout

Gunmen killed a pro-government Sunni Salafist cleric today in Yemen's main southern city of Aden, home to a growing jihadist presence, a security official said.
	Sheikh Abdulrahman al-Adani was shot dead as he was heading to a mosque near his home, the official said.
	Adani headed a Salafist religious school which attracts both local and foreign students.
	He was known for his stance against the Shiite Huthi rebels as well as against the Islamic State group and Al-Qaeda which are becoming increasingly active in Aden, sources there said.
	According to Zaid al-Sallami, an Aden-based expert on Islamist groups, Adani was known for "rejecting violence and terrorism".
	His murder was an attempt to "push moderate Salafist youths towards violence", Sallami said.
	Al-Qaeda and IS have stepped up attacks in Aden despite the efforts of the government and its backers in a Saudi-led coalition battling the Huthis and their allies to secure it.
	In another sign of growing unrest in Aden, clashes ...

Gunmen kill pro-govt Sunni cleric in Yemen's Aden

Saudi Arabia today accused President Bashar al-Assad's regime and its ally Russia of "ceasefire violations" in Syria.
	"There are violations to the ceasefire from Russian and (Syrian) regime aircraft," Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Jubeir told reporters in Riyadh.
	"We are discussing this with (the 17-nation) Syria Support Group," co-chaired by Russia and the United States, said Jubeir.
	The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has said that several air strikes hit central and northern Syria today.
	Warplanes, believed to be either Syrian or Russian, bombed seven villages in the provinces of Aleppo and Hama, the monitor said.
	A ceasefire brokered by Moscow and Washington took effect at midnight Friday but the Riyadh-based opposition and Russia have reported several breaches from opposing sides.
	The ceasefire agreement does not include territory held by the Islamic State jihadist group and Al-Qaeda-affiliated Al-Nusra Front, which together control more than half of Syria.
	Russia, which 

Saudi accuses Russia, Syria regime of ceasefire violations

Nepal's experienced "ice doctors" were preparing today to return to Everest to ready the mountain for the upcoming climbing season, almost one year after a huge earthquake triggered a deadly avalanche.
	Eight of the mountaineers and their support teams were performing prayers at the bottom of Everest before leaving for base camp to fix routes through a treacherous icefall for climbers, a top official said.
	"Starting from 7th March, the expert team will continue opening expedition routes and fix ladders and ropes for the upcoming season," Nishan Shrestha, CEO of the Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee, which manages the peak, told AFP.
	Nepal is hoping the April-May season will see climbers return to the world's highest peak, providing much-needed revenue to the impoverished country. Nepal has been hard hit by falling tourism following last April's earthquake which killed nearly 9,000 people.
	The quake triggered the April 25 avalanche which left 18 people dead at Everest base ...

Nepal's 'ice doctors' return to Everest after avalanche

Turkish security forces have prevented 18 potential suicide attacks since the New Year, the interior minister said today, with the country on high alert after a deadly suicide car bombing in Ankara earlier this month.
	Interior Minister Efkan Ala told Haber 7 TV in an interview that three cars loaded with explosives to be used in attacks had been found by the authorities.
	He indicated that one car was seized at Istanbul's Bogazici University last week which caused a major security alert on the campus.
	"Since the start of the year, 18 suicide bombings have been prevented... We don't talk (to the public) about most of the prevented attacks," he said, without giving details on the nature of the plots.
	Twenty-nine people were killed in the suicide car bombing on a convoy of military buses in the capital on February 17 that was claimed by a Kurdish militant group.
	In 2015, there were also four deadly bomb attacks blamed on Islamic State (IS) jihadists, including the deadliest in ...

Turkey thwarted 18 suicide attacks since New Year: minister

Bombings near a market in a Shiite area of northern Baghdad killed at least 22 people today, security and medical officials said.
	The blasts in the Sadr City area, at least one of which was a suicide bombing, also wounded at least 55 people.
	The bombings were the deadliest attacks to hit the capital this year.
	There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks, but suicide bombings are a tactic almost exclusively employed in Iraq by Sunni militants, especially members of the Islamic State jihadist group.
	IS considers Shiite Muslims, who make up the majority of Iraq's population, to be heretics and frequently targets them with bombings and other attacks.
	The jihadist group, which overran swathes of Iraq in 2014, claimed twin suicide bombings targeting Shiite worshippers on Thursday that killed at least nine people.
	Those bombings took place in Shuala, another Shiite-majority area in northern Baghdad.
	While attacks are still common in Baghdad, violence in the capital .

Bombings near Baghdad market kill at least 22

Reformist allies of Hassan Rouhani won all 30 parliamentary seats in the Iranian capital, handing the moderate president a major boost today in elections seen as vital to his government.
	The List of Hope, a pro-Rouhani coalition of moderates and reformists, was on course to wipe out its conservative rivals in Tehran with 90 per cent of ballots counted from Friday's vote.
	The clean sweep was a major fillip for the president, signalling overwhelming public backing in the capital for his landmark nuclear deal with world powers last year that ended a 13-year standoff.
	The rout was completed when state television said the head of the conservative list, Gholam-Ali Hadad Adel, a former parliament speaker, was lagging in 31st place and set to lose his seat.
	The landslide in Tehran came after mixed results for the president's supporters in the provinces in the first elections since sanctions were lifted last month under the nuclear agreement.
	Preliminary results from a second election ...

Iran president's allies make stunning gains in Tehran

Newly-elected FIFA president Gianni Infantino paid tribute to his disgraced predecessor in the job, Sepp Blatter, for the role he played in establishing a new $140million football museum which opened today in Zurich.
     "It's a really fine museum which reflects the universality of football. It's a very good idea of Sepp Blatter's, a museum which came from his initiative," he said
     Infantino, who was elected to take over from fellow Swiss Blatter in a special election of FIFA associations on Friday, was making his first outing as head of the scandal-tainted organisation.
     He was accompanied at the inauguration by FIFA's acting general secretary Markus Kattner and former Swiss international Stephane Chapuisat, but there was no sign of Blatter who is banned from all football-related activities for six years on corruption charges.
     The 79-year-old former supremo's contract with FIFA officially ended with Infantino's election late Friday.
     "This means he has to leave his .

Blatter absent as Infantino opens FIFA museum

The Russian military said today that a fragile ceasefire in Syria had been breached nine times over the past 24 hours but the truce was mostly holding.
	"Over the past 24 hours, nine instances of violations of cessation of hostilities have been uncovered," Lieutenant General Sergei Kuralenko, head of the country's coordination centre in Syria, was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies. "On the whole, the ceasefire regime in Syria is being implemented.

Syria ceasefire breached 9 times over past 24 hours: Russia

Pope Francis today urged European countries struggling with the migrant crisis to "share the burden fairly", amid growing divisions on how to handle the flow of people fleeing poverty and war.
	The pontiff used his address in St Peter's Square to hail the "generous help" offered by Greece and "other countries on the front line", saying the situation "required cooperation among all nations".
	Nearly 120,000 migrants have arrived in Europe so far this year, according to the latest figures from the UN refugee agency, adding to the one million who made the perilous journey in 2015, mostly across the Aegean Sea from Turkey to the Greek islands.
	The influx has triggered rows and bitter recrimination among European Union states at odds over who should take in the newcomers.
	"My prayer, and also certainly yours, does not forget the crisis of the refugees fleeing wars and other inhuman situations," the pope said.
	"A unanimous response" from European countries is needed to "share the burden .

AFP

AFP

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