Suicide car bomber kills four

Afghanistan: Four people were killed yesterday and 12 wounded when a suicide car bomber attacked a police supply convoy Sunday in Helmand province.

Police official Mohammad Ismail Hotaki said that three of the dead and 11 of the wounded were police officers.

In Nangarhar province, hundreds of university students protested yesterday afternoon against the continued publication of cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad.

Islamic State releases 200 Yazidis

Iraq: Islamic State (Isis) forces have released at least 200 Yazidis after five months of captivity, Kurdish military officials said yesterday.

General Shirko Fatih, the commander of Kurdish Peshmerga forces in the northern city of Kirkuk, said that almost all the freed prisoners were in poor health and bore signs of abuse and neglect.

Isis transported the captives from Tal Afar and dropped them off at the Khazer Bridge.

Lieberman attacks ICC probe

Israel: Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said yesterday that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas must “pay the price” for initiating an International Criminal Court probe into alleged Israeli war crimes.

He told Israel Radio: “We must get rid of Abu Mazen” for diplomacy to prevail.

The ICC announcement followed Palestine’s accession to the court’s treaty on Friday and recognition of its jurisdiction dating back to before the last Gaza war.

Ongwen turned over to ICC

Central African Republic: Notorious Lord’s Resistance Army commander Dominic Ongwen was turned over to the International Criminal Court at the weekend to face international war crimes charges in the Netherlands.

He had surrendered to UN stabilisation forces in a remote corner of the republic, near the border with Uganda.

The rebel group is accused of slaughtering countless civilians since the 1980s and forcing many others into slave labour.

Ban says UN won’t give up on Mali

United Nations: UN secretary-general Ban Ki Moon insisted at the weekend that an attack on a UN camp in northern Mali would not deter the organisation from helping the Malian people to find peace.

An armed group attacked the camp in Kidal on Saturday, killing one Chadian peacekeeper.

The latest attack only “highlights the urgency” of reaching a political settlement to end the conflict and enable the full restoration of state authority across Mali, said Mr Ban.

Miners win dispute over pit closures

Poland: Striking miners claimed total victory in their talks with the government yesterday after days of protests over plans to close some pits.

Miners’ union leader Boguslaw Zietek declared that, under the deal, “nobody will lose their job and no mine will be closed.”

Protests broke out last week when the government said that it wanted to close loss-making pits and lay off or transfer 12,000 employees to save the state-owned coal company.

Palestinians pelt Canadian Baird

Palestine: Dozens of protesters hurled eggs and shoes at the convoy of Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird in Ramallah yesterday.

Mr Baird described his meeting with Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki as “cordial and constructive,” including “candid and frank exchanges on areas where we differ in opinion.”

Activists from President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah party had called for a boycott of Mr Baird because of Canada’s pro-Israel stance.

Opposition figure sworn in as PM

Haiti: Political veteran Evans Paul was sworn in as prime minister at the weekend as President Michel Martelly prepared to announce the make-up of a consensus government.

Mr Paul was in the moderate opposition to the president before joining his administration.

Mr Martelly began ruling by decree last week after parliament was dissolved because the terms of its members had expired.