Kuwait's highest court annulled the results of a winter parliamentary poll, reinstating the previous assembly on Wednesday. February’s elections were won by opposition politicians as the emir dissolved the previous parliament amid a sharpening corruption conflict. Mainly Islamist lawmakers had threatened to summon senior ministers to parliament for questioning over allegations the government’s activities held up economic reforms and the Arab country’s development.
Regime and rebel forces to cease fire in Homs to allow evacuation – Red Cross
Wounded and trapped civilians are preparing to be evacuated from Homs as the government and opposition forces agree to halt their fight, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said Wednesday. “The ICRC and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent are ready to enter the old city of Homs and the neighborhoods of Al-Qarabees, Al-Qusour, Jurat al-Shayyah and Al-Khalidiya as soon as possible,” the committee’s spokesperson told Reuters. The NGO will also deliver aid and medical supplies to Homs hospitals.
Turkish warplanes strike Kurdish targets in Iraq
Turkish warplanes and helicopters struck Kurdish rebel targets across the border in northern Iraq on Wednesday. The military said they responded to Tuesday's rebel attack that killed eight Turkish soldiers near the Iraqi border. Turkish troops killed 26 Kurdish rebels and captured another one alive, according to the military. Meanwhile, the President of Iraq's self-governed Kurdish region called for an end to the fighting between Turkey and Kurdish rebels. Massoud Barzani told Turkey's state television that “the time for war and guns has passed.”
Residents, animals flee floods in northeast Minnesota
Floods fed by a steady torrential downpour have forced residents to evacuate their homes in a northeast Minnesota city of Duluth. Officers helped staff at the Lake Superior Zoo in Duluth to catch escaped animals, including a polar bear, AP reports. Zoo officials said on Wednesday that some barnyard animals died. About a dozen homes in nearby Fond du Lac have been evacuated.
Red Cross attempts to evacuate civilians from Homs
The International Committee of the Red Cross has appealed to Syria's government and rebel groups to allow it to reach hundreds of civilians trapped in the city of Homs. The Geneva-based organisation wants to evacuate the sick and wounded from several Homs neighborhoods to safe areas. Both sides officially agreed on Tuesday to a pause in the fighting, the Red Cross said. Beatrice Megevand-Roggo, the head of operations for the region, said on Wednesday that “hundreds of civilians are stuck in the old city of Homs, unable to leave and find refuge in safer areas, because of the ongoing armed confrontations.”
Three US troops killed in Afghan attack
Three US service members and an Afghan interpreter have been killed in an explosion in eastern Afghanistan, the US Embassy said on Wednesday. The explosion also left 17 Afghans dead, AP reports. Afghan officials said a suicide bomber rammed a vehicle packed with explosives into a military convoy.
80 killed in northern Nigeria violence
At least 80 people have been killed since Monday in clashes in northern Nigeria, police and the Red Cross said on Wednesday. The clashes were triggered by Islamists waging an insurgency against the government. Some of the violence was sparked by church bombings over the last three Sundays. Boko Haram insurgents waged gun battles with security forces in the northeastern city of Damaturu throughout Tuesday. Police said 40 people were killed, 34 insurgents and six security personnel, Reuters reports. At least 40 people were killed and 62 wounded in separate clashes between Muslim and Christian residents of the northern city of Kaduna on Tuesday.
Thousands evacuated as storm pounds Taiwan
Taiwanese authorities on Wednesday evacuated thousands of people as tropical storm Talim struck Taiwan. A total of 247 flights were cancelled and schools were closed after the storm sparked rainfall of up to 50 centimeters in the south. It is not expected to make landfall, but the storm may still introduce heavy rains, weathermen said, as cited by AFP. The southern Kaohsiung city received much of the rainfall.
Greece ‘has new government’ – socialist party leader
Greek pro-euro parties have clinched a coalition deal, the leader of the socialist Pasok party said on Wednesday. “Greece has a government,” Evangelos Venizelos said, as cited by AFP. The new government was formed by New Democracy, Pasok and the small Democratic Left party, he added. The details are to be announced later on Wednesday. Venizelos made the statement after talks with Antonis Samaras, the leader of the conservative New Democracy party, which won Sunday’s elections.
Four Kurdish rebels killed in Turkey
Turkey's military on Wednesday killed four more Kurdish rebels in the country’s southeast. The ongoing clashes have so far left eight soldiers and 24 rebels dead, and wounded another 19 soldiers, AFP reports. Fighting between soldiers and Kurdish rebels erupted early Tuesday when a group of rebels attacked an army post in the town of Yuksekova in Hakkari province near the border with Iraq.
Kuwait constitutional court declares 2012 parliamentary poll void
Kuwait's constitutional court on Wednesday declared February's legislative elections illegal. “The court declared that the emiri decree that called for the 2012 election was unconstitutional and ordered reinstating the previous assembly,” the state KUNA news agency said. Kuwait Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad Al-Sabah dissolved the parliament in December. A few days later, another decree was issued to elect a new parliament on February 2, in which the opposition swept to victory.
Plot against embassies ‘foiled’ in Yemen
Yemen's security forces have foiled a militant plot to attack embassies in Sanaa, state news agency SABA said on Wednesday. A terror plot targeted foreign embassies in the capital, top security officials say. Three suspects “armed with weapons, explosives and maps showing the location of foreign embassies” were detained. Days earlier, Yemen’s army forced Al Qaeda-linked militants out of bastions in the south.
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