W O R L D

African nations ready troops as France bombs Mali rebels
BAMAKO/PARIS, January 12
French aircraft pounded Islamist fighters in Mali for a second day on Saturday and neighbouring states accelerated plans to send in troops in an international campaign to crush the rebels. 
A video grab shows soldiers at the French military base of N'Djamena, in Chad, as they load a missile onto a French Mirage 2000 D aircraft before flying over Mali on Saturday. AFP

Over 100 dead as flu epidemic grips US
Washington, January 12
The United States is in the grip of a flu epidemic. Over 100 deaths have been attributed to the disease with 24 states and New York City reporting high levels of flu activity, according to Centres for Disease Control and Prevention’s flu advisory report for December 30 through January 5. That's down from 29 states the previous week, Thomas Frieden, director of the CDC was cited as saying by CNN.

Shias in Quetta refuse to bury blast victims
Hundreds of minority Shia Hazaras continued their sit-in protest for a second day on Saturday in south-west Pakistan's terror-hit Quetta, refusing to bury over 80 victims of bomb attacks till the army takes control of the city to improve security.




The portrait of a bombing victim is seen during a demonstration by Shiite Muslims at Quetta in Pakistan on Saturday. AFP

19 killed in bid to free Somalia hostage
Paris, January 12
Two French soldiers died and 17 "terrorists" were killed in a failed bid to free a French hostage in southern Somalia from Islamists holding him since 2009, the French defence minister said today.

African nations ready troops as France bombs Mali rebels

BAMAKO/PARIS, January 12
French aircraft pounded Islamist fighters in Mali for a second day on Saturday and neighbouring states accelerated plans to send in troops in an international campaign to crush the rebels. 

A French pilot died on Friday when his helicopter was shot down near the central Mali town of Mopti. Hours later, a French hostage being held by Islamists in Somalia was killed during a bungled rescue attempt unrelated to events in Mali but which highlighted France's conflict with such groups in Africa. 

The West African regional bloc ECOWAS has for months lobbied world powers to back its plan to end the nine-month occupation of Mali's north by Al-Qaida-linked groups, which have imposed an extreme version of Sharia law on the moderate Islamic nation.

Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara, the current chairman of ECOWAS, signed an order on Friday to deploy some 3,300 regional troops under a UN mandated operation.

"By Monday, the troops will be there or will have started to arrive," said Ali Coulibaly, Ivory Coast's African Integration Minister. "Things are accelerating. The reconquest of the north has already begun." The bulk of the forces are expected to come from Nigeria, Niger, Senegal and Togo, led by Nigerian Major-General Shehu Abdulkadir. 

Burkina Faso, which has tried to mediate talks with some of the Islamist groups, said today it would rapidly deploy 500 soldiers to Mali to support the mission.

The African-led mission had not been expected to start until September due to difficulties of funding and training troops. However, Western governments, particularly former colonial power France, voiced alarm after the rebel alliance captured the town of Konna on Thursday in their first major drive towards the capital Bamako since seizing control of the north in April. — Reuters

Over 100 dead as flu epidemic grips US

Washington, January 12
The United States is in the grip of a flu epidemic. Over 100 deaths have been attributed to the disease with 24 states and New York City reporting high levels of flu activity, according to Centres for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) flu advisory report for December 30 through January 5. That's down from 29 states the previous week, Thomas Frieden, director of the CDC was cited as saying by CNN.

"We are into what would classically be described as a flu epidemic," Dr Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, told CNN. "It's still on the increase," he said.

"The only area of the country that's still relatively unaffected is the far West Coast," although plenty of cases have been reported there, said Dr Joseph Bresee, chief of the Epidemiology and Prevention Branch of the CDC's Influenza Division. However, its spread across the country appears to have slowed in some areas, according to the CDC.

According to the latest CDC activity map, flu levels dropped in several states, particularly in the south-east, including Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, Arkansas and Kentucky. In the north-east, levels in some states have also improved. — IANS

State-wise cases

18 flu-related deaths have been reported in Massachusetts, 8 in Oklahoma, 22 in Pennsylvania, 13 in Indiana, seven in Arkansas, 22 in South Carolina, six in Illinois and four in Michigan this year. 

US for taking Taliban on board in Afghan peace process

Washington, January 12
The US and Afghanistan have agreed upon holding talks with the Taliban, noting that restoration of lasting peace in the trouble-torn region is not possible without the terrorist group departing from terrorism.

To facilitate a dialogue process involving the outfit, the two countries have decided on opening a Taliban representative office in Qatar as part of the reconciliation process of the terrorist group.

The decision was agreed on during the meeting between visiting Afghan President Hamid Karzai and his US counterpart Barack Obama yesterday. "We recommitted our nations to a reconciliation process between the Afghan government and the Taliban. President Karzai updated me on Afghan government's road map to peace, and we have agreed that this process should be advanced by the opening of a Taliban office to facilitate talks," Obama said. — PTI

Shias in Quetta refuse to bury blast victims
Afzal Khan in Islamabad

(With PTI inputs)

19 killed in bid to free Somalia hostage

Paris, January 12
Two French soldiers died and 17 "terrorists" were killed in a failed bid to free a French hostage in southern Somalia from Islamists holding him since 2009, the French defence minister said today.

The overnight operation was launched by France's elite DGSE secret service, Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said in a statement, adding that the raid was sparked by the "intransigence of the terrorists who have refused to negotiate for three and a half years and were holding Denis Allex in inhuman conditions".

But the Shebab extremists denied Le Drian's assertion that they had killed the hostage, a secret agent whose alias is Denis Allex, adding that they would decide his fate in two days and issuing a stern warning to Paris. — AFP 

BRIEFLY

Drop in Indian students
London: Britian's stringent norms in student visa has resulted in decline of number of Indian students in higher education by nearly a quarter last year. Students from India coming to study at UK schools and universities fell by 23.5 per cent overall, including a 28 per cent drop at postgraduate level. — PTI

A pro-Kurdish demonstrator at a protest against execution-style killings of three Kurdish women activists in Paris, in central Istanbul on Saturday. — Reuters

JFK’s killing
Dallas: Fifty years after the assassination of former US President John F Kennedy, which stunned the Americans, his nephew for the first time has acknowledged publicly that there was disbelief in the family that a lone gunman was responsible for the killing. — PTI

Judge impeachment
Colombo: Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa may announce his decision on exercising constitutional prerogative to ratify the impeachment of the country's first woman Chief Justice within "two to three days", even as the step drew flak from the US and the UK. — PTI

33 killed in road mishaps
Kathmandu: At least 33 persons were killed and scores of others injured in three separate road accidents across Nepal on Saturday. — PTI

Protest against Kurd killings
Paris: Thousands of Kurds, many coming from Germany, vowed revenge as they rallied on Saturday in Paris over the killing of three top Kurdish activists from a separatist group banned in Turkey. — AFP