Category: World News

  The UN Security Council has strongly condemned the recent increase in Boko Haram attacks, and demanded that the Islamist extremist group immediately cease all hostilities, media reported . The Security Council deplored all human rights abuses and violations of international humanitarian law by Boko Haram since 2009, noting that some of their actions might…

By Arul Louis  General Assembly President Sam K. Kutesa said  a diplomat appointed by him is working with UN members to produce a document that will be the basis of negotiations on reforming the Security Council and make a “qualitative difference” to the long-delayed process. Reforming the Council to raise the number of permanent members…

Belgium is on high alert after a major anti-terror raid in which two suspected Islamist militants were killed. The suspects were shot dead in the eastern town of Verviers after they opened fire on police with automatic weapons reported BBC. Officials say they had returned from Syria and planned imminent attacks on police targets. Another…

At least 143 members of the Nigerian Boko Haram Islamist terrorist group have been killed in clashes with Cameroonian security forces, Cameroonian Communications Minister Issa Bakary said . In an attack preceding the fighting, Boko Haram militants assaulted the headquarters of Cameroon’s Rapid Intervention Battalion in the northwest of the country near the Nigerian border…

  The Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) has issued a warning to France after the country’s spate of terror attacks over the past week. “France pays the cost of its violence on Muslim countries and the violation of their sanctity,” AQIM, the north African branch of the Al Qaeda, said in a statement…

This week’s edition of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo will show a cartoon depicting the Prophet Muhammad holding a “Je suis Charlie” sign. Above the cartoon are the words “All is forgiven”. This comes after Islamist gunmen last week raided the magazine’s Paris office, killing 12 people reports BBC. Meanwhile, French MPs will gather for…

 Pope Francis urged religious, political and intellectual leaders, especially Muslims, to condemn fundamentalist and extremist interpretations of religion that seek to justify violence. In an address to members of the Diplomatic Corps attached to the Holy See, the pontiff commented that “religious fundamentalism, even before it eliminates human beings by perpetrating horrendous killings, eliminates god…

  It was the first ever for France! An unprecedented flood of people, headed by leaders from Europe and other countries, streamed in Paris  to protest indignantly against terrorism and racism after 17 people were killed during three days of attacks in the French capital. “I’m Charlie”, “We are not afraid”, wrote protesters on banners,…

  A Muslim man was hailed as a hero by the French media for saving hostages during a hostage crisis in a Paris supermarket. Lassana Bathily, an employee at Hyper Cacher kosher supermarket in Vincennes, helped to guide a group of hostages into a downstairs walk-in freezer while the gunman was preparing to kill them,…

French President Francois Hollande  urged the people of the country to be united in the face of a spate of terror attacks and also to stay vigilant. “I call upon all of you to be united. This is our best weapon,” Hollande said in an address to the nation following the conclusion of the double…

The perpetrator of Thursday’s Montrouge shooting is suspected of having taken five hostages at Porte de Vincennes in southern Paris, after firing gunshots around 3 p.m. Friday, media reported. According to the report, the hostages were taken in a kosher supermarket at Porte de Vincennes, 20th Arrondissement, south Paris. At least one person is injured,…

  The two suspects in the Charlie Hebdo massacre were holding a hostage  in a commercial building in Dammartin-en-Goele, northeast of Paris, according to the French media. A police operation is currently under way in the area, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said in a statement. An elite unit of the Gendarmerie is in place and…

Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa congratulated opposition candidate Maithripala Sirisena on his victory in the presidential election, an official said. Sirisena, a former government minister, deserted the president and changed sides to become the opposition’s candidate in November, Dailymirror.lk reported. He has vowed to root out corruption and bring constitutional reforms to weaken the president’s…

  Pope Francis  launched the Twitter hashtag #PrayersForParis, to honour the victims of Wednesday’s terror attack in Paris against the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, in which 12 people were killed. The message did not add any other text. The aim was merely to boost the hashtag, which had acquired more than 1,000 retweets a short…

Indonesia’s rescue agency chief said his team will raise the tail of the crashed AirAsia plane out of the water  to retrieve the black box, while three more bodies were recovered on Thursday. The AirAsia Airbus A320-200 vanished from radar screens Dec 28 en route from Indonesia’s second-largest city Surabaya to Singapore with 162 people…

Two of the suspects involved in the attack on a magazine office in Paris were reportedly spotted in northern France while a third surrendered to police as France went into mourning a day after the tragedy. Cherif Kouachi, 32, and his brother Said, 34, were seen in a grey Clio car in Aisne, a department…

French President Francois Hollande said the shooting at the headquarters of a French magazine is “a terrorist attack”. Twelve people have been confirmed dead in the attack on the headquarters of Charlie Hebdo, a weekly satirical magazine Wednesday morning, Xinhua reported. Four other injured are in critical condition. Denouncing the “shocking attack”, Hollande said France…

  At least 12 people were killed  when masked gunmen fired randomly at the office of a French satirical magazine that once courted controversy over its portrayal of the Prophet Mohammed. Sky News quoted witnesses as saying that a number of men were involved in the deadly attack on the office of Charlie Hebdo. Ambulances…

The price of Brent Crude oil has fallen below $50 a barrel for the first time since May 2009. It fell more than a dollar to $49.92 a barrel in early trading on Wednesday before edging back above the $50 mark reported BBC. Slowing global growth and increased supply of oil and gas have pushed…

The tail of AirAsia plane which crashed into the Java Sea Dec 28, 2014, with 162 people on board has been found, Indonesia’s search and rescue agency chief said . “We have successfully obtained part of the plane that we were looking for. The tail’s portion has been confirmed found,” said Bambang Soelistyo, chief of…