W O R L D

25 killed as militants storm Yemen defence complex
Sanaa, December 5
A suicide bomber rammed an explosives- packed car into Yemen's defence ministry today, allowing gunmen to launch an assault on the complex which left 25 people including three foreign doctors dead, officials said. The brazen attack on the sprawling complex follows a spate of hit-and-run strikes on military personnel and officials, as the country struggles to complete a thorny political transition.

Smoke rises from the Yemeni defence ministry’s compound after an attack in Sanaa on Thursday. Reuters

US plans online messages to blunt Al-Qaida influence
New York, December 5
Seeking to deter Americans from getting influenced by Al-Qaida, US analysts will post messages on English-language websites used by jihadists, asking young people to "turn away" from extremist groups.

US won’t recognise China's air defence zone: Biden Beijing, December 5 US Vice President Joe Biden has told Chinese President Xi Jinping that Washington will not recognise Beijing's new air defence zone over disputed islands in the East China Sea and asked him to take steps to reduce tensions arisen out of the unilateral move. US Vice President Joe Biden along with his granddaughter Finnegan Biden waves upon his arrival at Seoul on Thursday. AFP

Powerful storm threatens floodings in England
London, December 5
Hurricane-force winds disrupted transport and power supplies in Scotland and threatened flooding in England as they closed in on north Europe in what meteorologists said could be one of the most powerful storms to hit the continent in years.

B’desh Oppn announces fresh blockade Dhaka, December 5 Opposition parties in Bangladesh today announced a fresh 72-hour nationwide blockade from Saturday to press for their demands, including postponement of the January 5 general elections. Commuters travel on a train during an ongoing blockade organised by the Bangladeshi Nationalist Party in Dhaka on Thursday. AFP

‘India developing nuclear weapon facility’
Washington, December 5
A US-based think tank has said India is expanding its ability to produce highly enriched Uranium for military purposes, including more powerful nuclear weapons, citing satellite imagery of an under construction gas centrifuge facility near Mysore.

Free for all: Lawmakers of opposition parties try to disrupt proceedings as Masaharu Nakagawa, chairman of the upper house special committee, announces the approval of a new secrecy law in Tokyo on Thursday. AFP

Another bid by Hanif to avoid extradition
London, December 5
Britain is “thoroughly considering” a final representation made by Tiger Hanif, an alleged aide of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, against his extradition to India in connection with two bomb blasts in Gujarat in 1993.

No pact on food security better than a bad one: Anand Sharma
Bali, December 5
Brushing aside suggestions that India's tough stance on food security was guided by the forthcoming general elections, Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma today said New Delhi would prefer “no agreement” over a bad one, thus raising the risk for collapse of the WTO talks here.

25 killed as militants storm Yemen defence complex

Sanaa, December 5
A suicide bomber rammed an explosives- packed car into Yemen's defence ministry today, allowing gunmen to launch an assault on the complex which left 25 people including three foreign doctors dead, officials said.

The brazen attack on the sprawling complex follows a spate of hit-and-run strikes on military personnel and officials, as the country struggles to complete a thorny political transition. The attacks in the capital and in the country's south have been blamed on al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), which Washington regards as the jihadist network's most dangerous branch.

“At least 25 people have been killed," said a security official, shortly after the defence ministry had put the death toll at 20. Six doctors, including a Venezuelan and two from the Philippines, and three Yemenis, along with five patients, including a judge, were among the dead, medical sources said. They were at a hospital that lies within the ministry's complex, which bore the brunt of the attack.

“A car bomb driven by a suicide bomber forced its way into the western entrance of the ministry complex," a security official told AFP. "It was followed by another car whose occupants opened fire at the complex of buildings," he said. The attack comes as defence minister Mohammed Nasser is heading a military delegation on a visit to the United States. The ministry said gunmen occupied the hospital after the explosion, but forces had regained control of the building.

"The assailants took advantage of some construction work that is taking place to carry out this criminal act," it said without elaborating. A security source said another apparently coordinated attack had been launched and a gunfight was raging outside the complex early afternoon. — AFP

US plans online messages to blunt Al-Qaida influence

New York, December 5
Seeking to deter Americans from getting influenced by Al-Qaida, US analysts will post messages on English-language websites used by jihadists, asking young people to "turn away" from extremist groups.

The pilot programme launched by the State Department comes at a time when intelligence officials say dozens of Americans have travelled or tried to travel to Syria since 2011 to fight with the rebels against the government of President Bashar al-Assad, a New York Times report said.

With Al-Qaida’s branch in Yemen putting English subtitles on its website propaganda and Islamist extremist group in Somalia, the Shabab, publishing an English-language online magazine, American and European intelligence officials warn that Al-Qaida's efforts to recruit English-speaking fighters could create new terrorist threats when the "battle-hardened militants return home."

A small group of Arabic, Urdu, Somali and Punjabi-speaking analysts and bloggers at the State Department have focused their efforts over the last three years on trying to understand what "inspires their target audience mostly in the Middle East — to violent extremism, and on finding ways to steer them away from that."

The analysts would post messages on English-language websites that jihadists use to recruit, raise money and promote their cause. — PTI

Action plan

• The pilot programme launched by the State Department comes at a time when intelligence officials say dozens of Americans have travelled to Syria to fight rebels
• Under the programme, the analysts would post messages and images on English-language websites that jihadists use to recruit, raise money and promote their cause.

US won’t recognise China's air defence zone: Biden

Beijing, December 5
US Vice President Joe Biden has told Chinese President Xi Jinping that Washington will not recognise Beijing's new air defence zone over disputed islands in the East China Sea and asked him to take steps to reduce tensions arisen out of the unilateral move.

In a five-and-half hour long meeting with President Xi over dinner last night with handful aides, Biden had a "back and forth" conversation on the air defence identification zone (ADIZ) and a host of other bilateral issues.

"They covered every single topic in the US-China relationship. The conversation was very much a back-and-forth. It reflected the casual candor that the two leaders have developed," a US official said in his briefing after the meeting.

On the issue of the air defence zone, "the vice president laid out our position in detail," the official said. “He indicated that we don't recognize the zone, that we have deep concerns." Biden told Xi that “We are looking to China to take steps to reduce tensions." On his part, “President Xi was equally clear in laying out their view of the zone and of territorial disputes in the region,” the official said. “Ultimately,

President Xi took on board what the vice president said. It's up to China, and we'll see how things will unfold in the coming days and weeks,” the official said.

The defence zone announced by China days ahead of Biden's visit has become bone of contention with US, Japan and South Korea, who have refused to abide by the rule that all the airlines have to register their flight paths. — PTI

Powerful storm threatens floodings in England

London, December 5
Hurricane-force winds disrupted transport and power supplies in Scotland and threatened flooding in England as they closed in on north Europe in what meteorologists said could be one of the most powerful storms to hit the continent in years.

British authorities said the Thames Barrier, designed to protect London from flooding during exceptional tides, would shut on Thursday night and warned of "the most serious coastal tidal surge for over 60 years in England". Prime Minister David Cameron called a meeting to discuss strategy.

One person was killed as winds of up to 225 km per hour (140 mph) slammed into parts of the Scottish highlands, Britain's weather office said. More than 80,000 homes were left without power, according to energy company SSE.

That number was expected to rise with road connections blocked by fallen trees and debris. A lorry driver was killed and four people injured when his vehicle overturned and collided with other vehicles in West Lothian, police said. All train services in Scotland were suspended shortly after 8 am local time until further notice due to debris on the tracks caused by storm Xaver. — Reuters

B’desh Oppn announces fresh blockade

Dhaka, December 5
Opposition parties in Bangladesh today announced a fresh 72-hour nationwide blockade from Saturday to press for their demands, including postponement of the January 5 general elections.

The BNP-led 18-party opposition alliance called for the fresh blockade after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina again rejected its demand for a 'non-party' caretaker government with an "appreciable person" as its head for polls oversight. "The road, railways and waterways blockade programme will start on Saturday at 6 am and will end on Tuesday 6 am," BNP's Joint Secretary General Salahuddin Ahmed announced in a video message from an undisclosed location.

Most of the BNP leaders went into hiding as the government promised to be tough "as much as required" against those who masterminded the violence. — PTI

SC clears way for Jamaat leader’s execution

Dhaka: The Supreme Court on Thursday cleared the way for the execution of a senior leader of the fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami, Abdul Quader Mollah, three months after it overturned a tribunal's ruling that sentenced him to life for genocide during the 1971 war. The announcement is likely to spark fresh violence when the country is witnessing widespread clashes. — PTI

‘India developing nuclear weapon facility’

Washington, December 5
A US-based think tank has said India is expanding its ability to produce highly enriched Uranium for military purposes, including more powerful nuclear weapons, citing satellite imagery of an under construction gas centrifuge facility near Mysore.

In their latest report David Albright and Serena Kelleher-Vergantini of the Institute for Science and International Studiesm said the India appeared to be finishing construction of what appears to be a second gas centrifuge facility at the Rare Materials Plant (RMP), near Mysore.

The report said that India is also in the early stages of building a larger unsafeguarded centrifuge complex, the Special Material Enrichment Facility (SMEF), in Karnataka.

Noting that India's enrichment plants are not under international safeguards or committed to peaceful uses, the ISIS, said the governments and suppliers of nuclear and nuclear related dual use goods throughout the world should be vigilant to prevent efforts by Indian trading and manufacturing companies to acquire such goods for the new centrifuge complex in Karnataka as well as for the RMP. ISIS had earlier lobbied against the India-US civic nuclear deal. ISIS said a April 2013 high resolution commercial imagery shows that the previous year witnessed further progress at India's RMP. — PTI

Another bid by Hanif to avoid extradition

No pact on food security better than a bad one: Anand Sharma