YEMEN: Roads blocked in fuel subsidies row

Dozens of supporters of the Houthi Shi’ite rebel group demanding the reinstatement of fuel subsidies blocked major roadways in the capital Sanaa yesterday.

They brandished arms and batons while using tyres and cement blocks to divert traffic from main roads, including a boulevard that leads to government buildings and state institutions.

The protest followed President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi’s sacking of the cabinet and announcement of a reduction of fuel prices in an attempt to resolve the crisis.

RUSSIA: Photojournalist killed in Ukraine

State news agency RIA Novosti director-general Dmitry Kiselyov said yesterday that another of its photojournalists has been killed in eastern Ukraine.

Mr Kiselyov said that Andrei Stenin had gone missing in early August and that his remains had been found in a charred car outside Donetsk.

He added that the car had apparently burst into flames after coming under fire from Ukrainian forces.

UNITED STATES: LGBT groups get into Paddy’s Day

Organisers of New York’s St Patrick’s Day parade yesterday announced an end to the ban on gay groups taking part in the event.

The block on identified gay groups in the parade has made participation a political issue, with Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio refusing to march this year and Guinness dropping its sponsorship.

EGYPT: Extremists shoot another policeman

Another off-duty policeman was shot dead in the north of the Sinai Peninsula by suspected Islamist extremists yesterday as he walked home in El-Arish.

Over a dozen policemen have been shot in the same neighbourhood, home to many officers, since last summer.

Eleven officers were killed by a roadside bomb on Tuesday as the government sought to root out militants in northern Sinai.

IRAQ: Watchdog finds Isis mass killings

Islamic State (Isis) militants are guilty of having carried out a mass killing of hundreds of captured Iraqi soldiers at Camp Speicher military base near Tikrit in June, Human Rights Watch said yesterday.

The group revealed new evidence indicating that Isis fighters killed between 560 and 770 at the former US airbase. The number of victims may well be even higher as more evidence emerges, the New York-based watchdog said.

BOSNIA: Suspected militants arrested in Sarajevo

Police in Sarajevo said yesterday that they have detained 16 people suspected of having fought in Syria and Iraq or of recruiting and funding others to join Islamist extremists there.

About 200 officers from a number of Bosnian law enforcement agencies were involved in the operation.

The arrested were suspected of “recruiting nationals for Syria and Iraq and funding and organising their travel” to the two countries, police said.

JAPAN: PM promotes women to cabinet

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe picked five women for his cabinet yesterday, matching the past record.

Women make up 10 per cent of parliament and just 3.9 per cent of board members of listed Japanese companies.

Mr Abe reiterated that a key part of his growth strategy is making greater use of women. He has set a goal of having women in 30 per cent of private and public-sector leadership positions by 2020.

PAKISTAN: Military clear Taliban strongholds

A military spokesman reported yesterday that a major offensive launched in June in North Waziristan has killed 910 suspected militants at a cost of 82 soldiers.

The military has cleared a number of former Taliban strongholds, he said.

The offensive has also displaced 800,000 civilians, who are now living in rented homes or camps miles away from their towns and villages and relying on food aid.