Train service through the Channel Tunnel between France and Britain resumed today, a day after a lorry fire forced the crucial link's closure and suspension of all trains, operator Eurotunnel said.
	"Our passenger service is currently operating to schedule with up to one departure per hour," the firm said on its website.
	Services resumed from Britain at 2:45 am local time and from France at 4:30 am (0330 GMT), it said on Twitter.
	Eurostar, which offers passenger rail services between London, Brussels and Paris, said schedules would return to normal on Sunday.
	The fire yesterday forced all Eurostar trains already en route to turn back to their stations of origin, while 42 people were evacuated from the truck shuttle using the service tunnel.
	Police in southern England have said the fire was "at the French end of the tunnel and is being dealt with by the French authorities."
	"There are no reported injuries," police added.
	 The fire sparked travel chaos in Britain and France with ..

Channel Tunnel services resume after fire: Eurotunnel

PTI Automatic

Afghanistan has launched an investigation after it emerged that President Ashraf Ghani's nominee for agriculture minister was wanted for tax evasion in Estonia, an official said today.
	According to Interpol's website, Mohammad Yaqub Haidari, 52, is wanted for "large-scale tax evasion, fraudulent conversion" in a case dating back to 2003.
	"We have started our investigation based on Afghan law. If this accusation is proved, he will be removed from the list of cabinet nominees," presidential spokesman Nazifullah Salarzai told AFP.
	Afghanistan's new cabinet was unveiled on Monday after three months of wrangling following the election of Ghani and the formation of a "national unity government" in the wake of last year's fraud-mired polls.
	The "unity government" deal was seen as saving the country from the risk of imminent civil war when both candidates claimed to have won the election in a stand-off that fanned long-standing ethnic tensions.
	The names of the 25 new ministers have ...

Afghan cabinet nominee wanted for tax evasion in Estonia

A North Korean gulag survivor whose torture and daring escape was detailed in a best-selling book admitted he lied about details in his story, and said today he may end his campaign against human rights abuses.
	Shin Dong-Hyuk, believed to be the only person born in a North Korean prison camp ever to have escaped, apologised on his Facebook page today, saying he had "forever wanted to conceal and hide part of my past".
	Shin was born and spent the first 23 years of his life in a prison camp where, he recounted in the harrowing "Escape from Camp 14", he was tortured and subjected to forced labour before escaping in 2005.
	Ever since Shin, now 32, has campaigned prominently to highlight rights abuses in the isolated North, testifying before a UN commission last year.
	But Shin recently changed some of the details in his story, Blaine Harden, the book's author, said on his website.
	"On Friday Jan. 16, I learned that Shin... Had told friends an account of his life that differed ...

N Korean 'Camp 14' gulag survivor admits parts of story untrue

Two police officers were wounded in a shooting in Canada's province of Alberta and the suspect found dead after a manhunt, police said.
	The two police officers had spotted a stolen vehicle in the parking lot of a casino in the city of St Albert, northwest of Edmonton, before they were shot inside the casino, said Marlin Degrand from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
	The suspected shooter was a man of about 30 who fled before being pursued to an empty residence nearby.
	Police did not speak with the suspect or fire shots. They entered the house and found the man dead, Degrand told a press conference.
	The two officers were hospitalized, one in very serious condition, he said.

Two police shot in Canada, suspect found dead

The UN Security Council has welcomed a ceasefire announced by an Islamist-backed militia in Libya and threatened to impose sanctions on those who obstruct peace efforts.
	The 15-member council voiced support for a second round of UN-brokered talks to be held in Geneva next week and strongly urged all warring sides to attend.
	A first round of talks yielded an agreement on a roadmap to forming a unity government in Libya.
	The Fajr Libya (Libya Dawn) militia, which did not take part in the first round of Geneva talks, announced a ceasefire on Friday.
	"There can be no military solution to the crisis in Libya," the council said in a unanimous statement.
	The top UN body "is prepared to sanction those who threaten Libya's peace, stability or security or that obstruct or undermine the successful completion of its political transition," it added.
	Libya has been sliding deeper into conflict since the 2011 overthrow of Moamer Kadhafi, with rival governments and powerful militias battling ...

UN Security Council threatens sanctions over Libya turmoil

Five people were killed in violent riots in Niger's capital over France's Charlie Hebdo weekly, with angry crowds setting fire to churches.
	The protesters torched at least eight houses of worship in Niamey. Bars, hotels and various businesses under non-Muslim ownership or bearing signs of French companies were also targeted, an AFP correspondent reported.
	It was the second day of violence in the west African country, after five people were killed and 45 injured in protests in Niger's second city of Zinder on Friday.
	"Some of us stayed barricaded in our homes. I have never been so scared in my life," a Christian mechanic in the capital told AFP.
	"The government must put a stop to this," he added. "It doesn't look good for us."
	By yesterday evening calm had returned to Niamey, where police were stationed outside the city's cathedral and other religious buildings.
	"In Niamey, the tally is five dead, all civilians," Niger's President Mahamadou Issoufou said in a speech broadcast on .

Five killed in anti-Charlie Hebdo riots in Niger

The Islamic State (IS) group released more than 200 mostly elderly members of northern Iraq's Yazidi minority who had been held for months, officials and activists said.
	The Yazidis were freed yesterday on the front line southwest of the city of Kirkuk and met by Kurdish peshmerga forces who brought them to a health centre in Altun Kopri, on the road to the Kurdish regional capital of Arbil.
	"These men and women had been held in Mosul," Khodr Domli, a leading Yazidi rights activist told AFP at the centre. "We already have names for 196 and there could be some more."
	"Some are wounded, some have disabilities and many are suffering from mental and psychological problems," he said.
	According to officials from Kirkuk and Arbil, the group was moved from Mosul via Hawija and freed at the Khaled entrance to Kirkuk yesterday.
	Dozens of Kurdish doctors and nurses provided emergency care at the Altun Kopri health centre, where Yazidis who had heard the news started to mass at the gates, ...

IS jihadists free 200 elderly Yazidis in north Iraq

A Qatari who was held in the United States since 2001, part of the time as an "enemy combatant," has been released and returned to Doha, a family member said.
	A nephew of Ali bin Kahlah al-Marri told AFP that he was in good health and had been welcomed at Hamad International Airport by family and friends yesterday.
	Marri, who is a US resident, had been serving a 15-year sentence after pleading guilty in 2009 to one count of conspiracy to provide material support to a terrorist organisation.
	Prior to that he had been held by the authorities for eight years, initially on credit card fraud charges, but then in solitary confinement for six years after being declared an "enemy combatant" and put in military custody.
	Enemy combatant is the term used by the George W Bush administration to refer to alleged members of Al-Qaeda.
	Details on where Marri was held and the terms under which he was released were not immediately available.
	His nephew, Saleh Kahla, said Marri had received a ...

Qatari held in US since 2001 returns home

Violent mobs torched at least eight churches in Niger's capital Niamey today during fresh protests against the French weekly Charlie Hebdo, as France strongly condemned the violence and defended freedom of expression.
	With France still reeling from last week's attacks that claimed 17 lives, jittery European countries stepped up security, with soldiers patrolling the streets of Belgium for the first time in 35 years.
	Anger mounted in several Muslim countries over the satirical newspaper's caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed, with a second day of rioting erupting in Niger, a predominantly Muslim former French colony.
	Around 1,000 youths wielding iron bars, clubs and axes rampaged through Niamey, hurling rocks at police who responded with tear gas.
	The French embassy in Niamey urged its citizens to stay at home, the day after a rally against Charlie Hebdo in Niger's second city of Zinder left four dead and 45 injured.
	French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius condemned "the use of ...

Churches torched in Charlie protest,France defends free speech

A complex deal on Iran's nuclear programme can be reached only if global powers stop pressuring Tehran, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif warned tonight.
	"If the Western countries want to negotiate with the Islamic Republic of Iran, they must make a political decision, which for some could be difficult, and stop with the pressure," Zarif told Iranian state television.
	His comment came as Iran's deputy foreign minister Abbas Araghchi prepared for talks in Geneva tomorrow with the so-called P5+1 group of global powers towards a comprehensive deal which would rein in Tehran's nuclear programme in exchange for relief from a tight network of sanctions.
	Following an interim accord in November 2013, two deadlines for a final deal have been missed, and now a third one is looming on July 1.
	Araghchi, who has spent three days meeting with senior US officials and has also met with Russian officials in preparation for Sunday's talks, meanwhile told the Fars news agency a deal would depend 

Nuke talks will succeed only if pressure on Iran stops: Tehran

A Myanmar woman beheaded in a Saudi street this week for killing her husband's young daughter is seen screaming her innocence in a video posted on the Internet today.
	Saudi authorities have arrested someone for filming the incident, said local newspaper websites, including Okaz and Al-Riyadh, in reports accompanied by still shots from the recording.
	They did not say what the arrest was for.
	The official Saudi Press Agency said Monday that Layla bint Abdul Mutaleb Bassim was executed in the Muslim holy city of Mecca for killing her husband's six-year-old daughter.
	"Investigations led to her trial which proved she was guilty," the interior ministry said, quoted by SPA.
	The child, also "Burmese," died from a beating and from being raped with a broomstick, it said.
	"I did not kill. There is no God but God. I did not kill," cries the woman, covered in black, apparently kneeling on the pavement circled by police officers in the video on LiveLeak.
	"Haram. Haram. Haram. Haram. I did ...

Myanmar woman screams innocence before Saudi beheading: video

Indonesia today executed six people convicted of drugs offences, including five foreigners, a spokesman for the attorney general's office said.
	The foreigners were from Brazil, the Netherlands, Vietnam, Malawi and Nigeria. All the convicts were executed by firing squad shortly after midnight.
	"The execution of the six convicts has been carried out," spokesman Tony Spontana told AFP.
	He said five were executed on Nusakambangan Island, off the south coast of the archipelago's main island of Java and home to a high-security prison.
	The sixth was executed in Boyolali district in central Java.
	They were the first executions to be carried out under the new government of President Joko Widodo, who took office in October.

'Indonesia executes 6 drug convicts, including 5 foreigners'

One month on from a Taliban school massacre in Peshawar that left 150 dead a new movement is growing among marginalised urban liberals rallying to "Reclaim Pakistan" from violent extremism.
	Carrying placards and candles, their stand against religious fanaticism is an unusual sight in a country more used to mass demonstrations by Islamist groups filled with chants against the West or India.
	Muhammad Jibran Nasir, a 27-year-old lawyer who has played a key role in organising demonstrations, said he and others felt they could no longer stand by following the brutal killings of schoolchildren in the country's northwest on December 16.
	"I never felt so overwhelmed. I felt pathetic as a human being, as a Muslim, as a Pakistani. I felt very, very small," he said.
	While Pakistan's military has been engaged in heavy offensives in the country's northwestern tribal areas, progressive critics believe the state -- including both the army and political parties -- must do more to tackle those ...

Liberals rally to 'reclaim' Pakistan after school massacre

Sri Lankan lawyers today demanded the resignation of the country's chief justice over allegations that he tried to help ex-president Mahinda Rajapaksa remain in office despite last week's election defeat.
	The influential Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL), which includes the vast majority of lawyers in the country, said it wanted Mohan Peiris to resign over his role in an alleged coup bid.
	Police this week announced the launch of a criminal probe into a complaint by Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera that defeated strongman Rajapaksa tried to use military force to stay on.
	In comments published on Twitter, Rajapaksa has insisted he had readily accepted "the people's verdict", in his first reaction to his defeat to Maithripala Sirisena.
	President Sirisena's top aides say Rajapaksa had the chief justice poised to legitimise a state of emergency after the strongman attempted to sabotage the vote count in the early hours of January 9.
	Rajapaksa is also accused of urging the ...

Lawyers demand Sri Lanka's top judge quits over coup claim

At least four people were arrested in Athens today as part of a probe into a jihadist cell that was dismantled in Belgium this week before it could carry out any attacks, a Greek police source said.
	Greece's anti-terror police were seeking to determine whether those arrested included Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the 27-year-old suspected mastermind of the cell who according to media reports may have been planning the foiled attacks from Greece.

Greece arrests four over foiled Belgium terror attacks

Traffic was suspended in both directions in the Channel Tunnel between Britain and France today after a lorry fire, authorities said.
	"Due to an incident in the tunnel, all departures are currently suspended in both directions," Eurotunnel said.
	The Eurostar passenger train service said on its website that all services had been cancelled for the day.
	"We are sorry but we are unable to run any further trains today because Eurotunnel has been closed due to smoke detected in the north tunnel," the firm said on its website.
	"If you were planning to travel today, we advise you to postpone your journey and not to come to the station," Eurostar added.
	All trains already en route were forced to turn back to their stations of origin.
	Police in southern England said the fire was "at the French end of the tunnel and is being dealt with by the French authorities."
	"There are no reported injuries," added police.

Lorry fire halts traffic in Channel Tunnel

Clashes between Ukraine's army and pro-Russian rebels for control of a battered airport intensified today, with explosions and heavy gunfire shaking the area throughout much of the day and at least six more people killed.
	The battle for Donetsk airport in eastern Ukraine saw Kiev rush reinforcements to the snowy front lines, while soldiers in the area spoke of some of the worst shelling yet in the nine-month war.
	Fighting has flared in the region in recent days, with peace talks having stalled and a September truce in shreds.
	"We try to hold on and to reciprocate," one Ukrainian soldier in Pisky, a few kilometres from the airport, told AFP.
	"A lot of guys have already died. We have to end it all already, to stop it."
	The blackened and wrecked shell of the airport has been repeatedly hit by heavy artillery in months of on-and-off clashes.
	It however remains of symbolic and strategic importance, and Ukraine's military maintained that it was defending its positions despite rebel ...

Explosions rock east Ukraine airport as battle intensifies

A violent mob torched at least seven churches in Niger's capital Niamey today during fresh protests against Charlie Hebdo magazine, as France's president stressed his commitment to "freedom of expression."
	With France still reeling from last week's deadly attacks that killed 17 people, jittery European countries stepped up security, with soldiers patrolling the streets of Belgium for the first time in 35 years.
	Anger mounted in several Muslim countries over the satirical magazine's depiction of the prophet Mohammed, with a second day of rioting erupting in Niger.
	Around 1,000 youths wielding iron bars, clubs and axes rampaged through the city, hurling rocks at police who responded with tear gas.
	The French embassy in Niamey urged its citizens to stay at home, the day after a rally against Charlie Hebdo in the country's second city of Zinder left four dead and 45 injured.
	"Be very cautious, avoid going out," the embassy said on its website as rioters also ransacked several ...

Churches torched in Charlie Hebdo protests

Cameroon, Chad and Niger have launched a regional bid to combat the Boko Haram Islamists, as their attacks spread beyond Nigeria and concern mounts over the Nigerians' failure to regain control.
	The three neighbours have opted for a joint military response to the cross-border threat from Boko Haram fighters and have made veiled criticisms of Nigeria, whose armed forces appear no match for the Islamist group that emerged in 2009.
	Brutal raids, massacres, suicide bomb attacks and kidnappings by Boko Haram have claimed at least 13,000 lives and driven an estimated 1.5 million people from their homes, mainly in arid northeast Nigeria.
	Officially, all four states, whose borders converge in remote territory at Lake Chad, formed a military alliance that was due to take shape last November to battle Boko Haram.
	But building a combined Lake Chad force seems to have dropped off the agenda.
	Now the urgency of the situation is such that Nigeria's partners appear to have finally lost patience 

Nigeria's neighbours band together to fight Boko Haram

A top Iranian negotiator voiced optimism today that talks with the United States seeking to nail down a complex nuclear deal could succeed if Washington showed "good will".
	"We remain hopeful and I think that if the other side has the necessary good will and determination, it will be possible to reach a deal," Iran's deputy foreign minister Abbas Araghchi told the Fars news agency.
	His comments came on a third day of talks with senior US officials in Geneva aimed at accelerating progress towards a comprehensive deal which would rein in Iran's nuclear programme in exchange for relief from a tight network of global sanctions.
	Iranian negotiators were also set to meet with Russian officials later in the day, before full negotiations on Sunday with the so-called P5+1 group -- the United States, Britain, China, France, Russia and Germany.
	Following an interim accord in November 2013, two deadlines for a final deal have been missed, and now a third one is looming on July 1.
	"The ...

Iran says nuclear agreement possible with US 'good will'

Shiite militiamen in control of Yemen's capital today seized President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi's chief of staff in a new challenge to his leadership of the violence-plagued country.
	The abduction of Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak, who heads a "national dialogue" on Yemen's political transition, came shortly before he was to attend a meeting on a proposed new constitution opposed by the Huthi militia.
	Yemen has been dogged by instability since the ouster in 2012 of strongman Ali Abdullah Saleh, with the Huthis and Al-Qaeda seeking to fill the power vacuum.
	The Huthis are widely believed to be backed by Saleh.
	Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) also has a record of acting well beyond its Yemeni base, and claimed responsibility for the January 7 attack on French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo that killed 12 people.
	Yemeni authorities today said they had arrested two Frenchmen for questioning over suspected Al-Qaeda links.
	The Charlie Hebdo attackers, French brothers Said and Cherif ...

AFP

AFP

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