Yemen president vows assault on all al Qaeda bastions

Yemeni President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi. PHOTO: REUTERS.

SANAA: The Yemeni president has vowed to clear al Qaeda from all its remaining bastions, saying that an offensive launched by the army in the south last month would be extended nationwide.

“The battle against the terrorist organisation is open-ended,” President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi told security chiefs late Thursday.

“The armed forces and the security services should prepare operations to clear these terrorists from Abyan, Shabwa, Baida, Marib and everywhere they have set foot,” he said in comments carried by the official Saba news agency.

The southern provinces of Abyan and Shabwa and the neighbouring central province of Baida have been the focus of the offensive which the army launched on April 29.

But al Qaeda is also firmly implanted in Marib province east of Sanaa and in Hadramawt further east.

Hadi ordered that “all possible means” be used against the militants, warning that their “aggression has reached the capital and has begun to disturb its daily life.”

Despite a massive security alert in Sanaa imposed for fear of al Qaeda reprisals, militants twice struck checkpoints close to the presidential palace last week.

The militants’ Yemen franchise, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, took advantage of a 2011 uprising that forced veteran president Ali Abdullah Saleh from power to seize large swathes of southern and eastern Yemen.

The army recaptured several major towns in 2012 but has struggled to reassert control in rural areas despite recruiting militia allies among the local tribes.

Fierce clashes in Libya's Benghazi to 'purge terrorists'

Group led by Khalifa Haftar was backed by warplanes that pounded a barracks occupied by "February 17 Brigade" militia. PHOTO: AFP

BENGHAZI: Fierce clashes erupted in Libya’s eastern city of Benghazi Friday between religious right and forces led by a retired general seeking to purge it of “terrorists”, an AFP journalist and witnesses said.

The witnesses said a group led by Khalifa Haftar, a former rebel chief in the 2011 uprising that toppled Muammar Gaddafi, was backed by warplanes that pounded a barracks occupied by the “February 17 Brigade” militia.

Militiamen responded by opening up with anti-aircraft fire.

The two groups also clashed in the Sidi Fradj area of south Benghazi, the AFP journalist said.

Haftar’s group calls itself the “National Army” and a spokesperson for the force, Mohammed al-Hijazi, told a local broadcaster it has launched “a large-scale operation to flush terrorist groups out of Benghazi”.

However, the chief of staff of the regular army, Abdessalem Jadallah al-Salihin, denied the force was involved in clashes in Benghazi.

In a statement on national television, Salihin called on “the army and revolutionaries to oppose any armed group that tries to control Benghazi by force of arms”.

Salihin, who had been an officer in Gaddafi’s special forces before joining the uprising, was appointed chief of staff by the country’s highest political body the General National Congress in July last year.

Many soldiers are reported to have joined Haftar’s men after a wave of attacks targeting the security forces.

Friday’s fighting also comes a day after gunmen killed a moderate Muslim cleric and two soldiers in the North African nation’s second city, which has been plagued by violence since Gaddafi’s death in October 2011.

It was in Benghazi that the Nato-backed rebellion against the long-time strongman began.

But attacks there since the uprising have killed dozens of members of the security forces, judges and foreigners.

On September 11, 2012, ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans were killed in an assault by militants on the US consulate in the city.

On Wednesday, US officials said the American military has moved a team of marines from Spain to southern Italy as a precautionary step in case the US embassy in Libya comes under threat.

The contingent of nearly 200 marines is part of a newly created “crisis response” force set up in the wake of the deadly consulate attack.

Jordan’s ambassador to Libya was kidnapped in April and freed this month in exchange for a jihadist held over a plot to attack Amman airport.

The central government in Tripoli has struggled to assert its control over the vast, mostly desert country, which is awash with heavy weapons and effectively ruled by a patchwork of former rebel militias.

In March, the authorities acknowledged for the first time the existence of “terrorist groups”, particularly in Benghazi but also elsewhere in the east.

Nigeria's Jonathan cancels visit to abducted girls' town

A file photo of Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan. PHOTO: AFP

ABUJA: Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan on Friday cancelled a visit to the hometown of more than 200 schoolgirls who were kidnapped by militants, sparking fresh criticism of his handling of the crisis.

A senior government official told AFP that Jonathan’s trip to remote Chibok in Borno state “was on (the president’s) schedule up to this morning” but the visit had been scrapped.

No reason was given but security concerns were reportedly blamed.

Instead of visiting Chibok, Jonathan is now due to head direct to a security summit in Paris on Saturday to discuss the Boko Haram threat to regional stability.

Jonathan’s administration has been widely criticised for its slow response to the kidnapping on April 14, which saw 276 girls abducted by militants. A total of 223 are still missing.

But they were forced to act in the face of a social media campaign and street protests that won global support and attracted the attention of foreign powers, who have now sent specialist teams to help in the rescue effort.

The cancellation prompted immediate criticism on social networks and others who claim the president has shown indifference to the mass abduction.

“If, as the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, he is afraid to visit Chibok because of security fears, he is simply telling the hapless people in the northeast that he cannot protect them and they should resign themselves to their fate,” said Debo Adeniran, of the Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders pressure group.

In the United States, which has sent drones and surveillance aircraft, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations said Nigeria had been “tragically and unacceptably slow” to tackle the crisis.

“I have called on President (Goodluck) Jonathan to demonstrate the leadership his nation is demanding,” Democratic senator Robert Menendez said.

Others raised the Nigerian military’s human rights record after well-documented claims of abuses carried out by soldiers, including arbitrary detention and summary execution of civilians.

The Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Robert Jackson, told senators: “Resolving this crisis is now one of the highest priorities of the US government.”

A state of emergency was imposed in three northeastern states worst affected by the violence on May 14 last year. Special powers were extended for a further six months in November.

Jonathan requested the extension on Tuesday, calling the security situation in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa “daunting.”

More than 2,000 have been killed this year alone, most of them civilians, in increasing violence across Muslim-majority northern Nigeria that has seen churches, schools and entire villages attacked.

Police in northern Bauchi state said about 30 gunmen destroyed two village primary schools late on Wednesday but no one was injured.

The lower House of Representatives has voted unanimously for an extension, while senators are expected to vote Tuesday. A two-thirds majority is required from both chambers.

The governor of Yobe has come out against any extension and his counterparts in Borno and Adamawa are likely to follow suit.

All three are members of the main opposition party.

Initial gains from the state of emergency in forcing Boko Haram out of urban centres appeared to have been lost, with questions raised about the military’s tactics and ability to curb the threat.

Disgruntled troops on Tuesday fired shots into the air when the local commander paid a visit to the state capital of Borno, Maiduguri to sympathise with them after a Boko Haram ambush killed some of their comrades.

Six soldiers, including one officer, were killed as they returned from patrol duties in Chibok, the defence ministry said, adding that the commander was not injured by the firing.

Jonathan has ruled out a prisoner swap with the extremists after Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau mooted the possibility in a video released on Monday showing the kidnapped schoolgirls.

But the government said it remained open to wider talks on ending the insurgency.

Relatives of the missing girls have called for their unconditional release.

“For me, I want these girls released without any negotiations,” said Ayuba Chibok, whose niece is among the hostages.

“Even if Boko Haram wants to request something from the government, let them request something else,” he told AFP by telephone.

“Let (Shekau) release these girls unconditionally.”

With US, British, French and Israeli teams on the ground helping the Nigerians, the battle against Boko Haram spread to Sudan, where one of the alleged masterminds of an April 14 bombing in Abuja was arrested.

Army deserter Aminu Sadiq Ogwuche, who served in a Nigerian intelligence unit, was held on suspicion of involvement in the car bomb attack on a bus station that killed at least 75 as he tried to obtain a Turkish visa in central Khartoum.

Ogwuche arrived in Khartoum late last year to study Arabic at the International University of Africa but visited Nigeria earlier this year, a source familiar with the case said.

Syria rebel rocket fire kills 13 in Aleppo: State TV

A woman inspects her damaged home in Aleppo December 15, 2013. PHOTO: REUTERS

DAMASCUS: Syrian rebel rocket fire hit a government-held neighbourhood in the northern city of Aleppo Friday, killing at least 13 people, state television said.

“The toll in rockets fired by terrorists on Ashrafiyeh district has risen to 13, including women and children,” the report said.

Earlier, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least seven people killed and five hurt in the attack on the western neighbourhood.

Once the country’s economic hub, control of Aleppo has been divided between the government and opposition since shortly after fighting began there in mid-2012.

Regime war planes have waged an aerial offensive on the eastern, rebel-held districts, frequently dropping barrel bombs on the area.

And opposition forces have also regularly fired rockets into the government-held part of the city, and clashes on the ground continue.

In recent weeks, the city has also been afflicted by a water outage after groups including al Qaeda’s Syrian branch, al-Nusra Front, cut supplies from a pumping station in the Suleiman al-Halabi district.

After more than a week without water, the Observatory and Syria’s Red Crescent Aleppo branch have reported the return of supply to some parts of both government and rebel areas of the city.

On Thursday, the Red Crescent’s Aleppo branch said on Twitter that the pumping station had resumed operations, but it was unclear if all parts of the city were receiving water yet.

CNN fires editor, cites plagiarism

"CNN has discovered multiple instances of plagiarism by Marie-Louise Gumuchian, a former CNN news editor," said a statement posted on the news channel's website. PHOTO: facebook.com/cnn

WASHINGTON: CNN said Friday it fired a London-based news editor, citing dozens of instances of plagiarism in her coverage.

“CNN has discovered multiple instances of plagiarism by Marie-Louise Gumuchian, a former CNN news editor,” said a statement posted on the news channel’s website. “She wrote frequently about international news, writing and reporting about Africa, Europe, and the Middle East from our London bureau.”

CNN said it discovered a problem with an unpublished story last week during the editing process “which led to an internal investigation that uncovered other examples in about 50 published stories, and our investigation is ongoing.”

The statement said CNN terminated Gumuchian’s employment and removed some portions or entire articles she had written.

“Trust, integrity and simply giving credit where it’s due are among the tenets of journalism we hold dear, and we regret that we published material that did not reflect those essential standards,” the statement said.

“We also believe in letting audiences know when we’ve remedied situations that threaten to compromise that trust.”

Bounce back from this: Agency apologises for showing Malala being shot in mattress ad

The poster showed series of images of Malala being shot, falling backwards covered in blood, being put on a drip and then bouncing off a mattress and recovering to receive an award. PHOTO: AFP

The advertising agency responsible for using cartoon images of Malal Yousufzai for the promotion of an Indian mattress brand has apologised and launched an intestigation of the matter, TheGuardian reported.

The poster which runs with the tag line ‘Bounce Back’, made by the Indian offices of WPP-owned network Ogilvy & Mather for bed firm Kurl-On, showed series of images of Malala being shot, falling backwards covered in blood, being put on a drip and then bouncing off a mattress and recovering to receive an award.

Ogilvy’s press spokesperson for Asia Pacific, Greg Carton, apologising to Malala and her family said, “The recent Kurl-On ads from our India office are contrary to the beliefs and professional standards of Ogilvy & Mather and our clients.” “We deeply regret this incident and want to personally apologise to Malala Yousafzai and her family,” said Carton.

While vowing to review the agency’s approval system, he said, the agency will investigate how the ads came to be made.

“We are investigating how our standards were compromised in this case and will take whatever corrective action is necessary,” he said. “In addition, we have launched a thorough review of our approval and oversight processes across our global network to help ensure that our standards are never compromised again.”

Besides Malala, the campaign also includes two other ads. One featured Gandhi leaving his career as a barrister to become a peace activist. The other featuring Steve Jobs making a comeback after he was kicked out of Apple.

The spokesperson said that only the Jobs ad had run in paid-for media, in a local newspaper in India, while the other two were featured on an advertising industry website.

Bollywood and the ballot

Chief Minister of western Gujarat state and main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi (C, front) addresses a rally in Ahmedabad on May 16, 2014. PHOTO: AFP

KARACHI: 

Following the landmark 2014 Indian general elections, results indicate that the 16th Lok Sabha will be no less than star-studded. Although the practice of party tickets being given to celebrities in the country dates back to the 1960s, according to inktochange.com, this year saw considerable participation from Indian film and television bigwigs. Political parties can thank their lucky stars (pun intended) for having them on board.

Whether this is a political gimmick to capitalise on celebrities’ stature or a genuine effort on the stars’ part to make a change remains to be seen. While some of the glitterati have given their fellow contenders a run for their money, others have been unable to prove their mantle in the political realm.

Here are a few celebrities who have won and lost in the elections, which are expected to alter India’s political landscape:

Bappi Lahiri: Composer-singer Bappi Lahiri, who is known as the ‘Disco King’, was BJP’s contender from Serampore. However, facing tough competition from his fellow contestants, the Hindustan Times reported that he has lost.

Prakash Jha: Following his defeat from Bihar in the 2009 Indian general elections, filmmaker Prakash Jha had reportedly said that she would not contest again. Contrary to his claim, he contended from Bihar again this year as a Janata Dal (United) candidate for West Champaran, but lost, according to the Times of India. Jha may have made his mark on the reel with political dramas such as Raajneeti (2010) and Satyagraha (2013), but he hasn’t been able to do earn his political spurs in real life.

Smriti Irani: Television actor Smriti Irani, BJP’s Amethi contestant was lagging behind Congress’ Rahul Gandhi until the filing of this report. The Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thistar’s larger-than-life persona doesn’t seem to have helped her in her political career. In what was a close competition, Smriti made a great start, but soon fell short as Rahul took the lead, reported bollywoodlife.com. A tough battle indeed.

Hema Malini: According to recent reports, Hema Malini is leading as a BJP candidate from Mathura. The ‘Dream Girl’ of Bollywood has been a BJP loyalist ever since she joined politics in 2004, according to india.com. Known for her stellar performances in films such as Sholay (1975) and Baghban (2003), we’re eager to see how she performs in the evolving political sphere of India.

Rakhi Sawant: The actor, who has made waves throughout her career in Bollywood, lost the elections, which she was contesting from her own party Rashtriya Aam Party (RAP). Despite not making it to the Lok Sabha, the actor has become markedly popular on Twitter. According to the New Indian Express, she stood sixth with a mere 1,995 votes.

Paresh Rawal: Renowned Bollywood actor Paresh Rawal, who won the elections, was a BJP contender for the seat in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, reported the Times of India. His gripping rhetoric and active participation on social networking websites were complemented by his popularity as an unparalleled comedian. With films such as Hera Pheri under his belt, he is now looking to shine in his alternate career as a politician.

Raj Babbar: Indian National Congress candidate Raj Babbar was contesting elections from Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh and didn’t win. The veteran actor played politician in Bullett Raja (2013). He has been formerly panned for making a controversial statement regarding how much a meal costs for a common man. He recently created a stir by comparing Narendra Modi to Adolf Hitler, reported the Hindustan Times.

Kirron Kher: Contesting elections for Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from Chandigarh, Kirron Kher has won against actor Gul Panag, reported the Times of India. The veteran actor, who was last seen in film Total Siyapaa (2014), won by a whopping margin. Her elated husband, actor Anupam Kher took to Twitter and posted, “Congratulations @KirronKherBJP for winning the Chandigarh Parliamentary seat by a margin of more than 69,000 votes.”