Across Globe

25 01 2015

Thousands of Yemenis protest against Houthi rebels

About 20,000 mostly Sunni Yemenis marched through capital Sanaa in protest against the Shia Houthi rebels, who have controlled the capital of the Middle Eastern country since September last year. As well as chanting anti-Houthi slogans, the crowd denounced their alleged backers – Iran and Al Qaeda. The demonstrators converged outside the house of President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, who was forced to resign earlier this week, after being placed under virtual house arrest by the rebels.

Ukrainian Court prolongs arrest of anti-Maidan protesters in Odessa fire case

A court in Odessa, southern Ukraine, has prolonged the arrests of 21 people probed in anti-Maidan protests in the city last May by two months. The detained are accused of instigating mass clashes between the supporters of new authorities in Kiev and their opponents. According to the Court, the suspects could affect the investigation if released. Ten of them are being kept in prison and eleven more are being held under house arrest.

Spanish police arrest 4 suspected

Spain’s police have arrested four people in Ceuta, in the Spanish area in Northern Africa bordering with Morrocco, who are suspected of belonging to a militant Islamist group capable of plotting an attack in the country. According to Interior Minister Jorge Fernandez Diaz, they are two pairs of brothers, highly radicalized and highly trained. El Pais newspaper reports one of them posted a video online urging others to wage jihad. Spain stepped up its security after the terror attacks in Paris. Earlier, the national police and Moroccan police arrested seven people in a joint operation to prevent recruitment of people to join militants in Syria.

Obama departs India early to visit mourning Saudi Arabia

President Barack Obama will cut short a formal visit on Tuesday to India and head to Riyadh to pay respects following the death of King Abdullah, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said in a statement. Obama, together with the First Lady, will meet the new King Salman. Vice President Joe Biden, previously scheduled to make the trip to Saudi Arabia, “will remain in Washington” the statement said. The Saudi king’s funeral was held early Friday in accordance with Islamic tradition, and the kingdom will remain in mourning for three days. The sudden change of plans means Obama will miss a visit to the Taj Mahal, Pradeep Bhatnagar, a leading state official based in the city of Agra, where the Taj Mahal is located, told The Associated Press.

Indonesian search fuselage of crashed AirAsia flight

Four more bodies were recovered and an operation was begun to raise the fuselage of the AirAsia Flight 8501 wreckage from the bottom of the Java Sea on Saturday. The start of the operation comes a day after recovery crews were able to enter the main section of the plane, which crashed on December 28. Bad weather prevented them from entering it earlier in January when it was first spotted. “We have begun the operation today to lift the main body and we hope we can float it today,” one official with the rescue agency told AFP. The authorities blame bad weather on the crash, which took place on a short flight from Surabaya, Indonesia, to Singapore. It has also been established this week that shortly before the plunge, the plane had started a climb at an abnormally high speed. The tragedy claimed 162 lives.