NEWS:
Heavy gunfire in northern Mali town of Gao
Malian troops and suspected Islamist militants are
exchanging heavy gunfire on the streets of Gao in northern Mali.
it comes a day after a suicide bomber blew himself up near a checkpoint at a
northern entrance to the town - the second such attack in two days.
Gao was retaken just over two weeks ago by French and Malian forces, who
supposedly drove out the Islamists.
Security had been tightened in the wake of the suicide attacks, with
military patrols stepped up and checkpoints put in place.
An armed rebel group, the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa, or
MUJAO, has claimed responsibility for an attack on the city of Gao in northern
Mali and a suicide bombing the day before.
Tunisia President Marzouki's CPR 'to withdraw ministers'
The secular party of Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki
says its ministers will leave the Islamist-led government.
A CPR party leader said its demands that two Islamist ministers should be
replaced had not been met, and that the pullout would be confirmed on Monday.
The move comes amid a crisis sparked by the killing last week of an
opposition leader, which triggered mass protests.
Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali said he wanted to form a government of
technocrats, to ease tensions.
However, his own Islamist Ennahda party, which dominates the cabinet, has
opposed the plan.
Syria opposition open to talks in rebel areas
|
|
Syrian opposition leader Mouaz al-Khatib has said he is willing to hold
talks with President Bashar al-Assad's representatives in rebel-held areas of
northern Syria to try to end a conflict that has killed more than 60,000
people.
The aim of the talks would be to find a way for Assad to leave power with
the "minimum of bloodshed and destruction", al-Khatib said in a
statement published on his Facebook page.
Meanwhile Battles continued between Syrian regime forces and rebels for the
control of a key highway outside Damascus as rebels launched fierce assaults in
several other parts of the country. Sunday’s fighting was the heaviest
in the capital since the first rebel push into the city last July.
Checkpoints on the main artery into the city have changed hands several
times since Wednesday, when opposition fighters started their campaign for the
capital, the seat of President Bashar al-Assad's power.
Foreign doctors killed in north-eastern Nigeria
Three North Korean doctors have been killed in the
north-eastern Nigerian state of Yobe, officials say.
Residents said they were killed during the night in the town of Potiskum.
Two of them had their throats slit while the third was beheaded, they added.
Officials said the victims had been working at a government-run hospital.
No-one has said they were behind the attack, but it happened in an area
where the Islamist militant group, Boko Haram, has been active in recent years.
Meanwhile On Friday, nine polio vaccination workers - all said to have been
women - were shot dead in northern Nigeria. Some were killed in Kano, others at
a health centre in Hotoro, outside the city.
President Goodluck Jonathan condemned the killings, for which no group has
claimed responsibility, and vowed that the campaign to eradicate polio would be
carried through to a successful conclusion.
Shot schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai leaves hospital
A Pakistani schoolgirl who was shot in the head by the
Taliban has been discharged from hospital after making a good recovery
following surgery.
Malala Yousafzai, 15, was attacked in October after campaigning for girls'
rights to education.
A bullet was removed from her head by surgeons in Pakistan, before she was
flown to the UK for further treatment.
She had a titanium plate and cochlear implant fitted at Birmingham's Queen
Elizabeth Hospital
COMMENTARY
1) THE YOUNG LADY WHO DIED BECAUSE SHE COULDNT AFFORD N3.5MILLION TO TREAT CANCER
2) THE 3 NORTH KOREAN DOCTORS KILLED IN YOBE STATE
3) THE 9 WOMEN HEALTH WORKERS WHO WERE KILLED IN KANO
