Global News updates Time in GMT 14:42 Germany plans to seize personal IDs of would-be jihadists for up to 3 years Germany plans to seize the personal identity cards of would-be jihadists for up to three years, Reuters said. The measure is aimed at preventing them from joining militants in the Middle East. The cabinet is set to approve the new law on Wednesday, according to a spokesman for the Interior Ministry. 14:23 US military reports 27 air strikes against Islamic State The US and its allies targeted Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) forces in 27 air strikes in Iraq and Syria in a 24-hour period, Reuters reported. In Syria, the air raids, which lasted until Monday morning, hit IS units and destroyed fighting positions and buildings near the city of Kobani, according to the Combined Joint Task Force. A strike near Dawr az Zawr reportedly hit an oil refinery. In Iraq, 16 strikes destroyed fighting positions, an artillery system, a rocket launcher and buildings, the military said. 13:55 Nigeria’s Boko Haram attacks military base in NW Cameroon Boko Haram militants in Nigeria attacked a military base in northwestern Cameroon on Monday, TASS reported, citing police. Residents of Kolofata reportedly fled the town where fierce fighting broke out. Boko Haram has crossed the border with Cameroon in the past to avoid clashing with Nigeria’s military. 13:46 Turkish PM seeks Germany’s help in joining EU Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Monday asked Germany to support Ankara’s efforts to join the EU, TASS said. The PM was speaking at a press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin. Davutoglu earlier said that Turkey’s EU membership would ease the inter-cultural tensions currently threatening Europe, AFP reported. 13:05 12 people killed by Iraq suicide bombing A suicide car bomb has killed 12 Shiite militiamen and soldiers north of Baghdad, AP reported, citing Iraqi officials. A suicide bomber rammed his explosive-laden car into a gathering of soldiers and Shiite fighters in the town of Abasiyat, south of Tikrit, 130km north of Baghdad on Monday. The attack killed 10 militiamen and two soldiers, while 18 people were injured. 12:54 Israeli PM Netanyahu visits scene of Paris attack Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday visited the kosher supermarket in eastern Paris where four Jews were killed by an Islamist gunman last week. Amedy Coulibaly, the gunman, took innocent shoppers hostage and murdered four. Netanyahu, who paid tribute to the victims, was under massive security protection, AFP reported. 12:37 Afghanistan forms unity govt after 3 month delay Afghanistan’s “unity government” was unveiled on Monday. It was preceded by three months of wrangling following the election of President Ashraf Ghani, AFP said. Ghani’s chief of staff, Abdul Salam Rahimi, read out the names of the 25 new ministers at an event in Kabul’s presidential palace. Three women were named in the cabinet as ministers for higher education, information and culture, and women’s affairs. The list of ministers will be submitted to the parliament for approval. 12:28 SpaceX delivers supplies to ISS A shipment of much-needed groceries and belated Christmas presents arrived on Monday morning at the International Space Station, AP reported. Station commander Butch Wilmore used a robot arm to grab the capsule and its 5,000 pounds of cargo delivered by the SpaceX Dragon supply ship. It should have arrived at the space station well before Christmas, but was stalled for a month by rocket problems. NASA is paying SpaceX and Orbital Sciences Corp. for shipments. 11:52 Pakistan reopens school after Taliban massacre of students Pakistani children returned on Monday to the school where Taliban gunmen killed 150 of their classmates and teachers last month, AP said. The terrorist attack on December 16 in Peshawar was one of the worst Pakistan has experienced. A ceremony was held at the school to mark its reopening, with classes restarting on Tuesday. The country boosted safety measures at schools in the wake of the attack. 11:19 Pope Francis says French attackers enslaved by ‘deviant forms of religion’ Pope Francis on Monday denounced the religious fundamentalism that inspired the Paris massacres and ongoing conflicts in the Middle East. He said the attackers were enslaved by “deviant forms of religion” that used God as a mere ideological pretext to perpetuate mass killings, AP reported. In the annual foreign policy address to Vatican-based ambassadors, Francis called for a unanimous response from the international community to end “fundamentalist terrorism” in the Middle East. He also called for Muslim leaders to condemn “extremist interpretations” of their faith that seek to justify such violence. 10:24 Egyptian court acquits 26 men detained in police raid on gays An Egyptian court has acquitted 26 men who were arrested in a raid last month by police looking for gays at a Cairo public bathhouse, AP reported. Monday’s verdict came after three hearings. At least 150 men were arrested or put on trial on charges, including “debauchery,” in Egypt during 2014, according to rights activists. 10:11 At least 2 killed in nitrogen leak at LG factory in S. Korea At least two people were killed on Monday in a nitrogen leak at an LG Display factory in South Korea, the Yonhap news agency reported. The leak occurred after midnight at a factory in Paju, north of the capital, Seoul. Four more people have been injured, with one person being in a critical condition. The workers had been doing renovations, according to a Korea Herald report. 09:43 UN chief warns against targeting Muslims for reprisals after Paris attacks UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Sunday welcomed the march in Paris in memory of the victims of the terrorist attacks. He is strongly “committed to the essential work of countering extremism, fighting anti-Semitism and other forms of discrimination, and upholding the rights to freedom of speech and expression,” Xinhua quoted his spokesperson as saying. Ban also warned against targeting Muslims for reprisals. “Such unwarranted bias would only play into the hands of terrorist[s] and contribute to the spiral of violence,” he said. 09:21 Blast near Philippine school leaves 2 killed, 15 injured A man and a child were killed in an explosion on Monday near an elementary school in the central Philippine province of Capiz, Xinhua reported. Espridion Pelaez, a spokesman for the Capiz provincial disaster risk reduction and management office, also said that 15 others were injured in the explosion that occurred around 12 noon near the Lantangan Elementary School in Pontevedra town. The man killed in the incident appeared to be the bomb courier. 08:59 Female accomplice of Paris attackers entered Syria on Jan. 8 – Turkey The suspected female accomplice of the Islamist militants behind the attacks in Paris last week crossed into Syria on January 8 from Turkey, Reuters quoted Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu as saying on Monday. The suspect, Hayat Boumeddiene, arrived in Istanbul by plane on January 2 via Madrid and stayed in a hotel, Cavusoglu told the Anatolian news agency. 08:32 Gunmen kill 7 Pakistani troops in Baluchistan Gunmen have killed seven paramilitary soldiers during an attack on a checkpoint in southwestern Baluchistan province, a Pakistani official said. The attack took place on Monday in the mountainous Mekhtar region in Lorali district, AP quoted Abdul Haleem as saying. Fire at the checkpoint continued for hours. It wasn’t clear who was behind the attack in the province, which is home to Baluch separatists and Al-Qaeda linked militant groups. 08:11 5,000 police deployed to protect Jewish schools in France France is deploying nearly 5,000 security forces and police personnel to protect 700 Jewish schools after last week’s attacks, one of which targeted a kosher supermarket. Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said on Monday that soldiers would also be posted as reinforcements, AFP reported. He addressed parents of a Jewish school to the south of Paris, near where an Islamist gunmen shot dead a policewoman on Thursday, one of 17 people killed in three days. 07:35 Kerry to visit France after Paris attacks US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Monday he would fly to Paris this week after last week’s Islamic militant attack on satirical weekly newspaper Charlie Hebdo. “No single act of terror, no two people with AK-47s, no hostage taking at a grocery store, is ever going to prevent those who are committed to the march of freedom,” Reuters quoted Kerry as saying. He will travel to France on Thursday. 07:12 S. Korea’s Park Geun-hye ready for summit with Kim Jong-un ‘without pre-condition’ South Korean President Park Geun-hye said on Monday she was willing to hold a summit meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un without any pre-condition, Reuters said. There is no sign of any concrete plan for the meeting, and the South Korean leader said she maintained the country still needed an anti-North security law. The two sides are technically at war as they have signed no peace treaty since the 1950-53 Korean War only ended in an uneasy truce.
Posted on: Mon, 12 Jan 2015 15:22:03 +0000
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