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 ...

Shiite militia seizes Yemen president's chief of staff

PTI Automatic

The first memoir by a current inmate detailing life inside Guantanamo is to be released next week following a six-year legal fight to declassify the manuscript, extracts of which appeared in The Guardian today.
	In "Guantanamo Diary" Mohamedou Ould Slahi claims he only confessed to involvement in various terror plots, including one to bomb the CN Tower in Toronto, after being tortured and humiliated.
	Asked by interrogators if he was telling the truth, he replied: "I don't care as long as you are pleased. So if you want to buy, I am selling," according to extracts of the book, which is to be published in 20 countries, published in the British newspaper.
	The 44-year-old swore allegiance to al-Qaeda after travelling to Afghanistan in the 1990s and fought against the Soviet Union-backed regime, but claims he left the group in 1992.
	He was detained following the 9/11 attacks on suspicion of involvement in an unsuccessful plot to bomb Los Angeles in 1999.
	He was taken to Guantanamo in ..

Inmate's Guantanamo diary to be released

Assailants lobbed explosives at Algeria's embassy in the Libyan capital today, wounding three people, a security official said, in an attack claimed by the Islamic State jihadist group.
	The IS Libya branch said "soldiers of the caliphate" attacked the empty mission in a message posted on Twitter, together with a photograph of a tree-lined street with a fire in the background.
	There was no independent confirmation of the claim -- reported by the US-based monitoring group SITE Intelligence.
	The IS posted a similar claim for a December 27 car bomb attack outside the building of a Libyan unit tasked with securing diplomatic missions that left no casualties, SITE reported at the time.
	The security official, who works for the unit, said today's attack in central Tripoli seriously wounded a guard and that two passers-by were lightly hurt. Medical sources confirmed the toll.
	The assailants threw "a bag full of explosives from a passing car at a police car parked near a guard post", he ...

IS claims bomb attack on Algerian embassy in Libya

Belgium today began deploying hundreds of troops to patrol the streets after security forces smashed a suspected Islamist "terrorist" cell planning to kill police officers.
	Up to 300 soldiers will be gradually deployed in the capital Brussels and the northern city of Antwerp, which has a large Jewish population, Prime Minister Charles Michel's office said in a statement.
	"The mobilised troops will be armed and their primary responsibility will be to survey certain sites" and to reinforce police, the statement said.
	The soldiers could also eventually be deployed to the industrial eastern city of Verviers, where early yesterday security forces killed two suspected Islamists in a huge raid on an alleged jihadist cell planning to attack police in the country.
	The Belgian raid came a week after Islamist attacks in and around Paris killed 17 people, rekindling fears in Europe about the threat posed by young Europeans returning home after fighting alongside extremist groups in the Middle 

Belgium deploys troops after foiling 'terror' plot

Egypt's public prosecutor today ordered two policemen to stand trial for kidnapping and sexually assaulting a woman in Cairo, in a case which stirred outrage, a judicial source said.
	The incident has been widely reported over past weeks in a country faced with increased cases of sexual harassment since its 2011 revolution.
	The two policemen allegedly stopped a car driven by a man and demanded to escort his female passenger home.
	Instead, they drove her off in a police truck to an isolated area and tore off her clothes and sexually assaulted her, according to the charge sheet.
	They face up to life in prison if convicted, a judicial official told AFP.
	President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has passed a law last June to combat sexual crimes and ordered police to crack down on harassment and cases of sexual assault.

Two Egypt policemen to stand trial for sexual assault

Pope Francis was forced today to flee a fierce storm in the Philippines that killed a papal volunteer, cutting short a mercy mission to weeping survivors of a catastrophic super typhoon.
	Wearing a yellow plastic poncho to protect him from intense rain, Francis delivered an emotional mass to about 200,000 people in the typhoon-ravaged central Philippine city of Tacloban.
	However, plans to spend the entire day in Tacloban and nearby areas that were devastated by Super Typhoon Haiyan 14 months ago were ruined by another storm, forcing him to fly back to Manila at lunchtime.
	"So I apologise to you all. I'm sad about this, truly saddened," the 78-year-old pontiff told thousands of people who had gathered at one church shortly before he raced back to the airport.
	The pope's plane made the 90-minute flight back to the Philippine capital of Manila safely.
	But highlighting the dangers of the storm, a papal volunteer at the morning mass died as steel scaffolding collapsed on her, a church .

Pope flees Philippine storm, cuts short typhoon mercy trip

Yemen has detained two Frenchmen for questioning over suspected links to Al-Qaeda, a top security official said today.
	"During the past two days, two French nationals accused of belonging to Al-Qaeda have been arrested," said national security service chief General Mohammed al-Ahmadi.
	Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) claimed responsibility for a January 7 assault on French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo in which two Frenchmen killed 12 people.
	The perpetrators, brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi, are known to have trained with Al-Qaeda in Yemen, which was formed in 2009 after a merger between militants there and Saudi Arabia.
	"There are around 1,000 Al-Qaeda militants in Yemen from 11 Arab and non-Arab countries," Ahmadi told reporters in Sanaa.
	Washington regards the Yemen-based franchise as the network's most dangerous branch and has carried out a sustained drone war against its leaders.
	AQAP said the orders to carry out last week's attack had come from the very top of ..

Yemen arrests 2 French Qaeda suspects: top official

Around 3,000 people in Turkey are believed to be linked to the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group, a Turkish intelligence report said today, warning of possible attacks by extremists.
	The report called for enhanced surveillance of the 3,000 people, including identifying their rank within the extremist group or whether they were active within it, the Hurriyet newspaper reported on Saturday.
	A "red alert" had also been sent to security units warning of possible attacks on the embassies of Western countries by IS jihadists following last week's deadly Islamist attacks in France, the report said.
	Security at the diplomatic missions had been increased to the maximum level, the report said, adding that NATO facilities and Western nationals were also potential targets.
	And it warned of possible bomb attacks "anywhere and anytime" in Turkey by "sleeping cells."
	Most of the vehicles stolen in Turkey ended up in the hands of IS jihadists, it said, warning that they could be used in car bomb 

3,000 in Turkey linked to Islamic State: report

Assailants lobbed a bag packed with explosives at the Algerian embassy in the Libyan capital today, injuring three people, a security official said.
	The official, who works for a unit tasked with protecting embassies, said the attack in central Tripoli seriously wounded a guard and two passers-by and damaged the building and parked cars.
	The assailants threw "a bag full of explosives from a passing car at a police car parked near a guard post", he said.
	The Algerian embassy, like most foreign missions in the Libyan capital, was closed last year as militias battled for control of the city.
	The Fajr Libya (Libya Dawn) coalition of Islamist-backed militias seized control of Tripoli in August after fierce clashes with nationalist forces.
	Today's attack comes a day after Fajr Libya announced a ceasefire in the oil-rich North African country, hours after an agreement at UN-brokered peace talks between the warring factions in Geneva.
	Libya has been wracked by conflict since the ...

Explosives hit Algerian embassy in Libya

At least two churches were torched in Niger's capital today as protests raged on against the publication of a Prophet Mohammed cartoon - considered as un-Islamic by Muslims - by a French weekly Charlie Hebdo.
	Around 100 helmeted riot police stood in front of the Niamey cathedral at midday, protecting it from a crowd of stone-throwing youths, an AFP correspondent on the scene reported.
	Earlier, police fired tear gas to disperse some 1,000 youths in front of the city's grand mosque and AFP witnessed protesters in several parts of the city armed with iron bars and clubs.
	France's embassy in Niamey warned French citizens to stay indoors after rioters also ransacked several French-linked businesses, including telephone kiosks run by Orange.
	"Be very cautious, avoid going out," the embassy said on its website.
	Today's protest came a day after a policeman and three civilians were killed and 45 injured in protests against Charlie Hebdo in Niger's second city of Zinder, which saw three ...

'Two churches burned in Niger as Charlie Hebdo protests rage'

Lee Jeong-Hyeop struck in the first half as South Korea shocked Australia 1-0 today to top Group A and complicate the hosts' task at the Asian Cup.
     Australia had been the form team with two big wins so far, but Ange Postecoglou's rejigged side were dealt a setback after the Korean striker slid in to score on 32 minutes.
     The Socceroos, who finish second in Group A, will now play China in the quarter-finals in hot and humid Brisbane and face a likely semi-final against holders Japan.
     Australia threw everything at South Korea as they sought a vital equaliser, and Kim Jin-Hyeon saved brilliantly from Robbie Kruse when the substitute looked certain to score.
     The game was not without controversy, with Park Joo-Ho and Koo Ja-Cheol both stretchered off and Matthew Spiranovic earning a caution that rules him out of their last-eight tie.
     "I definitely feel that we could have got a draw out of the game," said talismanic forward Tim Cahill, who came on in the second half .

South Korea rock Aussies with shock defeat

England batsman Gary Ballance has fractured the little finger on his right hand but will be fit for the World Cup, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) announced today.
     The 25-year-old left-hander, recalled to England's one-day squad after former captain Alastair Cook was dropped, sustained the injury during fielding practice in Canberra last week.
     He will remain with the team for the ongoing Tri-series against Australia and India and no extra players will be called up.
     "Gary Ballance has a fractured right little finger, sustained during fielding practice in Canberra," the ECB said in a statement.
     "Ballance will be available for the ICC Cricket World Cup and therefore we will not be calling another player into the squad."
     Ballance has yet to play since England arrived in Australia and sat out his side's three-wicket loss to the hosts in the opening match of the triangular series in Sydney on Friday.
     England's next match is against India on Tuesday.
  

Ballance fractures finger, fit for World Cup

President Francois Hollande stressed today that France was committed to "freedom of expression" after fresh violence broke out in Niger at a rally against French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.
	Meanwhile, jittery European nations stepped up security in the wake of last week's attacks in France that claimed 17 lives.
	Belgium began deploying hundreds of armed troops to patrol the streets after security forces smashed a suspected Islamist "terrorist" cell planning to kill police officers.
	And in London, authorities were mulling "further measures" to protect police "given some of the deliberate targeting of the police we have seen in a number of countries across Europe and the world," said Mark Rowley, head of counter-terrorism for the British police.
	British police officers, for the most part unarmed, might be equipped with taser guns as part of reinforced security measures, according to the local press.
	Meanwhile, French and Belgian authorities were grilling suspected accomplices 

France defends freedom of speech after violent protests

Andy Murray faces a horror draw at the Australian Open, needing to overcome Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal to make the final, but the British number one says he is feeling good about his game.
     A three-time runner up at Melbourne Park, Murray has slipped to sixth in the world rankings and is on course to meet Federer in the quarter-finals in the bottom half of the draw with Nadal potentially awaiting him in the last four.
     He could also face world number 11 Grigor Dimitrov in the fourth round.
     "Obviously a very tough draw, very difficult draw," said Murray, who is coached by Amelie Mauresmo.
     "If you have to play all of those players, obviously it's going to be extremely difficult to come through that. I'm aware of that. That's fine.
     "But often in these events, you know, there are upsets. And then you just have to wait and see who you're playing in each round because it doesn't always work out as simply as that.
     "It will be interesting to see how it goes. ...

Murray confident despite tough Open draw

Two US teens are on the run after they allegedly blazed a trail of crime across several states, stealing multiple cars and dashing from the police.
	Police in the southern state of Kentucky said yesterday they are looking for 18-year-old Dalton Hayes and his 13-year-old girlfriend Cheyenne Phillips after they stole as many as three cars, some with firearms in them.
	Phillips was reported missing on January 3 by her father in Grayson, Kentucky, and was spotted with Hayes nine days later in a Walmart in Manning, South Carolina, about 750 kilometers away.
	The Bonnie and Clyde-like duo left the scene in a stolen red 2006 Toyota Tacoma, which had a gun inside it when it was taken.
	Police said they were next seen some 250 miles away in Henry County, Georgia, where they ditched the Tacoma and stole another car, which was carrying two handguns.
	It is not clear when they might have picked up a third car, but police officials said they were suspects in three separate car thefts.
	Hayes -- ...

Two US teens on run in cross-country crime spree

The third one-day international between New Zealand and Sri Lanka was abandoned today after frequent interruptions because of rain.
     The players were forced from the field for the third and final time with New Zealand, batting first, 145-3 after 28.5 overs.
     More than three hours later, the umpires ruled there was no likelihood of the weather clearing enough for play to resume and the match was abandoned.
     For New Zealand Martin Guptill was not out 66, while for Sri Lanka Angelo Mathews had three for 21.
     New Zealand were rocked early when batting mainstay Brendon McCullum was removed by Mathews for 28, putting pressure on Guptill to repay the faith the selectors had in him after he failed in the first two games.
     He overcame a shaky start, offering a caught and bowled chance that fell just short of Nuwan Kulasekara and twice sent an inside edge across the front of his stumps, before confidently accumulating runs.
     McCullum again blazed away in trademark ...

Third New Zealand-Sri Lanka ODI abandoned

Haiti's President Michel Martelly swore in as the country's new prime minister Evans Paul, a political opponent who was chosen after last month's resignation of Laurent Lamothe.
	Paul took office yesterday during a ceremony at government headquarters attended by diplomats and political figures.
	However, he still does not have the constitutional approval of parliament, whose term ended January 12 without any date being set for new elections.
	Protesters, who again took to the streets on Friday, accuse Martelly of tacitly allowing the parliament to expire in order to rule by decree like the country's former dictators.
	Though Martelly has said he would consult with 10 senators who remain in office before making any big decisions, opposition parties continue to demand he step down.
	Calling for unity, Martelly announced the formation of a consensus government in the next 48 hours.
	"No country has managed to bring development without unity around a strong and devoted state," Martelly ...

Haiti leader installs new prime minister

The United States joined Israel in condemning the International Criminal Court decision to open a preliminary probe into possible war crimes committed against Palestinians, blasting it as a "tragic irony".
	ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said her office would conduct an "analysis in full independence and impartiality" into alleged war crimes by Israel, including those committed during last year's Gaza offensive.
	Her decision comes after Palestine formally joined the ICC earlier this month, allowing it to lodge war crimes and crimes against humanity complaints against Israel as of April.
	Nearly 2,200 Palestinians and 73 Israelis were killed during last summer's war in Gaza.
	The US criticized the decision late yesterday, saying it opposed actions against Israel at the ICC as "counterproductive to the cause of peace".
	"It is a tragic irony that Israel, which has withstood thousands of terrorist rockets fired at its civilians and its neighborhoods, is now being scrutinized by the ICC," 

US blasts ICC war crimes probe of Israel as 'tragic irony'

A plane carrying top aides of Philippine President Benigno Aquino overshot a runway in stormy weather today, authorities said, shortly after Pope Francis's plane took off from the same airport.
	The plane's nose wedged into the mud at Tacloban airport in the central Philippines but no-one was injured, Francis Tolentino, a senior government official who was at the scene, told DZMM radio.
	"I saw it taxiing down the runway, then it overshot," Tolentino told DZMM radio station.
	Aquino's executive secretary, Paquito Ochoa, and spokesman, Herminio Coloma, were among those on the chartered plane, according to Tolentino.
	They were among a group of senior officials in Tacloban to accompany the pope as he visited survivors of Super Typhoon Haiyan, the strongest storm every recorded on land, which killed 7,350 people in 2013.
	The pope was forced to cut short his trip to the area because of intense rains and strong winds from Tropical Storm Mekkhala, which was less than 150 kilometres (less ..

Philippine plane following Pope Francis overshoots runway

A woman working as a volunteer for Pope Francis's mass in the Philippines was killed today as stormy weather sent steel scaffolding crashing on to her, a church spokesman said.
	Francis cut short his trip to a central Philippine island, which he was visiting to meet with survivors of a catastrophic typhoon that killed thousands in the area 14 months ago, because of the storm.
	The scaffolding hit the 21-year-old woman in the chest and pinned her to the ground, killing her, Father Amadeo Alvero, spokesperson for the Archdiocese of Palo, told reporters.
	He said she was one of many volunteers helping at the mass the pope had given earlier in the day at Tacloban airport, which police said attracted a crowd of about 200,000 people.
	The pope celebrated mass amid heavy rain at the airport, then was forced to fly back to the capital Manila four hours earlier than scheduled to avoid the worst of Tropical Storm Mekkhala.
	An average of 20 tropical storms or typhoons hit the Philippines each ..

Storm kills Philippine papal mass volunteer: church spokesman

Japan today marked the 20th anniversary of the Kobe earthquake that killed more than 6,400 people with renewed calls for the quake-prone nation to stay vigilant against the next "Big One."
	More than 14,000 people gathered to commemorate the victims in the western port city of Kobe, where a 7.2-magnitude quake hit at 5:46 am on January 17, 1995.
	The quake, which killed 6,434 people, levelled much of the city and sparked a major review of quake preparedness in the island-nation that suffers about one fifth of the world's most powerful tremors.
	The warning was brought into reality four years ago when a 9.0 magnitude quake struck in March 2011, triggering a huge tsunami that smashed into the country's northeast coast, killing around 18,000 people and creating the world's worst nuclear emergency in a generation.
	Kobe survivors and family members of victims gathered before dawn to lay bouquets and light thousands of candles in a park used as an evacuation centre after the 1995 ...

AFP

AFP

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