Chicago police pressed first degree murder charges against a gang member today after a nine-year-old boy was lured into an alley and shot dead.
	The US city is notorious for gun crime, but Tyshawn Lee's November 2 death managed to horrify a Chicago already reeling from more than 450 murders this year.
	"This is a crime that shook our city," city police superintendant Garry Mccarthy told reporters.
	"It was an act of barbarism: The assassination of a nine-year-old child as a gang retaliation to get back at his father."
	McCarthy said 27-year-old Corey Morgan had been arrested and charged and cited the suspect's criminal history as an illustration of the challenge facing Chicago.
	"When we solve this case," he said, "we're going to find an individual with an extensive, violent criminal history who likely should not have been on the streets.
	"That's the way it happens almost every single time. Corey Morgan is a documented gang member, a convicted felon," he complained.
	"As you know, we 

Chicago suspect charged in 9-year-old's 'barbaric' murder

PTI Automatic

The Dutch government said today it will appeal an EU ruling that Starbucks must pay up to 30 million euros (USD 34 million) in back taxes after being awarded an illegal tax break.
	In a major blow to sweetheart tax arrangements, Brussels said last month that the deals the Netherlands had offered the US coffee giant and Luxembourg had awarded Italian automaker Fiat were illegal.
	But Dutch Foreign Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem told MPs today that the government disagreed with the European Commission's demand to reclaim two years of unpaid taxes from Starbucks.
	"The government is of the opinion that the Commission does not convincingly demonstrate that the tax authority deviated from the statutory provisions," he wrote in a letter to MPs today.
	"It follows that there is no state aid involved."
	The Dutch government was seeking "certainty" and therefore it "appeals the Commission decision in the Starbucks case," he added.
	A spokesman for the finance ministry told AFP the appeal had not 

Netherlands to appeal EU demand for Starbucks back taxes

Morose economic growth and a turbulent stock market have not stopped Switzerland's super rich from getting a lot richer this year, a report showed today.
	In its annual analysis of the fortunes of Switzerland's 300 richest people, the Bilan magazine said the exclusive club, including the likes of rock and soul legend Tina Turner, have swelled their combined wealth by six billion Swiss francs (USD 5.8 billion, 5.5 billion euros) to reach a record 595 billion Swiss francs.
	Topping the list for the 14th year in a row was the family of Ikea founder Ingvar Kamprad, who this year count an accumulated fortune of between 44 and 45 billion Swiss francs -- two billion more than last year.
	Kamprad, 89, moved back to his native Sweden in 2013, but his two sons who run the flat-pack furniture empire remain in Switzerland and hold Swiss nationality.
	Coming in second was Swiss-Brazilian food magnate Jorge Lemann, who hiked his fortune by three billion francs to between 28 and 29 billion, Bilan ...

Switzerland's super rich getting richer: report

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said today he could foresee Syrian troops loyal to President Bashar al-Assad taking part in the fight to crush the Islamic State group, a statement welcomed by the regime in Damascus.
	In order to fight IS, "there must be two measures: bombings... And ground troops who cannot be ours, but who should be of the (opposition) Free Syrian Army, Sunni Arab forces, and why not regime forces too," Fabius said in an interview with RTL radio.
	Fabius later clarified his comments, telling AFP he meant that Syrian government troops could take part in the fight against IS "within the context of a political transition -- and only in this context".
	Despite the attempt to modify his comments, they were seized upon by the Syrian government.
	Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem seized on Fabius' proposal, saying it was "better late than never".
	"If Fabius is serious about working with the Syrian army and dealing with the forces on the ground that are fighting .

France sees Syrian regime participating in anti-IS fight

Moscow's fury over Ankara's downing of a Russian warplane on the Syrian border was on full display today as pro-government activists staged anti-Turkey rallies, even parading a life-size doll of its president in a coffin.
	In Crimea, a group of young people gathered around a hay effigy with the face of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan set up on the main square of Simferopol. Videos shot at the scene by various media showed the effigy set on fire as people held Russian flags and chanted "Down with IS (Islamic State group)."
	Activists in Moscow, belonging to a youth wing of the conservative Rodina party, put a life-size inflatable doll of Erdogan in a coffin and delivered it to the Turkish embassy.
	Pictures on the group's website also showed the activists laying several funeral wreaths with ribbons saying "From Russian patriots to US puppets" outside the embassy.
	Police detained two organisers. They were let go when law enforcement discovered they were municipal lawmakers, the .

Erdogan dolls burned, buried as Russia fumes at Turkey

At least 21 people were killed today when a suicide bomber blew himself up in the crowds at a Shia Muslim procession near the north Nigerian city of Kano, in the latest violence to hit the troubled region.
	The attack happened in the village of Dakasoye, some 20 kilometres south of the city, during a march by followers of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria.
	"Our procession came under a suicide attack," Muhammad Turi, who was leading thousands of people from Kano to Zaria, in the neighbouring state of Kaduna, told reporters at the scene.
	"We lost 21 people and several others have been injured. We are not surprised that we've been attacked because this is the situation all over the country.
	"This will not deter us from our religious observance. Even if all of us were bombed the last person will carry on with this duty."
	An AFP reporter in Dakasoye said the road was splattered with bloodstains but the followers had continued their march.
	One organiser, who asked to remain anonymous, ...

Suicide bomber kills 21 at Shiite Muslim procession in Nigeria

At least 21 people were killed in a suicide bomb attack on a Shiite Muslim procession near the northern Nigerian city of Kano today, organisers said.
	"We lost 21 people and several others have been injured," Muhammad Turi, from the Islamic Movement of Nigeria, told reporters at the scene.

Nigeria Shiite Muslim march suicide attack kills 21

Moscow slapped sanctions on Ankara today as the war of words over a downed Russian warplane escalated, with Turkish strongman Recep Tayyip Erdogan warning Russia not to "play with fire".
	Russia announced it was halting a visa-free regime for Turkish visitors, after threatening a raft of retaliatory economic measures to punish the NATO member state.
	Tuesday's incident has sent recriminations flying between two rival players in the Syrian war just as countries such as France are pushing for a broader coalition to try to defeat the Islamic State group.
	"We advise Russia not to play with fire," Erdogan said in a speech in Ankara, lashing out at Russia's response to the downing as well as its support of the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
	Erdogan nevertheless said he wanted a direct meeting with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin when the two leaders are in Paris next week for the UN climate summit.
	But Moscow responded coolly, saying Turkey has yet to apologise for ...

Russia-Turkey war of words escalates over downed warplane

At least ten air strikes carried out by a Saudi-led coalition in Yemen broke the laws of war and killed civilians, Human Rights Watch alleged today.
	The strikes are listed in a major new report by the watchdog, which estimates that 2,500 Yemeni civilians have died in coalition strikes since March.
	Saudi Arabia, the UAE and other Arab allies -- with logistical support from the United States -- are battling Huthi rebels on behalf of the Yemen government.
	Riyadh has furiously denied previous reports of indiscriminate bombing, but Friday's detailed report cites a wealth of witness testimony.
	The strikes in the report killed at least 309 civilians, wounded at least 414 and were in breach of the allies' obligation to investigate alleged war crimes.
	"Human Rights Watch found either no evident military target or that the attack failed to distinguish civilians from military objectives," the report said.
	"Human Rights Watch is unaware of any investigations by Saudi Arabia or other ...

Watchdog: Saudi-led Yemen strikes illegally kill civilians

21 dead in Nigeria Shiite Muslim march suicide attack:

Russia today buried with full military honours a soldier killed in Syria during the operation to rescue pilots of the warplane shot down by Turkey.
	Alexander Pozynich was killed on Tuesday when his Mi-8 helicopter was fired on by rebels and had to make an emergency landing in Syrian neutral territory, the defence ministry said.
	Pozynich, 29, a naval marine and contract soldier with 10 years' experience, was laid to rest in his hometown of Novocherkassk in southern Russia, state television reported.
	President Vladimir Putin awarded him the Order of Valour medal posthumously for his role in the operation to retrieve the surviving pilot of the SU-24 plane downed by Turkey on Tuesday.
	Around 1,000 people, including Pozynich's comrades and Cossacks, piled flowers by his coffin as he lay in state in the city's theatre, before his burial at a military memorial site called the Avenue of Glory.
	"In rescuing his comrades, Alexander defended his country, his city and family. He carried out .

Russia buries soldier killed in rescue of warplane pilot

Two Palestinians rammed their cars into Israeli soldiers in the occupied West Bank today, injuring seven, before both assailants were killed, raising this week's Palestinian death toll to 10.
	In the first attack, a Palestinian drove into soldiers at a bus station near Kfar Adumim settlement, northeast of Jerusalem, and was shot dead, police said.
	Police identified him as Fadi Hassib, from Ramallah, whose brother was shot dead on Sunday after ramming his car into Israelis before charging at them with a knife.
	Israel's Magen David Adom emergency medical service said the two soldiers were taken to hospital in Jerusalem with light to moderate injuries.
	A senior police officer said the assailant got out of his car and started to run after hitting the soldiers, before he was shot dead by a civilian.
	Several hours later, another Palestinian was shot dead after driving his car into a group of soldiers, injuring five close to Beit Ummar settlement near Hebron in the southern West Bank, an 

Israel troops injured in West Bank rammings, 2 Palestinians

A series of attacks in Tunisia claimed by the Islamic State group that killed dozens of people including foreign tourists was planned in neighbouring Libya, a top official said today.
	The jihadist group has said it was behind a suicide bombing in the centre of Tunis on Tuesday in which 12 presidential guards died.
	IS also claimed two attacks earlier this year at the National Bardo Museum in Tunis and on a hotel near the Mediterranean resort of Sousse that killed a total of 60 people, all but one of them foreign tourists.
	"Everything is being planned in Libya," Tunisia's secretary of state for national security, Rafik Chelly, told private Mosaique FM radio.
	"The commanders of Tunisian terrorist groups are in Libya," he added.
	IS, which controls swathes of Syria and Iraq, has exploited the chaos that spread across oil-rich Libya after veteran leader Moamer Kadhafi was toppled and killed in the 2011 revolution.
	"Libya has become a danger. That's why we have to take precautions... ..

Tunisia attacks were planned in Libya: minister

German prosecutors said today they were investigating whether an illegal arms dealer had sold four assault rifles to a person in the French capital and whether there were "possible links to the attacks in Paris".
	The 24-year-old German national from the southwestern town Magstadt was arrested Tuesday on charges of having converted starter guns which shoot blanks into deadly firearms and illegally selling them online.
	Police had found several handguns during a search of his home, said prosecutors in the nearby city of Stuttgart.
	"Investigations so far suggest that the accused could have sold four assault rifles to a buyer in Paris in November," said the prosecutors' statement.
	"Possible links to the attacks in Paris are being checked," it added, referring to the series of gun and explosive assaults that claimed 130 lives on November 13.
	Earlier TOday, the mass-circulation Bild daily reported that the arms dealer, whom it identified as Sascha W, had sold two AK47s and two Zastava ..

German arms dealer probed over possible link to Paris attacks

A top Burundian government official narrowly survived an assassination attempt in the capital Bujumbura today, police said, with gunmen killing his bodyguard as they opened fire on his convoy.
	A presidential advisor and a top member of the ruling CNDD-FDD party, Zenon Ndaruvukanye is one of the most influential figures in the government of the troubled central African nation.
	Senior police official said two "criminals" were arrested and a large haul of weapons seized following the attack in Bujumbura, including 27 AK-47 rifles, machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and a mortar.
	Burundi descended into violence in April after President Pierre Nkurunziza launched a now successful bid for a third consecutive term in office, despite concerns over the legality of such a move. At least 240 people have been killed and more than 200,000 have fled the country since.
	Presidential spokesman Gervais Abayeho confirmed an assassination attempt on a "political figure".
	In August, top general .

Top Burundi official escapes assassination bid

A suicide bomber today blew himself up among crowds at a Shia Muslim procession outside the north Nigerian city of Kano, in the latest violence to hit the troubled region.
	The attack happened in the village of Dakasoye, some 20 kilometres south of the city, during a march by followers of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria.
	The group, led by Sheikh Ibrahim Zakzaky, said on its website the blast happened at 2:00 pm (1300 GMT) and that "scores" had been killed.
	But there was no official indication of casualties and one of the organisers told AFP: "It's a huge crowd so it's too early to give a precise figure of casualties.
	"We now have the other suspect in custody."
	The organiser, who asked to remain anonymous, said the bomber ran into the crowd before he could be spotted and detonated his explosives.
	"He was dressed in black like everyone else. His accomplice was initially arrested and confessed they were sent by Boko Haram," he added.
	"They were part of the young men abducted by ...

Suicide bomber hits Shiite Muslim procession in NE Nigeria

An expert in "The Adventures of Tintin" comic book series has been named as Britain's first ever professor of "graphic fiction and comic art".
	Benoit Peeters, 59, a French graphic novelist and critic, will take up the position of visiting professor at Lancaster University in north west England from summer 2016.
	He called the post "a great honour".
	"I want to explore the connections between the history of graphic fiction and contemporary creation, between the world of French and Belgian bande dessinee, and the world of comics and graphic novels," Peeters said in a statement this week.
	Known as a world authority on the Tintin comics and author of a biography of the cartoonist Herge, Peeters will run creative writing workshops, give lectures and supervise post-graduate students during the three-year position.
	The position was created in collaboration with the Lakes International Comic Art Festival in the neighbouring county of Cumbria.
	The university said it was "a significant ...

Tintin expert named Britain's first professor of comics

A Belgian judge today charged a sixth suspect with terrorism offences in connection with the Paris attacks, prosecutors said.
	"Yesterday a person has been arrested in Brussels for interrogation. The investigating judge has remanded him in custody and charged him with terrorist murders and participation in the activities of a terrorist organisation," the federal prosecutor said in a statement.

Sixth person charged in Belgium over Paris attacks: prosecutor

A Frenchman detained in connection with the Paris attacks drove key suspect Salah Abdeslam across Brussels the day after the atrocities without knowing he had been involved, the man's lawyer said today.
	Ali Oulkadi, 31, charged on Monday with helping Abdeslam and taking part in a terrorist group and terrorist killings, formally denied the charges and wanted Abdeslam arrested at all costs, his lawyer Olivier Martins said.
	"No one knew that Salah was wanted, he (Ali Oulkadi) did not know," Martins told reporters after his client appeared in a Brussels court under armed guard as investigations continued into the November 13 Paris massacre which left 130 people dead.
	The lawyer said that around noon on Saturday November 14, Oulkadi got a call from an unnamed friend who asked him to pick him up in the Laeken area in the northwest of Brussels to take him to nearby Schaerbeek.
	When he arrived, however, this friend was with another man whom Oulkadi did not immediately recognise because he 

Belgian detainee 'unwittingly' drove Paris suspect: lawyer

President Francois Hollande vowed today to destroy the "army of fanatics" behind the Paris attacks but also said France would respond with more songs, concerts and shows as the nation paused to honour the 130 killed.
	"On November 13, a day we will never forget, France was hit at its very heart," Hollande told a solemn ceremony in the courtyard of the historic Invalides, the 17th-century complex housing Napoleon's tomb.
	"To all of you, I solemnly promise that France will do everything to destroy the army of fanatics that committed these crimes," he said before a crowd of 2,600 dignitaries and some of those injured in the violence.
	Some of the wounded sat in wheelchairs, while firefighters and ambulance personnel in uniform stood silently in rows, two weeks to the day since gunmen opened fire on bars, restaurants and a concert hall and detonated suicide vests at the Stade de France stadium.
	Photographs of the victims were displayed on a giant screen, their young faces evidence that .

AFP

AFP

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