Pakistani teen activist shot by
Taliban arrives in Britain for treatment
Malala
Yousufzai, a 14-year-old Pakistani activist shot in the head by Taliban
insurgents, has arrived in the UK for surgery and treatment. She flew out of
Islamabad on Monday in a specially equipped air ambulance provided by the
United Arab Emirates. The teenager will be treated at the Queen Elizabeth
Hospital in Birmingham. Malala was attacked as she was leaving school, and has
been in critical condition since. Two of her classmates were also injured in
the attack.
Egypt launches probe of military
rulers over protest deaths
Egypt is
launching a civilian probe into the country’s former military rulers for their
alleged role in the killing of at least 120 protesters during their 18 months
in power. A court official said that investigative judge Tharwat Hamad was
assigned to investigate accusations against Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi and
other members of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, the AP reported.
Hamad reportedly presided over the investigation into the killing of 26 Coptic
Christian protesters and a soldier in October 2011.
Belarus slams extension of EU
sanctions
Belarus
criticized Monday’s decision by the EU to maintain existing sanctions on the
country until October 31, 2013. The move of the EU Council “effectively freezes
our relations at a level that is objectively not in the interest of either
side,” Interfax quoted Foreign Ministry spokesperson Andrey Savinykh as saying.
Minsk called upon the EU “to stop thinking in terms of sanctions,” Savinykh
said, adding that Belarus is ready for a constructive and respectful dialogue.
The sanctions were first imposed over Minsk’s crackdown on political
opposition.
German education minister Schavan
accused of plagiarism
German
Chancellor Angela Merkel said she has full confidence in her education
minister, who is facing questions about whether she plagiarized her doctoral
thesis. Annette Schavan promised to provide information to the University of
Duesseldorf, the AP quoted Merkel as saying. “The minister has my fullest
trust,” the chancellor said. An anonymous blogger questioned Schavan's 1980
thesis: An initial appraisal found questionable passages on 60 of its 351
pages, media reports said. The university refused to comment while the
investigation is ongoing. Schavan said she never “knowingly falsely cited any sources.”
Merkel's former Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg resigned in 2011
amid accusations that he plagiarized large sections of his doctoral thesis.
8 killed in clashes between
Turkish army, Kurdish militants
Turkish
security forces killed six Kurdish militants in a shootout during a raid on one
of their camps in southeastern Turkey on Monday, security sources said. One
soldier and a villager were also killed in the ensuing clashes in the Cukurca
district of Turkey’s Hakkari province, a mountainous area bordering Iraq and
Iran, the AP reported. Four other soldiers and three militants were reportedly
wounded.
Yemeni pilot killed in fighter
jet crash
A Yemeni
fighter jet crashed immediately after takeoff during a training mission on
Monday, the country’s defense ministry said. The Russian-made MiG-21 aircraft
reportedly crashed inside al-Annad air base in the southern province of Lahj
due to a technical failure. The pilot, Col. Atiq al-Akhali, was killed and a
trainee was injured, the AP quoted the ministry as saying. Al-Annad air base is
the biggest in the country, and hosts a group of US military advisers assisting
Yemeni troops in their fight against a local Al-Qaeda branch.
Former Israeli President Katsav
seeks pardon
Israel's
president has received a formal request to pardon his predecessor, Moshe
Katsav, the president’s office announced on Monday. The request came from
Katsav's wife Gila, and will be reviewed “under protocol,” the AP quoted
officials as saying. Katsav, 66, was imprisoned last December after being
convicted of raping a former employee when he was a Cabinet minister, and of
sexually harassing two other women during his tenure from 2000 to 2007. He is
serving a seven-year jail term. Katsav has repeatedly professed his innocence.
Gunmen attack power plant, police
station in Ivory Coast
Gunmen
attacked a power plant last night in Ivory Coast’s economic capital of Abidjan,
Defense Minister Paul Koffi Koffi said Monday. “Armed men in military uniform
were reported at the Azito power station at around 3:00am (0300 GMT) and tried
to take control of the site,” he told AFP. The Ivorian electric power company
reported damage. Earlier that night, police and paramilitary police were
attacked at Bonoua, about 60 kilometers east of Abidjan, the minister said.
Americans Roth, Shapley win Nobel
economics prize
Americans
Alvin Roth and Lloyd Shapley have won the Nobel economics prize. They were
awarded for “the theory of stable allocations and the practice of market
design,” the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said on Monday. The Nobel
Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences was created by the Swedish central bank in
Nobel's memory in 1968. The economics prize was the final 2012 Nobel award to
be announced.
Gillard meets Australian troops
and Karzai on surprise Afghanistan visit
Australian
Prime Minister Julia Gillard made a surprise visit to Afghanistan to meet
Australian soldiers at their base at Tarin Kowt. Australia's mission is
changing as the Afghan National Army takes over security responsibilities, she
said during the Sunday visit. The premier also raised concerns about insider
attacks in a meeting with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, and sought assurances
that aid was not being diverted due to corruption. International Security
Assistance Force (ISAF) commander US General John Allen and President Karzai
assured her that Afghanistan was on track to take full responsibility for its
security by the end of 2014, Gillard said.
Gunmen kidnap aid workers in
Niger
Last
night, gunmen reportedly kidnapped six people in central Niger’s town of
Dakoro, including four aid workers. Three local staffers of Nigerien medical
charity BEFEN and a Chad national working for Alert Sante were among those
captured, the two groups told Reuters on Monday. Both organizations treat
malaria and care for malnourished children in the country. Nigerien security
officers were deployed to search for the hostages, and aircraft are monitoring
traffic. Militants linked to Al-Qaeda factions in the Sahel and Sahara regions
have recently kidnapped people in Niger and taken them to neighboring Mali.
Over 100,000 Syrian refugees in
Turkey camps – officials
The
number of Syrian refugees housed in camps in southern Turkey has exceeded
100,000, Turkish disaster management agency AFAD announced on Monday. There are
now 100,363 Syrians sheltering in more than a dozen camps in Turkish provinces
along the border, Reuters reported. The figure far exceeds the levels the
Turkish government previously said it was struggling to accommodate.
Turkey grounds Armenian plane –
report
An
Armenian plane was forced to land in the eastern Turkish province of Erzurum
for a security inspection, AFP said. The exact cause of the grounding was not
immediately clear. Last week, Ankara sent military jets to intercept a Syrian
passenger plane, claiming it was illegally transporting Russian-made military
equipment.
EU levels further sanctions on 28
Syrians, 2 firms
The
European Union leveled a new round of sanctions against Syria on Monday. EU
foreign ministers agreed on an assets freeze and travel ban for 28 Syrians and
two firms, AFP reported. This was the 19th round of sanctions since the Syrian
conflict began in March last year, bringing the number of blacklisted people to
181 and companies to 54.
22 killed in gang attack on
Nigerian village
Armed
gang members killed 22 in a village in northern Nigeria after opening fire on
people exiting a mosque after prayers, Reuters reported, citing the state
police commissioner. The Sunday attack in the remote village of Dogo Dawa in
Kaduna state was reportedly an attempt to rescue four gang members arrested
earlier by local vigilantes and taken to the police.
Philippines government signs
peace deal with Muslim rebel group
The
Philippines government and the country’s largest rebel Muslim group signed a
preliminary peace pact on Monday afternoon to end more than 40 years of
insurgency. Government negotiator Marvic Leonen and representative of the Moro
Islamic Liberation Front, Mohagher Iqbal, signed the framework agreement, the
AP said. The historic moment at Manila's Malacanang presidential palace was
also witnessed by President Benigno Aquino III, rebel chair Al Haj Murad
Ebrahim and Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, whose nation helped broker
the pact. The truce is a major step toward a final settlement that could grant
broad autonomy to the southern Philippines’ Muslim minority.
Costa Concordia captain to appear
in court
The
captain of the Costa Concordia, Francesco Schettino, is headed to court for a
pre-trial hearing on the January cruise ship disaster that killed 32 people.
Schettino has been charged with multiple counts of manslaughter, causing a
disaster and abandoning a ship with passengers still aboard. Prosecutors said
they aim to put Schettino behind bars for a 2,697-year sentence if he is
convicted.
Montenegro’s Djukanovic-led
ruling coalition wins election
Montenegro’s
governing coalition won 45.6 percent of the vote in a parliamentary election
held on Sunday. With 39 out of 81 seats in the future parliament, the European
Montenegro coalition led by powerful Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic is set to
continue its more than two decades of rule. “Montenegro's ruling coalition is a
rare one in Europe that has maintained confidence of voters in such difficult
times of crisis,” the AP quoted Djukanovic as saying. The lead opposition
partty Democratic Front was second with 23.7 percent, or 20 parliamentary
seats, followed by the pro-Serb Socialist People’s Party with 10.5 percent, the
Center for Monitoring reported.
100 militants attack police
station in Pakistan
More
than 100 militants attacked a police station in northwest Pakistan and killed
six officers, officials said. The shootout started late Sunday night near the
city of Peshawar and lasted for several hours, the AP quoted police officer
Ishrat Yar as saying. The militants, armed with heavy machine guns,
rocket-propelled grenades and assault rifles, torched the station and four
police vehicles. Twelve officers were wounded in a separate attack in the small
town of Matni, some 20 kilometers south of Peshawar.
Russia's highest volcano erupting
Russia's
highest volcano, Mount Klyuchevskaya, on the Kamchatka Peninsula in the
country's Far East, is erupting. No immediate threat to nearby communities is
reported, but the eruption has been given a code “orange,” warning of potential
dangers to air traffic as potential ash discharge could endanger engines, Tass
reports. The volcano is capable of spewing ashes up to 6 kilometers into the
atmosphere. The volcano's last eruption was observed from September 2009 to
December 2010. Rising 4,750 meters above sea level, Klyuchevskaya lies 360
kilometers north-north-east of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. The nearest village is
about 20 kilometers from the crater.
Hundreds march in Haiti demanding
president’s resignation
Hundreds
of people poured into the streets of Haiti's capital to protest the government
of President Michel Martelly. Protesters noted the high cost of living, rising
food prices and the government's inability to fund schools. Some demanded the
president’s resignation. Martelly, a pop music star before he turned to
politics, is trying to rebuild the impoverished nation following a powerful
2010 earthquake that displaced more than a million people. Haitians complain
that Martelly has fallen short of improving their livelihoods following the
disaster. In September, the government created a commission to stabilize food
prices.
Thousands rally in support of a
Pakistani girl shot by Taliban
Tens of
thousands of Pakistani girls have taken to the streets on Sunday to rally for
the right to education and in support of the 14-year-old girl who was shot by
the Taliban. The demonstration in Karachi was the largest the country has seen
after Malala Yousufzai and two of her classmates were shot earlier this week.
People at the rally raised hopes that the government will step up its efforts
to get rid of extremism in the country. Yousufzai who was shot in the neck, and
has been successfully taken off a ventilator for a short period, the military
said. Now the medics are debating whether or not to send the girl abroad for
treatment.
Bad joke brings evacuation of
Anchorage airport, terrorism charges
Hundreds
of passengers were evacuated from Alaska’s Ted Stevens International Airport as
the main terminal was shut down after a man checking in for an Alaska Airlines
flight made a reference to a bomb in a bag. After detention and questioning by
the FBI, officials determined that the scare was just a bad joke and that there
was no credible threat. Peter Friesema is now charged with making terroristic
threats and disorderly conduct. Friesema is in in jail, with bail set at
$5,000.
Left-wing parties take lead in
Lithuanian elections
Exit
polls in Lithuania's Sunday parliamentary elections show left-wing dominance
over conservative government candidates. The poll by the RAIT institute for the
Baltic News Service gave the leftwing populist Labour party 19.8 per cent and
the center-left Social Democrats 17.8. The conservatives took 16.7 per cent
while their Liberal Movement allies obtained 8.5 per cent. The two left-wing
parties have already announced their desire to form a coalition government.
Many blame the conservative government for the country’s deep recession and the
failure to rebound.
Former King of Cambodia dies in
China
Former
king of Cambodia Norodom Sihanouk has died in Beijing at the age of 89, Chinese
media report. A revered monarch in his home country, he visited China frequently to receive medical
treatment. Sihanouk suffered from a number of health problems such as cancer,
diabetes and hypertension. In a will written in January, he said he wanted to
be cremated and have his ashes kept in an urn inside the Royal Palace.
Shuttle Endeavour reaches final
destination behind schedule
After a
12-mile journey through the packed streets of Los Angeles, the shuttle
Endeavour has reached it final destination, behind schedule. The 85-ton giant,
which in a past life had flown at speeds of 17,000 mph, moved at just 2 mph in
its last voyage. Arriving at the California Science Center in Los Angeles
after, it will now become a part of American space history.
Libya gets new PM
Ali
Zidan is Libya's new prime minister. Zidan, a liberal, won 93 votes against his
rival, Mohammed al-Harari, who received 83 votes in the Libyan National
Congress. The congress picked the new prime minister after last week’s
dismissal of Mustafa Abushagur after just 25 days in office for failing to
present a Cabinet list
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