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 ...

Nine killed, 12 wounded in twin bomb attack in Somali town

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A top US official today hit back on against accusations the West has failed to live up to promises made exactly 20 years ago to Ukraine in exchange for it giving up nuclear weapons.
	The Budapest Memorandum that came into force on December 5, 1994 led to Ukraine voluntarily giving up the huge stockpile of nuclear warheads it inherited from the Soviet Union.
	In exchange, Britain, the United States and Russia agreed to respect Ukraine's borders and ensure its security -- a promise which many Ukrainians see as unkept in the wake of Russia's annexation of Crimea and support for eastern separatists this year.
	But on a visit to Kiev today, Rose Gottemoeller, head of arms control and international security for the US government, said her country "has gone every step towards continuing to defend and develop a means of bolstering Ukraine".
	Gottemoeller, who was a negotiator at the Budapest talks 20 years ago, sidestepped questions from reporters on whether Ukraine would have been spared a ..

US rejects criticism of historic Ukraine nuclear deal

About 53,000 people left Bangladesh and Myanmar on treacherous smuggling boats bound for Thailand and Malaysia this year, about 540 of them dying on the journey, the UN refugee agency said today.
	The majority are stateless Rohingya Muslims, fleeing ethnic tensions in Myanmar or poor prospects in Bangladesh, as well as Bangladeshis looking for a better life, the UNHCR said in a report.
	Some 50,000 of these left from the Bangladesh-Myanmar border area, 15 per cent more then left between January and November last year, and more than triple the estimated number of departures during the same period in 2012.
	Almost half -- 21,000 -- of these passengers left the border area in the last two months, a 37 per cent increase compared to October and November 2013, the UNHCR said.
	The remaining 3,000 came from the Sittwe area of Myanmar.
	"Several individuals reported incidents of rape and some said they had been trafficked, though the coercive conditions of travel often blurred the distinction 

53,000 fled Myanmar, Bangladesh by sea in 2014: UN

A court in Azerbaijan today placed a prominent investigative journalist and anti-graft campaigner in pre-trial detention for two months in a move the OSCE condemned as a campaign to silence her.
	The journalist, Khadija Ismayilova, "was ordered to spend two months in pre-trial detention on absurd charges of driving a person to suicide," her lawyer Elton Mamedov told AFP.
	"Her arrest is a punishment for her journalistic work," he added.
	Mamedov said that prosecutors had demanded Ismayilova's arrest after a former journalist at Radio Liberty's Azerbaijani service, where Ismayilova used to be bureau chief, accused her of "inciting him to commit suicide."
	The journalist, Tural Mustafayev, says he attempted suicide in September because Ismayilova sacked him several years earlier.
	If convicted, Ismayilova could face a prison sentence of up to seven years.
	Dunja Mijatovic, the media watchdog of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, condemned Ismayilova's arrest as ...

Azerbaijan detains prominent journalist for 'inciting suicide'

President Vladimir Putin today said his support for traditional family values does not mean gays and lesbians will be persecuted, despite what many describe as a crackdown on homosexuals in Russia.
	In his state-of-the-nation address yesterday Putin said "healthy family" and traditional values were among Russia's top priorities.
	"Traditional family, a healthy nation is our strategic choice," Putin reaffirmed, speaking with rights activists at the Kremlin today.
	But he added, "This should not look as if we intend to persecute people of some non-traditional orientation."
	"One does not preclude the other," Russian news agencies quoted Putin as saying. "I believe that such balanced approach is absolutely the right one."
	Since returning to the Kremlin for a third term in 2012, Putin has pushed an increasingly conservative agenda, seeking to promote Russia as the antithesis of the West.
	In 2013, Russia passed a hugely controversial law banning the promotion or display of homosexuality .

Putin says traditional values do not mean persecution of gays

US President Barack Obama today paid homage to South Africa's late ex-president Nelson Mandela on the first anniversary of his death as a visionary who remains an enduring source of inspiration.
	"One year ago the world lost a leader whose struggle and sacrifices inspired us to stand up for our fundamental principles, whose example reminded us of the enduring need for compassion, understanding, and reconciliation, and whose vision saw the promise of a better world," Obama said in a statement.
	"As we pause today to remember the legacy of Madiba, I hope we can all take a moment to reflect on how Mandela's life has inspired our own, and will impact the paths of generations to come -- including the next generation of world leaders, as while Mandela left behind a world more just and free, there is much more work to be done," the US leader said.
	   "On this day, and on every day, we honour his spirit and his memory."
	   Mandela's death on December 5, 2013 at the age of 95 was met with a .

Obama pays homage to Mandela's enduring inspiration

The continued fall of oil prices could lead to postponement of USD 150 billion worth of projects in the sector worldwide, a Norwegian consulting firm said today.
	"Everything will depend on what oil companies decide to do, but if they don't exploit the fields which break even with the barrel above USD 80, USD 150 billion will go down the drain," chief analyst at Rystad Energy, Per Magnus Nysveen, told AFP.
	Today, Brent crude fell close to USD 69 a barrel in London, a drop of 40 per cent from June.
	Falling oil prices combined with high production costs in the sector force oil companies to postpone or even cancel developments of oil finds in order to maintain their cash flow.
	Norway's energy giant Statoil, for example, has delayed decisions on its Johan Castberg project, a massive off-shore oil field in the Arctic with an estimated 400 to 600 million barrels in which operations are expected to be costly.
	"Anything with high costs will be vulnerable: the Arctic, oil sands and small ..

Oil price drop threatens USD150 bn in investments

Millions of people in the Philippines sought shelter in churches, schools and other makeshift evacuation centres today as Typhoon Hagupit bore down on the disaster-weary nation.
	The storm, which would be the strongest to hit the Southeast Asian archipelago this year, is expected to impact more than half the nation including communities devastated by Super Typhoon Haiyan last year.
	 Authorities said millions of people were pouring into evacuation centres ahead of Hagupit's expected landfall on Saturday night or Sunday, having learnt the lessons of early preparations after Haiyan.
	"Everyone here is gripped with fear," Rita Villadolid, 39, told AFP as she sat with her family and hundreds of other people inside a stadium in Tacloban, one of the cities still yet to recover from Haiyan.
	Elsewhere in Tacloban, a coastal city of 220,000 people on the eastern island of Leyte, people began flooding into churches and schools with little more than bags of clothes and rice.
	Haiyan, the ...

Millions evacuate as typhoon bears down on Philippines

An orangutan has died after being found on a palm oil plantation in Borneo with 40 air-rifle pellets in her body, an animal protection group said today.
	The adult female was found on Wednesday in a critical condition inside a palm oil plantation in the Central Kalimantan province, the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation said in a press release.
	The case is the latest example of one of the critically- endangered primates being killed by humans. Orangutans are faced with extinction from poaching and the rapid destruction of their forest habitat, driven largely by land clearance for palm oil and paper plantations.
	"An x-ray result showed 10 pellets in the head, 8 pellets in the left leg and pelvis, 18 pellets in the right leg and pelvis, as well as six pellets in the chest and right hand," it said.
	The primate's right upper leg was also broken and maggots were found inside her open wounds. She also very skinny due to malnutrition.
	A team of medics operated on the orangutan in an ...

Borneo Orangutan dies with 40 pellets in her body: group

Scotland today lowered its drink-drive limit below that in force in the rest of Britain, in a move that could put motorists over the legal threshold after just one drink.
	The change, cutting the limit to 0.05 grammes of alcohol per decilitre (one-tenth of a litre) of blood, sparked warnings that motorists who legally consumed drinks in England -- where the legal limit is 0.08 -- before driving could be breaking the law if they crossed over into Scotland.
	Scotland's reduced limit of 0.05 is in line with that in several European countries including France, Germany and Spain. It has prompted calls for the rest of Britain to follow suit.
	"Evidence from across Europe, where the lower limit already applies, suggests we will see reductions in drink-driving and a corresponding increase in lives saved," said senior Scottish police officer Bernard Higgins.
	The new limit equates to consuming roughly just under one pint (0.57 litres) of beer for an average man, or half a pint for a ...

Tougher UK drink-drive rule urged after Scots lower limit

China today defended its overseas Confucius Institutes, one day after a US congressman called for a probe into the language and cultural centres over concerns that they violate academic freedom.
	The row over the Beijing-backed centres -- which number nearly 100 in the US, mostly on the campuses of publicly-funded state universities -- comes after a number of US, Canadian and other schools publicly cut ties with them.
	Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying described Confucius Institutes as "a bridge linking China with the rest of the world" and maintained that all activities at the centres were "open and transparent".
	"The Chinese side provides assistance in terms of teachers and textbooks at the request of the American side," Hua said at a regular briefing. "It has never interfered in academic freedom."
	"We hope that all countries can make joint efforts to discard prejudice and build the bridge of friendship much stronger," she added.
	On Thursday, Congressman Chris ...

Beijing defends Confucius Institutes

The US space agency's Orion capsule blasted off today on its first journey into orbit, in a key test flight before carrying people to deep space destinations like Mars in the coming years.
	The unmanned spacecraft soared into space at 7:05 am (0535 IST) atop a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket that rumbled and roared as it climbed into pastel skies over the Florida coast at sunrise, leaving a plume of smoke in its wake.
	Cheers could be heard at Kennedy Space Centre as the rocket took off, though the crowds were thinner than they were yesterday, when 27,000 people showed up for a launch that was delayed by wind gusts and technical problems.
	All those concerns vanished today, however.
	"It was just a blast to see how well the rocket did," said Orion program manager Mark Geyer.
	"Being near a launch -- a rocket that big -- you can feel it," he said.
	The launch is the first in more than 40 years of a US spacecraft intended to carry humans beyond the Moon. It has ...

NASA's Orion capsule blasts off on 'first step' to Mars

The International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor today dropped a case against Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta alleging crimes against humanity, saying she did not have enough evidence to take him to trial.
	"The Prosecution withdraws the charges against Mr Kenyatta," Fatou Bensouda said in a document filed at the Hague-based court, adding "the evidence has not improved to such an extent that Mr Kenyatta's alleged criminal responsibility can be proven beyond reasonable doubt.

ICC prosecutors drop case against Kenya's president

Italy's navy said today that 17 boat migrants had died of hypothermia and dehydration in an attempt to cross the Mediterranean to Europe amid a sharp turn in the winter weather.
	Navy and coast-guard boats responding to an emergency call yesterday found an inflatable dinghy adrift off the Italian island of Lampedusa with 16 bodies and 76 migrants aboard.
	One of those rescued died shortly after the rescue mission, raising the death toll to 17.
	Italy has been particularly affected by a surge in the numbers of migrants seeking to slip into Europe by sea from Africa, with more than 150,000 rescued from rickety boats already this year after setting off from Libya, even in adverse weather conditions.
	The navy said it had rescued another 202 migrants from two other boats attempting the crossing yesterday, dousing expectations that the numbers would fall off as a result of Italy's suspension of its naval search-and-rescue operation, Mare Nostrum.
	Critics had argued the mission was ...

Boat migrants die of hypothermia as winter closes in

Communal clashes have left four people dead and more than a dozen wounded at Bambari in the unstable Central African Republic, the UN mission MINUSCA has announced.
	"The town of Bambari has once again been the scene of serious and blind violence causing numerous casualties, including four dead, more than a dozen injured and houses burned down," MINUSCA said in a statement released last night.
	The mission, which is part of international efforts to restore peace and help transitional authorities after a 2013 coup led to civil war, said that it was "particularly concerned by the inter-communal nature of this violence".
	The unrest in the town in the centre of the deeply poor, landlocked nation erupted after a motorcycle taxi driver was killed and his vehicle stolen, according to the paramilitary police.
	When the man's body was found by locals and recognised as that of a Peul (Fulani), a people who mainly profess Islam, Muslim residents launched reprisals against Christians.
	The ...

Clash in C Africa kills four, leaves several wounded: UN

Ukraine's military said today it had lost six soldiers in the past 24 hours despite both Kiev and the pro-Russian rebels committing themselves to a new truce the previous day.
	"In the past day, we lost six soldiers. Another 13 were wounded," Ukrainian National Security and Defence Council spokesman Andriy Lysenko told reporters.
	The toll was one of the highest reported by the Ukrainian armed forces in recent weeks.
	Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and the separatist leaders of the pro-Russian regions of Lugansk and Donetsk yesterday said they had reached a deal to halt fire in their eight-month conflict on December 9.
	The surprise announcement came days after the two sides had agreed to a ceasefire around the flashpoint international airport in rebel-held Donetsk.
	But that local truce has been repeatedly broken and it remains uncertain whether the deal announced for next Tuesday will hold.
	The United Nations believes that the war has killed more than 4,300 people and driven .

Six Ukrainian soldiers killed in past day: military

South African President Jacob Zuma today said that China's growing influence in Africa would allow the continent to free itself from "colonial shackles" as he wound up a visit to Beijing.
	Zuma's government has denied the Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama several visas in recent years and maintains a strongly pro-China foreign policy, while Beijing has expanded its footprint to become the biggest trading partner of South Africa and the African continent.
	"The emergence of China as a power among others gives or offers an opportunity to African countries to be able to free themselves from the shackles that are really colonially designed," Zuma told an audience of students at Tsinghua University in Beijing.
	Zuma, whose African National Congress (ANC) led the struggle against apartheid, added that in African countries' relations with "Europe in particular, you are regarded as either a former subject or a second and third class kind of a person".
	But "the relationship between ...

South Africa's Zuma calls China an anti-colonial force

An air strike hit a Libyan militia post on the border with Tunisia today, killing one person and wounding several others, a militia spokesman said.
	The Libya Shield militia accused forces loyal to the internationally recognised government of carrying out the raid close to the Ras Jedir border crossing.
	"One Libya Shield member was killed and between three and five were wounded," spokesman Hafedh Muammar told AFP.
	Libya Shield forms part of the Islamist-backed militia alliance which seized the capital and much of the west in August, forcing the internationally backed government to take refuge in the remote east.
	Forces loyal to the government have carried out a spate of air strikes in western Libya in recent days.
	Yesterday, they hit what they said was a militia position in the south of Tripoli.
	But their militia rivals, who have set up their own administration in the capital, said the strike hit a poultry farm.
	On Tuesday, air strikes on the coastal city of Zuara, between ...

Deadly air raid hits Libya militia on Tunisia border

Mexican police shot and killed six people during a raid in a state wracked by drug cartel violence, an official said.
	Another seven people were arrested and two kidnapped people were freed in the operation in Veracruz.
	The clash happened in the town of Poza Rica as authorities probed complaints of a kidnapping in a home, an official with the state government said on condition of anonymity.
	When police arrived they were met with gunfire, the official said.
	Police found weapons, torture devices, grenades and other material that led them to think the people killed belong to the ultra-violent Zetas drug cartel. It has a major presence in the state.
	Veracruz is one of the Mexican states most torn by violence among drug cartels.
	They fight over street peddling of cocaine and other drugs, side businesses like robbing fuel from the state-owned oil company Petroleos Mexicanos and extorting money from migrants trying to head north to the United States.

Six killed in Mexican police raid

A founder of Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement branded the occupation of the city's main roads as "high-risk" today, urging protesters to turn to new methods of civil disobedience to push for electoral reform.
	Benny Tai, one of the three founders of the Occupy Central with Love and Peace movement, said the movement has now run its course and warned that protesters now risk further violent clashes with police if they stay in their camps.
	"Occupation is now a high-risk, low-return business," he said in an editorial in the New York Times, arguing that campaigners should instead turn to "acts of noncooperation" such as refusing to pay taxes.
	"The occupation has won over as many Hong Kongers as it ever will, and we should consider new ways to convince the public that fighting for full democracy is in their interest."
	Campaigners have camped out on Hong Kong's streets for more than two months to demand fully free elections for the southern Chinese city's leadership.
	The rallies drew ..

Hong Kong protest leader says block government, not roads

A German court today jailed a jihadist militant for three years and nine months in the country's first trial of a member of the Islamic State group fighting in Syria and Iraq.
	Kreshnik Berisha, 20, born near the business capital Frankfurt to a family from Kosovo, was found guilty of membership in a foreign terrorist organisation, said presiding judge Thomas Lagebier.
	Berisha had admitted in court to having joined IS and taken part in fighting in Syria.
	The prosecution had called for a sentence of four years and three months, while the defence had urged a lesser term of three years and three months.
	Federal prosecutors had told the court that Berisha travelled to Syria via Turkey in July 2013 with other Islamists planning to join the fight to create a "caliphate" straddling Syria and Iraq.
	He returned home for unclear reasons in December 2013 and was arrested at Frankfurt airport.
	The trial opened in September.
	Germany's domestic intelligence service believes about 550 German ...

AFP

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