Wealthy donor nations, with Saudi Arabia in the lead, have pledged $4bn in aid to Yemen as it grapples with a fragile political transition and struggles to contain the growing threat by al-Qaeda. Seven aid groups gave warning on Wednesay that Yemen was on the brink of a "catastrophic food crisis" and urged the participants in the Friends of Yemen meeting in Riyadh to bolster efforts to salvage the situation. The Arabian Peninsula country was rocked by an uprising last year that forced Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down as president in February. "To ensure Yemen's security and stability, the kingdom will provide $3.25bn to support development projects there which will be agreed upon with the Yemeni side," Prince Saud al-Faisal, Saudi foreign minister, said. ... Continue reading →
23 May 2012 Last updated at 15:04 ET Three injured in electrical 'blast' in central London Three people have been injured in an incident involving an electrical utilities manhole in a street in central London. Police said they were called to reports of someone hearing "a blast" on the corner of Edgware Road and Harrowby Street at 17:46 BST. Emergency services attended the scene. "Two people have lesser injuries and the third has burns... the injuries are not believed to be life threatening," police said. Continue reading →
Un manifestant s’est fait renverser par une Mercedes blanche lors de la manifestation nocturne hier. Le chauffard a ensuite pris la fuite. L’accident qui est survenu au coin des rues St-Denis et Ste-Catherine a été filmé par un témoin. Dans la vidéo, on voit la victime qui bloque la circulation afin de laisser passer des manifestants. Exaspéré, le chauffeur de la Mercedes klaxonne, avant d’accélérer et de foncer sur le jeune homme. Ce dernier s’est accroché à la voiture, avant d’être éjecté quelques mètres plus loin. Plus de détails à venir… Continue reading →
What's going on in Quebec right now is - frankly - a puzzle to many outside the Canadian province. Every day and night now for nearly a month, and only a little less frequently for more than two months before that, many young Quebeckers have taken to the streets, waving banners, chanting slogans and occasionally flinging rocks, smoke bombs and Molotov cocktails. More than 100,000 of them came out to mark 100 days of protests on Tuesday.. Montreal has witnessed most of the mayhem: subway systems have been shut down, bar patrons pepper-sprayed by police, windows smashed, thousands arrested. Dozens of schools of higher education have been closed as students boycotting classes are refusing to let others study. And for what? Government plans to hike ... Continue reading →
A Pakistani doctor accused of helping the CIA find Osama bin Laden has been sentenced to 33 years in prison, Pakistani television channels and a local government official say. The official said on Wednesday that Shakil Afridi was charged with treason for running a fake vaccination campaign that helped the US intelligence agency track the al-Qaeda chief in a northwestern city, where he was killed in a US special-forces raid. US Navy SEALs killed bin Laden in Abbottabad on May 2, 2011, but had not been 100 per cent sure that he had been living in the compound before the raid. Al Jazeera's Imtiaz Tyab, reporting from Islamabad, said that Afridi was very well-known as a doctor in the Khyber area. "He was picked up ... Continue reading →