Heavy rain and strong winds pounded the eastern Philippines today as millions sheltered from a giant storm that threatened more devastation to areas yet to recover from a deadly super typhoon last year.
	Across the country, people huddled in evacuation centres and their homes as Typhoon Hagupit churned towards the disaster-plagued Southeast Asian nation, with the eye of the storm expected to hit this night.
	"This is it. I know you are tired, not enough sleep, not enough food, too much coffee," Interior Secretary Mar Roxas said as he called for a final effort to bring more people in vulnerable areas to safe shelters.
	"This is our last push. Every person we can save now is one less we have to look for after the typhoon passes."
	Roxas was speaking at a nationally televised planning conference from the eastern island of Samar, which was forecast to be the first hit when Hagupit arrives bringing with it winds of 185 kilometres an hour.
	Hagupit is expected to take three days to cut ...

Rains lash disaster-weary Philippines as typhoon nears

PTI Automatic

A South African hostage has been killed in a failed raid to free captives held by militants in Yemen, a charity said today, with his death coming just a day before he was due to be released after more than a year in captivity.
	"We received with sadness the news that Pierre (Korkie) was killed in an attempt by American Special Forces, in the early hours of this morning, to free hostages in Yemen," said the Gift of the Givers group, which has been negotiating his release.
	"The psychological and emotional devastation to (his wife) Yolande and her family will be compounded by the knowledge that Pierre was to be released by Al Qaeda tomorrow," it said.
	Korkie was seized along with his wife in May 2013 in the city of Taiz by members of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).
	The couple from the central South African city of Bloemfontein had worked as teachers in Yemen for four years.
	Yolande was released in January following mediation by Gift of the Givers, which said Pierre's ...

S African hostage killed in Yemen raid before release: charity

Joshua Wong, the teenage face of Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement, said today he has ended a four-day hunger strike designed to force the government into further talks on political reform.
	"Under the strong urging of the doctor, I have stopped the hunger strike," Wong, who had not eaten in 108 hours, said on his Facebook and Twitter feeds.
	The 18-year-old said he felt "extreme physical discomfort, dizziness and weakness in the limbs".
	"Even if I stop the hunger strike, it doesn't mean that the Hong Kong government can ignore our demands," Wong said.
	Wong and two young female members of his Scholarism student group announced the "indefinite" hunger strike after Sunday, one of the worst nights of violence to hit the demonstrations.
	Wong's announcement came after fellow hunger striker Isabella Lo announced she would stop the hunger strike on Friday, days after two others joined in the strike.
	Student-led demonstrators are demanding free leadership elections for the ...

Hong Kong student leader Joshua Wong calls off hunger strike

French President Francois Hollande will make an unscheduled stop in Moscow later today to discuss the Ukraine crisis with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, his office said.
	Hollande will stop in the Russian capital on his way back home from a visit to Kazakhstan, a day after vowing to work towards a "de-escalation" in the Ukraine crisis, it said in a statement.
	He will likely meet Putin at an airport in Moscow, it added.
	Warning that the eight-month Ukraine crisis - which has sparked the worst East-West standoff since the end of the Cold War - posed "serious threats to the economy of the entire region", Hollande yesterday promised "to work together to find all the points that will allow... To initiate a de-escalation".
	The European Union and the United States have imposed sanctions on Russia over the crisis that has seen Moscow annex Ukraine's Crimea peninsula and some 4,300 people die as a result of fighting between Kiev government troops and pro-Moscow separatists in ...

Hollande to discuss Ukraine crisis with Putin in Moscow

US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel today arrived in Kabul on an unannounced visit to Afghanistan in the final weeks of NATO's 13-year war against the Taliban.
	Hagel said Afghanistan had "come a long way" over the past decade and that a newly-elected Afghan government and its army were ready to take charge of security as the bulk of the international force departs by the end of the month.
	"As difficult, as challenging, as long as this has been -- by any definition, the country of Afghanistan, the people of Afghanistan are far better off today than they were 13 years ago," Hagel told reporters on his plane.
	"They have the ability to decide their own fate, their own way, on their terms. They are not completely there yet. But they have come a long way," he said.
	The advances had come as a result of the "blood and treasure" spent by American, allied and Afghan troops, he added.
	Hagel, who is shortly to step down from office, will meet with President Ashraf Ghani as well as senior US ...

US defence secretary in Kabul as NATO war winds down

A US Navy civilian engineer was arrested yesterday on charges of trying to steal schematics of a new nuclear aircraft carrier and have them sent to Egypt, the Justice Department said.
	An undercover FBI agent posed as an Egyptian intelligence officer to snare Mostafa Ahmed Awwad, 35, from the state of Virginia, who is charged with two counts of attempting to export defense articles and technical data.
	He faces a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in prison on each count if convicted.
	Awwad told the undercover agent whom he believed was an Egyptian government official  that it was his intention to utilize his position of trust with the US Navy to obtain military technology for use by the Egyptian government, the Justice Department said.
	That included the designs of the USS Gerald R. Ford nuclear aircraft carrier, which is under construction.
	Awwad is scheduled to appear for a detention hearing on Wednesday.

US Navy engineer 'tried to pass details to Egypt'

Drone strikes killed nine suspected Al-Qaeda militants today in southeast Yemen, where the US military launched a failed operation last month to rescue an American hostage, security and tribal sources said.
	"Several drone strikes have targeted Al-Qaeda positions in Nusab (in Shabwa province), killing nine members of the network," a security source said.
	A tribal leader said soldiers of an unknown nationality were seen parachuting into the area and clashes ensued, suggesting it could be a new operation to try to free the US hostage.
	It was not immediately possible to verify that information.
	Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) on Thursday threatened the imminent execution of US journalist Luke Somers who was kidnapped more than a year ago in Sanaa.
	The United States has said that American and Yemeni forces recently tried unsuccessfully to rescue Somers.
	According to Yemen's defence ministry, Al-Qaeda moved hostages, including the US journalist, a Briton and a South African, .

Drone strikes kill 9 'Qaeda' militants in Yemen

New Zealand fought hard to beat Pakistan by 17 runs in the second Twenty20 international in Dubai to level the two-match series at 1-1 on Friday.
     Set a challenging 145-run target Pakistan lost wickets at regular intervals with opener Ahmed Shehzad (33) and captain Shahid Afridi (28) the only ones who stayed long enough to raise any hopes of a win.
     Pakistan won the first match -- also played in Dubai -- by seven wickets on Thursday.
     This time their chase was chaotic as New Zealand bowled with precision and fast bowlers Jimmy Neesham finished with 3-25 and Kyle Mills 3-26.
     Left-arm spinner Anton Devcich (2-16) rattled Pakistan by dismissing Sarfraz Ahmed in the very first over for just one. Ahmed had made 76 not out in the first match.
     Pakistan also lost Mohammad Hafeez (nine) and Haris Sohail (three) and were struggling at 24-3 before Shehzad added 40 for the fourth wicket with Saad Nasim who made 19.
     Afridi hit two towering sixes off spinner Daniel ...

New Zealand beat Pakistan to level Twenty20 series

Scoreboard of the second Twenty20 international between Pakistan and New Zealand played at Dubai international cricket stadium on Friday:
     New Zealand
     A. Devcich b Hafeez                    21
     K. Williamson b Afridi                 32
     D. Brownlie lbw b Afridi                0
     R. Taylor lbw b Hasan                   7
     T. Latham c Ali b Gul                  26
     L. Ronchi c Shehzad b Tanvir           31
     J. Neesham not out                      7
     D. Vettori b Gul                        0
     N. McCullum run out                     4
     K. Mills not out                        6
     Extras: (w10)                          10
     Total: (for eight wkts; 20 overs)     144
     Fall of wickets: 1-49, 2-50, 3-58, 4-78, 5-116, 6-127, 7-127, 8-136.
     Bowling: Ali 2-0-13-0 (1w), Tanvir 4-0-30-1, Gul 4-0-24-2 (1w), Hasan 4-0-24-1, Hafeez 2-0-20-1, Afridi 4-0-33-2 (8w)
     Pakistan
     Sarfraz Ahmed lbw b Devcich             1
     Ahmed Shehzad b ..

Pakistan v New Zealand Twenty20 scoreboard

The UN Security Council will meet this month on North Korea's rights record following calls to refer Pyongyang to face crimes against humanity charges, a spokesman has said.
	Ten of the council's 15 members had asked for the meeting in a letter sent to Chadian Ambassador Cherif Mahamat Zene, whose country holds the council's presidency for December.
	North Korea's sole major ally China and Russia did not sign the letter.
	Chad agreed to the request and will schedule a meeting, although no date has been set, spokesman Boukar Doungous of the Chadian mission told AFP yesterday.
	Australia, Britain, Chile, France, Jordan, Lithuania, Luxembourg, South Korea, Rwanda and the United States said they were "deeply concerned" by the situation in communist North Korea.
	The 10 ambassadors pointed to the "scale and gravity of human rights violations" outlined in a UN commission of inquiry report released in February.
	"These violations threaten to have a destabilizing impact on the region and the .

UN Security Council to meet on North Korea rights record

The Al Qaeda-linked Syrian extremist group the Al-Nusra front has claimed to have killed a captured Lebanese soldier to avenge the arrest of militants' wives and children.
	In a statement on its Twitter account, picked up by the private terrorism watchdog SITE, the group posted a photograph yesterday that it said showed soldier Ali al-Bazaal's execution.
	"If the sisters that were unjustly arrested are not released, then after a short period of time the death sentence will be executed against another prisoner we hold," it declared.
	The group did not identify the women and children it said Lebanon is holding, nor did it say how many were missing.
	On Wednesday, Lebanon's interior minister said authorities there were holding the daughter and former wife of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who leads the Islamic State jihadist group, a rival of Al-Nusra.
	While both based in neighbouring Syria, Al Nusra and the Islamic State have clashed with Lebanese border forces and with the Lebanese militia ...

Qaeda-linked group claims murder of Lebanese soldier

The EU's former top diplomat Catherine Ashton will continue negotiations with Iran on its contested nuclear programme after being named a special adviser by her successor, a statement has said.
	Federica Mogherini, who replaced Ashton, had given the Briton the post "to facilitate nuclear negotiations with Iran," the European Union said yesterday.
	Ashton had in her former job led talks between the so-called P5+1 group -- comprising Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States plus Germany -- and Iran.
	Ashton's nomination will "ensure the continuity of the negotiations," the EU said.
	At the most recent negotiations in Vienna, Iran and the P5+1 group missed a November 24 deadline for a comprehensive agreement.
	But they agreed to keep talking and set new deadlines of March 1 for a broad political framework and June 30 for the fine print of the final deal.
	Key differences remain on when sanctions will be lifted on Iran and on what limits will be placed on its enrichment of ...

Former EU top diplomat to continue nuclear talks with Iran

British businessman Ian Griffin has been jailed for 20 years by a Paris court for the brutal murder of his Polish-born girlfriend in an upmarket hotel.
	The jury yesterday found 45-year-old Griffin guilty despite his claim that he had no recall of the incident because he had blacked out in their room at the five-star Le Bristol hotel near the Champs Elysees in May 2009.
	His wealthy girlfriend, Kinga Wolf, 36, died of massive internal bleeding and her skull, jaw and larynx were smashed. More than 100 marks were found on her body.
	Griffin claimed the couple had argued over dinner after she refused him the anti-depression pills to which he had become addicted.
	He said she then pressured him for sex, but he was in no state and refused.
	"She was very upset," Griffin told the court in evidence on Tuesday.
	He left the restaurant before her intending to "get my car keys and leave", but she made it back to their hotel room before him.
	"When I walked into the room and heard her voice, I ..

British man gets 20 years for girlfriend's Paris hotel murder

The New Republic, a century-old left-leaning political magazine bought by a Facebook billionaire in 2012, has been plunged into turmoil after a shakeup ousting its top editors, amid a shift to digital.
	Numerous senior editors announced their resignations yesterday to protest the departure of chief editor Franklin Foer and literary editor Leon Wieseltier, reportedly prompted by owner Chris Hughes.
	Hughes this week announced plans to cut the frequency of the print magazine and reconfigure the organisation as a digital media group, according to a memo leaked to several media outlets.
	The magazine is also moving its offices to New York City from Washington.
	Julia Ioffe, a senior editor, announced her resignation in a Facebook posting joined by 10 other top journalists at the 100-year-old publication.
	"Today, I did something I thought I'd never do and quit The New Republic. It has been, hands down, the happiest, most satisfying, most intellectually stimulating place I've ever worked ..

Meltdown at The New Republic magazine after shakeup

In a landmark deal, France will pay USD 60 million to the United States to be shared among American and foreign nationals deported to Nazi death camps on French trains in World War II.
	The agreement, unveiled today and which has been at least two years in the making, should now remove obstacles to the French rail firm SNCF seeking to bid on major railway contracts in the US, including in the state of Maryland.
	"The US and France have reached a historic agreement for substantial compensation in connection with the deportations from France during the Holocaust," US negotiator Stuart Eizenstat said.
	"This is another measure of justice for the harms of one of history's darkest eras," he told reporters, adding it was a good example of the close US-French partnership.
	Several thousand people could now be eligible for compensation, including nationals of Israel and Canada as well as Americans who were deported from France to the death camps some 70 years ago.
	During the German ...

France to pay USD 60 mn to US for Nazi rail deportations

Belgium's former queen Fabiola, the Spanish-born widow of the popular king Baudouin, who was at the centre of a recent row over her yearly allowance, died today at the age of 86, the palace said.
	"Their majesties the king and queen and members of the royal family announce with very great sadness the death of Her Majesty Queen Fabiola this evening at Stuyvenberg Castle in Brussels," a statement from the royal palace of King Philippe said.
	Born Dona Fabiola de Mora y Aragon on June 11, 1928 in Madrid to Spanish nobility, she married Baudouin in December 1960 -- the same year that Congo won its independence from Belgium.
	The couple never had children.
	The fifth queen of the Belgians, she withdrew from the public eye after the sudden death of King Baudouin in 1993 on holiday in Spain, leaving the royal spotlight to her brother-in-law Albert, who took the throne, and Queen Paola.
	In July 2013, she looked on as king Albert II passed the crown to her nephew Philippe, to whom she was ...

Belgium's former queen Fabiola dies aged 86: palace

The threat of an attack by Islamist militants in Europe is "real" and EU countries must all remain mobilised to counter it, France's interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve warned today.
	His remarks came amid signs that the number of jihadists leaving Europe to fight in Iraq and Syria continued to increase, raising concerns that some will return to their home countries battle hardened and ready to carry out attacks.
	"There are risks which are real today and which require a general mobilisation," Cazeneuve said after a meeting of EU interior ministers in Brussels to discuss the threat posed by foreign fighters.
	A European official presented the threat in even starker terms, telling AFP on condition of anonymity that "an attack on European territory is very likely."
	Another European source added: "The motives to join the jihad will continue as long as the conflict in Syria and Iraq lasts."
	Cazeneuve said that in France the number of people involved in the jihadist network has jumped by 

Risk of militant attack in Europe is real: France

Developing countries may need as much as USD 250-500 billion per year by 2050 to deal with the fallout from climate change, a UN report warned today.
	The projected costs for adaptation were several times higher than previous estimates, said the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP), warning of a "significant funding gap after 2020."
	"The impacts of climate change are already beginning to be factored into the budgets of national and local authorities," UNEP executive director Achim Steiner said in a statement.
	"The escalating cost implications on communities, cities, business, taxpayers and national budgets merit closer attention as they translate into real economic consequences," he added.
	Financing of developing country adaptation programs is a key sticking point at UN negotiations under way in Lima to hammer out the broad outlines of a new world pact to curb global warming.
	Poor countries most vulnerable to climate change-induced impacts -- like extreme weather events, .

Developing world may need USD annual 500bn for climate by 2050

The former flatmate and chauffeur of the notorious BBC presenter Jimmy Savile was found guilty today of a series of rapes and sexual assaults of young girls.
	Ray Teret, a 73-year-old former pirate radio DJ, was convicted of seven rapes and 11 indecent assaults, in relation to 11 victims. The offences occurred in the 1960s and 1970s.
	Prosecutors said Teret, nicknamed "Ugly Ray", used his star status to target vulnerable young girls.
	Former DJ Savile, who died in 2011, has since been revealed as a prolific child sex abuser who escaped capture throughout his life.
	The mountain of historic allegations about Savile sparked a wide-ranging police investigation which has seen celebrities convicted for sex offences dating back decades.
	Liz Dux, from the law firm representing one of Teret's victims as well as 169 people claiming to have been abused by Savile, welcomed today's verdicts.
	"This is the closest the victims of Jimmy Savile will get to a conviction against their attacker. They ..

Savile's ex-chauffeur guilty of rapes in Britain

Frenchman Mehdi Nemmouche, suspected of killing four people at Brussels' Jewish Museum in May, was remanded in custody for another three months today, judicial officials said.
	Nemmouche, 29, of Algerian origin and who spent more than a year fighting with Islamic extremists in Syria, has been charged with "murder in a terrorist context" after an Israeli couple, a French woman and a Belgian were shot dead at the museum in central Brussels.
	The hearing took place in a closed session. Nemmouche was first ordered held following his extradition from France at the end of July.
	Nemmouche's lawyers said they had not asked for bail. At the last hearing, they said such an approach "was absolutely not an admission of guilt".
	One of the lawyers, Sebastien Courtoy, had said there was a major problem with the prosecution in that "there is no direct proof of the clear presence of Nemmouche at the scene".
	Courtoy claimed the authorities were trying to blacken his client's character, citing ...

Brussels Jewish museum suspect killer remanded in custody

At least nine people were killed today in a twin bomb attack in the central Somali town of Baidoa, police said, the latest in a string of attacks.
	"A suicide bomber detonated himself amongst a crowd of people drinking at a busy teashop in the town. We have so far counted at least nine civilians, among them journalists, who died in the attack," police officer Abdirasak Ali told AFP.
	Minutes later a second blast exploded as rescuers went to help those who had been wounded.
	"A second explosion, a car loaded with explosives parked nearby, went off as rescuers rushed to the scene, and that caused most of the casualties," Ali added.
	He said at least 12 people were wounded.
	The attack comes a day after a new federal regional leader took power in Baidoa, some 250 kilometres northwest of the capital Mogadishu.
	There was no immediate claim of responsibility but Somalia's Al-Qaeda-affiliated Shebab rebels have previously carried out repeated attacks in the town as part of their fight to ...

AFP

AFP

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